Americans’ approval rating of President Obama is -17, according to Rasmussen Reports’ daily index as of April 3.
Nearly nine out of 10 Springfield Business Journal readers thought it was a wise business move for the St. Louis Cardinals not to offer more money to keep fan-favorite Albert Pujols, according to a December SBJ.net poll.
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Pujols’ new team, is favored by odds makers to win the 2012 World Series.
Everybody has an opinion.
The opinion pages in Springfield Business Journal are designed to give opportunity for such expression. Historically, SBJ has not operated under an editorial board that shapes a paper’s views and opinions about key issues. While that practice is common among community papers and even some business journals, we’ve let individual authors voice their own opinions.
Functionally, that means at times SBJ publishers, editors and other staff members do not agree with the stated positions, be they local or national, in writing or in cartoons. That’s sometimes a difficult conclusion to accept, but it’s the power of the First Amendment at work – the very law that permits us to publish content each day online and each week in print and digitally.
Following the inherent nature of opinions, sometimes we do agree. There are always two sides of an issue, and we try to provide balance on both sides. Either way, we fight against letting our personal opinions interfere with those stated in the paper.
The challenge lays in the content available. If writers, say of letters to the editor, are vocal on one side of an issue but silent on the other side, we can’t fabricate the other viewpoint.
Hint: If you read something that elicits a reaction, write me a letter defending your viewpoint. My hope and intent as editor is that we provide a forum for debate and a place to educate and arrive at sound conclusions for business issues.
Members of two statewide organizations provide a fairly recent example of both sides chiming in on a topic. The debate centered on proper handling of the insolvent Second Injury Fund, and Associated Industries of Missouri President Ray McCarty kicked off the printed back-and-forth in a May 2011 column critical of a tax increase to repair the fund. Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Dan Mehan responded a week later defending the proposal and addressing what he called omissions in McCarty’s opinion piece. The issue was left unresolved by legislators, but the writings gave our readers a deeper understanding of the dire situation, the complexities in arriving at a solution and the politics at play.
Sometimes, there are occasions when we receive one viewpoint and hold it knowing we’re getting the other side of the aisle. Other times the topic elicits multiple opinions, as was the case of the recent news about U.S. Postal Service considerations to close its Springfield sorting center. In January, we ran letters side-by-side, one from a writer critical of the USPS’ handling of information in coming to its conclusion and the other representing the rural customer in support of closing the city sorting center.
It seems the most potential to strike a nerve in readers comes from the editorial cartoons, which are predominantly political in nature and usually address national or state topics. These are created by syndicated artists, and we purchase the rights to publish their works. That doesn’t absolve us from responsibility in choosing; it’s just a fact.
In true cartoon fashion, the works poke fun at the current president and politics, federal and state laws on the books, current events and news, and corporations and athletics – generally the people and things that are most in the public eye. That comes with the territory of such positions. These are often hot-button issues, and they are going to step on toes. Sometimes, it’s religion, racism, greed and civil matters – things rooted in individual passions.
As with everything we publish, it runs through our filter for readers, making sure it pertains to business, reflects our core demographic and provides usefulness in decision making. Are all selected cartoons going to hit on each of the three points? No.
We’ve recently received feedback that the cartoons we choose lean too far to the left. For instance, one comment came after running a cartoon that overstated the amount spent on fighting the war on poverty versus the amount spent on fighting the wars in the Middle East.
The left-leaning might be true one week. But the next week, my intent is to provide that balance, and look for something that the conservative crowd can better identify.
As with all facets of our operations, we’ll continually assess the quality, consistency and balance of the cartoons available to us. If we continue to hear rumblings from readers, we may change up our editorial cartoons.
Your feedback really helps, so keep it coming – pro or con.
Springfield Business Journal Editor Eric Olson can be reached at eolson@sbj.net.[[In-content Ad]]
