Another day, another piece of technology.
The Heron's Nest is now podcasting!
Yes, now you can not only read my daily ramblings on the news, you can listen to me as well. I will be offering a daily - at least several times a week - podcast with what's in the newspaper, why we do the things we do, and trying to answer readers' questions about the constantly changing news racket.
Today I will tackle the subject of what happens when someone disagrees with our coverage. You can listen to the podcast here.
This usually starts with a phone call.
That's what happened a couple of weeks ago, after our coverage - splashed all over Page One - of a search at Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast High School in Upper Darby.
This all started with what appeared to be a drug transaction down the street from the school. During the drug buy, a weapon was displayed, with a threat to shoot a student in the foot.
Eventually calmer heads prevailed, but the student returned to school with the gun.
A student who witnessed the drug deal - including the gun - then had a decision to make.
The day after the police search of the school, I penned an editorial pointing out what I considered a silver lining to the story.
That would be the fact that a student actually did the right thing, by going into the school and informing school officials that a student had returned to the school with a gun.
It was exactly the right thing to do, and something that does not always happen.
School officials notified police, who urged them to put the school on lockdown. Police then swept the school with their K-9 crews.
Some pot was found in a couple of lockers. The search eventually led to the gun - fully loaded - that had been brought into the school.
But the day the editorial appeared in the paper, I received a phone call from a reader who was not real happy with the way we handled the story.
He wanted to know why we focused on the fact that while pot was found in two lockers, we didn't make note of the fact that all the other kids' lockers came up clean. I admit it's a different way of looking at the story.
In short, that's not news. People - yes, including students - doing what they are supposed to do doesn't not make headlines. I know that's not fair, but that's the nature of the business.
The reader, a Bonner alum who is getting ready to send his daughter to the school next year, also took exception to my noting that the search turned up drugs and charges against "several" other students.
In fact it was two.
That's when I made him an offer I always make to people who disagree with our coverage of a story.
I asked him to write a letter to the editor with his version of what happened and why he disagreed with us.
I eventually wrote a column about the whole situation, starting with the fact that it pained me to do the story, because of the fact that I have a soft spot in my heart for Bonner. It was our coverage a few years ago that helped save the school.
Bill Horan was good to his word. So was I. You can read his letter here.
Ironically, it appeared on the same day another Bonner alum wrote reacting to my column, saying he thought our coverage was on the money. Paul Sullivan, Bonner Class of '60, chimed in from Fresno, Calif.
I always tell people I have AN opinion, not the only opinion.
That's the whole reason behind having an op-ed page. It's meant to be something of a community of ideas, where we can share our thoughts about the news.
I know every day someone is going to disagree with our coverage. I get phone calls like the one I received from Bill Horan every day.
Initially, people are usually stunned that the editor actually picks up his own phone. Then they are often taken aback that I'm not only wiling to listen to their side of the story, I always offer them an avenue to have it published.
Just ask Bill Horan.
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