just!
1999 SURVEY
RESULTS
Think globally,
report locally
by I nga
S orensen
News Editor
ses and Newses of the planet. Copies of New
York, Talk, Brill’s Content, Vanity Fair, The Advo
cate, Girlfriends et al. spill over my bulging mag
azine basket at home.
Like my queemess, this desire permeates my
flesh and guts.
And I enjoy it all, though in my mind local
news is the soul of a newspaper.
Particularly with the
advent of new media—
through which a deluge of
national and world news is
available to many people
simply by flicking on a
PC— it’s the local news that
feels more personal, more tangible, more real.
It’s the folks in your community— that cof
fee shop guy who embraces his gay clientele or
that woman who works with queer kids on a
daily basis. It’s the youth and seniors who are
creating commu
nity within the
community.
It’s the feisty
issues. Why is a
long-standing
gay bar target
ed for shut
down? Who
are those
Readers' Comments
K, I’ll cop to it: I’m a news junkie. Always
| have been and, I figure, always will be.
The only reason I shell out the bucks
for cable is so I can monitor CNN,
C-SPAN, MSNBC. W hen 1 surf the Net it’s
not the sex sites 1 sniff out but rather the Time
ne of the most eye-opening aspects of the reader
survey is the comments section. The adage about
never being able to please everyone is immedi
ately evident when viewing the comments. For every
specific opinion expressed, you can count on a totally
opposite viewpoint.
Our mission is to be a relevant and informative publi
cation. Along the way, we may snag an embrace or get
dissed a bit— which is to be expected in the world of
media and the sharing of ideas.
W hat follows is a sampling of the general comments
received.
i ± ± i
I I I I
sneering anti-queer protesters sprouting up
around town? Is a gay and lesbian community
center necessary? Will there be Portland pride
in 2000? Ban the Boy Scouts? Is your Legisla
ture trying to screw you?
This past year we installed ongoing profiles
of area people who are making this a vibrant
community. We launched The Queer Profit, a
column that follows happenings in the region’s
queer and queer-ffiendly business realm. We’re
hungry to pump up coverage of youth issues.
Just Out has always placed a heavy emphasis
on local news— more than any gay and lesbian
newspaper that 1 know of—but I’d like to see a
lot more.
“I have felt that Just O u t has been focused on
lez issues w ay more and has not covered
much more. G a y pride events don’t feel inclu
sive o f average gay men. ”
• • • •
| | l l
“It looks more and more like boy papers I’ve
seen all over the U S . I am sorry to see more
B and more gay boy stuff and less and less radi
cally political feminist stuff. ”
“Since M arty took over there has been much improve
m en t.”
“It used to be better— what happened?”
Different Drivers. Different Roads. One Car.
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