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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, July 16, 2022
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
Founded in 1873
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
SAMANTHA STINNETT
Circulation Manager
SARAH SILVER
Advertising Sales Manager
PUBLISHER’S NOTEBOOK
Readers share opinions of The Astorian
T
he week before COVID-19 lockdowns were
announced in 2020, The Astorian invited read-
ers to a forum at the Astoria Library to ask what
subscribers valued in their newspaper and what they
thought could be improved.
The feedback was valuable and pointed out ideas to
pursue for new content.
One week later, the newsroom’s attention made a
sudden shift to the COVID crisis at hand and how to
meet our mission to inform the pub-
lic of health, safety and practical mea-
sures to keep our community strong.
The advertising department pivoted to
help businesses communicate changes
in hours and delivery options. Inter-
nally, we scrambled to develop commu-
nications to allow employees to work
KARI
from home and address keeping those
BORGEN
in the building safe while still serving
our customers.
All of which explains a bit of a pause in working on
some of those reader ideas.
That’s not to say we haven’t made improvements
during the past two-plus years. Part of serving our com-
munity and customers has been a significant shift to
digital-only subscriptions, which have grown from 12%
of our total subscriptions to 26%. The Astorian’s total
print and digital subscriptions has grown by over 5% in
the past two years, something to be proud of in a time
when so much of what the public hears about newspa-
pers nationwide is that the industry is dying
Given the remarkable changes to our everyday lives
in the past few years, we conducted another reader
survey in May to see if our subscribers’ interests had
changed. Not surprisingly, nearly equal numbers say
they primarily discover their local news from the print
and web versions of the newspaper — 54% print, 52%
online. Since nearly all respondents were subscrib-
ers, those who primarily discover news through social
media was only 26%. (Respondents could choose more
than one answer.)
The Astorian has grown email newsletters as a way
to provide quick bits of information to subscribers and
nonsubscribers on topics of interest like breaking news,
headline news, weather, events and sports. As a result,
17% of readers responded that they rely on learning
news by email.
When asked, “What topics interest you reading The
Astorian?” Over 80% of respondents said local news,
local business, local government. Public safety reports
ranked highly at 68%, as did obituaries, opinion, music,
outdoor activities, food and dining, prioritized by about
50% of respondents.
In every survey and forum, we ask our subscribers
OuR MISSION REMAINS
THAT WE ARE COMMITTEd
TO REPORTING ANd
dISTRIBuTING lOCAl NEWS
ANd INFORMATION BECAuSE
A WEll-INFORMEd PuBlIC
KEEPS OuR COMMuNITIES
STRONG. TO THAT ENd, WE
ARE AlWAyS INTERESTEd IN
yOuR OPINIONS ON WHAT
THAT lOCAl NEWS ANd
INFORMATION SHOuld BE.
Local news is the focus at The Astorian.
for their feedback on improvements we can make to the
paper. We are in turn chagrined, delighted and intrigued
by the responses we receive to those comments.
As noted in a column about our 2019 survey, Asto-
rian readers don’t agree on what should be included
in our pages — or what should be left out — with the
exception of local news. In an open-ended question
about how The Astorian can improve, there were differ-
ing opinions asking for more national, opinion, sports,
comics, ads and less national, opinion, sports, comics
and ads.
There were good suggestions and tips that we are
working on, some published since the survey, like
watchdog stories on local government, homelessness
and housing and adding the events calendar to Coast
Weekend. Other suggestions we are pursuing, and as
they come to fruition I’ll be announcing improvements
in future columns
One of the takeaways is that we need to do a bet-
ter job of communicating to readers how our business
works. Questions about letters to the editor, how to get
breaking news alerts, using the online system and more
can be answered better in print and online instructions.
We also need to be more transparent about how our
business makes enough money to operate. We pay for
reporters, online systems and printing papers entirely
through subscription and advertising revenues. It’s
particularly frustrating to hear “make the news avail-
able online free” or “hire more reporters” from people
who won’t subscribe. It’s like telling a store owner you
won’t shop from their business unless their items are
free.
Our mission remains that we are committed to
reporting and distributing local news and information
because a well-informed public keeps our communities
strong.
To that end, we are always interested in your opin-
ions on what that local news and information should be.
Share your ideas with me at kborgen@dailyastorian.
com
Kari Borgen is publisher of The Astorian.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Common sense
I
t amazes me that with the constant
warnings, drills and increases in emer-
gency management procedures and read-
iness regarding the Cascadia Subduction
Zone, and the impending “Big One” that
could hit at any time, that the main con-
cern about offshore wind proposals seems
to be the effect it will have on fishing.
How far will a tsunami carry a floating
wind turbine? Whatever happened to com-
mon sense?
WILLIAM BELL
Astoria
Tough on crime
I
n his letter to the editor (June 30), for-
mer Clatsop County District Attorney
Joshua Marquis correctly states that Betsy
Johnson was the only Democratic state
senator to vote against Senate Bill 1008,
the reform of juvenile Measure 11, that
was championed by former House Speaker
Tina Kotek.
In 2019, the Oregon Legislature passed
the bill with support from the majority of
Democrats, Republicans and independents
in Oregon, as well as civil rights groups
and many retired judges.
Enacted during the “super predator”
hysteria of the early 1990s, Measure 11
emphasized punishment over rehabilita-
tion. Under the law, kids as young as 15
could be charged as adults, and receive
adult sentencing without parole, nullify-
ing the possible benefits of maturation
and rehabilitation. Subsequent research
demonstrated that a person’s brain is not
fully formed until their mid-20s.
Measure 11’s racist underbelly also
became clear. Black and Latino kids were
having their lives ruined by district attor-
neys who, under Measure 11, charged
them as adults far more often than white
kids guilty of the same crimes. Apparently
that didn’t matter to Johnson.
These revelations prompted a series of
U.S. Supreme Court decisions leading to
reform in many states, including Oregon.
Thanks to Kotek and the Democrats,
kids in Oregon can now have their indi-
vidual cases considered in juvenile court,
rather than finding themselves in adult
court headed for the penitentiary, some-
times just to bolster a district attorney’s
reputation as being tough on crime.
ROGER DORBAND
Astoria
LETTERS WELCOME
Letters should be exclusive to The
Astorian. Letters should be fewer
than 250 words and must include the
writer’s name, address and phone
number. You will be contacted to
confirm authorship. All letters are
subject to editing for space, gram-
mar and factual accuracy. Only two
letters per writer are allowed each
month. Letters written in response
All of us
L
isten up, Astorians! Right now our
city government is writing a home-
less camping ordinance that will affect all
of us.
If passed, certain property owners in
residential areas (think church parking
lots and vacant commercial industrial
to other letter writers should address
the issue at hand and should refer to
the headline and date the letter was
published. Discourse should be civil.
Send via email to editor@dailyasto-
rian.com, online at bit.ly/astorianlet-
ters, in person at 949 Exchange St.
in Astoria or mail to Letters to the
Editor, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR.,
97103.
land) could allow houseless persons to
set up a tent or sleep in a motor vehicle
on their property. While some “restric-
tions” would be set, police won’t be
able to monitor that all “restrictions” are
maintained. It will be up to you to file a
complaint against your neighbor, a thing
most of us don’t want to do.
My husband and I have experience
with a houseless camper next to us,
exactly what the city is proposing. Please
know that there will be fights, police will
be called, motors will run at night (to
keep warm), garbage will attract rats that
find their way to your property and poi-
son and traps will be used to eradicate
them.
“Good fences make good neighbors,”
said Robert Frost in his poem, “Mending
Wall.” Good ordinances also make good
neighbors. Permitting homeless camping
in any neighborhood doesn’t make for a
good ordinance. It pits neighbor against
neighbor and it results in neighborhoods
with unsanitary conditions, noise, pollu-
tion and tension.
The City Council will discuss the
camping ordinance this Monday at
7:00 p.m. in the council chambers. If you
are concerned about the safety, health
and peace in your neighborhood, attend
the council meeting or write Mayor
Bruce Jones and your counselor.
LINDA OLDENKAMP
Astoria