4A |
SATURDAY EDITION
| AUGUST 31, 2019
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
| 541-902-3520 | NHICKSON @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
The First Amendment
C
ongress shall make no law respect-
ing an establishment of religion or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
abridging the freedom of speech, or of the
press, or the right of the people peaceably
to assemble, and to petition the Govern-
ment for a redress of grievances.
“I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.” —Thomas Jefferson (1800)
USPS# 497-660
An intern’s thoughts on community journalism
ion are blurring. There is
no place for a journalist’s
opinion in a news article;
this is why we have the
“opinion” section.
News answers what
happened, to who and
when, where it happened
and why. The why is ex-
plored more in feature
stories, but even features
hold the same standards
of news.
names get misspelled,
dates get mixed up and,
ultimately, we get things
wrong sometimes.
Journalists are, after all,
human.
Over the past few
months at the Siuslaw
News, I’ve listened to
multiple conversations
about how to approach
a topic, how difficult re-
porting situations should
(Editor’s Note: Victo-
ria Sanchez has been part
of an internship through
the University of Oregon’s
Snowden Grant program
since mid June and com-
pleted her 10-week in-
ternship this week. In that
time, Victoria has written
By Siuslaw News intern
17 stories, ranging from
the Siuslaw Watershed
Victoria Sanchez
to local housing, business
women in Florence and
House Bill 2020. It has
Through my time at be approached and have
been a true pleasure hav-
ing her as part of our news the Siuslaw News, my been approached in the
hope for the world of past, and why it’s import-
team.)
journalism was renewed ant to cover as many pub-
ocal journalism is and strengthened as I was lic meetings and events as
what sets the expecta- surrounded by talented possible.
The theme in all of
tion for major news out- journalists who uphold
lets, or at least it should. the principles of journal- these conversations was
Community newspapers ism: telling the truth and always the same: How
best to inform and edu-
like the Siuslaw News and telling it well.
It’s better to take the cate the public in a way
other locally based media
outlets are the most im- time necessary to tell the that is balanced and un-
portant sources of infor- whole story with the most biased.
On a basic level, jour-
acc urate infor mation
mation in Florence.
nalists
spend their lives
available
rather
than
rush
Nowhere else can res-
idents consistently read to print with something informing the public on
about what happened incomplete or inaccurate. what’s happening. This
As I discovered in my drives what we write
at the school board, city
council, planning com- 10 weeks as a Universi- about; it propels our eth-
mission meeting or any ty of Oregon Snowden ical integrity and should.
of the other dozens of Grant journalism intern The public is our audi-
monthly meetings and here, this is the ideology ence; it’s who we essen-
events that take place in of the newsroom at Siu- tially serve.
This is why local jour-
and around the commu- slaw News.
nalism
is so important
The
fact
is,
there’s
nity. But it’s not just the
fact that area residents never enough time with and what makes commu-
have the option of read- news. Journalists face nity journalism different
ing so many localy fo- the challenge of telling than large media report-
cused stories — it’s that readers the what, who, ers. Being part of a small
the news team at the where, when and why town means everybody
Siuslaw News holds it- of what happened to the knows just about every-
self to higher journalistic best of their abilities in a body. And while that
standards which I would relatively short period of can be welcoming for a
argue some major news time, with facts checked community journalist, it
outlets tend to stray from. and double-checked in also puts an extra sense of
In the rapidly evolving order to tell each story in obligation on reporters to
do things well — which
world of social media a cohesive manner.
At the same time, as in turn drives good jour-
and the 24 hour tele-
vised news cycle, the lines much as the goal of accu- nalism.
At the local level, re-
between what is actual racy is the aim, errors oc-
news and what is opin- cur in small newsrooms; porters take the time to
L
discuss how stories will
affect the communi-
ty, when to hold a story
from publication because
it doesn’t have all the
facts yet. National news
publications can certainly
replicate this ideal, but it
starts at the ground level
and works its way up.
Yet we must take into
account how national
publications have a very
different focus than local
newspapers.
The Siuslaw News fills
in the news gaps for west-
ern Lane County while
the news sources such as
the Register-Guard covers
central Lane County. The
Eugene Weekly, mean-
while, focuses on more
hyperlocal stories while
the R-G incorporates
more national news.
They all tend to work
together but separately
for the people of Oregon.
But the model of com-
munity journalism can
— and should — be rep-
licated at the larger out-
lets in terms of attention
to details in the story,
the ethical conversations
that need to take place in
newsrooms, and the strict
adherence to giving the
public the most accurate
and well-researched in-
formation available.
There are, of course,
many national news pub-
lications that are already
doing this, just as there
are local newspapers that
fall short. But during my
time at the Siuslaw News,
I was given the opportu-
nity to see how large an
impact great communi-
ty journalism can have
on a community — and
throughout my future ca-
reer as a journalist, that
notion will continue driv-
ing the standards I hold
for myself and at other
news publications where
I may work.
Once again, I want to give a
huge thank you to the Florence
Community for its overwhelm-
ing support of the Florence Po-
lice Department in hosting our
second annual National Night
Out on Aug. 6 at Miller Park.
We partnered with our local
public safety agencies to make
this happen and I want to thank
the Oregon State Police, Siuslaw
Valley Fire and Rescue, Western
Lane Ambulance, Lane County
Emergency Management and
U.S. Coast Guard Station Siu-
slaw River.
The event was such a won-
derful success thanks to the
numerous monetary donations
and many volunteers. A spe-
cial thanks to Charles Korando
and Korando Family Dentistry,
Best For Hearing, Florence Ki-
wanis, Hine Investments, An-
derson & Forrester, Northfork
Roofing, Stitch & Sole, Bill and
Katie Prosser, Guy Veach, Bill
Meyer, Wells Plastic, Heceta Self
Storage, Ray Wells, WG Peter-
son Woodworking, Bob Steele,
Hoberg’s Auto Repair, Streets
Insurance, Joe and Pam Henry,
Banner Bank, Project Gradua-
tion, Al Pearn, the Tavish Sextet,
the City of Florence and Three
Rivers Hotel and Casino.
The evening went off without
a hitch, everyone seemed to en-
joy themselves and overall the
event was a success!
National Night Out is a large-
scale event and it wouldn’t be
possible without the assistance
of countless people who help
prepare ahead of time, work
during the event itself, and clean
up afterwards.
It truly is a community event.
Again, our thanks to the do-
nors, volunteers, our wonderful
City employees and all who at-
tended for making it possible.
—Tom Turner
Florence Chief of Police
Ban single-use plastics
One day aft er unpacking some
farm supplies, I found my two
favorite chickens, Tofu and Lic-
orice, eating the small, round
pieces of the polystyrene pack-
aging. It’s easy to understand
how they mistook the bite-sized
plastic foam for food, especially
Siuslaw News
Published every Wednesday and Saturday at 148 Maple St. in Florence, Lane
County, Oregon. A member of the National Newspaper Association and Oregon
Newspaper Publishers Association. Periodicals postage paid at Florence, Ore.
Postmaster, send address changes to: Siuslaw News, P.O. Box 10, Florence, OR
97439; phone 541-997-3441; fax 541-997-7979. All press releases may be sent to
PressReleases@TheSiuslawNews.com.
Jenna Bartlet
Ned Hickson
Susan Gutierrez
Cathy Dietz
Ron Annis
Publisher, ext. 318
Editor, ext. 313
Multimedia Sales Director, ext. 326
Office Supervisor, ext. 312
Production Supervisor
DEADLINES:
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play classified ads, Friday 5 p.m.
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lication; Regular classified ads, Thursday 1 p.m.; Display ads, Thursday noon; Display
classified ads, Wednesday 5 p.m. Soundings, Tuesday 5 p.m.
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Letters to the Editor policy
The Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the edi-
tor as part of a community discussion of issues on
the local, state and national level.
Emailed letters are preferred. Handwritten or
typed letters must be signed. All letters need to
include full name, address and phone number;
only name and city will be printed. Letters should
be limited to about 300 words. Letters are sub-
ject to editing for length, grammar and clarity.
Publication of any letter is not guaranteed and
depends on space available and the volume of let-
ters received.
Letters that are anonymous, libelous, argumen-
tative, sarcastic or contain accusations that are
unsourced or documented will not be published.
Letters containing poetry or from outside the
Siuslaw News readership area will only be pub-
lished at the discretion of the editor.
Political/Election Letters:
Election-related letters must address pertinent
or timely issues of interest to our readers at-large.
Letters must 1) Not be a part of letter-writing
campaigns on behalf of (or by) candidates; 2) En-
sure any information about a candidate is accu-
rate, fair and not from second-hand knowledge
or hearsay; and 3) Explain the reasons to support
candidates based on personal experience and
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paign-style rhetoric.
Candidates themselves may not use the letters
to the editor column to outline their views and
platforms or to ask for votes; this constitutes paid
political advertising.
As with all letters and advertising content, the
newspaper, at the sole discretion of the publish-
er, general manager and editor, reserves the right
to reject any letter that doesn’t follow the above
criteria.
Email letters to:
nhickson@thesiuslawnews.com
LETTERS
Thanks for support of
local first responders
Copyright 2019 © Siuslaw News
when they can’t recognize it as a
harmful chemical.
But nothing we use for fi ve
minutes should be harming our
wildlife for thousands of years.
Th at’s not only true in our back-
yard farms, but in our oceans as
well.
Oft en, we don’t think twice
about getting our coff ee to-go
in a foam cup, or food in a foam
takeout container. Currently,
70 million plastic foam cups
are estimated to be disposed by
Americans every day. Of these,
about one-third end up in water-
ways: rivers, lakes and especially
oceans.
To protect our wildlife and our
waterways, we need to dramat-
ically reduce our plastic waste
and we can start by banning
foam cups and takeout contain-
ers here in Oregon.
Senator Arnie Roblan has the
chance to be an environmental
champion and vote to ban sin-
gle-use polystyrene to protect
our ocean wildlife as well as our
backyard chickens.
—Marcella Buser
Eugene/Florence
WHERE TO WRITE
Pres. Donald Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD Comments:
202-456-6213
www.whitehouse.gov
Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, Ore. 97301-4047
Governor’s Citizens’ Rep.
Message Line:
503-378-4582
www.oregon.gov/gov
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate
Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
541-431-0229
www.wyden.senate.gov
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753
FAX: 202-228-3997
541-465-6750
www.merkley.senate.gov
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio
(4th Dist.)
2134 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6416
541-269-2609
541-465-6732
www.defazio.house.gov
State Sen. Arnie Roblan
(Dist. 5)
900 Court St. NE - S-417
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1705
FAX: 503-986-1080
Email: Sen.ArnieRoblan@
oregonlegislature.gov
State Rep.
Caddy McKeown
(Dist. 9)
900 Court St. NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1409
Email: rep.caddymckeown
@oregonlegislature.gov
West Lane County
Commissioner
Jay Bozievich
125 E. Eighth St.
Eugene, OR 97401
541-682-4203
FAX: 541-682-4616
Email: Jay.Bozievich@
co.lane.or.us