Local papers critiqued by peers
By ALLAN TINKER
The best, or not, time of the year is evaluation time. Depends upon how well one likes finding out how his or her health, business or tax accountant did what one would like to see have happen.
So goes the newspaper world, nearly universally, it appears. The North Dakota Newspaper Association, NDNA, the glue that holds the thread of diverse news reporting agents together and lets other states agents do the final critiquing. Many steps forward come from learning what others think of your work, especially when they can hide a few states away and don’t know beans about you.
This year, NDNA awarded our own McClusky Gazette and McLean County Journal several "Attaboys," and those we sent in and saw not score, we know were "Oops." Newspapers and their staff now know where to try harder next year.
Those who design our papers, the production staff you never see in your business meeting rooms or government meetings. The ad people who come around seeking ads that will grow your business, support community interests, and let people know who and where you are, these you know better.
Then there are the reporters and editors and photographers, some learning, by the seat of their pants, how to fly this paper airplane into which they just got sat. Everyone wants to be a critic; no one wants to be criticized, at least not daily. If this bothers anyone, they should not have applied for the job in the newspaper world.
