Neighb News is Not Gossip
Our current Chair of the Board of Selectmen seems to misunderstand newspapers and the role they fill. He applies those misunderstandings to Fairhaven’s most important local newspaper, the Neighborhood News.
The chairman seeks to belittle the Neighborhood News by calling it a “magazine” and its content “gossip.” The editor, however, is producing a newspaper, and in all the time I have been reading it, I’ve had no doubts that it is so.
The difference is a big one. A newspaper is produced to give the publisher and editor a voice. We should expect it to express opinions that analyze and criticize the actions and opinions of the powers that be — the Selectmen and especially the chair, in our case. To the newspaper’s readers, this is a valuable service, whose value will be diminished if the paper sugarcoats its editorials. I can decide for myself if I think the editor is going overboard, and I don’t want someone else to pressure the paper, effectively deciding for me.
Politicians, such as our Selectmen, should take the criticism in stride. They should read it, evaluate it themselves, and draw what benefits they can from the newspaper’s independent review. Statesmanship and mature reaction to criticism reflect well on one being critiqued. But the childish, taking-it-personally reaction we see from the Chair reflects poorly on him and — to outsiders — on the Town of Fairhaven.
The Neighborhood News is an important source of information for many of us in Fairhaven. We need it. The Board of Selectmen would be doing our Town a disservice to spitefully discontinue using the paper to keep us informed about upcoming Town meetings and other events.
Rich Griffiths, Fairhaven
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