Les Zaitz, editor and CEO of Salem Reporter
In just 30 minutes, the emails started coming in.
Last week, I described in a column how Salem Reporter approaching covering protests for and against pending climate change legislation. We had taken some dings from both sides, and I considered the moment right to explain a bit about how we work.
To me, nothing is more important than earning your trust. The media is under great suspicion these days. Citizens aren’t sure what to believe in the news coverage they get now.
When we founded Salem Reporter in 2018, trust was not a goal, but the goal. I well understood the hunger for credible news – and that readers wouldn’t pay for something they didn’t trust.
That’s hard to measure, but the response to that column last week was a big boost.
The emails that flowed in over several days weren’t solicited. People took time to not only read the column but reach out.
Here, sometimes in abridged form, are many of those messages. The authors all gave permission for me to share.
As you look these over, consider the role of the media today and consider whether we’ve earned your trust enough that you will subscribe.
The comments:
I thought your coverage on Timber Unity and cap and trade was fair and unbiased. I hope it will continue to be so. – Phil Sperl
Thank you for covering all sides of this. I particularly appreciated your reports on the people who attended the Timber Unity rally, because I don’t know any of the people on this side of the issue. It is important to me to have an opportunity to hear stories from people with a wide variety of viewpoints. And thank you for Salem Reporter. I think it is an important addition to the Salem area. I consider my subscription a very good investment. – Jan Nelson
You’re taking on such a huge issue here. Well done and keep it coming! Thanks for all you do. Our household loves Salem Reporter and we’re grateful for your work. – Isabel Spradlin
Well done! If people really want to get agitated about rights, they should pay closer attention to a free press and what it means to democracy. You and the Salem Reporter are a gift to the people of this region. – Jenan R Brandt
In light of the negativity around your reporting on the two protests at the capitol, I wanted to send a vote of confidence for the reporting that the Salem Reporter team is doing. I consistently find your reporting to be fantastic and very high level. Keep up the good work. This is my favorite source of news, and one that I regularly quote in conversations. Your coverage to the two protests in Salem was very good. – Ben Deumling
I enjoyed your reasoned and impassioned editorial today, explaining your coverage of Cap and Trade. I think you nailed it, both in terms of trying to impart a balanced view politically, but perhaps more importantly, being interested in the social/emotional side behind the politics. The fact that both “sides” took exception to your approach shows how far our standards for news coverage have fallen. We expect our preferred outlet to be a lance by which the other side gets pierced. Below is a poem I wrote that echoes your thoughts about talking to instead of past one another. The last line gets at your point, I think, about both sides of this civility abyss having deep-seeded fears,but that the values associated with those fears are largely the same: trust, safety, security, being heard, respect and courtesy. – Tim Buckley
I began to read your piece today with interest and ended with satisfaction. Thank you for taking the effort to explain the standards by which you and your employees go about your daily reporting, compiling, and production. Keep up the good work. – Martie Johnson
You ALL deserve praise and support for your resolve to report the NEWS EVENTS with fairness and integrity! What a breath of fresh air! When reporting is as unbiased as possible, the readers are free to draw their own conclusions. Thumbs up, Salem Reporter. – Lorraine Baker
Don’t cave to the rhetoric. Your reporters covered this rally fairly. Keep up the good work. – Mary Starrett, Yamhill County commissioner
Just a quick note to say thank you for your coverage and attempt to gain good input from “all sides.” I agree we talk THROUGH each other and have stopped seeing our neighbors and friends as anything other than “friend or foe.” Thank you for trying. Please keep trying.
While I stand on the side of TimberUnity and rural Oregonians, I am an avid supporter of the earth and work to leave a light footprint. I believe most rural Oregonians especially those that work in the natural resource field such as farming and timber have been good stewards and work to protect renewable resources such as the soil and timber. Just as anyone might, we rely on products and services that are believed to be “safe”. Such as some pesticides and fuels. As things are discovered to be harmful those are regulated out – and new technologies and practices are introduced. I believe that is called “progress.” Anyway – this was supposed to just be a thank you. – Jill Ingalls
Keep doing what you’re doing! You can’t please everyone and today people seem to get in a tiff if they disagree with anything! You and your reporters deserve credit for your efforts in fair, timely, honest and well written reporting. – Sandra Allen
I appreciate the approach you took with the coverage of the rallies. It is important to hear both sides of the story. Although I disagree with the Timber Unity group, it is good to know their reasoning. Thank you for the news. – Adele Cerny
I would like to thank you for Salem Reporter’s thorough and fair coverage of the two latest rallies in Salem. My understanding of both sides was expanded thanks to your reporters, It seems that most people these days aren’t interested in looking at both sides of an issue, just the side that they support. To truly understand an issue, all sides should be examined. Focusing on the people is key. Thank you very much. – Cindy Francis
Thank you so much for your column, Mr Zaitz! Salem Reporter’s goal of non-bias news reporting is very worthy! Knowing each other’s perspectives can change politics for the better – and make government far more functional! – Karen B.
Just wanted to let you know that I do not subscribe to news services, but I subscribed to yours, which is totally out of character for me, in hope that you will be fair and balanced in your coverage of Oregon politics. That’s not an easy thing to do. There is so much pressure to be politically correct, rather than objective.
Back then, if I had burped in church it would have been in The Oregonian. But if a fact worked in my favor, large or small, it never made the news. And when the unions and the attorney general dropped their injunctions against me, which they had use to stop me from putting measures on the ballot, and also dropped the huge personal judgments they had against me – all because I had sued them in federal court for civil rights violations, not one whiff of that appeared in the newspapers. So I stopped returning calls from reporters and stopped doing interviews. I had become far too disillusioned to give them the time of day.
So when I started reading your posts and seeing your lofty claims of being unbiased and just reporting the news, I watched for a while. So far, it seems that there is truly an honest effort at not being just another one-sided “news” outlet. So I subscribed. And as I write this, I hope that your stay true to your goal. And to the extent you do, to that extent, I wish you well and hope your survive and thrive. – Bill Sizemore
Les Zaitz is CEO and editor Salem Reporter. Reach him directly by email: [email protected].
