I posted the following at one of the ADN's blogs about a half an hour ago. The letter is based on the following quote by ADN Editor, Pat Dougherty:We take our responsibilities as Alaska’s largest news organization very seriously. Whether we are covering public corruption or the homefront consequences of the Iraq war, the effort to build a gas line or the effects of global warming in Alaska, we know that if we don’t do the story, it may not get done.
Both R. J. Dillon of the Fairbanks News-Miner/An Alaskan Abroad and I take serious issue with your undeserved moment of hubris.
Dillon wrote "And I thought my ego was out of control.
"This from the newspaper that has a part-time Washington, D.C., correspondent and no reporter in Juneau or the Valley (or at least they just got rid of one Mat-Su scribe). Does the ADN even have a military beat anymore? And I can't remember the last time an ADN reporter actually ventured off the road system to do a story.
"All scandal, all the time does not equal good statewide coverage."
I differ with Robert on some of the details, but he hit the nail on the head. I feel like the ADN has a decent stable of outstanding, award-winning reporters being led by a management team who totally misunderstand how to apply that talent.
I feel that you've handled aspects of your transition to interactive web presence rather well this past year. But, as an example, your current search for community bloggers, as covered by Steve Aufrecht at What Do I Know?, shows how clearly your paper's ties to old forms will both hold your newsmaking ability back and possibly lead to the ultimate demise of the paper itself.
As Aufrecht poses in his second article about Kathleen McCoy's efforts to interest community councils and others in participating in the ADN "community blog" efforts, an immediate question one can ask is "will the ADN recommend its own blogs over those who don't participate in their agreement [I'm paraphrasing]?"
The reality of the other side of your conceited "if we don’t do the story, it may not get done," is the truth of it on more levels than you consider. How many thousands of words has the ADN devoted to the sorry story of Chris McCandless, or to bragging about how controversial Craig Medred's views on McCandless are?
Yet, it appears to me, you've entirely missed a far more interesting story , that of Erin McKittrick and Bretwood Higman. A search request of your archives came back with Did you mean Erwin McKittrick AND prettied Hinman[?]
I know for sure that some of the ADN's reporters are aware of this incredibly epic and absolutely Alaskan story, so nobody can say the ADN isn't aware that the story is there, and is being covered by others. I've been, and other Alaska blogs have been covering their trek by pack rafts, hiking boots and skis from Elliot Bay to Unimak Island.
And your web interface is incredibly klutzy in many ways. The architecture of your web interface is bizarre, with many isolated niches for information, displayed in confusing ways. As in "Which of the two editor's blogs did Pat write his announcement on this time?"
To illustrate how inconvenient your interface is, I'm going to post this letter on my site, with hyperlinks, within the next hour. More readers will see it there by Monday than would have seen it at this well-hidden blog in days. And that isn't hubris.
There are many other important Alaska stories out there which ARE being covered, but NOT by the ADN. Many.
You owe each and every Alaska media outlet earnestly covering these events a full apology, Pat...
photo of Patrick Dougherty courtesy of the Anchorage Daily News