Ever Been Vilified And Absolutely Hated For Something You Wrote?

Only if it's coming from older journalists with life experiences. [crossthread/]

 

Sometimes, credibility is more important in the long term than popularity. And having opinion sections damages the credibility of the newspaper with readers, who aren't buying the "we promise to only not be objective on certain pages" deal we are offering them.

Newspapers have a big credibility gap, if polls are to be believed, and I think the opinion pages and opinion columns have a lot to do with that.

 

I don't believe anything that people say about newspapers.

You have people who will curse their hometown paper every day and when they move, they curse the new paper and complain that it's not near as good as their beloved hometown paper.

Hell, if they read it, they can spit and stamp and gripe all they want.

 

People can't hate me if they don't read what I write.

 

If half the city loves you, you're not being absolutely hated.

Nine times out of ten, you right ab out a hot issue, this is the reaction you get...two sides toe very story.
Get by it and move on

 

That radio reporter in Alaska has empathy for Pete.

 

Which she is more than happy to express in 4,500 words of sheer craziness.

 

Pete, sit back and enjoy it.

 

Readers will get fired up over anything. I wrote a column about two rival high school football teams, and according to the principal of one of the schools, it made them feel the need to hire extra security for the game. I actually took that as a compliment (and I still stand by what I wrote, which I thought would make people laugh, not see red).

I don't like criticism any more than the next guy, but in some cases – and yours sounds like such a case, Pete – it gets so ridiculous that it makes you want to laugh. So that's my advice: laugh at the idiots. Not in their face, though, because that might make them snap.

 

Agreed. 95 percent of criticism is so unfounded that it's often downright hilarious people think so irrationally.

 

A columnist who is not occasionally vilified for what he or she says is not doing their job properly. You're paid, in part, to challenge people's ideas.
If they vilify you for the way you say things, that's a problem.

 

For anyone who buys into the idea that reporters shouldn't be writing columns, here's a thought: what about blogs, where opinion often is evident?
Or don't we want to go there because, like our industry, we really don't know what to make of this Internet thing yet?