What’s going on? Updates always needed
Comments (...)Every couple of months, the editor has to clean out his mailbox.
That’s when he shares with all readers some of the concerns, complaints and compliments that others have expressed to him in their emails, letters and other correspondence.
The last chance we got to clean up was early December.
Time to do it again.
KATHY WROTE TO ask whether we could keep an eye on a vital link between Sterling and Rock Falls.
“I am wondering if it would be possible for you to begin a weekly update with pictures to keep us informed as to the progress being made on the demolition & reconstruction of the 1st Avenue bridge,” she wrote late last month. “I would dearly love to see over the barricades to see what is going on there.
“As I travel across each morning & evening, I try to see as much as possible, yet with being in a small car, I cannot see what it looks like on the other side. I think this would be a feature that would be of interest to a great many people of Sterling-Rock Falls.”
Thanks for the reminder, Kathy.
PROGRESS UPDATES are news, especially when they involve public works projects such as the First Avenue bridge.
Many of us don’t make that trip as often as those who suffer the daily inconvenience of a reconstruction – or its detour several blocks to the west.
But we’ll follow the progress with regular – if not weekly – updates, as long as there’s something to update.
If the winter weather continues to be mild, maybe those 12-hour days, 6 days a week will allow workers to start fast and finish well ahead of their Nov. 16 deadline for completion.
Our first update on the project appeared on Page A1 this past Wednesday.
Look for more in the weeks and months ahead.
CHRIS AND VERNON sent emails a couple of weeks apart last month on the same – and familiar – subject.
“Has Nicholas Sheley become the mascot of Saukvalley.com?” Chris asked. “One might think so, considering his ugly face is plastered all over your website.
“I understand your willingness to cover such a high profile local case. However, I believe you are failing to show any amount of respect to the families of his victims, who [are] our friends and neighbors. It’s difficult for me, and others, I’m sure, to see him over and over, again. I mean – he’s smiling, for crying out loud.”
Vernon’s message was brief and to the point.
“Please stop showing pictures of Sheley,” he wrote. “He doesn’t deserve all this attention. Story is fine.”
WE MADE A PROMISE a few years ago to the many readers who had expressed similar concerns.
Our promise was that we would use a photo of the Sauk Valley’s most notorious criminal on the front page no more than twice a month.
That’s an arbitrary number, but it is an attempt to address the objections.
But Nick Sheley, who has been convicted of one murder and awaits trial for seven others, is a news maker.
Imagine the objections Time magazine editors heard when their Man of the Year cover boy was Adolph Hitler, or Joseph Stalin, or any number of nefarious characters over the past 80 years that honor has been bestowed.
SHELEY’S FACE, OF course, is not “plastered all over” our website.
But if you scroll down the home page, you’ll see a small photo (That’s a smile?) that promotes a timeline tracking the crimes with which he’s charged and the prosecution he continues to face.
On that timeline, you’ll find not just his photo, but those of the prosecutors, judges, even the victims. You’ll find links to news stories dating back to the horror of summer 2008, and court documents that help to track the legal proceedings over three counties and two states.
That’s not an attempt to “glorify” Sheley, or the crimes of which he stands accused.
That’s basic background that any big news story needs – context that can help readers get up to date and understand why this is such a big story in the Sauk Valley.
Art elements – such as photos – help to call attention to text and increase their readership.
If Sheley’s photo offends you, we apologize.
We will continue to be selective in its use.
VIRGINIA WROTE to compliment our “unique, well-rounded, presentation of campaign information” in last weekend’s edition.
And she called our attention to a couple of details we overlooked – including a factual error.
That informational graphic, put together by reporter Emily Coleman, was an easy-to-read presentation about campaign finances for several regional candidates who seek seats in the Illinois Legislature.
We published the graphic again on Tuesday to correct the error.
Campaign finance information can be kind of dry.
We hope a more visual approach to reporting that data helps its readability.
LAST TIME WE WROTE about emptying the editor’s mailbox, we heard from a reader who agreed with us.
That column discussed requests to withhold arrest information from publication if it might embarrass family members – including the children of people who get charged with crimes. We explained that we routinely deny such requests.
“Good for you for standing up for what is right,” Patricia wrote. “The newspaper did not hurt the families or the children; the person who got into trouble did that all by themselves.
“... Keep up the good work; some citizens appreciate your work to report the news as it happens, not as the influential want it reported.”
We are trying, Patricia. Rest assured, we are trying.
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