FIRST
I just wanted to take a moment write a heartfelt apology to our readers for some errors that got out in the print version of our paper this week. Mistakes are going to happen, and I guarantee you could pick up any newspaper from the news stand and find errors all the way through.
But...that does not excuse them. We have in place a process by which our stories are written, edit and re-read several times before they go into the paper. Just by the bulk of the amount of words we put out, things are going to get missed.
This week, however, we had a breakdown in our system. We went through the editing process as always and made the corrections. Somehow the original drafts got into the newspaper, not the edited versions. The first draft of anything is never intended to be seen, but in this case it was. At this point we are not sure how that happened. The way we do things that should be impossible, but it did. The version that goes in the paper and the version that goes on the website are the same file, yet the website had the corrected version.
As the author and news editor of these stories, it makes me feel like an idiot when an article like that goes out. I don’t want people to have that opinion of the paper anymore than I want them to have that opinion of me.
I want to personally tell everyone who reads this paper, we take more pride in our work than that. Going forward we will take steps to prevent such poor work from getting into our paper.
I contacted Mrs. Cyndi Boggs, Dr. Rachel Yarbrough and the board office with my apology and I felt that I owed that to you, the reader as well.
I could try to make excuses, but I won’t. It was a mistake. It happened. Now it’s time to work harder and do a better job.
I hope you, our loyal readers, can accept my apology and stick with us as we move forward.
Thanks!
Now for my soap box!!!!
For the last few years I’ve been struggling to make healthy choices in life, such as exercising and eating healthy foods. All the time you hear people on the national media harping about the nation’s obesity problem. I can see it from both sides. In the end I think what it really comes down to is convenience and money. It is easier and cheaper to be overweight and out of shape. When something is easier and cheaper, of course that’s where the majority of people are going to be!
When I was growing up we rarely ate out. Even when we went on vacation we’d take a loaf of bread and throw some lunch meat in the cooler. It was far cheaper to eat a ham sandwich out of the trunk than it was to stop at a fast food place.
Since then, the cost of fast food has been steadily decreasing, or at least holding steady, as the cost of a loaf of bread and sandwich meat has gone up. When you’re on the road, six hours from home, it’s a lot easier and cheaper to just go through the drive thru and grab a $1 cheese burger and $1 drink.
At least once a week I find myself running late for work. If I don’t have time to pack a lunch (or I forget to grab my packed lunch), then I’m forced with going out and picking something up. Now I’m looking at a healthy $4.00 salad or an unhealthy $1.00 cheese burger.
Then you factor in the convenience of five minutes in the drive thru versus an hour at the grocery and another hour in the kitchen. Most people are going to choose the cheaper, quicker option. I know if I could get a grilled chicken wrap for the same price as a double cheeseburger, I’d pick it nine times out of ten. But usually that wrap costs $1-2 dollars more.
The government and the mass media has gotten involved, but they’ve done so on what I think is the wrong side of this issue. Instead of belittling people for choosing the quicker, cheaper and unhealthy option (or banning large sodas as they did in NY), perhaps they should belittle the people who don’t give us a quick, cheap and healthier option.
Make heathy living easier and more affordable and I think you will see more people choose that option. Don’t belittle them for being over weight and don’t try to force it on them.
No comments:
Post a Comment