New Publisher for Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
It was reported yesterday in the Register-Star that Mark Vinciguerra, who has been director of audience development for the Times Union, will succeed the late Roger Coleman as the publisher of Hudson-Catskill Newspapers: "Vinciguerra to take reins of Hudson-Catskill Newspapers."
Welcome to Hudson, Mr. Vinciguerra!
ReplyDeleteThanks to your former role in "audience development" at another publication, residents of Hudson hope that you'll be especially sensitive to the Register Star's problematic lack of an ombudsman.
For years the public could depend on the record of the RS's online comment threads to correct or criticize not only the reporting of journalists, but the actions of local politicians too. (Politicians often replied directly to these criticisms right in the comment threads!)
When the RS online was redesigned last year, all previous comment threads for stories which remain accessible were deleted. With the total effacement in one stroke of this important public record, it was as if our substitute ombudsman had its memory wiped clean.
Without anyone at the newspaper addressing issues which traditionally concern an ombudsman, of course there was no one with whom one might have registered a meaningful complaint.
In the recent past, valuable Letters to the Editor went unpublished. One letter replied to a pointed criticism for the public by a local politician, who had used the RS opinion pages to deliver his blow. In another, the administration of Columbia-Greene Community College was scrutinized, making corrections to figures which were provided by the college administration and were then parroted in the RS story.
The public tended to chalk up such irregularities to the former publisher's political and social commitments.
Where public confidence is concerned, it is unfortunate that the RS you inherit is in a deep hole. This is the first thing you need to address.