Published: October 17, 2009 11:43 pm      

Jimmy Espy:The forum and me

It’s been a little more than a year since we changed Today’s Forum (see page 2A) to its current format.

Before, on a daily basis, we posed questions and asked readers to respond. Some questions drew a strong response (several dozen calls), others might generate only a handful of comments.

One fateful Sunday I was working alone and as usual was way behind in getting the paper out. Instead of trying to think of a particular question for readers, I threw the floor open for reader comments.

Today’s Forum (and my life) haven’t been the same since.

The immediate response caught my attention. More than 40 calls came in. So, the next day I tried it again. More than 50 callers responded.

Within a few days we received more than 100 calls in a day.

Not being a complete idiot, I realized we had stumbled onto a good thing and the forum has never gone back to its old, straitjacketed format.

Thousands of comments later, it continues to rock along, averaging more than 75 calls a day and bringing more reader comments than any other feature in the newspaper.

I like to think it’s sold a few newspapers as well.

Not everyone’s a fan. The forum has its detractors.

I like to think of the forum as a populist sounding board.

Anyone, no matter what race, religion, political persuasion, etc., can call in and make his or her view heard.

The $9-an-hour line worker in a local plant gets the same respect as the millionaire who owns the plant. The older lady on retirement can cross rhetorical swords with any other caller.

The atheist and the preacher are free to duel.

The Obama campaign worker can go at it with the National Review subscriber.

It’s a free-for-all, and not everyone is comfortable with that kind of exchange. People in power don’t like it when they don’t know who is criticizing them. That’s understandable, but as long as the criticism is within bounds, they should be able to live with it. Hey, it’s the price you pay for being the “people in power.”

One criticism leveled at the forum is that the “negativity” of callers reflects badly on the community.

It has been said that the people thinking of moving here who read the forum will have second thoughts.

It has been said that the forum is a potential roadblock to economic investment, possibly scaring off business owners considering moving here.

Ha!

The entrepreneur who alters a multi-million dollar business decision because of a comment he read in a newspaper call-in column is a business owner we can do without.

He’s heading down anyway.

My answer to the folks who think the forum is too negative? Call in your positive comments. Let’s hear from you more often!

Ninety percent of the feedback I get about the forum is positive. Most of the readers I talk to say it’s their favorite part of the newspaper — the first thing they read every morning.

Most of the callers are fine as well, though as with any anonymous call-in format we do hear from our share of nuts, racists, goofballs and other assorted primitive screwheads.

Unfortunately, that’s part of the deal.

Today’s Forum makes the newspaper more fun. With more than 100 calls on a lot of days, it’s a task to try and keep up with it, but most of our readers seem to think it’s worth the effort.

Disagree?

Call 706-272-7748 and tell us.



Jimmy Espy is executive editor of The Daily Citizen. He blogs at Espysoutpost.blogpsot.com