I made a foolish mistake last week. Responding in anger to baseless criticism from someone who doesn’t know who we are, or what we do, is simply that, foolish.
Here at the Tribune last week we got a letter in the mail that accused us of biased reporting. The story in question was written by one of my staff, who just happens to be my daughter, hence the quick rise to anger. Yet as the publisher, nothing goes in this paper that I haven’t read and edited, so the criticism was not aimed at her directly, it was aimed at all of us.
The person who wrote the letter hid behind anonymity, failing to sign their claims, or even putting a return address on the envelope. That alone should have directed me to simply put the letter in the trash where it belonged. Anyone making accusations while hiding behind a veil doesn’t carry much credibility. In fact, if someone were to make a claim of bias, and do so to my face, it would garner a sit down to discuss the issue. That happened not long ago, and a discussion settled the issue.
