Comments on: Column: Two-Year Milestone

By: TeacherPatti

TeacherPatti — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:05:38 +0000

Great. Now I gotta worry about Mary getting hit by a bus!
PS: Happy anniversary :)

By: Stew Nelson

Stew Nelson — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:58:11 +0000

My congratulations also on a great job. Your dedication and persistence is what has made this work. I have sat in on numerous meetings and before the AA Chronicle the only reporter around was Judy McGovern. Judy knows how hard it is to keep pace with the literally thousands of meetings that take place in the City each year.

I hope in the future the AA Chronicle can add Lansing to your business model. There is a lot going on up there that affects us also.

~Stew

By: Dave Cahill

Dave Cahill — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:20:31 +0000

Congratulations on the Chronicle’s second anniversary! Nobody can beat your coverage. Your success demonstrates that *occasionally* quality matters.

By: Lloyd E. Powell

Lloyd E. Powell — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:05:09 +0000

You’re tops in our book! Lloyd

By: Jim Manheim

Jim Manheim — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:00:53 +0000

You’re certainly fulfulling a valuable part of the mission formerly held by newspapers. Your reflections make me wonder whether your operation is unique. Are you aware of similar sites in other places?

By: Dan Ezekiel

Dan Ezekiel — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 01:58:15 +0000

Happy Anniversaries, Mary and Dave, Long may you continue to pursue your dogged, iconoclastic vision of journalism. You are the kind of people, and your business is the kind of enterprise, that make Ann Arbor special.

I fully expect that people will be reading AAC archives in the AADL a century from now, when many of today’s better-known news providers are languishing in well-deserved oblivion.

By: Stephen Cain

Stephen Cain — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 21:41:53 +0000

Good column, Mary, and I think you are right on about the importance of covering governmental meetings. Yes, it moves the pile and tends to keep folks honest, knowing that their words are likely to see the light of day and that they can be called on them. The posturing is a small price to pay. The other great value is the creation of an historical record. Without that, an opportunist or revisionist can assert almost anything happened, and who can effectively challenge them?

I was 18 years reporting for The Ann Arbor News, did a couple years worth of AA City Council and a bit over a year of the U-M Board of Regents. I viewed most meetings as deadly to attend and deadly to write about because it was hard to make the reports interesting to other than civic affairs junkies (although there are actually quite a few of them in Ann Arbor).

Mary, I also agree that you are wise to aim at the niche market rather than trying to be all things to all people. But there is a next step that I think would be possible without straying from your mission. Rather, I think it would enhance what you are trying to do. And that is to add to the reporting a focus on how the issue being discussed affects peoples’ lives. Also, what information can you impart that will help people better manage their lives. And once more people believe that what happens at the AA City Council has consequences for their lives, more will pay attention to what’s going on. That would be good for the Chronicle and good for the city.

By: nancy kaplan

nancy kaplan — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:33:20 +0000

Thank you for keeping us well informed on the civic affairs of our community. This knowledge and insight helps to make us more effective participating citizens. The Chronicle is indeed a valuable community asset and I am glad the AADL will preserve all that you are doing.

Happy anniversaries Mary and Dave.

By: Jack Eaton

Jack Eaton — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:18:04 +0000

Mary, happy wedding and business anniversaries.

For those of us who care so dearly about our special little college town, you and Dave are a priceless asset. Because you report what happened and what was said without characterizing the speaker or his intent, you create the best record of our local political history.

I agree that just showing up is of great importance. Having you here to cover the events on those occasions when one cannot attend is truly the next best thing to being there.

I would note, however, that another local news outlet has just raised the price of home delivery for its print edition. Perhaps it’s time you consider allowing the option of choosing higher “subscription” rates (within whatever annual limit you impose).

Thanks for all that you two have done for the community. I wish you many more years of wedded and business bliss.

By: Newcombe Clark

Newcombe Clark — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:35:07 +0000

Right on the money. If you and Dave weren’t doing what you were doing (reminding people of the facts, even the messy, complex ones) I for one would be convinced I was taking crazy pills. A perverse pleasure I have in all those countless meetings is occasionally being able to catch someone as they try to revise, rewrite, or forget history. Usually the evidence on hand is the records you keep. A great community resource worthy of supporting and protecting.