Editorial

Top of the Sixth

This week marks the beginning of the sixth year that I have been publishing The Monument Newspaper. It has been an interesting five years, filled with challenges, surprises, and adventures.

Five years ago, the response to the idea of a new paper with a focus on news was not initially greeted by some with delight, or even acceptance. I was told in no uncertain terms by one or two locals that the status quo was that there was already a paper here and why rock the boat with another. I thought rocking the boat was a good idea, so I went full steam ahead with serving the citizens and the community with higher standards, quality journalism, and a wider range of community articles that are well-written and interesting.Right, Editor Elizabeth Prata

Some of the stories that I published generated heated comment in several other area newspapers. There have been letters and Editorials in The Gray News, the Portland Phoenix, and the Portland Press Herald responding to articles that were published in The Monument. I always thought that it was funny to respond in a different paper from which the original article was published. And helpful, too. As the Irish playwright Brendan Behan said, "There is no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary."

Some of the comments tossed at me by a few isolated naysayers seemed as if the writers wished it was my obituary that was being published. A few of the comments printed were that I am "a bad worm that makes a stink and cause a smell, an amateur with an inexpensive digital camera, a screeching, self-righteous conflict addict," and, "part of a cabal."

My all-time favorite is the conflict addict remark. I loved that one so much I made a set of mugs with the phrase on one side and the Egad guy on the other.

The Paper has been called: "an oracle for a small group of residents who just want to cause civic mischief, anti-everything, a fountain of misinformation, yellow journalism, a fledgling newsletter, the Town's version of The National Enquirer, and an abominable piece of journalism."
The Monument certainly has generated a lot of comments.

Being successful means being mindful of all sides to your business. Below is an excerpt from a news story about the a daily paper in New York:
"Some small-town newspapers have used their position in the marketplace to make money from advertisers while ignoring editorial quality." Rather than giving you 12 pages of ads held together with press releases, with one or two diluted pieces on events that may or may not reflect what really happened, my focus with The Monument from the beginning was and is to offer a higher standard, because you deserve it.

We publish hard-hitting news because we have a responsibility to show you reality. Sometimes I got hit back, though. My position is that legitimate news should be printed as news, no matter whom it involves. Occasionally things got rough, but I stuck to my guns and admittedly breathed a sigh of relief when the episodes were over.

There is a lesson for me in humility, here, too. What differentiates a small paper in a small town from the big city daily paper is that you end up sitting next to those on whom you have just reported at the game, you stand next to them in line at the grocery store, you gaze at them opposite the recycling bin at the transfer station. It teaches me that accuracy and fairness are not just words but are words behind real people, and their families.

The best part during this five years is to see the attendance at meetings rise as people realize that they have a voice and that not only the microphone would capture their comments but the newspaper would, and would do it respectfully.

Over the years countless people have both quietly and loudly supported The Monument. I cannot thank all of you enough for the laughs and the help through our growth from a bi-weekly with a print run of 3,200 distributed to one town, to an award-winning weekly with a print run of 6,000 distributed to six towns. It has been so fun!

I have absolutely loved these five years and working for you, the reader, the citizens, the community. I thank you for reading and I thank you for advertising. Here's to the next five years.

A quote from a 1989 column by Geneva Overholser of The Des Moines Register says it best: "The best thing I can give Iowans is rarer than good news. It's a good newspaper."