The Makana Municipal Council and Grocott’s Mail enjoy a peculiar, if somewhat lopsided relationship. The newspaper relies on the municipality for a high proportion of its articles and a substantial share of advertising, while on the other hand, local government officials depend on Grocott’s Mail as a reliable channel for communicating with local residents.
In other words, this newspaper has a mutually dependent relationship with the good people on the other side of Church Square. However, as often happens with symbiotic relationships, tempers flare regularly. They get upset with the newspaper when it criticises too harshly and we get annoyed, almost every day, when a certain official doesn’t respond to our queries.
Perhaps the most frequently cited complaint from the municipality is that Grocott’s Mail is always criticising – looking for faults instead of adopting a more constructive, co-operative position. Why don’t we ever write positive stories about the municipality? This
The Makana Municipal Council and Grocott’s Mail enjoy a peculiar, if somewhat lopsided relationship. The newspaper relies on the municipality for a high proportion of its articles and a substantial share of advertising, while on the other hand, local government officials depend on Grocott’s Mail as a reliable channel for communicating with local residents.
In other words, this newspaper has a mutually dependent relationship with the good people on the other side of Church Square. However, as often happens with symbiotic relationships, tempers flare regularly. They get upset with the newspaper when it criticises too harshly and we get annoyed, almost every day, when a certain official doesn’t respond to our queries.
Perhaps the most frequently cited complaint from the municipality is that Grocott’s Mail is always criticising – looking for faults instead of adopting a more constructive, co-operative position. Why don’t we ever write positive stories about the municipality? This
complaint is not without foundation because we do look for faults, but it is not true that we don’t write p
ositive articles about municipal officials.
First of all, try to look at it from a reader’s point of view. If the mayor goes to work every day and does what he is supposed to, that is hardly a story worth writing or reading. However, if the mayor did not go to work for a few weeks, then we would have a big story on our hands. Newspapers do not write stories about thousands of aircraft that fly safely to their destinations every day, they write about the one that crashes into the sea. We are always looking for the one that crashes into the sea, and unfortunately the Makana Municipality gives us plenty to write about.
However, Grocott’s Mail and all its staff members are first and foremost, citizens of this town and as such we have a vested interest in the well-being of Makana, and all those of us who live in it. Therefore we would love to write good news stories about the municipality and the council. We would be happy to publish an article about the cleanliness of our streets or about the amazing quality of water that is accessible to everyone who lives here. We desperately want to write these stories. Please tell us about them.
