With the New Year approaching, it seems like a good time to evaluate where the Grand Blanc View is at as a company. Self-reflection is always good, and as we are nearing our two-year anniversary next year, I believe we have laid the groundwork for what could be a successful company, but there are definitely some areas that need to be improved.
As an upstart paper, we enjoyed a nice honeymoon period. Compliments flowed in and people seemed to feel good about having us as an addition to the community. While the compliments were nice to hear, and definitely needed by me so early in my journalism career, the problem has been complacency. We do not want our company to become out of touch with our readers. As a small, independent newspaper company, we are definitely not on the same playing field resource-wise as competitors. The only way we will be successful in the future is by being responsive to the needs and wants of readers.
As with any honeymoon period, it is becoming increasingly clear that ours is over. We have set a standard, and when we fail to live up to that standard, people are rightly calling us on it. I see this as a positive thing and would now like to take the time to address a couple things that have been pointed out to us and also look at our future.

Mistakes
A quick glance at our letters this week and I am sure readers will notice someone wrote in about the amount of grammatical and content mistakes he feels are becoming more prevalent in the paper.
As editor of this paper, I am fully responsible for those. Call it complacency, malaise, inattention to detail or just plain ignorance, but whatever it is, it needs to improve. In my hometown, I grew up with a local newspaper that boasted headlines such as “Loving with Alzheimer’s” (they meant to say “Living”). Every week, the paper could be counted on for a laugh or two. This is the last thing I want people to do when they see their copy of the Grand Blanc View show up in the mailbox.
Mistakes, although they are detestable, are inevitable. Despite numerous people going over stories with a fine-tooth comb every week, one or two are sometimes going to slip by weary eyes. Obviously, if mistakes are noticed so much that someone writes a letter to the editor complaining, something has to change. All readers can look forward to a more error-free Grand Blanc View beginning with this issue.

Hunting
We have had quite a lively debate, both among readers and on our own staff, about the fact that we show photos of hunters with their prey on our outdoor page.
While I am not a hunter (I hate the cold and the thought of me with a firearm is terrifying), I certainly do not begrudge anyone who does hunt. Hunters take their hobby seriously, and are extremely proud when they or their kids bag a big buck on a hunting trip.
On the other side of the coin, some readers and children are understandably squeamish when they see a dead animal in the newspaper.
As a community newspaper, we have to be open to the lifestyles and beliefs of all those who make up our readership. While we certainly do not want to be anti-hunting, we have to consider the feelings of our readers who are anti-hunting, or are at least anti-hunting pictures in a newspaper.
For those readers who were against running the photos, we as a staff have decided to continue to, but we are paying extra attention to editing or leaving out those that are extremely graphic.
Compromise has to happen and although I am not sure either side of this debate would be completely satisfied with the solution, both sides can rest assured that their points have been listened to and debated heartily.

Looking ahead
Despite some hiccups along the way, we are still a paper that offers a very unique product. We offer more news relevant to Grand Blanc and Goodrich than any other paper. We are the only paper assured of going into every home in our circulation area for free each week. We always have vibrant, full-color photos on every page. We are the only paper that, despite how difficult it is, attempts to give extensive coverage to all high school varsity sports.
We hope that readers consider these unique staples and understand that we are committed to constant improvement in our product.

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