Cowards

Ninety-nine percent of the emails I get and 100% of the phone calls and personal comments I get about the Register & Bee are supportive of this blog, encouraging and even excited about the fact someone is writing about the decreasing quality and the lack of concern the R&B and Media General have for their readers. But every once in awhile I'll get a disgruntled whiny letter from someone who is defending the paper. Those emails tend to come from people who either work at the paper, are involved with someone who works there - or did work there or are part of the Media General dysfunctional family in some way.

I know this because other people recognize the name or email address they've given on their post or other people who work there or in C'Ville or Richmond NOW hear about it tell me....or former employees recognize the comments. Those unhappy with this blog NEVER use their real name or identify themselves. Why? Because they're cowards. Like the paper they defend they want to hide behind something and spit or throw rocks. They're NEVER man or WOMAN enough to tell me who they are and express themselves honestly. Everyone who reads this blog knows who I am. I don't mince words. I don't print/publish anything I don't have facts and proof or evidence of. I even post that proof when I have it. If you don't like what you read then quit reading it. Or sign your name when you write and ask me not to print it if you fear repercussions. But if you really expect to be taken seriously, sign your name.

I have NEVER received any contact from anyone in the community who supports the paper. Business owners, clerks, students, teachers, politicians - ALL have expressed complaints about the paper to me. They have shown me ads that were screwed up, names misspelled, photos of the piles and piles of unread/unsold newspapers that have been tossed, asked why they're not getting their papers until 8 a.m. some mornings...the list just goes on. These are things the Register & Bee obviously doesn't care about because they're not doing anything about them! I was in a store last week and standing at a counter when two women in line behind me started talking about the paper. They had no idea who I was - so it was NOT for my benefit. They just saw the paper in the rack and started talking!

The newspaper sucked at news and employee and community relations before I got there and it still does. There are some good people at the paper, but management, as a whole, is worthless. They don't care about the community. They don't care about their readers. They do care about making money. If they truly cared about the community they'd fix the things people complain about instead of just promising to take care of it. They wouldn't have moved their printing out of town, moved their obituary layout out of town, moved the advertising layout out of town, or made the changes they've made. They'd let their contract employees have access to the bathroom rather than force them to use the parking lot or bushes. They'd care. They don't.


Advertisers tell me they HAVE to advertise in the paper because it's the only paper in town. More than a dozen people now have urged me to start another paper. Another newspaper is in the works, trust me. It is happening. There are enough unhappy advertisers willing to jump ship once it does - so it's just a matter of time. Hang on. The Register & Bee is not about to start caring about its readers at this stage of the game. And if any of you know Seth Godin or follow marketing trends you know the way the economy is headed - that ONLY companies who pay attention to customer satisfaction will survive. We still have a major media company who has STILL failed to apologize for a reporter's flashing video of one of its advertiser's breasts around the newsroom! So....if you want to support that kind of business....you and the paper are welcome to what it brings you.