bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

 Greetings,

Many of you have requested more information regarding this survey. We have added the surveys to the story. If you go to the top of this forum and click on the story title it will take you back to the story. On the left rail there are two links, one for the survey results from 2005 and one for the survey results for 2008. We are working on other stories regarding this particular survey.
Thanks for your feedback. Bryce Jacobson, Publisher, bjacobson@craigdailypress.com.

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

Okay, lots of questions.

1) The spanish pages assist someone to learn English because all the stories printed in the Spanish pages are printed in English prior to publication in Spanish. The “English learner” is able to see a sentence, a word or a paragraph in English, then in Spanish. That is where the tool is effective.

2) Jason - No, I did not write my response at three in the morning. I apologize for making a mistake in my response. I can promise you that there will be more mistakes, I am hoping that my message was clearly conveyed so we can stay away from personal attacks and deal with the issue that we are discussing.

3) I hate it when people answer a question with a question, but I have to, I apologize. What special rights do we give them? I am confused by that question.

Now, I have a question for Jason.

Why is it that you continue to tell me how the Spanish Pages are wrong, but won't answer my question? What proof do you have that “they do not contribute to unity, assimilation or real progress for our community or country”? (please not the use of questions marks, I apologize for the error in the previous post.)

Thanks
Bryce

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

The claim that the Spanish Pages in the Craig Daily Press do not, “They do not contribute to unity, assimilation or real progress for our community or country.” What proof do you have of that. We have a hard time gathering factual data on these pages, hence the lack of factual data. When you make an assumption such as that, what kind of information do you have to back that up.

We have contacts within the non-english speaking community in Craig and Moffat County, they see results from our pages, they see non-english speaking citizens and/or illegal citizens learning to speak english with the assistance of these pages.

I look forward to learning your information.

We do not write our news pages at a 5th grade reading level per say, we write out pages in a language that is understood by our readers. You will see that many of our news stories are written far above a 5th grade level.

The old saying was that newspapers write at a 3rd grade level, but that is not always the case anymore.

I think there are many immigrants that come here legally and illegally that want to assimilate and pursue the American dream, I think that is very evident in this community. It is still happening.

Finally, why are the Spanish pages absurd? What makes them absurd? It is amazing to me that pages written in another language are absurd. I have had people tell me that it angers them so much they won't read the Tuesday paper, and that simply turning the page is not an option. It is my hope that people don't judge the Spanish pages with anger, but with logic, logically are they absurd?

Thanks
Bryce

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

The reason that this blog is under blogs is because it is a blog. If it was a community forum it would be under community forums. We are not hiding it. Blogs are new to our site just a couple months ago.

Sorry for the confusion. I want my blog and your blogs under blogs, they are different than a community forum because there is one person responding to questions, rather than a community discussion.

Thanks
Bryce

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

 Oldsage,

The policy that states “or make potentially slanderous or libelous comments … . we reserve the right (but assume no obligation) to remove any and/or all of your contributions.

That is how I made that decision. The comment made was potentially harmful to ones reputation and did not belong on this forum.

I am sure you would expect the same from us if your nickname was posted for any reason.

I appreciate your participation in this forum.

Bryce Jacobson
Publisher
publisher@craigdailypress.com

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

I do care what you think, I can't promise you that anything will change immediately, but I do wonder what people think. My hope is that people will see my point, as you wish that people will see yours. I don't expect to change your mind, but I am hopeful that through this conversation I can understand your point better and you mine. No, I do not ask my employees if they can speak Spanish. When a candidate applies for a job, if they can speak another language other than English, they do list that as a skill.

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

I have heard your point, and I appreciate your opinion. I still believe that business owners have a financial opportunity that they were taking advantage of in asking potential candidates if they speak spanish, because that is what their customer base was needing. I guarantee you that if any other language was prominent enough they would ask that of candidates as well.

You are correct that 47 of 10,000 is probably 1/2 a percent, but 47 out of 356 that responded to the survey, is about 13%. There are many things printed in the Craig Daily Press such as comics, NASCAR pages, Dear Abby that maybe, (I don't know, maybe higher maybe lower) that 13% of the readers read.

I am going to continue this blog for a couple more days but move onto something else next week. Thanks for your participation.

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

I do not have any “stats” on who picks up the Tuesday paper, I know that the free copies distributed on Tuesday are gone quicker than any other publication date. We also have an advisory board that tells us that they are being used, and teachers that are telling us they are being used.

“Hordes”, no, but several, yes, have indeed called us and told us thank you, have told our advisory board thank you.

We did a weekly poll several months back, you can see the results at http://www.craigdailypress.com/polls/….

Business owners make decisions that assist in growing their bottom line, if I understand correctly the opinion (that is was offensive to ask a potential employee if they spoke spanish), an employer shouldn't attempt to serve their customers, more efficiently?

If we want to welcome immigrants to our country and help them to fit in, how does the Spanish pages hurt that goal, doesn't it help them to become more comfortable?

Thank you for keeping it on the issue of the spanish pages, I appreciate that.

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

Okay, we have a specific request to assist in solving this problem. Can you email me the specifics on on what browser you are using, with as complete a version number as possible? We've never been able to duplicate that on IE 7 or IE 6 on Windows, or on any Mac browsers; so we're at a loss as to where to begin looking for a fix.

Thanks so much
Bryce

bjacobson (Bryce Jacobson) says…

I want to first apologize for the struggles that some of you are having viewing the www.craigdailypress.com and its features. We have been working to ensure that our style is a style that will work across all computer platforms, and will continue to do so until it is working efficiently for everyone.

I appreciate you letting us know, and please don't hesitate to contact me at 970-824-7031 or bjacobson@craigdailypress.com.

Thanks for your patience, Bryce Jacobson