craigdailypress.com

jmartin (Jerry Martin) says…

Mrs. Phillips,

I am sorry you were unhappy with our coverage of last week’s TMH board meeting. Our reporter covered the meeting and wrote about what happened there, but couldn’t comment a whole lot about things that were rumored to happen or supposed to happen.

As far as the larger issue, that same reporter has interviewed your husband as part of her investigation into the matter. Some of the other doctors she has contacted, however, are legally unable to comment until next month. Running a story with comments from all the ex-employees in question is a lot stronger than breaking them up into separate stories, so we have chosen to wait until we have talked to everyone before moving forward.

But I assure you, the issue is still at the forefront of our attention.

As far as letters to the editor, I can honestly say in my short time as manager here, I have never turned away a letter to the editor simply because I don’t like the content.

If something happened before I became manager, I cannot comment on that. However since mid-August the only letter I have received concerning your husband was from the VNA thanking him, which we ran.

If you have a letter to the editor you want to run, send it to me at gmartin@craigdailypress.com. As long as it is under our 500-word limit and doesn’t use profanity, I can assure you it will be published that day online and in print as soon as space allows.

If you are referring to the interview your husband did with our reporter, it will be published when we have talked to everyone involved. It’s a sensitive issue, as I’m sure you understand, and rather than rush to press with a story we want to make sure we’ve done our due diligence, which in part means waiting for these other doctors to be available for interview.

I understand the importance of this issue and if you want to discuss any aspect of it with me further, feel free to call me Monday-Friday between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. at (970) 875-1790.

Jerry Martin
Content Manager
Craig Daily Press

jmartin (Jerry Martin) says…

If you look through the last few newspapers we have published, you will find a number of stories about local people and issues that you won’t anywhere else, including:

• Coverage of the Yampa Valley Pregnancy Resource Center’s annual benefit: http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2…

• Coverage of a special Sunday fire board meeting: http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2…

• Coverage of CMS basketball: http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2…

• A feature on Steve Deyo’s induction into the Colorado Football Official’s Hall of Fame: http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2…

• A feature about two local siblings traveling to Australia: http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2…

• Coverage of a presentation about health care reform (which the Daily Press co-sponsored): http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2…

• Coverage of the MCHS football game: http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2…

• A feature about a drive organized by local students to benefit the local food bank: http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2…

And that’s just eight examples of local stories we’ve written in the first four days of the month found after a quick scan of our papers.

I am more than happy to talk with you about ways we can improve our local coverage. Feel free to call me Monday-Friday between 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. at (970) 875-1790.

Jerry Martin
Content Manager
Craig Daily Press

jmartin (Jerry Martin) says…

 Xrsareus,

I am sorry that you aren’t satisfied with the local coverage we have been providing. We strive to provide the best coverage possible with the resources available to us and are always open to suggestions on how to improve.

In terms of the story you referenced about the Capitol Christmas Tree, we did a story — http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2… — in the beginning of October about this project. We did not have room in Saturday’s paper to run the photo from the Meeker Chamber of Commerce, as the Pilot did, and unlike Steamboat Craig was not originally listed as a place where the tree would make a stop.

That information first came out Friday afternoon, and details about the stop still are being worked out, so there was no way to prepare a full story about an event when no solid details were available until today. We put as much information as we had in the “In Brief” section and when the Chamber released tentative schedule of events today, we posted it immediately. You can find the schedule here: http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2….

As far as the Eco-Flight story (found here: http://www.craigdailypress.com/news/2…), we felt our coverage was adequate considering the group was in town the same day Monty Pilgrim decided to appeal his conviction for cattle rustling and several MCHS sports teams either qualified for the post-season or wrapped up seasons. We felt our reporters’ time was better spent covering those local stories rather than spending more time than we did covering a story about an environmental group from Aspen.

The Lamar and Pitkin stories you referenced were simply AP reports we posted on one of our other websites, www.cohuntr.com, and were able to post to craigdailypress.com with no added effort. Those stories didn’t take any time away from our employees and those stories didn’t take the place of any local coverage. It was an easy way to provide website users with information we otherwise wouldn’t be able to.