Palladium-Item Viewpoints Editor Dale McConnaughay announced today that the Pal-Item is ending its "open-invitation format" for the public to attend its editorial board meetings. McConnaughay cites the difficulty in keeping the group on track within an allotted time period when the meetings have to accommodate sometimes lengthy and unplanned discussions with those who happen to attend in a given week.
As a part of the announcement, McConnaughay clarifies that anyone who wishes to attend can still contact him to schedule a visit, and the group's agenda will still be sent out in advance as it has been. The board is also expanding the number of community members on the board to eight. Read McConnaughay's full announcement.
This is bad news and I believe it will eventually reflect badly upon the Pal Item.
Comment by Nick Wilson — Friday May 4, 2007 @ 8:47 amThe board itself is a great group of people.
I will miss being able to attend the meetings and seeing how the opinions were formed.
I always enjoyed the meetings and felt welcomed to voice an opinion.
It is in my opinion a sad end to a good thing.
I can understand where the Pal-Item is coming from on this one. I've been to a couple of these meetings, and it is almost impossible to keep public discussions focused and on point. Anyone with specific opinion or concern can still meet with board, state their case, and still make it back to work in an hour. I hope this new plan works out for the paper and its readers. Time will tell, I suppose.
Comment by Rex Bell — Sunday May 6, 2007 @ 10:06 pm