A letter from the publisher

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 232, 23 February 1988, Page 9

A letter from the publisher

Today's edition of the Bulletin may seem something of an indulgence if you look closely. You will find many advertisements and articles patting the Bulletin on the back and wishing it well in the future. The support of our clients and their participation in this first new-look edition is greatly appreciated. It's also very flattering. However, it's a tribute not to the changes and the new look or content of the paper, but rather to the pioneering efforts and foresight of John and Johan Sandford who started the Bulletin in 1983. Of course it's also a commendation to their staff, both past and present. To name any of them would be unfair. For my part, I want to say what an excellent job they have done in establishing the Bulletin as a fine community newspaper. Having started and run local newspapers myself before, I know that it's not easy. The unique challenge of newspapering is to successfully juggle the pressures of having to cover costs, to win acceptance, to gather news, to follow ethical principles of journalism and remain fair at all times and finally to meet production deadlines week after week. It's with a little shame that I must admit, after all the experience and

lessons I've learned in 17 years of newspapering, this very edition was incredibly late. We missed two couriers and had to drive our artwork to Wanganui in the middle of last night, then re-arrange more than 20 delivery arrangements, after persuading our very busy printers at the Wanganui Chronicle to re-schedule our job. But still, as they say, the paper got through. And, oh well, it's an exciting job. So now it's with a very self-conscious attitude that we explain why the Bulletin is today featuring ITSELF. Our defence is that we won't be doing it again for a long time. While we've got your attention it is an appropriate time to talk about some of the principles and policies we'll be following in future. THOROUGH REPORTING The role of community newspaper journalism is to dig a little deeper, to report more thoroughly, to give more detail, to inform. Hence the longer type of story that will sometimes appear like today's article on the district council's engineer debate (page 23). OFF-BEAT NEWS To offset the heavy-weight stuff like local government, we'll be bringing you lots of stories containing human interest. Columns like our Gossip and

Bouquet items are part of the answer. The little things like pet shows, club reports, problems with dogs and community workers needing support. SHOWING INITIATIVE Our role is to provide community leadership, not always by offering comment and opinion. Offering editorial space to council candidates to express their views is another way. Opening our doors and facilities to school pupils wanting to produce their own newspaper is another. Putting tough questions to multi-million dollar developers is yet another. PEOPLE MAKE NEWS Above all we want news about people.... the fireman who lends a helping hand (page 2), the "retired" insurance agent and school principal who're still working fulltime in the community (page 28) and the local businessman who changes jobs (page 8). THE LAST WORD Finally there's one word that sums up what we should be doing: it's SERVING. For 231 weeks since it started the Bulletin has been doing just that. Serving the Waimarino communities. And that's what we can thank the Sandfnrds and their staff for.

John

Woods

Publisher