If you have questions about how the Daily News makes editorial decisions, this blog has the answers. Editorial page editor Matt Zencey and writers Frank Gerjevic and Rosemary Shinohara will discuss what they're working on, answer questions and ask your perspective on issues facing Alaska.
Matt Zencey
Matt Zencey joined the Daily News as an editorial writer in 1985 and was named editorial page editor in May 2007. He has won several. "Best editorial writing" awards from the Alaska Press Club and was a Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard University. He lives on the west side of Anchorage, where he enjoys the best weather in town and easy access to the Coastal Trail. E-mail Matt at mzencey@adn.com
Frank Gerjevic
Frank Gerjevic has worked at the Daily News since 1978, where he's been sports editor, copy editor, reporter and columnist. He's been an editorial writer since 1998. He began his newspaper career with the Anchorage Times in 1975. E-mail Frank at fgerjevic@adn.com
Rosemary Shinohara
Rosemary Shinohara is an editorial writer who has lived most of her life in Alaska. She has spent most of her career as a reporter or editor at the Daily News. She covered construction of the Alaska oil pipeline, the Legislature, schools and urban affairs. She has also been an editor for NPR's All Things Considered, and has written for the Associated Press. E-mail Rosemary at rshinohara.com
"I dare ADN to publish this." - 5/13/2008 8:42 am
Looking to save on gas and ride the bus? - 5/12/2008 9:35 am
Joe Contraire's latest, coming soon - 5/9/2008 2:41 pm
Sarcasm? Hah! A non-fan writes in.... - 5/9/2008 11:48 am
Who's accountable for ADN editorials? - 5/7/2008 11:14 am
Talk radio: Dittoheads vs liberals - 5/7/2008 11:01 am
More info and commentary on John McCain's health care 'plan' - 5/1/2008 6:29 pm
Join the dialogue on race and diversity - 4/30/2008 4:44 pm
How can our community as a whole combat prejudice and discrimination? - 4/30/2008 4:42 pm
What can an individual do about prejudice? - 4/30/2008 4:39 pm
Prejudice here - getting better or worse? - 4/30/2008 4:37 pm
Prejudice and discrimination: How are we doing in Anchorage? - 4/30/2008 4:36 pm
Not-so elevated discourse - 4/28/2008 4:20 pm
Elevated discourse - 4/28/2008 10:44 am
Yin and Yang - 4/25/2008 6:00 pm
UAA vs UAF - 4/24/2008 3:59 pm
Arctic Power demands retraction re Liddy - 4/23/2008 6:04 pm
Airport expansion vs. Kincaid trails - 4/23/2008 10:20 am
About the First Amendment - 4/23/2008 9:52 am
Irwin rips Exxon, partners on Point Thomson - 4/22/2008 5:25 pm
Tesche heads into the sunset - 4/22/2008 4:52 pm
Good words from Leonard Pitts - 4/22/2008 3:25 pm
MAY 13, 2008 - 8:42 AM
Every so often we get a letter or op-ed submission that includes the challenge, "I dare ADN to publish this."
Implying of course, that the writer has something powerful and unpopular to say, and we lack the journalistic courage to put it in the paper.
So I look at what the writer says, and inevitably, what I find is this. The piece is so badly written - badly argued, if not outright incoherent, or irredeemably tasteless -- that it would never get published on its own merits. The writer's only hope is to call our editing manhood into question.
Well, these days, there's a place for airing views like that: the Web. If we're going to kill trees to put somebody's views in the paper, we want it to be worth the sacrifice of cellulose. It's got to be worth our readers' time.
MAY 12, 2008 - 9:35 AM
From Rosemary Shinohara:
Across the country, "More commuters are abandoning their cars and taking the train or bus instead," the New York Times reported in a story over the weekend.
Gas prices approaching $4 per gallon are motivating people to ride the bus.
I'm working on some editorials about improving the bus system and increasing the number of riders. I'd like to talk to some people who are thinking about riding the bus. I'd like to know what it would take to get you there. What kind of obstacles are in your way?
Please e-mail me at rshinohara@adn.com, or call 257-4340
If you'd like to comment here, that would be great, too. Thanks.
MAY 9, 2008 - 2:41 PM
Keep an eye on adn.com/opinion for a link to Joe Contraire's latest rant against ADN. He's teeing off on ADN for a lame satire, Withering Heights, which he says just tries to inflame the conflict between Lyda and Sarah.
MAY 9, 2008 - 11:48 AM
Here's a long reply that came directly to me, prompted by my notebook about liberal talk radio (which is on the blog here, a couple of posts down):
-- Matt Zencey
I read the above referenced editorial (SHE MEANS THE ALASKA NOTEBOOK ON LIBERAL TALK RADIO). I noticed, of course, you signed it. Did you win the straw pick among the editorial staff?
That was a quick and dirty attempt at sarcasm. Perhaps with more time I'd do better. My implication is that any one of your staff could have put his or her name to the editorial, as you are all liberals - ooops, sorry, progressives. I chose this rather lame opening, because I understand from my husband, who was listening to Dan Fagan's show, that you stated you were being sarcastic, not serious in this opinion piece. Upon hearing that I asked him if he had read it. He said he hadn't.
MAY 7, 2008 - 11:14 AM
Somebody who was unimpressed by our editorial about Jake Metcalfe's silence on his campaign's dirty tricks complained that "the ADN is being “righteous”, yet as usual - unaccountable. No name is signed on the editorial as usual, but the ADN editors slam a politician for not being accountable. This is basically a rat calling another rat … a rat."
I posted this reply to him, under the heading, "Who's accountable at ADN - unsigned editorials"
Dear Mr. Stick-It-To-The-Man:
Like almost all newspaper editorials, ours in the Daily News are not signed. They reflect the opinion of the newspaper as an institution rather than any individual writer. The person who writes it is, in effect, a "speechwriter" for the paper.
MAY 7, 2008 - 11:01 AM
A caller said he had trouble finding the on line version of today's controversial Alaska notebook, which lampoons both liberal and conservative talk radio. Here it is:
Liberal talk radio
I don't know the real reason liberal radio talk show host Aaron Selbig was sacked from KUDO-AM. Maybe it was the lousy ratings. Maybe it was that he dared go where the station's offstage masters at IBEW didn't want him to go.
I do know this: Liberal talk radio is a lousy business proposition.
And there are good reasons for that.
No. 1 -- Liberals have minds of their own. Unlike Rush Limbaugh's dittoheads, they don't respond like Pavlov's dogs when the master rings their emotional bells.
MAY 1, 2008 - 6:29 PM
Here are some links with information used in Friday’s editorial panning John McCain’s health care plan.
The Kaiser Family Foundation has a summary
overview of what health benefits employers offered nationwide in 2007.
The Alaska Health Policy Review is edited by Larry Weiss, a critic of McCain’s plan.
Fortune magazine’s laudatory review of McCain’s plan is here.
APRIL 30, 2008 - 4:44 PM
(If you’ve seen our print edition editorial on this topic, you can skip to the next post and start answering the discussion questions.)
Radio jocks Woody and Wilcox’s insulting and demeaning “joke” about Native women has had one healthy side effect. It has prompted our increasingly diverse community to confront the prejudice and discrimination that still fester here. The infamous insult has opened the door for what could be a healthy community dialogue.
Anchorage got a chance to start that dialogue Monday, thanks to the Begich administration, UAA and the YMCA. More than 100 folks convened at St. Anthony’s Church to discuss race and diversity. Guided by a trained facilitator, a panel and the audience considered questions like, As a community, where are we? Where are we going? What can you, the citizen, do to improve understanding and acceptance? What must society do to counter prejudice and discrimination?
APRIL 30, 2008 - 4:42 PM
* What changes in our community and our society are needed to reduce prejudice and discrimination? (The changes might be in government, politics, the economy or just society in general).
APRIL 30, 2008 - 4:39 PM
* What is one thing you personally could do to promote better understanding and acceptance among ethnic groups?
APRIL 30, 2008 - 4:37 PM
Here's another question to stimulate discussion about prejudice and discrimination in our city and state: Is it getting better or worse?
APRIL 30, 2008 - 4:36 PM
Here is the first of several questions we hope will prompt some constructive discussion on the prejudice and discrimination and appreciation of diversity in Anchorage.
* When it comes to prejudice and discrimination, how are we doing here in Anchorage and Alaska? What have you experienced or witnessed? What did you do about it?
APRIL 28, 2008 - 4:20 PM
This would-be letter writer's complaint is a good complement to the following post from Mary Hattie, letters editor. She remarked on the relatively elevated tone that ADN letter writers displayed in commenting on the Woody & Wilcox controversy.
In this email exchange, the would-be writer complained that we wouldn't publish in the print edition his letter saying that the two snowmachiners who died at Turnagain Pass this winter deserved to die because they were stupid. He also delighted at the prospect that more snowmachiners might meet a similar fate -- it's Darwin's evolution at work, he said.
APRIL 28, 2008 - 10:44 AM
From Mary Hattie:
The April 19 letters page was dedicated entirely to commentary about an offensive comment made by a morning radio show host on KBFX 100.5-FM. The comment was racist toward Alaska Native women. One listener made calls and sent e-mails and notified our community about what was said. News coverage followed, and then responses to the news.
When I began lining up the letters in the print queue I was feeling a little anxious. Obviously every letter was addressing the issue of racism in some fashion, and that can get ugly. The comments feature at the end of the online article was turned off after five hours and about 145 comments were posted. The comments were getting out of hand.
APRIL 25, 2008 - 6:00 PM
From Mary Hattie:
I could not help but marvel at the irony, the yin and yang, of two letters sent in this morning.
10:05 a.m. - Writer complains that after he left his wallet on a pharmacy window counter it was swiped. The money to pay for his medicine is gone, and he has been dealing with the hassle of replacing his cards. He bought a replacement wallet that came with a chain. "There are a lot of opportunists just waiting for your careless move," he warns.
The very next e-mail ...
10:18 a.m. - Writer blesses the unnamed person who returned her purse which was left lying in a parking lot (presumably she left it lying there by accident).
APRIL 24, 2008 - 3:59 PM
From Rosemary Shinohara:
I was reading the 229-page state capital budget, looking for likely veto targets, when an e-mail arrived from Fairbanks News-Miner columnist Dermot Cole.
He forwarded a copy of his column, with the headline:
"Palin should kick off vetoes by cutting $15 million Anchorage sports arena."
The Legislature ignored the UA Board of Regents second-highest priority, $66 million for a biological sciences building for Fairbanks, in favor of funding the start of a new sports arena for UAA, Dermot noted.
"Even the Anchorage legislative cheerleading squad should recognized that improved science facilities in Fairbanks are more important," he said.
He quoted an Anchorage Daily News editorial from lasat year saying the governor had good reasons to veto a $1 million planning grant for the sports arena last year.
Hmm. That was last year. This year there's lots more money. What do you think?
APRIL 23, 2008 - 6:04 PM
ADN's editorial page received this complaint today, asking for a retraction of a story about Arctic Power's effort to host G. Gordon Liddy in Alaska:
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 6:57 PM
Subject: G.Gordon Liddy Alaska Resource Tour
Importance: High
The Arctic Power Executive Committee met today to address the state of affairs caused by the April 19 Anchorage Daily News [sic] headline, "Group hires Liddy to promote Alaska petroleum drilling," and the misquoted statement that Liddy "was hired to broadcast from Alaska" attributed to Adrien Herrera. This information is untrue and has caused a serious misunderstanding. The Executive Committee unanimously called for the Daily News to issue an immediate, prominent retraction.
APRIL 23, 2008 - 10:20 AM
From Rosemary Shinohara:
Anchorage International Airport has two projects proposed that would dampen the park experience of people hiking, biking or skiing in parts of Kincaid Park and the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail.
I wanted to let people know there's a meeting tonight (Wednesday) from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Kincaid chalet to talk about one of them, the idea of extending the east-west runway by 1,500 to 1,800 feet to the west.
The airport is beginning an environmental assessment of this project, which it says would reduce airfield congestion and delays taxiing.
It would mean planes flying lower over the coastal trail, and some changes to trails on the west side of Kincaid.
That project is on the near horizon. The airport is also revising its master plan, and will hold a public meeting May 21 as the West Coast International Inn on it. There is an expansion proposal in the master plan that could mean relocating a piece of the coastal trail.
APRIL 23, 2008 - 9:52 AM
Our own editorial cartoonist, Peter Dunlap-Shohl, spoke Saturday night at the annual Alaska Press Club banquet. The occasion: He won a First Amendment Award for his cartoons. We think what he said is worth sharing:
At a time when so many distinguished Alaskans are quietly thanking their stars for their 5th amendment right to remain silent, it's great to be at an event that celebrates the right to speak out.
The best way for me to tell you how honored I am to receive this award is to say how proud and excited I was last year when you gave the first one to my friend John McKay.
This award recognizes more than the work that I have done. The cartoons that I have created absolutely would not exist without the extraordinary support of a line of editorial page editors who appreciate what both of our jobs are about. They have been my coaches, my teachers, and my friends.
Editorial cartoonists are becoming the rare Ivory-billed woodpeckers of the journalism world. The fact that the Anchorage Daily News supports a staff cartoonist is unusual to say the least. So this award also recognizes the commitment of the management of the Daily News and McClatchy, from Pat up the line.
APRIL 22, 2008 - 5:25 PM
In deciding to reject the latest so-called "development" plan for the long-undeveloped Point Thomson oil and gas leases, Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin really laid into Exxon and its partners.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such strong language in any decision issued by a state agency or official.
Irwin basically charged Exxon’s Craig Haymes with duplicity:
“At times, Mr. Haymes responded to simple questions by offering an answer in the form of multiple, rhetorical questions that were largely non-responsive to the questions asked. Finally, his general demeanor was that of a witness primed to reiterate, rather robotically, Appellants’ commitment to the 23rd POD (Plan of Development).
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.
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