Whatever you think about Al Hooper, Al Hooper has guts, and I’m not talking about the kind that hangs over my belt. I am talking about real courage in the world of journalism.
An election is like a jury trial. The candidates are the plaintiffs, the public is the jury, but who’s the judge? Al Hooper tries his best to serve as the judge in his role as the editor for the Edmonds Beacon.
In a jury trial, the judge does not take sides. Instead, he guides the trial. He makes sure that both sides get their say and he also makes sure that both sides get to challenge the other. A good judge sees this adversarial system as the best way to air the truth. It may not be comfortable to watch, but truth trumps comfort.
When folks present their point of view, they tend to cast their view in the best light. When a point-of-view is challenged, one of two things happens: The point-of-view falls under the weight of the challenge, or it survives and becomes a stronger point-of-view. In short, challenge is a great tool to unearth truth.
Al Hooper is the only local editor who promotes challenge in his newspaper. When someone sends in a letter criticizing a candidate, Al Hooper e-mails the letter to that candidate and gives the candidate a chance to respond. By allowing a candidate to challenge his critic, truth has a better chance of getting into the minds of the public.
Critics go unchallenged in the Enterprise and Herald newspapers. When a candidate does respond, the response doesn’t go into the paper for a weak. Therefore, truth cannot come out as effectively.
Like a judge in a jury trial, Al Hooper also does not endorse candidates. He sees his job as getting the truth out. He let’s the public (the jury) make the decision. He also keeps his credibility that way.
The Herald editorial staff likes to play the role of jury not judge. They like to tell us who to vote for. And they put a whole lot of time into thinking about it too, NOT! Basically, they put all the candidates in one room, and then ask us a bunch of general questions. They detest challenge, which they brand as being “negative”, and they don’t investigate whether what is said by the candidate is actually true or not.
Fortunately, the Herald editorial staff has come out looking like fools for doing this. They have not picked a winner in a seriously contested race in the last two Edmonds City Council elections. If I were a candidate for council, I would do whatever I could to get the Herald to endorse my opponent.
Al Hooper has decided to buck the trends in journalism by staying out of the endorsement business and allowing criticism of candidates to be challenged. By playing the role of impartial judge in a jury trial, he makes the Edmonds Beacon truly shine for truth.
An election is like a jury trial. The candidates are the plaintiffs, the public is the jury, but who’s the judge? Al Hooper tries his best to serve as the judge in his role as the editor for the Edmonds Beacon.
In a jury trial, the judge does not take sides. Instead, he guides the trial. He makes sure that both sides get their say and he also makes sure that both sides get to challenge the other. A good judge sees this adversarial system as the best way to air the truth. It may not be comfortable to watch, but truth trumps comfort.
When folks present their point of view, they tend to cast their view in the best light. When a point-of-view is challenged, one of two things happens: The point-of-view falls under the weight of the challenge, or it survives and becomes a stronger point-of-view. In short, challenge is a great tool to unearth truth.
Al Hooper is the only local editor who promotes challenge in his newspaper. When someone sends in a letter criticizing a candidate, Al Hooper e-mails the letter to that candidate and gives the candidate a chance to respond. By allowing a candidate to challenge his critic, truth has a better chance of getting into the minds of the public.
Critics go unchallenged in the Enterprise and Herald newspapers. When a candidate does respond, the response doesn’t go into the paper for a weak. Therefore, truth cannot come out as effectively.
Like a judge in a jury trial, Al Hooper also does not endorse candidates. He sees his job as getting the truth out. He let’s the public (the jury) make the decision. He also keeps his credibility that way.
The Herald editorial staff likes to play the role of jury not judge. They like to tell us who to vote for. And they put a whole lot of time into thinking about it too, NOT! Basically, they put all the candidates in one room, and then ask us a bunch of general questions. They detest challenge, which they brand as being “negative”, and they don’t investigate whether what is said by the candidate is actually true or not.
Fortunately, the Herald editorial staff has come out looking like fools for doing this. They have not picked a winner in a seriously contested race in the last two Edmonds City Council elections. If I were a candidate for council, I would do whatever I could to get the Herald to endorse my opponent.
Al Hooper has decided to buck the trends in journalism by staying out of the endorsement business and allowing criticism of candidates to be challenged. By playing the role of impartial judge in a jury trial, he makes the Edmonds Beacon truly shine for truth.
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