Paul Wahl

When Ed Koch was mayor of New York, his common greeting when out amongst his constituents was a cheery “how am I doing?”

I tend to use the same approach as editor of the Chieftain. We value what you as readers and subscribers have to say.

One way we collect feedback formally is the comment space on the back of the circulation statements. The latest batch crossed my desk this week, and I am pleased to report that most who commented gave us high marks.

There were also great story suggestions.

I thought it would be interesting to share some of the feedback as a way of encouraging you to add your own comments to the discussion.

We received a lot of “excellent” ratings.

“We love learning about our new home,” wrote one out-of-state subscriber. “We are very impressed with the quality of your newspaper.”

Another reader called it “a breath of fresh air … keep it up” and another “we are so grateful for your local coverage of environmental, political and human interest news.”

There were also a few who didn’t give us high marks.

“For many years, we had a subscription to the Chieftain,” one respondent wrote. “It’s now a thing of the past.”

We will redouble our efforts to be more relevant in the weeks and months to come.

We also heard from a subscriber who chastised us for having “little or no coverage on school events.” This person was particularly miffed we had missed the donkey basketball games at the Enterprise gym.

“Sales of the Chieftain would have soared if anyone would have covered it,” he or she wrote.

Our apologies for missing the event. I have participated in a few donkey basketball events, and they are a hoot. We have been strengthening our coverage of schools and hope to come back next fall with an even better plan.

A final comment I wanted to deal with here:

“We have been very disappointed in the Chieftain. We are reading the same content in the Capital Press Ag newspaper. So much of the local information is being left out.”

It is sometimes difficult to keep all of the balls in the air when a newspaper with a small staff is short a key person. As you know, the Chieftain had been without an editor since December before I stepped aboard.

If you look carefully at the last three editions, there has been nothing in the print edition from the Eastern Oregon Media bureau in Salem. All of that content is posted on our website, however.

While our goal remains to be as Wallowa County focused as possible, there are topics –– wolves, for instance –– where it makes sense to run those stories in the print edition.

Our thanks to everyone who commented.

You don’t need a formal invitation to let us know “how we’re doing.” Send an email to editor@wallowa.com or call 541-426-4567. If you see me out covering an event, feel free to introduce yourself and give me your feedback.

Wahl is editor of the Wallowa County Chieftain.