Kathy Erickson, former editor at The World, takes the paper to task for encouraging the recall effort to oust Coos County Assessor, Adam Colby. Erickson goes on to support Colby but regardless of which side of the fence you walk on the recall issue, she makes some good points about the conduct of the local paper.
The World has demonstrated a disregard for fairness that should greatly concern readers of the newspaper and residents of Coos County…It is disappointing, indeed, that the newspaper persists in printing such personal attacks against Colby, who is prohibited by law from responding to them…
I think the community would be better-served by The World if it provided, instead of its attacks on Colby and its unethical calls for his removal from office, some information on those who are pushing the recall effort. Surely in the interest of fair and balanced reporting, the newspaper will want to examine the credentials and credibility of those folks, too.
The paper would do well to follow Erickson’s advice about balanced reporting on many issues, including the more divisive ones like LNG and strip mining. As to the latter, The World will soon be caught with some egg on its face for not having done some homework and looked into the history and the so called ‘best management practices’ used by an earlier incarnation of ORC.
It is hard to see the paper demonstrating genuine concerns about the county at all.
