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Tossing another blog into the fire

If I have pressed the right buttons and clicked the right icons, maybe these words actually went where they were supposed to go.
And maybe someone, somewhere even is reading them.
But that's only half the idea.
This space belongs to you, too.
You already speak to us through your e-mails, your letters, your telephone calls and your op-eds.
Now those conversations can take on intriguing new dimensions
In the old days, a reader might fire off an email about an editorial or a column he's read in this morning’s paper. I'd respond. And that would be that.
Now others can join the conversation, instantaneously.
In addition, I hope to make the editorial pages more open and less mysterious.

Toward that end we'll invite you to become part of the dialogue and debate the go into the News & Record’s editorial positions.
Now you can weigh in before an editorial is written.
For instance, we might be planning a piece on corporate incentives or the proposed ACC museum or Billy’s latest Yowism.
But instead of waiting for your reactions after we've published that editorial, we'd ask for your input in advance.
In a way, you can become a part of our morning editorial board meetings. At least in a virtual sense.
I’ll also use this space to help readers better understand the inner workings of the editorial pages.
I'll answer questions about why and how we do things.
I'll come clean when we screw up.
And I’ll share a snippet here and there about myself (for the one or two of you who might actually be interested).
Thanks for dropping by. Let's talk for a while.

Comments (12)

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Thanks for blogging, Mr. Johnson. The only suggestion I have for the paper is that I hope it will include more discussion of all points of view.

-Rusty Sheridan

Welcome aboard, Allen. I look forward to the reading and participating in the dialogue that I am sure will be lively.

jw said:

Yeah, well, okay, welcome Allen. I'll TRY to be nice.

Howdy Allen,
We met briefly at the August blog conference at UNCG. Thanks for attending and thanks for entering the Blogosphere. I've linked and will visit often.

Beau said:

Allen -- No more unsigned editorials!

(Pet peeve of mine -- you may have heard me rant about it when I was walking the hallways at the N&R all those years ago. I figured I'd toss it into the mix as long as you're breaking all the "rules" that deserve to be broken.)

Good luck, and don't get too bogged down trying to win over people who just want to write off anything that doesn't their narrow views of the world.

Sue said:

A belated welcome from these parts and I look forward to your insight -- now online!

Kehaar said:

I'm with Beau. Unsigned editorials are an anachronism. So much of a newspaper's perceived "bias" comes from those statements of position embodied in the unsigned editorials. I think it's counter-productive to have these blanket positions assigned to the newspaper.

Brady Faggart said:

I want to applaud you and the N&R team for opening the paper to more interactive conversations. Often I read something that motivates me to respond, but that might not lead to a letter to the editor. This offers me a needed alternative. I'll read now with another option in mind, so you'll be hearing from me.

John Graham said:

Allen,
Glad you are blogging now! I got to you through Hogg's Blog....it is a small world after all.
John Graham

Just cranked up a blog today. It will become, I hope, a source of info for parents and students confronting the dreaded SAT test from CollegeBoard.

I have been reading N&R blogs for the past month and enjoy yours! As a resident of Greensboro and a teacher at Project Score which tutors (free) local high school students on the SAT, I've decided to get active in another venue to reach students.

pierre said:

mobile ringtones Hi, I'm French and I love your website, you must have done an hard work to create it and I want to say you that your site is wonderful ! ringtones Thanks for your excellent work and good luck for your next creation ;o)
ringtones mobile

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