I’ve never really been one for making New Year’s resolutions. Mostly, I suppose, because I know I won’t follow through with them. Sure, I should lose weight, read more non-fiction, go to church, stop smoking crack, all the usual stuff – but these matters weigh no more heavily on me on Dec. 31 than they do every other day of the year.
That said, perhaps the reason I have no follow-through is that I tend to make these vague lists solely in my head. If there’s no permanent record, I can edit and delete that mental list willy-nilly and no one will be the wiser.
Not so, if I bothered to put those resolutions in print, I would imagine. But since I doubt highly you care that Jeff Genung vows to be better about washing his car or drinking less vodka, I thought instead I’d use this space to commit to some New Year’s resolutions for the good ol’ Evening Sun.
• No more check-passing photos. I’ve said it before, but this time I mean it. While we will still publish these tried-and-true staples of community commitment, you’ll have to take them yourselves. In this day and age, everyone and their brother has a digital camera capable of taking a perfectly decent grin-and-grab photo. I want my staff, Frank Speziale included, to better spend their time capturing great photos of events and people that truly represent slices of Chenango County life. So, if you call us to come take a picture of your latest check-passing, we will politely decline. Again, feel free to submit them yourselves, and I’ll be happy to publish them – even if they are the most boring photos known to man, I know they have a purpose.
• We’re going to make an effort to return to some hard-hitting investigative work, as much as time allows. We tend to get bogged down in the meeting, event, meeting, event cycle news-wise, so this year we’ll try to break that habit by taking some time (and newsprint) to delve more deeply into some key issues facing our community. Case in point: Next Thursday, we’re starting a seven-part series on natural gas drilling that stemmed from an ES “field trip” to Dimock and Montrose, Pa. The staff got a firsthand look at what natural gas drilling has done to (and for) that area, with an eye toward what the future may hold for Chenango. I think it’s important for us to train our collective journalist’s eye on pressing issues that deserve more than a single story or soundbite. It’s what we do best, and we’ll do more of it.
