As the editor of this newspaper, I’ve heard countless times in recent months that Jefferson County, in our most recent presidential election, leaned strongly to the right, with two-thirds of voters (67%) siding with our current president, Donald J. Trump.
Yet as I near the end of my first 100 days in office, we here at The Monitor offices have yet to receive a single pitch for a column or op-ed article aligned with Republican or conservative views. We’ve received letters along those lines, including several excoriating us for our apparent leftist bent – which helps explain why I’m writing this.
We do not want to be seen as having any particular bent, apart from being open to all views. As a community newspaper, our aim is to effectively represent our community, which means offering a platform for an array of voices – particularly those expressing the most widely held views. Thus far, in my tenure, we have failed to do that. That’s on us, but it’s also on you.
Hearing those voices and views may be more important than you think – without them, we’re unlikely to know what matters most to the people of this community, which makes our jobs that much harder. If we don’t know what upsets you the most, what you care about the most, or what you most deeply hope and believe, there’s a good chance our reporting will fail to cover some of the most pressing subjects, or cover them poorly. That’s a lose-lose scenario.
So I’m here to urge all Jefferson County conservatives, and all those in the diaspora, who may have an opinion to share about some urgent political, social, or cultural issue, to reach out to david@boulder-monitor.com. Even if you’ve got only the kernel of an idea or a vague argument in mind, let’s discuss and see if we can bring it to life on the page and inform this community.
After all, the best way to build and nurture Jefferson County is to let every voice sing.
