Wednesday, March 12, 2003

Is NAACP doing its job to inform paper of its events?

Re: "NAACP events not adequately covered," by John E. Jones (The Citizen, March 5). His article regarding the above subject matter was directed at you and The Citizen newspaper. He stated he was an American of African decent (I like this terminology better because it keeps Americans together) and he was disgusted with your paper for "insufficient news coverage of Fayette NAACP events."

He never indicated his active position with the Fayette NAACP chapter. Is he the president, CEO or a disgruntled member? Does his chapter furnish the paper information reflecting what they are doing, when they are doing it and who the guest speaker will be? This is a two-way street: he advises you and you cover the event.

His accusation amused me because I have always felt The Citizen gave fair and accurate coverage to all walks of life from senior citizens to youth sports to organizations such as his. His last paragraph really intrigues me. Allow me to paraphrase the interesting part, "Sadly, African-American newspapers are usually started because the mainstream media does not adequately cover African-American oriented news and events." Once an "African-American oriented newspaper is started in Fayette County, there is sure to be increased competition for the limited available ad revenue and that will not be good for you and your paper."

Mr. Beverly, I know this type of literary extortion caused you to shake in your boots. I have always enjoyed your paper and believe you to be a fair-minded editor. The only suggestion that I would make to you regarding The Citizen is to start a "Vent" column such as the one that used to appear in The Fayette Neighbor. Many of us active local readers always enjoyed that section. Keep up the good work, Fayette County needs you.

Jim Futral

Fayetteville