I walked out last Thursday morning, my hair cut $20 shorter, as WarehamWeek publisher Anne Eisenmenger walked in delivering a fresh minted bundle.

We'd never met or talked so I introduced myself.

"I should have called," she said, after recognizing my name. I'd already read that week's "From the Publisher" column and the lead story of the issue Ms. Eisenmenger held in her hands.

Anne Eisenmenger wrote:

Just the facts, ma'am
2010/02/25

A newspaper's role is to provide its readers with accurate, fair, complete, understandable, interesting, and timely information. Historically, most newspapers also contain an editorial page on which the editors go beyond this basic information to tell readers what they should think about the information, how they should act on that information, who they should vote for, and so forth.

We don't think that's necessary.

Apparently not. In the same issue, staff reporter Jaime Rebhan interviewed three Wareham Selectmen accused of criminal behavior the town has never witnessed before, and the Town Manager they hired to paper over the resulting uproar. Ms. Eisenmenger's reporter took them at their word and quoted no one else.

The story's 101-word lede is priceless.

During our brief encounter Thursday, Ms Eisenmenger alluded unprompted to Slager's Select funding sources, and insisted she's financing her own effort out of pocket, with some help from her parents.

Ms Eisenmenger also discussed her VillageSoup franchise and confessed she was previously employed by those wonderful folks who brought you Ruth Thompson, her buddy Bobo and David Smith.

That's the Wareham Courier for you; the gift that keeps on giving.

Auto-edited on 2020-08-11 to update URLs

Last edited by billw (2010-03-02 15:31:03)