I would say most of the Lowell Bloggers, except maybe Greg Page, Renee and myself, have been in the camp of those saying "it is all Campy's fault".
I am about to move, notwithstanding holding the Editor of The [Lowell] Sun in the highest possible esteem, if for no other reason, because he honors Reporter Nat Hentoff, who is a strong advocate for free speech, toward the other camp. As an aside, free speech is one of the things that makes us who we are as Americans. Without it, it is all down hill.
Anyway, back to the Editor, his editorial page has an EMail address for those writing letters to the editor. The address is "letters@lowellsun.com". This has been there for quite some time.
Over the weekend I sent a letter to the Editor at "letters@...", and cc'd the Editor himself, Mr Campanini. I am confident Mr Campanini got my EMail. "letters" not so much. It bounced and I got an EMail back saying that "Remote SMTP server has rejected address". The diagnostic code was "smtp;550 No such user - psmtp".
So, this afternoon, I got in my car and drove down to the Lowell Sun, to talk to the CIO of our local newspaper—the head of IT. At the reception desk I was allowed to call the head of IT and state my case. His response was that the EMail address goes nowhere, it is an internal item for the web page. (You can send a Letter to the Editor from the web page of the Sun.) He further said that he had told the editor about this some time ago.
By the way, good letters to the editor are the way the rest of us provide the fair and balanced view that the MSM needs. Please feel free to indulge and if you don't wish to go to the Web Page, just send it to Campy at "j" "campanini" [one word] at (that funny symbol on the 2 key] "lowellsun" dot "com". Mail early, mail often, as they say.
Oh, and we could have a raffle (like when breakup comes on the Tanana River in Alaska) based upon when the Faux EMail address leaves the Editorial Page. I am taking Columbus Day, 12 October 2012, as a tribute to the Editor.
Regards — Cliff
My mother just calls up the Lowell Sun to give it to them. She hasn't done it in a while. Which is why the Back Talk was created.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't surprise me they hadn't noticed--the Sun is so remarkably web un-savvy that it's a comedy. Besides, it's obvious Campy doesn't have an interest in anyone's opinions but his own.
ReplyDeleteYou can try to apologize for him all you want, but paying Hentoff's syndication fees is hardly a justification for the rest of it. There's a dearth of local coverage. What editorial content exists is badly biased, and laughably erroneous on too many occasions to the point of farce.
I'm at yet another business conference this week (Chicago this time) with several hundred high-powered and senior business executives, and as always, the stories I tell at the cocktail parties that amuse most are the ones I tell at the expense of my local paper. It's like shooting fish in a barrel, but one always needs to have entertaining stories, doesn't one. (This week's new one is about "WhatdoUwannado" listing a lego building thing at a New Hampshire shopping mall at the top of their daily list, followed by a punchline about reminding NAMI folks to pick up their email).
You just cannot make this stuff up.