Brevity is disrespectful in some cases

In the October 20 issue of the Gray News, Ray Clark wrote:

"Dispatch goes to Cumberland"
"The Gray Town Council voted at its Tuesday meeting to transfer Gray Fire-Rescue's dispatch operation to Cumberland County. The move is intended to save the Town money.
Other entities offering dispatch services included the Maine State Police and a combination of the dispatch offices of Raymond and Gray. Only Cumberland County and the State Police submitted actual bids. Despite Councilor Andy Upham's policy against doing business with fewer than three bids, the Council's vote was unanimous."

A brief entry such as this does more to misinform than inform because it leaves the reader with many questions.

Clark chose to write 'intended to save the town money' but chose not to write how much it will save, why Council wanted to go in this direction, or what the costs used to be before the vote.

He chose to raise the issue of the three bids but chose not to ask the council about it, or inform the readers as to the reasons why two bids instead of three.

He chose to cloud the issue by stating two entities submitted "actual" bids, leaving the reader to wonder if there were other bids, or to wonder what he meant by 'actual.'

He chose to say the council voted, but chose not to disclose that it was unanimous. He chose not to print any of the council comments during discussion, he chose not to print any audience comments, he chose not to print any comments uttered from Gray Dispatch. He chose not to print any parameters of the bids, or what will happen next now that the vote has come down.

He chose to lie, and claim that it was 'Andy Upham's policy' and not that the three-bid policy had been in place in the Manager's Administrative Code long before Andy Upham came to town.

In short, Clark printed a brief article in which he chose to dispense the information he wanted and not the information the readers needed.

Ray Clark is a bad reporter.