Goodbye editorial: good example of bad editor

The goodbye editorial was no doubt heartfelt to Raymond P. Clark, as the ex-editor of the Gray News confirms he is leaving for good. I am positive he feels -and will continue to feel -the loss of his daily routine and the baby that is his weekly 8 page newsletter.

He spent a lot of time and energy thanking people in this piece, which usually weekly swings from ‘poisonous tirade’ to ‘aw shucks I love this town and my grandkids, not in that order.’ Thanking people in a goodbye editorial, or in any goodbye, is normal. However, the gaping omission that Mr. Clark left in this last chance editorial was a great example of why it is good that he goes.

He thanked his Board of Directors, who initially hired him. He thanked his staff and volunteers. That was nice. He thanked his wife, also very nice.

Then...strangely, he thanked the Town Managers his tenure coincided with. Managers? Why is a newspaper thanking the government? And oddly, he went on to thank the councilors, too. More government gratitude.

Last time I looked, newspapers were supposed to be watchdogs of government, not thankful to them.

And then he ended. But he forgot to thank the only ones who make it all possible. Readers. And some of those readers are actually also, advertisers. Not one thank you. Not a thanks. Not even an offhand ‘tx’. Readers got bupkis.

Thanking government for the news and not the readers for reading it is a perfect example of how an editor’s priorities get messed up when he allows his paper to become a pocket publication. He's just been too much in the pocket of the very government he’s supposed to be watching, and now he's so inordinately grateful to them he even excludes his readers. But that is fitting, because none of his other editorials were ever citizen focused, either. And that is sad.

So, yes, it is time to go. And he went. And it was good.