To Epoch or not to Epoch

Over the last couple of weeks, I have published my thoughts on why I decided to run 2 pages of the Epoch Times news in my weekly papers. The result of that was a flood of email messages and phone calls. More than I have experienced at any time since I took over these papers. Most are short so I put them all in this one package to give my readers a sense of the opinion on this matter. I have not limited them to for or against or altered them in any way except to make a few minor spelling corrections.

Dear Mr. Forhan,

I am a recent subscriber to the Chelan Mirror both electronically and in print. I enjoy the local weekly paper very much. I read with interest your recent explanation in the Mirror about why you decided to include the Epoch Times. It was well-written.

That being said, I think you are being disingenuous when you call the Epoch Times "much more objective most other mainstream newspapers." That is not true at all. As someone who considers himself an "independent," I am pretty good at distinguishing the difference between a CNN-bent publication and a Fox-News-bent publication and everything in between. The Epoch Times is like watching Fox News. To anyone without a political bias, the right-wing bias in the Epoch Times is apparent immediately. I highly suspect that you are a smart guy and are much more aware of that than you are letting on. I subscribed to the Chelan Mirror to get the local news. It's actually a bit of a respite from the national newspapers, TV stations and websites that are not only national, but also biased. I don't want ANY political things in my local newspaper unless it is LOCAL news.
Please end your "experiment" with the Epoch Times so that us Chelan residents can get what we want from the mirror which is LOCAL news.
Kevin Erickson

Chelan

Greetings Bill,

I wanted to let you know I appreciate your adding national news… and news from someone besides the AP. When I look at The Wenatchee World, I may as well be reading (literally) the Seattle Times. I quit them years (decades?) ago, as there was one point of view and it was (literally) in your face and “I don’t care if you like it or not.” I complained frequently, but got nowhere.

When we moved to Chelan, and read The Wenatchee World, same ol’ same ol’. But the I read the Lake Chelan Mirror… an alternative view! An editorial you wrote a few months ago sold me, and I decided to actually subscribe to a newspaper again. Sure it’s short and only once-a-week. But it’s refreshing!

Keep up the great work!

John King

Chelan

To Bill Forhan Publisher

I normally do not send E-mails or put signs up in my front yard voicing my opinion. But I support your paper in adding a little diversity making the paper more interesting reading and the Epoch Times does that. Why are people afraid of a different opinion?

Gary Day 

Leavenworth

Disappointed

I subscribe to this paper for the local news. I am disappointed to see the local news is being replaced by the Epoch Times. If I want to know the national news, I will subscribe to a national newspaper. This is not the place for it.

Kandy Jess-Conrad

Beyond the letters, I received several phone calls all in support of the decision. The reality is that one of the advantages of a newspaper is you can easily ignore the articles you do not like or don’t want to read. That is different from the electronic media that spoon feeds viewers the stories they believe are important. For now, the experiment will continue. And by the way, we have not reduced our local content pages. As always, those will continue based on the amount of important local news that has occured during the week.