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Staff editorial
Matt Conner :: matt@goqnotes.com
David Stout :: david@goqnotes.com
Our job is to report
Running an LGBT community newspa
per, or any minority community newspaper
for that matter, is no easy task, qnotes, like
other minority press, operates in a some
times uncomfortable middle ground between
objective media and an instrument to build
and empower community. Both missions are
important and essential. On one hand, the
newspaper acts to showcase our community's
strength, diversity and positive attributes to a
wider and sometimes more general audience.
On the other, we act, as all news agencies do,
to report the news, good or bad.
We report on the good things, those news
items that make all of us smile—the con
certs, community service, fundraisers, parties,
political and legal successes and many more
topics that instill in each of us a sense of pride
and achievement
Yet, good news sometimes comes with a
mix of bad news. We have an equally impor
tant obligation to report the maybe-not-so-
great actions and statements of individuals in
our community, our community's leaders and
its non-profit organizations. We've reported
on crimes committed by community members.
We've reported on mismanagement, alleged
embezzlement and federal investigations.
We've documented organization leader
ship gone awry. It's not always pleasant
Sometimes it's downright ugly arid both physi
cally and emotionally exhausting. But we do it
because it is our job.
And, it seems, whenever we must under
take reporting that seeks to hold community
leaders or organizations accountable—to the
law, to their constituents or to their own volun
tary actions and statements—the newspaper
receives charges that we are "unfair," that we
are "attacking," that we are "bullying" or have
a "personal beef" with whomever or which
ever person or organization happens to be the
subject of one of our reports.
We take our mission to empower very
seriously; indeed, we immensely enjoy it But
we can never turn our backs on our doubly-
important mission to report the news — fairly,
accurately and objectively. As members of
the LGBT community, we wish it the best
success on its continued endeavors for social,
religious and legal equality.
Even so, we must be as abundantly clear
today as we have many times in the past We
are a newspaper. We are not a propaganda
machine for community leaders or our com
munity organizations. We are not campaign
surrogates. It sometimes becomes easy to for
get this because our reporting does, indeed,
come from a decidedly pro-LGBT stance.
Sometimes, it's a bit advocacy-like in its na
ture. Nonetheless, if we are to remain true to
our obligations, our staff must vigilantly guard
against becoming an uncritical cheerleader
for our community.
Such has been the case with some of our
recent reporting. That elected officials, includ
ing the city's first and only openly LGBT of
ficial, would decline or refuse to go onTecord
with a condemnation of hatred which targets
Jews, LGBT people or any other group, is
newsworthy. That the city's first and only
openly LGBT official would continue to decline
requests for comment is newsworthy. That the
same official would mislead about how much
time she spent speaking to a reporter and
then accuse that reporter of misrepresenta
tion when no misrepresentation occurred is
also newsworthy.
Unfortunately, none of this news is posi
tive. ltdoesn't make anyone, including anyone
at this newspaper, feel good. It doesn't cast
our community in the brightest or best light.
But it is news. And, we've reported it
Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx and
several city council and Mecklenburg County
commissioners have responded with on-the-
record statements to a simple question that
any tolerant person can answer.
"I condemn hate in any form," Mayor
Foxx told qnotes. Six short and simple words
spoken plainly and on the record.
When bad news is reported, it is often
easierto blame the messenger than to
examine the messenger's source or its larger
picture. We hate being the bearer of bad
news. We'd like nothing better than to only
ever report good news, but that doesn't hinge
on us. We can only report what people tell us
or what they don't
As this print edition hits the streets, a neo-
Nazi group and a North Carolina chapter of
the Ku Klux Klan gather in Uptown Charlotte.
They do so against the backdrop of a city and
a local political culture which is too often
unable to take strong and public stands on
behalf of people who need protecting — a
city where elected leaders have yet to hold
an affirmative and transparent public vote
on any single matter of LGBT inclusion, a
city where elected leaders and local com
munity groups and foundations speak softly
rather than candidly or forcefully on simple
matters of right and wrong, a city where the
dire concerns and needs of ethnic, racial,
religious and sexual minorities and impover
ished neighborhoods are glanced over while
more well-to-do parts of town continue to
grow, a city where simply drawing attention
to decades-old problems in need of modern-
day solutions is likened to radical and militant
activism, a city where constituents can find
themselves quickly silenced or ostracized
when they speak up and offer fair criticisms of
their leaders' actions dr statements.
Those are facts—easily observable truths
of life in Charlotte. If they bother you, work to
change them. Blaming the messenger and
ignoring the problems will solve nothing.::
qpoll It's holiday time! In this print edition, we unveil part
one of our holiday shopping guide (page 10). How early do you
usually begin shopping and crossing items off your gift-giving
list? See the options and vote: goqnotes.comAo/qpoll
■7
Diwrsity Always Welcome.
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life's journey, we are committed to
working with you to maintain and
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Services include well and sick care
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including diabetes, asthma, HIV and
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Presbyterian / family medicine
Rhett Brown, M.D.
MIDTOWN
offJioted with
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Location
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Office Hours
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Nov. 10-23.2012 qnotes 5