By Mike Norman
mnorman@star-telegram.com
"I'm right and you're wrong."
"No, I'm right and you're wrong."No matter who is right or who is wrong, this is an example of a conversation at stalemate. Try it differently.
"Here's what I believe is true."
"I understand what you are saying, but here's the way I look at it."This is a conversation with a chance of going somewhere.
Hi, I'm Mike Norman, and I've just been named editorial director of the
Star- Telegram. My job is to conduct conversations with newspaper and online readers that go more like the second example than the first.
I'm not new at this, and some of you who have been in one of these conversations with me in the past might have good reason to believe I came off more like a my-way-only kind of person. If that's so, I'm sorry. I failed to do my job properly. I'll try to do better, and I hope you'll meet me halfway.
I've worked at the
Star-Telegram for 31 years, having walked in the front door at Seventh and Taylor streets (what we now call the "old building" because the newspaper no longer owns it) on Sept. 7, 1981. I've written editorials and opinion columns for the past 16 years.
I'm glad I can now be the boss of this part of the operation. The important thing is where we go from here.
I'll try my best to keep the conversations we have in print, online, by phone or in person both civil and productive. Our goal should be to explore our different points of view. In many cases, we may not end up agreeing, but we will have learned.
First we must start the conversation. That's why we want to provide every avenue we can find to encourage reader reaction to what we publish. Letters to the editor, online comments, the daily STEW (a mixture of print and online reader comments), Cheers and Jeers, e-mail, social media and old-but-reliable telephone calls and bumping into readers on the street -- all of these are pathways for continuing conversation.
It's part of my job to be interested in everything from all parts of Tarrant County, North Texas and the state as a whole. I don't get wrapped up in national issues very much because that's not where local opinion pages like ours can have the most impact.
I try to follow closely the goings-on in state and local government because those things have direct impact on our readers. That's where the content of our pages, both from our writers and our readers, can influence important policy decisions.
I probably should admit that I don't have the extraordinary amount of stamina for civic participation shown by my immediate predecessor, J.R. Labbe, who has moved on to be vice president for communications and community affairs at JPS Health Network. It's not that I'm any less interested, but her energy for attending and being a leader at local events and fundraisers is unmatchable.
Finally, I have a personal side. I'm Sandy Norman's husband of 37 years, and I'm Jason Norman's father. She's an adviser for a national income tax preparation firm, and he's an analyst for an international bank.
I'm an inveterate home handyman and small-job car mechanic because I'm too cheap to pay people to do those things. I like classic country music and books about U.S. history. Sandy and I love good movies and see a lot of them. I've told readers before that if I ever had the idea to move to another city, I'd find Sandy at Fort Worth's Amon Carter, Kimbell or Modern Art museums and would have to pry her hands from the handle of the door to get her to move away.
Let's get to it. Let's have some conversations -- the more, the better.
Mike Norman is editorial director of the Star-Telegram.817-390-7830Twitter: @mnorman9
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