George Rebane
The Editor of Nevada County’s The Union, Jeff Pelline, graced my announced exit from the newspaper’s online community blog with a visit to this blog and a lengthy comment that expressed his continued irritation with certain local bloggers. His agitated missal appeared to address concerns that did not relate to my ‘sayonara post’ and perhaps is a better indicator of how The Union views its journalistic fiefdom. There is no doubt that Jeff Pelline is a very visible and important man in our community. His voice can set the direction and tone of many undertakings in our beautiful, isolated, and somewhat insular county. In short, while he holds the confidence of publisher Jeff Ackerman and Swift Communications, hereabouts he is not a man to be ignored.
With this preamble I reproduce both my ‘sayonara post’ and his comment which I have characterized as scattered and confused. My attempts to correct are marbled into Jeff’s piece and labeled by [gjr]. To the Reader intending to submit himself to lighter fare and yet who will be the final arbiter of it all, I hope that this dish of spaghetti will be less tangled than it appears.
*** On 24 November 2007 I posted this on the newpaper’s blog.
“Rebane’s Ruminations has Moved
When The Union started its Readers Voices blog I was overjoyed. Our hometown newspaper was deliberately and proudly stepping into an area of 21st century online communications that has already changed the face of journalism and op/ed worldwide. As witnessed by my series of enthusiastic contributions, I was bound and determined to add to the success of this new venture in our community’s communications.
Alas, my run on their blog was to be short lived. It turns out that the two times I inserted mild (at least when compared to the screeds The Union regularly publishes) criticisms of the paper in my posts, these were considered over the top. In private communications I was taken to task by The Union’s management who suggested that my correspondence would better serve their vision of collegial comment suitable for local consumption if it were delivered through other outlets.
I, of course, submitted instantly (my mom taught me not to go where I am not welcome) and ceased all my contributions to The Union. So as not to be seen vindictive or harboring hard feelings, I did offer to again contribute content to the paper if invited to do so. In the interval, I did receive an email from Jeff Ackerman suggesting that perhaps we should meet and get to know each other better. I leaped at the opportunity by return email, which leap finds me still in freefall.
So dear Reader, if my scribblings in any way amused you or contributed to a new view on matters ranging from local to inter-galactic 😉 , then I cordially invite you to continue our correspondence on my new blog here.”
*** To this Jeff Pelline replied on The Union site and here on Rebane’s Ruminations (with my insertions denoted by [gjr]) –
“Hi George,
Goodness, did you mislead people in your blog in The Union. Here is the response I posted on the site. I hope you will post it here too in a timely basis. Cheers.
[gjr] This confused opening suggests that somehow the above ‘sayonara post’ on The Union was meant to confuse instead of just pointing the Reader to where my blog would appear from now on. That I was taken to task with some very unkind suggestions to pack my writings elsewhere is a matter of record, and I will gladly publish the relevant emails from both Pelline and Ackerman if they so wish. Today I am still honoring their sanctity as intended private communications.
Can 1,743 people be wrong?
[gjr] Huh? Interesting title, someone other than I must have impugned these good people.
Thanks George. I’ll check out your site. Here’s the real story:
[gjr] As opposed to what ‘false story’? What hill is Jeff defending?
•The Union’s registered online users now stand at 1,743 compared with zero earlier this year. Web traffic and comments continue to grow sharply. it is the only *interactive* web site around. The Union is a leader, not a follower, in generating web readership. Your comments are not filtered, like the blogs around here.
[gjr] Is Jeff using my ‘sayonara post’ to here advertise the power and glory of The Union? I didn’t know this number, and can only surmise why the registered user count is so low. Again, I have never impugned the newspaper’s online reach and have, instead, suggested to both Jeffs how their site’s usership may be increased. No one will benefit from this newspaper’s decline.
• For the record, we’ve run a half dozen of George’s "other voices" columns this year alone, in print and online, and we’ve invited him down to the paper, too. George’s blogs all have run on the front page of the Web site, no matter what/or whom he chooses to critique or whether the opinion is based on any points of fact or not. Where else can you do that? I’m all ears.
[gjr] Another defense of an unattacked hill. I have never claimed that The Union in any way has under-published me. In my post I explicitly celebrate “my series of enthusiastic contributions” whose intent was to support the newspaper’s community communications efforts. In our private communications I also identified and reinforced this support.
•I hope everybody continues reading George’s and Russ’s blogs whereever they appear. In the end people have to read all the commentary and decide they’re reading a fact-based, constructive discussion or one that, for whatever reason, is just politically motivated or gossip.
[gjr] This is my blog, how did Russ Steele get into all this? Appending the disjointed nostrum to the Reader about politically motivated gossip is, I suppose, an implied assessment of the merit of my scribbles. The Reader will indeed decide.
•As for Russ, he never posted a blog on our Web site. Interactive dialog, linking blogs and *unfiltered* community voices all are possible now on the paper’s Web site. I wish discussions around here would not be based on so much misinformation/disinformation. It’s worrisome. Perhaps next year’s election will shed some light on where people stand on the issues.
[gjr] Now Jeff appears to have forgotten about me and made this a multi-party comment. He even throws in innuendos about worrisome discussions on issues he has detected, which may somehow cease after next year’s election. I have no idea how all this attached itself to my simple ‘sayonara post’, but I suppose the burdens of a mountain county editor must be shed somewhere. Come back any time Jeff. Your thoughts no matter how troubled or where aimed are always welcome. Finally for the record, I am privileged to have Russ Steele as my friend and colleague. But we are not the Bobsy Twins; last time I looked, the operation was a success and we are no longer connected at the hip. One can avoid this confusion even though we sport the same haircut – I’m the one with the beard.”
So there you have it dear Reader, a little dust-up in our tiny teapot. Again I am honored, as should any county blogger be, when visited by the editor of The Union. I repeat the enduring welcome to Jeff Pelline to grace this blog anytime at his convenience if only to offer an appraisal on the appropriate ‘wind length’ of one of my posts. And you may be assured that from time to time Rebane’s Ruminations will continue to offer observations about selected facets, features, and foibles of what is and will remain our newspaper. Long may it wave.
rebanesruminations.com 
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