We’ve just completed another busy holiday season. From Thanksgiving in November to New Year’s Day in January, the time seems to fly by if you enjoy the family and festivities, or drag out unmercifully if you loathe them.

Which brings me to my latest topic: Is anyone really offended if they are wished a “Merry Christmas”?

Let’s establish at the outset that I consider myself a Christian. I was raised as a Baptist. We attended church at least three times a week. My brother is a Baptist minister. My great-grandfather was a “preacher” (as they called them then) in a Penecostal church. My brother-in-law is a church organist. I have a first cousin that is a missionary church planner. Religion was born and bred into me. But now, as much as the Christians of the world complain, Christmas has become less of a religious celebration and more about the secular holiday of gift giving and festive decorations and parties.

Which brings me back to my question: Is anyone really offended if they are wished a “Merry Christmas”?

If you consider yourself a practitioner of another religion or consider yourself an agnostic or a heretic, are you really offended if the clerk checking out your purchases at the mall says “I put your receipt in the bag, and Merry Christmas”? And if you are offended, does it make it any better if the clerk says “Happy Holidays” instead? After all, you are standing in a store festooned in green and red, with Santa Clauses and snowmen all around. To which happy holiday is the clerk referring, Independence Day?

How about “Season’s Greetings”? Just what season are we greeting, the winter solstice? Maybe I’d better get started addressing my vernal equinox cards.

Wishing someone a “Merry Christmas” has almost become like saying “have a nice day.” Now, some religions teach that if you indeed have a “nice day” it is because God gave that day to you. Does that mean we should no longer wish anyone a “nice day” because some people don’t believe in God-given nice days?

So, I will continue to wish the world a Merry Christmas. If, like some, you attach a religious significance to that wish, that is your choice. If you choose not to recognize the Christmas Day holiday in any significance, be it religious or secular, then “have a nice day”. That is, if you aren’t offended by that.

The abbreviation IHSA is probably familiar to you if you have school age children or are a high school sports fan. The Illinois High School Association is the body that sanctions and oversees sports in our schools. Recently much has been made of a lawsuit (and now counter-lawsuit) involving the IHSA, the Illinois Press Association (IPA) and several newspapers in the state.

In the interest of full disclosure, The Telegraph is a member of the IPA, but is not one of the newspapers specifically named in the lawsuit.

I’m not a lawyer, but the gist of the lawsuit is that the IHSA wants to limit the way newspapers cover high school championship games, specifically limiting newspaper photographers from taking pictures of high school athletes during the championship games.

The bone of contention for the IHSA is that some newspapers sell reprints of staff photos to the families, etc. of high school athletes. The IHSA has an agreement with Visual Impact Photography, Inc., that grants them exclusive rights to the championship photos, with all re-publication and sales rights. So, let the lawsuits fly.

The IHSA claims it receives no financial incentives from Visual Impact, only video and photo considerations. OK, so far. If the IHSA wants to contract with a photo company for their special photos, so be it. My question, and that of the IPA, is what gives IHSA the right to say who else can photograph a high school championship game?

Professional sports, such as the NFL, MLB, etc. are commercial enterprises and own and control the photo rights to their games. If a Telegraph photographer applies for and obtains press credentials for a Rams game, we are prohibited from using the pictures for anything other than our news coverage – i.e. the newspaper or our Telegraph website. We can’t sell reprints of the Tory Holt touchdown picture, or make up T-shirts of the “Rams win the Super Bowl” page “without the express written permission of the NFL.” You hear that legal disclaimer during every game, either in the stands or on the TV or radio.

Basically, the IHSA wants the same right to control who receives photo credentials and what is done with the photos. Here’s the rub: the IHSA only exists because of public schools that we pay local and state taxes to support. If public high schools (and their sports programs) didn’t exist, neither would the IHSA. And, unlike professional players, high school athletes are amateurs and are not compensated for their performance on the field. So, if Grandma Jones wants a picture of her little “Bubba” during the game, IHSA wants her to contact Visual Impact and pay whatever they choose to charge.

What’s next? Will the IHSA decide to restrict credentials for print reporters as well? “Sorry, Telegraph, you can’t have admission to the game. If you publish a story, the IHSA will sue. If you want a story about the Alton-Chatham game, pay the IHSA contracted scribe for our approved version. And, by the way, if you want a picture for your Sports page that will be an additional charge.” Will the story be written the same for The Telegraph and the Chatham paper? Will an out-of-town photographer know whom to shoot and when?

And what about mom and dad with a digital camera? If they take a picture of Bubba at the big game and put it on a T-shirt for everyone in the family, will they be served with a lawsuit from IHSA for not using their contracted photography service?

We can argue about 1st Amendment Rights, and that is a valid discussion here. But mostly we’re concerned about an organization that exists because we support its members, dictating what our readers can expect from their local papers.

Stay tuned. The lawyers are in charge now,

In a Washington Post story Friday, now being reported by the Associated Press, our beloved FEMA did it to us again. (The story is filed under Associated Press- Washington on this website, and will be printed in Saturday’s Telegraph.)

You remember FEMA. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is the government (that is, our tax) supported agency that is responsible for first responding and dealing with major catastrophes in the United States. No doubt you get all warm and fuzzy when you think about how well this group of bureaucratic bunglers dealt with the devastation after Hurricane Katrina. I’m sure all the residents along the Gulf Coast give thanks every night for the stellar job FEMA did in the evacuation, feeding, housing, and protection of the displaced.

Yeah, right.

You remember the mess, right? “Gosh, if they had just called us sooner, we would have responded,” FEMA officials offered, only somewhat apologetically. Apparently, no one with FEMA has a television that carries The Weather Channel. “We didn’t know it was going to be that bad.”

The emergency response after Katrina was not the first FEMA misstep. Similar problems were evident after hurricanes in Florida in the early 90’s, and numerous tornadoes and natural disasters since. And I’m sure many readers remember our great flood of 1993 – didn’t you feel better knowing that FEMA was here to help us?

Quick, can you think of any major disaster where FEMA responded and made every thing easier? It appears what this agency does best is mires all emergency aid in red tape and slows the response time of every other agency. FEMA’s motto: “When an emergency happens everything stops.”

Now the latest as reported by the Washington Post and the AP. Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, deputy director FEMA administrator, hastily called a news conference Tuesday afternoon to report FEMA’s handling of the catastrophic fires in southern California. Reporters in this devastated region were given 15 minutes notice of the briefing. Reporters who couldn’t make it to the briefing in the allotted 15 minutes, (“Hello, L.A. Times? Can you get somebody to San Diego in the next 15 minutes to hear Adm. Harvey?”) were given a dial-in number for listen-in only access.

So, we have a high-ranking (and paid) government official conducting a news conference with no news reporters. That’s not a problem. FEMA planted its own staff members in the news conference to ask softball questions to Vice Adm. Harvey. That’s bad enough, but the staffers did not disclose that they were FEMA employees and plants by the agency!

So as fire and brimstone was raining upon the residents of southern California, some government big wig is staging a phony news conference with questions that allow him to heap praises upon his own operation! “‘I’m very happy with FEMA’s response,’ Johnson said in a reply to one query from a person who was an agency employee,”

I’ll bet Napoleon would have loved that type of press conference after Waterloo.

When challenged with the evidence of deceit, Vice Adm. Harvey stated, “…we made an error in judgment.” See Napoleon. ‘Bet he wished he had that one back, too.

In Tuesday’s edition of “The Business Edge”, our publication published in cooperation with the Growth Association of Southwestern Illinois, GASI President Monica Bristow penned her column after a recent “Talk Back!” comment about her organization. The writer opined that “the Growth Association is nothing but a social organization.”
President Bristow replied with “It’s obviously someone’s opinion that doesn’t know anything about the Growth Association.”
I wholeheartedly agree with Monica. I have been involved with the Growth Association since the early 1990’s, when I was the Advertising Director for The Telegraph. When I was named Publisher of the newspaper in 1998 I was asked to serve on the board of directors and have continued to do so, including serving as chairman of the organization in 2006. Some programs of the GA seem, indeed, to be social events. We host monthly “Business After Hours” networking (social, if you will) events that allow our sponsors to showcase their programs and services. We host networking breakfasts, quarterly membership meetings and special events such as our “For Women by Women” conferences.
All of these events have social aspects to them. Isn’t that how business is done? When we alleviate the interpersonal relationships with our customers and acquaintances we become no better than a faceless order taker on the phone or internet. The above named events are intended to allow a “meet and greet”, establish a relationship, and hopefully create new and network with former customers. If this Talk Back! writer only attends for the hors d’oeuvres and a drink, then they are missing a fantastic opportunity to work the room.
The Talk Back! writer also fails to mention many other missions of the Growth Association. They serve functions in Economic Development, Business Retention, Small Business development and acts as the member communities’ liaison to the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and government bodies in Springfield. Few, if any, new businesses come to the River Bend without some contact or service from someone from the Growth Association.
This Talk Back! Writer might want to reevaluate their opinion of the Growth Association. They should get involved. Use the services, meet the staff, meet other members and work the contacts. They might get so busy with business they won’t have time to complain to Talk Back!

I suspect everyone in the newspaper (or for that matter any news media) business has heard this complaint. Readers that don’t see their favorite team on the cover of Sports will complain that The Telegraph always covers Alton, or Marquette, or Civic Memorial, or Roxana, or Carrollton, or Edwardsville, or that The Telegraph never covers Alton, or Marquette, or Civic Memorial, or Roxana, or Carrollton, or Edwardsville. We are also criticized that we only cover Democrats, or only cover Republicans. Likewise, if we publish a story about a criminal arrest, we are criticized if we do publish a mug shot or if we don’t. It’s part of the news business to be criticized.

I often comment that we rarely get complimentary calls. No one calls to say “hey, you did a great job covering this or that,” but, we gets lots of “you didn’t run my event, grandson’s picture, team photo”, etc. We understand. The most important item in that day’s newspaper is the item that reader is interested in. And if it’s not the feature, then the reader feels shortchanged. The problem is, every item can’t be a feature, we can’t be at every event or every game, or every crime every minute of the time. We do our best with the staffing we have.

To this proud grandmother: do you have a photo of your granddaughter in the dress? Call the newsroom and ask how to submit it for publication. We use reader submitted photos (like the Marquette court you refer to) on many occasions. We’ll take a look.

Thanks for reading.

So, this is the blogosphere!

To any other Luddite like me out there, apparently we’re late to this “blog” thing. I’ve been told “blog” is short for “web log”, which I understand some people use like a personal diary or journal. I didn’t keep a diary as a kid, not because I was afraid my mom would find it, but because I was a pretty boring kid. Decent grades, attended church, no scuffles with the law, and if drugs were available in my home town of Madison, IL in the 60s, I didn’t have a clue of where to find them.

A diary of “played wiffleball at Bob and Nick’s; went bike riding with Dale to Monks Mound; or had summer band this morning, sure was hot in the gym” would have been pretty dry reading, and even drier to go back and read later.

But now this new blog thing. I understand from our IT manager and my Editorial staff that everybody’s got one, so, I do to.

For those that may not know me, I serve as Publisher of The Telegraph. The Telegraph does not belong to me, it’s owned by Freedom Communications, Inc., but I am responsible for what goes on here. A newspaper publisher is like the CEO or President of a branch of a company. I am responsible for the day-to-day operations and financial health of The Telegraph. I also serve as the deciding vote for our Editorial Board when we have differences on local issues, and can accept or reject stories or advertising content if the need arises.

This blog will give you a chance to interact with me. ‘Got a question? Shoot. Sometimes, I’ll give you a good answer (that is, one you agree with), other times, I won’t. Depending on the question, there might not be a good answer. Why did we do this or that? Occasionally the answer is “for financial reasons, or at corporate direction.” That may seem like a non-answer, but “because I’m the daddy and I said so” never seemed like a good answer either.

So ask away, and thanks for reading the Telegraph.

Jim