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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Bill could gut GMO ordinance, group says ... As It Was: Drive-In theater was the wonder of its time ... Library kids activities get more than the mind in gear ... Bill could gut GMO ordinance, group says ... As It Was: Drive-In theater was the wonder of its time ... Library kids activities get more than the mind in gear ... EDITOR'S NOTES Bert Etling: A homegrown news diet Comment By Bert Etling DailyTidings.com By Bert Etling Posted Mar. 19, 2015 at 12:01 AM Updated Mar 19, 2015 at 8:21 PM By Bert Etling Posted Mar. 19, 2015 at 12:01 AM Updated Mar 19, 2015 at 8:21 PM » Social News Somebody asked what my philosophy of community journalism is. For starters, I think community journalism is a more accurate reflection of the world in which we live. If you lived on nothing but a diet of CNN, your information world would consist mostly of natural disasters, violent attacks and (at the risk of repeating myself) overheated politics. We do need access to accurate information about world and national events. That gives us a view that can see over the horizon. But relying only on those news outlets leaves out a critical element: The actual neighborhood and town in which you live. That's where community journalism comes in. Our information ladder should have rungs close to the ground on which we walk. We want news about the landscape in which we live, in all its dimensions: social, political and economic among them. We’re glad our efforts in that direction have met with an enthusiastic reception from an Ashland readership that seems hungry for community journalism that can inform not just the civic dialogue but how we live our lives. One of my past editors put it this way: “We connect our readers with opportunities,” she said. One person told me: “Congratulations. You’ve taken a two-minute paper and made it into a 10-minute paper.” That was some months ago. As we continue to refine and improve the Tidings, we’re the first to say it’s a work in progress. More recently, another reader told me, with some amazement in his voice, “I was reading the Tidings one day and suddenly realized I’d been at it for 20 minutes and was interested in everything I was reading!” We know there’s enough, more than enough, going on in this community to fill the Tidings several times over every day. We hope you continue to reach out and share with us what we might be missing. We appreciate your patience, too. We certainly can’t pursue everything we’d like to. But we do know that if you don’t suggest stories to us, we’ll miss a lot of opportunities. Those of you who read the Tidings online should know that one of many items on our to-do list is improving the website, both the version you see on your desktop computer and what’s on your smartphone or tablet. We had hoped to have upgraded those by this month, but that’s been pushed back to the not-too-distant future (we hope), perhaps in the next month or two. In the interim, we’re also working to post more stories throughout the day, instead of mostly in the early evening. A print newspaper, to go back to the diet metaphor, is an information feast served once a day. We need to be, and information consumers expect, a casino-style, 24-hour, all-you-can-eat buffet, from beefy investigative reports to fluffy, entertaining features for dessert. We won’t be posting around the clock, but we do promise to continue to strive to offer you information about Ashland you won’t find anywhere else, a seat at the table of the community conversation. That’s our goal. We appreciate your feedback and participation. And, if you like it, let your friends and neighbors know, so they can take part. For that matter, let your enemies know, too. Maybe we can all find some common ground in the Tidings. Reach Daily Tidings editor Bert Etling at [email protected] or 541-631-1313. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/betling .     By Bert Etling DailyTidings.com By Bert Etling Posted Mar. 19, 2015 at 12:01 AM Updated Mar 19, 2015 at 8:21 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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