Right in the Centre - If it's news it will likely appear in this paper

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Published on Thursday, August 15, 2024

By Ken Waddell

Neepawa Banner & Press

It’s closing in on 35 years since I wrote my first column. When we started our first newspaper in 1989, I decided there were certain things I would not accept as advertisements even if they were legal. One decision was easy as cigarette ads had already been made illegal earlier that year. 

The other two products were alcohol and strippers. I am not sure we have ever been offered much in the way of alcohol ads but we certainly had our share of stripper ads headed our way. I think one or two actually slipped by me many years ago but I certainly had a number of requests. The calls followed a pattern. A hotel owner would call and say something like this. “Hi Ken, I know you don’t like stripper ads but we need to build up business at the bar, so we can maybe change the wording a bit. Can we send you an adult entertainment ad?” You have to sell a lot of extra drinks to cover the cost of the dancer, but what do I know? I am also not sure how they can call it Adult Entertainment? Seems rather childish to me.

So against that background, I know the time is likely coming when we may be called upon to advertise some events that won’t pass my test. I am getting the impression that it’s only a matter of time until we may be called upon to advertise events that I consider immoral and even harmful to our community. I will politely turn them down.

Recently Pastor James Anderson of Calvary Chapel Church in Neepawa said, “We have lost our pursuit of Holiness.” I think that is pretty evident. The Opening Ceremonies of the Paris Olympics were a prime example. At that event, the athletes and the public were ambushed by immoral minds who tried to hide evil within an artistic setting.

People know my stand on many topics including the ongoing push to further legitimize and expand the influence of the gay community. A couple of people approached me after we published a picture of a Paint with Pride event  in Neepawa. I was asked why I would publish that when they know that I am generally unsupportive. The answer is that it was news, an event that happened in one of the communities covered by one of our papers. A newspaper editor isn’t required to agree with or like everything that happens in a community and may end up on the pages. A newspaper is required to publish the news, plain and simple.

There’s another twist to this story and that two of the people who approached me on the Paint with Pride event belong to groups that won’t vote in elections. I find it ironic that while these groups hold their opinions firmly and often express them clearly, they won’t take a stand at the municipal, provincial or federal level to affect possible change in our country.

It’s important that a newspaper publish as much news as they can afford to print and as many opinion pieces as they can find space for. It’s important for citizens to stand up and speak up for what they believe in but it’s also important that they get out and make their choices and beliefs known at the ballot box.

And just as a reminder to readers familiar with this editor and ones who are not, letters to the editor are welcome but they can’t be libelous and they have to be signed and verifiable.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are the writer’s personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the newspaper staff.