EDITORIAL: Getting stuff in The Banner isn't difficult
May 17—The Duncan Banner staff has recently received some "how to" inquiries, and though we've addressed them before, the time seems ripe for a refresher.
Every once in a while, we get contacted by someone from the community saying they've sent over press releases or have story ideas for our newsroom. We welcome this whole heartedly. Occasionally we'll get a complaint that something never made it into the paper. Although we have email problems from time to time, it seems unlikely they were all hung up in the ether, although certain domains don't make it through our filters. Those are strong because of the volume of spam we receive.
Our general newsroom account gets upward of 300 pieces of spam every day, and sifting through it can be a chore. So it's likely that we've missed some things. It's possible that whoever checked the email account — and we do that about every 30 minutes — flagged the material for later use, and then overlooked it. Readers should be assured that we would never ignore anything from the public, as long as it meets our parameters. Those would involve possible libel, defamation, privacy invasion or items that could suggest The Banner favored a political candidate or cause, or that are commercial in nature.
We want to reemphasize that as a community newspaper, we welcome all submitted material that qualifies as "news." Releases should be emailed to news@duncanbanner.com. To hedge your bets, cc editor@duncanbanner.com; that address gets less spam than the general one. Anyone with questions can call our office.
It's important that anyone submitting items understand that we don't have a "typesetter," so we require items to be sent in text form. Many people send memes or flyers and expect us to produce those. However, such graphic items are generally subject to advertising constraints, and even if not, they don't reproduce well. We've explained this to folks sending us these things and asked them to send a text version, but that sometimes invites cursing or allegations that we're "lazy," and often they never follow through. The easiest way to get us information is to type the text into an email field and send it. It can also be sent in a private Facebook message, but there may be delays, as we cannot monitor Messenger 24/7, and with 15,000 followers, sifting through PMs can be a daunting task for our small staff. Note that we won't publish anything without a confirmed source.
With the political season here, we want to remind readers that while those in office necessarily make "news," we curtail "fluff" photos and press releases designed to promote a candidate, rather than to impart news to readers. For instance, a candidate that slips himself into a ribbon-cutting photo — unless it's of campaign headquarters — could cause the pic to be rejected. Candidates should contact our account executive Jason Hodges or General Manager Crystal Childers for the best way to promote campaigns.
As always, if you have questions, just ask. And if you don't see your material in the paper, don't delay; call us to make sure we got it. We can't always promise a date of publication, and especially reruns, but we can confirm receipt. Hold our feet to the fire; we expect it! To contact The Banner via phone, call 580-255-5354. — The Banner Staff
