OPINION: Of Cats and Independent News
Thanks to everyone who came out for the Cat Tour last weekend. Many had a question - what's the link between cats and news? Our publisher responds.
By Leigh Anne Van Doren
PUBLISHER
Last week the Fredericksburg Advance hosted the second annual Cat Tour in the Canal Quarter. We want to thank everyone who came out to support the event, which sold out.
And, we want to take a moment to address a question that several folks have asked: “We love cats, and we love the Advance, but what’s the connection between the two?”
We could offer a long-winded, academic-type response, but we think it better to borrow a page from T.S. Eliot’s “The Naming of Cats.” For news organizations, like cats, “must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.” Or, in our case, three different traits.
Independent
Those with cats in their homes know that felines are independent-minded creatures. Their independence is what attracts people to them.
That’s the Advance. We are independent. We watch the world and people around us closely, we sit with people, and we listen to their stories regardless what others say or think about them.
Only after doing that will we write.
Independence isn’t about aloofness. It’s about taking people on their own terms and shaping our stories accordingly. That independence is what creates the bond between our writers, the people we interview, and our readers.
Curious
What makes cats infinitely fascinating to people is their curiosity. They explore everything. They look at new things from lots of angles, and they frequently get into good trouble.
Journalism requires cat-like curiosity. It’s a trait that can’t be taught – people either have it, or they don’t.
The Advance’s team, like cats everywhere, has it.
Local
One thing about cats – they are local.
And like them, the Advance knows its territory. We stroll it daily looking for anything new, and we watch for subtle changes that define our home.
We may stray on occasion, visiting places far beyond Fredericksburg, but always with an eye toward home and how the world beyond is affecting us.
Ineffable Traits
These aren’t traits that we simply write down and ignore. They make up our news organization’s DNA.
The Advance is always thinking about the traits that define what we are. Because these traits set the roadmap for how we report, how we grow, and how we handle challenging stories.
So that’s the tie between cats and the Advance.
What better fellow traveler through life to learn from?
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The FXBG Advance cuts through the talking points to deliver both incisive and informative news about the issues, people, and organizations that daily affect your life. And we do it in a multi-partisan format that has no equal in this region. Over the past year, our reporting was:
First to break the story of Stafford Board of Supervisors dismissing a citizen library board member for “misconduct,” without informing the citizen or explaining what the person allegedly did wrong.
First to explain falling water levels in the Rappahannock Canal.
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