Letter to The Editor / DO THE RIGHT THINGS

By Roger C. Kostmayer

The Citizen paper is guilty of failure to deliver what it promises (and for which it charges) and failure to communicate.  The paper holds public officials and employees, organizations and individuals accountable, as it should, but apparently does not hold itself accountable.

Many in Monroe County suffered serious damage, loss and on going challenges, and they deserve our support and sympathy.  I’m sure that The Citizen and its employees did as well and are trying to do better.  The public should be understanding – if The Citizen communicates and answers phone calls and letters.

The implied contract between subscribers and the paper is that, in return for payment, The Citizen will deliver an early (6 to 7 am?) daily newspaper.  The value of the paper, for many subscribers, diminishes rapidly after 7 am and is worthless later in the day.  Purchasers of papers from Citizen boxes expect papers from that day.  The fact is, some days the papers have not been delivered at all, and on every other day they’ve been delivered very late, such as 4 PM.  Papers in boxes have often turned out to be a day old and worthless.  Is the public paying for a product and service it’s not receiving?  This is not acceptable.

The Citizen needs to do at least 6 things:  publicly apologize for its failures;  fix the problem;  treat the public fairly (e.g. no charges until service is satisfactory), give subscribers options (e.g.  not be charged for deliveries that never arrived or did so after noon.); hold itself accountable; and publish its progress once a week.

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