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Home tour review missed mark

Steve Pope

Sometimes we try as hard as we can and still get it wrong. On Tuesday, Sept. 20, we published an article leading the Arts & Entertainment section about the Vail Mountain School Home Tour. The article, penned by Assistant Managing Editor Alex Miller, was arguably good writing from a creative writing perspective, but it missed the mark from a journalistic perspective. After discussing the article with a number of valley residents and after rereading it twice, I see that the writing conveyed an editorial opinion that is not consistent with this newspaper’s position and that does not have a place in the news portions of the Vail Daily. While Alex has a personal right to his opinion, and in this case “envy,” our policy is to keep this type of personal statement off of the news pages and to confine them to the opinion pages of our newspaper. My most significant disappointment is that the opinions of Alex seem to carry a level of dispersion to an organization and to individuals in our community that do not deserve the slight. The Vail Mountain School is an excellent school and a significant contributor our community in innumerable ways. The people who offered their homes as part of the school’s tour fundraiser earned them through hard work. Rather than being embarrassed by thinly disguised barbs directed toward their homes, they should be congratulated for what they have achieved and for what they contribute to the community. We failed in this case to be fair and balanced. We failed to catch inappropriate envy, jealousy and misdirected criticism in the review process. We inadvertently cast a poor light on a very worthwhile organization, worthwhile people and a worthwhile project. For these things I personally apologize. We will redouble our efforts to prevent this in the future. Publisher Steven Pope can be reached at 949-0555, ext. 300, or at publisher@vaildaily.comVail, Colorado


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