OP/ED: Year in Review says Castlegar 'steady as she goes'
By Kyra Hoggan
It’s been an odd year for The Source, in that this is the first, of our almost three years online, that no story has stood out as the real attention-getter of the 12 months past.
Our first year of operation saw a conflict between Castlegar and Celgar, sparking four of the top 10 stories for 2009. Tragedy struck in 2010, and the loss of two of our native sons spoke for 6 of 10 of the most-read stories in our city that year. 2011 has not followed suit – no single issue has captured more than two spots in our top 10 list this year. The number one story was, perhaps, predictable given the degree of upset it sparked among parents and teens in our community (http://castlegarsource.com/news/general/youth-worker-says-facebook-abuse-manual-just-tip-terrifying-castlegar-iceberg-11649). This story was about the fallout after two local young men published, on the Internet, an article they claim to have penned called Deflowered in Seconds, which outlines specifically how to identify, target and seduce little girls. I think this story will be revisited in future coverage, though only time will tell. Second in popularity, I think, had less to do with the column itself, but rather the comment thread it provoked. While I would like to pretend my column http://castlegarsource.com/news/out-left-field-election-looming-come-meet-your-choices-14785 is what inspired enough reads to rank second spot for the year, I highly doubt such is the case. I think the candidates who replied to electoral questions, and the residents who had the courage and wisdom to ask some tough ones, are those who deserve the credit for the popularity of this story. Coming in at number three is http://castlegarsource.com/news/general/castlegar-takes-its-chances-new-gaming-casino-open-today-12743, announcing the grand opening of the new Chances Gaming Centre here in town – a fascinating story because of the ambivalent reaction it has drawn from the community. Some are thrilled at the Chances arrival due to the economic potential it offers, others are horrified to see it here given the potential social consequences. Yet others have adopted the live-and-let-live paradigm, while a wait-and-see approach works for some. Few stories in my tenure here have seen the city so evenly spread along such a long continuum. Number four was the page on which we profiled our election candidates, making it one of only two issues taking more than a single Top-10 spot this year, at http://castlegarsource.com/elections2011 Numbers five, six and seven probably mean little to anyone but Source insiders (and, perhaps, our competition) as they saw people visiting our general classified, obits, and op/ed pages to see the lists contained therein and make their decisions about what to read. What this tells me is that our readers are becoming far more proficient in navigating the site to find content that addresses their personal interests – so it is, in effect, a good news story and then some, for me. Numbers eight and nine are two disparate stories – one focusses on a school bus driver who exhibited poor judgment in duct-taping her charges, and another about a woman who was rescued after being submerged in the Arrow Lake in her vehicle, then subsequently saved by local Good Samaritans. Number 10 was regarding the second of two issues earning more than one Top-10 nod – a story about a lobby group calling for the arrest and prosecution of the authors of Deflowered in Seconds. So is it good news or bad news that no single issue so captured the attention of Castlegar in 2011 coverage that it dominated the Top 10 list? You have to decide that for yourselves, but I’m sticking with the happy interpretation. Yes, these are serious times, requiring serious people to look for serious solutions… the lack of a single hot-button issue doesn’t mean we’re without significant concerns or worries. But in my decade+ of journalism, I have never written a Top 10 list that was dominated by a good news story. When one issue takes priority over all others in the hearts and minds of a community, it’s usually a cataclysmic one that has us all scared, or worse yet, mourning. 2011 saw us striking a balance in which we could deal with the important – without being overwhelmed by the tyranny of the crisis. I think that’s a win for us all, and I hope 2012 follows suit. Thank you all so much for joining us in 2011 … I hope you enjoyed the ride as much as I did. Happy New Year.
