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Hall lacked political edge

I wish to add my thanks to the many tendered to Bob Hall for his service to Nelson as an editor

I wish to add my thanks to the many tendered to Bob Hall for his service to Nelson as an editor, and also as a candidates-meeting moderator during local elections. He filled his roles with a degree of grace and if his successor does as well, we’ll be fortunate.

Bob shows self-awareness in his final editorial (Sept. 13) and I applaud him for that. He says “a parting shot [is]… not my style.” True. He was not “combative,” as he said in a co-op radio interview with Deb Kozak. He made that choice; it may be high-minded, or just necessary at Black Press. Tom Fletcher is aggressively against all things left-ish; Black likes Fletcher’s bias.

Beginning as a sports reporter, Bob did not train for political journalism, but learned on the job. That is a good way to learn. Its drawback is a tepid political analysis, in my opinion. I would ask the next Star editor, “Be more edge-y, take more assertive stances, when political convictions are engaged.” Commentaries on elected politicians’ styles are not an analysis of political ideas.

Bob was “not a fan” of the NDP, he wrote last week. I wish he’d written that in one lucid, declarative editorial when he took his post at the Star. Readers had to deduce our own conclusions about his politics because Bob hadn’t said anything this clearly until September 13. Mayor Gary Exner was “divisive,” Bob writes now. During Exner’s terms, the Daily News let Exner off rather easily. The Star doesn’t do investigative journalism; unfortunately, that won’t change.

What I’m saying is, I prefer strong declared political leanings — even if I oppose them — to veiled ones. (My political views often don’t resonate in Nelson, I have to admit.) But that’s just me.

Charles Jeanes

Nelson