Editorials: What new advisory panel will mean to our viewpoints
Try as we might to avoid them, we know that we have blind spots. Everybody does. Even worse, we don't always know where they are.
That, in 25 words, is the point of The Sounding Board we've assembled to provide advice for us to consider when we explore and craft editorials - as well as advice on topics to consider that might not otherwise capture our attention.
Over the course of many decades, the philosophy behind the newspaper's institutional voice has been consistent.
We've always viewed it this way: Fiscally conservative; socially conscious; compassionate; supportive of education; a watchdog for the public good; nonpartisan; fair; levelheaded and clear thinking; and above all else, an unabashed champion of the suburbs.
Our words get angry from time to time, but we pick our spots. Partly because we leave open the possibility that we could be wrong; partly because we usually respect even those we criticize as people with good intentions; and partly because no one listens if you yell all the time.
When we raise our voice, we want it to be heard.
That's who we have been. Or at least our view of who we have tried to be. And that's who we are.
We don't expect that to be changed by the creation of an advisory panel. Its role is not to change the philosophy of our editorials.
Its role is to help fill the blind spots, to help us see viewpoints that might otherwise pass us by, to entertain thoughts or ideas that might otherwise not occur to us. In short, the idea is to add depth and perspective to the work of our editorials.
It's clear that the suburbs have diversified greatly in the past several years. What's sometimes less apparent is how wide that diversity is.
It's in ethnicity, in religion, in age, in income level, in education, in lifestyle, in political thought, in health, in technology, in language, in definitions of family.
How much have the suburbs changed? Here's one example: In November, voters elected Democrats to Congress in every suburban district. Just a few years ago, who could have imagined that?
It's easy to get tunnel vision, easy to lose sight of all of the challenges and opportunities and real-life issues that play out around us.
As the suburbs diversify, we must find ways to diversify ourselves to stay in touch with it, to help in this new suburban mosaic to fulfill our mission to make the world a little better place.
The Sounding Board is one of the ways we hope to do it. We can't wait to get started.