tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post2764671827928332115..comments2024-03-21T13:15:26.838-04:00Comments on The Rural Blog: New Ky. Press Assn. president wants group and its members to help make unhealthy state healthierMelissa Patrickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01558431327921705882noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-67433366980455249642009-01-26T18:08:00.000-05:002009-01-26T18:08:00.000-05:00Edmund Shelby sends the following comment to your ...Edmund Shelby sends the following comment to your chief blogger, who posts it:<BR/><BR/>Just a few comments on John Nelson's response. I agree that we should not belong to any organization or group about which we might have to report. In fact, I quit attending my church for that very reason. What we are proposing is that the governor establish a task force to focus on wellness. We do not see that as all that controversial.<BR/>This proposal, and some others that may follow, are a direct result of our strategic planning. We discovered during that process that we must be more relevant. The old ways are just that -- old ways, and just because we've always done something a certain way is no recommendation to continue. We must me open to change. Certainly on-line news has shown us that.<BR/>--Edmund ShelbyAl Crosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12359789093150390148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13520324.post-33393719856336910292009-01-25T12:15:00.000-05:002009-01-25T12:15:00.000-05:00Indeed it is easy to say that if a newspaper can a...Indeed it is easy to say that if a newspaper can and should be in support of anything, it should stand in support of health and wellness in its community. We all, or most of us, do that routinely with our own stories about health and wellness, and in cooperation with our local hospitals and health departments in dissemination of their news releases. Many of us have done so editorially in support of smoking bans and higher cigarette taxes. Let no one suggest that our state's poor health is in any way a reflection of a lack of available information.<BR/><BR/>And there is no reason our press association cannot help to distribute educational information about good health or even to facilitate the sharing of our work to that end, including our editorials. But it is quite another thing to suggest that the association will take a position on any political solution to any issue which is not directly industry-related.<BR/><BR/>The best recent examples of appropriate efforts like that have to do with the issues of openness in government -- which we routinely support with our association's money -- and literacy, which enhances the sale of our products.<BR/><BR/>But we must be careful as an association not to find ourselves in compromising positions with organizations our members must cover -- like hospital associations and chambers of commerce -- by getting into bed with them on a political solution to a problem totally unrelated to the association's mission. And we need to avoid alienating ourselves with members who might disagree with the specific solutions the association is pushing.<BR/><BR/>The barely mentioned, but clearly noted target in Shelby's speech is universal health care. Some of our members might want to go there on their editorial pages -- and it's a safe bet there will be opinions on both sides -- but the association needs to stay away from such endorsements.<BR/><BR/>If the KPA board wants to encourage its members to promote wellness, and to facilitate their ability to do so, that is admirable. But the KPA board does not need to become an editorial board for the industry.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com