LETTER
from the
EDITOR
-PATRICIA VACCARINO-
Dear Friends and Colleagues: As a P.R. Professional, I have worked with many journalists throughout my career. I have never doubted their integrity.
There are ethical boundaries between P.R. professionals and journalists. I have had lunches, drinks and dinners with journalists who always pay their own way and don’t ever let me pick up the tab because they are bound by ethics. This is the way it was in the day of Walter Cronkite, and this is the way it is today.
I read many news sources: The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Seattle Times are delivered daily to my door. I read many other publications in print, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Economist, Foreign Affairs, Harvard Business Review, the MIT Technology Forum, Crain’s and the Sun Magazine. I scan online news from Fox, MSNBC, and CNN. I also scan Twitter to see what’s trending to get my pulse on public opinion. It is important for me to read many points of view. What I glean from authentic news sources inspires me to think, make informed decisions and also to write my own essays, articles and books.
I’m fortunate to have taught myself to speed read when I was young! I drag around back issues of essential reading whenever I know I might have an extra five minutes to read. I almost majored in journalism at the University of Rhode Island (URI). Instead I opted for a degree in Political Science because I was bound for law school. URI has a great journalism school and counts among their alumni Christiane Amanpour (CNN), John Geddes (NYT) and my dear friend Dave Gregorio, who is a desk editor at Reuters.
I find it to be a national disgrace that our Presidential administration would undermine and discredit the free press. I have the highest respect for journalists and value the information they provide me, so I can make informed decisions in every aspect of my life. I am committed to my own publication and to produce quality stories that tell the truth about real people. I am equally committed to defending the free press and will do everything my power to #Resist.
Note: I took this pic during one of my many walks, going west on 41st Street (on Library Way) toward the main NYC public library on 5th Avenue. The quotes on the bronze plagues embedded in the sidewalk are the words of great authors, thinkers and journalists. These words inspire me and I’m sure they inspire you too. Let us never forget who we are as a nation. Without a free press, our nation will perish. #PressOn