Last week, The New York Times announced they were discontinuing The Choice blog.
I'll admit that in the last 18 months, I’ve mentioned to counselors at Collegewise that I thought The Choice had gone downhill. When I found a particularly useful entry, like the financial aid Q & A with Mark Kantrowitz, I shared it. But it felt to me like they’d been phoning it in.
Clearly, lots of people would disagree. The announcement was followed by nearly 100 comments from readers begging the Times to reconsider. Parents and students sung The Choice's praises and lamented the loss. Mostly, readers had the same question–why?
Yesterday, the Times responded.
Dear Readers,
We appreciate all the heartwarming
comments. It is time to close and archive this thread. The Times will
leave the resources available here and will of course look for new and
useful ways to cover college admissions and financial aid. Thank you for
reading.All the best,
The Choice’s Editors
Nearly 100 responses, and that’s the best the Times could do.
Two things come to mind.
1. To me, that response seems like a dressed up version of, “Thanks, but we don’t care. Now go away.”
Why wouldn’t the Times respond like they were talking to a friend? How much goodwill could they have built with their readers if they just told the truth, whatever that is? Tell us that times are tough for newspapers. Tell us the decision was difficult and that you know it disappointed a lot of good people. Say you’re sorry.
No, it might not have been the Time’s usual newsy voice. But people respond when one human writes to another human.
2. We should all do work and make contributions so great that if we disappeared, 100 people would kick and scream to bring us back. That’s when you know you’ve done something right.