Page 14 - 05_July-Aug 2024

PUBLISHER’S NOTE.
CURIOSITY IS GOOD FOR THE CAT
I never understood why curiosity would kill a cat. It’s the start of an old phrase, a centuries old proverb, that my mother would use to stop me from asking questions. I was an adult before I knew the remainder of the phrase was “and satisfaction brought it back.”
I value curiosity. It’s the start of seeking to understand. It’s a marker I look for when I’m interviewing someone for a position at Odvod. I ask the applicant a few expected questions – about experience or education – and then
I turn it over to the interviewee. What questions do you have for us? Nearly every time the first questions the app- licant asks are perfunctory. What does a regular day look like? (Organized chaos.) Can I work from home? (No.)
I keep my face composed, but I feel a jolt of optimism if the applicant pulls out a notebook and murmurs something about having written down a few questions. The harder the questions, the more likely I am to move that person to the short list.
You can only imagine then, how much I enjoyed being seated next to Chris Henderson for dinner at the recent Junior Achievement Northern Alberta Business Hall of Fame Awards. He’s the chief strategist and partner at
Y Station Communications and Research. It’s not often I get asked a question during casual conversation that causes me to pause. But he made me think when he asked me what I thought would be hard to do in the early days of the magazine that is now less difficult
to achieve. I fumbled a bit (in my head at least), but I shared with him that reaching a level of credibility is the thing that comes to mind. We have stuck to our values of respecting our readers and not succumbing to the temptation of passing off promotional or advertorial copy as journalism. That type of credibility takes time
to achieve. While we never stop working to earn our readers’ respect, the comments we receive show that our readers understand credible journalism and how much it is valued.
I got a letter last month from a reader who was upset that we used the f bomb in a story. I understand the dismay with the denigration of language, but it formed part of a quote from the person being interviewed. We don’t change quotes, ever. We fact checked to ensure the quote was accurate. That’s credible journalism. When readers don’t like a story, or agree with it, or especially when they don’t like what someone said, that’s OK. If we only read what we agree with, we are showing our lack
of curiosity – our unwillingness to seek to understand. And that attitude, that lack of curiosity, puts our society at risk.
If you are curious about the magazine, the people who work on it or those who are featured in the stories, the Edif y Unfiltered podcast is available now. It’s a way for our community to peek behind the curtain of Edmonton’s city magazine. You’ll hear interviews that didn’t appear in print, the backstory of controversial covers, and you’ll be able to eavesdrop on conversations. Be part of the community. Support journalism.
And continue to be curious about your city. We’ve had a love affair with Edmonton since 2006. We’re still in love.
Trudy Callaghan
Publisher
Scan here to find Edify Unfiltered podcast.
We can make it together.
14 EDify. JULY/AUGUST.24