Editorial: The Pleasure of Reading a Good Newspaper

Editorial

We think Frommer's, Fodor's and Lonely Planet were going through the motions of covering Sausalito as they all chased the Big Money in San Francisco. So we built our own local guide that's fanatically focused only on Sausalito, with content for residents and for visitors.

Thankfully, we're not the only ones in town who think that way.

Every town should have a strong local newspaper that features thoughtful articles written by people who are practicing journalism, not just shoveling content or playing to the lowest brow in the house.

Here in Sausalito we're lucky to have the Sausalito Marinscope, where we often see articles that remind us of a figure skater's performance.

Huh? How does a figure skater relate to journalism?

The classic story of the figure skater is that they make the incredibly difficult look easy.

With journalism it's the same thing. Anybody can do the who-what-when-where-why thing.

But real journalists can get feeling into a six-inch column without taking sides in a gunfight. Real journalists can sit through three hours of a meeting and know which five moments they need to capture so you get a feel for the entire evening. And real journalists write prose so natural that you don't notice how efficiently they used that space on the page, you just read and absorb.

All those thoughts ran through our minds when we read the Tuesday story by Jessica Mullins on the Waterfront and Marinship Steering Committee report to the City Council.

Long meeting, complex and controversial issues, 68 years of historical background, lots of emotion. And all of it pulled together in what we think is a concise and balanced way.

We're very proud to be the Insiders Guide to Sausalito, and the largest and most comprehensive Sausalito reference site in the world.

We're even prouder to practice our craft side by side with a home-town newspaper that is well-written and serves the community's need for news. Lots of towns no longer have such a newspaper, and we need to remember to be thankful that we do.