March - Chess Journalists of America

Dear Editor,
Thank you for publishing the
reprint of Larry Parr’s “Tales of
the Volunteer Editors” article from
1986. Although his comments are
almost 20 years old, as you mention
in the introduction to the article, he
makes some excellent points which
still ring true today.
The last section of Parr’s article,
“Advice to CJA,” is especially poignant.
It is a recommendation to
the CJA on how to improve the annual
awards. His suggestions were
written with an optimistic appeal
similar to the one I made in my letter
to the editor in issue #112 (June,
2004). More specifically, two passages
from Parr’s final paragraph sum
up the spirit of my letter: (1) “...when
there are no deserving winners,
awards should be withheld.” (2)
“... the CJA must establish a prize
nominations committee to search
out deserving articles and to file in
history’s dustbin 90% of the submitted
prize entries.”
It is disappointing to see that
no fellow CJA members are interested
enough in the “CJA Awards
Problem” to agree or disagree with
my comments from the June, 2004
Chess Journalist. I truly believe
that the awards system can be
improved through proactive correspondence
and feedback. Let’s not
wait another eighteen years before
there is another attempt to solve it
again. Perhaps these suggestions
made by somebody as experienced
and well known as Parr will ignite
discussion.
Regards,
Howard Goldowsky
Boston, MA
I would be remiss if I didn’t restate
my views on political adver-
Letters
tising to the CH editor, the MACA
board, Randi Malcuit, Don Schultz
and to John Hillery as a potential
article in the Chess Journalist.
First, the chatroom chess politics
and chess blogs, mostly about
the USCF are ugly, negative and banal
to the average player. This stuff,
with wild charges and gross exaggerations,
could and would be libelous
in a publication like Chess Horizons,
which I hope will never even
think of publishing it. We do no
service to publish any accusations
close to an election that cannot be
answered whether in text or an ad.
Everything that does run should be
as positive as possible, and if there
are any political charges or endorsements,
the ad should refer to
a website or e-mail address to get
more information. If this is in any
way controversial, there should be
a disclaimer somewhere in the text,
reminding readers (again) that
these are the views of contributors/
advertisers and not necessarily the
views of MACA or the editor. If a
website is mentioned in an ad, the
editor could also list various other
sites with other points of view.
Second, with election politics, it
is most necessary to either give a
listing of all candidates (and tell how
to get their statements), or give no
candidates, unless, of course there
are unusual circumstances, such
as candidates are unopposed or
there are no candidates for an office
and a write-in (who may not even
accept) may be elected. MACA has
more than 200 life members (a big
chunk of the voting membership)
and almost half of them are spread
around the country from coast to
coast. So few USCF members vote
in the USCF national elections that
an ad in CH and a few other state
publications could greatly affect
the outcome.
Third, MACA, unlike many
other states, has a legacy of generally
staying out of national politics
and has run very few ads in CH for
MA elections. The election process
should be explained on the MACA
website with whatever links that
are necessary, and short referrals
should be made to this at least on
MACA’s official pages in CH. The
last issue of CH didn’t give notice of
the February 15 deadline for nominations
and the process of the election
according to the bylaws. Since
MACA and most state associations
have a web site, there is no excuse
that such notice is not automatically
given each year. The point is
that in the 50 states, there are few,
if any, that coordinate both printed
publications and websites to inform
members. Just putting things on
a website, circulating copies at an
annual meeting (that few attend) or
saying that “this is how we have always
done things” will not do for a
501-c-3 organization such as MACA
and many other states.
Yours truly,
Stephen Dann
[[The specific item which provoked
Mr. Dann to write the above
was a fairly innocuous ad for EB
candidate Joel Channing. However,
the general point he raises is a
valid one. Paid advertising — and
demagoguery — are the inevitable
consequences of extending the franchise.
(This should have been obvious
to those who pushed the proposal
through four years ago, but apparently
was not.) What standards should
state magazine editors adhere to in
this new environment? -- ed]]
12 THE CHESS JOURNALIST MARCH 2005