There is a weekly online thread managed by the NT News which invites people to respond with criticism of the way in which the paper conducts its business. The invitation to readers is to do their worst with comments that are destructive, outlandish and rude. This thread has been in place for a couple of months and is updated with the latest comments on a weekly basis.

I wanted to share my thoughts about this thread, and wrote the following on the NT News invitation tho comment.

This column and invitation are damaging to the reputation of the NT News. The notion of inviting abuse and negative comment is demeaning and does little for responders nor the paper.

I have been a reader and sometimes contributor to the NT News since coming to the Territory in 1975. During the. 46 years since arriving, the paper has gone through quite a number of changes, some good and others perhaps a little questionable.

There are things about the NT News I have appreciated both historically and in contemporary context. But this invitation to besmirch the paper is not a good, constructive or wholesome initiative. It does little to promote the image of people who respond with the level of comment invited.

To some extent it is justificational. The reasoning might be that if people vent, then they won’t really worry about the trend and direct of our print and online publication.

There are some things I would like to offer as suggestions but not in a forum like this because suggestions should always be constructive. In my opinion this weekly invitation toy take a crack at the paper is destructive and any comment offered could be taken as contributing in a pseudo (not meant) or farcical manner.

My wish would be that the NT News discontinue this program and instead seek genuine, sincere and well intentioned comment. However, there seems to be no interest in this as an alternative approach.

I have two blogs at henrygrayblog.wordpress.com and will be adding this comment to my ‘togetherness.blog’ on this site.