June 2004 | A letter to our readers
Affirming Our Values
Common Ground and the other Dragonfly Media magazines will stick to its initial decision not to accept a $15,000 advertisement from the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co (See the May editorial).
Our decision is not an effort by this company to make a decision for you. Each of you must choose your own relationship to tobacco. If we decline to provide information about such products, you will not have difficulty finding it elsewhere.
Rather, Dragonfly’s decision is about taking responsibility for our relationship to tobacco and how it informs our commitment to pursue right livelihood. Our decision is an affirmation. It is only one small judgment that, along with hundreds of others, will determine the kind of new media company we are creating.
Among those who work so hard to create this publication every month, there are some who smoke and others who don’t. Interestingly, that demarcation was not always a reliable indicator of the views on this subject in our internal company-wide discussions.
Among our outspoken and eloquent readers (see this issue’s expanded letters section), there are those who deeply oppose the idea that this magazine would profit from the marketing of tobacco, and there are those who seem genuinely puzzled at the thought we would not. Your response has been extraordinary — in every city we have received far more letters than we will be able to publish.
Whether you agree with our decision or not, I am hopeful that you will recognize that it has been made following an open and vigorous debate, with all points of view carefully considered.
Both the process and outcome were based on our intention to use our values as our guide. With our more expensive, 100% post-consumer newsprint, our commitment to give back a percentage of any profits we eventually make to the community, and now our refusal to accept certain types of advertising, we are pioneering a distinctive course in the field of publishing.
Many of you who wrote to advocate that we not accept tobacco advertising, offered suggestions for how we might replace this substantial loss of revenue. Thank you for helping us make this tough choice and, through your input and support, helping us create a magazine that makes the Bay Area a better place.
Ron Williams
President & CEO
Dragonfly Media
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