July 13th, 2005, 11:36 am

Be local, reader urges newspaper.

I try not to mix my blog up with work too often, but I stumbled across something today that gave me pause — a very eloquent letter to the editor of our Charlotte Creative Loafing paper.

The reader was complaining that Charlotte CL runs “Moodswing” — a column by Atlanta columnist Hollis Gillespie, which often makes ATL references.

I tried one more time to read Hollis Gillespie’s column so I might finally discover its value. Then I wondered: Where in Charlotte is Dekalb Avenue anyway? I realize CL is Atlanta-based (I read my first CL in Atlanta in 1990), but is there really a dearth of Charlotte content for the Charlotte edition? Even though someone like David Walters [a local columnist] was pushing his own social agenda and lived outside of reality, at least he was relevant to this city. CL’s new mission is to be “the soul of the city,” but much of our edition seems little more than a mouthpiece for Atlanta social commentators and literary wannabes — a.k.a. chaff. That’s too easy, CL. We have daily local and national newspapers for syndicated content, and the internet, cafes and mega-bookstore magazine sections for artistic growing pains. Think of our total daily information intake, inclusive of the myriad online and broadcast resources for global news, opinion, comedy, personals, etc; couple this with the necessary evil of ads, which make each resource economically viable but anything but concise; then figure out how you fit into this pie and simplify. CL tries too hard to serve too many purposes. No single outlet will ever be the only paper/zine/site anyone ever wants to read. Derrick Gilliland, Charlotte

I think this reader makes a good argument about the importance of publications (like CL) remaining local and focused in the face of endless streams of content. What do you think? (Sorry, comments temporarily down, email them to laura at laurafries dot com, and I will post.)