Recently, the powers that be at the airport authority invited me to lunch at a little Italian restaurant to discuss The Metropolitan. It seems they had been the recipients of some correspondence from persons, unidentified, who allegedly raised concern over some of the content inside one, or more, unidentified issues, over an unspecified period of time.

As it was politely explained to me, travelers inside DTW mistakenly believe The Metropolitan to be a DTW publication, rather than the independent publication that it is. Because of this, persons may be compelled to contact the airport authority rather than the editor of the publication – which is me – to petition their grievances.

I pointed out that The Metropolitan has a Masthead, which credits the publisher and all persons involved with the publication, and that it also states at the bottom of the Masthead the following:

The views expressed in The Metropolitan d’Etroit are solely that of The Metropolitan d’Etroit and in no way are considered to be the views of The Detroit Metropolitan Airport, the City of Detroit, or the State of Michigan – though, they probably should be.

“I know,” said the authority. “But, not everybody reads that.”

“Our readers are savvy,” I said. “I’m sure they know how to navigate the masthead. Besides, we receive emails from readers every month; some positive, some not; that’s the way it is with a free press.”

“I know,” said the authority. “But, there’s confusion because of the name; it’s similar to the name of the airport.” “There are all kinds of people coming through every day,” said the authority’s partner, who was probably the authority’s higher up. “We have to make sure that we please them all.”

“3 million unique individuals pass through the airport each month,” I said. “And, you want me to please them all?”

Awkward silence.

There was much discussion about the right of free speech verses the right of larger entities to make things difficult for smaller entities, that may or may not make for compelling reading down the road, but the point of this month’s Editor’s Note is this:

The Metropolitan is Not a DTW publication.

The Metropolitan is an independent publication distributed throughout the Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) in approximately 80 racks, with an additional 100 distribution points located throughout the metropolitan Detroit area.

Should any of our readers take umbrage with our subject matter we, respectfully, ask that you email us your thoughts rather than the airport authority. We will be happy to publish both positive and negative feedback in our section entitled, Communique.

We hope this addresses any misunderstanding,

Anthony Brancaleone