Going face to face with readers

By Lynne Enders Glaser
Neiman Reports © 1993

A friend suggested the other day that I was “silly, at best,” to speak before “conservative” groups like the Rotary and Farm Bureau on behalf of the “liberal” media and a “liberal” newspaper like The Fresno (Calif.) Bee.

I not only take exception to her choice of words, but I take exception to her thesis.

First, there’s nothing “silly” at all about schmoozing with readers on the essence of the First Amendment — discussing what an unfettered press means on a personal basis, particularly at a time when people have become polarized, …

A quiz for readers-turned-editors…

How’s your news judgment? What would you do if you were a newspaper editor?

Readers of The Union-Tribune are invited to place themselves in an editor’s place. A quiz in today’s column has five scenarios, some reflecting real situations faced by the Union-Tribune, others borrowed with permission from Henry McNulty, reader representative at the Hartford (Conn.) Courant.

Pick one response to each case. Decisions involve good news judgment, but there is no one answer that is completely correct or completely wrong. As McNulty puts it, reasonable people can differ on how to handle a …

Frontal assault on a timid press…

During the last week of March, I spent several days at the University of Maryland commiserating with the Organization of News Ombudsmen– my too-few colleagues who write regular columns such as this one on matters of accuracy and fairness in the media.

Note the “ONO” acronym for the group, and you may sense why I say “commiserating” only half in jest. Since we go to bat when readers think something is amiss in our newspapers– and may say the reader’s right — there’s a natural, although healthy tension between us and the paper’s staff. …

What do readers want?

By Kate McKenna
The American Journalism Review © 1993

Each March, complaints are put on hold when members of the Organization of News Ombudsmen gather to ponder what readers really want.

Year after year, they come up with the same answer: Plenty.

Ombudsmen say readers want newsprint that won’t dirty their hands, funnier comics, better crossword puzzles and accurate television listings. Says Pat Riley of the Orange County Register: “If anything happens with the comics and the crossword puzzle, you should go on vacation.”

Readers also value fairness. “One bad headline can cost us several subscriptions — even if it …

The loneliest job in the newsroom

By Kate McKenna
The American Journalism Review © 1993

When readers get rowdy, journalists take cover. At the Hartford Courant, trouble began in 1979 after the two-century-old newspaper was purchased by an out-of-town chain, sparking distrust among readers who had long considered the paper one of their own. When a new editor changed the focus of coverage from local to regional, the rancor turned to wrath.

First came the picket signs, then the “Un-Hartford Courant” bumper stickers. After angry subscribers hanged the editor in effigy for the eleventh time (he carved a notch in his desk each time), new owner …