For the record, paper should explain strategy…

It is Thursday and I am working on my first column as The Spokesman-Review’s ombudsman. Since the job involves dealing with readers’ complaints, I open this morning’s paper and glance at “For the record,” an inconspicuous item near the bottom of page 2 where the S-R acknowledges mistakes.

There are none today — in either the Spokane or North Idaho edition. On Wednesday we corrected a misspelled name and on Tuesday an erroneous TV program listing. Last Saturday we had to clarify a man’s occupation, but that’s been it since Dec. 1, the effective date of …

When a doughnut war makes the news…

There seems to be no stopping them. This week, the market for canned news turned definitely bullish in Toronto.

To exaggerate only a little, some prime real estate in local newspapers, The Star included, was surrendered to advancing armies of commercialism.

Just this week, the much-hyped opening of a new doughnut shop in Mississauga warranted a teaser photo on The Star’s front page, and a big, sugary spread on page A3.

Then, on Thursday, a tiremaker claimed some page A1 turf with a cockamamie scheme to reward some adult Dunlops in Canada who add Tire …

Computer failed and newspaper faltered…

When they function as they should, computers are a Godsend to newspapers. But a technology failure that takes out the newsroom system can be devastating. That’s what happened Dec. 8 when The San Diego Union-Tribune experienced a catastrophic computer failure while on deadline for the Sunday newspaper.

While the computer failure shouldn’t have happened and, at best, should have been planned for, how it was handled reveals a communications breakdown the Union-Tribune must address and fix.

There were three catastrophic failures on Dec. 8 and 9. The computer system failed; the phone system was …

Bring your voice to news advisory board…

Like so much of the most interesting mail I have received over the years, this piece was anonymous. Which is not to say it wasn’t signed. It was, by “A P—————- Reader.” (Hyphens courtesy of me.)

P.R., as he will be known for this purpose, pecked out his angry message on a manual typewriter onto one of those white post cards with the postage already stamped on it. He did this in 1984; the postage was 13 cents.

I kept this post card all these years because of its penultimate line, the one before P.R. …

Questions of taste…

One measure of a great American newspaper is how well it helps people fight all forms of prejudice and how well it listens to a key ally in that struggle – readers.

Prejudices are insidious problems. Like deadly bacteria, they infect the tiniest crevices of good intentions but can show up in the light of intense scrutiny.

The `Star-Telegram takes many steps to protect its news pages from prejudiced coverage. One advantage we have is one of the most diverse staffs of any newspaper in the United States.

Still, trying to serve as a …

Origin of contentious word less telling than debate about it…

Sometimes awareness of cultural differences and concerns happens quickly. Witness how much many of us have learned about Afghan ethnic groups in the past three months.

But even in our own back yard, we sometimes take decades, even centuries, to catch on to cultural issues.

For instance, Oregon has 173 places whose names include the word squaw.

Some of us might not give the matter a second thought, but Native Americans and others object to use of the word. In their view, it stems from an anatomical reference to women.

Some scholars dispute whether the origins …

This week’s cartoon controversy…

There was a ton of reader reaction to last week’s announcement in this column that Johnny Hart’s often-controversial B.C. comic strip will run only on Sundays. Most were not buying Associate Editor Jan Tuckwood’s rationale.

For example, Peter Reilly of West Palm Beach wrote that Mr. Hart “has been attacked in your letters to the editor by anti-Christian bigots who go berserk when they encounter the occasional Christian message. Do you really think anyone believes The Post is dropping the daily B.C. cartoon because it’s not funny? If it isn’t funny, why are you …

The Pilot’s challenge: Finding right ”home” for stories…

In the real estate trade, there’s an expression that goes, “Location is everything.”

It’s almost self-explanatory: The more prime the property’s location, the more likely it will fetch a higher price.

There’s a parallel, of sorts, in print journalism, although it has to do with an assignment of value devoid of money. Thus, it’s not unusual to hear newspaper people refer to space as “real estate.”

Page 1 is considered prime. Placement there gives a reporter — and his or her editor — bragging rights. Indeed, reporters will sometimes frame a copy of their first front-page …

What were the top stories of 2001?…

News from 2001 will cast long shadows across the annals of history.

One glance at the accompanying lists of this year’s leading stories finds an awesome array of developments. editors and The Associated Press prepared the lists, but, of the developments mentioned, which are the top three national/international stories and the top three local/state stories?

That’s your call. We invite you to vote on the top three stories from each list and rank them in order of importance, using either the forms below or by e-mailing your selections and comments to topstories@star-telegram.com.

To designate …

She advised the readers to lie — so should they?…

A Sacramento Bee reader reacted very strongly to a recent item in USA Weekend magazine in which “celebrity shopper” Allana Baroni advised readers how to deal with a Christmas gift that is “immediately broken” after opening.

The advice was to “call the giver and say the gift got broken in the shipping process.” That way the credit card company would probably replace the gift.

That’s encouraging people to lie, the reader said, and USA Weekend and The Bee were both condoning that behavior by publishing such outrageous advice.

Comment: USA Weekend’s editor did not respond …