Shedding light on policy of altering photos…

News photos should represent clear, objective reality. But pictures are 2-D representations of a 3-D world, and they can sometimes trick fallible human eyes.

On Nov. 6, several readers thought they spied something shocking in the “Star Magazine.” A photo by Tim Janicke depicted a man walking in Leavenworth National Cemetery. Over 30 readers contacted The Star, certain that the subject was exposing himself lewdly in the shot.

At first glance, I suppose I can understand the confusion. But Janicke showed me other pictures taken just seconds before and after, and they show clearly …

A stormy week for readers, Sun…

Over the past year, The Sun has had a lot of experience reporting on disasters, natural and manmade – from terrorist attacks on the London subway system to a seemingly endless succession of devastating storms.

Last week, the paper experienced something like its own perfect storm when a computer software problem threatened the publication of an entire edition, and newspaper circulation problems were headlined a few days later.

Late-night production of The Sun’s Saturday, Nov. 5 edition was disrupted by the failure of a computer program that transforms digitized newspaper pages into film used in …

ID’ing juveniles in crime stories a murky area…

When two girls this fall were accused of attempted murder after Klamath Falls authorities said they put rat poison in the milk cartons of two fellow students at their school, The Oregonian named the girls, ages 12 and 13.

But when two 15-year-olds were accused of arson in connection with a fire at an Oak Grove Safeway store last week, no names were published.

The different approaches reflect the gray area for journalists of identifying juveniles who commit crimes.

Journalists weigh arguments that the newspaper, like the juvenile justice system, should grant juveniles the protection of …

Misplaced priorities on the front page…

“I am very appalled at the front page of your paper today, how you would put a crackhead family on the whole top of the paper plus two full pages, and the poor policeman and his family, a little 4 x 5 picture. I couldnt believe it.”

The caller, who said she lives near and is friendly with several police officers, was clearly upset when she called last Sunday. And she wasn’t alone.

We heard from other readers who complained about Sunday’s front page: The entire space above the fold and some spillover was devoted to …

Candidates’ religion? No need to know…

I learned something from The News & Observer’s Voters Guide in yesterday’s paper: There are lots of Baptists hankering for public office in the Triangle and surrounding counties in the upcoming elections.

All told, 53 candidates identified their religious affiliation as Baptist when they submitted biographical forms to The N&O. That’s a third of all the candidates running in Wake, Durham, Orange, Johnston and Chatham counties. Baptist political aspirants were followed, distantly, by Methodists (20), Catholics (14), Episcopalians (13) and Presbyterians (8). There were one Muslim, one Quaker and a smattering of folks of …

Dilemma known only by name…

Of all the words you might see in the Sentinel, none will rivet your attention more thoroughly than your own name.

It’s personal, and you want to know what someone has written about you.

Apparently names similar to yours — or your business or your community — can have the same effect, particularly if they’re attached to something you find disturbing.

Jennifer Richmond, 26, of DeBary called the other day because she had seen just such an item in the Life & Times section.

Gayle Barnes had written to Sentinel Last Resort columnist Greg Dawson …

Seemingly small but important things…

Learning the art of news judgment is not as easy these days as it once was.

One complicating factor is the need for heavily Anglo editors in a heavily Anglo news industry to cover minority cultures that they try to understand but may not fully comprehend.

Those editors’ decisions can result in coverage that minorities may criticize as prejudiced.

For example, the controversy over blacks’ resentment of the use of the word refugees to describe people fleeing Hurricane Katrina left some Anglo editors baffled at such a reaction to a term that was accurate …

The case about Cuba …

The weekly news magazine “Veja” last Sunday reported a serious accusation against the left-leaning Workers Party (PT) administration. The magazine’s front page, with a red background, reproduced a $100 bill with a portrait of Fidel Castro and carried the headline, “Dollars from Cuba for Lula campaign,” referring to President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva. Before the magazine circulated, rumors swept through newsrooms with the expectation that it would be a bombshell capable of damaging the Lula administration in a definitive way.

On Sunday, newspapers repeated the accusations, but with different emphases. “O Estado …

Doing right by readers as times get tougher…

I don’t think I can write another word about the decline of The Hartford Courant. Any time the newspaper changes anything, whether for creative or economic endeavors, I find myself consoling decades-long subscribers. Last week, after an experiment left the TV grid out of the newspaper for one day, there I was asking readers if they really would abandon the newspaper over a grid.

The answers were mostly no, but the test – a search for ways to cut costs – gave readers the opportunity to list the takeaways that have been piling up over …