Some of the stories we do seem to rise on gossamer wings and fly right into our readers’ hearts.
Their magic lingers long after the paper is placed in the recycling bin because they tell us something about the human spirit.
I got to thinking about these stories last week because I was looking at new research conducted by the Readership Institute at Northwestern University.
The study said one thing newspapers can do to attract new readers and to encourage regular readers to spend more time with the paper is to tell more stories about everyday people.
“There is a clear appetite for slice-of-life stories,” said Stacy Lynch, the study’s research manager. Lynch explained the findings last month at a conference sponsored by the Pennsylvania Society of Newspaper Editors.
Her talk led me to conduct a little research of my own. I asked some reporters to tell me about stories they had written recently that had elicited strong responses from readers. What really struck a chord?
Here is what they said:
For Julie Stoiber, the story was as fresh as last Wednesday’s front page. She had written about Josh Somers, who greets everyone he sees during his daily walk along Forbidden Drive.
“For the 96-year-old Somers,” Stoiber wrote in the paper, “the Wissahickon is more than a trail through the woods. It’s a path to friendship.”
Reader Joyce Brong was so touched by the piece that she sent her first-ever e-mail to a writer at the paper, thanking Stoiber for the story.
“I run on the trail as often as I can and always hope that I can see this man. He always stops and says hello to me and my dog. I knew nothing about him, other than the fact that he has a wonderful spirit.”
Reporter Michael Vitez’s story on Dan Harrell, the Palestra custodian who was about to receive a degree, won awards as well as raves from readers.
Vitez wrote in the paper last year: “He will graduate surrounded by people who revere him as a Penn institution — not only because of his academic achievement at age 56, but because of the love he lavishes on a fabled floor and the students who play on it.”
Readers responded emotionally.
“Many readers told me the story made them cry,” Vitez said.
His Paulsboro wrestling series, published in April, resulted in more than 120 e-mails and letters from readers.
“The story that stood out above the others was on the third day, on Mike Rastelli, the boy with cerebral palsy who wrestled varsity and won. The e-mail I most remember was from a disabilities activist who was elated to see a story about a boy with a disability in a series about wrestling, not about the disabled,” Vitez said.
Reporter Sandy Bauers often begins looking for slice-of-life stories by asking herself “I wonder if….” She finds the “ideas just drop from everywhere.”
“I am stunned and overwhelmed and thoroughly gratified by the way readers respond to stories,” Bauers said.
A story that drew a lot of reaction, she said, was one she wrote last fall about the Chester County “Squirrel Wars.”
The story told of “the impassioned, outlandish, and convoluted attempts of otherwise perfectly normal people to keep hungry squirrels from raiding their birdfeeders,” she said. “I got a lot of comments, suggestions and just plain witty replies. But more amazing than that, a few people even took the time to draw elaborate diagrams of their inventions to keep the squirrels at bay.”
One of my favorites is Monica Yant Kinney’s story of a Philadelphia woman, a stranger who cared enough to ensure — after seven years — that the ashes of an unknown boy received a proper burial.
Now, it’s your turn. Tell me about a story you read in the paper that made you smile or cry or somehow left an imprint on your heart. I’m interested to see what stories you pick as unforgettable. I’ll run as many responses as I can in a future column.
