This column generally focuses on readers’ questions and complaints about the Akron Beacon Journal. As public editor, I act as a liaison between readers and the newspaper.
About three dozen other people do the same thing at newspapers throughout the United States and Canada. Most of us write weekly columns explaining the newspaper’s decision making.
We also turn to each other for advice. Sometimes newspaper readers in Akron react in much the same way readers in San Diego, Detroit or Tallahassee, Fla., do. Other times, what causes a reaction elsewhere causes barely a stir here.
Take a look at what readers elsewhere are saying:
Mike Clark, the reader advocate at The Times-Union in Jacksonville, Fla., heard from 65 readers about a controversial B.C. comic strip that appeared on Easter Sunday. The issue grabbed the attention of only 12 Akron readers, but the Beacon Journal published a news story about the controversy before the strip’s publication.
Sanders LaMont, the ombudsman at The Sacramento Bee in California, heard from readers unhappy with changes in the comics lineup and TV listings. “It stinks! Stinks! Stinks!” one reader emphatically told LaMont about the new TV grids.
Those complaints are familiar here in Akron, where changes to the TV listings in particular still rankle many readers.
M.L. Lake at The Virginian-Pilot in Hampton Roads, Va., wrote a recent column explaining terms such as headline, byline, advertisement and editorial. Lake’s column was prompted by callers who confused advertisements with news stories. Akron readers sometimes make the same error. Another misconception here is that reporters write headlines. They don’t; copy editors do.
Linda Raymond, ombudsman for The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky., had to explain why the newspaper failed to carry a news story about a comprehensive recount of Florida’s 61,195 undervote ballots in the presidential race. The recount was conducted by The Miami Herald and USA Today. The matter was especially embarrassing because the Courier-Journal is owned by Gannett Co., which owns USA Today.
The lapse was because of a lapse in attention by a wire editor.
Fortunately, that wasn’t the case at the Beacon Journal. Wire editors promptly responded to advisories that the recount story was coming.
Since the Beacon Journal and The Miami Herald are both owned by Knight Ridder, such a lapse would have been equally embarrassing here.
