Pilot readers aren’t shy about offering suggestions for “improving” the paper.
Today I’d like to share some of them with you.
By the numbers: If Martin Waranch had his way, the media would stop making celebrities of criminals.
Spurred, doubtless, by the Timothy McVeigh execution, Waranch wrote: “I am sick of the celebrity status assigned to the lowlifes who create pain and mayhem while true heroes are relegated to pages in history books.”
“It is time to stop giving these people the publicity that makes them better known than those who really do things for humanity,” he said.
Waranch suggested that we stop publishing the names and pictures of those criminally charged beyond the original story of their capture and charges. Subsequently, assign these individuals a number, he says.
“The news would sound like this: `Today, #1256 was convicted and sentenced for the crime of . . . .’,” Waranch said.
He acknowledges that, while such an approach might not be practical for “small, local incidents, it certainly takes the gloss off the high-profile cases of bombing and school shootings.”
It denies perpetrators the chance to become famous, Waranch says, while reducing the pain to the families of both the criminal and the victim.
Are readers going to see stories about numbered criminals? Not likely.
But I understand where Waranch is coming from. Too often, it seems, the news media heap buckets of attention on thebad guys — making them, in effect, celebrities, while their victims sometimes get scant attention.
Does this, as some would argue, encourage criminal activity on the part of others seeking media attention? I’m inclined to think not, except in rare instances.
There’s no way to cover tragedies like the Oklahoma City bombing or the Columbine school shootings without focusing on the perpetrators. Readers and viewers will wonder, “What kind of person could do a thing like that?”
To answer that question, we have to train the spotlight on the person charged.
Technical fines: Tired of seeing daily corrections, grammatical errors and other problems with The Pilot? Dr. Albert Lonsdale Roper II is. And he has proposed an “incentive program” — of fines — to help with the situation.
Here it is:
- For every misprint or typo: $1.
- For each grammatical error: $5 (including the comics page).
- For each factual error: $10.
“The fine is double if [the error] appears in a headline. The fine is taken out of the salary of the writer, editor or (ha, ha) proofreader,” Roper says.
Roper suggests that a weekly drawing be held to use the money for a trip to Hawaii or to support a local charity, even to establish a major journalism scholarship.
That system likely would reduce errors. But I’m not sure it would be fair — or advisable — to let the error-makers participate in a drawing for a trip to Hawaii. That would be kind of like rewarding bad behavior, wouldn’t it?
Honoring their service: Occasionally, I’ve seen obituaries in newspapers that include symbols denoting lodge membership or military service. Well, Bennie L. Butts Sr. of Chesapeake would like The Pilot to include an American flag with obits of veterans “to honor their service to their country and community.”
“It’s something we have considered,” Marian Anderfuren, director of news operations, wrote Butts. “However, our current production system makes flags and other logos difficult to insert.”
But the paper will implement a new system in the next year, and that will allow for inclusion of symbols, Anderfuren said.
Same old pics: Overall, Tom Ferrell of Virginia Beach thinks The Pilot is a “pretty good paper.”
But that’s not what he called to tell me. He had a bone to pick: the scenic photos that run every day on Page A2 with the 24-Hour Weather Snapshot.
“They’re the same pictures; you run ‘em over and over,” said Ferrell, sounding a complaint I get occasionally from other readers.
“You’ve got thousands and thousands of pictures up there you could run,” said Ferrell, who has been saving the ones we’ve run for his grandsons.
Anything special he’d like to see pictured?
“Anything different,” he replied. “How about some historical places that won’t be here 25 years from now?”
The last time I discussed this matter with Denis Finley, the paper’s deputy managing editor in charge of presentation, he said he’d think about adding more photos to the rotation. That was in November, I recall. I haven’t noticed any new ones, but I’ll broach the subject with him again when he returns from vacation.
