They talked about creased pages, poor printing, delivery problems and the cost. Too liberal, they said. Not enough local and business news — too much sports. Too many spelling and grammar mistakes. They said they want better writing and less sensationalism.
It was encouraging to see that some things haven’t changed in the aftermath of Sept. 11.
The first meeting of the fall Readers Advisory Panel gave 16 readers a chance to tell Akron Beacon Journal editors and managers their concerns about the paper. They had many.
When prompted, they also voiced praise.
Sure, there was a lot of talk about the terrorist attacks. How could there not be? Everyone gave the Beacon Journal high marks for leading the Fire Truck Fund effort. They complimented the thorough coverage in the days following the attacks and especially the Extra! edition published the afternoon of Sept. 11, though several said they wished it had been delivered to their homes.
Diana Foltz, who designs machinery parts, was “really, really grateful” for the attack coverage on Ohio.com, a Web site affiliated with the Beacon Journal. She said she searched dozens of sites and found the most up-to-date information there and on the Chicago Tribune’s site. “I was really shocked.”
“Oh, My God!” — the main headline in the Extra! edition — captured exactly how she felt that tragic day, said Denise Turchiano, mother and school crossing guard. “It touched where I was. You could feel the connection. You could feel the hurt.”
But most of the conversation that evening involved traditional concerns about traditional newspaper issues.
One panelist said her paper wasn’t delivered that morning, a complaint immediately directed to the VP of circulation seated in the back of the room. Wendy Greathouse, active in several community organizations, said she would like to see the local section expanded.
“Right now I get two pages of local news and 72 pages of gobbledygook, like sports,” said the home-schooling mother of two. “I’d like to see that reversed.”
Marie Covington, who owns a public relations company, wants more and better business reporting. “If business had its own section, that alone would elevate it, but the real key is the amount and depth of coverage.”
Most weekdays, the business news is located in the back of the sports section.
Norma Blank, a Stark County family court magistrate, said she has had trouble adjusting to the Beacon Journal’s switch from afternoon to morning publication. Several others agreed with her. The Beacon Journal has had morning delivery since 1987.
How about a mission statement that says we will present the news without any slant or bias? That’s what Akron retiree Dick Young requested. “I don’t want to see the Beacon Journal follow the newspaper trend of incorporating opinions it might have into the news,” said Young, who added that he thought the paper was “too liberal.”
Jan Leach, editor of the Beacon Journal, explained the paper strives to be fair and objective in all its news gathering. “While the editorial page expresses the institutional opinion of the paper, that doesn’t influence news coverage.”
Panelist Roberta Johnson-Kea said it didn’t matter to her. “I read the Beacon Journal just like everything else and then I make up my own mind what is right.”
Kent State student Andy Netzel said the paper sometimes doesn’t pass his “so what” test. “After the first two or three paragraphs, I should know why I care about this story, how this story affects me.”
The Beacon Journal has been conducting reader panels for three years. Readers take a close look at all facets of the paper and provide feedback, both positive and negative. The exercise provides a valuable opportunity for the paper’s decision-makers to listen to readers and, often, to institute changes.
For the next meeting of the readers panel, I’ve asked them to pay particular attention to this morning’s front page. These are the questions I’m going to ask:
If you were the editor making the front-page decisions, would you have used the same stories on your front page? If not, what other story in today’s paper would you put on the front page and why? How did the front-page photograph or graphic help your understanding of the top news of the day? Or didn’t it?
If you were on the panel, how would you answer these questions?
