This should be a fun ride.
Asked in last week’s column where they would steer the Sentinel, readers offered directions as simple as a road sign and as detailed as an atlas.
They wrote and called in such volume that we’d have to park several popular features for a week to accommodate all of the suggestions here. So I’ll share some from each of the major categories and try to cover the range of ideas.
As promised, the newsroom will see them all, including many that clearly took some serious thought and whose authors I thank sincerely.
The Sentinel, of course, is a business and must pay attention to its bottom line. The newsroom and editorial board, however, operate separately from the newspaper’s financial interests, contributing to that bottom line only by producing the best news report and commentary each day that they can.
That separation holds little interest for readers who receive their newspaper in a condition that displeases them — or don’t receive what they expected. They call or write the public editor.
Chris LaMonica observed, “I have been a subscriber for almost 15 years, during which time the paper has become less news and more advertising. Its current format looks to be an enormous advertising brochure with news-item snippets sprinkled throughout its pages. Very disappointing.”
Bill Tschida of Mount Dora wrote, “The only thing I would like to see is my Sentinel delivery person Steer so that my paper would land in my driveway instead of out in the yard under the bushes, or under a tree.”
Karen Andreas of Merritt Island complained, “You increased my subscription rate for 13 weeks . . . with no notice. The very least you could do is deliver comics with the paper on Sunday.”
Jean Hagerty suggested, “What I want is for the Orlando Sentinel to cease any more attempts to publish pictures in color. Obviously the Sentinel just can’t do it successfully. I am so tired of looking at otherwise attractive ladies with mustaches and their eyebrows at the top of their foreheads.”
An Indian Harbour Beach reader who didn’t give his name wrote, “I guess the Sentinel can’t afford whatever effort it would take to use an ink that didn’t insist on coming off on the reader’s fingers, then finding its way smudging woodwork all over the house. Seems to me we never had that problem before, but I’m not a chemist.”
Those weren’t all directions, but the message implicit in them was, “Please knock it off.” They have been called to the attention of the appropriate departments.
Getting into the newsroom, the comments quickly turned, and in unexpected volume, to arts coverage. It demonstrated two things: 1. There is considerable concern about that topic, and 2. Theater critic Elizabeth Maupin, who suggested that readers of her blog respond, has quite a following.
“With the projected new Performing Arts Center in Orlando, the Orlando Sentinel needs to rebuild its focus on the arts in this community,” Sherry Bremer, a trustee on the board of The Orlando Opera, wrote. “What good will the center be if no one is aware of who is performing there, of the rich traditions that already exist.”
Michael Gibbons of Orlando made an economic argument: “Arts groups greatly benefit from coverage in the Sentinel. Orlando, in turn, needs a thriving arts community to attract corporations and individuals who have a choice as to relocation options.”
A group of Valencia Community College students echoed a similar theme.
“I think that the paper could do more in the entertainment area,” Nia Wynn suggested. “Making this area more interesting would grab a younger audience, which I think the paper lacks.”
Jessica Gonzalez had another idea. “A way to reach . . . college students is to bring something captivating and intriguing, for example ‘Hardships of College’,” she suggested. “Students want something they can relate to, something [about which] they can say, ‘This is exactly how I feel.’ ”
Some readers feel that they liked the TV Time section better the way it used to be.
“Put back the complete 24 hour TV guide,” Robert Henken of Oviedo asked.
He may want to check out today’s publication.
“Include once again a listing of all movies in that section, not just 3 star or better films,” he and others pleaded. “It’s a personal matter, but some 1 or 2 star films are our 3 or 4 star movies.”
Others had a variety of additional ideas:
Chris Babcock wrote, “I would like to see more investigative reporting. To me, that’s what newspapers are for. If I only want the surface of the story, I’ll watch TV or read it on Yahoo.”
Joe Cirillo of Sanford asked, “Keep the weather and obituaries in the Local & State section and not move it around to the Business section or elsewhere on some days, etc. Increase the letters to the Editor section to a full page so that more letters can be published like the full-page Forum question section on Fridays.”
Judith Crossmier commented, “When I moved back to Central Florida, I was very disappointed at the quality of the comics the Sentinel offers, especially in the Sunday edition. . . . How about a survey to see which are most read? And get rid of the unread ones and add some better ones?”
Natalie Walls lives in Titusville and reads the Sentinel to keep up with the news in Orange County, where two of her three sons live. “Only thing I would like to see covered more frequently,” she wrote, “would be news of Brevard County.”
Con Hourihan, also of Titusville, had this simple advice, “Increase everything.”
He shouldn’t hold his breath while waiting for that to happen.
Paul Plemmons suggested, “Have more positive and upbeat stories and a little less negative news.”
Donna McDaniel of Leesburg noted, “You could make the print a little larger for us oldies. It’s a tad hard to read even with a good light.”
Kathleen Maloney Skambis of Orlando wrote, “In my opinion, the only viable way for the Sentinel to distinguish itself from the many, many choices available to the consumer for news is to do such a good job covering local (including state of Florida) news that I feel BOTH uninformed if I am not reading the Sentinel daily AND fully informed if I am.”
Betty Baker of Winter Park provided a detailed list for the newsroom to ponder, but she also noted, “the newspaper must be a fully functioning part of the democratic process of the community, for it is the basic source of information and thoughtful evaluation of its workings ever since the Revolution.”
Fred Tessier of Lake Helen had his own list, at the top of which was, “Get ads off the front page,” a suggestion also made by others.
Suzi McGuffin of Oviedo made a particularly astute observation: “The most important duty of a major daily newspaper is to investigate and report on government, politicians, and businesses. It should do so without fear of repercussion by any of the above. . . . the daily newspaper is something we cannot live without in this country.”
The readers have let the Sentinel know where they’d like to go. Now it’s up to editors to see which of those destinations can be put on the itinerary.
