Quick quiz: What’s the location of the new Schlagle Library, the Veterans Hospital and the Westport firehouse?
All were in the news last week. None appeared with a street address. This is not reader-friendly.
The new Schlagle Library story identified it as on Stotler Cove in Wyandotte County Lake Park, but where’s the lake or the park? (Enter at 91st Street and Leavenworth Road and go to 4051 West Drive). A Veterans Hospital audit story on B-2 Wednesday prompted a reader question: “I can assume it is the one on the east side of town, but as the area has grown over the years, I cannot be certain it is the only VA hospital in the area.” It’s the Veterans Hospital at 4801 E. Linwood Blvd.
The Westport firehouse (site of a woman posing for a photo) at least gave readers a reference point with Westport, but where? The firehouse is at 4012 Washington St.
The five W’s (who, what, when, where and why) serve a function and deserve to be in every story.
Far too often it’s the exception for the paper to include locations for major parks, shopping centers, city buildings and museums. One retired photographer recently dropped off a note with the word “where” written dozens of times, in increasingly large type to remind editors of the need for addresses.
If space isn’t too tight, the paper could include big cross streets to help readers become familiar with the location.
Here’s good news: Today’s special section on the Kansas Speedway includes a map of the track’s location on page H-23, with a tips box on how to get there. (In Wyandotte County, from Interstate 70 take the 110th Street exit or from Interstate 435 use State Avenue.)
Catches and queries
Among the week’s uh-ohs: The Kid City Star’s new comic “Diamond Kings” erred in the second frame with the line: “I know your excited.” Make that “you’re.” A reader called the error especially troubling in a section for new readers.
Colleen Adams of Kansas City mailed an envelope fat with catches from the last several months. Adams found references to “her” when “she” was needed; a sentence that began “Nearby lays the inspiration for the work” (lies); a headline, “Picabo Street flys into the sky” (flies); a sentence, “Who’s voice is it?” (Whose); and a reference to “the photographer of Mick Jagger had a tussel” instead of “tussle.”
Adams, a regular error clipper, experienced the pain of an edited-in error in her letter to the editor Friday. It appeared with this sentence, “Many have been through more difficult times that we can imagine.” She submitted the sentence as “than we can imagine.” She heard from several friends who noticed the typo.
Another reader objected to the use of “single” with superlatives, as in “single best” or “single greatest.” Best or greatest suffices.
The top praises of the week included a call from a reader who liked three stories, including two Sunday investigative pieces, “Slave labor taints sweetness of world’s chocolate products” by Knight Ridder news service and a Steve Everly story, “Cold war deal saved big oil.” She also praised a Thursday story, “Trucker’s ordeal is a cautionary tale,” by Matt Stearns about an Odessa, Mo., trucker in prison for hauling drugs. “Not a day goes by that I’m not cutting out a story to save,” said the reader. “It’s very good investigative journalism, and you follow up, too. It’s great.”
A June 23 story on a local Eagle Scout who earned every merit badge possible prompted this note from a reader: “I just wanted to take a moment to thank and congratulate The Star for making FRONT PAGE NEWS of a young man and his scouting achievements. Great article, great young man! KC Star, please give us more of the ‘good news’ on the front page. We average citizens are getting tired of all the bad and negative stuff.”
