Readers want more coverage of religion and spirituality — and their pleas have not fallen on deaf ears.
Starting today, the Faith section of The Salt Lake Tribune has a new look, more space and additional features. And, for those of you who keep calling and e-mailing, Randy Cohen is back inside the section with his answers to readers’ ethics questions.
“The idea was to expand the religion coverage — in volume as well as diversity,” said Peg McEntee, assistant managing editor for news and editor of the Faith section.
Along with the regular in-depth features readers have come to expect, the expanded Faith section will have letters to the editor, reviews of books with religious and spiritual themes, occasional reviews of concerts featuring sacred music and a brighter, more “approachable” design.
Not all of the content will be generated by professional writers. In today’s section, reader Michelle Lehnardt weaves a meditation on the spiritual meaning of pain and loss from the experience of a friend whose son was struck by a car and sustained massive brain injuries.
This Personal Voices column, McEntee hopes, will become one of the most popular features. They should be the kind of personal meditations on spirituality in which writers express the ways they use their faith to live their daily lives.
“This is all part of The Tribune’s commitment to covering people of all faiths, faith traditions, spiritual practices and ethics. We want to demonstrate the framework of faith by which we live our lives,” McEntee said.
An expanded “Passages” column will highlight new buildings, comings and goings of spiritual leaders and other smaller news items. Occasionally — including today — readers will be challenged by a “Since You Asked” question to respond by e-mail or snail mail with an answer.
The collection of the best answers will run in a future Faith section. The “Faith in Action” column will feature small stories about people doing big things for their churches and charitable organizations. Of course, the section will have a “continued commitment to national and international religion news,” McEntee said.
This project is not McEntee’s alone. “The entire religion team — writers, artists, photographers, copy editors and designers — had a huge role in shaping the new section,” McEntee said.
The Tribune is not the only newspaper whose readers have demanded more coverage of religious and spiritual matters. The award-winning faith section of the Dallas Morning News has grown steadily larger, as have sections in other medium and large dailies.
As the world grows more complex, it seems readers look for spiritual stories to inspire and guide them.
The front page: Some readers consistently complain there is not enough world and national news on the front page of The Tribune. Patiently, I try to explain that deciding what goes on A1 every day is both an art and a science.
Many readers say they read medium-sized regional newspapers for the “local news.” Of course, those readers want some national and world news in the mix, but they want something on the front page that “grabs” them and gets them to sit down with the paper.
In the post 9-11 world, national and international news is important to most readers — and they will continue to find it in The Tribune. But the fact is this: Decisions made at the municipal, county and state levels sometimes have greater impact on Utahns than decisions made at national or international levels.
Readers talk to us and we listen. Finding the right balance to make everyone reasonably happy is not easy.
