The Buzz
BY ANGELIQUE SOENARIE
Today's Question: How has your readership been affected by online competition?
Study urges editors to heed readers’ advice
BY KRISSAH WILLIAMS
Not only can newspapers survive, they can flourish by simply following advice from readers, according to a study released Wednesday at the ASNE convention.
Despite the bad news of declining readership over the past 30 years, researchers said newspapers are healthy products with an average 85 percent of the adult population using a newspaper on a weekly basis. The study gave specific strategies for attracting and retaining readers.
Eight ways to lure back readers
Based on its study, the Readership Institute developed these solutions to help newspapers better satisfy their readers
Photo Essay: Newspaper Readers
BY AMY LEANG
A look at newspaper readers around Washington D.C.
Ashcroft says government needs help from citizens
BY JASON BEGAY
America is going to require more than the help of “all the president’s men,” to create a safer society, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said at an ASNE luncheon on Wednesday.
During his 30-minute speech, Mr. Ashcroft presented three issues that his department is going to focus on. Specifically, he addressed implementing gun control, curbing drug use and ending the law enforcement practice of racial profiling.
Cronkite encourages editors to stick with ideals of ‘legitimacy’
BY MARY VUONG
Walter Cronkite entertained editors with anecdotes of his 60 years in the news business Wednesday and encouraged them to continue upholding the ethics of journalism.
New institute pushes for diversity by reaching out to non-journalists
BY CHRISTINA DENARDO
Call it journalist boot camp. In January, The Freedom Forum will open its doors to 20 students, who are not journalists, at its Vanderbilt University location. Mid-career professionals, who have left their jobs for the fast-paced world of newspapers, will train intensively, memorizing The Associated Press stylebook and “The Elements of Style.”
Los Angeles Times reporter wins Selden Ring Award
BY JEWEL GOPWANI
In 30 years of covering state governments around the country, Los Angeles Times reporter Virginia Ellis has developed a sense of when public officials are up to no good. She helped uncover a zoning scandal in St. Petersburg, Fla., and payoffs of college football players in Austin, Texas. And now Ms. Ellis has won the Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting after uncovering information that led to the resignation of California’s state insurance commissioner.
Minority journalists find opportunities on the Web
BY ANGELIQUE SOENARIE
Tran Ha goes into a meeting at 6 p.m. every workday to decide what will go on the Detroit Free Press’s Web site. As a producer, she helps decide what story will get viewers reading her newspaper online. The rest of the evening, she produces, edits and packages stories for online readers.
The “online journalism industry is an exciting place to be right now because it’s still very new and constantly changing,” Ms. Ha said.
Bridging the cultural divide
BY ICESS FERNANDEZ
I was 22 years old when I finally learned to spell my last name correctly.
I was in Havana in the house my father grew up in, and I went into the matchbox-sized kitchen to look at my family’s ration book, la libreta.. In Cuba, each family must note their food allocations. And there, right next to the monthly five pounds of rice, was my family name Fernandez – with an accent on the “a.”
Women Members recall memories of founder Fanning
BY ICESS FERNANDEZ
ASNE’s Women Members group honored its founder, Katherine W. Fanning, on Wednesday at the organization’s convention.
The event featured testimonials about how the late former editor of The Christian Science Monitor helped mentor many of today’s newsroom leaders.
Ethnic papers provide bond for minority communities
BY JOHNNY LEWIS
America’s diverse communities are finding strength in ethnic newspapers, and a voice often left silent in traditional media coverage.
There are now more than 300 such papers in the country, according to the Philadelphia Free Library.
Handbook offers foundation for newsroom credibility
BY CICELY K. DYSON
Should newspaper editors bury the unrelated criminal history of an accident victim? What about providing a list of upcoming features to an advertising manager in order to sell a section better?
These cases studies, taken from ASNE’s new handbook on credibility, were examples posed to panelists at Wednesday’s session “Credibility: Bring the Conversation Back to the Newsroom.”
The principal as publisher
BY JASON BEGAY
Nicole Edwards, an 18-year-old high school journalist, has seen her share of controversy. As co-editor in chief of the student newspaper at the Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Washington, Ms. Edwards said that the school’s principal closely monitors the newspaper’s content and last fall questioned a story about a student strike.
Student journalists fight on for press freedoms
BY SHANNON COMES AT NIGHT
More than a decade after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling limiting high school student press freedoms, the number of calls from students for legal assistance concerning censorship increases yearly, according to Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center..
