The Editors’ Exchange

The Web edition of The Editors' Exchange offers a compendium of interesting and imitatable innovations from the world of daily newspapers. In posting it here, ASNE makes the ideas available to the general public for use in all sorts of publications, including newspapers. The printed version of The Editors’ Exchange includes the names of editors who are willing to share information with other editors. However, because the Web version is archival — and not current — Internet readers should not contact the contributing newspapers or ASNE for examples or illustrative material. Thanks... and enjoy!

A newsletter for a paper’s readers
It’s a simple idea: Communicate with your readers.
The Times Record News of Wichita Falls, Texas (circulation 38,000), however, has done it with a twist by producing a quarterly reader newsletter and inserting it in every paper. The Times Record News Reporter, which is put together by Editor Carroll Wilson, made its debut in July to good reviews.

Included in the first issue were a profile of the newspaper’s business editor, a Q&A about the newspaper’s obituary policy and a piece by Wilson explaining that newspapers were doing just fine, thank you, despite talk of their downward spiral.

“Like several other newspapers around the country,” Wilson said, “we felt there was a need to communicate directly with subscribers through some medium other than the daily newspaper.”

Carroll added that at community functions he has attended since the debut, people have said they really appreciate knowing why obituaries were done the way they are.
“I’ve got nothing but positive comments on it,” Wilson said.

On polls and polling
A 900-number call-in poll is being used by a source to show that the public supports a point of view you’re wary of. You decide not to use it. Good choice, said Susan Pinkus, Times Poll director for the Los Angeles Times (circulation 1,050,000). The 900-number polls are among several invalid polling techniques that shouldn’t appear in news columns, she said. In that case, participants are self-selected, paying for the privilege and may be part of an organized phone bank to skew results. She has compiled a document outlining which polls to tout and which ones to toss.

Covering deer season
Hunting season, in many communities, is a major event that many people are involved in, yet it’s not always easy to reach the participants or show what they have done (bloody deer don’t make good pictures). Tom Melody of The Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio, (circulation 145,000) has several methods of bringing these stories to print. One method is to pick a state checking station within the circulation area and wait. “Most of them are anxious to talk. You can just get some tremendous stories,” Melody said. And photos — although the pictures have to follow the rules of decorum. A broad cross section of local people can be found in the checking stations. In addition, the newspaper asks hunters and others to call in with their stories, which often develop into news stories or features about wildlife officers or hunting.

Reality for teens
By teens, about teens and for teens. That’s the philosophy behind the weekly “reality” pages of the Bucks County (Pa.) Courier Times (circulation 69,000). Published in the Life section each Monday, “reality” relies on a team of teen-agers who come to the newspaper each week to eat (Hawaiian Punch, pizza, Pringles) and talk (school shootings, best band, etc.). For the rest of the week, the editorial team leader and a graphic designer work on gathering the elements together, including: a band of the week, a What’s Happenin’ column, advice columns and more. Reality takes up the section front and another page or so inside. A half-page is dedicated to feedback from teen readers — e-mail, calls, letters — which gets a rousing reception. Many of the 15-20 students, chosen from about 35 applicants each year to work on the section, go on to study journalism in college.

Running reader photos as art
Getting readers’ pictures in the paper has taken a new twist at The Times Argus in Barre, Vt., (circulation 12,000). The editors invite readers to send in photos they have taken and offer to publish them on the back page. “I like to be connected to readers,” said Editor Alexander Hutchison. Once a reader sends a photo in, the newspaper’s chief photographer evaluates it for publication quality and, if he likes it, contacts the person who submitted it for the particulars of shutter speed, light conditions, etc. So far, natural scenes and animals have been the most commonly used reader photos.

Trips teach staffers about area
Faxes, phone calls and e-mail have undercut the face-to-face communication that had been the mainstay of reporting. To combat this, The Dothan (Ala.) Eagle (circulation 34,500) started bus tours of important local sites for its staff. Although difficult to arrange due to schedules and grumbling, Managing Editor Ronnie Agnew says, “It’s paid off every time we’ve gone somewhere.” Tours have included visits to a local military base, county offices (including the jail, which gave staffers chills, Agnew said), the sewage plant, and the landfill. The excursions have led to greater trust between these sources and the staff, he said. He hopes these steps will help everyone know the Eagle cares about its community. Of course, there is an added benefit for the paper, too: “We’re a small paper. On a staff this size, everybody has to cover everything.”

Reaching younger readers
In an effort to reach busy, younger readers (and boost readership on a weak circulation day), The Advocate in Baton Rouge, La. (circulation 94,000), started First Monday with news for the 18-35 set. It includes an advice column for people just getting started in the work force or married life and a briefs package of useful information for this group. Feedback has been positive. Executive Editor Linda Lightfoot said the section is a response to what readers say they want. “You hear readers are busy, that they don’t have much time. ... It’s an effort on the newsroom’s part to say that we do listen to researchers.”

Not Democrats or Republicans
Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a wide margin in New Hanover County, N.C. Yet the Democrats consistently lose elections. Voter role research by the Morning Star of Wilmington (circulation 56,000) found that growing ranks of unaffiliated voters were making a large difference in elections. Reporters wanted to find out why they were switching from a party affiliation to no affiliation. Was it the open primaries? Was it Perot? Voter interviews found that a lack of diehard fervor for either party was a primary reason. One source summed it up this way: “I vote for the person, not the party.”

Results from police pay story
Law enforcement officials in south-central Louisiana were involved in a series of crimes: murder, theft, sex abuse and more. When The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette (circulation 41,000) investigated, though, it found more than bad cops. It found that low pay, nonexistent benefits and little training (in some cases, no training) were attracting the worst elements. The “Battered Badges” series got results: the legislature passed a bill requiring officers be trained; a poll of the public found most people were willing to have their taxes raised to support police; and finally — although officials say it is unrelated — Lafayette gave some of its officers a $5,000 pay raise.

Heroin: Teens’ drug of choice
The number of heroin overdoses at the local hospital were climbing, with a significant number of victims under 20; the busted heroin dealers were serving 80 to 100 students at two local high schools. These facts and others prompted the Carroll County Times of Westminster, Md., (circulation 22,000) to examine the heroin problem. It found that Baltimore, 25 minutes away, is a hotspot of heroin use; that teens (15-year-old girls in some cases) were driving to dangerous city neighborhoods to pay $15 for thumbnail-sized bags of heroin — enough to kill; and that local families were being torn apart by the drug. In addition, the newspaper published a guide on identifying drugs and an insert wrap with a hotline number.

Regional minority job fairs
Job fairs offer editors a good way to interview dozens of minority job candidates. Here are this season’s job fairs. For more information, go to www.asne.org/kiosk/careers/jobfairs.htm
Raleigh, N.C., Oct. 15-17, The News & Observer
Lincoln, Neb., Nov. 5-7, Lincoln Journal Star
Detroit, Nov., 19-21, Detroit Free Press, The Detroit News, and Detroit Newspapers
Jackson, Miss., Feb. 5-6, The Clarion-Ledger
Boston, Feb. 12-13, The Boston Globe
San Antonio, Feb. 18-20, San Antonio Express-News (tentative date)
Richmond, Va., Feb. 25-26, Virginia Press Association
Reno, Nev., March 4-6, University of Nevada, Reno and The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee

Looking backward
Although features reprinting stories from the newspaper’s archives are nothing new, The Hartford (Conn.) Courant (circulation 211,000) has found a way to freshen the idea. The Courant reprinted old front pages and had a local writer dissect them, explaining what the articles mean in today’s context. The packages appeared weekly in the Life section. Response to the pages, which included the Roe vs. Wade decision (published on the day President Johnson died) and the Amistad incident, was positive, not only from readers but from teachers and students in the Courant’s NIE program. “The reason the series is so fun is that (the writer) approaches each historic event as uncharted territory, often digging up little-known gems,” writes Stephanie Summers, an assistant managing editor. The Courant has reprinted 32 of the best.