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!

What is The Editors’ Exchange?

The Editors’ Exchange is a newsletter sent to newspapaper editors throughout the United States made up of items sent in by editors who agree to share their best ideas with their colleagues.

Please send in:

• Editorial and organizational innovations that help improve readership.
• Clips and tearsheets demonstrating these good ideas.
• In-house newsletters for newsroom employees that focus on good work.

Smaller papers find new ways to kids

Newspapers often come up with different solutions to the same problem. This was the case in reaching younger readers at two smaller papers in Tennessee and Pennsylvania.

At The Reporter in Lansdale, Pa. (circulation 19,500), challenges abounded. First, production was having trouble with inserts delaying Saturday’s paper; second, the news department was seeking a full-color spot for young readers. The solution was KidCity, a sturdier craft wrap paper with a collection of local, wire and syndicated features. It includes local stories written by school children, mugs and a quotes feature asking a question of the week. The holds the inserts and kids’ interest.

The Daily News of Kingsport, Tenn., (circulation 2,000) has another approach. As the smallest newspaper in a competitive market, its editors decided against a weekly NIE presence, opting instead for a monthly called School Daze. The tab is delivered to 6,000 elementary school students, and contains short fiction stories that often make the children laugh. In addition, it features a historical trivia question that has a $5 prize for the first correct answer.

Profiling the big employer

The idea isn’t new: Profiling a local employer. Business sections do it all the time. But the Standard-Examiner of Ogden, Utah, (circulation 62,000) took it to a new level. A major employer in Ogden is the Internal Revenue Service (up to 6,000 people work there during parts of the year), so the newspaper wrote a Sunday package of several stories on the center, including looks at IRS audits, a by-the-numbers box on its “business,” and a step-by-step look at how a return is processed. The stories were published about a month before the April 15 tax deadline, pegging it to an important time of year for the center.

Crime news, local style

Crime news is popular with readers, as most people know. The Baker City (Ore.) Herald (circulation 3,500), decided to publish public records that don’t always see print with its warrants and jail roster features. The information is provided by the county sheriff’s department. “We’ve been publishing warrants for about a month (we run 4-6 at a time),” writes Editor Dean W. Brickey, “and already two or three fugitives have either been apprehended or turned themselves in as a result of their pictures being published.”

The color barrier, 50 years later

The statistics told the story: 50 years after Jackie Robinson made it into major league baseball, there are still few black players. The Times of Shreveport, La., (circulation 79,000) decided to explore it further with its Blacks & Baseball series. Research (some of it computer-assisted) found that there are a dearth of black players at youth league, high school, college and professional levels in baseball (while there are a large number of black players in football and basketball). Sidebar subjects included the efforts of a local group to introduce the game to black city youngsters and a black player on the nearly all-white University of Texas team. The Times also hosted a discussion with black community leaders on the problems and potential solutions of introducing the game to more young people.

Freshmen’s first semester

A high school freshman’s first semester can be tough. The Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat (circulation 94,000) asked its area school systems for numbers of students who got a D or an F in their first semester. Freshmen got more, statistically, than upperclassmen. The paper compared schools and talked to principals (concern was heightened because the schools recently went to a four-year system). “Is this a trend? We don’t know,” said Robert Digitale, schools reporter. “The criticisms ... were that you could have a student with one F and all As.” To remedy that, the paper is starting to track all area grades itself (without student identification) and will run another story based on that analysis.

Number of minority journalists stagnant; total employment down

The total number of journalists working at U.S. daily newspapers dipped in 1996, while the proportion of minority newsroom professionals inched up by a fraction of a percent, according to the latest census conducted by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Total newsroom employment slipped to 54,000, a decline from 55,000, according to ASNE’s 1997 annual survey. Minority representation in the newsroom was 11.35 percent, compared with 11.02 percent reported in the 1996 survey. Despite the slight increase in the percentage of minorities in the workforce, the number of minorities employed — 6,100 — was unchanged from a year ago. There was a decline in the number of whites employed. This was the first time since 1978 when ASNE began conducting the annual employment census that there was no gain in the number of minorities employed.

Managing newsroom diversity

Want to leave a strong message on the future of newspapers with high school or college students? A new, colorful booklet on the rewards and excitement of working at small newspapers may be your answer.

"@ Small Newspapers," a 12-page booklet produced by ASNE’s Small Newspaper Committee, highlights the diversity and journalistic opportunities at newspapers under 50,000 circulation. Journalists at newspapers from across the country, including the Walla Walla (Wash.) Union-Bulletin, The Herald of Brownsville, Texas, and Norwich, Conn.’s Bulletin, tell why they chose small newspapers.

As ASNE's Web site continues to improve, more and more reports will be available online — including this one. Be sure to explore the site — it may be right here.

Examining media diversity

Looking at diversity from different angles, the spring issue of The Diversity Factor addresses bottom-line diversity initiatives, “injection method” diversity management strategies, and media stereotyping in the coverage of the fund-raising scandal involving the Democratic National Committee.

The special issue, called “Diversity in the Media,” includes information on diversity Web sites and programs of ASNE and the Newspaper Association of America. It also examines the coverage of women and the representation of gay and lesbian journalists in newsrooms.

The Diversity Factor, spring 1997, Margaret Blackburn White, editor, P.O. Box 3188, Teaneck, NJ 07666, phone: 201/833-0011; fax: 201/833-4184; e-mail: mbwhite@ mail.att.net; cost: $117/year

Philadelphia’s wild about golf

Golf has a rich tradition in the Philadelphia area. There are more than 1,000 courses in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware combined, and the sport’s popularity has been booming. That’s why The Philadelphia Inquirer (circulation 470,000) launched The Golf Report each Sunday. By talking to local golfers, editors learned that the players wanted local information they could use, so the report includes a local schedule of events, a highlights box, a tip from a local pro, a course review, a person-in-the-news feature, and an enterprise story on a trend or consumer issue. In addition, the paper moved a writer with high expertise (and a low handicap) onto golf full time.