Tips for responding to readers

Make sure people who read the newspaper can reach you and your staff by publishing contact information daily. Publish reporter and photographer phone numbers and e-mail addresses at the end of stories; publish contact information for newsroom decision-makers in the same spot every day.

Assume anyone who calls to complain is at least 10 percent right. Your job is to identify that part and think about how to improve, not to argue with the other 90 percent.

Spend more than a few seconds talking with a caller and take the conversation beyond the complaint or question at hand.

Seek out people who do not contact the newspaper as well. Bring them to your newsroom or meet with them in their communities.

— From The Newspaper Credibility Handbook, Practical Ways to Build Reader Trust, published by ASNE.