Last Updated: May 20, 1999
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Editorial innovations
Because the devices are ubiquitous — faxes, computers,
GPS gizmos — we decided to start a special section on personal technology;
you can, too
Look around your home or office and count the gadgets — PCs, fax machines,
pagers, cell phones, VCR’s, CD players. Twenty years ago, they didn’t exist
— or they were so expensive that hardly anyone could afford them. Today
we depend on them for our livelihood and leisure.
Now consider this: by early 1999, more than half the homes in the country
will be equipped with personal computers. Those PCs are increasingly likely
to be wired to the Internet; in fact, while we were still figuring out
how to jam Kenneth Starr’s report into our first editions, millions were
already reading the original documents online.
In short, it’s hard to find another 20-year period in which technology
has wrought so much change in the way people live, work and play. A bit
belatedly, perhaps, newspapers are realizing that technology is important
to their readers and deserves extra attention, through personal technology
sections, pages or beat assignments.
At The Sun in Baltimore, the push for a personal technology section
came from two quarters. In the newsroom, there was a conviction that we
had to organize and improve our technology coverage, while the advertising
department began to see technology pages as a potential source of new revenue.
As a result, in the fall of 1997, we formed a “tactical team” with members
from news, advertising, finance, circulation, production, information technology
and marketing. Our job was to plan a personal technology section that would
inform and entertain our readers, provide advertisers with an attractive
audience and — of course — turn a profit.
In April, we launched “Plugged In,” a four-page section that fronts
the Business section on Monday mornings. With a 50/50 news-to-advertising
ratio, we get 12 to 14 columns for copy and artwork. This is less space
than I’d like, of course, but enough for a variety of articles and a couple
of regular features. To staff the section, we hired a full-time reporter
(supplemented by a small free-lance budget), with a section editor, copy
editor and designer who split their time with other duties. We’re officially
assigned to the Business department, but we use a friendly, informal features
design that’s heavy on illustrations, photos and graphics.
From the outset, we wanted Plugged In to be a breezy, consumer-oriented
section that shows how technology affects our lives and how people can
put technology to work at home, at school and in the office. Our goal is
to be accurate, informative, entertaining and occasionally outrageous —
but never boring. We assume our readers are intelligent, but we realize
that no one ever emerged from the womb knowing how to format a floppy disk.
To that end, we try to avoid technical jargon, and when we use it, we explain
it.
The focus of a typical section is an illustrated, in-depth centerpiece.
It may be a lifestyle story about on-line dating services, an explanation
of HDTV, a takeout on the battle between the FBI and civil libertarians
over cellular wiretapping, a how-to piece on digital photography, a discussion
of Internet telephony, or a look at scientists developing radar that can
see through walls. While staff members or freelancers write most centerpieces,
I’m not opposed to using a good wire story.
Elsewhere on the page, we run hardware and software reviews, news features,
explainers, and stories about unusual Web sites and trends. There’s no
formula — what’s important is that the story is accessible, friendly and
useful. Inside, we run two standing features, both of which turned out
to be very popular. “What’s Hot” provides capsule reviews of new gadgets,
while “Help Line” is a computer Q&A column from the Chicago Tribune’s
Jim Coates.
Although we were lucky to find an enthusiastic and talented reporter,
there are limits to what one writer can do, and I was initially worried
about producing enough quality stories. But once we started publishing,
the rest of the staff took an interest. For example, a features editor
who chases tornadoes in her spare time came up with an informative piece
on navigational gadgets. Our federal court reporter, a closet Red Sox fan,
wrote a delightful story about expatriates around the world who listen
to hometown baseball broadcasts on the Internet.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the quality of wire copy available.
The New York Times, of course, has an excellent daily feed (plus the overwhelming
content of Circuits), and we frequently use stories from Knight Ridder/Tribune,
Cox and our sister papers on the LAT/WP News Service. My major problem
is finding stories that deal with technology outside of computers — audio,
video, pagers and other electronic gadgets.
If there’s an Achilles heel in technology journalism, it’s artwork.
People sitting in front of computers are inherently boring, and much of
what we write about goes on inside microscopic circuits. Luckily, we have
a designer with an endless reservoir of ideas and a photo staff that considers
our assignments to be a challenge instead of a chore. They make us look
good every week.
So far, reaction to Plugged In has been overwhelmingly positive — the
most frequent complaint comes from readers who want even more coverage.
While we have no formal studies yet, our e-mail and anecdotal reports indicate
that we’re drawing considerable numbers of women and young people — audiences
that newspapers are struggling to capture. So we count our first eight
months as a success — with modest resources, we’ve created an informative
and entertaining addition to the paper.
Himowitz is electronic news editor for The Sun, Baltimore.
