Author: Walker Lundy
Published: June 07, 2000
Last Updated: July 25, 2001
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Explaining ourselves

Each issue of The American Editor is reprinting examples of columns by members who use them to speak to the newspaper’s readers. Some set out policies, some explain news decisi ons, some introduce new ventures; all help establish communication between the institution and its readers.

We welcome your nominations. Send them to Joe Distelheim, The Huntsville Times, P.O. Box 1487, Huntsville AL 35801 or joed@htimes.com.

This column was published on Dec. 14, 1997, by the Saint Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press

“I could never figure out what you think (a Pioneer Press columnist) contributes to your paper. Her pieces are nonsense and unentertaining dribble. You have enough clueless folks around.”

— E-mail last week from an unhappy reader

Good morning.

Thousands of readers phone, write and e-mail various Pioneer Press editors and reporters every year to declare their opinions of our work. Some call to question, others to compliment and still others to complain.

The conversations include ecstatically polite and happy communiques; thoughtful, intelligent observations and the occasional obscenity-filled rantings of the slightly unhinged. We pay attention to the first two categories and they often help us become a better newspaper.

After chewing the fat with tons of readers over the years, it dawns on me that some counsel on the subject might be useful to some readers in the third category, whose efforts to complain aren’t always taken seriously.

So, I offer Lundy’s Eleven Rules to Successful Complaining:

• Do it. We want you to complain if you think we’ve not done right. Some people think complaining may only make things worse, but that’s untrue. The vast majority of journalists everywhere will give you a fair hearing if you approach them with respect. None of them will hold your complaint against you.
• Decide in advance why you are complaining. Do you want something to happen as a result of your complaint or are you just calling to rant? The editor or reporter on the other end will be trying to figure that out, so say it up front. If it is simply to rant, make sure you have the time to waste.
• If you are angry, try to get over it before you call or write. Most journalists are human, and you won’t get the fair hearing you deserve if you’re lugging a trunkful of attitude.
• Get to the point. Picture the person you’re contacting. Chances are he or she is very busy, even frazzled, with other phone calls to return and reporters or editors to talk to and perhaps impending deadlines.
• Identify yourself. It’s easy to hide behind anonymity in a phone call or letter, but to be taken seriously you will need to begin with who you are. That’s only fair. After all, you know who you’re talking to.
• Acknowledge your own bias. It’s perfectly human to have opinions, and they affect how you see the world. Don’t assume as some callers do that they see the one clear Truth and the reporter doesn’t.
• Make sure you talk to the right person, which is usually someone who knows something about the issue. Our reader advocate is often the easiest person to catch by telephone, and she will see that your concern gets an airing with the editors. The managing editor and I try to answer all of our phone calls and mail, but sometimes it takes us longer than we wish.
• If you aren’t treated respectfully and listened to, call that person’s supervisor.
• Avoid generalities. Talk about a specific story. If your complaint is that we never put stories critical of a particular politician on the front page, have some recent examples. Avoid using phrases such as “you people.” The 200 journalists who toil at the Pioneer Press can’t possibly be lumped into that catchall phrase.
• Follow the normal rules of polite discourse. Don’t be abusive, don’t curse, don’t interrupt and don’t try to intimidate. Consider asking for an explanation from the journalist before you launch the heavy artillery. Threatening to withdraw your advertising or cancel your subscription (“I’ll never read your rag again!”) may make you feel better, but it also will cost you business or leave you less informed. And it’s not the way to get us to consider your concerns seriously.
• Forget about accusing us of conspiracies. Chances are others have accused us of a conspiracy on behalf of the opposing view, and journalists aren’t organized enough to conspire successfully against anyone even if we wanted to.