Last Updated: November 09, 1999
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Listening to readers
1. Shut up and listen. The reason this reader called was because he
or she had something to say about your newspaper, and they want it to be
better.
2. Take even irritating callers seriously. He or she may have a valid
point obscured by an obstreperous personality.
3. Respond, somehow, to every call or letter. An acknowledgment may
be all that is required, but avoid lectures or sarcasm.
4. Assure each caller that the message they bring will be delivered
to a person in the newspaper management who has the authority to do something
about it.
5. Deliver all the messages, quickly, to the right people at the newspaper.
6. Don’t promise what you can’t deliver. Don’t give the caller the impression
you will change things.
7. If the call involves a correction or retraction, get as much detail
as possible and relay the information immediately to the senior editor
available at that time. Don’t make promises, and don’t leave word on phone
mail..
8. Make no assumptions about a caller based upon the sound of her/his
voice, self-deprecating description, or apparent age. Every reader counts
and has something to say.
9. Make no assumptions about newsroom folks based upon your stereotypical
views of reporters and editors, or that voiced by the callers. Professional
journalists don’t want to make mistakes and most are not as defensive as
portrayed.
10. Be polite. It costs nothing, may open the door to a wonderful conversation,
and your mother and father would be proud.
— S.L.
