A note from the President

• First Amendment again under fire in Congress, by Robert H. Giles

What Sells

• What sells?

• It's not a science, but we know what works: At Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger, sports and local news sell best, by Charles Cooper

• Dallas Cowboys doing anything is news: Dallas Morning News finds that sports stories on and off the field. Oh, and major news, too. By Ralph Langer

• Living or dying by single-copy sales: Philadelphia Daily News' circulation director has as much say as an editor in deciding what to put on the front page and analyzing what works is a daily ritual, by Zachary Stalberg

• Some days, weather is as big a factor as news: Newsday finds that snow kills single-copy sales, but cloudy days help; major local stories can significantly increase sales for several days, by Charlotte H. Hall

Small Newspaper Committee

• Editors of small papers can get free critiques: Committee again offers critiques for convention attendees hungry for feedback; send in the form, by David B. Offer

Getting it right

• End of a millennium, beginning of confusion: The date the new century begins has baffled people for, well, centuries, by Gene Foreman
  • These are good sources of information

Freedom of Information

• Open government must mean open records: In fighting for open records, don't lose sight of the fact that the business of government is the people's business, by Rich Oppel

Innovation

• St. Louis experiments with a Saturday tab ...: Metro decides on radical idea to boost sagging Saturday circulation after research indicates people have more time to read, by Richard K. Weil Jr.

• ... but Allentown did it 20 years ago: Circulation boost, fat papers makes it look like they made the right call in concentrating Saturday's tab on lists and calendars, by Roger Oglesby

Technique

• Serial form can draw readers in for weeks: Roy Peter Clark's well-written series of short articles - generally 1,000 words or less - proved so popular that thousands called in to find out what they'd missed, by Roy Peter Clark
  • "Sadie's Ring"

Membership

• Why it's important to be a member of ASNE: Personal renewal, contact with peers, professional growth, research are all part of the reason why editors of large and small papers join, by Ellie Dixon, Joy Franklin, Jane Healy, and Ray Moscowitz

New Media

• The new media: Reporting or journalism?; Facts and figures do not compel readers, stories do; readers and ‘new media users' want more than the information rich, but story-skimpy new media outlets, by Leo Bogart

The Write Stuff

• Scintillating leads keep people reading stories, by Brian Cooper

What would you do?

• When is it relevant to name someone's spouse? Revealing the spouse of someone who is being investigated isn't necessarily fair, but if that spouse is well-known, then not revealing the connection can cost credibility, by Kathy Silverberg
  • Here's the problem

Good writing

• Coaching at the center of the writing process: Rearranging the newsroom with a coach in the middle helped a South African newspaper's sales soar, improved morale and made the stories better, by Don Fry

ASNE on the move

• Convention schedule, member list on Web site
• ASNE's national newsroom diversity survey under way
• ASNE Foundation seeks corporate and member support
• ASNE people
• Deaths
• Subtle change in The American Editor, but savings aren't subtle
• Visit us when at API
• Absentee ballots
• Student convention newspaper staffers "eager for the challenge"
• Calendar of events

On journalism

• We list abuse victims' names. Why don't you? Vermont newspaper sees all police blotters - including domestic abusers and accusers - as important community information, despite protests from women's advocacy groups, by Ellie Dixon

Letter to The Editor

• Walters should have been in FOIA Hall of Fame