Last Updated: October 01, 1996
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Sunday content poses a leadership challenge to fashion trend reports and coping articles to attract underrepresented categories of new readers. That was the theme of the "Sundays" roundtable session led by Mark Silverman, editor of the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal.
The Sunday paper draws a bulge of occasional readers who can be rewarded into becoming regular Sunday readers. The ultimate goal, of course, is to make them weekday readers, as well.
Sunday content has suffered from editors seeking to appeal to the same interests and concerns served by the weekday news that's dominated by levels of government operations and business activities.
Potential Sunday readers are most likely to be time-stressed. For instance, they are women of childbearing age who combine career, civic and home interests; and young people in their 20s whose interests often aren't seen in the content choices made by newsroom managers and line editors.
Time-stressed readers need and want more coping stories that will answer their questions, save them time and add quality to their lives.
Younger readers want to hear their own voice in our columns, and it's often not known in newsrooms. One editor described the age and interest gap between his cutting-edge newsroom and potential young readers by noting the different treatment accorded the deaths of pop celebrities Jerry Garcia and Kurt Cobain. Both deaths were featured on page one, but the Garcia story included a credible reflection of the rebellious culture rooted in the '60s, while the Cobain story contained little of the social substance of the younger Generation Xers who identified with his music.
Another editor reinforced this view, arguing that middle aged and older readers are genuinely curious about the tastes and interests of younger people, so that a more thorough Cobain story would have had wide appeal.
TV books and special publications were counted as essential content that made
the Sunday paper worth its premium price, but constant attention is needed to
maintain high quality and accommodate such change as increased scope of TV books.
Inman is editorial page editor of the Greenville (S.C.) News.
