Otterblog

Here’s an email I received today. It gets to many of the issues that editors of any medium deal with in determining where to run stories.

I am an avid newspaper reader and always look to the front page for the most important news at the time of printing regarding worldwide, national, and local affairs. 

The story you printed on Tuesday, July 11, 2006, describing the “Double Duty” of Mark Freidinger, WFU’s play-by-play announcer, was interesting and a good read, but I’m wondering about the soundness of the editorial decision to print it on the front page of the Journal, and above the fold at that.  A far more appropriate placement of the story would have been in the Sports section, or the Local section, for example.  Two stories of national and international significance were printed on Page A5, under the banner Nation/World. Either of these stories were more appropriate for print on the front page than the article about Mr. Freidinger.

The story of local interest regarding the appointment of an interim chancellor at WSSU is also on the front page, and is placed below the fold.  Because this is news and can affect thousands of local citizens (WSSU staff, employees, and students), it is right that it be placed on the front page. 

I think more careful thought is warranted as to which stories your editors choose to print on the front page.

My response to this reader was as follows: One of my jobs here is pick the stories for our front page, in consultation with other editors at an afternoon meeting. On any given day, there are many stories that could be considered worthy of being on the front, but there is rarely room for them all. What we try to put together is a page of broad interest with something for everybody, one that reflects the news of the day (local and national and international) but also includes stories that are unique to the Journal. As you might gather, it’s a somewhat subjective process. We work very hard to keep politics and bias out of the selection, but there’s no rulebook to follow. Ultimately, it’s about people with experience making choices.

Your point on the WSSU announcement is a good example of that. I thought it was front-page news, but I also believed that a) an interim appointment is far less signficant than a permanent one, and b) that this story would be covered on TV and radio etc. It wasn’t exclusive to us, so it didn’t need to be trumpeted as much by being above the fold.

You’re correct that the Freidinger story was a light piece, but it was pretty interesting, and that counts for a lot in my book.

Other blogs: Lifeinforsyth is an interesting blog that tracks a little community news, a little media criticism and general commentary on Forsyth County. A recent entry is about the transformation of Tim Clodfelter as he begins life as our new tech writer. Pretty amusing.