Want To Know What Really Is Going On In A US Newspaper Then Ask Its Public Editor –Assuming The Paper Still Funds That Position

Philip M. Stone May 29, 2008

Public editor columns are a gem because, for those newspapers still holding onto public editors, they really get into the nitty-gritty of what makes their newspaper run. Thus a fascinating column by Ted Vaden of the News&Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina) -- “The N&O is no longer the state newspaper that it once was” – and one in The Chicago Tribune on how journalists there can’t wait for the Cubs to be sold.

The issue Vaden had to tackle was that his newspaper had closed a news bureau in the eastern part of the state upon the retirement of their longtime correspondent, and folks there were none too happy. The N&O decided to put its resources where the state’s biggest growth is – in the so-called Triangle area anchored by the cities of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, and the newspaper no longer has a reporter located outside that Triangle.

So, can a state newspaper get away with such a coverage cutback and still maintain distribution in counties that it does not thoroughly cover?  Maybe.

Vaden quotes John Durham, executive director of communications at East Carolina University, as saying that for all the coverage cutback, there will still be N&O readers in the eastern part of the state. “People there look to the N&O not so much for coverage of news from the area – which after all is provided by the local newspapers – but of the Capitol, state government, and politics. As long as the N&O continues to provide that coverage and its trademark watchdog journalism, it still will have value for readers there.”

And that’s a point that should not be lost on other newspapers that have been steadily cutting back coverage of outlying regions. Assuming the newspaper is still being made available there – newspapers have been busy cutting back distribution to non-profitable locales – there still may well be good reasons for people to buy the newspaper even if they get their local news dosage from their locally produced newspaper.

Vaden admits that with the Greenville bureau closing coverage from that part of North Carolina will not be what it once was, but he also says “I have a hard time arguing away the issues – local growth, declining resources – that force the change.”  He challenged John Descher, the N&O executive editor, that didn’t the newspaper have a public  service responsibility for coverage from the eastern part of the state? “Yes,” he said, “But we have a public service mission in Wake County (Raleigh and suburbs), too, that we need to do a better job of meeting.” In other words, with reduced financial resources the efforts are put on those events closest to home.

At the Chicago Tribune, public editor Timothy J. McNulty tackled how the newspaper’s parent company owns the Cubs professional baseball team that the newspaper must cover, and the misconceptions that has caused for coverage favoritism. As he wrote, “Ever since the parent company of the Chicago Tribune bought the ball team in 1981, Tribune journalists have lived with the suspicion of bias, favoritism and conflict of interest in covering professional baseball in Chicago. “

And it’s not just the sports reporters who suffer. Those covering such municipal issues as neighborhood parking in the area near Wrigley Field, zoning regulations, stadium renovations and the like all raise ethical questions.

Sam Zell has said the Cubs and Wrigley Field don’t fit into his new Tribune – besides he needs the cash from their sale to handle debt payments – so when  McNulty asked news managing editor George de Lama how he felt about the sale he responded, “For the journalists, tomorrow would not be too soon.”

But he may not get his way. Zell has turned down one proposal for Wrigley Field and the deal for the Cubs and the stadium which many had thought would complete this year may not finalize for another year.

“Say it ain’t so,” McNulty pleads.

And if anyone doubts that opera lovers won’t get in a huff if a review appears only online and not in the print edition then think again. Sacramento Bee public editor Armando Acuña had to deal with this irate reader, one of several who made a similar complaint, “I want you to know that I think it’s grossly ignorant of The Bee to stop printing arts reviews in the paper by moving them to the Internet. It’s also a complete disservice to the struggling arts organizations – Opera, Ballet, and Philharmonic -- to name a few. What kind of warped thinking is this with today’s declining newspaper business? Are you trying to rid yourself of your most loyal readers?”

It turns out this wasn’t a policy like sending financial tables to the Internet; it was just a plain old screw-up, and the review of Tosca by the Sacramento Opera should have appeared in print. But Managing Editor Tom Negrete does point out he differentiates between reviews of one-night performances and shows with multiple performances. He says he wants to emphasize more in-depth arts coverage but “he wants to stop reviews of one-night stands, where a performer or event is long gone by the time the review is published.” In other words, it is coverage for tomorrow, not yesterday.

And finally a note from the editor (not public editor, actually the editor) of the Salem News in Beverly Massachusetts trumpeting an idea that many newspapers should grab onto with readers facing $4 a gallon gas. In association with website Gasbuddy that uses volunteers to track gasoline prices at stations across the US and Canada, the newspaper now runs on its web site the 10 best  gas deals in town, naming the price and the gas station.

With gasoline prices as they are the savings from filling up a few times could be put to good use – like a newspaper subscription.