Behind the Headlines

What is it about animal stories?  They’re hardly the fare of traditional journalism, but readers seem to love them.  In today’s Communities section, we had a story about the Lexington Animal Blood Bank.  On Tuesday, the Health & Family section featured a woman who does massage on dogs and horses.  (And as I sit at my computer writing this, CNN is showing a report about people along the Gulf Coast who are finding pets who went missing during Hurricane Katrina.)

Not convinced?  The Herald Readers Book Club event last month at Joseph Beth Booksellers was the biggest yet; more that 400 people came to see John Grogan, author of "Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog."  And when our features staff solicited "pet personals" from readers for Valentine’s Day, they received nearly 100.

If there’s a lesson here, it’s that newspaper editors must always be looking for unconventional stories and topics that will interest readers, even if they don’t always involve big, important, serious news.  So what kinds of stories would you like to see more often in the Herald-Leader?  Send your suggestions.

Tom Eblen
Managing Editor