Monthly Archive for February, 2006Page 2 of 2

Just what is a front-page story?

Published
by
Peter Baniak
on February 9, 2006
in News
. 1 Comment

Don Edwards, the retired Herald-Leader columnist, says that Kentucky is a state of 4 million basketball coaches.  From my experience, it also has about that many newspaper editors.

Every Herald-Leader reader, it seems, has an opinion about how news should be covered and, especially, what stories should be on the front page. 

Some traditionalists think only “important” national and world news should be on the front page.  Others think the front should be only local news, because the Herald-Leader is a local newspaper and there are so many other sources now for national and world news.  And everyone has a favorite topic, which they think always deserves front-page coverage.

A few people write to me each month to complain that we sometimes put sports news on the front page, such as Monday’s front-page photo from the Super Bowl or last Saturday’s photo and Mark Story’s column about UK’s first women’s basketball victory over Tennessee in two decades.  “There’s a whole section for Sports,” these readers say.  “Must sports be on the front page, too?  The front page should be for important news.”

The philosophy of what does and doesn’t belong on a newspaper’s front page has evolved.  For example, The New York Times’ front page now regularly has a feature story, an analysis piece, sometimes a feature photograph and — gasp! — occasionally even a sports story; all things you never would have seen there just a few years ago.

Decisions about what should go on the Herald-Leader’s front page are made each afternoon at 4 o’clock in a meeting attended by 12-15 editors and, frequently, guests.  There is a lot of discussion and debate, with either Marilyn Thompson or me making the final decisions. (I usually run the meeting on Monday, Tuesday and Friday; she runs it on Wednesday and Thursday.)  Those decisions are confirmed — or changed because of new developments — at a smaller followup meeting at 6 p.m. after our talented page designers have turned the various editors’ thoughts and decisions into a good-looking page.  After that, the night editors have the authority to make changes as late as 1 a.m. as news developments warrant.

The front page has room for 4-6 stories, a good photo or other “visual” element, a few “promos” to inside stories across the top of the page and sometimes an “Inside your Herald-Leader” box that refers to more news inside the paper.  Some days, we have enough good stories for two front pages; other days, so little is happening that we wish we didn’t have one.

In making front-page selections, we’re looking for that day’s most important stories, plus the stories we think will most interest readers and the topics people will be talking about the next day. Most front-page stories are serious, but some are just fun.  And we look for good “promos” and “refers” that will draw readers inside the newspaper.

Because we’re a local and regional newspaper, we favor stories about Kentucky written by our reporters.  That’s our franchise; no news organization covers Kentucky as thoroughly as we do.  We also favor important or interesting “enterprise” stories that we have exclusively. But we also look for stories that report — and explain — important national and world events; stories that go beyond the headlines you may have heard on the radio or seen on television. In an age of 24-hour news, many people now look to newspapers to provide the detail, explanation and context they need to understand the news.

We also look for stories that are simply fun and interesting; stories that tell us about ourselves, the society in which we live, and the human condition.  And sometimes that includes stories about sports.  On the day after the Super Bowl, that’s what most people will be talking about.  The same goes for important milestones in UK sports, especially basketball, which is a Kentucky obsession.  We think a good front page is like a well-balanced meal: You need meat and potatoes, and some green vegetables whether you like them or not.  But there’s a place for dessert, too.

If you have ideas about the kinds of stories you would like to see — or rather not see — on the Herald-Leader’s front page, we would love to hear them.

Tom Eblen
Managing Editor

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Focusing on the present rather than the past

Published
by
Peter Baniak
on February 9, 2006
in News
. 0 Comments

Readers occasionally criticize our coverage of the grand jury investigation that Attorney General Greg Stumbo launched into alleged merit hiring abuses by Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s administration.  Why, they ask, haven’t you looked into allegations the Fletcher administration has made that there were merit hiring abuses by his Democratic predecessor, Paul Patton?

The Herald-Leader aggressively covered the Patton administration. We reported extensively and prominently on the indictment and pardon of four key aides on charges of violating campaign-finance laws, and on the Tina Conner scandal, for example.  Now, more than two years after the end of Patton’s administration, our focus is on the current administration.

We do not have the resources to investigate extensively past administrations. This isn’t to say we would never write about civil-service abuses in previous administrations. We have, in fact, within the last year mentioned problems as long ago as the Democratic administration of John Y. Brown and the Republican administration of Louie Nunn.

But our focus is on the present and the future. The Herald-Leader assigns three reporters full-time to our Frankfort bureau, which I supervise, and other reporters are dispatched there for particular assignments. The current legislative session and the ongoing hiring investigation are keeping them quite busy these days.

Tom Caudill
Assistant Managing Editor

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“The Story” and Newspaper Ethics

Published
by
Peter Baniak
on February 9, 2006
in Current Affairs
. 0 Comments

Lexington has been talking about "The Story," a thought-provoking production by Actors’ Guild of Lexington on stage now through February 19th. Friday night after the show, Vanessa Gallman and I will be part of a panel discussion of newspaper ethical issues raised in the production. Please join us. Details follow.

Marilyn Thompson
Editor

When a young, ambitious reporter scores a job at a major newspaper, she finds herself mired in racial and sexual politics.  Yvonne (Tiffiney Kavanaugh), an aspiring African-American journalist, is unsatisfied with her position at the "Outlook" desk at The Daily newspaper and is desperate to move to the hard news "Metro" section.  In her effort to land a career altering story about the mysterious murder of a white inner-city schoolteacher, Yvonne stops at nothing to find the truth.  She gets her chance to write the story when she unexpectedly meets Latisha (Dana Chester) an African-American teenage girl who claims her gang murdered the teacher.  Yvonne’s groundbreaking story, as well as her credentials, come under fire and scrutiny when accuracy, integrity and truth in reporting come into question.  “The Story raises so many interesting questions,’ said director Ave Lawyer, “but the one that I found the most timely is this: is it possible to expect objective truth from subjective human beings?  We demand nothing less from the news media.  And from the leaders of the free world.  But Janet Cooke, Jayson Blair, Stephen Glass, the still elusive WMD and the spiraling events of The Story really make you question that expectation."

In addition to Kavanaugh and Chester, the cast of The Story includes: Freida Vinson, Nathalie Oliver, Dmetrius Fitzgerald, Bob Singleton, and Terry Withers.  Director Ave Lawyer heads up a creative team including Mylissa Crutcher (Lighting Design), Monica Willett (Costume Design), Neil Kesterson (Sound Design) and Jacob Ennis (Video Sequences).

For tickets or more information, please call the Downtown Arts Center Box Office at 859-225-0370

Season Passcard holders may call 233-0663 for reservations.

Ticket Prices:  $24.00 General Admission
                          $18.00 Seniors (65+)
                          $15.00 Students

There is no extra charge to stay for the discussion of the play’s powerful themes, after the 8:00pm performance this Friday evening, February 10th.

"The Story" is co-sponsored by The African American Forum, Dr. Robert & Linda Granacher and the Lexington Forensic Institute.

("The Story" contains adult language.)

For more information about the play and other showtimes, please visit www.actorsguildoflexington.org

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To publish, or not to publish

Published
by
Peter Baniak
on February 8, 2006
in News
. 0 Comments

A debate is raging in American journalism about whether it is appropriate to publish cartoons that have incited riots in the Middle East because of their insensitive human depiction of the Prophet Muhammad. You may have heard Herald-Leader cartoonist Joel Pett opining on the controversy on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” (audio available here ). A print version of Pett’s commentary appears in Thursday’s Herald-Leader.

The Herald-Leader chose not to run the cartoons. Editors late last week discussed whether the international controversy was big enough that we should consider publishing the cartoons. Managing Editor Tom Eblen, who was in charge last Thursday and Friday, went online and looked at the cartoons and researched how the Associated Press and other newspapers were handling them. The AP had decided not to distribute the cartoons, so the Herald-Leader’s only source would have been to copy them from the Internet or link to them.

Eblen decided not to publish the cartoons, but to offer readers a thorough description of them in the newspaper, along with an explanation of why they were so offensive to Muslims. Friday’s newspaper also included a sidebar on the larger issue of Islam’s view that any depiction of the Prophet Muhammad is considered idolatry. Eblen reasoned that we could adequately explain the controversy to non-Muslim readers without publishing the cartoons and offending Muslim readers.

Most other newspapers, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, made the same decision. The only major newspaper to publish the most offensive of the cartoons was the Philadelphia Inquirer, whose editor, Amanda Bennett, is a former Herald-Leader editor. Publication of the cartoons in Philadelphia led to a non-violent protest outside the Inquirer’s offices, but Bennett has said that she went down to personally explain her decision to the protestors. She believes it opened a healthy dialogue.

A story in Wednesday’s Herald-Leader, by reporter Frank Lockwood, made clear that the Muslim community in Lexington found the cartoons offensive.

The question is: Can anyone really understand the issue without having first seen the cartoons? They can be seen here. We also welcome your comments about whether we made the right decision.

Marilyn Thompson
Editor

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a reader question

Published
by
Peter Baniak
on February 8, 2006
in Current Affairs
. 1 Comment

Ms. Thompson,

I applaud your efforts to confront and be confronted by readers one on one. I find it amusing that it takes three writers (albeit good ones) to carry the news of Kentucky’s defeat at the hands of Tennessee, while there is far less proportionate staff covering something far more critical, that being the General Assembly.

Tuesday’s story, "Funeral protest bills are passed" was an example of the paper turning to the wire service for assignments in its own back yard. I also think the paper fouled its own nest with the "ambush" photo of Rajon Rondo in its recent coverage of that stew. That the paper would print that photo without a credit (staff or no staff) indicated that someone wasn’t quite ready to own up to that effort.

Thank you.

Tom Carter in Berea

Mr. Carter brings up two interesting questions: Why does the Herald-Leader devote proportionately more reporters to coverage of UK sports than it does to coverage of the General Assembly, sometimes forcing us to rely on wire services for stories in our own backyard. The answer is simple, (although I have to admit that I have been a little confounded by it since arriving in Kentucky almost two years ago). UK sports coverage is one of this newspaper’s strongest selling points. Thus, the dedication of staff resources to UK sports coverage has remained strong despite cutbacks in other areas. He is correct that we should not have to rely on wire services for coverage of important legislative issues. Just this morning, our editors lamented that we did not have a staff-written story on coal legislation and had to rely instead on coverage from the Associated Press. We are always struggling to find ways to deploy our staff more effectively. We have not found the answer yet.

Meanwhile, he also brings up the controversial photo of Rajon Rondo exiting a car owned by Derek Anderson that ran recently on our sports front. This photo has generated many complaints against us for using "tabloid" journalism tactics in snapping a photo of Rondo in the parking lot outside Wildcat Lodge.

The photographer chose not to use his name on the photo, and I agree with some readers that this was a mistake. The photographer should have been identified, but I know the circumstances behind this decision. The photographer was concerned that the UK Athletics Department might be so infuriated by the photo that it would deny him access.

My position is that the Rondo photo was made outside a public parking lot at a publicly-funded university. It did not involve sneaking onto private property. And the photo our editors ran in the newspaper was selected from among a number of shots, some of them showing Rondo appearing to duck or hide under a hooded sweatshirt. We felt those photos implied that something was wrong, when in fact — as the story clearly stated — the use of Anderson’s vehicle had been approved by the NCAA.

Marilyn Thompson

                   

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When imprecise language leads to inaccuracy

Published
by
Peter Baniak
on February 7, 2006
in News
. 2 Comments

A Hispanic staff member and others (including me) were upset by the headline and first paragraph of the lead story on Tuesday’s front page. I knew as soon as I saw it that we had once again tripped over this problem of imprecise language, creating inaccuracy as well as hurt feelings.

This is how the headline and story appeared in the newspaper:

Coal firm wants to hire Hispanics
PIKEVILLE -Citing a declining work ethic and drug problems among Eastern Kentucky workers, a Pike County coal company has asked the state mining board to help make it possible to hire Hispanic miners.

This is what we changed it to on the web site Tuesday morning:

Coal firm wants to hire workers who can’t speak English
PIKEVILLE -Citing a declining work ethic and drug problems among Eastern Kentucky workers, a Pike County coal company has asked the state mining board to help make it possible to hire non-English speaking miners.

Ethnic heritage was not the issue, as the staffer pointed out in an e-mail: “In the story, the problems facing the coal company are language and legal documentation. The term “Hispanic” has nothing to do with either one of these problems. … By using such an umbrella term like ‘Hispanic’ for specific meanings like illegal alien (or undocumented immigrant), non-English speaker, we confuse the reader and encourage stereotyping, and pretty much make Kentucky a harder place for me to live.”

And, as he correctly noted out, this distinction isn’t about “political correctness.” It’s about using precise language to achieve accuracy, something newspaper reporters and editors always have to be mindful of.

Tom Eblen
Managing Editor

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How letters to the editor are chosen

Published
by
Peter Baniak
on February 6, 2006
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

A reader e-mailed to ask how letters to the editor are chosen for publication in the Herald-Leader. “I am at loss to understand why my criticisms of the Bush Administration are very seldom published. Why?” she wondered.

The Herald-Leader receives at least 25 reader letters a day. There is normally space to run 6 to 9 letters daily, although we often give extra space to letters when there is overwhelming response to a major news event. So, we try to limit a writer to one letter every 30 days. That way, more people can get published.
In selecting letters to publish, we make priority those questioning Herald-Leader articles/editorials, as well as and letters on issues currently in the news. We also look for letters that offer a different point of view than those most recently published. For instance, the paper is currently overwhelmed by letters critical of President Bush.

Vanessa Gallman
Editorial Page Editor

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Want to do more

Published
by
Peter Baniak
on February 6, 2006
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Mr. Baumann,
Thank you for your question. You make an excellent point and have hit upon an area that has given me great concern in the almost two years since I arrived. Auto coverage has suffered from a number of staff cutbacks, and we have struggled to find the right reporter to cover our local auto industry on top of other coverage responsibilities. It also takes a reporter time to learn the industry, and it helps to be able to attend auto shows and other events. Cutbacks in travel money have made this virtually impossible.
Currently, Steve Lannen in our Georgetown bureau has taken on Toyota as part of his beat and is making a valiant effort to learn as much as he can about the industry, without the benefit of travel. He has written a number of good stories about Toyota over the past six months, and we are encouraging him to do more. I am sure that it is still not enough for readers who like to read about new cars ! and innovations.
I am going to share your question with business editor Todd Wethall to see if there are wire service offerings that might enhance our coverage. I am certain that we can do better.
Thanks for writing.
Marilyn Thompson

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Published
by
Peter Baniak
on February 6, 2006
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments
Why doesn’t the newspaper have better coverage of autos and the auto
industry? We are in a major auto manufacturing area and there is considerable
interest in the industry.
The column that runs in front of the car ads is a promo blurb designed to
help sell cars and is not ! a serious column. Both the NYTimes and the
Detroit Free Press run serious reviews of new autos and discussions of new
designs and trends in the industry. Isn’t it time that the Herald Leader
provided that type of coverage to Central Kentucky?
Robert J Baumann

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Ask about what we do and how we decide it

Published
by
Peter Baniak
on February 5, 2006
in Uncategorized
. 5 Comments

Readers often feel strongly about what they see in the pages of the Herald-Leader.
In fact, “strongly” might be an understatement. Sometimes, readers contact me or other editors to demand explanations for why certain stories appeared — or did not appear — in the newspaper.
Sometimes, they call to complain of political bias in the way headlines are written or in decisions made about which four or five stories to place on the front page.
Many readers have little idea how the Herald-Leader editorial board operates or the difference between news reporters, who are charged with objective fact-finding, and editorial writers, who are free to express points of view.   
Ever attentive to detail, readers catch grammatical errors and misspelled names and cannot understand how mistakes so obvious slip through layers of editing.
They call to point out disturbing photos or page layouts which they find offensive. And they complain about changes in the newspaper’s content, such as revised TV books or pages slashed from their favorite sections.   
Most every editor at the Herald-Leader spends part of his or her day answering readers’ questions and fielding complaints.
To voice them, persistent readers often navigate a perplexing office phone system, bouncing around the newsroom until they finally find a live voice willing to talk to them.
Sometimes, they even get an explanation.
We want to make it easier for you to talk with us about the Herald-Leader. That is why we are launching today this new blog that will allow readers a chance to interact with senior editors from the news and editorial pages and to get questions answered.
The blog will be monitored daily, and responses will be posted by either me, Managing Editor Tom Eblen, Assistant Managing Editor Tom Caudill or Editorial Page Editor Vanessa Gallman.
Some Herald-Leader critics complain that the newspaper’s decision-makers hide behind glass walls, unwilling to talk with the reading public.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Other editors and I are happy to discuss our coverage and the thinking behind our decisions, even the most unpopular ones. We are willing to acknowledge when we have made mistakes. Sometimes, these interactions conclude with a more enlightened and satisfied reader.
If we had the chance to bring more readers into our daily news meetings, we could show that controversial decisions are not made without discussions reflecting varied points of view.
The leadership of the Herald-Leader is not homogenous; the group is racially and politically diverse, which makes for a lively daily critique in our morning meetings.
While some readers are quick to accuse us of ulterior motives in our story play, headline selection or use of photos, there is often a reasonable explanation. Many decisions involve internal issues of space or timing that casual readers would have no reason to know about.
We believe that this new blog will be a first step toward improving our dialogue with readers, whose ideas and comments often make our paper better.
And it will offer you a window into our world — the fast-paced, imperfect process of putting out the daily newspaper that, if all goes right, lands on your doorstep every morning.
Reach Marilyn Thompson at mthompson@herald-leader.com or at 231-3257. 

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