Death of a salesman (and newsman)

I'm calling this week a failure for our business. Not that the failure specifically happened this week, but the reality of it came to light.

Coming up on the editorial side of the newspaper/news biz, I was always focused on the ideology of the newspaper's mission: provide the news/facts in an unbiased manner, be a government watchdog, find innovative ways of story telling and be the record keeper of history as it happens.

These are fine, lofty goals. But it's not the big picture of the news business. Over the years, I have come to see the overall goals and missions for newspapers and broadcast that carry the news. Yes, it is to deliver pertinent information in a timely manner. But that is just one of many parts in the news machine.

To be economically viable, the newspaper (or news broadcast station) must also be practicable marketing tool for businesses. Specifically, a community newspaper must be a feasible means for local businesses to advertise.

If circulation and readership decline, the value of the product is less to those advertisers (or potential advertisers).

The past couple years I've worried about our declining circulation. But we all know subscriptions and single-copy sales don't make us much money. The ad revenue drives the newspaper.

For the past few weeks, a local grocer who has placed a full page ad every week in our newspaper for decades gave incredible deals through coupons in its ad. The response was minimal. So minimal, that our newspaper will no longer have that ad.

This is a big financial blow to our weekly newspaper. But that's not the only thing I'm concerned about. The low rate of return on great deals for necessary items (eggs, milk, etc.) concerns me from a readership standpoint.

Coupons are a great indicator of consumer response to advertisements. Take many furniture stores or car dealerships - in broadcast ads they'll say things like "Tell them Bob sent you" or "Ask for John." Chances are, the salesmen have never met Bob (or don't care that Bob sent you) or John won't be there to help you. But it gives that business an indication of who is coming there in response to the ad.

If we are getting such a low rate of return on local grocery coupons, what does that say about how many people are actually picking up the newspaper and reading it?

From an editorial standpoint, it means people in this community are not as informed as they should be about local issues.

From a circulation standpoint, it means we are not reaching the number of people we need to.

From an advertising standpoint, we are not a viable marketing tool for local business.

Unfortunately, despite the ideological goals, the latter is the one that matters most. If local businesses cannot use the newspaper as a means to drive more business for themselves, then that product is useless to them - a waste of their money. Those businesses cannot grow through the newspaper.

That's where it hurts the news biz financially. They stop advertising and subsequently stop picking up the newspaper. The domino affect begins.

Unless we can find a way to rebound in circulation, we are, as the pundits have put it, writing our own obituary.

I do not believe newspapers have to die. I believe the way we deliver them can be modified to fit consumers, creating that viable marketing tool.

But that subject is for another blog post.

Arrogance

Maybe arrogance is the answer for newspapers.


Recently I was outside a fast food restaurant and saw the USA Today newspaper rack. USA Today usually impresses me with its front page. It did again this day. I wanted to buy a copy for a story on the front page because apparently I was too lazy to use my phone app to find it.

There was one problem: I had no change. I could go inside the restaurant and get change, except for the fact I had no cash.

Maybe this is really why single copy sales are down - who carries cash (let alone change) anymore?

If only we could equip every news rack with a way to swipe a credit or debit card to gain access. I'd like to see the results. It's not totally unheard of. Some college campuses have a readership program for students. They swipe their ID cards to gain access to the local metro daily, USA Today and/or New York Times.

I mentioned this to a business owner in town.

"You'd lose money on every transaction," he said.
"Not if we charge $10 per newspaper," I quipped.

Understanding that I was joking, he said I was right. But it got me thinking. I'm not suggesting we charge $10 per newspaper. However, maybe we should consider upping the price a bit.

In what other business do you charge less than the product is worth.
This week we produced a 10-page A section, 4-page B section, 6 page C section and 8-page D section. That's 28 pages plus inserts. At 75 cents per newspaper, that's less than 3 cents per page. Where else can you get that kind of rate. I don't think 3 cents covers the raw costs of ink and paper, let alone transportation to get those newspapers to those locations on top of the salaries to produce it. And let's not forget overhead costs. Of course, advertising is supposed to supplement that cost. Obviously it doesn't.
Anytime you charge more for something, it ups the value of. Let's face it, if people really want it then they will pay for it. If they don't really want it, then we're wasting our time, right?

I say charge more for a single copy of the newspaper and charge for unlimited online access.

In a small town like this one, there are not many other means for a business to effectively advertise. So charge a little more for advertising, but not to the point it excludes many businesses.
I'm sure we happily pay more than many things cost from raw materials through production and delivery.
Perhaps we shouldn't be going around begging people to advertise and begging people to subscribe and begging people to visit our website. Maybe it's time to say to people if you want legitimate news presented in a fair, professional manner you're going to have to be willing to pay for it. If you want to reach your target audience, you're going to have to consider the investment associated with marketing.

I say this, but a paperwork error last year sent subscribers a renewal notice with the price of two-year subscription in the place of the one-year subscription. Subscribers balked at the notion, many calling to cancel their subscription if that were the renewal price.
Sticker shock will turn many away. For the news stand price, I say up it gradually over a two-year period. The same goes for subscribers, except make it a slight increase for current subscribers to renew and a notable increase for new subscribers (but still getting a far better deal per issue by subscribing).

If we were to implement this program tomorrow, my goal would be to have the current 75-cents per issue news stand price to be at $2 by this time in two years. For the subscribers, I would propose their renewal price to increase for a year subscription from $30 to $32 in that time. For first-time subscribers make it $35.
For the web, give print subscribers full access. Offer a web-only subscription for half the price. Allow one-time fees ($2 a week) for those who just need to peruse the website from afar a few times a year.

This would increase revenue (assuming there was no significant drop in subscriptions and single-copy sales or that it bounced back within six months) around $35,000 based on our circulation after numbers return to normal.
For ads, up the cost 20 percent gradually over the course of two years. I can't give good figures on that, except that I would assume given a drop in advertisers we would still be making at least 5 percent more a year than we did two years prior. That can't hurt.

People pay more for gas, groceries, coffee and alcohol. They do it while grumbling at first, but get used to it and continue anyway. Why not add news to that list?

Osam bin-WHO?

I felt sick this morning.

Sick from dissatisfaction of what was expected of me - due in part of what some people think our readers expect from us.

Less than 24 hours ago, President Barack Obama announced Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces. Bin Laden was allegedly the mastermind behind (among many terrorist acts) the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that collapsed the two World Trade Center towers, put a hole in one side of the Pentagon and downed a plane full of passengers in a rural Pennsylvania field. The incidents that day forever changed our world.

Today, in the aftermath of this man's death, many are buzzing about bin Laden's death. This is a man who organized al-Queda, but has been hands off for about two years. Most agree that his death is not the end of our nation's war against terror. Perhaps it is the beginning of the end, but there is certainly still a long journey ahead.

His death has not changed our world, though. Not near the way so many things have changed our world. There were no U.S. casualties in the battle that took bin Laden's life.

Yet, on the dawn of bin Laden's death, my publisher (who is a rarity in that he came up on the editorial side to the publisher position), energetically insisted that all of our weekly newspapers come up with "local" coverage of this. He even went so far as to post breaking news to solicit comments and locate sources.

We've compiled the slew of elected officials' statements. Now we're to seek out local sources - local reaction.

I just do not feel this is our role as hyper-local, weekly, community newspapers. The announcement of bin Laden's death came late Sunday night. Our papers go to press Tuesday night. For me, my newspaper hits the stands late Wednesday afternoon and is delivered via U.S. Postal Service to subscribers on Thursday.

My prediction: by Friday talk of bin Laden's death will have dwindled significantly and by this time next week it will be just a fleeting thought. Within two weeks from now, it won't be talked about at all.

I agree with localized coverage on Sept. 11, 2001. It changed our thinking, it changed our lifestyles. It disrupted that day in everyone's life whether they were on the East Coast or Midwest.

This man's death does not disrupt our lifestyle. Troops are not being immediately withdrawn as a result. Almost nothing changes except a moral victory for the United States.

In some places, celebration erupted in the streets. A crowd gathered outside the White House. Impromptu rallies formed in Lawrence, Kan., and Columbia, Mo., where there are large populations of college students. In some places, people have pulled their American flags out the closet and hung them proudly. Others have put up banners declaring the victory.

But here, in the community my newspaper serves, little seems changed. I cannot find any more American flags than usual. I do not see any special signs or banners. This is the same town that has held half a dozen Tea Party rallies in the past three years. This town's patriotism is not in question. But like many small communities, it was exciting news last night. By noon Monday people had moved on with their lives. By Thursday, I doubt many here will care much anymore.

Had a group staged a rally, had people displayed extra patriotism or had more people been willing to talk about when I tried to do man-on-the-street interviews; I would gladly splash this on the front page.

One of our reporters said that newspapers are "a rough draft of history." True. But the draft is very rough if it's some redneck's uneducated opinion. Meanwhile, here, I have a full list of local issues that weigh readers' minds: pit bull bans, flooding issues and cost increases for curbside recycling among other things.

As a small town, community newspaper, we need to focus on documenting this town's history; not wasting time and space for something nobody seems willing to talk about. We are the rough draft of history for this community, not for the nation.

Sure, there are plenty of other angles to consider. I'm tracking down military service members from our community who will be headed to Afghanistan soon. Ideally I would find the family of someone who was currently over there. But with our deadlines, producing something worthwhile is going to be difficult as I'm already having a hard time getting known sources to call me back.

I digress.

Whatever this community wants to make a big deal of, I'm willing to print in the newspaper. Anything else just seems forced.

It's a bird, it's a plane....

Jackie Cooper's voice echoed in my head this morning.

Many may remember Cooper's role as The Daily Planet Editor Perry White in the Superman movies with Christove Reeve.

Following the dramatic opening and credits to Superman III, we cut to The Daily Planet newsroom.
Perry White: I don't understand you Olsen. A boring banquet and you bring me three thousand boring pictures. Yet Superman saves a man from drowning on 3rd Avenue this morning while you stand there watching the whole thing and you don't even bring me one picture.
Jimmy Olsen: Chief, I didn't have my camera with me.
Perry White: A photographer eats with his camera. A photographer sleeps with his camera.
Lois Lane: I'm glad I'm a writer.


In small town community journalism, there is no luxury of being just a writer.

I've blogged about the need for a journalist to carry a camera at all times, this is one of those blogs. It's also about the advantage of being the "little guy."

On my way to work this morning I saw a metro area TV news station's van. Naturally, I followed, dreading what story they would blow out of proportion leaving me to play clean up with a story in next week's paper.

As we headed north of town, I was becoming even more curious about what story they were chasing. Then I saw the helicopter hovering near the neighboring town that is in our school district. This couldn't be an average accident. It wasn't. There was a school bus in the ditch. The accident happened about an hour earlier.

While everyone else shot video, I whipped out my 5-megapixel cell phone camera. The distance from the accident and the sun rising in the background left me with nothing but sun bursts and hazy images.

This is the best one I took.

My digital SLR was in the office on my desk. Had I known I was going to a school bus accident, I would have stopped at the office (on the way) to grab the camera. By the time I got to the accident and figured out what was going on, called in to get a web update and evaluated the situation, they were towing the bus out of the ditch. I didn't have time to go to the office and get back with a camera before the bus was gone.

But being this was my backyard, so to speak, I still had some advantages. The police officer director traffic said he didn't know anything to tell the TV news reporter. They were just working traffic, the state highway patrol was in charge of the scene. She walked away discouraged.

Then I approached.

"How are you liking your new digs, Tom?" I asked, knowing the police just moved into a new building.

We chatted about them still getting settled in, yadda, yadda.

"So what time did you get called to this?" I asked.

"I got on at 7 and was immediately sent here, it had just happened," he replied.

We still had no idea about injuries and I knew he wouldn't know.

"How many ambulances were there when you got here?" I asked.

He talked about ambulances from at least three different areas, so I was able to surmise there were enough injuries to warrant at least half a dozen ambulances.

That's all I could get out of him, but it's more than the TV reporter got. I think I had the advantage in knowing the officer by name and being able to come up with chit-chat to lead into some questions that gave me more background on the incident.

Next, a man, looking very casual, in a jacket and ball cap comes walking from the accident to get in a pickup truck. The TV reporter has no idea this is the assistant superintendent in charge of transportation. I however, again have the advantage.

"Morning, Randy, what happened?" I lead off with.

He clearly didn't want to talk to the media. But between her badgering questions he'd rather ignore, I was able to remove the sensationalism out of the impromptu press conference from his pickup truck cab as he is saying he doesn't have time to talk.

"What can we put on our website that parents need to know?"

He then proceeds to tell me that parents have been contacted and what they were told.

The assistant superintendent drove off, but now we've got a handle on injury types (non serious), how many students, what grade level, etc.

The TV reporter at this point is confused about which schools the students may have been going to and the assistant superintendent has left. I, however, have no need to look up this information.

So I don't have any good photos. I was probably the third news organization to report via the web the fact there was a school bus accident. But in the end, I was able to gather enough information in a short amount of time to get something more substantial online before having to wait for the highway patrol to call me back.

So score one for the small town local guys.

Take that back. I just completed this blog and went to grab my cell-phone photo out of my e-mail to put in the blog when I saw an e-mail from the city manager to many people in the community alerting them of the accident. In that e-mail, he posted a link to a TV news station's website.

So much for hometown.

This one's on me

There are some days you've just got to love this job.

This morning I started out touring the mayor's new business - in another city. I agree that he couldn't find the building to fit the need for this wine club he started, but I'm sure he is going to receive some backlash from the community for not investing in the hometown.

That will be humorous.

That same mayor, 20 years ago, pushed for an ordinance that restricts signage for beer or liquor at gas stations. After learning about this obscure law and noticing several gas stations in town in violation, I admittedly stirred the pot by asking too many questions. City officials realized they had not enforced this ordinance so cracked down on it and I wrote a story on this 20-year-old, obscure law that had gone the wayside until the newspaper brought it up.

The newspaper came out yesterday and our website was updated this morning, including this story. Today, a local TV station contacted city officials about interviewing them for a story about this. The city official who drew the short straw to talk to the TV station called me and said, "You owe me one." Not because of doing the story or because anything was inaccurate. He just doesn't want to be on TV and blames me. Technically, it's the city's own fault for not keeping up with its own laws.

Why isn't the mayor speaking to the TV station about his alcohol advertising restriction law? He's too busy getting his new wine store ready in the metro.

Meatball journalism

Editor's note: I actually wrote this back in May. In the midst of writer's block this morning, I was looking through some of my google documents and found it. I'm not sure if its intended purpose was for THIS blog, but sort of fits this morning so here it is in all its glory:

I just remembered, this is not why I got into journalism.
Sitting in my cluttered office dumbfounded by writer's block with one goal for the morning: Churn out three feature stories about 300 words each that I gathered all the information for yesterday and write a 450-word summary from a meeting last night.
That's when I realized, I am I stuck here dreaming about all the things I could do with journalism, all the things I have done with journalism and barely making progress on Journalism 101 fluff pieces. I think I convinced myself community journalism "is where it's at," so to speak. It is. Community (hyper local) is the future of the journalism/newspaper industry. "Enterprise stories" and "niche publications" are yesterday's buzz phrases. Community journalism has a bit more sustainability than industry fads.

The definition of community journalism is deep and multi-faceted.
Among what I am doing is "intense" community journalism. On my slate to finish writing today: Board of Aldermen meeting coverage, story about a the kindness of strangers, students raising money for Haiti earthquake victims and preview an upcoming community event. On the back burner is a story I've been picking at a little each week. Not the greatest of stories - a look at the issue of dog nuisance, related ordinances and tips for owners and neighbors. Riveting stuff, isn't it? It's a weak reflection of what I prefer to be doing. I like to dig deep into a story. I would rather be working on one or two in-depth stories over the course of a week than being a paragraph factory of a dozen small stories to fill the pages. Wouldn't any journalist?
For a while I convinced myself this is what I want to be doing. It was like telling myself that I'm OK in a bad relationship, even though deep down I know I need to end it.

There are rewards to what I am doing. I'm filling a need in the community. I'm providing quasi-compelling content for local residents to read. There's no complaints there - on the reader's part and my part, for the most part. But this is not why I signed up.
In elementary school I was a big "Encyclopedia Brown" fan. For those unfamiliar with the book series, this child sleuth would solve neighborhood "crimes" or mysteries. Over time I realized he would use common knowledge, but for someone his age it was outstanding to figure these things out. As I grew older I never got into books like "The Hardy Boys" or "Nancy Drew." I cannot stand most cop shows like "Law and Order" or the "CSI" brand shows. I did always enjoy "Dragnet." Point being, I like to unravel a story by finding many facts.
Back on track, what I love doing is digging deep. I like taking a topic that has hazy details, finding as many sources as possible and finding the common denominator that must be the truth. I like to present a list of facts and statements in an entertaining form so the reader can determine what is right and wrong.

But what I am doing, for the most part, is what I equate to the term used on the "M*A*S*H" television series: "meatball surgery." They had to find the best way possible to take care of mass casualties with little resource. I've got to cover as many stories as possible, along with some photos and long-term planning with as little time, staff and equipment as possible. Community journalism, if you're not careful, can become "meatball journalism."

I didn't get into journalism to post opinion poll questions like, "How would you rate your prom experience this year?"

This is one of those days I'm about ready to give up. There are times you get this great adrenaline rush by getting the scoop on a big story or having people contact you about important things. Then there are times when you feel worthless. After nearly two years of cultivating sources, you find something in the nearby metro daily that you should have had in last week's edition. It's not breaking news. It's not big news. It's almost insignificant. It's a little slice of life for this community. That's exactly why I should have had it first. I'm just floored that my sources didn't let me know about it. Sometimes your sources let you know every time someone down the hall from them sneezes. And you try to show your gratitude and follow up on it because you want them to feel that openness when it's time to get what you want. But then they don't share the newsworthy stuff with you and you wonder why you're even here.

I used to dream of days when I would be a crusty, old news man or a retired journalist. Now I dream of days when I "was in the biz."

Updated: OK, I'm not sure what I meant by that last line when I apparently wrote it five months ago, but I decided to leave it in.

The sad thing is, nothing has really changed since I wrote that blog five months ago and for whatever reason never posted it. Today is not too different from that day. I have to make a few phone calls, see some people then hunker down to churn out four stories today..... gotta go now, incoming wounded. (That's the M*A*S*H reference tying the blog back to the lede.)

In a dog eat dog world, don't blame me

It’s rant time.


Stop blaming the media. We’re an easy scapegoat, but we are not the only “gatekeepers” in this world.

If someone doesn’t tell us something, how are we supposed to report it? We, “the media,” are NOT the only ones filtering the news.

Politicians put a “spin” on things, right? So do businessmen, volunteers, etc.

What has spurred this rant? Pit bulls.

I was among the recipients in an e-mail to city officials from a would-be resident who didn’t move to the city because of the ban on pit bulls.

The e-mail from this person to the city accuses the pit bull ban to be a “knee jerk” reaction to “media scare tactics” that are “ludicrous” when you consider there are a “tremendous number” of serious or fatal dog bits by labs and other large-breed dogs that are “never reported upon.” The e-mail states that is because it is not as “sensational.”

First of all, I have never, nor have I ever known any reporter, to “cover up” a Labrador bite or attack. There is no scandal there. Why would the “media” “cover up” something like that? I would venture to say a Golden Retriever or Labrador attack would be much more newsworthy than a pit bull attack because they are known as gentle breeds and you don’t hear about it as much.

In journalism 101 I learned “dog bites man” is not news, but “man bites dog” is news. A lab attack would fall into the latter category.

So IF these “lab attack” are common and IF “the media” is NOT reporting on it, who then is covering it up? Someone must be stopping this from getting out. Police? Animal control? The Humane Society?

Show me the reports of the lab attack.

I’ve written stories about a 10-year-old mauled to death by the family dog. Yes, it was a pit bull, but I would NOT have ignored the story had it been any other breed. I have never, however, seen in the police blotters or heard from animal control about a healthy dog of most other breeds commit a similar act.

So, if there is a cover up and you’ve got a conspiracy theory that other breeds are just as vicious as the pit bull – look to other places for the cover up other than “the media.”
Consider that for other conspiracy theories and forms of news filters.

The ultimate gatekeeper is an easy scapegoat, but we can’t control if it never reaches the gate.

All work and no play... ah, forget it, I need more coffee

In the spirit of this blog's title, let me address coffee for a moment. Apparently my roommate made a second pot of coffee yesterday and drank one cup. When I picked up the coffee pot this morning, it felt full so I assumed it was fresh. I poured it in my travel mug left for work. I typically don't drink coffee in the car on the way to work because I just brushed my teeth and I'm waiting for the toothpaste taste to settle. So I get to work, get some stuff done quickly then go for my first sip of coffee for the day. It's cold. Great way to start things off. Around 9:30 a.m. I mosey over to the coffee shop, pay for my coffee with a debit card then pull out my frequent-buyer card. I'm due a free one, but the card has already been swiped. I take that coffee to my office. It's now 10:35 a.m. I haven't been too busy to drink coffee, in fact I've done little of anything, and my coffee is already cold. That's pretty much a summary of the past couple weeks.

Let's get into the community journalist side of things now that we've got that anecdote out of the way. (One more side note, for some reason I've been saying "anecdote" lately when I mean to say "antidote." Anecdote = a humorous story. Antidote = medicine for poison. One of my favorite Ron White jokes is "My friend Billy would still be alive if I had known the difference between antidote and anecdote. He got bit by a snake and I kept reading him stories from 'Readers Digest.'")

OK, I digress, again. You've got to love a little word humor.

It's been a crazy few weeks around here. The football team won its state championship. We went all out. We had a four-page wrap around the sports section and made it the A-section. We bumped "A1" to "B1." We did a photo page in the double truck of the wrap and sold ads around it. We sold out. Overall, a pretty successful venture.

Of course, you've got cynical me ready to point out the problems.

1. We have a sticky note ad on the front page. I loathe sticky note ads. I abhor them so much that I did an informal study last year on various papers and front page ads. My results are another blog on another day. So, this sticky note ad. The only word above the fold (besides the flag) is "CHAMPS!" with a celebration photo spanning the front and back of the section (it folds out to be a poster). The sticky note is slightly off center, covering part of the only word on the front page. The word we put on the front page to sell the newspaper. As I look at the front page now, all I can think is it must say "CHUMPS!" or "CHIMPS!" under that ad.

2. There are many photos in the sports section, several side bars to the main story, stats, etc. Everything you'd want in a commemorative edition, right? Except a roster. Or maybe team photo. One parent complained, despite her son being in the celebration shot on the front, he was nowhere to be found inside. She said he flipped through the paper, put it down and said, "It's like I wasn't even there." I'm sure he was being over dramatic and I'm sure the mother amplified that drama, but it raises a good point.

3. I went to the game to work on a couple sidebars. I told our sports writer I was not driving across the state the day after Thanksgiving if we didn't need or have a good place for what I was going to do. He said if I wrote something, it would get in. I was sure it would. And it did. But we've got a mediocre crowd shot (compared to what I saw at the game) with a small story I wrote about fans making the trip to the game. And there's a petty column by me about the experience at the game. It's pushed back to A8 run alongside my fan story and on the same page as "other" sports news. We had two non-state-football stories: a baseball college signing and girls basketball season opener. I felt like my work just got shoved to the back. And I'm not complaining because it's "me." It's because we could have filled that space with something better and I could have lounged on the couch eating turkey instead of driving four hours, sitting through a three hour game then driving four hours home.

So those are my complaints. Would you like to hear what some in the community think? You betcha! Compliments were scarce. Criticism ruled. Especially from cross country parents. The girls cross country team won its first state title. We did a lot for it. We could have done more. But the cross country parents think they deserved a wrap. I disagree. I'm grappling with the best way to tell the following (in a polite and professional manner):

1. We are responding to what the public wants. We are not dictating what the public should read. Several of those cross country parents who are complaining are at the football games. Don't they look around? How many of those thousands do they see at their kids' cross country meets? Thousands turn out for the game. When the football team had a playoff game 2 1/2 hours away, the school sent a spirit bus and city chartered two fan buses. When the football team went to state, the school sent spirit buses and the city sold out of tickets for four 55-passenger buses within 24 hours. Thousands attended the game four hours away. Following the victory, the mayor made proclamation to declare it Bulldog Day and the school held a pep rally.
Cross country got none of this. While it is a great accomplishment, it's not what the readers want. It's not a spectator-friendly sport for many reasons. It doesn't impact as many people. In football, about 30 players on a 100-man roster are on the field for more than two snaps during each game. Think about how many parents, friends and relatives that affects. In cross country, you have five runners and an alternate compete in state. You don't have more than 10 on varsity running in a race. The impact is less.
It's not there fault. It's an admirable sport. It takes guts and endurance. I know. I ran cross country and track in middle school and high school. I've completed four marathons. I know about running. I empathize with runners.

2. It's not a money maker. We sold out of football state coverage sponsorship within a couple days: 30 spots at $35 a pop surrounding a photo page. Could we have sold that for cross country? I doubt it.

3. There's not that many diverse photo opportunities in cross country.

Those are the top three reasons. I'm sure I can think of more if I put my mind to it.

So that's just some of the issues we're facing.

The holiday season is upon us. That means everybody wants us to cover their holiday-related event in the next three weeks. If we say no, even if we ask them to submit photos, it's like we're Scrooge saying "Bah! Humbug!" to the holidays. A full-time writer/editor (that's me!), a part-time writer and a shared (with other weekly newspapers in the region) photo staff of two. Apparently as editor of a small-town newspaper, you are not allowed to have weekends off. Or weekdays. Or any time, really. You should be ready to go to any event that pops up at any time or write any feature story someone suggests and if you can't do it you should have a staff ready to deploy at a moment's notice.

By the way, many of these same people making these demands have cut back on their advertising, yet don't understand our budget woes.

As you can tell, I'm a little disgruntled, cynical and grumpy about everything that's going on in this town, at this publication (there's issues with staff disagreements that can be another blog), in this business (again, a whole other blog) and everything else around it in general.

I didn't even want to be at the city council meeting last night! I follow municipal government like some people follow sports. And they were talking TIF with upset residents. That's like the playoffs for me! But I just wanted to go home and crawl in bed.

Don't worry, the holidays are almost here! Yay! My family defines awkward holidays. We wrote the book on boring. So I'm not really looking forward to a few days off. It just means I have to get more than usual done in a shorter amount of time then play catch up when I get back. Ugh.

So there's my long, ranting blog. Glad I got it off my chest. I think I've got a ribbon cutting or something like that to go cover.

Making a difference

Yesterday was a good community journalism day.

Yesterday I really felt I made a difference.

A TIF Commission member who had a potential conflict of interest in the proposed project resigned. It was announced immediately at a meeting that included a public hearing. This came after a story and editorial in the previous week's paper about it.

Prior to the meeting, a couple of elderly women clutched their newspaper clippings about the TIF project, with certain parts highlighted, pointing and discussing the plans. Later, when one realized who I was, she grabbed me by the arm as I walked by to stop me and thank me for the articles. It was the only way they could keep up with local government, especially this big project.

Another resident, one who sits on a couple boards and commissions in the city, also told me how much he appreciated all the articles in the newspaper.

Throughout the five-hour meeting and public hearing, people would come talk to me during the breaks and ask me questions about the TIF, articles in the newspaper, etc.

This is the mark of good community journalism: people coming together with educated opinions because of something you wrote and action following an editorial.

I also knew I was doing my job as a journalist as one of the family members of the commissioner who resigned turned around and said, "That's him" when he heard me introduce myself to someone. Another family member then turned around and told the person I was talking to, "Careful, he doesn't write what you say."

That's not true, though. I recorded the phone conversation with this man while taking notes. I told his brother what he had said and he didn't dispute it. I heard from other community members that members of that family had told them similar things. They can be mad if they want, they can think I misquoted them, but what I wrote was correct. It just put them at the center of controversy.

I stuck it out through the long public hearing as I formulated the best way to convey this in few words to the absent readers.

That's a good community journalism day.

Variety show

One of the comments following a set of awards mentioned my newspaper had a good mix of content and it was relevant to the readers. I had more pride in those comments than the award.


And it continues. This week's front page: follow up on plea hearing for a crime, school board action for additional certification, community theater play and economic impact of a TIF plan. Other news: law enforcement sales tax on county ballot, new business feature, calendar of Halloween/fall related events, fundraiser Halloween event, fire safety week in schools and a nearby town mimicking our city's efforts for growth.

I'm writing this blog because I'm waiting on several people to call me back. Here are some stories I'm waiting on: more on the TIF plan front, mountain lion sightings, ghost hunters, tax collection, another new business feature, a business closing and a high school fundraiser.

You want variety, you've got it!

There have been times in my career when I wanted to cover a statehouse - and I still think it would be fun. I have spent time as a city reporter, being dedicated to just one beat for a daily has tremendous advantages. But the variety sure makes it fun.

Of course, I always like to tell the story of the time I was a city beat reporter and at 7 a.m. I was sitting next to the city manager at Rotary listening to a State Rep. speak and at 3:30 p.m. that same day I was getting peed on by a dog in a park. But I don't think I've ever covered economic development, wildlife and paranormal activity all in a day.

OK, I'm rambling now. I've got some ideas for other blog posts, just need time to work on them.

Broken news

When light features go bad....
I was writing this blog in my head yesterday afternoon, but the ending was different than I wanted or expected.

At first it was a great small-town journalism day. I was driving around to different things yesterday when I noticed three different produce stands in town with pumpkins and gourdes among other veggies. Well, I thought, this is a story.

The first one was OK, I got some good information, but no dazzling quotes. The sellers were from a town about 40 miles north, but they're here selling every week.

The next one was pretty much the same: from almost an hour away and not much to say.

The third one was jackpot! Everything was locally grown and the seller had great, colorful quotes:
"Once Oct. 1 hits with the cooler weather it's time to decorate the porch and make chili," said the man selling pumpkins, gourdes, tomatoes and a variety of peppers.
"They're just so ugly they're pretty," he said about the gourdes.

It was great. Then he wouldn't give me his name. Just the name of his business run by him and his brother. I have the two brothers' first names, but no last names and I don't know which one he is. Turns out one of them may have been convicted of a couple crimes - but nothing in the past 5 years and no outstanding warrants. So why did he want his name left out?

It's raining today, so I probably won't have luck with going back, but I do plan to go back. I want to convince them to give me names. It may mean the story is lame, but no names and no free publicity. That's how it goes, folks.

Photo 101

I broke my own rule.
I do that sometimes.

I was at a school board meeting - very routine - without a camera. I know what you're thinking, "You don't need a camera at a meeting."

Well, generally, you're right. I'm going to have to refer to Perry White in "Superman III" when Jimmy Olsen misses the shots of Superman saving the day because he was getting a hot dog and didn't have his camera.
"A photographer eats with his camera. A photographer sleeps with his camera," the editor drones on.
"Glad I'm a writer," Lois Lane mutters.
Back to my point, you never know what's going to happen. I decided this about four years ago while covering a school board meeting in another district for another newspaper. It was a routine meeting that included a report from the middle school administrators. They were talking about this problem-solving activity day. To better demonstrate some of the activities the students would be doing, they had a couple board members volunteer. So we went from paying the bills to several board members on their knees building a balloon tower. And no photos from me - no camera.

Since then it's been my philosophy that reporters should take cameras with them everywhere - even if it's a routine meeting. You never know what's going to happen. Like at the last school board meeting when the junior high cheerleaders demonstrated their routines and showed off their trophies. It would have got a few more faces in the paper and demonstrated that we do cover more than just meeting motions.

Checkin' da e-mail, checkin' da e-mail...

Anybody get the Strongbad reference in the title? No? Never mind then.
It's been a while since I've blogged here.

I'm getting closer to my wit's end here. I keep getting reader-submitted content after deadline for time-sensitive events. I also keep getting things submitted that I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with, like a group photo with a date stamp covering some people in the photo. The group photo isn't anything significant either, it's from a club's regular meeting, nothing special.
At least the photo was e-mailed (which took several attempts over the course of two days).
I had a "story" pre-written about the club dropped off for me. Why wasn't this e-mailed? So, assuming I wanted to use the pre-written article they submitted word for word - or close - I'd have to sit down and retype it instead of giving it a quick edit and save. Oh, and it was all after deadline. Thanks for making the situation worse.

So this leads me to my first dilemma: at what point do we bend over backwards to squeeze in this club's activities yet again after deadline? They've purchased an ad, which some would argue puts more pressure to give them the free press. But this cynical journalist thinks, "Good, it'll be in the paper, people will know about it! Why be redundant?"

Next: in a small-town weekly newspaper that has to beg the community for submissions, where do we draw the line? Do I print a random group photo they want with an announcement about their club's activity (let's ignore it was after deadline and has a big ol' date stamp on it)? Are we compromising a standard of excellence or quality here? I mean, this is a small town, but I don't think it's podunk. Compounding this situation is the fact we've had an continually shrinking paper meanwhile wild art, vacation photos and other content is continually held as space becomes a premium.

More: how do I get people to understand e-mail? Often times the response I hear from people is, "I'll have my son/daughter e-mail it." This e-mail concept escapes so many people in this small town. I typically type things in, gracious they'd even send it to me. Meanwhile, some weeks I could save significant time by just a quick edit and save thanks to a document attached in e-mail.

I think that ends my rant for today. Ready for the cliche? I've got more questions than answers here.

Blogorama

Whew.
What an emotional journalism day.
It started out simple - write stories on my laptop while archiving photos on my desktop. Add writer's block with a touch of error messages while burning CDs and you've got a big heap of mounting frustration.

Perks - The boss did bring in a box of leftover coffee from a meeting this morning. Free refills all morning - now jittery from caffeine.

Comic relief - cow at large. Do I go cover it? I've got enough to do and we're not that kind of newspaper. Although it times I wish things were slow enough around here we could be.

More frustration - My mother caught a spelling error while reading a story online. It was an error that made the print edition that I THOUGHT I had caught and marked in the proof reading process. Top that off with glitches throughout the Web site anyway and no time to post any updates.

More comic relief - a local man who had run for state office comes in with a complaint. He showed up on the arrest report - taken straight from what the police department gives us. He didn't deny the crimes, but claimed he wasn't actually arrested, just issued citations. He then goes on to talk about a restraining order against him. Assault and trespassing charges. Restraining order. Then, as he's walking out, in all seriousness, turns and says, "You know, I think I will run again in 2010."
Right.

Back to frustration - with the Web and writing. Oh, and I have to go to special olympics - NOW. Rush out the door.

Less stress - Special Olympics is one of the those feel-good stories - both for you and the reader.

Back to the office - It's almost 5 p.m. and I haven't accomplished half of what I hoped to today. Deadline looms tomorrow. A quick scan of the e-mails before plugging away at the paragraph factory again in hopes of getting out of the office soon. Then the reminder it's not just a paragraph factory.

The payoff - There's an e-mail from a high school senior who just graduated. She's thanking me for talking to her journalism class and giving her an opportunity to have her columns printed in the paper. She thanked me for giving her confidence.
Is the cold coffee supposed to taste salty - or are those tears?

Obituaries

We recently switched to paid obituaries. You get the first 70 words free and then we charge after that. This means we, the editorial staff, do not touch the obituaries.
As an editor it irks me a little that there is no consistency on style, but I can get past that.
It has caused a few problems though.
One person came in and complained about the names we left out and we should have put so-and-so's half brother once removed from California in there - or something like that. We tried multiple times to explain we print exactly what the funeral home gave us as is. We can check to see if something was inadvertently omitted, but it should be exactly as they gave it to us. So if there's a problem you need to check with the funeral home or the members of the family who worked with funeral home to writ the obit.
"Oh well, I guess maybe you didn't have enough space to list all the names," she replied with sigh - as though we did something wrong.
Some people just don't get it.
Then there was the funeral home that misspelled the name of the cemetery in town, but insisted it was the correct spelling. I drive by the sign everyday and have looked it up in the past. Sorry, funeral home, you're wrong. We have to change that one.
Really, you can't win with obits.