Posted on 01/09/2005 6:41:39 PM PST by Pikamax
Hi, Why Did You Drop My Paper? By ANNA BAHNEY
ournalists at The Philadelphia Inquirer began the new year in proper fashion, by working the phones. But some senior editors were not calling sources. They were calling readers.
On Thursday, a handful of top editors, including the executive editor, Amanda Bennett, began making personal phone calls to former subscribers, many of whom dropped the paper this year after The Inquirer ran a series of editorials favoring John F. Kerry for president.
"If the people I call say, 'Yes, I was mad at your editorial,' then the next thing I say is, 'Would you like to come in and talk about it?' " Ms. Bennett said.
The Inquirer's election coverage included a daily editorial page series called "21 Reasons to Elect Kerry" that began on Oct. 10 and ran to Election Day, addressing different aspects of Mr. Kerry's proposed policies. That feature was paired each day with an op-ed piece highlighting President Bush's policies and record on the same issue.
"I am sure we lost subscribers in the fall, given the intensity of emotions of this election and given the scrutiny of the media," said Chris Satullo, the editorial page editor. "We did our job rather forcefully in supporting Kerry, and that only raised the stakes."
Last week, the paper's circulation department came up with a list of a couple of hundred people who had canceled during the election cycle and had not been contacted. The list was divided among editors and editorial board members - each with 15 or 20 names - and they began calling.
It is too early in the dialing process to present any results or plans for future discourse, Mr. Satullo said. But he said that he relished the dialogue with readers, adding that he tried to steer them away from using the terms "bias" and "objectivity."
"Those terms have been drained of any stable meaning," he said. ANNA BAHNEY
Of course, she is well aware of the underlying story, but she's parsing her way out of that one.
Her snotty, pretend-she-doesn't-get-it answer to you seems to be right in character.
"Those terms have been drained of any stable meaning," he said.
That attitude says it all.
One wonders about connections between the leftist news paper and the left leaning organized crime controlled unions.
Do the Maifiaized unions thugs patrol the halls of the Inquirer?
ping
If this is their response the circ. loss must be significant.
I can understand a single op-ed column endorsement of Kerry like most newspapers had this year when endorsing either Kerry or Bush. That's fine. My own hometown newspaper endorsed Kerry in that kind of fashion and I am not upset with them about it.
However, the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a series of 21 op-eds, each one endorsing a different point in Kerry's platform?
A little bit much, don't you think?
Funny, you want us to believe your job is to report the news unbiasedly....
When I tell them that I am a Conservative as a reason for not subscribing, the genetic mutants they hire look at me with a puzzled stare. They don't get it. When I further explain that the Inquirer is a Communist rag spewing Leftist propaganda, and that's why I won't subscribe, they continue to look at me with a puzzled stare.
I am constantly finding free Inquirers in my driveway followed by annoying calls from a-holes who want to sell me a subscription. So I start all over. They are speechless and hangup.
This bitch wants to talk????? Call me up honey! I've got plenty to say!
I'm just waiting for someone in Philly to dig up The Philadelphia Bulletin from its grave. It was the only paper worth reading in Philly.
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