Posted on 08/29/2005 12:39:06 PM PDT by Pikamax
My opinion David Stoeffler: Opinion pages get a makeover
More words. More letters. No more Ann Coulter.
Since my arrival here nine weeks ago, we've been doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work aimed at making the Arizona Daily Star a better newspaper.
Today, we unveil some visible changes to your Opinion pages. More changes will come here and throughout the paper over the coming weeks and months.
First, the highlights of changes to the Opinion pages. Then a little about the process we're using to arrive at our plans.
When I first wrote to you as I assumed my duties here, I invited your comments about the paper.
Of an estimated 300 e-mails and letters, I'd guess one third or so have dealt with some aspect of the Opinion pages and a recent redesign.
Very few said you loved it. Some of you said you could leave it.
It's true enough that for some readers, the only way to win their hearts would be to reverse the longstanding editorial position of the newspaper on political and social issues.
But readers of all political persuasions said a redesign launched earlier this year on the Opinion pages had simply gone too far in emphasis on design. While strong visuals, including cartoons, can help pull readers into the pages, people ultimately turn to these pages for the commentary - ours, that of our local and syndicated columnists and that of other readers.
Beginning today, we're shifting the balance back toward more words. We'll still have photos and cartoons, but they will consistently run smaller. No more full-body photos of the letter-writer of the week or of people who contribute to our weekly highlights from local blogs.
The cartoons of David Fitzsimmons and others will run smaller - more similar to their size prior to the redesign. This will free up room for our two daily syndicated columnists, adding about 100 words to the average length of each column.
Fitz's Sunday "Tucson Boulevard" cartoon strip will move to Page 2 of the section each week, replacing his regular cartoon spot there. That will free up room for another columnist on the cover most Sundays. Sometimes, I'll have a column in this spot, but we're considering a variety of local and syndicated options for most weeks.
The design changes on the page opposite our editorial will mean more room for your letters. This was probably the No. 1 request of people who wrote to me. We've been publishing additional letters online, but now we'll get more of them into print, too.
Finally, we've decided that syndicated columnist Ann Coulter has worn out her welcome. Many readers find her shrill, bombastic and mean-spirited. And those are the words used by readers who identified themselves as conservatives.
Taking her place on Saturdays will be Tony Snow, host of "The Tony Snow Show," syndicated nationally on Fox News Radio, and "Weekend Live with Tony Snow" on Fox News Channel. He has worked at a number of daily newspapers and is a former speechwriter for former President George H.W. Bush.
We're also making a lineup change to the staffing of our Opinion pages. With the return of writer Sam Negri following a lengthy medical leave, Sarah Garrecht Gassen will resume her duties as a reporter on our Metro desk. Sarah will continue to coordinate Young Voices, the Friday roundup of opinion by local teens and young adults.
These changes are part of an overall effort to better serve our readers and improve our journalism.
Running a newspaper is something like building a three-legged stool.
We need to understand and satisfy a broad audience. Through a combination of market research and regular contact, we come to know what readers want.
We need a staff of reporters, photographers, artists, copy editors and others to gather and produce the content that meets the needs of those readers. Like any group of professionals, they do their best when they are engaged and excited about the direction of the organization. I've spent most of my time these past few weeks listening to them and getting them involved in building our future.
My role, and that of other top editors, is to serve as a catalyst to bring those readers and journalists together, to provide leadership and an overall vision.
With more or less equal legs, the newspaper can stand taller and reach higher.
As we make further changes, we'll keep you posted. Sometimes, I will write to explain our efforts. Other times, Reader Advocate Debbie Kornmiller will provide a guide to the remodeling or new features.
At all times, we welcome your feedback. You can write to me at the address below (or you'll find me listed every day on Page A2 of the paper). You'll also find Debbie's contact information there each day or with her regular Sunday column (on page H3 today).
Please let us know what you think.
David Stoeffler is publisher and editor of the Star. Contact him at dstoeffler@azstarnet.com or at P.O. Box 26807, Tucson, AZ 85726.
I tend to agree. Coulter is beloved by many conservatives because, well, she's blonde and attractive.
She's a lightweight (no pun intended).
Of course.... Liberals never identify themselves as liberals.
But it all comes down to circulation. If the Star's circulation improves, then it was a good decision.
Somehow, though, the fact that Mr. Stoeffler says they were conservatives suggests to me that he's a liberal. I don't know how that's ultimately going to play in Arizona.
ah, I know the kind - it sounds like the milwaukee journal / sentintel. Cicrulation keeps dropping, they keep adding liberal columinsts and journalists, they run specials, and they can't figure out why fewer and fewer people subscribe to their trash.
It's a paper that has (had) larger subscriber numbers, but their narrow attitude turned it into a small-time operation.
Of course they did! They have emails from 1973 to prove it!
Equal legs? Ann has gams that go to the sky (a little thin perhaps, but very long).
So if three liberals called in and said, "Doonsbury sucks." he'd remove that too?
What's the phone number?
They are just doing the same thing the NY Times does to justify their agenda.
Step 1) Carefully craft your OP-ED section to reflect a majority of liberalism and support of democrats. About a 90% liberal to 10% conservative ratio.
Step 2) Now report the news heavily biased towards the left.
Step 3) The liberal readers get a feeling of self-affirmation that their agenda is what the majority of america believes and supports.
I've read her shrill books and articles. I'm not impressed.
Her writing is of the same level as, say, Michael Moore and Al Franken. Does she make some points? Sure. But she is just the ideological other side of the political coin from those guys.
In other words, only a fool would do so.
"No more subscription."
"We need to understand and satisfy a broad audience. "
Translation: We need to pander to certain political pressure groups and manipulate the thought processes of those too naive to recognize propaganda for what it is.
Fortunately, talk radio, FOX News and the Internet have made major media journalism like this irrelevant, superfluous and most of all, exposed for what it is.
I wonder why he didn't decide to drop any liberal columnists for a faux sense of balance. Weren't there any liberal columnists these conservative complainers wanted off those opinion pages?
Please join me in taking a moment to write Mr. Stoeffler and let him know he's either been duped by libs posing as conservatives, or he's a lib posing as an honest publisher & editor.
dstoeffler@azstarnet.com
The Lady Ann is rather soft on the Left. I refer to them as pond scum sucking morons who have a lesser right to breathe God's clean air than a typhoid carrying weasel.
Regards, Ivan
One more typical lie by the left. The liberal editor hears from other anonymous lefties posing as Republicans that they really hate Ann Coulter.
...about to get smaller.
IMO any thoughtful person would swap Snow for Coulter in a heartbeat regardless of what they think of the editorial director's politics.
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