A few weeks ago we made a few changes in the print edition of the paper, and a couple readers have asked about the feedback we heard. I’d estimate we got about 200 phone calls or emails, possibly fewer.
About half were unhappy that we had dropped the index to the obituaries on Page 2 of the Local & State section. We quickly reinstated the index when we realized so many people were using it.
The next most common complaint was some light printing for several days. No, it wasn’t an unusual cost-cutting measure or an eye test. We were bringing a part of the press online that hadn’t been used, and it wasn’t inking properly. The problem should be fixed.
Otherwise, (and I’m generalizing here) our younger readers typically liked the new 5-Minute Eagle on Page 2A and older readers don’t, and a few folks are unhappy that our tabloid-size sections aren’t folded precisely evenly. That’s not an accident — for technical reasons, our press needs to have one side slightly longer than the other.
And few readers commented much on the overall size change of the paper. About two dozen said they liked it, and three people didn’t care for the one-inch narrower paper.
Thank you to everyone who took time to drop us a note or to call.
Sometimes I get a note from a reader that troubles me so much I can’t shake it, and I can’t solve it.
I have an email from a reader who now lives outside Kansas. Her mother died in April 1991 when a tornado struck the Golden Spur mobile home park in Andover. Since then, she’s kept copies of The Eagle from that entire week (starting April 27, 1991) to look at every year on her mother’s birthday.
She’s discovered that among the things stolen in a home burglary was a box of her mementos, including her newspapers from that week. We no longer have copies of those papers here around the newspaper building.
I know it’s a longshot, but if any reader saved newspapers from that week and no longer wants them, I know somebody who would love to have them. Thanks.
Each month I post to The Editor’s Desk the winners of our monthly headline contest. There are, however, a few newsroom contests that aren’t getting the blog love they deserve. So, let’s remedy that.
The photograph you see at left (click on it to see a larger version) is Fernando Salazar’s shot of WSU basketball coach Gregg Marshall’s reaction to the season-ending injury of one of his players. It took first place in January’s best-photo contest.
Second place went to Bo Rader for his picture of a KU touchdown in the Orange Bowl. Third place was a tie between Jaime Oppenheimer’s touching image of three girls at the end of a dance, and Mike Hutmacher’s silhouette of construction work on the downtown arena.
Don’t forget that if you want to purchase one of these or any other picture from The Eagle, all you have to do is click on the “Buy Photos & Pages†link on the left side of most Kansas.com pages. If you don’t feel like clicking back to the main site from the comfy confines of our blogs, here’s a direct link.
Does thinking about the economy and personal finance make you feel like you rode a Tilt-A-Whirl after drinking a few too many mojitos? McClatchy correspondents Kevin G. Hall and Tony Pugh know how to make things stop spinning.
From the true rate of inflation for the average Jane/Joe in the country to sorting out the rebate stimulus plan, Hall and Pugh dole out answers to readers’ financial and economic questions. They’re not financial advisers but, as their Web site says, they “are available to answer your questions about the shaky economy at home and abroad, and what’s in store for ordinary Americans in the face of gathering economic storm clouds.â€
To root around or ask a question of your own, visit their forum here.
A rather irate reader called to share her opinion of us after the heading “Democrat results” appeared above a list of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s percentages in Tuesday’s primaries.
While Democrat and Democratic both function as adjectives, in some quarters the former is considered an insult.
In the case at hand, dropping “ic” was an oversight, not an uberslight. It wasn’t a dig at Democrats and I’m sorry if anyone was offended by the mistake.
