THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 5, 1995 TAG: 9502050059
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
SOURCE: COLE CAMPBELL
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
On Sunday, Nov. 12, 1991, Hampton Roads Woman debuted as part of The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star.
The section was half of a two-pronged approach to improving the newspaper's relationship with women readers.
First, we wanted a greater focus on issues of interest to women. HRW provided that. Second, we wanted to enhance coverage of women's issues throughout the newspaper.
The second half of our strategy - which has continued to flourish - was to grow from one full-time reporter covering women's issues to five full-time writers and one editor who make up the newspaper's Women, Family and Children Team.
In 1995, we hope to build on this by closely surveying our content and tracking how well we are doing in covering women and minorities throughout the newspaper.
Unfortunately, the first half of our original strategy - Hampton Roads Woman - got a rough start.
Many women, especially baby boomers, thought the section was a throw-back to the old ``women's pages'' that doted on society news and home economics. Conversely, some male readers sensed they were not welcomed in a part of the newspaper.
The section did enjoy an enthusiastic reception from many readers who responded to various in-paper readership surveys. But in the course of more than three years, it never completely jelled into a successful section.
Hampton Roads Woman had two phases. As first introduced, it was spunky with considerable attitude. Over time, however, the editorial focus became more mainstream - and therefore the section became less distinctive from the rest of the newspaper.
Along the way, advertisers lost their enthusiasm for the section, in part because of a change in the way the newspaper paid commissions to its sales folks. That change eliminated incentives for promoting special sections such as HRW.
People who know about these things say the best predictor of long-term success is an ability to learn from mistakes. We hope we've learned from some of ours.
On Sunday, Jan. 29, 1995, Hampton Roads Woman made its final appearance. We've taken the best of the section - the parts that generated the most response from readers - and added some new ideas. Many improvements were suggested by a group of readers we brought in to help us produce a new section that debuts today: Real Life.
Published as a full-sized newspaper section rather than a tabloid like HRW was, Real Life will focus on real people dealing with real situations.
The Real Life section includes Celebrations - the weekly compilation of weddings, engagements and other personal milestones, supplied by you, the readers - and several columns: Ann Landers, Dear Abby and Miss Manners. The Sew Simple column moves to Thursday's Daily Break.
For a full introduction to the section, read Real Life editor Fred Kirsch's column on the front of Real Life in today's newspaper.
And if you have a suggestion or some thoughts about the new section, call Fred at 446-2484. He's interested in hearing from you.
Cole C. Campbell,
Editor by CNB