THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 12, 1995 TAG: 9511110002
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Lynn Feigenbaum
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
``Is this the place where I complain?'' That query is a common one when readers call the public editor's office. I understand. You expect the paper to be - well, if not perfect, at least satisfactory. It's when folks are let down that my phone starts ringing.
But this week and last, lots of readers called to tell us that we did some things right.
The items that got high grades from our readers included:
The Voter Guide, a 12-page section with capsules on each candidate, issue statements, precinct maps, etc. It was published Nov. 1, six days before the election.
``It was very helpful,'' said one caller, ``especially in these off-election years, when you really don't know who's running or any of that.''
Other callers used words like ``fantastic'' and ``enlightening'' - heady stuff for a public editor who's used to less encouraging adjectives.
The 5-Min. Voter Guide, an A-section wraparound that came out on Election Day and featured voting instructions and candidate head shots.
``An excellent service,'' said one reader. Others found it a quick, handy reference they could even take to the polls. But several callers wished we had run it on Monday to give them more time to look it over.
The new weekday TV listing in Television Week, which replaced the daytime grid. By midweek, more than 200 readers had left thank-you messages on a special INFOLINE number.
Not surprisingly, some readers miss the grid. It was easy to consult at a glance, the whole day on two facing pages. But the downside outweighed that advantage - small type, incomplete programming, no VCR Plus numbers.
By the way, Part 2 of the improvements kicked in yesterday - a more complete listing of TV movies in the back of the green sheet. For the past few months, one-star and unrated movies were omitted. They're in again.
EASTERN SHORE GAP. Back to our election coverage: One group of voters who weren't happy Wednesday morning were our Eastern Shore readers. Despite six full pages of election coverage, there wasn't a word about the vote on the Shore.
And the election there caused some sweeping changes in Northampton and Accomack counties.
Donna Rich of Cape Charles was hopping mad. ``I don't know if it was a publishing time thing or what, but if you had time to get the other results in, I think you could at least have had a list and the numbers of votes that were counted in.''
It was a publishing time thing. The votes came in late, after midnight, and Eastern Shore readers get an earlier edition of the newspaper. Still, with a bit of forethought, I suspect some results could have been accommodated.
To make up for the Wednesday void, the Pilot did run a list of winners in Thursday's MetroNews section.
THE MISSING EDITORIAL. Our eagle-eyed readers notice the darndest things. But, to my surprise, no one called to ask why the newspaper didn't run an editorial last Sunday or Monday about the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
The answer is that the Sunday Commentary section is preprinted Saturday mornings, so there's no way to change its content later in the day.
In fact, an editorial was written for Monday's paper. But the page got lost in technological limbo and no one was more surpised than Glenn Scott, who wrote it, when the old page showed up in print on Monday. It included an untimely letter on the joys of visiting Israel.
The editorial ran the next day.
RABIN vs. O.J. Last Sunday's front-page banner said, in bold but relatively modest block letters, ``Israel's Rabin assassinated as he defended peace.''
B-Cat Graham of Norfolk, who frequently questions things in the paper, was struck by that banner.
``I noticed that several of O.J.'s headlines were so much bigger than this,'' he said. ``I was wondering if that's an indication of how important the newspaper thinks that particular news is.''
I think a larger, screaming headline would have been inappropriate. However, I share Graham's implicit message: The Goliath-sized headline we ran when O.J. was acquitted was jarring enough.
WAR IN DAYTON. And finally, here's a contender for the Misplaced War of the Week award.
Father Demetrios Kehagies, noticed that an Associated Press story Thursday stated that ``a planned 60,000-member NATO force will implement any peace treaty worked out by Bosnian warring factions in Dayton, Ohio.''
Oops - no mention that Dayton has been the site of peace talks, not the war! But Father Kehagias signed off his call on a peacemaking note: ``God bless and have a good day.'' MEMO: Call the public editor at 446-2475, or send a computer message to
lynn(AT)infi.net by CNB