THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 5, 1996 TAG: 9605030030
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LYNN FEIGENBAUM
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
Change is coming to The Virginian-Pilot. In fact, it has already begun.
It's not the kind of visual transformation that dazzled, or dismayed, readers in November 1993 when the newspaper launched its redesign. That change - more color, graphics, pullouts - was so dramatic that it was almost like getting a new paper.
Hundreds of readers called in those first few weeks and, even today, I hear occasional comments, as though it just happened last week.
No, the newest round of change won't be as evident, though in a way it's more profound. It has to do with content.
For months, newspaper editors, reporters, photographers, designers and others have been meeting to set priorities for newspaper content in the months, and years, ahead.
They were charged by editor Cole Campbell with developing a plan that would build daily readership and ensure that each day's Pilot contains ``not just the news but what it means to you and our community.''
One thing that became clear at these meetings is what reader-critics like Carl Burns have long pointed out: We have too little news about Chesapeake. Same for Virginia Beach.
Those two cities will get a big boost under the newsroom reorganization. Dave Addis, whose byline has long been familiar to readers, already moved out to the Beacon office; reporter Paul Clancy will join him there.
And two more fulltime reporters will be reassigned to the Chesapeake office. Feeling better now, Carl?
Regardless of where they are and what they're covering, all writers and editors are being asked to reassess their coverage through a local filter - to ask questions like:
Do my stories help citizens know, and take responsibility for, what is happening in their communities?
Are readers seeing themselves, their neighbors and people like them in the paper?
Has the newspaper made clear how world and national news is relevant readers in South Hampton Roads?
Have we been generous in covering achivement, in nourishing hope?
Those questions and others will be applied to election and crime coverage, sports and features, the military and business - everything, in other words.
They're questions that you, too, can put to the newspaper over the next few months.
Some internal changes are involved, also. For several years now, the newsroom has been divided into teams, headed up not by editors but by ``team leaders.'' Some of those teams and their leaders are shifting.
The public life (courts) and public safety (police and crime) teams are merging under team leader Bill Burke while veteran editor Dick Bayer is retiring.
The Women, Family and Children team is being absorbed into the education team, which will expand its coverage to ``the future of our children.''
The Real Life and Specialty teams have been disbanded and there is now a team nicknamed Body & Soul - covering health and fitness, environment and ecology, ethics and spiritually, and relationships.
As you can see, the vocabulary of the newsroom is changing! Where you once heard ``Stop the presses!'' and ``Copppppppy,'' you now hear talk of sub-strategy and mission creep, scorecards and strategic framework, dailyness and gut checks.
Gone are editors who bark out the day's agenda. Today's editors are news whips and point persons, gurus and coaches. Former columnist Earl Swift, for example, has just been named ``player/coach team leader'' of the military team. That means Swift will be an editor, but also a writer. His team will help him make decisions, as much as the other way around.
I mention all this because many people call me to ask which editor or reporter or columnist they should contact. Some are used to dealing with Editor A or Team Leader B. Eventually, those staff changes will be reflected in the How to Reach Us box on A2.
As you can see, it's not like the Redesign of 1993. But what all this change should do, in the long run, is give you a better feel for news of your community, of Hampton Roads and Virginia.
Why you're missing those late scores. . . And speaking of quiet change, a number of readers have grumbled over the past few weeks about some missing sports scores and lottery numbers.
That's because earlier deadlines were in effect in order to make adjustments to the presses as the newspaper's width is gradually reduced from 54 3/4 inches to 54 inches.
That reduction is a painless way to offset the high cost of paper - or newsprint, as it's called in the trade.
It will have no effect on the size or amount of type on any page, said Nelson Brown, deputy managing editor for sections and presentation. All it means is a reduction in the white margins to the left and right of the printed page.
But it did mean a brief period of earlier deadlines while they tweaked those presses. Deadlines will be normal for the next few weeks, then there will be another period of early times when the final adjustments are made.
MEMO: Call the public editor at 446-2475, or send a computer message to
lynn(AT)infi.net by CNB