THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 23, 1997 TAG: 9702230180
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: The New Pilot
SOURCE: Kay Tucker Addis, Editor and Dennis Hartig, managing editor
LENGTH: 64 lines
We asked.
You responded.
Last Monday, we unrolled the first of some 75 improvements you'll see in your Pilot over the next few weeks. We invited you to tell us what you liked and what you didn't like.
We received more than 400 phone calls, faxes and e-mail messages this week. Many of you said the paper is better organized and easier to use. You said you like the changes designed to give you news quickly - improvements such as the ``One-Minute News'' summary on Page 2 of the National News section.
``One-Minute News is great,'' said Amy Ricks of Portsmouth. ``I often don't have a chance to read the paper completely until lunchtime. One-Minute News gives me a quick overview.''
Some of you said you appreciate the expanded stock listings and the size and content of the new Monday Your Businesssection.
Stuart Barondess of Virginia Beach said he especially likes the additional information about how well a stock is doing. Usually, he said he would have to turn to a financial publication for that. ``To see that in my daily newspaper is a very, very good thing,'' he said.
Of course, some of you didn't see why we needed to change at all. And there were some specific complaints.
We've tried to address many of your concerns quickly; others will take a bit longer.
Monday, for instance, the size of the names on our obituary page was smaller than normal, smaller even than the name of the city in which the person lived. That was not one of our planned changes, and we corrected that for Tuesday's paper.
As part of the changes, the daily weather package was moved to the back of the Business section. Because of sizing problems with the package, about half of the weather listings for U.S. cities did not appear in Monday's paper. And did you ever notice! By 9 a.m., we had received calls from those of you who had missed the listings for Miami, Providence, Las Vegas, Tampa and many other cities.
Again, we corrected that in time for Tuesday's paper.
And Monday's ``Chuckle'' inadvertently was left out. That was especially troubling to one caller who said she cuts out the ``Chuckle'' and pastes each in a scrapbook.
The ``Chuckle'' was back by Tuesday.
Quite a few of you said the type in our stories appeared to be smaller. While most type did not change in size, we're trying to figure out why that impression exists and what we can do about it.
In listening to you this week, we've learned a lot. We've learned that you need, and appreciate, news you can use in a hurry. We've learned that you rely on The Pilot for information, such as weather, that affects your family and friends. We've learned that we can brighten your day. And we've learned how important The Pilot is to you.
We appreciate your taking the time to let us know what you think. Lynn Feigenbaum, our public editor, has additional feedback from you in her column in today's Commentary section.
We hope you'll call again after Monday, March 3, when we roll out changes in the local news section and in Sports.
We're trying to improve The Pilot to make it easier for you to find the information you need and want. We're trying to make it easier for you to see how the news affects you and your community.
Continue to let us know how we're doing. We'll keep listening. We promise.