Questions You've Raised
Jim Pumarlo welcomes your questions. Click here to submit your question and receive a response.
How can nondaily newspapers compete with daily media and their instantaneous online coverage of the very election campaign issues that we are following but can't print until a week after the event?
The Web provides weekly newspapers the same capability of instantaneous online coverage Đ and not only during election season. The Web ought to be at the forefront of all newspapers in terms of disseminating news. Following that, customize the news to your readers.
Specific to elections, you can tailor your stories to the local issues most important to your readers. Identify these issues at the beginning of election season and use them as a barometer of your coverage. Another opportunity to tailor your coverage Đ and engage your readers - is to enlist a local panel of citizens at the beginning of the election season. These individuals can offer their perspectives on the candidates and the issues at regular intervals. If candidates have a major press conference that generates widespread attention, the local panelists can post their comments on the Web, thus making your coverage both timely and relevant to your audiences.
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Jim Pumarlo leads a session on writing strategies for the Ohio Newspaper Association. “Jim delivers the essentials on reporting and writing for community newspapers,” said Frank Deaner, executive director of the Ohio Newspaper Association. “His presentation is packed with timely and practical examples. He also has detailed handouts that are valuable to the participants.”
Recent Writing
Ins and outs of Platform
Comments about private business – whether positive or negative, signed or unsigned – are generally off limits for this page. That standard is adhered to by most newspapers.
But there are exceptions, the most usual being if a comment involves a public issue. That is the case for two comments about private business that appear in today’s People’s Platform.
Why we published this letter
A Red Wing resident sings the praises of the Outdoor Store in a letter to the editor elsewhere on this page. It’s a rare occasion when we publish such a letter.
We’re making an exception because the letter goes to the heart of a critical local issue: What will it take to strengthen Red Wing’s position as a regional retail trade center?
Private business rarely public business
Brian Brady of Hayward, Calif., is an unabashed admirer of Red Wing. Don’t take our word; just read the letter to the editor elsewhere on this page.
It’s one of the rare times readers will see such a letter published in this newspaper.
It was difficult to reject the letter. Brady’s comments were genuine and extremely complimentary.
Favorite stores won’t be debated
It’s a legitimate question: Should the Port Authority be doing anything to draw another discount retail department store to Red Wing? That question was raised in People’s Platform Wednesday.
But we’ll not permit a public debate on whether Target is better than Wal-Mart or Fleet Farm. Or which store has the best customer service. Or which stores have the best buys on a particular product.
Take complaints directly to business
A woman called People’s Platform last week with a complaint against the Salvation Army Store in Red Wing.
Her comments will not be published but have been passed along to the store manager. The comments overstepped the bounds of the Platform on a couple of counts.
The Republican Eagle has a pretty strict policy against publishing comments about private businesses – whether the comments are in the Platform or a letter to the editor, whether the comments are positive or negative.
What They're Saying
Election coverage a must for all papers
Categorized under:Publishers Auxiliary/October 2007
Jim Pumarlo has it right when he says election coverage is “among the most demanding tasks in any newsroom.” That’s true no matter what size newsroom, so his practical guide to covering elections, “Votes and Quotes,” from Marion Street Press, should be a useful addition to most editors’ desks.
Pumarlo encourages consistency, endorsements
Categorized under:The International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors Newsletter/September/October 2007
Whether you believe you’re doing it right or whether you fear you might be doing it wrong, Jim Pumarlo’s latest book “Votes and Quotes” is worth reading if you want to give your readers solid campaign and election news and opinion.
Book endorsements
Categorized under:
Anyone who has edited or published a community newspaper knows the most challenging and, often, agonizing part of the job is dealing with sensitive issues. I dealt with many issues like this during my career as an editor, and wished there was some type of guidance available, not only for the decision to go or not go with the story, but for developing and explaining the policy behind the decision when the inevitable wrath of a few or more readers loomed after the paper hit the newsstands. Now, there is a book that not only advises hometown newspaper editors about the process of handling sensitive stories, but also provides invaluable sample policies that cover everything from delicate subjects such as suicides, to more common content such as weddings and obituaries.
Ken Blum
Black Ink, e-mail Newsletter for Community Papers
Seminar endorsements
Categorized under:
Jim Pumarlo has a knack for bringing newspaper ethics out of the clouds and onto Main Street. He presents real-world ethical issues with great clarity and insight and helps editors and reporters make sound decisions that actually make sense to their readers.
Tom Linthicum
Seminar Associate
American Press Institute
Alexandria, VA
