Questions You've Raised
Jim Pumarlo welcomes your questions. Click here to submit your question and receive a response.
Questions You've Raised
Categorized under:
We received a letter to the editor criticizing the high prices and poor service at a local food chain. The letter urges local action. Would you publish?
It’s a slippery slope to open your letters column to criticism of businesses. A couple of points on enforcing such a policy:
Questions You've Raised
Categorized under:We received a letter to the editor criticizing the high prices and poor service at a local food chain. The letter urges local action. Would you publish?
It’s a slippery slope to open your letters column to criticism of businesses. A couple of points on enforcing such a policy:
Recent Writing
What's your process when civic groups seek publicity?
Categorized under:The Inlander/July 2011
Civic organizations are the fabric of our communities. The number of groups and their range of contributions mean editors are routinely approached with requests for coverage. The “asks” range from the Lions Club annual brat feed fund-raiser to volunteer of the year recognition to a candidate forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters.
Most all are worthy of attention, but not all warrant the presence of a reporter and/or photographer. Let me explain before incurring the collective wrath of service clubs.
Rights and responsibilities of reporting public records
Categorized under:The Inlander/June 2011
A couple gets a divorce, but it is not recorded in the newspaper until four months later.
Someone appears in court for a domestic assault; the sentence isn't reported in the newspaper until weeks after the fact.
Their publication raises two questions: What constitutes these items as news? Why is there such a delay in the report?
Newspapers should report sensitive issues with consistency and fairness
Categorized under:Publishers' Auxiliary/June 2011
A resident has failed to comply with the law that requires him to register as a sex offender. The crime occurred seven years ago, and he is married to the county’s director of child protection services.
A bomb threat is called in to a school, and authorities issue a press release; nothing was found. The police chief later asks the newspaper to kill the story because he’s worried about copy cats.
Open the window to your operations for your readers
Categorized under:The Inlander/May 2011
Newsrooms place a premium on ensuring that government is transparent in its decisions. When elected and appointed officials fall short, a commentary is almost sure to follow.
Keys to better business coverage: Set, implement and explain policy
Categorized under:
The Inlander/April 2011
Stories about employers and employees have a big impact on communities. What happens at the workplace might even overshadow a decision of the local city council. Today’s challenging economy warrants even greater attention to business as an everyday beat.
Yet, many newspapers struggle for consistent coverage of local business.
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
