news-record.com

Who said our readers are primarily conservative? Showing their affinity for liberals, they selected Ed Cone as the best local blogger.

They returned to their senses by choosing the outstanding (and affordable) 1618 West as best overall restaurant. .

See them all in our annual Readers' Choice Awards.

Should we have published the story about the anti-big-government march on the front page? How about the gay rights march? Front pager?

What about Sen. Kennedy's death? Or, most recently, the death of the Winston-Salem police officer?

Our decisions on each has caused debate and dismay for different reasons.

I have tried to explain what kind of newspaper we want to be and what kind of stories "make" the front page, but I don't think I've asked you how you would define a front page story. So, I'm asking now: What are the criteria you would use to select stories for the front page?

Some questions to start you off:

* Would you focus on local news or national news or some of both? If you select local, how do you define local?

* Would you have a mix of "hard," "important" news stories and lighter, perhaps more interesting, stories or stick with traditional hard news? Or something else entirely?

* Would you pay attention to what other media are focusing on or would you give readers information that is available from other media outlets? Related, how much weight would you give timeliness: If the story breaks at 7 a.m. and you can't get it into newspaper readers hands until 24 hours later, does that matter?

* Would you focus on specific topics, say, politics or business, that are traditional newspaper fare or mix it up?

* Would you leave sports stories and features stories to the sports and features departments or consider them for the front page?

* When does the concept of respecting a person's life or accomplishment outweigh over factors?

Seriously, please weigh in. By my count at least a dozen different people commented on the posts mentioned above. I'd love to hear from you on this one. It would help us.

I have heard from several people dismayed that we have not been publishing stories about the shooting and now death of the Winston-Salem police officer on our newspaper front page.

One man wrote me: I find it very sad and most disturbing that the story about the death of Officer Hutchens of the WS Police Dept was not found until page four in the “local briefs” section, while the “Laramie Project” story was on page two with the large headline and accompanying photo. You have indicated to me that local news is now the “niche” of the N and R. I do not know what could have possibly been more headline-worthy (front page in my estimation) than that of Officer Hutchens’ death.

I know this will disturb the Triadistas among us, but we don't consider Winston-Salem local. We don't sell papers there, we don't have a reporter there, and we don't cover news there with any routine. Mostly, we write about events in Forsyth County on the front page when they have a greater impact on Guilford County. The Dell closing is the most recent example.

Still, I understand that "local" extends further than geography. Consequently, we have published wire stories about the shooting since it occurred, as we should have. (The announcement of the officer's death came close to our deadline which restricted our ability to display the story more prominently, but it would have remained on an inside page.)

Our coverage is not intended as a sign of disrespect to the officers. We mourn whenever an officer is killed in the line of duty. Had the shooting occurred in Greensboro, our coverage would have been vastly different. .

Last time there was a big march in Washington, many readers thought the story should have been on the front page instead of page 2, where we published it. 

I wonder if they will think the same thing about the National Equality March that is taking place in D.C. today.

(Thanks to Dan Kennedy for the tip.)

Today is International Newspaper Carrier Day. I don't know how days are declared special in this way, and I don't know that newspaper carriers deserve one.

I do know that they do incredible work, every day -- every day -- rain or snow at a time when most of us are asleep.

Every week, I get feedback forms that people send in with their bills. Subscribers often will comment about one aspect of the paper or another, but the most common comment is how much they appreciate their carrier. I know just how they feel. My carrier never misses and is always on time, except on the days when we don't get her papers to her on time. I've even walked out to get the paper when there is six inches of snow on the grass.

I'm biased, of course. Not only do we work at the same place, I used to be a carrier myself.

Raleigh is the smartest city in America?

Well, it does have strong newspaper readership.

Charlotte is #16.

(I'll leave it to Andrew Brod to critique the criteria. But the commentary on both Raleigh and Charlotte notes the citizenry's political engagement. Greensboro's recent 6 percent doesn't bode well.)

Still, the Triad made it to 37. Here's its back-hand to Greensboro:

North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad, consisting of Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point, has always existed in the shadow of another trio just to its east—the nationally known Research Triangle of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. The Triad’s ranking here won’t change anything. The Research Triangle tops our list while the Triad ends up in the bottom half. with an IQ score of 83. Better luck when Wake Forest hosts UNC this season.

Even so, Greensboro is ahead of Miami, Houston, Dallas, Orlando and Vegas.

Update: Funny comment from Tahoeman1971 here. Anyone that reads the LTE (letter to the editor) comments on this site could have told you this news.

Update II: Hello, idiots of Fresno. The Fresno Bee's first paragraph in its story about the city coming in 55th, or last.

Dell's closing is a big story, right? Lots of discussion on the web.

So, having the opportunity to pose questions to the mayor of Winston-Salem would have been golden, right? What are you doing so the taxpayers aren't fleeced? Do you regret making so many commitments to Dell? Do you feel betrayed? What is the region going to do now? What's going to happen to that building? Lots of good questions that would have been fun to ask.

Still...

The Winston-Salem Journal had the mayor in for a 30+ minute live chat today. All you had to do was log in and ask him a question or make a comment.

Not counting the reporter/moderator, only three people participated and one of those was the mayor. (One of the two questioners could be this guy, who is smart and engaged.)

I'm not a big user or proponent of organized chats...and I don't normally think of going to news Web sites to have them. I agree with one of our digital gurus, Michael Grossman, who said that had the mayor talked about Dell on Twitter, he would have had a robust discussion. 

You have a message you want to get out? You go to where the people are.

I voted last Wednesday morning. Parked across the street from the courthouse. No line. Was back in the car five minutes later.

Couldn't be easier.

But it was still too much trouble for 185,985 registered voters in Greensboro; I was part of the 6% who cast a ballot in the primary.

The candidates active in social media didn't fare well. Oft-voiced anger at incumbents also seemed to reside primarily in the blogosphere and the letters to the editor columns.

None of this is new. Turnout for off-year elections is always weak. Social media participants have rarely done well. Incumbents are rarely ousted in primaries.

But 6% turnout? Shameful.

But on the bright side, I love the idea that my vote counts for more when fewer people vote.

My newspaper column

We terminated a reporter Monday for lifting passages from other writers’ works.

It's a stretch to call Garry Trudeau reclusive, but, as his entry on Wikipedia notes, he certainly keeps a low personal profile. So it's something of a scoop that he agreed to an e-mail interview with Tim Rickard in advance of his appearance at Guilford College Wednesday. (And as some consider Trudeau liberal, it is worth noting that Tim isn't. Not even close.)

For eight questions, it is a revealing interview.

He addresses the future of the strip in newspapers in a surprising way:

I don't believe there's anything I can do personally to prepare for a post-newspaper future, other than hope that the large media companies will come to their senses and form a gated Web collective along the lines of cable TV. They need to form a news utility, financed by subscription or micropayments because going it alone has been disastrous for all of them....

There's still plenty of moderate, reasonable discourse, but it competes in an ever-expanding universe of commentary. There are over 120 million blogs now -- and hundreds of cable stations. So it's true that no one voice is going to be as influential as it once was. It's important to remember that every day about 295 million Americans get up and fail to tune in to Rush Limbaugh.