One of our correspondents the other day bemoaned our Strib coverage as appealing to “about 500 readers” and asked that we please write about something else. I hear you, brother (though I think the 500 number is WAY too high). I left the Strib because I didn’t want to think about it all the time and would much prefer to concentrate on other local media, but the management weasels over on Portland just won’t let up.
Arrived home from the North Shore Sunday night to find that the Strib’s longtime contact with the outside world–the reader’s representative–is the latest position to be whacked, or semi-whacked, depending on how you read the memo (posted below).
The paper’s ombudsman position, created in the late ’70s, was one of the first in the country. For years, Lou Gelfand handled the duties and was notable in his willingness to bite senior management’s hand when required. Kate Parry, who was imported from the Pioneer Press about three years ago, lacked Gelfand’s chutzpah during a time when those hands needed some serious gnawing. Well, at least she answered the phone. Now, with the switchboard operators gone and an Orwellian computerized phone system in place, and Parry reassigned as a health care editor, readers with issues are going to be hard-pressed to find someone to bitch to in the newsroom.
That’s where my esteemed colleague comes in. On the newsroom’s intranet communications board, one poster wondered if the new reader’s rep might be “Brian Lambert at the Rake.” I think that’s a great idea–I’d post his phone number right now, but he’s kayaking and can’t defend himself.
Here’s the memo and–hopefully–here’s the end of Strib news for a while:
From: “Rene Sanchez”
To:
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:07:34 -0500
Subject: Kate Parry is our new Health Care Editor
Dear staff:
We’re pleased to announce that Kate Parry will be our new health care editor, taking on responsibility for coverage in print and on line. She will also occasionally serve as an at-large editor in the newsroom.
As you all know, we created one health care team to serve needs across the newsroom, including business, metro and features. This team has some of our most experienced reporters and writers, and we are looking to this team to produce some of our most ambitious journalism. In addition, we will need to expand our coverage online headed into 2008. We searched for several months for the right person to lead this coverage before coming to the conclusion that Kate had the best mix of skills for this important job. We know that she will provide thoughtful leadership and sophisticated editing; she has a long track record as an award-winning journalist.
When Kate came here nearly three years ago, it was with the understanding that the job of reader representative would not be a lifetime appointment and we discussed a tenure of about three years. I think we can all agree that Kate has served in that role admirably, and with courage. She has taken on some very difficult topics in her column, and spent hours listening to readers, and addressing the public. She has tackled prickly issues in the newsroom too, negotiating differences between writers and readers. We have been lucky to have her in that role.
But in a time of dwindling resources, we need more help with the journalism in the newsroom in order to serve our readers at the level they deserve.
We plan to keep the readers’rep position open while we evaluate our options although it’s likely that in the future this will be a part-time position. In the meantime, we hope to step up communication in other ways. We will, of course, continue to answer all readers calls and report significant issues to editors in the room. Department heads will be asked to take on responsibility for correcting errors in their sections. And newsroom leaders will be asked to increase communication with the public. I will be resuming the editor’s blog and the editor’s column that Anders started, and I will occasionally ask other top editors to share that responsibility. We will also take on more responsibility for outside speaking engagements to share with the public the work we are doing in the newsroom. I have done two in the last week alone.
Kate will start her new job Monday, Oct. 8. Since her work will cross all departments, she will report to Deputy Managing Editor Rene Sanchez. Please join us in thanking her for her work as the reader’s representative and wishing her well in this new role.
Nancy, Scott and Rene
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