New technologies quickly spread news

There are times when a newspaper newsroom is like any other office job, filled with deadlines and distractions, but just another day at work.

Then there are days like last Thursday, when shortly before 5 p. m., news of pop star Michael Jackson's serious health issue and possible death began to surface.

The news of Jackson's death, according to a story by Associated Press entertainment writer Jake Coyle, "spread like wildfire across news sites, social media networks and Twitter."

In The Enterprise newsroom, we wanted confirmation before we made a move. The celebrity media site TMZ.combroke the news of Jackson's death. According to the AP story, it was 5:30 p. m. Eastern time, 4:30 p. m., local time. BeaumontEnterprise.comreported TMZ's posting at 4:43 p. m., but we didn't have quite enough confidence in their reporting to say it was true -- only that TMZ was reporting it.

When the Los Angeles Times, and then The Associated Press confirmed the news, we posted that on BeaumontEnterprise.comas well and sent an e-mail alert to our news alert subscribers at 5:33 p. m.

It was an interesting afternoon in the newsroom as reporters and editors combined old-fashioned reporting and news sense with new technologies to make sure we got the news to all our readers as quick as possible.

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Speaking of new technologies, readers who want to use their cell phones or other mobile devices to keep up with current news now have a better means to do that.

BeaumontEnterprise. mobi is a new version of our Web site specifically for our mobile readers. It features an iPhone enhanced version as well. The new version is designed to easily load and display on mobile devices.

Within the next few weeks, that service will include mobile news alerts as well, so we'll be able to tell readers about up-to-the-minute news such as Jackson's death -- or simply provide them with traffic alerts on their way home from work in rush-hour traffic.

Headed off for summer vacation but want to keep up with the news while you are gone? The site also is perfect for that.

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If you're a reader who prefers the print product to online or mobile news, we're set to help you enjoy your vacation as well.

Rather than depend on a neighbor to pick up your daily newspaper or leave those newspapers in the driveway to signal your absence, you can call to request that your subscription be put on vacation while you're out of town.

Simply call our customer service department at (409) 838-2818 and make the request. Tell them when you want your paper to stop and restart for your vacation.

You probably will be less likely to encounter a busy signal or be put on hold if you call between 10 a. m. and 2 p. m. weekdays, or before noon on weekends. At least one full day's notice is preferred.

When you put your newspaper on vacation hold, you have several options.

If you're a dyed-in-the-wool newspaper fan and want to read every single back issue, you can ask for a vacation pack to be delivered when you return. It will include all the issues you missed.

If you're feeling charitable, you can ask that your newspapers be donated to the Newspapers in Education program.

If you're a realist and don't think you'll have time to catch up on that much reading but don't want to donate, you can simply ask that you receive credit for the papers, which will extend your subscription by the number of days that we hold delivery.

If Enterprise carriers deliver other products to your home, and you want them held for your vacation, you need to contact those publications individually.

Those numbers are: for the Houston Chronicle, (713) 362-7211; for the Wall Street Journal or Barron's, (800) 568- 7625; USA Today, (800) 872- 0001; or New York Times, (800) 698-4637). Have a great time, wherever you go and whatever you do. We'll be here when you get back.

Newspaper writing follows its own rules

English teachers are our friends.

Many journalists can attribute their early writing experiences and their desire to communicate using the written word to a high school English teacher who provided direction and support for their efforts.

That said, English teachers frequently don't "get" journalists. That is in part because, though we follow some basic English guidelines, we work from our own set of rules.

Those rules or guidelines come to us in the form of The Associated Press Stylebook, designed primarily to encourage consistency among newspapers in America.

For example, Webster's dictionary lists catalogue as the first, and apparently preferred, way of spelling the word that means, "a systemized, usually descriptive list."

But most U. S. journalists spell it catalog (cataloged, cataloging), because the AP stylebook tells us to.

We also leave out the last comma in a series, i. e., "It rained cats, dogs and parakeets."

Some guidelines, like the comma omission, are part of the long-held journalistic standard to keep stories as short as possible by eliminating unnecessary characters, but the stylebook's basic purpose is to make stories consistent regardless of their origin.

The book is described in its foreword as: "Far more than a collection of rules, the book became part dictionary, part encyclopedia, part textbook." It's been around since before I was born and originally consisted of 60 pages stapled together.

That was still its configuration when I studied journalism and graduated from college, when virtual memorization of the book was required.

Today, the spiral book is more than 430 pages and the real key to its use is to know when to look something up and where to look for it.

It is a font of information, not to be confused with font, "a full set of printing type of the same size and face," which is in the dictionary, but not in the stylebook.

On a single page you can discover a list of the countries in the G-8 (an abbreviated form of Group of Eight): the United States, France, Russia, Britain, Germany, Japan, Italy and Canada.

You also can learn that General Dynamics Corp. is headquartered in Falls Church, Va., and General Electric Co. is headquartered in Fairfield, Conn.

Another often misused explanation on that same page tells us it is the Geneva Conventions, not convention.

The book can teach you that the plural of kibbutz ("An Israeli collective settlement") is kibbutzim, that Katmandu is the "preferred spelling of the capital of Nepal," or that you can convert Fahrenheit to Celsius by multiplying the Celsius temperature by 9, dividing by 5, and adding 32 ("25 x 9 equals 225, divided by 5 equals 45, plus 32 equals 77 degrees Fahrenheit").

At the very least, it's a dream come true for trivia buffs or Jeopardy fans.

Sometimes readers, English teachers in particular, call to tell us we've made a mistake when, in fact, we have simply followed AP style.

One very adamant reader called a few months back to tell me how illiterate one of our writers must be for referencing running a gantlet when the word was supposed to be gauntlet.

He was right; she was wrong.

In fact, as the AP stylebook explains, a gantlet is "a flogging ordeal, literally or figuratively. A gauntlet is a glove. To throw down the gauntlet means to issue a challenge. To take up the gauntlet means to accept a challenge."

Another favorite of callers is the use of "just deserts," which many want to tell us should be desserts.

It's a common mistake and, again, it's in the dictionary rather than the stylebook. The single "s" is correct because it is based on the word deserve.

The stylebook, like our ever-changing language, also is reflective of societal evolution. New entries included: bird flu; DVR; flat-panel TV; high definition; IED; iPhone; iPod, MRSA ("acronym for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus"); noncombatant; paparazzi; podcast; social networking; tsunami; whistle-blower; wiki; WMD and NASCAR.

So, to the English teachers and grammarians whom we sometimes offend, we apologize and beg forgiveness. We're just following our own set of rules.

Economy changes traditional pricing plan

A business' survival is entirely dependent on its bottom line. Other factors matter in its success -- product quality, customer service, competition -- but in the final accounting, longevity is based on the sometimes delicate balance between profit and loss.

Most newspapers for much of the past two centuries have managed to maintain that balance by doing something virtually unheard of in other industries -- giving their product away at no cost.

Whoa, wait a minute. Right now you are pulling out your bank statement and reaching for the telephone to insist (loudly) that you, indeed, have been paying for this newspaper for years. Not exactly.

As has been said in this column more than once before, what you have paid for is delivery of our product. Advertising dollars pay for the actual production of the newspaper.

That's the reason newspapers of drastically different sizes generally cost about the same -- because delivery costs are pretty standard.

Higher advertising rates at larger papers cover the higher content costs of producing the bigger papers. Subscription rate increases typically have covered only rising delivery costs.

Now, The Enterprise is among newspapers in the country making a change in that long-established practice. We are, beginning in some areas on Monday, asking readers to pay not only for delivery, but for our product -- our well-researched, well-reported, credible news, features and photos.

The price increase represents about a dime a day to subscribers, from $15 per month to $18 per month. Those purchasing products from our newspaper racks or stores will now pay 75 cents for a daily paper and $1.75 for the Sunday paper.

On July 1, home delivery rates will rise. Our lowest rate still will be available through our EZPay automatic debit or recurring credit card billing. The changes will include those subscribers who have already paid in advance, meaning their pre-paid subscription period will be reduced by the number of days it takes to cover the difference.

Advertising revenues have declined -- not because this 128-year-old newspaper is in any peril, but because of an uncertain economy. The paper has become smaller because of that, but there's a limit to how much news space can be cut in order to still produce a viable product. We've drawn a line at cutting that space any more, so shifting just a tiny portion of the cost of content to readers is a necessity.

Think about this: The U. S. Postal service charges 44 cents to deliver a letter of not more than an ounce within a few days, six days each week. Other delivery services such as Federal Express, Airborne or UPS, charge significantly more for overnight or two-day delivery.

The Enterprise has charged about 50 cents per day for delivery of a product within six hours of creation, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Even our increased cost compares favorably with the delivery costs of other services.

This is not because of declining circulation. Reporters get the same paycheck whether they are writing for 100,000 readers or 150,000 readers. Being printed in Houston has nothing to do with it. This is about business, profit and loss and good business decisions that will keep The Enterprise moving forward in today's economy.

Some newspapers across the country have ceased home delivery. Some only print a few days each week. A few even no longer produce print editions. We find none of those alternatives acceptable, so this is our solution.

In the end, what readers need to recognize is they are not being charged more for less. They are, instead, being charged for something they have long gotten virtually for free -- like television used to be.

It's not only a sign of the changing times, it is a well-considered and justifiable move enabling us to continue producing a newspaper of value to readers and advertisers.

U.S. papers fight for your right to know

Print journalists these days seem to be called on to defend and uphold their craft. We are labeled "liberal," "biased," "outdated" and "obsolete," all while trying to create a product that informs, entertains and motivates the public to positive action.

Those who read the column about complaints in this space last week might have gathered that some callers have pushed the envelope a bit. The bottom line is that those who want to slam The Enterprise, or newspapers in general, won't get a meek and mild apologetic response.

Instead, I do my best to make sure people who might have nothing positive to say about this region's leading local newspaper realize what they might be giving up if they choose not to subscribe.

In most cases, they can get a bigger, fatter state or national newspaper, but do they actually think that newspaper is going to include stories about things happening in Southeast Texas?

A great example is The Enterprise's recent legal victory in a fight to make public the TAKS scores for students of Port Arthur's charter school, Tekoa Academy.

The newspaper had sought the scores for more than a year, arguing that they were public record. The school argued that releasing the scores violated student privacy. A judge granted The Enterprise's motion for summary judgment and has ordered the school to release the scores, which it has not yet done.

Similarly, The Enterprise continues to battle the city of Beaumont for the Beaumont Police Department's Use of Force reports, feeling the public has a right to know if any officers have a history of overtly forceful behavior.

That's part of our job, to protect the public interest and represent that interest in legal battles.

As we move through the calendar in the weeks between the patriotic celebrations of Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, it seems appropriate to celebrate journalism's contributions to our freedom.

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Bloggers last week protested that Wikipedia, the Internet encyclopedia site, was stifling free speech and bordering on censorship with one of its latest decisions.

This week's Los Angeles Times business desk reported that the site blocked contributions from the Los Angeles headquarters of the Church of Scientology -- as well as contributions from opponents of the church that had been "locked in an editing war."

Wikipedia exists solely on the basis of contributions from the public, but in this case, according to the article, those contributions were becoming more a case of propaganda for both sides, depending on which contributor last edited the entries.

What the site is now doing isn't censorship; it's self-editing of the content of a platform it controls.

Their actions are no different than that The Enterprise might take if someone posted particularly vile comments on our Web site. We don't censor them, but we also don't allow them the use of our Web site for their comments.

They will have to take their opinions someplace else if they want to express them -- and it is certainly their right to do that.

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Censorship, in its true form, involves government control of information. For example, the San Francisco Chronicle this week reported the Internet censorship of several Web sites by the Chinese government.

The crackdown includes Twitter, Yahoo's Flickr and Microsoft Hotmail and came two days before the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square incident that involved military attacks on pro-democracy protestors.

For those too young to remember, those attacks involved tanks running over those protesters.

Yahoo's response appropriately included this statement: "We believe a broad restriction without a legal basis is inconsistent with the right to freedom of expression."

Those thoughts certainly should make Americans want to celebrate, rather than criticize, the importance of journalism and a free press in our society.

Mondays offer lessons in complaints

It's unlikely that Monday mornings are ever fun for anyone who works in a traditional office environment.

The Enterprise is no exception to that rule, but some Mondays are worse than others -- like the Mondays when we accidentally leave out one of our regular features.

Monday's Enterprise failed to include the Jumble puzzle, a feature that's very popular among readers who like to enjoy a little brain teaser with their morning coffee and newspaper.

As a result, the phone didn't stop ringing.

In fact, there were a dozen voice mails before 9 a. m., and the pattern roughout the day.

Frequently I was talking to a customer on one line while another was leaving voice mail on a second line.

Needless to say, I didn't manage to call everyone back, for which I apologize.

More than that, I apologize for the error.

Obviously we don't make these mistakes on purpose, and we hate it when we disappoint our readers like this.

This particular mistake seemed to be magnified a bit because of other recent changes.

There actually were readers who thought we might be discontinuing the Jumble and they wanted to get their protests in early.

As The Enterprise's reader representative, I listen to people's complaints and work to fix them.

It's even my job to listen to people's complaints about other people who they don't feel listened to their complaints.

The task has taught me a lot about complaining, and, like everything else in life, there's a right way and a wrong way to do it.

So, hoping next Monday morning will be better than this one, here are my hints for successful complaining, which might actually get your complaint resolved:

* Anger and frustration certainly are understandable, but they aren't productive.

Anything you can do to moderate negative behavior will help you voice your complaint more effectively.

* Don't be mean.

Remember the person you are speaking to likely isn't responsible for your problem, but, instead is responsible for resolving your problem.

They WANT to help you. Give them a chance.

* Don't use foul language, and remember some people have a lower threshold for that than others.

Pretend like you're talking to your mother (or grandmother), sister or daughter on the phone and use language you would want someone to use in speaking to them.

* Don't make unproductive, hurtful comments.

The people you will talk to generally are employees, not decision-makers.

They can pass along those decisions and maybe even tell you the reasoning behind them, but they can't change them.

They also might personally disagree with them but can't say that.

* If you have a disagreement you feel isn't being resolved, ask for the name and address of a supervisor and put it in writing -- either by way of e-mail or a regular letter.

That's easy to pass along to the appropriate person and might get you the attention you really want.

* Have complete and specific information about your complaint at the ready -- the date and page number of an error or the last time you made a subscription payment.

Those details might help resolve your complaint more quickly.

* Don't be afraid to leave a voice mail message or to call back if you don't get an answer . . . and don't forget to include your telephone number.

* If you're nice, or even have a sense of humor, you might make someone's day -- or make their Monday a better day.

We capture many of you in our photos

Monday, May 25, was a holiday for most people, including many employees at The Enterprise. But much as other people might work in spite of the holiday, so did some of our staff members. If they hadn't, you wouldn't have a newspaper right now.

We aren't alone. Nurses, doctors, police officers and firefighters, as well as most retail store employees, spent their holiday working as well, so this isn't whining.

What we hope it to be is a reminder that we are part of the daily landscape of the community. Rain or shine, 365 days a year, seven days a week, we produce a local daily newspaper.

In the event of major disasters and subsequent power outages (such as with Hurricanes Rita and Ike) we still produce the news and make it available to our readers.

When the majority of the population, including most of our newspaper carriers, has evacuated, the electronic paper can make more sense than a printed one.

After Rita, we were flooded (pun intended) with positive comments from readers who had evacuated to the hinterlands but still were able to keep up with what was going on in Southeast Texas because of our online efforts.

So as you are returning to work this morning, contemplate the Memorial Day holiday and its message and give pause to ponder next Monday when we enter another uncertain hurricane season.

Regardless of what happens, know we will be here as we always have been, offering our readers images and words that tell the stories of whatever challenges -- or victories --come our way.

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One reader called last week, surprised and upset to see her photo in The Enterprise.

She was one of a group of people photographed in a public place for illustrations to go with a story about a program that provides jobs for older adults. Although she knew the photographer was at the location and took several photos, she didn't know her photo would be used and called to say she didn't give us permission to use it.

I told her we don't need permission.

That doesn't mean that if she had spoken up and said she didn't want her photo taken, that our photographer wouldn't have allowed her to step out of the photo.

The story was about the older adults, not the facility where the photo was taken.

Photographers have the right to photograph people in public places, or even people on their own private property as long as the photographer isn't on that private property when the photo is taken.

That means you could be mowing your front yard and our photographer could take your photo and we could put it in the paper and we don't have to have your permission. However, that doesn't mean we would do it.

In reality, our photographer would probably take the photo and stop to identify him or herself and get your name for the photo caption.

If you expressed an objection, we probably wouldn't run the photo, at least not in this instance. If, instead, you were under house arrest for something, or suspended from your job as a public employee for some reason, we might choose to run your photo over any objections.

Our photographers do take photos of people in public places and when they do, they are just doing their jobs.

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Last week's column with information on our expanded delivery efforts to consolidate delivery of multiple print products spurred a hailstorm of telephone calls.

Readers in Orange and Jasper counties, whose delivery of the Houston Chronicle was eliminated last fall, want their Chronicle back.

Similarly, some USA Today subscribers who receive the publication by mail would like it tossed in their front yard with their Enterprise.

But the Chronicle and USA Today are not our products and only those companies can make the decision about distributing additional copies of their publications.

We are only responsible for delivering them to the people we are told to deliver them to. So, readers hoping to win the argument for reinstated delivery need to call the Chronicle at (888) 220- 7211; and USA Today at (800) 872-0001.

Houston represents solution, not problem

Readers who have a disagreement with this newspaper not only seek a solution to that problem, but they seek someone or something to blame as well.

In the last eight months or so, that blame frequently has been placed on the fact that The Enterprise now is printed in Houston, at the Houston Chronicle facilities.

There have been a great many changes at The Enterprise in those eight months, but virtually all of them have been based on careful planning and serious decision-making. Being printed in Houston is neither to be credited nor blamed.

The move to Houston, which, in the interest of transparency, we announced in a story in our print edition Sept. 30, 2008, was based on a number of factors, including an aging press for all intents and purposes irreparably damaged by water from Hurricane Ike.

But the decision also was one based on economy of scale. The Chronicle, a sister Hearst paper, already had the staff in place and the press time available to print The Enterprise. It was simply a good business decision.

That's also the case with another business effort now underway.

Just as the Chronicle has a press that it wasn't making full use of, we have newspaper carriers who travel throughout the region every morning. These days we are making better use of them as well.

In February those carriers started delivering subscriber copies of the Houston Chronicle and the Wall Street Journal as they made their rounds delivering The Enterprise. A few people, about 100 subscribers, also get their Sunday New York Times delivered by Enterprise carriers. Then in early May, our carriers started delivering Barron's magazine as well.

This week, one more publication joined that list as our carriers also started delivering subscriber copies of USA Today.

Not only does the combined delivery make sense from the standpoint of time and effort, but it is a "green" decision that helps save gasoline and the related automobile- generated pollution.

It is, like the decision to be printed in Houston, just good business.

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Those of us who are longtime journalists sometimes, unfortunately, reach the state where we are almost on "automatic pilot." We know why we do the things we do and don't take the time to recognize how unusual our actions might seem or to explain ourselves to those outside of the profession.

One such quirk that sometimes raises questions is the fact that our reporters ask for, and publish, the age of people we interview or write about. The practice makes some people uncomfortable both because of the question and because we share that information with our readers.

To answer the two most commonly asked questions: (1) Yes, our mothers did teach us better, but we're now doing what our journalism teachers taught us instead. And, (2) we aren't just trying to be nosy.

Publication of a person's age is considered part of complete identification. Their name and the town where they live are the other two essential elements. Frequently, in the case of legal action, that includes their middle name, which might be a bigger secret than their age.

When we list someone as being arrested, killed or injured in an accident or even participating in a local event, we want to give our readers as much information as possible so they know who we are writing about.

We know there is probably more than one John Smith in Beaumont, so we want you to know it is, for example, John Charles Smith, 41, of Beaumont who received the big award last week.

Years ago, when I first became Reader Representative, The Enterprise featured a story about the position that also was posted on our Web site, where it remained unchanged for several years.

A friend who later saw the online version of the story called, flabbergasted, to say she couldn't believe they printed my age with the story.

Explaining to her the importance of complete identification (though I've never yet encountered another Sheila Friedeck), I told her I didn't mind at all, because the story was several years old.

It was the best way yet to remain eternally young, in cyberspace if not in real life.

Reader won cruise in circulation contest

It's a wonderful thing to produce a product that people want.

We love people who want their newspaper, and we want to do our very best to make sure they get it. Although we'd like to think that everyone in our reading audience subscribes to our newspaper and receives it whole, dry and before dawn every morning, we recognize that, in reality, that's not . . . reality.

Some readers choose not to subscribe and others simply want to purchase the occasional newspaper.

Those who don't get home delivery for whatever reason generally gather up their quarters and head to their nearest newspaper rack to get their news fix.

Our goal, every day, is to make sure they can find a newspaper in their nearby rack. Every circulation director wants the day to end with one paper still in the rack serving as proof that everyone who wanted a copy got one.

So, in May we asked to help us keep an eye on those racks. In return, we offered you the chance to win a cruise and $500 spending money.

We're hoping to repeat the promotion in the near future, so pay attention to these details.

You have to take a photo of the empty rack with your mobile phone or camera and e-mail it to readercontest@hearstnp.com,along with your name, address and phone number.

You also must include the time of day you spotted the empty rack and its location.

Since we need that information quickly in order to remedy the problem, it's important that you send that e-mail that day, as quickly as possible.

Entries will be placed in a drawing, which will be conducted June 1, to determine the winner of the cruise. Each report represents one entry in the drawing. Home delivery subscribers will receive two entries for each empty rack they report.

If racks are empty, we'd like to think that it's because we had many customers interested in the contents of the Enterprise on any given day.

The reality is that sometimes one person decides to pay for one paper and take a whole stack of them. We'd like to discourage that behavior. In fact, we'd like to catch and prosecute the thieves.

So, if you can provide us with information (like a photo of the person or their vehicle license plate) leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone caught stealing papers or money from our newspaper racks, we'll pay you $500.

We want to provide our product to everyone who would like to purchase a copy, and to eliminate thievery, which not only costs us money, but leads to disappointed customers as well.

We hope that you will join our efforts to make sure that The Enterprise is available to anyone who would like to read it. More information about the contest has been featured in print advertisements, but it's also available on our Web site, Beaumont Enterprise.com

Simply roll down and look for the "Spot a Sellout" logo, and a woman with binoculars, along the right side of our home page. Click there and follow directions. You also can get additional information by calling (409) 838-2818.

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At least one past column in this space has explored the credibility (or lack thereof) of some of the information readers might find on the Internet.

Newspapers around the world, and even ABC news, got a painful reminder of that lesson last week when information surfaced about March obituaries of French composer Maurice Jarre.

A student at an Irish university (studying sociology and economics and doing research on globalization) decided he would test a theory about Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone who makes the effort. He posted a wonderful quote that he made up, and attributed it to Jarre.

"One could say my life itself has been one long sound-track. Music was my life, music brought me to life, and music is how I will be remembered long after I leave this life. When I die, there will be a final waltz playing in my head, that only I can hear."

Journalists around the world fell for his ruse and included the completely manufactured quote in Jarre's obituary.

Neither The Enterprise nor The Associated Press used that quote, though both now have offered information on the error.

When the student notified those concerned about the "experiment," Wikipedia removed the quote, some newspapers ran a correction and some just removed the quote from their Web site. It's still floating around out there in cyberspace in blogs and other postings. Though the quote is harmless, the situation should be frightening to both journalists and readers who want to trust what they read in their newspapers.

Mission includes public information

One caller in early May was angry that an article in The Enterprise detailed an out-of-state criminal charge and subsequent fine and jail sentence for her husband.

She wanted to know how we knew about it and who gave us permission to publish the story.

We knew about it because that's our job. The Constitution gave us permission to publish it -- and all kinds of laws since then have reinforced that permission.

She wanted to know how she could keep such information out of our paper. That answer to that was simple as well: Don't break the law.

This person -- and others like her -- was caught in the crossfire of something called public information. Basically that means that the public has a right to know about anything that involves filing a piece of paper with a local, state or national governmental entity or spending so much as a penny of tax money.

Things that happen at the police station, courthouse, city hall or school building, and many other places, are public record.

The Enterprise, representing the public interest, gathers some of that information and publishes it, but that doesn't mean we have any rights that you don't. John Q. Citizen also has a right to view those records, because they are PUBLIC records.

Through the years, dozens of people have made calls ranging from polite to threatening regarding such information that they wanted to keep private.

Those include marriages, divorces, lawsuits and bankruptcy filings.

* It doesn't matter if you don't want your ex-wife to know you have remarried.

* It doesn't matter if you don't want the neighbors to know about your divorce.

* It doesn't even matter if you don't want your landlord to know you're insolvent.

It's all public record. More importantly, we publish them all. We don't get selective, we don't take requests and we don't omit anything. To do so wouldn't be fair. So, we might be a bit rigid about this, but we are equally rigid with everyone. We don't play favorites.

Information might be conditional. For example, we run marriage license applications. That means the couple applied for a license. It doesn't always mean they went through with the marriage. In the reverse situation, for the same reason we generally only publish divorces after they have been granted.

Some callers have even gone so far as to offer to pay a little something to keep their names off these lists. No, that doesn't work either. Our editor has a little saying about that: If you're going to lose your job over something, it ought to at least be a Mercedes.

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Sports fans seem to have survived, and even enjoyed the changes to our @PLAY section. The greatest source of confusion, if not disappointment, seems to be the way we share information about sports on television. Several readers called to complain that the information was missing. It's not; it still appears on page 2 of the section, along the left side of the page.

Take another look. It's not gone; it's just different.

New sports section debuts in April

One of my favorite journalism anecdotes is taken from a speech delivered at a professional conference. The speaker talked about how much she loved reading newspapers and how she couldn't wait to get her paper every morning. "When it arrives, the first thing I do is look for the sports section . . . and I throw that away."

That's not to suggest, at all, that Beaumont Enterprise readers toss their sports sections aside. We recognize the importance of sports to those in Southeast Texas and do our best to offer broad coverage, from leagues to high school sports to colleges and professional sports.

Throw in some fishing, hunting, hiking and camping, and we hope we have a varied package that appeals to a wide cross-section of readers.

What we won't have, starting Thursday, April 30, is a section called "Sports." Those pages, with both traditional and non-traditional sports coverage, will carry a new heading: @PLAY.

We're hoping even die-hard traditionalists will appreciate the new presentation and content and that we might even attract a few new readers who previously might have had the same opinion as that conference speaker years ago.

So, why, traditionalists might ask, can't we just keep calling it "Sports?" Why do we have to throw an @ in there and confuse people? Certainly, that's not our purpose. But, please, just think before you (over)react.

To quote our sports editor, Christopher Dabe: "Whether done through watching or participating, the central concept of sports is to play. Games are played. People play games. Sports are fun to watch . . . Sports are fun to play. That's why we'll call the sports section @PLAY."

The new section continues the trends of intensified local focus and increased awareness of our Web-influenced world begun with earlier changes to The Enterprise. We will provide a forum for readers to share their sports passions and put those debates out there front and center.

We'll even give some local experts a chance to share their predictions for upcoming events. A weekly Web chat will let on-line readers share in conversations with our sports writers.

Other features will give readers the small pieces of the sports puzzle that help form the complete sports picture, from local coverage to Houston, statewide and national coverage.

The new section's strength will be offering readers a variety of sports coverage with an emphasis on local athletes -- either those from Southeast Texas or those still making their mark here.

The front page scoreboard will tell readers who won the Astros' games, but ask them to look inside for details and box scores. Statistics, schedules, agate reports, breaking news, briefs reporting the previous night's games and information on upcoming action will also be included in the package.

Sports fans and non-fans alike get ready for a whole new approach to reading about the people who play and the games they are playing.

*

One of the standard features that previously made regular appearances on the printed pages of your newspaper has appeared less frequently because it just makes more sense on-line. That is a list of phone numbers and addresses to be used to contact your state and national political representatives.

For those who are stirred up, positively or negatively, about any of the activities in Washington these days, here is a toll-free phone number for contacting various representatives: (866) 220-0044.

The catch, because in Washington, D. C., there always seems to be one, is that this is a temporary number. I actually found seven "temporary" numbers but called and spoke to an operator about this one. If the toll-free number doesn't work, and you don't own a computer to look up a current number, this non-toll-free one is permanent: (202) 224-3121.

We previously had other toll-free numbers that we gave readers. As one reader and I recently discovered, those two numbers weren't permanent either. They now belong to "dating" services.

Newspaper delivers info several ways

We love people who love their newspaper.

Many people who call to complain about missed deliveries share that message -- that their day can't begin without their newspaper. It's part of their routine -- their lives.

That's what those of us who have spent our lives in the business want to hear: That there still are many people out there who consider reading a daily newspaper to be a relevant and meaningful part of their day-to-day living.

But as realists, it's harder to hear those people who don't want to venture beyond their paper and ink, hold-in-their-hands version of the newspaper, because we offer so much more.

As The Enterprise has changed to meet the changing market, we've also changed how, and where, we present many details of the news.

The print product that lands in your driveway (or your newspaper rack) every day is only part of what we do. And it is bound by limitations. We've discussed that before, that the size of your paper is determined by the amount of advertising in those pages.

So the printed paper is finite, which means it can only contain what will fit in that finite amount of space.

The Internet is, on the other hand, infinite.

Things that won't fit in The Beaumont Enterprise will always fit on Beaumont Enterprise.com

We can run complete graduation lists. We can run complete calendar information. We can include details that simply won't fit in the print edition.

And that just scratches the surface. Our online presence offers reader polls, videos, photo galleries, sound bites, reader comments and a whole host of multimedia presentations that aren't available in print.

We're proud of our online product and want readers to recognize that our print and online versions can work in tandem. Through our Web site, they can read briefs about developing news virtually as it is happening.

The next morning's paper will supplement that information with more details of the story. Then, if they want still more, they can check the Web site for additional features, which frequently include links to related information.

For those readers who object to a front page that tells them about online products they can't access because they don't have a computer, we can only encourage them to move forward by familiarizing themselves with that technology.

More than once a reader has told me: "I don't have a computer, I don't want a computer, and I won't get a computer -- ever." My reply is generally to suggest that they embrace technology -- and find a child or grandchild to tutor them on computer operation.

Or, as I tell them, they don't know what they are missing by refusing to learn the vast and wonderful things that await them if they learn to use a computer.

It makes me visualize my grandparents and great-grandparents turning away from the prospect of a telephone, saying: "I don't want that dang thing ringing all day long."

I can sympathize with them.

Almost 30 years ago, The Enterprise newsroom converted from electric typewriters (with carbon paper) to a main-frame computer system (with an entire room of giant machines backing us up). I remember being terrified when they told me how much the computers cost -- and terrified of punching the wrong button and having the whole thing blow up in my face.

I'm still not a technological genius, but I can hold my own and Google with the best of them -- and I have two techie children backing me up when I punch the wrong button.

So to those of my generation and beyond I say -- take the leap. There's nothing to be afraid of -- except being left behind by a world that is changing very quickly.

We don't create the news, we report it

More than once readers have left messages on the Reader Representative line complaining about the subject of a news story.

Whether it is a home invasion robbery in their neighborhood that they think might affect their property value or a sexual assault report that they don't want to have to explain to their children, readers need to recognize that we simply are doing our job.

We obviously have editors who are making content decisions, but those generally have more to do with placement and prominence of a story than whether or not we report it.

We certainly have standards. We don't report the names of victims of sexual assault, nor do we run photographs of the bodies of murder victims or similarly gruesome images. But we do report the news.

Similarly, friends or family members have called to share information about mistakes in stories that they thought we needed to correct.

Though we are happy to record their version of the facts, we don't automatically run a correction based on their information.

In both situations, we might enhance a story with personal comments, but we get our official information from official sources.

When we get such a call, we refer to official law enforcement agency reports of a crime or accident, and sometimes go back to the reporting officer to determine if there were inaccuracies in the information we received.

Generally, we have been given wrong information in those instances.

That's not meant to criticize the authorities, but to point out that they frequently are doing multiple tasks at one time, including investigating the scene, dealing with victims or family members and dealing with the media.

It's understandable that they sometimes make mistakes, just as we all do.

In one instance, an irate family member called to dispute a story in our newspaper reporting her arrest. She was sobbing about how we had ruined her life and spewing threats about lawyers and lawsuits. I told her I believed her, but had to double-check with authorities.

As expected, when the investigating officer returned the telephone call, they had discovered that the woman's sister, who was the person actually arrested, had given a false identity -- that of her law-abiding sister. The caller had every reason to be very upset -- she just picked the wrong target for her wrath.

Even in the case of obituaries or deceased notices, we require information from the funeral home and/or proof of death in order to publish them.

Yes, there are people who might think a joke about someone's death would be funny.

Now, as much as we appreciate the tales of Tom Sawyer, we don't want to participate in that joke, which in reality would be on us. So we get our information from official sources or with official documentation.

And, when we make a mistake, which we still sometimes do, we correct it.

* On another note, the Beaumont Enterprise Sports section already has made some content changes and later this month will be the last of The Enterprise sections to undergo a change in appearance.

Among the recent content changes is a daily glance at Major League Baseball standings, which includes scores and schedules for all 30 teams, as available; a Houston Astros' box score, also as available; and a game story when the Astros are playing.

Sometimes complete information is not available, depending on when and where the games are played and if any of them go into extra innings.

On Sundays, the sports section now includes an expanded weekly agate package including:

* An expanded MLB glance, which includes more categories than the daily information;

* Astros' season stats;

* The previous week's daily line scores and season statistics for all Southeast Texans in the major leagues including Jay Bruce of the Reds and Kevin Millar of the Blue Jays;

* Season statistics for all locals in the minor leagues;

* A table of major league leaders in batting average, hits, home runs, ERA, etc.;

The sports section no longer will run a full page of box scores as has been the tradition in recent seasons. Both deadlines and space considerations make that impossible.

As this column has pointed out more than once in the past, newspapers are an evolving product and change is part of that evolution. This is just one of the latest examples of that phenomenon.

Strong ethical principles guide journalists

Newspaper journalists shop at grocery stores, eat at restaurants and go to the movies like anyone else in the community.

They might be your next-door neighbors, the patient you chatted with in your doctor's office or the person at the other end of the pew in your church.

Although generally less recognizable than those whose faces you see on television or whose voices you hear on the radio, some people even consider newspaper journalists to be "celebrities."

I know few print journalists who are comfortable with that status.

What we are is ordinary people doing a demanding job generally fueled by a great passion for the importance of good journalism.

Jobs in journalism usually aren't high-paying, so we have to have that passion to continue to do what we do, every day.

Journalists sometimes are compared to teachers, in recognition that teachers also have a passion for their work and generally are rewarded more by the experience of teaching than by their paychecks.

Although the hours and the schedules of print journalists sometimes make it difficult, many in the newsroom have passions for causes as well. Whether it's literacy, child abuse, disease prevention, hurricane recovery or mission trips, many are actively involved in good works.

The main difference between journalists and others is that we have guidelines for our participation in such extra-curricular endeavors.

Newsroom staff members are required to make their supervisors aware of their outside interests to avoid any participation in coverage of or publicity for organizations they support.

Sometimes our efforts to maintain autonomy are perceived as being non-participatory or antisocial.

Our editorial staff members, for example, generally avoid events that are promotional media-only parties.

The thought behind that is that we care about attending and covering events that our readers participate in -- not events for our peers.

When we are invited to luncheons or dinners and need to attend them to gain information and write stories about the event, we pay for our meals, or make a comparable donation to the organization to cover the meal costs.

Newsroom employees don't accept most gifts, nor do they accept free tickets to attend events.

We cover events because they need to be covered, not because we had free tickets.

We do not participate in political campaigns, place signs in our yards or bumper stickers on our cars, and for good reason.

Although we, like other citizens, certainly are entitled to our own opinions, political or otherwise, we also are required to suppress any biases in our reporting.

Imagine if a candidate drove past The Enterprise parking lot and saw it filled with vehicles bearing bumper stickers for his or her opponent.

It certainly would, at the least, affect the appearance if not the reality of impartiality.

Some readers might be quick to point out that the newspaper is indeed biased by virtue of its political endorsements, which appear before elections.

Those endorsements, formulated by a group of managers serving on the editorial board, appear on our Opinions page -- the one place in the newspaper that opinions are not only allowed, but solicited.

All these guidelines are in place to protect the interests of unbiased journalism and fair reporting and should make readers feel better about where they get their news.

Journalism rules control crime stories

Studying journalism involves a fair amount of studying laws governing free press as well as reporting on legal issues. Not every journalist is an expert, but some are, and most know a fair amount about the law, or at least who to ask when we need something clarified.

A reader, apparently unaware of those standards, recently inquired about the fairness of reporting the identities of people who are arrested for crimes and hinted that we were in some way violating the Constitution by suggesting that they weren't actually innocent until proven guilty. She even went so far as to question overall media ethics and to use words such as distasteful, irresponsible and slanderous.

It was a thoughtful and serious inquiry, but way off base journalistically.

We in the newspaper business, aren't in the habit of trying or convicting anybody. We are, however, in the habit of reporting on those who do.

When someone is arrested, we generally don't publish their names until they have gone through arraignment. That's a formal judicial procedure in which a judge hears the charges against the accused, accepts their plea, and sets bail, or doesn't. It's a step beyond getting stopped and searched, and carries the judicial weight of having documented evidence to support the charges. It also provides the opportunity to report the defendant's "not-guilty" verdict if that is how they plead.

For those who might not be immediately arrested after a crime or investigation, we sometimes don't publish a name until after an indictment has been returned and the arrest made. The indictment means evidence has been presented to the grand jury and those jurors have determined, not innocence or guilt, but simply that there is enough evidence of a crime to charge the person.

If we report on significant arrests or indictments, we make serious efforts to follow up to report the outcome of those arrests. Yes, sometimes we drop the ball, because sometimes there might be negotiations to lesser charges, delays or other issues. But in many cases we follow the case from beginning to end.

We don't print names of juveniles and we generally don't report arrests for misdemeanor crimes. That means publishing names with simple DWIs and charges such as theft by check never make the paper. Some readers probably wish they did.

The reader also complained that in sexual abuse cases we sometimes identify the victim by way of their relationship with their abuser. The example they used was that of a parent and child.

No, we don't. We've had several instances where someone charged in a sexual crime was a relative of the crime victim. If we identify the relationship at all, that's what we say, that the victim was a relative or family member.

Does that provide complete anonymity and protection for the victim? Probably not. We can be responsible, but we can't stop gossip and we can't control the processes or behaviors of other media.

The most obvious case of recent history was the high school principal charged with having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a student.

We reported on the charges, on his arrest, on his indictment, on his trial, and on the not-guilty verdict that absolved him of those charges. I can't imagine a parent who would have accepted any excuse from their newspaper for not reporting the story from beginning to end.

In fact, I recall an instance about two years ago, when a school employee was among people arrested for lewd conduct at a local park.

More than one reader complained that we didn't list the names of those arrested and charged. The charges were all misdemeanors, so we didn't.

Not listing those names doesn't mean we condone those activities any more than a list of those charged with felonies means we convict them. It simply means we have standards of practice that we follow regardless of our personal opinions.

Following a case through the legal system and accurately reporting on it is not slander. It's journalism. The names of those charged in crimes are public record. Not publishing them would be shirking our journalistic responsibility.

Double-check origin of your news

Though only the most attentive readers might have noticed this news event last week, it's something that weighed heavily on the hearts of journalists.

The Seattle Post Intelligencer, a 146-year-old paper, ceased its print edition to become an Internet only product. A slim percentage of the staff will continue to work there.

The others are off to seek jobs, likely outside newspaper journalism because few, if any, newspapers are hiring at this point. The Seattle P-I, along with the San Francisco Chronicle, another paper in danger, is owned by Hearst Corp., the same company that owns The Enterprise. Seattle's history-making move to become the country's largest online-only paper combined with questions about the future of the San Francisco paper and a couple of other events to bring the reality of journalism in America into sharp focus.

* One of those events was Beaumont's West Brook High

School's annual career day. It's an event that Enterprise staff members have participated in multiple times through the years. This year it was just me, before two classes of students, whom I was supposed to encourage to think about entering the field of newspaper journalism. Instead I gave them some pretty honest assessments, along with some general encouragement that included the thought that "Learning how to express yourself via the written word will serve you well in any career you pursue."

I also shared with them a Leonard Pitts column that appeared in The Enterprise last Thursday under the headline, "Crooks wouldn't mind break from newspapers." His point was newspapers across the country have played important roles in holding public officials accountable for their actions.

He wrote, in part: "No, only the local paper performs the critical function of holding accountable the mayor, the governor, the local magnates and potentates, for how they spend your money, run your institutions, validate or violate your trust. If newspapers go, no other entity will have the wherewithal to do that."

If that's whetted your appetite and you missed the print version of his column, you can read it at: www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/le onardpitts/story/955386.html

* Pitts also referenced the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, which conducted a survey that produced some scary numbers. The most frightening was that 62 percent of respondents said if their local newspaper disappeared they would miss it very little or not at all.

A Colorado town recently discovered, the hard way, that they did miss their local paper.

When the Carbondale Valley Journal ceased publication after 34 years of being the town's only newspaper, residents missed the listings of deaths, births, community developments and high school sports scores.

The newspaper's founder, Rebecca Young, who sold it in 1980, searched out like-minded residents to support the paper. She and six others reestablished it as the nonprofit Sopris Sun, operated by a mostly volunteer staff.

"It just beat the dickens out of sitting around whining that our paper was dead," Young said.

* For readers who are fine with simply finding their news on a Web site -- any Web site, keep in mind, when and if newspapers stop printing, other credible sources such as The Associated Press won't be far behind.

It's unlikely that television and radio stations, which are having their own problems, and Web sites such as AOL, can fully support an organization as large as The Associated Press. When they are gone too who will be your dependable, credible source of news?

When speaking to the West Brook students, I used the example of the circulating text message moving throughout Southeast Texas late last week saying three people were going to be killed in a Wal-Mart parking lot as part of a gang initiation.

Not true. It was a hoax started in Memphis, Tenn. in 2005. BeaumontEnterprise.comreaders knew that before nightfall. Beaumont Enterprise print edition readers had that as part of their news the next morning. My message to the teens was that they need to check the sources of their information, every time. So do adult readers.

We know how much corrections count

More than one reader, angry at The Enterprise, has tried to add fuel to their arguments by pointing out the number of corrections we publish.

So we'll just agree on a couple of basics: Yes, we print a substantial number of corrections. Yes, we make too many mistakes and we're not proud of that.

With those arguments out of the way, many people are curious about why we make the effort and suffer the embarrassment of so publicly admitting our mistakes. Television stations certainly don't announce mistakes they made in a newscast.

First, we do it because we think we should. It is our responsibility as journalists to be fair and honest. Part of that is admitting our mistakes.

Secondly, we want our readers to be able to trust us. We think correcting our mistakes is one way we can continue to earn that trust.

Some people are hesitant to "bother" us with mistakes.

But, it's not a bother. Rather, it is important to let us know so we can right those wrongs. It gives us the chance to make sure our files contain the correct information.

Stories published in newspapers become part of the history of a person or event. Electronic archiving makes that even more widespread, so it's important that corrections become part of history.

One of the best examples I can recall is that of the widow of J. P. "Big Bopper" Richardson. For years, we had written about his tragic death in 1959 and the widow he left behind, Teensie Richardson.

It wasn't until she died, in 2004, that we realized that we'd been using the wrong nickname for years. Adrianne Richardson Wenner actually went by the nickname "Teetsie" not "Teensie."

At some point in the 1980s or before, a reporter got it wrong and other reporters picked up that information and reused it again and again. Nobody ever called to say we were wrong, until she died. To newspaper journalists that's a terrible legacy.

We want to get every detail of every story correct. Names and numbers, especially telephone numbers (such as in today's correction), are strategic, but that doesn't make other details less important.

So, readers might wonder, what happens when they call to say there's an error?

Surprisingly, they might not get a call back. Sometimes when we make a glaring error, like putting the wrong Jumble answers on our puzzle page, we get dozens of calls. There are no questions about the error -- it either is or is not right. So, we correct it.

Sometimes, if it's a typographical error hidden deep in a story or some other small mistake that would not affect the understanding of the story, we might choose to not run a correction.

On other occasions, such as if we misspell your name, either the reporter or Reader Representative would call you back to apologize and verify the correct spelling and we would run a correction. Since it's your name, you're the authority, and so we wouldn't seek further verification.

If someone questions a fact in a story, sometimes it takes a day or two to chase those down. We go back to original sources and sometimes even authorities on a subject to make sure we are absolutely accurate and then draft and publish a correction -- or not -- depending on the outcome of the investigation.

Sometimes an error involves a dispute about who said what.

Our reporters are then required to show their notes to an editor -- or play their voice mail -- or their tape recorder. If a reporter's information is in conflict with what the person being interviewed says they meant we might still run a correction clarifying their statement, but not retracting what the reporter's documentation says they actually said.

In some cases that might even depend upon who was interviewed. For example, a regular person who has never been quoted before in his or her life might easily misspeak or be unclear in her presentation of information. Someone in public office, accustomed to being interviewed, however, would more likely be expected to present clear, cohesive thoughts based on their experience.

So, basically, if we're wrong, we say we were wrong. But if we're right, we will stand up for ourselves.

We work hard to avoid news coverage bias

One of the basic lessons print journalists must learn is to keep their opinions out of their writing.

But, in spite of our best efforts, things do sometimes slip by, generally in stories that come to us from other sources.

We are, however, individuals with different life experiences, different perspectives and very different opinions. That's why we are supposed to keep them to ourselves. We aren't allowed to put political bumper stickers on our cars or wear political buttons. If things go as they should, our opinions and our jobs exist in parallel universes, never intersecting.

In spite of that, readers persist in expressing their perception that our newspaper has a political bias. In fact, readers on both sides of the aisle have voiced their opinions about bias in our stories.

One reader this week complained about two briefs on a "yourWORLD" page that included quotations from

President Barack Obama: "He said the ambitious budget plan he presented Thursday will help millions of people, but only if Congress overcomes resistance from deeppocket lobbies." A second brief, also about national budget concerns, referred to "powerful interests that oppose parts of his plan . . ."

The reader expressed his opinion that "this is a blatant attempt under the cover of news to present opponents of the big government socialist grab by Obama as 'deeppocket lobbies' and 'powerful interests' and not just people who prefer capitalism."

Though we disagree with that opinion, and think the stories were actually about "deep-pocket lobbies" and "powerful interests," we certainly defend his right to express his concerns.

Conversely, another writer, complaining about the many changes in The Enterprise had a list of concerns, including: "I don't like that its (got) a republican (stet) bias either."

So, there you have it. Both sides think we are biased. Obviously that doesn't mean we are doing everything right, but it does offer a bit of evidence that we continue to try. We know we can't make all of the people happy all of the time, but at least, maybe we can alternate who gets angry.

Another reader on Monday sent a rather vague e-mail criticizing columns that he said had a strong Democratic slant. Specifically, he said, "Every article this man writes is negative," but he didn't specify which man he was chastising.

So, I asked for more specifics, hoping for enlightenment that might guide my response. He was specifically referencing Clay Robinson, but he also took time to criticize Rick Casey and Lisa Falkenburg. That clarification gave me the opportunity to do something exceedingly rare: unequivocally deny any bias or political preference exhibited by those columnists in The Enterprise. The work of those columnists doesn't run in The Beaumont Enterprise -- they are all Houston Chronicle columnists.

My best story about political bias is based on the 2000 conventions of the two major political parties. Our editors were so concerned about fairness of the conventions that we mapped out a plan well in advance about front page presence, number of photos, size of headlines -- everything as detailed as possible, factoring in the unpredictability of breaking news.

The Democratic convention was first and the Republicans complained. Then came coverage of the Republican convention and the Democrats complained.

One obviously Democratic woman called screaming through the phone line because The Enterprise front page that day featured a photo of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani speaking at the Republican convention. I tried to share information on our planning and efforts at balancing coverage, but she was not to be dissuaded from her beliefs.

"He's an adulterer. You put an adulterer's photo on the front page of MY newspaper. How dare you!" she screamed.

Unable to resist the temptation, I th my line of reasoning concerning our well-planned coverage, pointing out, "Yes, but during the Democratic convention, we ran a photo of Bill Clinton on the front page."

She completely missed the point. Obviously it's a Republican joke. Please forgive me.

Front page got makeover in March

This column has more than once addressed changes in your newspaper and reader reaction to those changes.

Today, we have no reader reaction to share, because the change hasn't happened yet. Starting Wednesday morning, March 4, the front page of your Enterprise will look different.

The changes are the next step in an overall redesign to update the look, feel and content of the newspaper. We believe the change is for the better, though we recognize that some readers, accustomed to the previous format, might disagree.

Among the most noticeable differences will be a more contemporary nameplate with a big ".com" and smaller "Beaumont." The ".com" acknowledges the growing number of ways readers receive and interact with their news and community. The downplayed "Beaumont" recognizes that more than half of our readership and much of our content extends beyond those geographic limits.

The feature "On Beaumont Enterprise.com,"previously found inside the A section, moves to the front page in recognition that one of a newspaper's important new roles is to help people navigate and make sense of the online world. It is more prominently positioned than it was, but it takes up no more space than it did inside, merely a matter of rearrangement.

The most noticeable difference in the front page will be the greater variety of ways we signal stories' importance, newsworthiness and relevance. The front page will have fewer traditionally presented stories but more stories throughout the paper represented with front-page headlines.

Everyone's news judgment is different, as phone calls and e-mails frequently attest. So we've come up with a more flexible presentation that abandons the traditional rigid structure while emphasizing news and indispensable knowledge.

Instead of handing readers a full plate cooked to our order, we will present more of a menu, with a few choice items and a selection of other items readers can choose from elsewhere in the paper. A lot happens in your world every day. The new approach tries to reflect the value and validity of more of it.

This isn't the last of the big changes we plan to make, but we are close to wrapping up our overall redesign of your newspaper.

* We made one additional change to your comics page this week, discontinuing the "For Better or For Worse" strip and adding "Pearls Before Swine." One reason for the change was that the author of FBorFW decided to travel back in time and start over. A year ago, the comic featured parents John and Elly Patterson and their adult children, Elizabeth and Michael, along with younger daughter April. The old story line wrapped up on Sunday, Aug. 31, with Elizabeth's wedding to Anthony and a projection into the future of the family many readers had grown to love.

On Sept. 1, it started over with a young John and Elly, Michael as a toddler and Elizabeth as a baby. It has become the comic version of a movie prequel, except the story already has been told.

So we changed to a different comic, the plucky "Pearls Before Swine," about which you will hear more later. FBorFW will continue in our Sunday comics section.

* A number of readers continue to object to the discontinuation of the daily Dennis the Menace comic and its replacement with the Dinette Set comic. Several have called the Dinette Set "stupid" and have questioned our decision, saying they simply don't like it. That's fine. Actually that's the way it is supposed to be.

Just as some readers might grab the sports section first thing to look at the scores and others never open the pages of our sports section, we try to have something that appeals to everyone, knowing there is no way to make every story on every page of our paper appeal to everyone.

Newspaper content is not (at least not yet) about creating a product with every reader's likes and none of their dislikes. It's about creating a product that contains something for everyone who wants to read the newspaper.

That's what we are trying to achieve as we continue to change and adjust our content and presentation.

Perfection and deadlines sometimes clash

A chaperone with a group visiting The Enterprise last week asked a question that reflects the interest and curiosity level of many of our readers: "How long does it take to produce the paper?"

The answer is, 24 hours, and then some.

We plan ahead, sometimes weeks ahead, for major projects and special sections such as this week's Progress.

Other news goes on our Web site within minutes and in our paper sometimes within hours.

But, The Enterprise is a daily newspaper, so we basically have 24 hours to produce it, and it takes all 1,440 of those minutes to pull it off.

Different portions of our operations have different, intermediate deadlines, but in the end it all boils down to many people working together doing different jobs for one common goal -- creating your newspaper.

As we create the newspaper, we unfortunately make errors. Some readers are understanding, even amused by our mistakes.

Others are quite critical, suggesting we fire our proofreaders or learn to use spellcheck. There are a couple of issues with those suggestions.

First, we don't employ any proofreaders. We used to, decades ago. When reporters still typed on typewriters (with carbon paper) and either a machine scanned that copy and input it for production, or a person retyped it before it went to press. Then we kept a couple of proofreaders pretty busy.

They were sharp-eyed, generally older, women, who would pay the newsroom a visit several times a day to check on facts or possible errors. But they are gone now.

Instead we have copy editors. We had those decades ago as well, but their jobs have changed substantially since that time. They not only read stories and write headlines, they design pages, create graphics and perform multiple other duties -- all on deadline.

And, yes, they all know how to use spell-check. The problem with that concept (besides the obvious one that spell-check doesn't catch homonyms and other hidden errors) is that running a spell-check program on an entire page is very time-consuming (see the 24-hour and on-deadline references above.)

The most efficient way for our copy editors to spellcheck a story and headline is to create another document in a more efficient computer program (that spell-checks, but doesn't work for building pages). But, again, it's time-consuming.

Sometimes it comes down to making your newspaper perfect (which we would love to do) or trying to get it to you on time (which is our most important goal). At those times, we end up sacrificing one goal for the other.

So, speaking of errors, the prizewinner for the week and the one that left most of the newsroom red-faced was the word definitely misspelled as "definately." We know better (especially now), but it slipped through. Unfortunately the article's writer caught a great deal of the flak for that mistake, which wasn't even hers.

That's another thing readers need to know about newspapers: The reporters don't write the headlines. The copy editors do.

Regardless of the origin of the errors, the Reader Representative is the one to call. Leave a message. Laughing is allowed. Ridicule is allowed. We do take these things seriously -- so you don't have to.

*

A few of you might have noticed another slight change to your comics page in Monday's and today's paper. We rearranged the single panel comics into a row across the bottom and moved a couple of the comic strips to another location.

The change wasn't drastic, but it did have a purpose. When we relocated the "Dinette Set" comic onto that page, the space was narrower than the previous location. That meant, not only was the type in the comic somewhat squeezed, but the people we love to laugh with (and at) were way too skinny. This week's change puts things back into their proper perspective. Though only a few readers had complained, we noticed it too and thought it needed to be fixed.

We hope you approve of our efforts.

*

A reader request for more coupons got the attention of our advertising department, which now is selling more coupons for our Wednesday "Journal" insert. Using those coupons will let our local advertisers know you approve, so enjoy the savings and thanks for speaking up.

Share photos of your pets, kids with us online

I hope readers looking at the photo accompanying this column can resist the temptation to say The Enterprise is "going to the dogs." We appreciate constructive criticism, but sarcasm isn't productive. Funny, but not productive.

* The lovely lady in the photograph is Ginger, the 13- year-old dachshund adopted by Mary Thompson of Hemphill. She's taking her turn "reading" The Enterprise, which frequently gets passed around and shared among several readers.

Although we seldom print such adorable photos, we do have a reader outlet for them on our Web page. Readers can share photos of their pets, their precious grandchildren or their special events through our PhotoShare option.

Simply log on to beaumontenterprise. com, roll down to the gray "photo galleries" bar and click on "share your photos." Roll down through the galleries (or take some time to check them out) and choose the appropriate category for your photographs, then click on "Submit your photos or video." Fill out the blanks, follow the instructions ... and you're on the Web.

Of course, there are rules and the photos are screened, so, while we hope all our readers would post photos within acceptable standards of taste, we do reserve the right to eliminate those we deem inappropriate.

Does that mean a newspaper that likes to uphold the public's right to know and freedom of the press might actually censor some content? Yes. Editors do it every day. It's called editing.

The right to publish anything doesn't mean we necessarily want to publish everything, or attach our name to it. So keep it clean.

* As mentioned last week, the appearance of this weekly column has made people suddenly aware of the existence of The Enterprise's Reader Representative.

Several readers have called to express gratitude and say they like the column. Some have even shared that they are glad that I have "come back," and some say that they think The Enterprise having a Reader Representative is a great idea. That's all wonderful and we appreciate the positive thoughts.

The facts: I never left. I've worked at the Enterprise since 1979, almost 30 years, and wrote a weekly column twice in my tenure, concluding the most recent run in February of 1997.

My role since then primarily has been administrative as Associate Managing Editor, but I added Reader Representative duties to that in 2002.

I like to tell people that The Beaumont Enterprise had a Reader Representative before the New York Times had one. (They call theirs an ombudsman.) Some papers have public editors, some reader advocates, but whatever the title, the industry has recognized the need to have someone to listen to readers and speak for the paper.

So I'm not new, I'm just subtle.

And, I love hearing from readers, even with complaints ... or dog photos.