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.
*
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.
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.
*
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.
posted by Sheila Friedeck at 3:53 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home