Changes support Enterprise's success
This has been a week of changes at The Enterprise. Hellos and goodbyes were among those changes.
But one thing hasn’t changed: The fact that when there are changes at The Enterprise, the rumor mill starts grinding again.
We’re not closing. We’re not firing everybody. We’re not moving the whole business to Houston.
In spite of the fact that “leaving to pursue another business opportunity” is sometimes code for “got fired” in business stories, our publisher, John E. Newhouse II, really is doing that — pursuing another business opportunity.
But he’s hiring someone to do most of the work because what he’s really doing is the same thing he was doing more than three years ago when he became our publisher: retiring and enjoying life.
Our new publisher, Bill Offill (pronounced Off Phil) visited the building last week and seems like he will be a great addition to our office and our community. He’s been at the Houston Chronicle for more than 20 years and has worked in advertising, marketing and circulation.
Yes, we are consolidating more business services and procedures, as are most other corporations.
But, no, we’re not closing and we’re not moving. The Enterprise is here to stay.
* * *
A reader e-mailed an angry letter to our Opinions Editor on Monday criticizing us for not covering an awards ceremony honoring teachers who received grants from a private foundation.
They were honored at a dinner at the University Reception Center in the Gray Library on the campus of Lamar University. The reader felt as though it was such a positive event we should have been there to cover it. In fact, according to the reader none of the media showed up to cover it.
There’s a good reason for that. We weren’t invited.
As a newspaper, we can attend some things simply because they are held in public, or in public buildings; or involve governmental bodies and/or elected officials. The law gives us the right to attend such things in order to represent the public and the public’s right to know.
But some things aren’t public. Even then we sometimes attend and cover such events if the organizers or hosts of the events are open to that. Sometimes we can merely identify ourselves as press and gain access for coverage.
Other times event hosts might prefer to keep things a bit lower key, more private, and either not allow media access — or as in this case, simply not notify the media that the event is taking place.
Does that mean we never cover private events? No.
First we ask nicely. If we are turned down but think the event needs news coverage, we exercise our Civil Rights and find other ways to cover it. We shoot photographs from public property. We speak to people who organized or attended the event either before or after it happens. We find a way to get the news.
In the case of the gathering about which the reader was complaining, the event was not significant enough to push the issue. We will, most likely, include the basics in a follow-up story at a later date, which is probably the coverage it actually deserved.
* * *
Another editor and I, in what seemed like a gross misuse of our work time, spent probably half an hour Monday morning sorting out a problem with the publication of a birth announcement.
I call it a gross misuse because it probably shouldn’t take two reasonably intelligent editors that long to figure out anything, but it did.
Was it worth the effort? Absolutely.
As mentioned in last week’s column, one of the purposes of the print edition of the newspaper is to be the document of record. Births, deaths, marriages, divorces and such are an important spoke in that spinning wheel.
My very first editor, almost 35 years ago, explained the importance of that information to me. I, in turn, have explained it to many staff members many, many times since then.
Not everyone is going to be president, or mayor or the police chief. Not everyone is going to be in a serious car accident or get arrested. Not everyone is going to win a major award or receive serious news attention for their accomplishments.
But everyone is going to be born and everyone is going to die. In between many will marry and some will divorce.
Those little snippets of newsprint with that information will be clipped and pasted and stuck in the baby book, or the wedding book, or the family Bible to be preserved for all time.
Handle it correctly and most people won’t notice but instead will consider it one more routine item during that life event. Handle it incorrectly and the newspaper’s name will be a curse whispered on the lips of every family member for generations to come.
So, was it worth the time of two editors? Of course. Because now that announcement is clipped and stuck in the baby book where it belongs.
But one thing hasn’t changed: The fact that when there are changes at The Enterprise, the rumor mill starts grinding again.
We’re not closing. We’re not firing everybody. We’re not moving the whole business to Houston.
In spite of the fact that “leaving to pursue another business opportunity” is sometimes code for “got fired” in business stories, our publisher, John E. Newhouse II, really is doing that — pursuing another business opportunity.
But he’s hiring someone to do most of the work because what he’s really doing is the same thing he was doing more than three years ago when he became our publisher: retiring and enjoying life.
Our new publisher, Bill Offill (pronounced Off Phil) visited the building last week and seems like he will be a great addition to our office and our community. He’s been at the Houston Chronicle for more than 20 years and has worked in advertising, marketing and circulation.
Yes, we are consolidating more business services and procedures, as are most other corporations.
But, no, we’re not closing and we’re not moving. The Enterprise is here to stay.
* * *
A reader e-mailed an angry letter to our Opinions Editor on Monday criticizing us for not covering an awards ceremony honoring teachers who received grants from a private foundation.
They were honored at a dinner at the University Reception Center in the Gray Library on the campus of Lamar University. The reader felt as though it was such a positive event we should have been there to cover it. In fact, according to the reader none of the media showed up to cover it.
There’s a good reason for that. We weren’t invited.
As a newspaper, we can attend some things simply because they are held in public, or in public buildings; or involve governmental bodies and/or elected officials. The law gives us the right to attend such things in order to represent the public and the public’s right to know.
But some things aren’t public. Even then we sometimes attend and cover such events if the organizers or hosts of the events are open to that. Sometimes we can merely identify ourselves as press and gain access for coverage.
Other times event hosts might prefer to keep things a bit lower key, more private, and either not allow media access — or as in this case, simply not notify the media that the event is taking place.
Does that mean we never cover private events? No.
First we ask nicely. If we are turned down but think the event needs news coverage, we exercise our Civil Rights and find other ways to cover it. We shoot photographs from public property. We speak to people who organized or attended the event either before or after it happens. We find a way to get the news.
In the case of the gathering about which the reader was complaining, the event was not significant enough to push the issue. We will, most likely, include the basics in a follow-up story at a later date, which is probably the coverage it actually deserved.
* * *
Another editor and I, in what seemed like a gross misuse of our work time, spent probably half an hour Monday morning sorting out a problem with the publication of a birth announcement.
I call it a gross misuse because it probably shouldn’t take two reasonably intelligent editors that long to figure out anything, but it did.
Was it worth the effort? Absolutely.
As mentioned in last week’s column, one of the purposes of the print edition of the newspaper is to be the document of record. Births, deaths, marriages, divorces and such are an important spoke in that spinning wheel.
My very first editor, almost 35 years ago, explained the importance of that information to me. I, in turn, have explained it to many staff members many, many times since then.
Not everyone is going to be president, or mayor or the police chief. Not everyone is going to be in a serious car accident or get arrested. Not everyone is going to win a major award or receive serious news attention for their accomplishments.
But everyone is going to be born and everyone is going to die. In between many will marry and some will divorce.
Those little snippets of newsprint with that information will be clipped and pasted and stuck in the baby book, or the wedding book, or the family Bible to be preserved for all time.
Handle it correctly and most people won’t notice but instead will consider it one more routine item during that life event. Handle it incorrectly and the newspaper’s name will be a curse whispered on the lips of every family member for generations to come.
So, was it worth the time of two editors? Of course. Because now that announcement is clipped and stuck in the baby book where it belongs.
posted by Sheila Friedeck at 4:26 PM
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