Received the following comment this morning:
"Jim, don't know if you still get the dead tree version, but Sunday's sports section included three jumped stories on Page B-4 that all ended abruptly without the concluding paragraph(s).Is there anyone left at the newspaper who actually reads the paper before they send it to the press?One story, maybe a mistake. But three stories (almost in a row) all end in the middle of a sentence.There's the future and as you said, "better than anything that has ever come off the presses before."B.S."
Checked my home delivered edition and it is a fact. I'm not willing to blame the folks who are working harder than ever.
In her column this morning the new editor talked about a comment she got from a concerned reader who doesn't own a computer about the new 3-day-a-week paper. The editor held to the party line that the new paper will be bigger and more comprehensive than the old daily newspaper.
She also mentioned two reporters that the reader had pointed out as favorites. What the new editor didn't tell the reader was that one of those "favorite" reporters was reduced to "free lance" status and the other got a pay cut. Interesting fact for a former reporter to leave out.
I tried, in vain, this morning to locate the editor's column on MLive, but simply couldn't. It may be there, but the maze that is MLive did not take me to it. If you find it please forward the link and I'll put it here.
It went up at 10 a.m. after I posted this you can find the column here.
Hey, I know they're trying to make the best of a terrible situation, but telling people that the paper will be bigger (for goodness sakes most of the sections are directed at the subscription areas of three newspaper territories) and somehow better with more investigative news pieces is, to be kind, hyperbole.
When this all shakes out there will be about 7 news reporters left at the Flint Journal to cover what 35-40 used to cover. Investigative pieces take time and lots of work. One or two reporters working on one of those will reduce even further the day-to-day reporting at the paper.
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Took me less than five seconds to find it:
http://www.mlive.com/opinion/flint/index.ssf/2009/04/faithful_readers_covertocover.html
Was that a joke. I pasted in the link and got a mostly blank page. There were links to other columns, including column by the former editor, but nothing came up.
But I did find it here.
http://www.mlive.com/opinion/flint/index.ssf/2009/04/faithful_readers_covertocover.html
It went up at 10 a.m., so that was after I posted my comments. Probably why I couldn't find it.
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