Community Perspective
Changes coming to News-Miner
Published Tuesday, June 23, 2009
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Stumble It!Readers of the Daily News-Miner might notice a small change in the paper on Wednesday. Or maybe they won’t.
We’re making a small adjustment — three-quarters of an inch, to be exact.
The width of the newspaper will be that much smaller beginning Wednesday as the News-Miner conforms to what has become the standard in the newspaper industry. Many newspapers across the country and some elsewhere in Alaska have switched to the new size, which means less newsprint being consumed each year.
The content of the paper isn’t changing. We’re not dropping any features or changing the comics or making the size of the type smaller. We’ll continue to bring you the local, state, national and international news you’ve come to expect from us. We’re just doing a little adjusting with column widths and doing some nipping and tucking where we can so we can fit everything in.
As always, your comments are welcome.
And here are a few recent items from my newsminer.com blog that I’d like to share here in the print edition:
To publish or not
One of the questions we wrestle with here is “How much information is too much information?”
That’s a particularly troublesome question when it comes to reporting on crimes and court proceedings.
One example in which we erred involved the alleged sexual abuse of an underage teen. We named the accused but not the victim. We went on to note the community in which the alleged abuse reportedly occurred. It so happens that this particular community, like most in Alaska, is a small one.
The problem in our story was that we noted the age of the alleged victim. And in really small towns, knowing someone’s age is almost as much of an identifier as a name.
We took an angry phone call from someone about that very point on this particular story, and I have to say that the caller was correct to be upset with us.
The point is this: Just because information, such as a victim’s age, is made public by a government agency doesn’t always mean that the information should be published. Each instance needs to be looked at independently to measure the appropriateness of publishing that information.
We aim to be responsible in what we publish. It shouldn’t be any other way.
Over there
Personnel in the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Fort Wainwright are half a world away for a couple more months, but their interest in news out of Fairbanks hasn’t gone on hiatus while they serve in Iraq.
The Daily News-Miner, at the request of brigade personnel, has been making a PDF version of the newspaper available electronically to the brigade each day. News-Miner information technology director Brian Webster worked out the details with the brigade’s staff earlier this year, and apparently the free service is an overseas hit.
“Yes, the PDFs are working great and we have about 200-300 views a day,” wrote Alex Dierkes with Computer Network Defense at Forward Operating Base Warhorse, in an e-mail to Webster. “Since we have started this there have been more than 10,800 hits to the paper on our site. The soldiers love it.
“Thank you very much for the support.”
Good for environment
Betcha didn’t know this: The Daily News-Miner has been doing its part, for quite awhile now, when it comes to conservation. Our newsprint consists of 50 percent recycled material.
We buy our newsprint from the Blue Heron Paper Co., located in Oregon City, Ore. The company, on its Web site, says recycling is a main element of its operation. “Today we recycle over 500 tons of paper every day. “
The company’s roots go back to 1832, when a sawmill was built for Dr. John McLoughlin on Mill Island, in Oregon. It has gone through lots of changes across the years and today is 100 percent employee-owned.
Up here at the News-Miner, far from Oregon, we’re happy to be doing business with such an environmentally conscious company and doing something to reduce our own footprint on the environment.
Rod Boyce is managing editor of the Daily News-Miner. Contact him at 459-7585 or rboyce@newsminer.com.
Community Discussion
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I arrive in town on a tour/cruise and you reduce the size of the paper!!
Not my fault folks. Our local paper, Florida Today, did so some months ago. I do notice and don't like it,but I do understand the pressure traditional media are under. I still look forward to getting a few print copies of the newspaper when I am in town 6/24-26 and maybe longer if you circulation area gets to the Princess lodges at Denali and Mt. McKinley.
I try to buy the paper wherever I go and will try to purchase a paper at SeaTac and Anchorage on my flights to Fairbanks. It will be interesting to see if they have also gone to the smaller size.
Gopherhill...and the point to your comment was???
oldakcuss...and the point of YOUR comment? More like oldakhypocrite.
Smaller paper will fit in the bottom of the birdcage better. Don't give up any of the comics my parrot gets a kick out of them.
No doubt someone will read this line "We’re not dropping any features or changing the comics or making the size of the type smaller" as if it read you are doing those things. Hope not; kinda funny.
Smaller paper: so much better than the ungainly old News-Miner we used to read. Good comments, Rod, especially the one "To publish or not." Thx from everybody in the state.
Well you have freedom of the press so i guess you can do what you want with your news paper. Im not going to complain.
What they meen is "The boys in Denver discovered that if we reduce the size of all 56 newspapers we own we will save "X" dollars. I'm all for saving the enviorment and recycling just please be honest about it. Say "My boss owns 56 newspapers and they noticed they'd save money shrinking them". Since all 56 papers print pretty much the same stories do any of us here really care what size your paper is?
It's not like there's any local news here hell Deromt copied a 1978 article about Red Boucher for his last story!
My monitor is still the same size...they must have missed my office!
Is this story a joke? When I go to LA, NY, Chicago, etc. the weekday newspapers weigh what feels like several pounds and cost less than the Newsminer. The Newminer is so thin, especially during the week, (check next Monday's paper)I am always looking to see if I have misplaced pages of the paper.
I have heard a lot lately about how newspapers are in danger of becoming a thing of the past, what with all the news shows on TV and Cable, and the internet, and all that...that would mean a lot of people out of work, and that would be a shame. If you can cut costs by making the paper smaller, rather than laying off and firing employees, I am all for it. Make it whatever size you feel you need to in order to keep putting out the newspaper and keep people working. Thank you.
Clyde, as usual, you don't know what the hell you are talking about.
Do you suppose, with all of these "minor" changes, you could bring back the U.S. Flag on the top of the first page?
Patriotically yours...........
Sounds fine to me DNM. Better to see a little smaller paper than none at all.
I like the pdf file idea. I dropped my delivery of the DNM due to too many stolen papers from the box, poor box location, and too much old paper around. If you could come up with a complete on-line edition I'd be back as a subscriber as long as it was somewhat less expensive than getting the paper delivered to my box.
In the meantime, thanks for the free news and I'll try to mention your ads when I use the advertisers around town.
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