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Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009

Tom Frazier: If it ain't broke, don't fix it

Tom Peters, a renowned author, lecturer and business consultant says, " 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' needs revision. I propose: 'If it ain't broke, you just haven't looked hard enough.' Fix it anyway."

Sun Dog says it's time to look hard at two facets of the Sun-Star:

Letters to the editor and "Comicgate."

I know, I know -- I discussed letters to the editor a few weeks ago, but I'm now thinking I just didn't look hard enough. Maybe the process is broken after all.

Three folks recently complained about letters to the editor: Florence Lambert, Mike Sanford and Wayne Hein.

You may recall Lambert; she's the reader who had a letter republished in my column "Readers speak up" on June 27.

She sent another letter to the editor in late July, which was not published. She asked me to check into it, which I did.

It was too long. Or was it?

The actual policy for letters to the editor is: "Preference is given to letters of 200 words or less." It may be quibbling, but that is fairly vague. Lambert pointed out that she has counted letters with many more words.

She's right, I found one with 399.

She also asked her letter be returned if it wasn't used. It was neither used nor returned.

Mike Sanford tells a similar story, but one that I could not properly investigate. Sanford says, "My complaint was the removal of parts of the letter that significantly altered the tone and/or intent of the original." He recognized it only because he saw his name.

I could not verify his complaint because neither he nor the Sun-Star had a copy. I find it strange that the Sun-Star didn't have the original in that I asked for it only two days after it was published.

I asked Keith Jones, editorial page editor and responsible for letters to the editor.

I also found his reply to my request for the original was rather cryptic:

"I don't have a copy. I don't know why you need to bother with such things."

Other newspapers claim they keep all published letters but discard unpublished letters after two weeks.

The last writer, Wayne Hein, had his letter of 267 words hacked down to a mere 70 words.

I tried a Sun-Dog edit -- to get it down to under 200 words. Hein liked my version: "Your editing was good, and I have no qualms if you want to use as an example."

Oh, there's one more thing. All three letters share one thing in common.

They were all nonelectronic. I'm not claiming that has anything to do with this situation -- perhaps it's a coincidence.

But you have to agree, it's harder to retype and edit a handwritten letter than to cut and paste a digital document.

How do you fix it?

1. Rewrite the guidelines so that they are crystal clear.

2. If the policy is 200 words or less, always follow it. Readers will notice if the policy isn't followed.

3. If a letter is over the limit, or has other problems, contact the writer and give him or her a chance to edit. Each Sun-Star reporter I contacted stated they are "always" or "usually" contacted if there is a problem in a story. The same rules should apply.

4. Notify readers who submit letters that will not be published the reason why their letter was not selected.

Another Tom Peters' quote for business: "Formula for success: under-promise and over-deliver"

That brings me to "Comicgate."

That's the term I've assigned to the so-called project to redesign the comic pages based on reader input.

Instead of "under-promise and over-deliver," it seems to be "no promise and no delivery."

The project seems to have stalled, dead in the water.

Sun Dog did a reader survey. Then the Sun-Star said it would take over. The plan was to conduct a supplemental online survey.

Didn't happen.

How do you fix it?

Under-promise, "We'll have the comics pages redesigned by Sept. 15."

Over-deliver -- get it done by Sept. 1.

Yep -- they're broke. Time to fix 'em.

Tom Frazier writes Sun Dog and can be reached at sundog@promessage.com.