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Saturday, Sep. 19, 2009

Tom Frazier: Be careful what you ask for

Last week, I asked readers to provide some of their opinions of the Sun-Star newsroom. They did so with gusto.

We'll meet a handful of them:

Carl Gregory has been a subscriber for 35 years. When his subscription started, the front page may have been the resignation of President Nixon.

Leslie Fiedler has checked her driveway for nearly 25 years; Robert Mansfield moved to the area five years ago and started his subscription.

Lastly, Chad Orton can count the papers he's received on one hand. The first delivery of his Sun-Star subscription was just last Monday.

Besides being subscribers, this small group has another thing in common.

They have strong opinions -- and aren't afraid to share them.

They were the most vocal about the Sun-Star's coverage of the "Frago story" about racial e-mails. Mansfield says, "This is an example of a reporting style that I would like to see burned out back with the trash."

Fiedler called the story a "witch hunt" and suggested, "I found it terrible that you wasted so much time on that when your people could have been reading the health care or cap and trade bills and reported on the finer points of those unbiased."

Gregory was the most favorable and thinks the story should have been printed, but not printed over and over again. He said that once was enough. Then it should have been dropped. He said that all media, including the Sun-Star, blow any hint of racial prejudice "sky high, totally out of proportion."

The most common item on the groups' wish list is a larger paper. Most want more local coverage, but national and international news was mentioned as well.

Fiedler suggests that there needs to be much more coverage on gangs -- including unreported ER visits because of gang activity.

She also thinks coverage for the younger crowd (30-50) needs improvement, suggesting more college stories and a story about pilot training at Castle Airport.

She thinks local sports are covered well and especially liked the impressive coverage of the Aviators semi-pro baseball team.

Gregory hit the nail on the head, saying the paper may be smaller, but at least "they are still in business. Many papers have folded over the past few years."

I asked Gregory what story he thinks the Sun-Star should print. His answer surprised me.

It's a national story about media's "love affair" with President Obama.

He would like to see an exposé on the trend to have so many Obama-appointed czars. (A Reuters story said there are now more than 20 czars.)

Gregory claims that this "power grab" is in fact changing the very fabric of our country. He said, "The president should nominate someone to run an agency, then the Senate should ratify that appointment and provide oversight."

Gregory frequently writes letters to the editor and claims almost all of them get published. He has a method: "I keep them short. If they are small to begin with, there's much less possibility the important stuff will be cut."

Mansfield has a couple pet peeves -- one for the "Tip List" column and another for cultural events.

He doesn't think anyone needs to be "guilty" or "at fault" on a Tip List story. Sometimes, the explanation indicates that no one should get that stigma. He says the reporter shouldn't be a judge and jury of one.

He and his wife loved the coverage of Livingston's Sikh Festival and would have attended. He didn't see anything in the paper beforehand, so they didn't go.

He applauds the Sun-Star's new link for clubs to submit events and has been spreading the word.

Mansfield thinks the Sun-Star is moving in the right direction -- improving gradually.

Our newbie of the bunch, Orton, recently switched from The Modesto Bee to get more Merced area coverage. He thinks the Sun-Star is a "good, solid" paper and is glad to report he received a paper every day this week.

His wife says the Sun-Star will be "perfect" once "Pickles" is added to comics.

(Note to readers: Thanks for not pointing out a typo in last week's column, the week after I did the story on typos in the paper. No one, except my daughter, got on my case.)

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