Sound Off for Dec. 14, 2008
| Saturday, Dec 13 2008 09:38 PM
Last Updated Friday, Mar 27 2009 01:56 PM
Loading Stories
Advertisement
Reader: I have been disappointed with The Californian's national and international news summaries. The one-sentence summaries rarely give enough information to be accurately described as news. Often, they raise more questions than inform.
I have enclosed the Dec. 3 edition which has three examples. My responses on reading the entries from L.A., Seattle and Clifton were, "Huh? Huh? and Huh?" Please print the stories which give contextual clarity rather than these teasers.
I noted the 10 percent reduction of The Californianwork force. This calls for more efficient editing, not less, please.
From a loyal subscriber, I remain,
Yours faithfully,
— Scott Haworth
Jenner: We certainly don't intend to frustrate readers. Our goal is to make the best use of every inch of our space, which is at a premium.
In this era of 24/7 cable news and the Internet, we don't want to chew up all our space repeating stories that have been in the news cycle and that readers can get anywhere, or that are less relevant to our readers.
So we've asked the editors who assemble our A section to boil down those stories as tightly as they can, freeing up more space for stories offering depth and detail that can't be found anywhere else.
I agree, we need to be as efficient and careful as possible in our editing. We'll do our best.
I do appreciate your loyalty, and the loyalty of all our readers.
•••
Reader: We need more Dave Barry in the Sunday paper. I have sorely missed his articles. He is one of the few out there who really gets to the heart of the issues with hard-hitting journalism. He also makes me laugh out loud. (I never LOL!)
I beg you to bring back "Get Fuzzy" in the comics sections. The comics are not just for kids. Adults enjoy them as well, and as such, we need a few thought-provoking and stimulating selections to choose from. When you tossed out "Get Fuzzy," you lost the best your comics had to offer.
Thanks for listening.
— Chris Haight
Jenner: Thanks for your comments. I'm glad you enjoyed Dave Barry's recent "goofy holiday gift guide," which appeared in last Sunday's Eye Street section.
We don't run his column anymore because it's not available — he "retired" from the weekly column about four years ago.
Watch for a special year-end column that we'll run Dec. 28 in Eye Street.
•••
Reader: I was deeply disappointed with receipt of the letter stating that The Californian will no longer be providing service in the Ridgecrest area.
I recognize the cost for publishing a newspaper has increased significantly over the past year. However, I must say that I have seen no effort on the part of The Californianto increase readership in our area.
In the past, the paper or our distributor would deliver the paper to nonsubscribers in an effort to interest them in subscribing.
I do not know how many subscribers of The Californianare in this area but I do know that with the Navy increasing the work force here because of the BRAC, the population will be significantly increasing in Ridgecrest.
Finally, not everyone has a computer for signing up for electronic edition subscriptions and as far as delivery via U.S. mail, you have to be kidding. Who wants to get today's news tomorrow. The Wall Street Journalis being delivered that way now and the market is closed by the time it is delivered here.
The Californian has provided excellent coverage both in the main part of the paper as well as in the Local section of events and happenings on the east side of Kern County in a timely manner.
— Joe Seibold
Reader: So The Bakersfield Californian no longer thinks it's worth distributing the paper in Ridgecrest, the second-largest city in the county and the most affluent per household? I wonder what your advertisers think of that?
Well, good riddance! I certainly won't miss the Ken Mettler sagas and the rest of the nutcase county politicians, Marylee Shrider and the total lack of news and sports coverage on the east side of the Sierras.
Just goes to show that the folks over here who were looking into secession from Kern County may have had the right idea after all. Looks like we'll be shopping in Lancaster from now on.
— Rick Kirchner
Jenner: Believe me, it pains all of us to deny delivery of our product to people who want it. But the math is bad — newsprint and distribution costs are at an all-time high, and we can't afford to subsidize this portion of our circulation any longer.
Aside from a mail subscription, readers can subscribe to an electronic edition that provides a pdf version of all the news and ads we print each day. To subscribe, visit newsstand.com and follow the links to The Californian.
•••
Reader: I am very upset that I found on the front page of Wednesday's paper an item about "Cancer set to be top killer." Oh my God! Like we don't already know that.
I am one of those with cancer who does not want to be reminded of all that. I can not even find out yet how bad mine is because of hospital hassles to go through. I don't want to read about it in the paper.
I cry day and night about mine and not knowing everything. Give me a break and find something else to write about. Obviously whoever wrote this column has not had cancer or just doesn't care about people's feelings.
— Susan Mayes
Jenner: We certainly don't want to appear insensitive when we report on any health issue. Editors did feel that this story, which said that cancer would overtake heart disease as the leading cause of death worldwide, was newsworthy.
And I can't imagine there's an employee in this newsroom who hasn't had a loved one battling cancer — and there's more than one who've experienced it themselves.
•••
Reader: Last Saturday night I attended my first CSUB women's basketball game of the year. Despite being down in personnel with injuries to three key players, the Lady 'Runners played a disciplined and energetic game, gaining their fourth victory of the season. This gives them a winning record in NCAA Division I for the year.
On Sunday, I searched The Californian for the box score and accompanying article.
I found a two page article detailing the road loss of the CSUB men's team and the game box score. I found articles detailing the results of other CSU men's teams from around the state.
I found nothing about the women's victory other than the final score in the college summaries. While Title IX legislation was directed primarily at schools to increase equity in athletics, until institutions like The Californian embrace its principles, progress will be hampered.
— John Tarjan
Jenner: The lack of coverage in Sunday's paper had nothing to do with our embracing of Title IX and its principles. It had everything to do with our Saturday night deadlines and the fact that our staff was overwhelmed by a flood of late-finishing events.
We ran a story on the game on Page 3 of Monday's section.
•••
Reader: There has been a Californian in our household as long as I could remember (I was born in '55).
You need not have to respond to some of the (I'll be nice) #@!%) that some put on the blogs, cause without you they wouldn't have nothing to gripe about.
Before the age of the computer you could hear them on their CB radios saying the same thing back and forth throughout town.
But even when I went overseas (USMC '72-'78) and the family would send things to me, they would wrap it up in The Californianand news from home was GOLD.
To this day we receive the paper DAILY — and look forward to the news and editorials. Even if I agree with them or not, it's still out there, and it's food for thought.
Last week I was in San Bernardino with the Mrs. for her checkup (throat cancer) and was reading the paper there and it was damn near the same news we'd read in The Californian before we left for our trip.
So if anyone says that this is some sort of backwards paper, send them to me because The Californian is on top of its game.
Thought you may want to know.
— John Anaya
Jenner: Thanks for your note. It made our day.
