Sound Off for Aug. 31, 2008
Reader: I think that your newspaper has ran more positive and more stories supporting the Democratic side. As a newspaper you should be showing all information for both sides. I am Republican and do not like the information you have been printing. If this continues, I hope that more people in my situation feel the same way and discontinue your newspaper.
-- Peter Martinez
Jenner: One week ago, on the eve of the Democratic National Convention, we ran a front page profile of Barack Obama, with two pages inside. We also gave front-page display to the convention's daily events.
Now that the eve of the Republican National Convention has arrived, we will give equivalent treatment to the Republicans. Today's paper features several articles and photos on the GOP, including a two-page profile of Sen. John McCain on Page A8. And, as we did for the Democrats, the RNC will be front-page news every day.
•••
Reader: Since you changed your paper I am missing the Eye Street feature on movie stars that used to be on the same page with the crossword puzzle. I just wanted to tell the editor that I miss that and wish they would find a place to put it back.
-- Doris Lewis
Jenner: We haven't eliminated People in the News. This feature on celebrities still runs Monday through Saturday. However, on a couple of days we've reduced its size significantly. We know that's a popular feature and we'll try to make sure we make it prominent enough that its followers can find it.
•••
Reader: My complaint is the size that you've gone to in the paper. It has made everything smaller. Each line in the Classified section is kind of squished. It's like each column is like squished together. Also, it smears. I get smears all the time in the Classified, so bad you can hardly read it. I wish you'd go back to the regular size paper. That's my complaint.
-- Cliff Cooper
Jenner: We didn't reduce the size of type in Classified, nor the space between lines. We did take out some of the space between the individual ads. Our pressroom has made great progress in reducing complaints of smeared type and continues to focus on that.
•••
Reader: In regard to the crime report, oh, boy, I don't like it. I know you're trying to save space.
I check my area, which is 93301, and I also check my son's area, which is 93305. He's in beat 14. I know the streets in my area, but I don't know the names of all the streets in his beat. It's very big.
Beats 13 and 15 are nearby and so I like to look at those also. With the way you have it laid out I have no idea if any of the places that have been targeted are in my son's vicinity.
If you could maybe make the original maps smaller, perhaps a little bit, and still run one set each day perhaps. The new system just doesn't work out for me. I don't know if any others feel the same way.
-- Barbara Bates
Jenner: We'll take a look and see if we can present this in a more useful way, but our previous presentation of the city's crime data was inefficient and unworkable for us. The new presentation does allow readers to see the addresses of all reported property crimes in one package.
•••
Reader: Every Sunday afternoon I read the paper then, with great relish, work the crossword puzzle that has the Cryptoquip at the bottom, which I also love. Now I can no longer work the puzzle as it is too small. Everything else about your new format is fine with me. I like being able to hold the paper and read it with the new size.
PULEEZE change the crossword puzzle back to its original size!
-- Pat Eyraud
Jenner: You'll be pleased to see we're making the Sunday Classified crossword puzzle bigger, as well as the daily Classified Corner feature.
•••
Reader: I actually do like the smaller-sized newspaper. There were some things I did not like at first, but I have seen improvements.
There is one thing, though, that I really miss. You used to run an article called "Best Bets" next to the TV listings. I realize you have now included more TV listings that take up a lot of room, but I really miss this article and hope you can find room for it.
-- Judy Dotson
Jenner: The "Best Bets" feature fell by the wayside in the new format. We'll take a look, but I'm not sure where we could put it.
•••
Reader: I am real disappointed in this new paper, I don't like it at all. I don't like the length of it and I don't like the width of it. I wish you'd go back to the way it was.
You're not saving any paper by lengthening it like this. It's even hard to read.
I know I'm not the only one who's disappointed in it. I wish you'd change it back to the old way. This is really just stupid.
I just want you to know how I feel about it.
-- Lorene Abshier
Jenner: I'm sorry you don't like it. I appreciate your opinion, but we have no plans to return to the old width — and the length hasn't changed.
Although I've run most of the complaints in Sound Off, we've also received a lot of comments from readers who prefer the new width. We're now focused on improving the new format and making it as useful as possible.
To that end, I have a couple of items to share with readers:
Now that we've increased the type size in our TV grids, the company that builds this page for us is adding the Speed Channel, the Travel Channel and the International History Channel. These additional listings should show up late this week.
We'll launch another survey of reader comics preferences in next Sunday's Eye Street section. And yes, Sherman's Lagoon will have a spot on the ballot.
•••
Reader: Why don't you have a theater critic/reviewer at the paper? Other cities larger and smaller than Bakersfield offer this service.
Perhaps if you were to offer this to your readers, the theater venues in town would have better attendance and not be struggling so much to keep afloat in order to showcase the wonderful talent here in Bakersfield.
Many thanks,
-- Lori Hobmann
Jenner: I asked Jennifer Self, who directs our arts and entertainment coverage, to respond to your note. Here's what she has to say:
I couldn't agree more with your assessment of the wonderful talent here on Bakersfield stages. But I do disagree with your belief that we're ignoring local theater. I glanced through the last few weeks of our Eye on Entertainment section, which publishes every Thursday, and found:
A full-page piece on Bakersfield Community Theatre, which featured its season-opener, "Plaza Suite." The piece, which included several photos of past productions, also mentioned an exhaustive new compilation by Steven Bradshaw that lists every play mounted at the theater in its 82-year history.
Four profiles of standout stage performers Jeremiah Heitman, Abby Bowles, Amy Hall and Tim Fromm.
A rave of "Madea" at the Empty Space by Californianarts columnist Camille Gavin, who encouraged readers to catch the last performances.
Features with photos on the Youth Theatre production of "Charlotte's Web" at Bakersfield Community Theatre; the Spotlight Theatre's popular "History of Rock & Roll: Born in the U.S.A."; the Mountain Shakespeare Festival in Frazier Park; "Evita" for Cal State Bakersfield's Theatrefest; and profiles of the playwrights who contributed work to Bakersfield Community Theatre's annual One-Act Festival.
Smaller items on "Monterey Jack" at the Gaslight Melodrama and auditions for Bakersfield College's annual Shakespeare Festival.
A complete listing of theater performances in our weekly entertainment calendar.
The arts are the heartbeat of any city's cultural life, and we at The Californian consider it our mission to promote them. In fact, we're currently devoting our Thursday covers and two pages inside to a project called Eye Gallery, which features the work of local visual artists. We started the project last year as a way to introduce our community to these tremendous talents.
Of the four contributing Eye Street columnists, one is devoted solely to the arts, with an emphasis on the performing arts -- despite our needs for coverage in other topics of interest to our readers. And though our space is limited, we have given Camille Gavin's Arts Alive column greater prominence in the last year, with more photos and usually positioning on one of our coveted color pages.
It's true that we rarely run reviews. With limited staffing, we have to make tough choices and we feel it's more helpful to our readers to know about a production before it opens. Reviews, of course, are a double-edged sword: Any honest reviewer must include observations about a play's weaknesses as well as its triumphs. Whether that would help turn out audiences is debatable.
Still, we welcome the public to write reviews of any local performance. Go to Bakersfield.co /yourwords and fire away. We'll consider any review for publication in the paper.
•••
Reader: I have been a subscriber of this paper for at least 30 years and have noticed that your sports section is so in love with the L.A. Dodgers that even when they lose they make the front page of the Sports section and sometimes even the front page of the first section.
Meanwhile, even though the Angels are the best team in baseball today they just barely make it into the third to fourth page of the Sports section.
I am a big fan of the Angels and was wondering why this is so. Is it to get me to go through the complete Sports section to get the results or is it just prejudice?
Thank you for listening.
-- Clinton Johnson
Jenner: Prejudice seems like a harsh word. But we do believe that fan interest is higher for the Dodgers, and more readers closely follow the Dodgers than the Angels.
It's true that the Angels are one of the top teams in baseball — one of three teams playing .600 ball or better. With the next-best team in their division some 15 games behind, it would be almost impossible for them not to win their division.
The Dodgers, on the other hand, are in the thick of a fight for their division — or at least they were till they entered an eight-game losing streak.
Rest assured that as the season progresses and the race for the pennant intensifies, we'll give the Angels their due.
•••
Reader: Dear Dianne Hardisty,
Surely you have noticed some of the idiotic comments the N.Y. Times and other very liberal papers continue to make and their constantly being supportive of extreme liberalism. You and The Californianare in a position where you could "educate" your readers.
Even though Bakersfield is fairly conservative, there are still many terribly uninformed residents. I read some of the "letters to the editor" and some of these poor people just don't have a clue as to what is going on in this nation, no understanding of the market and/or economics. Why is "common sense" so uncommon?
Many letters show a total rejection of the Godly values this nation was founded on, totally ignoring what has happened to this nation the past 60 years since abandoning Godly principles.
I am assuming YOU as an educated person are aware of such things. You and the paper could be an instrument of learning and do this nation a tremendous favor in the process. Look behind the problems this state is in and the underlying cause.
Dianne, I would really appreciate your thoughts and comments regarding my comments! Make an exception and answer me, please!!
-- Lynn Anderson
Dianne Hardisty responds: What can I say? Those you describe as clueless have responded similarly to some of your letters.
In fact, I recently had someone who shares your name submit a letter disavowing what you had written and wanting her friends and neighbors to know it was not the "Lynn Anderson" they knew who had penned the words.
People have different perspectives. That does not make them clueless or idiots. We will always attempt to inform and educate in our editorial and column writing, as well as our publication of news stories.
