News-Record.com

Don't know why this morning's Truth and Reconciliation story isn't posted -- we'll get it up as soon as I can find someone who knows how to do it -- but A&T history Prof. Michael Roberto testified before the commission yesterday.

Michael was a reporter and copy editor for the News & Record in the late 80s and early 90s. He left us, got his Ph.D. at Boston College and teaches world history, contemporary world history and the history of socialism at A&T.

For the sake of transparency, there was some thought of noting his former employment at the paper in the story this morning. In the end, editors left it out because it has been more than 10 years since Michael worked here and the relationship wasn't relevant to the story. No reason his past should dog him forever. :)

"More online." That phrase has become as common in the newspaper as "Today's forecast."

That's purposeful. The Internet gives us new opportunities to reach out to readers. Because it is limitless, we don't have to worry about space. Because it is interactive, we can talk with and listen to people publicly and easily. Because it is not made of paper, we can produce audio and video. Because it iss free, it is accessible.

Each of these characteristics helps us in our efforts to deliver news and information, and to build more of a sense of community among people in both the Triad and the world.

The Internet is changing the way journalism is practiced and distributed. For years, newspapers simply moved stories from the print editions onto their Web sites. For several years, we have complemented that with breaking news. In the last year, we have established blogs and citizen-generated articles.

Today, we introduce a Web site of news and information about Summerfield, created by folks who live there. Community news editor Betsi Robinson describes the mission of "Hometown Hubs: Summerfield" on the front page of this section.

So, I'm at the Grimsley-Page football game Friday night and during half time while the Page marching band is performing on the field, the entire Grimsley student section -- 300-400 students, I'd guess -- produce copies of the News & Record and hold them in front of their faces.

Although they were acting out to disrespect their opponents, I'm sure they were also enjoying our scintillating prose. :)

Some supporters of the TRC think the News & Record has been dismissive of the hearings, or ignored them, or hasn't taken them seriously or all of the above.

While there are a few things that I wish we had done differently, I think our coverage has been measured and appropriate.

But I understand the proponents' assertion. Complaints like these are not unfamiliar. Citing media coverage as inadequate or biased or inappropriate follows a path well-worn on any number of controversial, red-state/blue-state topics. On divisive issues, passionate people want news coverage that reflects their view of the world. When it doesn't, they point it out, as they should. I say that not to be dismissive of their comments -- we need to hear them because we know we overshoot sometimes. It helps us improve. I say it only to add some perspective.

The fact is we've written thousands of column inches about the commission. We've covered each day of testimony with stories that ran on the front page, often in the No. 1 position. We've posted audio of the hearings online. Our editorial board has been unyielding in its support. We've published at least a dozen Op-Ed columns from all perspectives of the debate.

Could we have done more? Yes, but there are reasons we haven't. Yet.

Funny what turns up when you're doing spring cleaning. We've been tossing out years of accumulated stuff for a month in preparation for some new desks -- work stations, actually --that are being installed in the newsroom right now. (The ones being moved out were perfect back when when we used Royal and Underwood typewriters.)

One thing that was saved from the trash heap was a Sept. 13, 1899, editon of The Greensboro Patriot, one of our ancestral newspapers. It's all of two pages, with ads for doctors, dentists, lawyers and architects down one side of the front page. The first item listed on the page? "Mr. S.B. Norris has returned from a trip north."

A selection of others:

"The tallest stalk of corn we have ever heard of is on the farm of Mr. J.G. Gamble of Summerfield. It is fourteen feet and three inches in height and has on it one large ear of corn, which is eight feet from the ground."

"Mr. R.S. McClamroch was aroused from sleep one night last week by a noise out in the yard. He got up and secured a revolver in time to see a man's hand reaching through the slats of the window blind. Mr. McClamroch did not wait for his noctural visitor's next move, but fired immediately. He is quite sure the burglar was struck by the bullet, thogh no trace of blood could be seen."

this.

Thanks for the tip, Jay.

The audio files from the third round of hearings of the Greensboro Truth & Reconciliation Commission are up. Thanks to Ed Whitfield, a TRC volunteer, for getting them to us and Kevin Lockamy and Bruce Webb for posting them.

Audio from the first two sets of hearings is here and here.

Tom Lassiter was features editor of the News & Record when I came here back in the mid-80s. He's off on his own doing fabulous things, including this video on Greensboro and blogging. It's part of a promo for ConvergeSouth but it stands tall on its own. It describes the scene pretty accurately, if you ask me. Plus we get to hear Cone, Hoggard, Polinsky and Hwang.

I can't believe that the Lexmobile hasn't mentioned this tidbit of info. He's at We Media talking citizen journalism with Dan Gillmor and others. Here's an account of that session.

It's no surprise to some of us that he's the first one on the panel to weigh in on a topic, and that that topic just happens to be the importance of listening. :)

DOVER, Del. -- In a decision hailed by free-speech advocates, the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed a lower court decision requiring an Internet service provider to disclose the identity of an anonymous blogger who targeted a local elected official.

Given the sorts of discussions that have occurred on our sites, on your sites, and in our newsroom, I thought you'd be interested in the court case. Not applicable outside of Delaware, of course, but still.

According to AP's story, Delaware Chief Justice Myron Steele "described the Internet as a 'unique democratizing medium unlike anything that has come before,' and said anonymous speech in blogs and chat rooms in some instances can become the modern equivalent of political pamphleteering."

Despite this ruling, we prefer that commenters remain civil and keep their name-calling and abusive thoughts to themselves.

As you might remember, reporter Amy Dominello went to Meridian, Miss., last month to help out with the hurricane relief efforts and to write about what she saw. Now, some of the local volunteers she went with have headed back to the Gulf Coast. The relief workers from the N.C. Baptist Men are in Lafayette, La., for a week to provide meals. Here's a dispatch that Paul Hooker of Madison who organized the group of Piedmont Triad volunteers sent to Amy: (It's been edited a tiny bit for clarity.)

Things are going fairly well here in Lafayette. We are at the East Bayou Baptist Church. We have approximately 40 people here at our site and are doing 6,000-7,000 meals per day. As usual, we almost ran out of food and right at the last moment food showed up. We also have four people from our group that are in Metairie, close to New Orleans feeding approximately 150 recovery workers. (We didn't find out they were needed in that area until the night before we left, but we are flexible!)

At lunch today, an Asian woman that I could barely understand visited. She has come every day to get meals. Her husband is stuck on a shrimp boat, somewhere and can't get home. She had been trying to get a tree off her house and has no help. We have experienced people in our group, but no equipment. One of the pastors is working on some help and equipment, and our guys will go help make it happen.

Many people are in this area, displaced from other areas. Yesterday the Red Cross found a hotel full of displaced people, struggling to get food. We had an extra 250 meals and they ate it all. So starting today, we are doing a regular delivery over there.

Gotta run, just wanted to touch base.

Best I can tell, Day 1 at ConvergeSouth has been a stunning success, and much of the fun is yet to come tonight. Sue has posted photos! I wish that I had allowed twice as much time for discussion during my session on the future of journalism because that seemed to be the most engaging -- not to take anything away from Ted Vaden, Robert Padavic or David Wharton, who stepped in to help at the last minute. They said some interesting, enlightening things. But, as always, the best learning occurs during the conversation.

I had to cut out and miss the afternoon sessions because, well, my day job got in the way. (I hate that!) Congratulations to Sue, Ed, Ben Hwang, Val Nieman, Teresa Styles of A&T and everyone else who came and contributed.

A year or so ago, I was sitting in the middle of a large family dinner. On one side of me were the family patriarchs, talking about repairing car engines and replacing carburetors. On the other were the teenagers and young 20-somethings talking about switching out motherboards and dreaming of the newest computer gadgets.

I thought of this divide as I read the latest report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Tons of information there -- 32% of Americans do not go online at all! -- but the most interesting statistic for this post is this one:

* 26% of Americans age 65 and older go online, compared with 67% of those age 50- 64, 80% of those age 30-49, and 84% of those age 18-29.

Bridging the news and information needs of the various generations is the greatest challenge we face. It explains our interest in experimenting with new forms of journalism online. It also illustrates the delicate balance we have in the newspaper itself trying to serve our core audience of middle-age readers while we attract our audience of the future.

That said, I was impressed with the number of (us) gray hairs at ConvergeSouth.

Ed Cone's column in the paper today about the Greensboro City Council no shows at the TRC hearings has one particularly interesting line about Robbie Perkins:

Perkins, who is not running for re-election, said most people aren't interested in the project and that controversy was "manufactured by the News & Record" (as someone who has criticized this newspaper for what I see as inadequate coverage, that one made me laugh).

It illustrates how different people coming from different viewpoints can draw such different conclusions from the same newspaper coverage. We don't try to satisfy one side or the other. We do what we think is right. On controversial stories, it's common that those involved are dissatisfied with the coverage. (It's also common, at least among some council members, that they'll blame the paper.)

We began chasing the story about a Jefferson Pilot/Lincoln National merger on Friday morning after getting a tip. Most of our business staff and a couple other reporters called everyone we could think of to confirm that JP would be sold.

Managing Editor Ann Morris and I agreed early on that we would need to have confirmation from a primary source -- someone privy to the discussions -- to publish. It is a high standard, perhaps impossibly high, but this is too serious a story to publish based on second-hand information.

And our reporters got a lot of good information, including the date and place of employee meetings today, but it was all from people who heard from other people. None was on the record, and none came from someone in a position to know first-hand. So, even though it looked like a duck and walked like a duck, we weren't 100 percent positive we could call it a duck. Obviously, it was a duck, though.

JP officials didn't return calls Friday, even their press office was silent. We've chased such rumors before, and I've gotten calls from high-up company reps reminding me of the dangers of publishing unsubstantiated talk. So their silence may have spoken volumes. May have. For all I know they could have been at ConvergeSouth and away from their phones.

In the end, of course, we didn't publish because no one would go on the record, and we couldn't reach anyone who acknowledged being in the know. The New York Times doesn't identify any sources by name, either. I don't regret that even though, in hindsight, everything that we heard has been proven true. But we didn't know that Friday or Saturday, unfortunately. And it's true that publishing a story about talk of a company's sale can be damaging, damaging to the company's stock, disrupting to employee morale and frightening the community. But not being first on the biggest business story in Greensboro this year hurts.

JP has deep roots in Greensboro with a long, rich history, thousands of employees and a signature hold on the city's skyline. Check the homepage often today because we're going to be updating throughout the day. We'll have complete coverage in tomorrow's paper.

A photo from the Denver Post. Lex discusses more of substance here.

Chewie gives me some of the best advice I've gotten recently in the comments in this post.

Though not one who ascribes simplistic partisan biases to your work, I and many others can still have trouble deciphering your decision making process. The guidelines you outlined above may seem rote and obvious to journalists in the daily grind but, especially given the behavior of some media outlets, your respect for and adherence to them is not a foregone conclusion, even for readers who have some familiarity with journalism. It's worth reaffirming.

She's right, of course, and I'm glad she reminded me that what we newspaper people know without thinking (much) is mysterious to others. I'll take that to heart right now.

Curious about why we do something? Think we've sniffed too much printer's ink when you see a headline that isn't dead on? Think that a chunk of hot lead has beaned us when you read of an off-center inflection in a line or note a hole the size of Alabama in a story? Leave a question in the comments here or shoot me an e-mail. I'll respond. And sometimes I'll admit I need to pull the lead out of my head.

One of the prime reasons I started this blog was to try to cut through the fog that surrounds newspapering. What we do ain't rocket science, but I can see how it is as oblique sometimes. Heck, there are mornings when I pick up the paper and wonder about somethings, too. Your questions and observations help us.

Last night, I had a conversation with Ted Vaden, public editor of the N&O and a panelist last weekend at ConvergeSouth. Ted is thinking of writing his newspaper column about the issues of blogging and journalistic standards that were raised at Converge. Melanie Sill, the N&O's editor, and journalistic blogmeister Jay Rosen had a bit of a dust-up over this at Melanie's site.

I don't want to get in the ring with those heavyweights. But the conversation with Ted got me thinking again about standards, competition and the changing media landscape. I think Jay is right about the need for newspapers to pull themselves up to the standards set by the best bloggers. Bloggers do a better job with transparency and linking and correcting errors and interacting with readers. (My experience in talking with newspaper people, though, is that it is not the best blogs that worry them. It is the blogs that aren't fastidious at verifying information or transparent fact-checking.)

But I'm going to take the discussion in another direction. Ted and I began talking about the Jefferson-Pilot merger story we chased throughout the weekend but didn't publish because we couldn't verify it. What if a blogger had posted an item about the merger first, Ted asked. Would you have published then?

Well, we had a chance at true fame and glory in Hollywood yesterday, and we passed it by as if it were a rerelease of "From Justin to Kelly."

E! True Hollywood Stories called. The behind-the-scenes program with "the inside scoop on Tinseltown's steamiest secrets" is doing a show on Fantasia, the American Idol from High Point, not to be confused with the 1940 Disney classic. A producer called looking for someone from Fantasia Barrino's home to talk on camera about what she's like.

We wrote a lot about Fantasia last year, and we've recently written a bit about her newly released autobiography. But know her? Know her well enough to dish about her on national television? Uh, no. Every reporter I spoke with who had covered a piece of the Fantasia story demurred. "I don't even know her. What would I say?" was the universal response.

I wasn't sure this concern was relevant, considering some of the True Hollywood Stories I've seen, but there you go.

After getting no takers here, I referred the producer to the High Point Enterprise and FOX8, where, I think it's fair to say, they spent a lot more time on the Fantasia story. Lenslinger, she's all yours.

Sheila Long O'Mara, who was a business reporter here in the '90s, returns from Columbia, S.C., to edit a new furniture trade magazine in High Point. The Business Journal has the story.

I haven't spoken with Linda Austin lately, but I should. She was the managing editor here from 1999-2002, and then she went to The News-Sentinel in Ft. Wayne, Ind., as executive editor. Now she's in the middle of a media/blogosphere dogpile.

The local business weekly there published a story saying "a plan has been discussed to turn the 172-year-old afternoon newspaper into a predominately online publication." Both Linda and her publisher denied such a plan exists.

Some bloggers weighed in, and today the editorial page editor strikes back on his blog.

We are having a series of meetings -- small groups, led by Executive Editor Linda Austin -- to talk about what the future might hold for us. The idea is to have lively discussions to get the best ideas from all staff members. What use will we make of the Internet? How can we make the best use of our information-gathering capabilities? How will we integrate the print product with all the other technologies we need to be experimenting with? What will that print product look like? These are the same kinds of conversations going on in newsrooms across the country.

Indeed. We've certainly been having them here.

I don't know anything more about it than I've read and cited here (thanks, Romenesko). But I know that Linda is sharp, thinks deeply about the future and isn't the least bit duplicitous. For the record, I hope there's some truth to it. Transforming an afternoon paper into a rich and dynamic online publication would be a bold and exciting opportunity for a newspaper company, if you ask me.

Raleigh reporter Mark Binker sent me an e-mail Friday asking for a ruling on a "taste" question:

In a Scoop item regarding how more people turned into certain television programs than turned out for the election, we have this sentence: "That night, some 7,552 households tuned into WXLV to watch the favorite South Park episode, 'Chef's Salty Chocolate Balls.'"

He wanted to know if the title tripped my prude-o-meter.

Nah, I said, that's OK. Yes, I understand the double-entendre. Yes, I understand the scatological humor of South Park. Yes, I understand it could offend some people.

And, yes, I know that you don't need the word "some" before a specific number that purports to be exact.

My reasoning was that:
* It is, in fact, the title of that episode.
* It could be, I guess, possibly the name of a recipe.
* The taste standards in the online world are more tolerant than in the newspaper world.

Regular readers of this blog have read the gist of this already:

We got scooped on a big Greensboro story last Monday, and I want to tell you about it. It reveals some of the things we think about before we publish.

Friday before last, we got a tip that Jefferson-Pilot was being sold. The tip came from someone who had heard the news, but wasn’t in a position to know it for sure.

Several reporters started working the phones, calling sources within JP, calling community leaders, calling friends who knew friends, trying to run down the rumor.

Managing editor Ann Morris, city editor Mark Sutter and I agreed early on that we would need confirmation from a primary source -- someone privy to the discussions -- to publish a story saying that JP had been bought, or even to say that JP was in negotiations with another company. It was a high standard -- impossibly high as it turned out -- but this story was too serious with too many far-reaching repercussions to publish based on second-hand information or information provided by an anonymous source.

The most powerful piece of journalism in this morning's paper is Allen Johnson's column about Skip Alston.

The real shame here is not Alston's defeat as it is his mission to do at nearly every turn what's best for .... Skip Alston. What a waste of smarts and talent.

Rarely has one person done so little with so much.

Allen's disappointment is palpable.

If you have ever wondered why we write about NASCAR as much as we do or why, for instance, the race in Concord got better play on the Sunday Sports front than the baseball championship series, the A&T game or any number of nail-biters in college football, this is the reason.

'Course the Spotter knew it long ago.

This story about Tobacco USA should have included this paragraph: The shopping center is owned by Susan Robinson, the wife of News & Record Editor John Robinson, and her two brothers, W. Hardy Spence and Royall Spence III.

I am not involved in the family's land dealings because of my newspaper position, and I don't participate in discussions at the newspaper about the land because of my family. But the full disclosure of the connection is imperative.

I just learned this today. In one year, we:
* We run 491,000 miles of newsprint, enough to stretch to the moon and back.
* Print 47,000 gallons of ink, enough to fill 10 tanker trucks.
* Generate 224,000 printing plates, enough to cover three city blocks
* Handle 333 million inserts, enough for every man, woman and child in the United States and Canada to have one.
* Drive 900,000 miles, enough to go around the world 35 times.

...not going to be listed here today. But I will tell you, my very select audience, that Hogg's Blog snagged the Best Blog honors away from Ed Cone, last year's winner. Hoggard fought off a late surge by the young Ed Cone.*

I disqualified myself because I would have had to go the full disclosure route -- we know how controversial that is -- and because I didn't get any votes. Honorable mentions Sun, Eakes and Sims, keep the faith. There's always next year.

All of the awards will be listed in Go Triad tomorrow.

Thursday update: The list of winners is here.

*This sentence is not actually true, but with a little more effort it could be.

At the suggestion of Jill Williams, executive director of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, we've posted Lorraine Ahearn's story on the events of Nov. 3, 1979. (We corrected a misspelling of Ceasar Cone's name that appeared in the original.) Lorraine's article, which ran on our front page on Oct. 31, 1999, was based on more than 20 interviews and a review of declassified FBI files we obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

As soon as we can get all the technological pieces together, we're also going to post a timeline of the events, and a moment-by-moment graphic by artist Tim Rickard that ran as part of that package. In the next day or so, online editor Michael Fuchs will pull that package and our TRC coverage and the audio files and store them in one place under our Special Projects link.

Jill's suggestion came about as we talked about new information that came out of the TRC hearings. On this point, her interests and our interests coincide, I think. She wanted our 1999 package up so that she could link to it and send visitors there for historical background. I think it puts forth some of the best reporting we've done on the events of that day. If it helps newcomers to the discussion see the events more clearly, good.

Thursday update: The link to everything is here.

Friday update: Good post by Jill Williams here.

Jay Rosen, recently a big hit at ConvergeSouth, hosts a conversation of sorts with some of the best minds in the business about news reporting, omniscience, objectivity and voice. It's an examination of the idea that objectivity removes the reporter from the reality of what he's reporting, taking his passion with it. Detachment often pulls the reporter away from the truth, rather than toward it.

It's a provocative topic. We're moving away from the illusion of omniscience, if we ever truly had it. Instead, I like what Dan Gillmor calls the end of objectivity, emphasizing thoroughness, accuracy, fairness and transparency:

"The lines separating them are not always clear. They are open to wide interpretation, and are therefore loaded with nuance in themselves. But I think they are a useful way to approach quality journalism. They are, moreover, easier to achieve in an online setting."

Gillmor acknowledges the complexities in this concept, this idea of stripping away objectivity from the fundamental values of journalism. Chris Anderson discusses the same topic here. (Both posts were written back in February, and neither writer are part of Jay's post today.)

I got a call from a reader who was tired of reading about soldiers dying in Iraq and wanted us to publish stories on the front page about the good things being accomplished by Americans there. "Where are the stories about the schools being opened and the power being turned on?" she asked.

The wire services don't send many stories with "good news" from the war zone. Any suggestions on where I can send her for that kind of information?

...rethinking what goes on the front page. The N&O's editor, Melanie Sill, is correct when she says "It's not an exact science, but the good news is the paper comes out fresh each day."

A reader -- she said upfront that she was not a subscriber -- told me Friday that we erred by not putting the fingerprinting of Rep. Tom DeLay on the front page. Worse, we only published a few paragraphs about it inside the paper. "It deserved a much bigger story," she said.

Perhaps. We weren't alone among newspapers in publishing the story inside the paper Friday. Raleigh, Charlotte and Winston-Salem all played the story the way we did, and none ran more than 7 or 8 paragraphs. Even The New York Times published its story on A17 or something like that. (I don't have the paper in front of me now.)

We played it that way because there wasn't much news to it. The news the day before was that DeLay would be going in for his arrest. And he did. If you're not going to play his mug shot for political purposes or sensationalism, then there's little news value to the story that day. (I know that this is first a political story to most people, as opposed to a crime story. I've heard from folks who believe we should be reporting more about Ronnie Earle than Tom DeLay.)

When the trial starts or the plea bargain occurs, we will move the story forward in the paper and devote more space to it.

We have a pretty good idea of what you think of us. We publish your letters in the newspaper. We talk to you on the phone and respond to your e-mails. We hear from you on our Web logs. When we're not at the office, we worship and shop and dine with you.

But I don't think we've ever told you what we think of you, dear readers.

Stealing an idea from the public editor of The New York Times, I asked some of the journalists here who they think you are. More specifically, I asked them to tell me for whom they are writing or editing.

Demonstrating that we have a multi-faceted picture of you in our minds -- or perhaps we're just long-winded -- the staffers wrote much more than I can fit here.

On tomorrow's front page, we are taking note that the American military death toll reached 2,000 Tuesday. (At least four of those casualties came from the Triad.)

The page -- I'll link to it tomorrow here -- will be dominated by the poignant image of a soldier Marine and is intended as a tribute to those who gave their lives fighting for America. I suspect, though, that we'll be criticized for emphasizing the American deaths rather than the progress in Iraq.

From the AP story:

In an e-mail statement to Baghdad-based journalists, command spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Boylan said media attention on the 2,000 figure was misguided and "set by individuals or groups with specific agendas and ulterior motives."

Boylan said the 2,000th service member to die in Iraq "is just as important as the first that died and will be just as important as the last to die in this war against terrorism and to ensure freedom for a people who have not known freedom in over two generations."

Agreed. But our front is no anti-war statement. Politicians on both sides of the aisle paused Tuesday to honor the fallen. Our agenda is to do the same. Newspapers -- people -- have to seize on numerical markers; we can't put a story about the death of a soldier or Marine on the front page every time one dies. People would become numb to the sacrifice. Yet, 2,000 deaths in our country's service is not something to let pass unnoticed. These are real people who served and died. It is an insult to consider them only a number; the package of stories and photos tries to convey their humanity.

We hope it works.

The game ended at 2:20 a.m. today. That's a good hour and change past the deadline for our final edition. No way we're going to get the final score of that loooooong third game of the Series into the paper.

Shows what I know. According to our production director, Jim Schrum, we got the story of the 341-minute game in 30,000 papers. The last paper rolled off the line at 3:18 a.m. Less than two hours later, the paper with the final score was in my driveway.

It may not seem like much to non-newspaper employees, but it really is effort beyond the call by our sports folks -- particularly Charlie Atkinson and Bob Bevan, who shepherded the story into the paper, the production line and the carriers.

"The Astros and White Sox may have made history," said sports editor Joe Sirera, "but it was business as usual for our Sports desk as they hung in there until the bitter end to make sure that as many of our readers as possible got a story on the longest World Series game in their editions.”

Apologies to those other 70,000 subscribers who had to settle for a place-holder feature about the Sox, but blame all the players who step out of the box, readjust their gloves, take their batting helmets off, put their helmets back on and step back into the box between every pitch.

John Cochran, former local government editor and Raleigh reporter here and now big shot at Congressional Quarterly, sends this intriguing item from the Reliable Source column in The Washington Post. It refers to Libby Lewis, a former court reporter here who is now at NPR.

Remember how Abe Lincoln's secretary, Kennedy, warned him not to go to the theater, and John Kennedy's secretary, Lincoln, warned him not to go to Dallas?

"I've never met Mr. Libby personally," Lewis told us yesterday. "But I do think he ought to tell me everything, because of our connection."

Been noted elsewhere, too.

I'm proud to know Libby Lewis and can tell you that Lewis Libby is no Libby Lewis. And if anyone can get Libby's story, Libby can.

Today is Matt Williams' last day before he goes on a two-year leave to train with the Air Force Reserve. Replacing Matt on the Greensboro City Hall beat is Eric Swensen, who was covering High Point City Hall. Eric came to us two three years ago from the Charlottesville Daily Progress

We also have a new community sports reporter. Tarah Holland, who covered schools and health in High Point, introduced herself and her new job in a column here.

Amy Dominello, most recently mentioned here for her work covering and participating in hurricane relief in Mississippi, moved from her beat covering growth and development to a general assignment slot. Jonathan Jones takes on her old beat.

Managing editor Ann Morris (scroll down) is in San Jose at the Associated Press Managing Editors annual conference. She's actually a big part of the show. She served on two panels today addressing "Our Shrinking Newsrooms" and "Reconstructing our Newsrooms." She was the editor, surrounded by an analyst, a publisher, a journalist, an investor and a new media person eating her lunch.

Tough assignment, going to an annual conference and, instead of swinging up to San Francisco and drinking mai tais, she actually has to deal with the problems of the real world. But she is well-prepared.

From the news story about the session: Newspaper editors such as panelist Ann Morris of the Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record said the high cost of production forces newspapers to rethink their content. "I'm questioning why we are using precious newspaper to print outdated news," she said, noting that many newspapers use widely available wire services.

"What would be a revolution in newspapers is to answer the phone," Morris said. "We haven't given (readers) a reason to trust us."

Here's someone's PowerPoint notes. They don't hold together that well, but best I can tell they were talking about the right things. Making points that this is the time for experimentation, that technology is your friend and that our staff "gets" it are dead on.

When we understand that our first priority is to figure out how to help readers find news and information they need, we'll be much further along.

But my biggest fear right now is that someone will decide to sweep in and hire her away.

Check out our latest multi-media presentation on the furniture market. It gives a pretty good picture of what the market is like and how important it is. Reporter Sue Schultz narrates an audio slide show on the past week's market, featuring music by Edwin McCain and an interview with Martha Stewart. Props to Sue, Lex, designer Kevin Lockamy and project manager Beth Compton.

(Gotcha with the headline, didn't I? It refers to part of the slide show.)

Jill Williams, exec. director of the Greensboro Truth and Reconcilation Commission, asked if her staff could copy the federal documents we have concerning the events of Nov. 3, 1979. Back in the '90s we made a Freedom of Information Act request for them. They laid part of the groundwork for this package we published Oct. 31, 1999.

After talking with Lorraine Ahearn, who wrote the package, and Lex Alexander, who assisted in the FOIA request, and making sure we still had the documents, I agreed. Going through a FOIA request isn't easy and takes an interminable amount of time to see results so I'm not surprised the commission is interested in borrowing what we have.

However, we -- like all media -- generally look askance at cooperating with or participating in commissions, hearings, governing bodies, etc. That's a topic for another day, but suffice it to say that we prefer our independence. In the end, we decided that we had finished our work with the documents and that, by loaning them out, we wouldn't be establishing a precedent that would legally bind us later. (Plus, it is not as if the documents aren't public.) If they help the TRC and the community understand what happened before, during and after that day in 1979 so much the better. So we have made them available. Lex had a good suggestion -- scan them all and put them online -- but they fill a box that is 3-foot by 2-foot by 2-foot, and we haven't had the time or available scanning power.

I hope they are of some value. Unfortunately, here's a telling sentence from Lorraine's 1999 package: "Although the (FBI's) 1,529-page 'Codename Greenkil' file is technically declassified as of 1999, nearly all substantive information has been blacked out or entirely deleted."

From Pegasus News -- co-founder Mike Orren is from Greensboro -- a Scarborough and a New York Times researcher have looked at the effect free papers have on circulation of daily newspapers. The answer: Not much.

"Free dailies do not cannibalize paid readership. To the contrary, readers read more."

The MediaDaily News story says it clearly: The main effect has been that heavy newspaper readers simply read more, picking up the freebies in addition to their regular paid dailies.

And:

While the free papers are attracting a younger audience, the research compiled by Scarborough and the New York Times concludes "it is not a young audience."

Our research here shows the same result. Duplication in readership -- those who read the News & Record who also pick up the Rhino -- is between 80 and 90 percent. The Rhino's anecdotal weekly surveys show the same thing; look at the number of people who call the Beep to talk about what they've read in the N&R. (By the way, we haven't tried to serve 11 counties since the Rhino was simply a downtown bar Springsteen dropped into.)

Free papers isn't the circulation answer, although it may be a profitable advertising medium. People pay for what they value. (Online news sites? Now that's a different question.)

Way back in the day, the news business sure was different.

A few weeks ago, as we were cleaning out the newspaper library, we came across a Sept. 13, 1899, copy of The Greensboro Patriot. The Patriot was one of the newspapers that served the 10,000 people living in the city at the turn of the century. (The Daily Record and the Greensboro Evening Telegram were others.)

This edition is brown with age and nearly crumbles at the touch. It is as different from the newspaper you hold in your hands as an Underwood typewriter is different from a Dell laptop. But in its own way, it is one heckuva read.

The paper is only two pages, and, for those who think our type is small now, get out your magnifying glass. Ads for doctors, dentists, lawyers and architects line one side of the front page. Fordham's Drug Store on Elm Street was one year old then, but isn't an advertiser. Nor is Lunsford Richardson who had just developed a line of home remedies including what became known as Vicks VapoRub.

The front page is all local news, although it's not the sort of local news you're used to today. In one sense, you might call it a gossip sheet, in the most innocuous sense of the term. The comings and goings of many of Greensboro's citizenry are featured prominently. A brief sampling:

Today's New York Times makes note that newspapers across the country treated the deaths of 2,000 American troops with bigger headlines and more drama than they did when the death toll hit 1,000 in September 2004.

Kit Seelye writes: How to explain the difference? Highlighting deaths during war can be perceived as a political statement, as Lincoln learned when he was accused of playing on people's emotions with the Gettysburg Address. Were editors last week trying to compensate for having ignored Iraq lately? Was it a reaction to the growing scale of casualties, though the numbers are still small by the standards of other wars? Or was it implicit criticism of the war itself?

We certainly played the stories differently, but not for the reasons she tosses out.

Last week, coverage of the 2,000 milestone dominated the front page. (And evoked this letter, published today, and this discussion last week.)

On Sept. 8, 2004, the day after the death toll hit 1,000, we published a story about it on the left-hand side of the page in one column. But we weren't trying to make a political statement. Sen. John Kerry was in town campaigning for the presidency the same day. Stories and photos of his visit monopolized the real estate on the front page.

And we got popped for that coverage, too.