The newspaper's personality, part II
My newspaper column
The News & Record is:
a. Open
b. Predictable
c. Mature
d. Pretentious
e. All of the above
f. None of the above
Those are among the terms visitors to my blog listed when I asked them to describe the newspaper by personality traits.
Some others: local, chatty, semi-soft, mature, gray-haired, double-edged, self-righteous, square, thin, friendly, informed, active, familiar.
Identifying the personality of an inanimate object is a key part of company branding campaigns. The idea is that people connect emotionally with the product and assign it a human personality.
Some years ago, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel conducted research that showed its readers thought it would be a white, suburban, Republican male who was arrogant, opinionated and self-absorbed.
I hope that’s not how you see the News & Record.
We're invited into your home every morning. We want to be perceived as a friend who has come over to share a cup of coffee and the latest news of the neighborhood. We share a few laughs and talk about mutual interests, whether it's the latest in fashion, a winning recipe or a weekend getaway.
But we also bring tidings of an often unfriendly, deadly world. We state opinions you don't like. We affirm some of your assumptions but challenge others.
All of the things a close friend would do.
We know that people read us with their hearts as well as their heads. And that's good, because we think of the paper as a living, breathing thing that changes and grows each day.
What personality traits would you assign us? Experienced or amateurish? Energetic or flat? Creative or dull? Friendly or aloof? Resourceful or by the book? Trustworthy or conniving? Knowledgeable or clueless? Bold or timid?
More important, what personality traits do you want us to have? Send them to me, either by mail or e-mail. Don't feel restricted to those I just listed.
Please elaborate on what you mean, too. One person's "thought-provoking" is another person's "irritable."
Personally, I want us to have -- and to be perceived as having -- integrity, intelligence, passion, compassion, humility, curiosity, and a sense of humor, fun and serendipity.
But if I've learned one thing in this business, it's this: We get a better story by listening than talking. We'll listen and try to improve.
On an related topic, today was the first day we published the Guilford Record for much of Guilford County, which replaced People & Places. The Rock Creek Record, which serves the eastern part of the county, including Gibsonville, McLeansville and Sedalia, comes out on Wednesdays.
We hope you like it. If you have some suggestions or story ideas or want to contribute yourself, call editor Cindy Loman at 373-7212 or write cloman@news-record.com.
Comments (4)
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The Guilford Record: I like it better than People & Places but I admit that I don't read that section very much. However, people DO read it (when I was mentioned, I heard from folks I hadn't heard from in ages). Most interesting to me? The advertisers.
Posted on October 1, 2006 12:27 PM
"...thought it would be a white, suburban, Republican male who was arrogant, opinionated and self-absorbed... I hope that’s not how you see the News & Record."
Substitute "Irving Park" for "suburban" and "Democrat" for "Republican" and you have the N&R.
Posted on October 1, 2006 1:04 PM
Well, it could be much worse, I suppose. I know where you are, Samuel, on our perceived political leanings, but Irving Park? I don't know anyone here who lives in Irving Park. Wannabes maybe?
Posted on October 1, 2006 5:05 PM
Your hope is granted! No one ever thought of the N&R as arrogantly Republican.
The correct neighborhood, I think, would be South Side: it's downtown, it's bourgeois-bohemian/yuppie chic, it constitutes a planned effort to "build community." A perfect match for the N&R.
Posted on October 2, 2006 12:33 PM