News-Record.com

Lex Alexander is returning to editing duty next week when he becomes our regional editor with responsibility for our Rockingham and High Point coverage. Lex is, of course, a key architect of our online strategy, a strategy we're still building and refining.

He has had many jobs in the newsroom, including reporter, news editor, features editor, leader of our investigative team, and a couple online roles that, if they had titles, I've forgotten them. He's good at this stuff we do.

The New York Times appoints its third public editor, Clark Hoyt, and good for them, I suppose. (Via Romenesko.) They didn't ask me -- to serve or for my opinion -- but I think it's time that newspapers realize they don't need public editors any longer. Technology and the personal publishing revolution is quickly making them as obsolete as printing presses typewriters.

This is a new position for me. I enjoy reading ombudsmen and, several years ago, tried to figure out how to appoint one to our staff. But times change. Blogs of readers now perform many questioning roles fulfilled by public editors. Between those and letters to the editor, discussion of newspaper performance is robust, to say nothing of timely and rigorous.

That's only one side of the equation. On the other side of the equal sign is the voice of the newspaper. At too many newspapers, including the Times, a ranking editor does not blog. Does not routinely publicly answer questions. Does not publicly address the paper's decisions. (I presume that the editor does respond to readers privately. Every editor I've met does that.)

Bill Keller's memo announcing Hoyt's hiring: We expect him to hold us accountable to our own standards, to serve as an advocate for the interests of readers, and to give readers an independent eye into the workings of this great news organization.

For his part, Mr. Hoyt said that he could not predict what subjects he might focus on. "They are likely to be driven by what readers care about and complain about," he said.

Right. That's what a good editor's blog could do. Every editor should have one. At the least -- perhaps as an incremental step for the paper -- Hoyt ought to create and vigorously use his own blog on the job.

Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan playing golf together. Following the two more photogenic superstars for 18 holes seems like a dream opportunity for a photographer, doesn't it? And displaying the result is ideal for a newspaper. Our front page. The Charlotte Observer's front page.

Different photographers. Different page designers. Nearly exact duplicate in image and page design.

Who says there's no groupthink in journalism? Oh, yeah, that was me.

My newspaper column
Earlier post

If you haven't visited News-Record.com lately, you've been missing out. There is a slew of new content about Greensboro and the Triad that changes by the hour.

Last week, for instance, you could watch a video of the annual rodeo at Southern Guilford High School. You could check out 15 photos of the Tiger Woods-Michael Jordan golf extravaganza in Charlotte, including several amusing ones of Jordan, hat on backward, puffing on a large stogie.

And, of course, you could get breaking news, lots of breaking news.

As Rupert Murdoch read his New York Times this morning, it must have struck him like a kangaroo punch in the outback: He was making a play for the wrong paper!

He would surely feel satisfied with David D. Kirkpatrick's piece in today's Times about his effort to pick up the Wall Street Journal. His genius, his advisers say, has been a knack for spotting flabbiness in establishment interests that appeared impossible to unseat.....

But then he turns to Byron Calame's farewell column as public editor. In it, after wringing his hands over the repercussions to journalistic quality now that journalists must write for the newspaper and the Web, Calame thanks his assistant, his two editors and his copy editor.

Say what!!!??? ole Rupert must think. The guy writes two whole columns a month (a third is handled by yet another person). He has an assistant to handle reader e-mails and calls. His primary sources -- the editors of the Times -- are pretty easy for him to reach. Am I spotting flabbiness, Rupert certainly asks himself? He picks up the phone....

The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram redesigned the paper a week or so ago. (No jumps, among other changes.) David House, the paper's ombudsmen, rounds up a sampling of reader comments. He includes his own thoughts: speculation is that approval is somewhere between 30 percent and 50 percent, but who knows?

We've redesigned several times since I've been here and approval between 30%-50%, while on its face seems disappointingly low, is actually about normal. Readers are comfortable with their newspaper; we want them to be. We publish recurring features and columnists. We publish them in the same place on the same days. We encourage loyalty and attachment. When we change things, even when we "improve" them, we disrupt that.

I wouldn't have taken the same course Ft. Worth has, but no matter. The reader comments House published are about par for the course here, too. Some are substantive and thoughtful. Some contradict others. All are heartfelt. And no matter how much work goes into the "big" things, many of the complaints deal with the "small" ones: dropping Helsinki from the weather page, changing TV listings and eliminating a few comic strips.

Editors actually like the kind of reaction that Ft. Worth got. It means readers care and feel passionate enough about the paper to speak up.

Michael Rosenblum writes about the stiff language news anchors use on television.

It is weird, alienating ... creepy.
That is how we talk to our audiences all the time.
But not how we talk to our wives, our husbands, or friends and family.

Doug Fisher of Common Sense Journalism notes that print has similar issues.

Yep.

The difference in our writing on blogs and in the paper is striking. In my case, I write on the blog as if I am having a conversation with an acquaintance, although I doubt I actually know many of you personally. I feel more open and write more like I speak. I am having a conversation. You can talk back. Thanks to links I don't have to explain how a watch is made when you only want to know what time it is. I write as much or as little as I like without worrying about filling a certain sized newshole. The whole process seems casual and comfortable, mostly. I said mostly.

My newspaper column, though, is more formal and, to use Doug's word, stiff. Oddly, I don't feel that I am writing for acquaintances even though I know much more about newspaper readers than Web readers. (I have reams of readership surveys.) It may just be my imagination but newspaper writing permits platitudes and pomposity that Webizens wouldn't tolerate without challenge. (In my case, I think that writing only once a week encourages that tone.) It also seems so much easier to upset newspaper readers -- perhaps because there are so many more of them -- but equally, I think, because the paper is often such an impersonal institution. With blogs, the mere fact that anyone can leave a comment breaks the impersonal wall down.

We've talked often about transferring the writing style of the blog to the newspaper. Some do it better than others. We're not there yet, but I am pretty sure that we would have told the story of Fluffy in the newspaper the same way as we would tell a wife, husband or friend.

Tomorrow morning, the NC Senate Judiciary I (Civil) Committee will consider Senate Bill 1546, which calls for all public employee compensation packages and employment contracts to be considered public records.

From the N.C. Press Association:

That access was virtually eliminated in the wake of the 2005 North Carolina Court of Appeals ruling in a case The Charlotte Observer brought against the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Hospital Authority and Carolinas Medical Center. The decision, which specifically addressed only public hospital records, created some open-government headaches when the UNC School of Government began advising the public sector that the ruling meant that no public personnel pay packages -- beyond salary -- could be disclosed and that employment contracts were secret.

More detail -- including legislators to lobby -- here. Text of bill here.

Why would public institutions want to hide how they're spending public money?

We've hired Beth Seagraves as a reporter for the Rock Creek Record, which covers the Gibsonville, Elon, McLeansville and Whitsett area.

Beth is a reporter at the Galax Gazette in Grayson County, Va., making her an ideal hire for our community publication. She used to work in our customer service department before she got into the journalism end of newspapers.

The voicemail sounded ominous. "I've just cancelled my subscription to your paper, and I want you to know about it. Call me back."

I wasn't having my best day yesterday and my first thought was, "Let's see, he's no longer a paying customer, and he wants to complain now?"

I get a lot of calls from readers and self-professed former readers. Philosophically, I know that these are just the sorts of calls you should take. Hearing and understanding customer dissatisfaction is a key to improvement. And I try to call most of them back.* But the man's approach seemed backasswards to me. Don't you want to provide me more incentive to respond favorably if you're a customer asking for help, rather than one who has made his decision already?

I called him back. We had a pleasant conversation about the paper. At the end, I asked him why he waited until after he canceled to register his complaint. He said he didn't think it would do any good to call at any time and was surprised that I returned his call. He didn't say if he would re-up, though.

* I don't always call back the regulars, who often just seem to want to have someone to talk to.

One of the more frequent comments we get from readers is that we publish too many ads. Get rid of the ads and print more news, they say. It's an interesting complaint because advertising pays the bulk of the cost of publishing a newspaper. The more ads, the healthier the paper. Getting rid of them would be problematic. Actually the better response is to publish more ads so you can print more news.

Jeff Thomas, editor of the Gazette in Colorado Springs, details the advertising-news balance in the paper well.

One relevant point he doesn't mention: those who complain about the number of ads tend to be over 65. And no, it's is not just men who say it.

Fortunately for our financial health, we get an almost equal number of comments from people who say they buy the paper specifically to get the ads and coupons. Perhaps not surprisingly, they tend to be under 50. We journalists just hope that they may discover an interesting story on their way to the ad search.

Two years ago, I spoke to a group of national news media folk about blogging. After I got past explaining what blogging was, the discussion centered around three areas:
1. How can your staff post information unedited by you?.
2. Why would we post information that we wouldn't put into the paper?
3. How much extra do you pay the bloggers for blogging?

Yesterday, I was on a panel before a group of newspaper people yesterday at the N.C Press Association's Newspaper Academy at Chapel Hill. Topic: Blogging. (It was a North Carolina group so it was more advanced than the national one two years ago.)

First, I asked whether this was a session on "Why blogs?" or a session on "How to blog?" Only one person of 30 wanted "why blogs?"

When I asked who had blogs, most raised their hands. So, why the heck are you here, I asked.
* I want to know how can I get more traffic.
* I want to know how can I get more comments.
* I want to know how can I make mine better.

I sent them here, here, here and here.

No questions about editing blogs, no questions about making money from it, and no concern about "how much time it takes away from the newspaper."

The best question came, I think, from someone from the News & Observer who wondered if people had moved beyond the written word of the blog to audio and video. I responded that it takes everything. We must use every tool we can to extend our journalism. I like to read and will always read. But it's one tool. As someone wise said, you have to hunt where the ducks are flying. Video and audio are wildly popular and as those are now available to pixel-stained wretches, we must use them.

It wasn't all positive. Afterward, I fielded questions that reminded me of the challenge: How can I get the other reporters to contribute to our community blog because I can't carry it all myself? How can I get my editors interested enough in blogging so that they will let me blog?

Still, those were in the minority.

Mark at Depth Reporting points to a Wall Street Journal story on Googling yourself.

For people prone to vanity searching -- punching their own names into search engines -- absence from the first pages of search results can bring disappointment. On top of that, some of the 'un-Googleables' say being crowded out of search results actually carries a professional and financial price.

Not me. Of the 1,190,000 pages returned, No. 1 under John Robinson is a 21-year-old actor. Yeah, whatever. He'll be flippin' burgers at 23.

No. 2 and this is what I'm talking about: John Robinson: In the end, picking the wrong sex partner brought the downfall of John E. Robinson, Sr., and exposed one of the most bizarre and lengthy homicidal careers in American criminal history.

Now that's a claim to fame. Or infamy.

I thought it was just us.

From a question in Marilyn vos Savant's column in Parade today: I know you are not the only columnist guilty of doing this, but because you are so smart, can you please tell me why you state, "The answer appears at the end of the column," and then proceed to put it upside down -- every time, every week, week after week after week? This is so irritating. We are not imbeciles! If we are going to cheat, we are going to cheat no matter what you do.
-- Dale Zink, Belleville, Ill.

We get this, too. We print answers upside down at the end of the news quiz which runs on A2 most days. Perhaps it's just me -- like most reporters, I learned to read upside down in my first newspaper job -- but upside down answers have always seemed more of a convenience to quiz takers than an inconvenience to those searching for answers. Same with Marilyn, "listed in the Guinness Book of World Records Hall of Fame for 'Highest IQ.'"

Her answer: Agh. Another complaint about this practice. And I thought I was being helpful to puzzlers who want to make sure they don’t see the answer inadvertently. What do you think, readers? Should we publish answers right-side up? Upside down? Or what?

We also get complaints about where we print Sunday crossword answers. Not on the same page. Not on the facing page. Not on the back of the same page. Not in the same paper but run it the next day.

So, it's not that we ignore you. We just can't please everyone.

A MoJo in another part of the country gave Amy Dominello some well-considered advice for her new assignment.

1) Be fearless. You're starting something new at your paper and your editors will really have no idea what you should be doing. Most of them started in the biz with typewriters. Start talking about wireless cards, multimedia, etc. and they will think you are a super genius (or slightly crazy). You'll find that you will succeed much more often than you will fail and people will forgive the failings. They won't expect you to be a world-class videographer overnight. Ed. note: We already think Amy is slightly crazy.

2) Be fast. Get the basic facts up ASAP and then fill in detail later. I often write a lede and post it. Then I might update the online story 6-10 times, adding information, photos, audio, links, etc. Then I rewrite it for the next day's paper. You want your website to be the place people go for breaking news. You want them to know you'll have it up as fast as your local TV stations and that your information will be the most reliable/complete.

3) Be flexible. As noted above, most of the editors there won't really understand what you're doing. They have ideas about what reporters do, and it will take them some time to figure out you're a platypus -- part reporter, part photographer, part copy editor, part web guru. Expect them to try to pull you away from the Web to write for the paper. They'll see you as an available body. Try to find a good advocate to shield you from some of this if you can. You'll want to use your "down time" (when you get it) to work on mastering your photo/video/multimedia skills and to work on those projects. Don't let it get you down, though, if you get pulled in a hundred different directions. It's going to happen.

Reading last week's New Yorker -- I always seem to be reading last week's magazines -- I came across a review by Steven Shapin about what sounds like a fascinating book: "The Shock of the Old: Tecnology and Global History Since 1900" by David Edgerton.

One point Shapin makes in the review put me in the mind of thinking how it applies to newspapers and journalism.

Knowing about technology is not the same thing as understanding the scientific theories involved. Just as innovators commonly understand the fundamentals of a technology better than subsequent users, so users can acquire knowledge that would never have occurred to the innovators.

Ultimately, the narrative of what kind of thing a piano is must be a story of all these users.

One result of today's news world is that editors are realizing that the piano builders may not be giving the pianists what they want. Who understands a newspaper better -- the journalist who works for one or the person who reads it? My answer is different today than it would have been two years ago. We're not in the piano-making business; we're in the music business.

A corollary is we also need to help/engage with/serve those who create their own music. We know it's value, but we don't have the how completely figured out.

When Allen reminded me that I once interviewed Jerry Falwell when I was editorial page editor and published it on the Ideas front, I realized that I had forgotten more stories I did than I remembered.

We sat down in a large ballroom where he would speak later that day. He was nice and engaged, but I didn't ask a single question he didn't have a prepared answer for. And I tried to come up with something that would evoke either news or a revealing answer. As a result, the interview was unfortunately no more revealing than an Associated Press report out of New York.

Still, my favorite interview with a national leader -- and I've had a few -- was with Billy Graham 25 years ago. He was thoughtful, articulate, intelligent and, obviously, charming. The record of it is tucked away in an envelope in the archives of the N&O, where I worked as a religion and, believe it or not, arts reporter. But Graham discussed issues -- rather than lectured on them -- and that made the interview feel different than others, whether it was or not.

Every time I read something like this and this, I think of a story I heard Nido Qubein tell a year or so ago and heard again this morning at One Guilford. It seems to fit the journalism business.

Shortly after Qubein became president of High Point University, he noticed a beaten path through the grass to the library. He called the head of maintenance and asked what could be done about it. Maintenance suggested putting up signs asking students to stay off the grass. But that had been done once before and the students ignored the signs. Maintenance suggested fencing along the sidewalks to discourage students from cutting across the grass. Qubein didn't care for that, either.

So, the school built a sidewalk over the path, going where the students wanted to go.

As I thought about forgetting about my interview with Jerry Falwell, it reminded me how the newspaper culture has changed over the 30 long years I've been in the business. Some signs -- other than memory loss -- that you may be a newsroom oldtimer:

* You remember when any old body off the street could wander into the newsroom with a story idea or just to panhandle
* Your newsroom is budgeted for its second furniture upfit since you arrived
* You remember when Xacto nicks and wax burns were part of the job
* Young reporters ask what it was like to use a typewriter. "How did you correct something if you mis-typed?"
* You remember the day a belly dancer came into the newsroom for a reporter's surprise birthday celebration and no one was brought up on sexual harassment charges
* You used to be able to find an ashtray in a newsroom
* You could cuss and not turn around to see a horrified tour group
* People you once fired are promoted elsewhere to higher position than yours
* People who left the newspaper business for another field are hiring your children
* You left television for newspapers only to find that your bosses want you to shoot video for online
* You remember when the trash cans were sheet metal and dented from the kicks some angry reporter or editor gave them
* A health club is where the newspaper bar down the street used to be
* You could give as good as you got to a complaining reader and not read about it on a blog
* After all these years, you finally agree with those old-fart retired editors talking fondly about the good ole days

Thankfully, the bottle in the bottom drawer is still there.

When I read Kory Dodd's story about Mayor Becky Smothers beginning chemo, my first reaction was that I was going to have to return a bunch of calls from readers upset that we had invaded her privacy by writing about her cancer.

Her cancer was an open secret around town. Kory explains the rest:

Once we learned the aggressive nature of the mayor's cancer, my editor (Lex) felt it was important to let readers know about it. My father was diagnosed with a form of leukemia -- a less aggressive cancer than what the mayor has -- in October, so I have an understanding of what she and her family may be going through. My father is very private about his leukemia, so I tried to be as sensitive as possible when I approached Mayor Smothers about writing the article. Her reaction surprised me. She was very enthusiastic about publicizing her illness. She said she wanted women to understand the importance of having routine mammograms, because without them her cancer would not have been diagnosed.

As Allen notes, that fits Smothers' big-hearted personality.

Not only did I not get any calls complaining, the city released a statement asking well-wishers to stop calling her at home today and to wait a few days as she recovers from the chemo. I'm glad to be proved wrong. Contrary to the impression that our letters to the editor may give you, people around here have a big generous heart.

I've often thought that there was a business for newspapers in answering bar bets. We get calls nightly from people we imagine are sitting in bars talking this trivia or that and turn to us for the answer. If we're busy, we think it's a nuisance; if we're not, it's something fun to do. In every case, we try to answer. Usually the questions are about some obscure sports record, but not this one I got this morning from a woman e-mailing from Port Saint Lucie, Fla.:

I am originally from Browns Summit and I am trying to find the answer to this question from a colleague of my husband's (he is from Summerfield.) He grew up at 1202 Hwy 150 near the intersection of Bronco Lane, Summerfield. The question is "Do you remember what Guilford College villain met his end in front of my house?" I have tried to find the answer on the internet, but to no avail. Do you or anyone on your staff know the answer?

Yep. Do you?

I had left the leadership conference before one of the participants asked, "Why does the News & Record play up the issues that divide us?" Allen answered it ably in my stead, but now that I'm here, I'm going to take a shot at it, too.

People see the world through their own lenses and from their own perspectives. What's divisive to one is healthy dialogue to another and is open airing of all sides to a third. Like, duh, right?

Newspapers are expected to hold the powerful accountable and to give voice to the voiceless. Putting aside the observation that we could do both of those better, the two goals cut directly to the issue about divisiveness. Giving voice to those who don't have political stature or financial influence often makes power uncomfortable. And it can appear divisive to those who disagree. (I can tell you that there were many powerful people at the conference who don't really have much problem getting their voices heard.)

I usually get the divisiveness criticism over two issues: economic development and race. Two examples of both:

I am a connector, according to the Pew Internet and American Life project survey. (Via Howard Owens.)

The Connectors' collection of information technology is used for a mix of one-to-one and one-to-many communication. They very much like how ICTs keep them in touch with family and friends and they like how ICTs let them work in community groups to which they belong. They are participants in cyberspace -- many blog or have their own web pages -- but not at the rate of Omnivores. They are not as sure-footed in their dealings with ICTs as Omnivores. Connectors suspect their gadgets could do more for them, and some need help in getting new technology to function properly.

I'd not have described myself that way; connectors seem way more advanced than I am. (I'm pleased to skew the age median, which is a frisky 38.)

You try.

Every editor sees stories every day that he/she wishes his/her own staff had done. Then there are those that we should have done, which we notice when another newspaper comes to town and gets it. This is one from the N&O.

Drivers caught rocketing along Guilford County highways at 100 mph or faster find forgiveness from Judge William "Pete" Hunter. From January 2002 through June 2006, Hunter granted twice as many free passes to fast drivers as any other District Court judge in the state. He gave "prayers for judgment continued" 101 times, or in 74 percent of the high-speed cases he heard.

It's an interesting position to be in here, defending the journalism of another newspaper when I have no first-hand knowledge of its sourcing or procedures, and I'm discussing it with others who know little of those things either.

Except for Wendell Sawyer, who weighs in with first-hand knowledge of how that particular court and judge works. Wendell's expertise advanced the discussion and has kept it, I think, from being the more typical point-blame-and-attack exchange. Thank you, Wendell, for contributing information that helps us understand the system and the story.

It is worth noting that Wendell isn't objective here. He practices before the judge and is an advocate for those who have been ticketed for speeding. I suspect it's possible he represented some of those in the N&O's database. Nothing wrong with that. Wendell has pointed that out himself in the spirit, I presume, of transparency.

Thanks to your comments, Ted Vaden, public editor of the N&O, discusses the series and your thoughts on his blog.

I don't think The N&O story was unfair to Judge Hunter. It gave him ample opportunity, including a lengthy question-and-answer sidebar, to explain his record. Hunter did not mention the fact that the Guilford DA won't reduce charges for speeding over 90 mph.

Still, I wish The N&O had included that information, which Guilford DA J. Douglas Henderson had told to N&O reporters in an interview. It would have given readers better perspective to understand Hunter's record. I also would like to have seen the DA quoted as to his feelings about Judge Hunter's PJC record. The N&O did point out, in a separate story, the Henderson has instructed his assistant DAs not to take a position on PJCs.

Also not included was the fact that the chief District Court judge in Guilford does not allow PJCs in his court, which makes Hunter's record stand out even more. Reporter Pat Stith said he didn't include that detail simply because he had much more information than he could include in the limited space for the story.

I was thinking of all this as I read about the Era of Gullibility 2.0 at CNET. With push-button publishing, publications no longer have a day's wait to break news -- a two-minute call to confirm a scoop can mean that another site breaks the news first. With the availability of so much information, and the ability to immediately connect with so many people and then broadcast a message, the online world has also proven to be a formidable engine for rumors. Some are true. Some aren't. Either way, the Web audience's appetite for gossip seems inexhaustible.

Followed by the soundest advice I've read today:

That means readers must adapt and be aware of the circumstances, said Sree Sreenivasan, a professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, who specializes in new media. "I read lots of journalism on blogs, and think that as with anything --with anything I read in any publication, print or on the Web -- I always am skeptical, and we've got to be skeptical about everything we see."

This photo, which was the centerpiece of the front page of our Sunday Sports section, shows that wonderful celebration that every sportsman wants to experience. It's also an example of patience and dumb luck on the part of our photographer, Jerry Wolford. (Were I he talking to my boss, I would have called the photo the result of skill and hard work, but Jerry called it dumb luck himself.)

Jerry had spent the entire day Saturday at the Bassmaster American watching lines cast but not much of anything caught. He was ready to call it quits when he heard a clatter roar from the crowd at a creek channel about 50 yards away. He turned, saw Fred Roumbanis pulling a taut line and imitated Justin Gatlin. (A pale imitation, but he sprinted nonetheless.)

Jerry dived onto the ground to get the best position and started shooting. (I'm picturing the James Bond shooting the villains while prone and airborne.) The moment he pressed the shutter release, Roumbanis pulled the day's biggest bass out of the water. More than six pounds. (Correction: his total catch was 14 pounds, 10 ounces.) And Jerry got the shot of the day.

Like a good boss, I asked him why he had wasted the entire day when he got the shot we needed in five minutes.

** I wasn't taking notes during this telling and I've asked Jerry to edit/polish this entry when he gets back in so I may have some updating to do.

Jerry adds: "The other thing to note is the fish was hooked in a way, right on the mouth, that made it likely to come off the hook. You can almost see the fear in the guys face as he was on the boat deck trying to land the thing.

"In a moment like this, when a fisherman exhibits this kind of excitement and exhileration, you know fishing is a sport and not just a way to spend the college fund on a boat. One of the purist sports photos I have ever made. I always say I would rather be lucky than good!"

Here. It's a soft launch as we make sure we get it bug-free. Also, I'm told that you can text "BNEWS" to 476669 (gsonow) to opt-in for the mobile breaking news alert.

In the too-much-information-category, I must tell you that by texting in, you will default to every day, all day long. If you want to change the days/times you need to use the Web site.

I am mystified at the thinking behind A&T's decision not to release the audit report. The school refused to provide it to us, calling it working papers. It clearly was a public document, which the UNC system affirmed when officials in Chapel Hill gave it to us.

Given how bad the findings are, I understand that A&T would like them to remain inside a file cabinet. but officials there surely couldn't think the audit would go away. I suppose it's naive to think that an academic institution would be more open than, say, a government. Maybe because that search for knowledge thing. But I'm obviously wrong here.

We traditionally have difficulty getting information of this sort from A&T. I guess that where there isn't a culture of openness and transparency, this is the norm. A shame. Now the new chancellor, Stanley Battle, moves from one school with a negative audit to another.

Earlier related post here.

"Why does the News & Record play up the issues that divide us?"

That question was asked by a member of the audience of One Guilford, the leadership symposium sponsored by the News & Record 10 days ago. (Read more about it in the Ideas section.)

I've learned to expect that question whenever more than two people get together to discuss civic affairs, and that day about 225 political and business leaders packed into the Hayworth Fine Arts Center at High Point University.

Normally, I respond to that question by asking the Democrats to raise their hands, then the Republicans. That pretty much makes the point that right-thinking people can disagree over the best course of action.

But I wasn't in the room when that question was raised so I will address it here.

Last Sunday, I wrote about a story I wished we'd done. This Sunday, there's another, although we had the photo inside the paper today.

An 11-year-old boy used a pistol to kill a wild hog his father says weighed a staggering 1,051 pounds and measured 9 feet 4, from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail. Think hams as big as car tires.

The hog's head is being mounted by Jerry Cunningham of Jerry's Taxidermy. Cunningham said the animal measured 54 inches around the head, 74 inches around the shoulders and 11 inches from the eyes to the end of its snout.

Sue is posting about ConvergeSouth 2007, so I'll add my support, not that she or Converge needs it. But mark the dates -- Oct. 19 & 20 at A&T.

The first year was good. Last year was better (and fuller). This year promises to be the best. Loren Feldman. Abdul Alkalimat. Jason Calcanis. And others yet to be announced.

Get ready!

I've been remiss in not welcoming another elected official to the blogosphere. It gives me another opportunity to encourage one, in this case T. Dianne Bellamy-Small, to embrace the form's potential.

City Council member Sandy Carmany and Register of Deeds Jeff Thigpen are excellent bloggers -- and Commissioner Skip Alston is proving to be one. They post positions, opinions and worthwhile information. They interact with commenters. They help me stay better informed. My sense is that they are performing valuable public and constituent service.

This is a big step for Bellamy-Small. She has not been the most responsive elected official, at least to us. She declines to speak with us directly and requires us to fax her questions, which she may or may not answer. And we aren't nearly as, shall we say, feisty as some of the people in the blogosphere.

I hope she stays with it and keeps an open mind about how she can blog and be a better city representative. We'll see. City Hall reporter Margaret Banks has already left her a question in the comments field.

(By the way, when I click on the nameplate on her blog, it sends me to Skip's. You might want to check on that Shu.)

We got an e-mail today that raises questions about our A&T coverage.

Apparently the News-Record is no longer a newspaper for the masses, but instead is focusing all too often on A&T University. I have no dog in the fight with A&T, but it seems there is too much focus on it.

Perhaps you should rename the paper, "THE A&T TIMES."

The writer doesn't even mention today's story, "A&T's recovery could take years."

For some reason, A&T in the paper is a lightning rod. The criticism seems to run the gamut. Some people don't like the school's ads on the comics pages. Others don't like photos we run sometimes. Now this. (It's clear the writer wants national news on his front page, but if the financial malfeasance at a local state institution isn't newsworthy, I don't know what is.)

So, I ask you, do we write about A&T too much?

We expected some blowback as a result of this story. After all, it involves high school baseball players getting ready for this weekend's state championship series, a citation for possession of alcohol, and a school decision that they hadn't literally violated athletic policy.

There was some sentiment that we shouldn't have published the story, that we should have given the two players a pass for a relatively minor mistake than could seriously affect their futures. There was also some feeling that the teenagers shouldn't play in the upcoming series and that the school should change its alcohol policy.

It is true that we don't normally publish misdemeanor citations for alcohol possession. But we featured this team as the centerpiece of the Sports front page one day last week. They are on the brink of the state championship. And, honestly, teenage drinking (and driving) is an issue in this county. (Yes, I know they hadn't actually drunk anything.)

In an editorial aside, it seems to me as if the school isn't following the spirit of its athletic policy. Either that, or there is a hole in the policy the size of a Barry Bonds homerun.