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Most Recently Answered Questions
Questions 21 - 30 of 491 (Page 3 of 50)Submitted by Rick Thames from Charlotte, NC
Q:Here is the answer to a question commonly asked by people who need to interact with our newsroom. "How do I know who to contact with my information or idea?"
A: If you work inside a newsroom, it's easy to miss how mysterious it can look from the outside. But I regularly counsel very savvy citizens -- some even communications professionals -- who are unsure how to negotiate a newsroom for their needs. Here's help. Go to the home page of CharlotteObserver.com. Click on the "Contact Us" tab at the top of the page and go down to "staff listing." There you will find a comprehensive directory of the Observer's executives, followed by a detailed listing of people and their roles in our newsroom. If you are still unsure of what do do,contact me. You can send me a question here. Or you can email me at rthames@charlotteobserver.com or call at 704-358-5001. I'm also on Facebook and twitter.
Submitted by john Krug from davidson nc
Q:Rick, why does the Observer post the NYSE average and not the DJIA on the website? Every other news or financial site I frequent shows the DJIA.
A: John, a web site must pay under contract to post the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It formerly appeared on our site under a contract that covered multiple sites for our parent company, McClatchy. That contract expired and was not renewed. We are now exploring renewing it separately for CharlotteObserver.com. In the meantime, we are making a special effort to post news stories about the Dow on our web site's business page. As I write this, a story is posted there now recapping the Dow's daily performance.
Submitted by Rick Thames from Charlotte, NC
Q:Editor's turn to ask a question. Want to know how you can throw your weight around in Tuesdays primary runoff elections?
A: Vote. This time around, youll be a powerbroker. North Carolinas elections chief tells Observer reporter Jim Morrill that turnout for the states runoff could hit an all-time low fewer than two percent of registered voters. Stunned? So am I. Among the races decided will be the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate and the Republican nomination for the 8th Congressional District. Youll find stories on those races in Sundays editions. Turnout will be much better in South Carolina, where Republican candidates for governor are in a runoff. But the number of voters still wont come close to that of a typical election. Thats the bad news, especially if you champion self-government. Far too many people are about to leave the governing to others (and some of these same people will grouse about their elected leaders the next day). The good news? People like you, people who are paying attention, will see their votes magnified. If N.C. predictions hold true, your vote will be the equivalent of 50 votes from the pool of all registered voters. Take along a spouse or a friend and its like a block of 100 votes. Fill the car with neighbors and . . . well, you get the idea. Heres another positive. Youve been reading. You know something about the people who are running. When you go to the polls, you wont be checking off names unfamiliar to you. Youll make considered choices. Lets hope that someday more people will be as engaged as you are. Until then, its important that the citizens who are paying attention get to the polls every time there is an election. Heres hoping youll be one of them.
Submitted by Tim Theesfeld from Charlotte, NC
Q:Why do you use the half, or less, pages for the print copy of the paper ? It makes it impossible to hold the paper. You have to lay it down. It is a pain. The paper today contained two of the short pages.
A: Tim, the half-page you refer to is known in our industry as a spadea. In recent years, this concept has caught the interest of advertisers. These half pages do not appear very frequently. When they do, readers notice them, especially when they are folded over the front page or a section front. This draws more attention to the ad. That's good for advertisers, who pay more than 70 percent of the cost of producing the newspaper. But we also want the experience to be good for readers. I agree that it's not easy to hold the spadea together with the paper as you turn pages. That's why we design these half pages so readers can easily pull them off and continue reading their newspaper as usual. So, feel free to do just that when you get one. I should also note that the design of our press requires us to feature spadeas on two sections at a time. That's why you found one on both the A section and the sports section on Friday. We are taking advantage of the feature in sports to produce keepsake poster pages of the first three drivers to enter NASCAR's Hall of Fame. Most readers of that section appear to appreciate the added coverage of these drivers. Thanks for the question.
Submitted by Jane Crutchfield from Charlotte, NC
Q:On-line newspapers from many other cities include photos with their obit - why does the Observer not include them on-line? Thank you.
A: Jane, I think we SHOULD have photos. I checked with our new vice president for interactive media, Ken Riddick, and he agrees, too. It will take some development work on the site to accomplish that, and that task is now on a list of to-dos for site improvements. Thanks for your good suggestion!
Submitted by Warren from Belmont, NC
Q:Hello Mr. Thames: Why do we see the weekly "Party Pictures" on the front page of the website? It's not really newsworthy who is out getting drunk and where they are doing it. Please reconsider. Thanks!
A: Warren, Party Pics is a feature depicting scenes in Charlotte's nightlife. People dress up, head out for a night of fun and are more than happy to pose for a photographer while they are having a good time with friends. It doesn't get any deeper than that. Yet, this feature is wildly popular with our online audience. It consistently attracts a large number of page views. Obviously, readers find these photos to be fun, too. Sometimes, people photographed are holding drinks (most are inside nightclubs, after all). But that's not the point of the feature. It's simply meant to offer glimpses of people having a nice time. By the way, a home page is somewhat different from a printed newspaper's front page. The most obvious difference is that it changes several times a day. That fluidity is one reason why you are apt to see a variety of topics of interest to readers on the home page, including some that you might not expect to see on a traditional front page.
Submitted by Sharon Bennett from Charlotte, NC
Q:When it concerns the elections, by what method does the Observer gather their information when endorsing candidates? In the past your success rate is not accurate and your endorsements are as if someone whispered in your ear what to put down it is so obvious. You've seemed to put certain candidates on a pedestal, while other candidates get nothing but negative press. Being on the outside and someone who has a considerable amount of history of issues such as the courts of Mecklenburg County, why would you not want information that would discredit your reports. If it is solely to not get involved with ongoing cases, that should not stop the Observer from printing and endorsing the public's view. Smearing a candidate or elected officials is not necessarily the truth, but it appears that the Observer will do what ever someone is telling you; other than the general public. After contacting numerous reporters at the observer and getting no where to prove this theory, at what time and year will the Observer report the truth regarding our courts? I've been told that your papers' position is to not get sued; a very poor excuse to sidestepping the truth.
A: Sharon, you clearly have some strong views about the courts, although I don't pick up any specifics here. Without that, it's hard to address your question as to when "will the Observer report the truth regarding our courts?" I do know this. Many people who are unhappy about their experiences in the courts contact us, hoping that we will see their point. We aren't able to investigate every case that comes our way, but we do keep an eye out for situations that are publicly relevant. Very often, what we hear isn't of general concern to the public, though it means a great deal to a particular individual. Now, back to your first question. Our editorial board actively attempts to interview candidates in person, or at least correspond with candidates to understand their views and qualifications. I don't know of any other local news organization that does this. The board doesn't expect readers always to agree with its endorsements. But readers can know that they have been carefully researched. I appreciate that. A lot of others do, too.
Submitted by Nancy Smaragdis from Charlotte NC
Q:Your 4-20-10 reply "There came a trend in the newspaper industry to 'anchor' various features of the paper in the same place each time they ran. The theory was that this made it easier for readers to find that feature every day." Why does this NOT apply to Dr. Graham, ASK AMY, Bridge, "Horriblescope", SUDOKU, CROSSWORD, WUZZLES, JUMBLE, and last but not least, COMICS ????? (A little levity amidst all the serious stuff! But, THIS is serious when the COMICS/FEATURES page is included with the SPORTS page !!!)
A: Well, Nancy, you've got me there! Yes, we do sometimes move the comics. We also sometimes move the weather package. If all things were equal, we'd anchor both of those features. But variations in our press configurations throughout the week require us to stay flexible. If we weren't, we'd waste significant amounts of newsprint (the paper we print on). Here is what we try to do in all circumstances. We keep the weather package on the back page of the section where it appears. And we keep the comics on the two consecutive pages that are next to the last page of that section. We hope that this much consistency helps you quickly locate these features. Another help is the index on the front page. The page numbers for weather and comics (except Sunday, when comics are a separate section) are there.
Submitted by Donald Latham from Charlotte NC
Q:I'm constantly perplexed by individuals who are ready to pop veins in their necks because of their perception of bias in The Observer. These folks act as if there were a constitutional requirement or some law that required 'neutral' presentations within a publication; it's as if they want the First Amendment to be rewritten or a media review agency to regulate news reporting. Anyway, those folks who think The Observer is too liberal: head for the Wall Street Journal, either online or the print version. Now there's a newspaper that makes no apologies for being slanted as to what it presents and how it presents as news reporting.
A: I believe that we should be neutral in the sense that we keep an open mind and consider all perspectives. But neutrality should not become an impediment to arriving at the truth. String together enough facts and you have the basis for a conclusion. To avoid expressing that conclusion is to cloud the truth. That doesn't help anyone.
Submitted by Bill Lynch from Matthews, NC
Q:Rick: Has anyone responded to your challenge to locate bias on the front page? I love that you responded to their assertions and distortions with a call for factual proof. Once we remove the emotion and hyperbole from the discussion and begin conversing in a mature and logical manner, we will begin to find common ground and real solutions. Thanks!
A: No, Bill, I have not heard back from that reader. In a question that follows this one, you'll see that another reader thought he detected bias in our run of political stories, but that appears to be yet another misunderstanding. I'm sure that someone will soon cite a specific that could be argued as bias, and I'll be happy to discuss it. But the assertion that bias is on display every day on our front page is exactly what you call it: hyperpole. The sooner we move on from that sort of exaggeration, the better it will be for civil discourse in our community and our country.
