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Show A few more ideas on newspapers1 goals the editor's column By MARC HADDOCK Jj Last week I spelled out how I felt about the mission of our newspapers newspa-pers in a statement prepared for the boss. My views are necessarily skewed towards the editorial part of our papers -- after all, that's what I work with all day long. But some of our other employees came up with statements of their own -- and I found copies of them. Our full-time office staffis made up of Jo Ann Nicholes, office manager; Dorothy Loveridge, circulation manager; and Barbara Christiansen, Chris-tiansen, classified ads manager. Each has her own ideas about what we should be doing. Here are some ideas from each. Barbara writes that once upon a time, "I joked that small-town newspapers contained only news like: 'Mrs. Jones' cow had a calf." Now Barbara, we haven't dealt in thatkindofnewsforalongtime, unless, of course, the calf had two heads. Here is what Barbara had to say about the news gathering and new reporting side of our operation: "The basic mission of a local newspaper would be to present the news in a fair and accurate manner, man-ner, enlighteningtheresidentsand enriching them. "It provides the 'glue' to cement the lives of individuals into a community, com-munity, and to give that community commu-nity an identity. "What is newsworthy is determined deter-mined by the actual influence on the people involved, and the influence influ-ence they can have on it. "With a local newspaper, citizens citi-zens see that each individual is aries, individual and community awards, etc. "We need to create a paper that people in the community will want to read sufficiently enough to subscribe sub-scribe to it and in turn the number num-ber of subscribers the paper has is in direct correlation to the number of businesses who will want to advertise in the hometown newspaper news-paper ... "We need to reach, at some point, the interests of all the residents resi-dents be it farming, sports, church, school, business, politics, hunting, housekeepingor whatever; in other words I feel the news should be varied as much as possible." You get the idea. The people who work here take a very personal interest in the news of our paper, because they recognize that it is important to you. This is how Jo Ann says it: "I feel that the mission of our papers is to help each community grow by providinghometown news, reported by people who live in north Utah County and who really care about the things they are writing writ-ing about. "We need to create a feeling that we, the people who live here, are important enough to have our names and pictures in the paper. Larger newspapers don't care about such things ..." Enough about the news. This is what Dorothy had to say about the newspaper circulation: "People should be able to depend on the delivery of the newspaper. They should alsofeel that the paper belongs to the community, just like the schools and churches do." Dorothy backs up her words with hard work and meticulous attention to detail. If someone calls to complain about not getting a paper, the postmaster gets a call within minutes and the problem is worked out. And our advertisers received some attention as well. Barbara put it this way: "In a local paper, advertising also contributes greatly to the character char-acter of the paper and the community. commu-nity. "The merchants and workers are friends and neighbors. Advertising Adver-tising is very important to the local stores and services, but often the overworked owners and managers don't have the time, training or commitment to do what needs to be done. "A paper's sales representative becomes almost a part of local businesses to help them m ake decision deci-sion so they can grow." Jo Ann says the papers' mission is "to help local stores stay in business busi-ness by providing rates they can afford. And also to reach the local people so they will shop in our towns." Finally, here are a couple of closing clos-ing statements: Barbara: "All departments in the organization of our papers are vital to the success of each other. If any one is neglected, all are eventually eventu-ally hurt." Dorothy: "We all should feel proud to say, This is my hometown paper,' no matter where we might currently reside." Indeed, we hope you all feel that way. important and can make a difference differ-ence in the quality of living for themselves and their neighbors. "Accuracy is always important, but it is extremely vital in smaller communities. When you read about someone in Washington, you take it with a grain of salt ... "On a local level, what is said is sometimes taken as the 'gospel' truth." Dorothy has a very hometown approach to the news. Here are some of her ideas: "I feel the primary purpose of a hometown newspaper is to create community bonds and provide a historic record of our community. "I feel this can be accomplished by reporting local news, news of interest to local residents and publishingpersonal news, i.e. birth announcements, weddings, obitu- |