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Talk with the Editor: Making a better newspaper

A few weeks ago, I asked you for ideas of things we might do to improve the Daily Herald, and it was so good to hear so many constructive suggestions. We’ve also conducted an extensive survey with subscribers that provided some great insights into what many of you value.

So today, I want to provide a status update.

A team of editors is going over those suggestions and the survey results to try to determine what we might institutionalize to continue to make the Daily Herald coverage more meaningful. Before the summer is out, we intend to begin introducing some of these improvements.

Here’s what we’re hearing:

Meaningful local news is king. No matter how much of it we do, we can’t do enough of it. More watchdog reporting certainly. But also, there’s great interest in local business, entertainment, food and health and fitness news — not just news about government, which is important, but in essence, also news on how we live our lives.

The emailed Afternoon Alerts and breaking news alerts are helpful, and many of you want more of them.

Some of you suggested regular feature of some sort on hobbies, building a structure for reader tips, more profiles of neighbors you should know, the suburban single lifestyle, doing a better job of covering charities and offering readers a chance to help the community.

Can we add more depth to the opinion pages, especially as it pertains to local issues? Someone suggested, for instance, that we provide a regular point-counterpoint column.

We do a good job of celebrating good students; can we do a better job of celebrating good teachers too?

The tone of the online commenting’s gotten better; are there ways we can improve it further?

These are just some of the things our editors are looking into.

As always, please let me know what you think.

(We encourage you to talk with the editor by clicking on the Comments widget and providing your response to today’s column. We want a provocative discussion but one that also abides by general rules of civility ... Please also consider friending John on Facebook by searching John Lampinen Daily Herald and following him on Twitter @DHJohnLampinen.)

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