News
Sports
Features
Photography
Awards
News Guide
news-record.com
Frequently
Asked Questions about the News Department
What
is your purpose?
The purpose of the News & Record is to be the most used
and most trusted source of news, information and dialogue in the communities
we serve.
What
communities do you serve?
We primarily circulate in Guilford, Randolph, Rockingham, Alamance,
Chatham and Davidson counties. We go where we need to go to cover the
news that we think readers in those communities are interested in.
Who
decides what news and feature stories get in the paper?
Stories pour into the News & Record computers 24 hours a day.
They come from our own reporters and from a variety of state and national
wire services. Every afternoon, a variety of editors meet to discuss
the news of the day and to decide which stories are most newsworthy
or interesting to our readers. We consider several factors, including:
how much the story will affect our readers; the importance of the story
to the community; the relative interest of the story; the other stories
competing for the same space; and the timeliness of the story.
Ultimately the news stories selected reflect the experience and judgments
of editors.
Sometimes
headlines don’t seem to match what the story says. Why are headlines
sometimes off the mark?
Headlines are written by editors, who read each story and attempt
to distill its essence into a few words. Sometimes it is difficult to
capture the meaning of the story in the few words available. Occasionally
ambiguity is unintentionally included in a headline.
Headlines are not written by reporters. Because the headlines are written
late in the evening, when the location and available space for the headline
is determined, most reporters do not know what the headline says.
I
saw a story in my friend’s copy of the News & Record that wasn’t
in mine. What’s up with that?
The News & Record publishes four editions. Readers in Randolph
County, Rockingham County, High Point and Greensboro get different editions.
Each edition is geared to the interests of readers in that specific
geographic area. That is, a story pertaining to Asheboro will be prominently
displayed in the Randolph edition. It will be replaced by a story from
Greensboro or High Point in other editions. However, the News &
Record believes that readers are interested in their neighbors, so much
of the B section in the newspaper is filled with news from the Triad
region.
Is
there a distinction between the editorial pages and the rest of the
newspaper?
The News & Record prides itself on its independence. Advertisers,
businesses and politicians do not influence news coverage or editorial
philosophy. Neither does the editorial philosophy influence news coverage
or vice versa.
The editor of the newspaper, John Robinson, is responsible for the news
content of the entire newspaper, except the daily editorial page, the
op-ed page and the Sunday Ideas section. Those are edited by Allen Johnson,
the editorial page editor. Both Robinson and Johnson report to Van King,
the president and publisher of the News & Record.
Robinson and Johnson rarely discuss news coverage with each other and
never discuss editorial positions. It is inappropriate for either to
involve himself in the other’s department.
How
do I comment on or complain about something in the paper?
There are essentially two avenues. You may call, write or e-mail
the reporter who wrote the story or the editor. Or you may write a letter
to the editor. The News & Record welcomes letters on topics of public
interest. You must include your name, home street address and a daytime
phone number. The maximum length is 250 words. All letters are subject
to editing. We will not publish unsigned letters.
By mail:
Letters to the Editor, The News & Record, P.O. Box 20848, Greensboro,
NC 27420
By fax: (336) 373-7067
By e-mail: edpage@news-record.com
Why
does the News & Record make mistakes?
It pains us to make errors. We know that readers expect us to
understand and practice the rules of spelling and grammar. But the News
& Record is written and edited by human beings, who aren’t flawless.
Some errors are caused by intense time pressures. Others are because
a source gave us wrong information. Others, because we just weren’t
thinking. Our policy is to correct our errors as soon as we can confirm
the correct information.
Why
doesn’t the News & Record print corrections in the same place as
the original story?
Corrections are run on page 2. Putting them in one place rather
than where the original story ran gives readers a consistent place to
look.
Sometimes
stories will say they will be continued on another page, but when I
turn there, the rest of the story isn’t there. What’s happened?
Stories are moved around from edition to edition. Some stories
appear in four different layouts each night. Occasionally, an editor
will move the first part of the story, but will forget the second part.
When that happens, we publish the entire story the next day.
