Washington Times sports

If the section is facing the space issues many others are, something has to give, though.

 

We run agate some days (maybe 4 out of 7 days) because we are limited in space as well (we're a 18K community daily), and readers have not said a word. With that space where agate would go is local content. We've been doing this for about 3 years now and no one has said, "Where's my damn baseball standings and box scores?" I'm not saying they're not important, but given our circumstance, we've decided it's not THAT important unless readers tell us otherwise.

 

I don't understand that line of thinking.

You either run agate, or you don't.

You can't sometimes run it. Your readers need to know that when they pick up the paper daily if it'll be there.

When I buy Twinkies, I know the creme filling will be there. I don't wonder if Hostess will decide to leave something out of the product in one out of three cases.

 

"Agate is too important to cut" is another of those ideas based in newspapers' heyday and clung to by people who are too afraid to get out of their comfort zone than try something new. The ship may be sinking, but at least I've got my favorite seat!

 

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Twinkies.

Congrats, Moddy!

 

There's a copy of the sports front on the @sportsdesigner twitter feed.

 

You can see the cover on SportsDesigner's Facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/SportsDesignercom/105888478940

 

Not running agate will not get you new readers, and it gyps the readers who are sticking with you. A big part of the problem with newspapers over the last decade is trying to make them something other than a newspaper. Then you create a situation where you are trying to attract a clientele that was never going to choose you, in a way that causes those who are loyal to waver. It's not a matter of comfort zone or somesuch. It's a matter of letting a newspaper be a newspaper, for those who are inclined to stick with newspapers, and there are still millons of such folks out there.

 

But if the choice comes down to agate vs. staff copy in an increasingly tight newshole, I'm choosing the copy every time.

 

You might be basing your choice on your personal preferences rather than what the reader wants. Running more staff copy isn't "getting out of your comfort zone." It's what you are comfortable doing.

(Dooley sums this up well, above.)

 

Wrong. I'm well aware of the penchant for people basing their sections on what they want, ignoring the readers. I'm not a fan of agate in cramped sports sections, but I understand it may be vital to the readership. It may not be, though. All those readers Dooley referred to aren't reading the same paper they were decades ago. Even during newspapers' heydays, they evolved significantly. I'm sure the same arguments were made decades ago when the design of newspapers began to alter dramatically. That didn't drive away "those readers." The newspaper has never been a static entity. Why should it be now, when everyone's searching for answers?