Reader upset with coverage decisions

Annual women’s awards was highlighted days after the event because of time constraint

By Sandra Duerr

Q:I breathlessly await your rationale for your woefully under-reported 2008 Cuesta Women of Distinction Awards and the occasion at which they were honored yesterday (April 24). It can’t

be that it was already covered by a 2-inch mention of the 10 women in our community … These women enrich the lives of our community on a daily basis and touch every corner of our micro-society. In the past, you have run a full-page spread, with a short bio on each of these 10 amazing women. Who determined that such coverage was excessive or unnecessary? You totally blew it.

—Naomi Blakely

A: Indeed, the annual Cuesta Women of Distinction Awards honor those who have made significant contributions throughout our county. We did publish short stories and pictures of all the award winners in a major spread on Page 3 of our Local section Thursday. (After reading it, Blakely called to thank us.) It is often difficult to produce such packages the day after an event because of the time it takes to collect the information— and still cover all of the other stories that our readers expect. In this particular case, we simply didn’t have the time to produce it immediately.

As a side note, we are asked routinely by many organizations to promote or cover their event. While we would love to cover every one, we simply lack the time and people to do so; instead, we determine what to cover based on an event’s reach and impact in our communities.

Q: Why does The Tribune Editorial Board endorse a Pismo sales tax increase of only half of 1 percent? Why not publicly encourage the City Council to round the total to 8 percent, 8.5 percent or even 9 percent? Imagine all the additional money flowing into city coffers to fund more parking meters, employee salary/pension increases and maybe filling a few pot-holes. Since 80 percent of the money would be from tourists, certainly the board would approve of such an (insignificant) increase.

—Charles Grover Thurston, Avila Beach

A: We urged Pismo Beach residents to approve the half-cent sales tax increase for two main reasons. First, it’s the increase being sought by government leaders. Second, it would give Pismo the same sales tax that neighboring communities have—and a sales tax that would be equal to or less than the sales tax paid by 85 percent of the state’s residents. A higher tax could be a deterrent to tourists.

Q: In the movie about Watergate, editors hashed out what news they were going to run on the front page. Do you do that and if so, when? And how many people are involved in those meetings?

—Gary Dove, Rotary Club of Los Osos

A: We meet at least twice a day on weekdays and once on weekends, barring major breaking news when we meet more often. The local news editor, managing editor, presentation editor, online news producer and I initially huddle about 10:30 a. m. to discuss the day’s top stories, what we envision going online and what the next day’s front page may look like. We also get an update on our online traffic and which stories are attracting the most interest on our Web site, www.SanLuisObispo.com . We meet more formally at 2:15 p. m. with representatives from each news desk (business, sports, features and wires, too), as well as our copy editors and page designers—about 10 to 12 people. Most of our decisions about the front page are made at this time. But we typically make the last call about 6 p. m. after we’ve had a chance to review the top state, nation and world stories that are just beginning to move on our wire services. After this, we review the front page as it is being designed to make sure the stories and photos are displayed where we think they should be.

If major breaking news occurs after this, some — or all — of this planning gets thrown out—and we start over, on deadline.

Do you have a question about the newspaper, our Web site or our coverage? If so, please write me c/o The Tribune, P. O. Box 112, San Luis Obispo, CA, 93406-0112, or e-mail me at sduerr@thetribunenews.com . You can also check out our editors’ blog at sanluisobispo.com.