Ravings from the editor

The true test of a newspaper has always been the Sunday edition.

It's the one people have the most time to read, and the one journalists have the most time to report and write.

A good Sunday paper provides a mix of thought-provoking enterprise reporting, lively features -- and, of course, news about whatever happened on Saturday.

That's not what subscribers of the Tribune saw when they picked up yesterday's metro section.

This was a news section that I, in all likelihood, could have written, reported, photographed and edited singlehandedly in the course of a day or two. And I'm not boasting about my journalism chops.

There ain't nothing in it.

The Trib ran two items on the metro front, and neither of them was a news story.

One was a column by Mary Schmich. Fine -- she's always been a great read. But I'm pretty sure she'd agree her musings are best consumed in the company of actual news.

The second item, which ran under a ginormous photo and headline of two old folks (if you thought being old and sitting around at home was boring, try looking at a photo of it), was a lead-in to an inside...more

Some critics are calling for CNN to reassess its work with citizen journalists because one of them created an apparently erroneous report that Apple chief Steve Jobs had suffered a major heart attack.

Of course, nobody argued that Bloomberg News should conduct a head-to-toe reassessment of its newsgathering four weeks ago, when the service reported Jobs HAD ACTUALLY DIED.

I think it's great to discuss the benefits and drawbacks of traditional and new approaches to reporting. But it's important to apply some balance.

Lately, the discussion about citizen journalism seems to focus on individual miscues. And the critics never note that even the best newspapers can barf all over themselves in spectacular fashion. 

At the Daily News, we work with nearly 70 citizen journalists, and a handful of professional beat reporters. Correction rates are about the same for each.

You'll notice a few changes to the way we display news articles in the coming days.

We will be highlighting the excellent work of our crew of seasoned freelance beat reporters by including a tag line on their articles with a bit of information about their backgrounds. We'll also be changing their bylines to reflect the beats they cover.

For example, Paul Bowker, who produces the best coverage you'll find anywhere of the Chicago Public Schools, will now be credited as "Paul Bowker / Education reporter."

Similarly, we'll be spotlighting the great journalism produced by our volunteer neighborhood reporters by including tag lines that provide a bit of info about them.

We're examining the possibility of moving the Daily News offices sometime in the next few months.

Should we come to your neighborhood?

We're looking for an office located in a diverse, centrally located neighborhood with a supportive local business community. We're going to need about 1,000 square feet, and we need to be near bus and El stops.

If you've got suggestions, drop us a line.

Breaking up is hard to do. Especially when one of you is a blowhard sports columnist and the other is a flailing newspaper.

But the Sun-Times amazed me the other day by covering the departure of its biggest star with a three-line news brief.

Oprah's pedicures get more coverage than this.

Meanwhile, the Trib manages to provide full coverage, but tops it with a headline that mispells 'columnist.'

Some days are better than other in the news biz, I guess.

A prototype of the new Trib redesign leaked today.

Which raises the question: What would happen if the Tribune Co. took all the money wasted on redesigning its media properties and put it towards covering local news?

Wouldn't that be wild? The Trib could do stuff like send reporters to cover the Chicago Board of Education. And the Chicago Housing Authority. And the sewage district. It would almost be like a PAPER... filled with NEWS!

Imagine.

Imagine for a moment that it's 2005, and Dan Rather's just been canned as the CBS Evening News anchor.

Word on the street is that Trib managing editor Jim Warren is the latest Zell casualty, and that there's a bitter goodbye memo floating around the building.

Anyone want to send us a copy?

Ald. Gene Schulter is now on Facebook! Won't you be his friend?

The Huffington Post's Chicago page is up and running as of today.

I've talked with a ton of people over the past few weeks about what this might mean for Chicago, us, and HuffPo.

The answer is: Who knows?

In the short term, they'll be linking to our stories, along with those of lots of other Chicago independent media organizations. We're all likely to see a traffic bump, and a bunch of new readers can easily find our stories. It's a win for everyone.

In the long term, it's possible they could hire some reporters and compete against us.

But running an online local news operation is, frankly, a pain in the ass, and one that doesn't pay very well. You have to love local news and love Chicago to pull it off.

Only time will tell if that's an attractive proposition for a millionaire from New York.

Will the Sun-Times be the first major metro newspaper to fold this year?

Could happen.

The District 299 blog gave us a nice tip of the hat the other day, noting that we've got some of the city's best education coverage.

Of course, we're honored. But it's also concerning to look at our coverage of local schools vs. the Trib's in the context of this, which basically argues that America's newspapers are failing because they're run by buzzword-spouting blockheads who aren't focused on the fundamentals of journalism.

To that, I can only add this: The Chicago Tribune no longer regularly sends a reporter to the city's school board meetings.

Failing to cover the school board is like forgetting to show up for the game. It's basic, it's important, and it's really disturbing that Chicago's news organizations are failing to do it.

Times are tough at the Sun-Times, what with layoffs and a grim financial picture.

How's the paper deploying its limited reporting resources these days?

Writing and photographing hot Cubs fans. And hot White Sox fans.

Because... you know ... it's not like they could be covering actual news stories instead.

Another big newspaper publisher announced layoffs today. It's getting to the point where it's not even worth tracking this stuff -- best to just assume most newspapers will be skeletons of their former selves within five years or so.