Chip Minemyer

By Chip Minemyer
CNHI News Service

Letters to the editor are among the most important part of any newspaper. That’s why we’re launching a new program to celebrate the best offerings from our readers.
The pulse of a community can be taken in the words of those short but important commentaries.
What is on people’s minds?
What do people think and care about?
You can find that out by reading letters to the editor.

Chrysler's business problems affected Kokomo, Ind., long before the company filed for bankruptcy at the end of April. The city of about 46,000 people, home to four Chrysler factories, closely followed news of the company's business woes. When the automaker finally declared bankruptcy, it suspended production in all of its plants.

The Kokomo Tribune has covered the story largely through the eyes of locals affected by it. In a Q-and-A, Tribune Managing Editor Jeff Kovaleski discusses how this major national story affects his city and how his newsroom has reacted.

Fredie Carmichael

By Fredie Carmichael
CNHI News Service

MERIDIAN, Miss. — I recently found myself doing something I never thought I'd be doing in print journalism: telling people about road closures and school closings in front of a live Web cam.

Even though I have a broadcasting degree and have visited the University of South Carolina Newsplex — a research lab for new and converging media — my forte is writing.

That's my love. And even though I once wanted to be a sports broadcaster, I still never imagined a day where The Meridian Star would be broadcasting live via the internet.

Carol Stark

Says Carol Stark, editor of The Joplin, Mo., Globe:
Readers asked for a daily Sudoku puzzle and we found that for very little money we were able to add one. It is paginated into our classified sections.
It made our readers very happy. I continue to be amazed by what readers want.
Anyway, I thought it would be fun this week to mention the new puzzle and do a little history on how newspapers got into the business of crosswords and other puzzles.
What I found was very relevant to the times of today.

Editors, are you having conversations with your readers? Norman Transcript Editor Andy Rieger in Oklahoma answers readers’ questions in the newspaper.

Rieger’s recent ‘Letter to the Readers’:

A reader questioned, why so much coverage of the Westboro Baptist Church’s protest in Moore this week? Believe me, we questioned it, too.
The church, and we use that term loosely, routinely pickets at soldier funerals and for some odd reason chose to protest at Moore High School Monday afternoon. The protesters were outgunned about 600 to six, according to our reporters there.