Wow! What a daunting task. But it looks like y’all’ve done a great job. Looks very clean while still having lots of content and stories on the home page like I enjoy. Well done! Will there be someplace for us to submit usability issues after the rollout?
Enter your comments here Why couldn’t the change coincide with the stopped delivery of the print edition to the “hinterlands”? You sure know how to confuse folks.
I am hoping you can delete older news stories from the home page on a more timely basis. I am a little perturbed when I click on a story only to have the dateline say it happened 3 or 4 months ago. Furthermore, your coverage of anything to do with intown Atlanta is sorely lacking. I rarely see stories that have anything to do with my area of the city. Yes, there are many readers in the city…it annoys us there is not adequate coverage of city life.
Nice redesign. It’s good to see that the leaderboard ad has been removed. Would it be easy to add a few more elements for weather, such as today’s high and tonight’s low, just to the right of current temperature? The Weather Channel does that in their IE toolbar. It would be nice to show a small image of current doppler as well. Okay so I’m a weather junkie.
“Private Quarters” as the top photo nearly every time I hit ajc.com? Come on, what are y’all, a newspaper or Atlanta Magazine Homes?? Gimmie some news, not posh spaces of the monocle crowd!
I’ll definitely watch for the changes, but from the mock-up you’ve provided, I really don’t see much that’s being altered. Everything looks basically the same. What am I missing or not seeing? Thanks.
How about making it easier to find message boards on your site? Whenever i post something to a “discuss” forum i can never find the same discussion forum a couple of hours later that i just posted to.
Very nice. I’ve emailed several times saying your design needs to be refreshed and suggested you look at WashingtonPost.com as a guide, which it looks like you did. I visit the Post’s site daily and love their home page. In comparison, ajc.com was a huge disappointment. Thanks for listening to reader feedback. I can’t wait for the new design to launch!
Thanks for the much needed redesign. I’m not sold on the logo image or the colors of the logo. Thought you had a good thing going with the AJC Circle. Make sure navigation works fast on slower computers/connections unlike ESPN’s new design. I can’t believe they almost made that site unusable. Looking foward to seeing the udpate.
This looks really, really good! Couple of things I would suggest is to make the video table horizontal with the Inside AJC.com table. I would put a picture or graphic tease in the area that how has the video table. I would even take that space to promo print product (which I think you all would consider taboo, but you’ll be surprised what traffic that would bring. Oh, and I would move MundoHispanico ad under the new Buzz feature.
Overall, very good navigation and usability. Thanks!
Could you redo your jobs site? I’m someone outside your now-shrunken delivery area and I think your partnership with HotJobs stinks. I KNOW there are far more jobs printed in the paper than actually make it onto your website.
I think your current design is fine. Much easier than many including the New York Times which I read often on the internet. Sometimes “change” in not always for the better. On another AJC matter, I am not happy that you have eliminated the Saturday LTE’s. You have also greatly “cut back” om the size of the Sunday LTE’s. I admit that I have a “bias” in this LTE thing, I have written around 400 of them to the paper in the last seven years.
Since the ajc newspaper circulation area has continued to get smaller ajc.com is my only option. I can adjust to any format. I hope that the business section is totally revised.
In the current section news that is several months old fills most of the space. News items six months to a year old is not news anymore, only space filler. Please give us more current news.
I hope that as part of the new design we will see more true news stories featured on the home page and less about every move some hip hop star or desperate housewife makes. I read several major newspapers online daily and none of them devote anywhere near as much home page attention to entertainers. Stick to the news affecting peoples lives on the homepage and leave the entertainment stories in accessatlanta. I do like the new design by the way.
Thanks for the great comments and suggestions, they are extremely useful in helping us to improve the site. Many of the issues we have worked on in this rollout are issues that readers have suggested.
In my work – as part of the online design and user experience group – we had three main goals for this iteration of the site design.
- To clean up the design
- Make the site load faster
- Make navigating content easier
Keep in mind we are constantly making upgrades to the site (some visible and some behind the scenes to improve functionality and page loading times). We have many other design upgrades rolling out this year that will continue the design improvements throughout ajc.com.
Weather: BG and Lisa, we realize weather is very important to readers and have some major enhancements planned, unfortunately they won’t be ready in this iteration – so stay tuned.
Logo: Nick, in regards to the logo, there were other logo versions that we had worked on but there was a branding decision to go with a consistent logotype for the ajc brand.
Wow, a few new graphics with no real change. Even after a redesign, AJC.com is still one of the ugliest newspaper Web sites on the Internet. It must’ve taken an incredible amount of time and energy to come up with something that is essentially the same as before – a clutter of advertising and pint size hyperlinks jammed onto the screen. The opening line of your redesign meeting must have been “How can we possibly get all of these headlines and ads crammed into the smallest block possible?”
The reason I feel bad for papers like the AJC is that your revenue plan has turned into something that is almost solely based on advertising with no regard to content/substance. For every link you have on your home page, users can click onto pages that are equally cluttered and ad-chaulked. The more graphics you have distracting the readers, the less likely any news is going to be read. And that raises the utlimate question – what is the point of AJC.com to begin with?
Promote your stories more with longer (or any) lede lines; don’t rely on the headlines by themselves. If you’re trying to attract new business or residents to the city, then start by cleaning up the AccessAtlanta pages for dining and theater. And for God’s sake, keep anything that qualifies as a story for “The Buzz” in that box and off the top stories list. It’s embarassing when the two categories – ACTUAL news, and entertainment – get mixed.
And next time you try to redesign the Web site, look at your competition before settling.
There are eight questions and 8 different forms on the page. When a visitor clicks “vote” it’s only for the single question and you have to click vote eight different times. There’s no session state either, so there’s no way to view multiple results on the same page.
Why not just have 8 radio collections and one form on the page? That way someone can answer all the questions at once and view all the results at once.
Also, the flash polls tied to the photo galleries have been broken for a long time. Vote on one question and it won’t let you vote again.
I would like either the time the past was last updated or something similar to MSNBC.com that says last updated x hours/minutes ago. I basically keep a browser window open to AJC all day and it would be nice to see if it had updated. Thanks!
Oops, that should be “page” and not “past” above. I was thinking about the time in the past when the page was updated and the fingers led a magic life all their own.
I feel like the redesign has a lot of potential…however, I still feel like the page is too cluttered. Is it really necessary for you to show 5-6 linked stories under each section on the bottom part of the page? There must be some way to simplify that, especially since you’ve already got the headings up in the top of the page. I also would like to echo the suggestion that tells us how long ago the story was last updated (this is important for breaking news).
Scott, thanks for acknowledging my weather suggestions. I look forward to the new launch. Someone had referenced the ESPN site. I agree that it’s slick yet difficult to navigate, and attribute most of the difficulty to lack of familiarity.
A few of you have mentioned wanting stories to include timestamps, later this year ajc.com is moving to a more powerful content management system that has that capability. Until then most stories (unless it’s a big breaking story) won’t have a timestamp. One other nice feature, we will also be able to have multiple templates, for example on stories having the option to include a video or larger photos.
The logo is awful. No heart, no soul, no history at all. Look at the Chicago Tribune, LA Times, NY Times, etc. Great newspapers don’t disown their past and ditch the look that people know in print. Regain your identity, folks!
The overall look is clean and fresh, and seems to be clutter free. The logo is very whimpy,cheap and a bit cheesy looking.I mean baby blue and that font?? ugh!
Love the new look. Glad to see the Hollywood Buzz not so “Front and Center” I was beginning to lose respect for you guys as a viable news source. Thanks for the new look, and I notice the sports stories better now.
Sucks, but I would guess a 14 yr old with html/css experience could have done it in 15 minutes. Just like the printed version, becoming more irrelevant each & every day.
The AJC is completely forgetting that they are the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and they have some history here. The newspapers that will make it out of this mess that they’re in are the ones that are not completely alienating their base with weaker content. What is the AJC offering readers and advertisers except a different logo and newsroom layoffs? Someone called me and told me they were from AJC Media Solutions. It sounds like a start up joke of a company.
LOVE the new format – clean, easy to read, and best of all it loads so much faster! I hated waiting for all the “fancy” graphics and navigation tools to load before – just give me the news!
Well I guess all of those branding compaigns were jsut spent on air?? For years you pushed the circle AJC and now this. I guess the AJC is just like Pepsi in changing their logo. Does it go with the changing of publishers but better yet please change executive editors, sorry but enough is enough. Looks like you hijacked the idea from another local paper.
Not at all impressed. Any student could have done as well.
STILL OBJECT TO THE FACT THAT NOWHERE DOES THE AJC, IN ANY WAY CONSIDER THAT DOUGLAS, PAULDING & THE WESTERN COUNTIES EVEN EXIST.
Nah, I don’t like it. Where are all of the choices? The county and local sections. I feel like I’m lost. Bring the old format back. An what is up with that simpleton logo? Its HORRIBLE.
the new layout is definitely an improvement.. it’s modern and user-friendly, and unlike before, it now feels professional. the new logo, however, is like an attempt at a “retro-looking” logo that only looks old.
The new design is good, but the logo is washed-out looking. The two shades of blue are not complimentary to each other. It’s bland, amateurish, and irritating.
The new format is confusing. I liked the old one. I, too, am tired of seeing the same outdated stories week after week. Private quarters? It is just a way for real estate agents to list their listings. Please defer them to the real estate section. I am interested in news worthy stories. I could careless about the latest escapade of some “celebrity”. Last but not least…where is the vent?
What lunkhead decided to eliminate the Opinion page from the links above the header? Is Entertainment worthy of inclusion, but Opinion deserving of deletion? Send this new publisher back to Florida or Ohio or wherever he came from. The guy has turned an attractive format into a so-so design I would expect to see in the Rome News-Tribune, not the AJC.
I love it! Thanks for moving into the 21st Century. The old website looked like a tabloid with WAY too much junk on the home page. It’s so much more elegantly designed.
I cannot log in as a returning user as of 8:15 AM 1/14/08. Also, I do not like the look of the new logo, and the Sports page was slow to down load. I just filled out an on-line pop-up survey last week from your site, indicating I was Very Pleased with the site. Why would ya’ll have the survey, then go and mess everything up? I DO NOT like the new look.
So far I like it! And I promise, if you stop featuring articles on those RIDICULOUS INSULTING “Real Housewives”, I will love you forever! Not only are they not *news*, they are an insult to the hardworking African-American women who shape Atlanta and, in fact, the entire city.
In the venacular, “it sucks”, but most of us will become accustomed to the new format and then when you change again for changes sake to maintain readership we will have a similar reaction and adjust once again.
Keeping up with my hometown’s local news was always easy but not easy on the eye. The new layout is great and I am enjoying it from a sunny and snowy Switzerland. Glad you made the changes!
I do not like this. It’s plain, no color; too white; boring. Sometimes the annoying ads are atop the drop-down menus. You need to put “Letters” in the “Opinion” drop-down. In fact, Opinion needs to be in the top navigationv bar. The Vent, etc., needs to be closer to the top and not in a drop down. I like the immediately previous version better. This is too plain and we have to do too much work to get to what we want.
Coca Cola is the most recognized logo in the world and one reason is that they don’t keep redesigning it every few years. Take a cue from another Atlanta staple and leave well enough alone! Don’t care much for the new plain jane layout either.
personally, i like the new look – the new logo is pretty good, and the site’s appearance is far more streamlined and easy to look at than the old one. now if the AJC would stop changing the headlines of the same articles every 4 hours, and work on readability…
regardless of my snarky writing comments, nice job with the redesign. while the AJC and Atlanta have history, there’s no reason to keep things static – the AJC isn’t a museum. it can change as it grows.
Why do I not get a “Welcome, Michael” anymore? WHY can I NOT change the weather zip code for local weather like I could before today’s change? AND, WHY, OH WHY, DID Y’ALL NOT WARN ANYBODY THAT THESE CHANGES WERE COMING? (YES I KNOW I’M SHOUTING, AND I KNOW IT’S NOT GOOD ETIQUETTE, BUT I AM NOT HAPPY!)
The layout is ok. but what web designer thinks that light blue or gray text on a white background has enough contrast to be easy to read? job #1 is making it easy for the viewer. fix that quickly, please.
This design is hard to see; not as sharp, crisp and appealing. Worse, it is very hard to navigate and find things. It’s also boring. I really hate the opening dropdown ads, which you’ve kept. THAT, you could’ve eliminated. IMHO, this was NOT money well spent. Bring back the fun, colorful look, with easy to find columns and news!
I really dont care for the new logo, and it will take me some time to get acclimated to the other changes. I agree that AJC says nothing about Atlanta, or the two newspapers that brought us the new for so many years.
the site design is mediocre at best. like so many other newspapers that have ad directors, with no online experience other than attempting to sell a position their parent company asks them to, having way too much freedom to decide how websites should operate and look. stick to what you know, and let the developers do what they know. the overall product will be ten times better.
everyone that reads this: download firefox, and the ad block plus add on to block all of their ads, and the site is much easier to digest.
Sirs…like the new format a lot…not as busy and confusing. Still wish you’d lose those pop-up ads that always appear when you open it. Know how many ignore those things?? Also…on the opinion section, how about listing Jim Wooten by his name, like the liberal writers on your staff…not by “Thinking Right.” I almost skipped it because I did not see his name anywhere!!
That logo makes you look weak and washed out….there is something to be said for continuity, constantly tweaking and changing yourself projects a poor self image
I don’t like the new design, but I guess as others said, we’ll just have to get used to it..To plain, to boring, to ugly, the list could go on & on..Where is MOMania??
I’m an out-of-town reader, and one thing I enjoyed about the old format was my local weather forecast that appeared when the AJC page loaded. Could you please restore that feature?
I just don’t like it. Some parts are good, yes, but overall…me no likey. And Michael, I totally feel your pain. I wanna shout too, but I’m so bothered by this that I can’t. AJC, a heads up would have been nice. I may have adjusted easier with a little warning. Nevertheless, it’s here, and I’m obviously stuck with it if I decided to continue reading this paper online. Logging on is giving me HELL, and I actually enjoyed my personal “welcome” at the top of the page-so much for that! This just sucks…but life goes on. geesh!
The first thing I noticed about the new format – I can’t tell whether I am logged in or not. Did I miss it or did your designers forget it?
Also, is there a link to log out? This is the one thing that is the least standard of the web sites I use, forcing me to search every month on sites I use to pay bills.
As a graphic designer I think this change is horrible. Find some SCAD students to help you next time. It’s too bland and the logo looks very bland. Your photos and ads stand out more than your navigation and logo.
Where is MOMania? Things are hard to find and as a mom I don’t have time to find them.
I love the new website! This is a great new look and falls closely in line with google, cnn.com and other sites which garner huge traffic. Keep up the great work as this online geek, will continue to read!
It’s just OK. Agree with others that logo isn’t impressive; not something I would stop to take a second look at. We all will get used to the new navigation and not a problem; it definitely looks cleaner. However, I find it to be quite slow. Granted, I’m not on the speediest computer when I’m at work, but the old site was quite a bit faster. I also agree with the annoying roll down ads. So annoying that I never look at them and couldn’t tell you what they are advertising. Although I don’t pay much attention to any ads, I’m more likely to see one that’s just sitting there and my eye goes over it while I’m looking at the rest of the page. I just close the roll down ads as fast as I can find the button to do so.
Ugh! I just had a vocal reaction when I opened up the homepage. The old was one pretty crappy, but at least it had some contrast to help with navigation. This looks way less professional than the previous one. I like the new logo in theory, but it’s so soft-spoken and pastel and weak that it just isn’t doing it for me. Make a statement, use some color and contrast. What the hell, y’all???
I Do Not Like The New Format… and for those of you that always want to compare Atlanta with Chicago…Stop Please! We may do some illegal things here in Atlanta, but Chicago takes the Cake. Instead of being known for the self-proclaim 2nd city (which actually belongs to LA, but don’t tell the ppl from Chicago that) Its now known as the most embarrassing/corrupt city in America. No one in the US wants Chicago representing the US in the Olympics. Chicago or Illinois for that matter, will NEVER-EVER be respected as classy city. You lost that with 4 Governors in Jail. Now chew on that!
I think paint newspapers, like the typewriter & landline phones & large novels & large file cabinets…..are a thing of the 1900s. In fact, JOURNALISM IS DEAD…..
A lot of the changes are subtle, but it is a big improvement. The site is much cleaner and easier to navigate and it might help to remind people what you were starting with. Keep up the good work.
The logo looks childish, boring. I’m still looking over the site, but that lower case ‘ajc’ caught my eye and I thought something must be wrong with my internet settings :-/
Not a big fan of the redo. Taking away the Opinion page is a big mistake. No more letters to the editor? No more editorials? Seems you are using this redo to hide the fact that you have greatly reduced the content in the Opinion section. I guess people are easily fooled by flashy diversions.
I agree with so many others. I do not like to new web-site. I think it is very childish and un professional. I would like for the AJC to come into the same as the NY Times and Chicago Tribune. So, with all of the resources that you have, please do something that look more 21st century and not to RETRO. I actually logged out then logged back-in to ensure that I was on the correct page.
Some have mentioned they can’t find certain things… here’s a cheat sheet…
- News Buzz is now “The Buzz” and is moves to the top of the right column (away from the real news)
-Take a Break items are now found further down the homepage in the right column under the ads – these include:
* Puzzles
* Horoscopes
* The Vent
* Lottery
* Comics
* Quizzes
* Sudoku
* Crossword
Navigation: Under each section there are the subsections (ie under Sports is the Atlanta Falcons section) here are the changes…
- Blogs are now under each section, with top Blogs and a link to the directory
- Breaking news alerts are now in the right rail of every page below the ad
- E-mail newsletters are now in the right rail of every page below the ad
- Featured content (databases, quizzes, etc) are now under each section, with top Featured content and a link to the directory
- Health is now a subsection of Lifestyle
- Living is now called Lifestyle
- Metro news sections (all of them including County pages) have moved under “News”
- Mobile edition is now in the right rail of every page below the ad
- Nation / World news sections have moved under “News”
- Opinion columns and blogs have moved under “News”
- Photos are now under each section
- Print edition are now in the right rail of every page below the ad
- RSS feeds are now in the right rail of every page below the ad
- Tools and widgets are now in the right rail of every page below the ad
- Topics pages are now under each section, with top Topics for that section and a link to the Hot Topics page
- Videos are now under each section
- Weather is now in the header on every page
I use Mozilla firefox for a browser and the text is difficult to read. One of the reasons I prefer the AJC for local news is that I prefer reading to watching a video clip. I would recommend making the site cross browser compatible.
I miss being able to click on the print edition to get stories that aren’t posted on the AJC Online. Also, I miss the separate health entries. This new version doesn’t seem as user friendly as the former design.
Did you get your logo design done by RITEAID? It’s almost as cheap and hideous looking. Go take a look at west coast or even say the Augusta Chronicle newspaper sites. I also want print ads available such as Fry’s available in a pdf format or able to read them online.
Thanks for making the changes. I would also like to thank you for making changes to the mobile version that I get on my PDA so I can see the same version as I see on my laptop. That was a very frustrating few weeks when the mobile version was the only one available. And I hope you guys won’t be going back to that. thanks -
Looks washed out. I am not against change, but it needs sharpening. I agree that the logo should not change. I don’t know and don’t really care what Chicago, LA, and New York do.
I’ve participated in several surveys to help improve the site, but had I known this is what they’d do with my feedback, I’d have taken greater pains to be clear. This is washed-out, faded, and doesn’t speak well of Atlanta. A newspaper can be a city’s face — it’s identity. This mimics other Cox sites, sure, but doesn’t do anything for the city’s identity. Maybe busy is good, sometimes. Maybe busy means there’s a lot going on. Maybe busy fits the city’s identity better.
I do not like the new look or format. Not that I am opposed to change, but there is still plenty of room for the old stuff, especiall in today’s world where there is/has been SO much changing that the small creature comforts make life good!! I moved to Birmingham about 2 years ago and the “Birmingham News” cannot hold a candle to the AJC. I looked foward to reading the AJC daily via the internet, or at least I use to…………………….
No major objections to the new look, but the LOGO IS HORRIBLE. It’s not aesthetically pleasing and does not connected to the AJC brand. Big mistake – I hope no one got paid to create it.
The new look is okay, but the AJC logo could have been done more creatively by a really experienced graphic designer/artist. I actually think that the old look was a little more accessible and easier to read, but sometimes change is good.
I make a better looking web site for myself at school on a MAC computer. Your logo is not what Mr Henry Grady would expect. History does matter and change is not always better.
I think AJC, you learned your lesson about the mobile format. I want to see the exact same thing on my iPhone and my laptop.
You really need to lose the big drop down ads, they are as bad as pop-ups. I opened your site and thought I was at firestone.com. I don’t know why a company would do that to their website. Have some pride would you!
Curt….the print version of ajc is antiquated…print is dead…if online keeps the same print business plan/look/identity…it will fail just like the auto industry.
Can you please move The Buzz from the very top of the page? How will the AJC ever be taken seriously as a source of news if you have Hollywood news and gossip and the latest from those horrible ATL housewives front and center. Seriously, look at WashingtonPost.com, NYTimes.com, heck even USAToday.com for how a news site should look like.
Trendy, lazy. The faded blue font hurts the eyes. It’s an obvious product of the no-design Facebook and MySpace generation. Do a usability study–or at least read one.
I already sent an email saying I thought the new logo was terrible, I really hope this wasn’t a senior level graphic designer who created that for a newspaper. So much is conveyed in the type of font, colors, style that is used and nothing about the new logo says newspaper. The original was much better.
If the AJC folks are bored and need something to do they should try proofreading their online articles before publishing them, I see bad typos all the time.
Not a single change is for the better. I wasn’t a big fan of the old layout but at least it wasn’t bland and anemic. Now it’s like looking at a website predigested for second graders. It’s pathetic. Rethink this please!
Staring to look like USAToday. Maybe you oughtto re-doo access Atlanta for the eneteratinment. I find it the worse to figure out what is where and when (timely reviews would help too).
I agree with the others. I dont like the logo. The light blue is not
an eye catcher when you long on. When I first signed on I had to look twice cause I thougth I was on the wrong web page.
The info at top of page does not stand out. It seems like now you have
to search more on front page to see if there is any news you want to read. Again with the lighter font—Im working harder now.
Right now, people just don’t like it because it is different than what they are used to. I think the new logo is cute and appealing to a younger audience. The new format is much easier to use and understand. Thanks for taking a good thing and making it better
Mr. Baker, I appreciate your tips for navigation. However, you have said NOTHING about being able to get the Local Weather or folks not knowing if we are logged in or not. Really, I’m sorry if I am sounding rude, that’s not my intent. However, the AJC has ALWAYS been my go-to site for news and information, and I am not comfortable with that anymore as of today.
Mr. Scharff, I just wanted to followup and let you know that Weather is still at the same location ( http://www.ajc.com/weather ) and can be accessed from the header on every page. We have some major improvements coming in the next few for this section. Also, if you are not logged in you should be directed to a sign in page. You can access email newsletters and breaking news subscriptions fromthe My Account link in the header on every page. Hope that helps.
You can find all the stuff you are looking for in the menus, people. Learn how to use the Internet. It is cleaner, but the logo is a bit bland. The changes aren’t that drastic. I can barely tell, except it is not as jumbled together.
Looks better, but you really didn’t fix any of the navigation or usability issues that have continually bugged me. Typical ‘redesign’ – all fluff, no substance.
I still haven’t located the features I like.This site loads like cold molasses.I suppose you spent a lot of money to make this mess.Change for the sake of change.Someone justifying their job.Been there seen that.
The one thing I always loved about the AJC website is it felt like I was looking at the actual paper. That made it special to me and the navigation was easier. This new format all just seems to blend together. I’m not impressed.
The new look is great! Much cleaner and more streamlined. I don’t have any issues with the logo — I don’t visit your site to see the logo. Most people probably visit your site for easily accessible, quality news.
Now you should try to make your online presence match your print presence, and put more focus on real news stories, as opposed to silly videos or celebrity news. You can’t match Youtube or celebrity sites like TMZ.com.
Like someone recently said, “You can put lipstick on a pig….” The fact that “Buzz,” “Inside the AJC,” and other fluff are so prominently featured near the top of the page accurately reflects your standing among true news organizations. Why not be more truthful and just rename it the Atlanta Entertainment Journal?
I HATE IT!!!!!!! AJC, why change a good thing?! Bring back the old format. Where in the HECK is the local news???? What’s with the logo? I hate the font as well – it’s hard to read & I’m finding myself squinting to read it!! It’s plain out awful! FIX THIS MESS AJC! WE HATE IT, HATE IT, HATE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hate is a strong word and honestly it’s exactly how I feel about these UNNECESSARY changes!
Why not keep the old logo/branding? You can do a site redesign without changing traditional elements. The new logo doesn’t convey newspaper to me – more like grocery store.
I can see a lot of cosmetic changes were made, but you’ve still neglected to fix a lot of the usability and layout issues. Perhaps take a look at other, great versions of online newspapers like The Washington Post or the New York Post before making a decision on the final version of the site.
I like it. Much more streamlined and easy to navigate. Question: Will other section fronts be getting the same new “look” as the homepage? The sports section et. al seems to be the same, other than the new nav bar.
I like the cleaner look/feel to the site but have to agree with the comments about the logo. The color isn’t strong enough.
And as many others have said, the content is still mediocre. I read/refer to the AJC because it’s our city’s paper of record, but in terms of reading hard/incisive news, it’s a joke.
The layout is less important than the annoying scrolling advertisements at the top of the page. It says to me, “I don’t respect you so I reserve the right to annoy you with banners advertising products 90% of the readers aren’t interested in”. Take some time to look at Google or Yahoo some day. You don’t see these annoying things do you? Compare their traffic to yours. Ask yourself “how do I advertise to a repeat reader who has a narrow range of interests without annoying him with irrelevant ads?” The answer is not hard.
Why am I reminded of Planet Radio? But seriously, I like the navigation a little bit better but the logo looks too femme or Apple like or something. I know it’s the style today but with news, I like the traditional look like the WSJ and NYT. But that’s me. The format and navigation are win. It’s only the logo that bites.
actually, most of the “naysayers who don’t like change” are probably on firefox like me, where it’s loading like crap with navigation loading on top of each other. i could care less about the design, before or after. i didn’t even notice it had changed until i tried to go somewhere from the home page, and noticed the loading problems.
I could care less about the logo… the layout is much better. I wish y’all had a feature where you can move around the different “boxes”, like nation/world, sports, entertainment, etc. so that whatever you read the most could be higher up on the page, like how Google’s personalized web page allows you to do.
well, given the sorry state of newspapers today, i sincerely doubt the ajc had the budget to hire web & graphic designers that knew what they were doing. it shows.
I love the new layout. It is much cleaner and easier to navigate. Imagine a news web site that makes it easy to find stories, who would have ever thunk it?
A newspaper website should be about the information and not fancy logos and other useless bells and whistles. People that crticise the logo maybe ought to think about what it was they are visiting the site for in the first place. No doubt there will probably be several updates to the logo to strike a balance that pleases the people who value style over substance but so far I have enjoyed visiting the site.
I haven’t been what you call a big fan of the AJC, but that is related to the editorial slant taken. This web site update in my book is a positive.
Congratulations
Change? It’s still cluttered and it still looks like it was made by a 9th grader. There is just too much irrelevant news showing up. The page is just too noisy!
Far cleaner and simpler than before. Text stands out better. Bold primary colors splashed around before were a distraction. The simple interface explains much of the success of the Google search engine and Facebook.
I don’t mind the layout chagnes but the logo looks like you’ve reached the webpage of a cleaning product or company. It’s to sterile and cold. The old logo reflects the history of the paper.
The fonts chosen for this site are not clearly rendered in my browser (IE 7). Letters are not spaced properly, the tops or bottoms of capitals are clipped. I suspect someone allowed this choice to be made without adequate testing.
I like the format, but miss seeing the sports links in the sports recap on the main page. I will get used to clicking the link from the main navigation, but it means I probably won’t scroll around on the main page as much. This is good for me, but not sure it is good for the people that write on the various sections.
One more thing. Could you *please* change to a serif font? It will help make the site look more polished and the AJC look more serious as a news organization.
It is a bit cleaner – may take some time to get used to…but… why all the focus in your announcement on Entertainment and The Buzz… are you a news organization or E! ?
I like the new look (logo) it is refreshing, and clean looking. It even implements the original look and makes the entire page look more organized – good move! When will the logo be in the browser?
Well, you people have got it wrong from the beginning of the internet. Change everything else, leave the logo alone. That is who you are. Which one of the marketing people is responsible for the new logo? Should be on the next bus out. At least it is the same font.
The new logo is horrible. It looks amateur. The type, colors, rounded corners. Yuck. Not professional at all. This logo belongs on the box of a cheap toy.
While I definitely think it is an improvement over the look of the previous site, it’s still not befitting the largest paper of one of the nation’s largest metros.
I’d like to read more about metro Atlanta on the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s web site. Not some guy who crashed his plane in Alabama, which is currently your featured main article. Readers turn to the AJC for local news, about local people. Not pilots in Alabama.
I wonder if “Scott Baker” is the one who ERASED my comment. Hmmmm, pretty weird & well typical to say the least! Guess the AJC cannot accept nor take negative feedback on the redesign.
PS: I hate the layout, I hate the font, the logo is horrible and where in the heck is the local news now? I hate everything about the new change! SUCKS!
The logo is terrible. I agree with others that the colors are washed out, don’t complement each other very well, and just looks a little to small town to me. But, I like the updated look of the site in terms of fonts and arrangement. Easier to read.
The new look is clean, but way too plain for my taste. I agree with the posters that say that the AJC is moving too far from the great roots that have been apart of the city of Atlanta for years! Please change it back to “THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION”, and do so before you loose the rest of your readers!
Can’t tell that its been improved, just different. Seems to take a long time to load and it took about four tries to get to this blog because server kept timing out. Also, blue on white or white on blue are the two hardest color combinations to read, might want to research that that next time. The dark blue is ok, but the light blue just kind of fades away. Seems to take more steps to get to some items. Again, not improved, just different.
Atlanta is very deserving of a first class newspaper, when you guys at AJC get it right it is magnificent.
More investigative reporting, and the Food section needs to be refurbished, it used to be a weekly highlight not that long ago, when John Kessler still had “unfortunate” hair, LOL. I hate the new logo, it looks like a middle school contest winner.
seems harder to find things (navigate) because its blah-er and nothing much stands out. Need more obvious menus. Now I have to scroll down and look for vent link. I also still miss the old scrolling video strip from many months ago. I never look at the videos in their current design.
What’s with the removal of color? It’s cheaper in print, but easy in digital.
Looks very much as a student did the design – do Not like the new logo. Harder to find the various sections – too much “pop entertainment” on the “front page”. Must be wanting to become a tabloid from the layout.
Makes me glad I have found better written and informed news sources than the AJC.
First, you cannot tell it is a newspaper from the site. “AJC” could be anything. It looks cheap and does not import verity or gravitas at all. I’ll bet even Bookman will agree with me on this one thing. From the new look, all your columnists are reduced to mere bloggers as there is no indication this is a newspaper.
Second – it navigates fine now, so that is OK. It wasn’t so bad to begin with.
Third, the logo reminds me of the Sealy mattress company or perhaps dental floss. New is not necessarily better. Remember “Izzy” and “Everyday is an opening day in Atlanta” or “ATL” as short for Atlanta (except it takes longer to say). Just because the marketing department or the outside consultants claim it is a good idea or their surveys seem to show that, dosen’t mean it’s not garbage and merely an attempt to justify their continued employment at the cost of your readership.
The new design reminds me of Underground Atlanta – a completely bland mall and food court with the same name as the original; but with no connection to its history, no resemblance to the original and nothing accomplished to make Atlanta a better place.
Does it fit Atlanta? Yes, because it has no connection with the city or its history, a common theme in Atlanta. This is the city that tried to tear down the Fox. This is the city where foreign visitors are amazed that there is no museum of slavery in the South. This is the City that destroyed the Arts Festival by moving to to concrete well before any drought.
Keep messing with the logo and cutting down on my newspaper and my visits will decrease and 20+ year subscription will eventually end. Keep in touch with our history and cater to your audience and you will keep me.
The site redesign looks great. AJC.com is my homepage, so I see it several times during the day, and always browse the top stories and breaking news. Overall the site looks very clean and very well organized. I have to agree with several of the other comments…the new logo looks awful! It looks like a total copy of Hewlett-Packard. Take a look at any printer or fax machine made in the last 10 years and you’ll see exactly what I mean!
The new look is blah, the logo is terrible, but you’ve GOT to start making an effort to update story and special feature links faster. I just clicked on a Budget Travel link about a weekend fare to Salt Lake that was originally published LAST FRIDAY!!! Pathetic.
seriously? this is a redesign? honestly? oh, wait, no you just took a module from a CMS and copied that. The truly defining thing about the ajc and for that matter, the logo, is the utter lack of respect to history and any sort of tribute that could have been implied in this “redesign”
Guys, who did you hire? have you guys talked to the people at Mario Garcia? Poynter? anyone? Please hire a consultant.
Maybe the new publisher (Doug Franklin) will realize how terrible this is and add his input. Please please please before the AJC loses all credibility.
I like the top navigation. It’s crisp, much more informative and I feel like I can access more of the site now. I would like to see Atlanta Weather/Traffic complimented with alerts, big incidents, warnings.
The logo, which has been repeated many times, is off the quality of the rest of your product. I would recommend the circle 2.0ish “AJC” to take it’s place. It would add a darker blue to the top, maintain the feel of the redesign and not look like it was thrown together to get width out of a constrained logo. Add Atlanta Journal-Constitution under if it you need width still to fill the space. Even a typographic logo would be better than the two-tone rounded box.
Major headline font needs work. The font has too much space between letters to be the headline font online. A serif font, as mentioned above, could do the trick or a heavier, more stylized sans-serif headline font.
Overall, good job. I think it’s a definite step in the right direction. I think making subtle changes over time will help your design get tweaked.
I don’t like it at all! It’s difficult to navigate, and took me forever to find my favorites…the vents. Put it back the way it was, or AJC will no longer be my homepage.
The new design is cleaner, but my questions are regarding the lack of AJC paper copies in my county.
1. Will the AJC make Parade Mag available through your site?
2. Will sale ADs from the Sunday paper be available on your site?
3. What about the Sunday Comics?
4. I tried the AJC Print version and the font is much too small when an article is printed. I attempted to fit it to the page and portions of the article did not print. Please help with this issue.
5. If it is not feasible to home deliver in outlying counties, at least provide weekend papers to some of the convenience stores/gas stations in the county.
Obviously, the AJC must really be suffering, since it spent NOTHING on the redesign of this site. It navigation leaves much to be desired and the logo is hideous. I will not start on the content, which in brief has always sucked. But come on, this is the city where I live and I cannot read this paper, though I force myself everyday. At least promise us faster updates on stories (that are poorly written) and links (that may or may not work).
Why isn’t our local news on the headline? How stupid AJC? You guys gave the headline to a pilot who aborted his plane in another state headlines over Atlanta headlines. P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C!!!!!
By the way, what’s with the horrible, small sized font. This is definitely a turn for the worse. I would expect way better from a major news source. Bring the old back!
I am sorry, but I cannot agree with previous posts. I actually think the logo looks antiquated and borderline comical–not at all journalistic or anything to be taken seriously. I understand wanting a sleeker look, but this is not it. Nonetheless, I am an avid reader and will try my best to adjust.
The new format is OK. I prefer the old one. I hope you have made changes to the video section, whereas we can read the caption without scrolling up and down.
If you aren’t from Atlanta, and are unaware of the abbreviation of AJC to mean The Atlanta Journal-Constitution then how are you supposed to know you are visiting the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s website? I think the Atlanta Journal-Constitution should be spelled out somewhere on that hideous AJC logo.
This new format is expedient, and very exciting, I like it very much and welcome the new change. Once others begin to use it they will also love it. great job on the design.
Quickly, (before to many folks see this) go back to the old format. I’ll forgive and forget this mess….btw I still haven’t forgiven or forgotten your removing @Issue from the sunday paper, for that reason alone I no longer buy a sunday paper. Surprise me and do the right thing, go back.
HORRIBLE!!!! HP needs to sue !!! Fire the design team and art director for approving such crap!!!
Just like Atlanta, the AJC has no identity! Look at the NY Times site, NY Daily News site, LA times site. They all has a sense of history and establishment. Your new logo would have been “new” in 1985…but its 2009. Get the original header back up, and hire a new layout team. Be SMART in design, not just NEW. Once again you are thinking everyone in Atlanta is a dumb as you.
The AJC is no longer reaching to be world class huh? Just a big “town” with stupid drinking laws, no nitelife, and horrible cookie cutter developments going up everywhere. Why doesnt anybody here have any style??????????
Mr. Baker, I’m just now getting back on after a long morning meeting. I appreciate you response. However, i am afraid you did not address my actual concern as to the weather. Before today, you could enter a zip code for a different location (it could be anywhere in the U.S.) in the link at the top of the home page, and then, that would be the default weather for the user as long as he or she was signed in. So, me being in Augusta, GA, I always knew what my current conditions were anytime I went to the home page.
the AJC is not going to survive much longer. seems like you guys are taking the “dumbed down” AOL approach by featuring funny videos on your front page.
and those giant dynamic ads are a disaster. they may make short-term money but they are killing the website.
we all have access to the NY Times and WSJ for national news.
we use craigslist for classifieds.
we use Yelp and Urbanspoon for restaurants
we use rottentomatoes for movie times.
AJC should focus on providing top-notch local coverage. break out into community sections.
AJC cannot survive in its current format. it’s the worst major paper in the country and even the good ones are struggling.
i can’t really blame the web designers for being given such a poor product. there’s not much you can do if you are being asked to cater to the lower-income people who still would read this paper.
There has been a few comments about not being able to find MOMania. This blog can now be found under “Lifestlye” in the navigation and then under blogs. All blogs can be found at http://blogs.ajc.com/
whew! OK , I have calmed down now.
I was so angry that I did not see my typos.
I just get so upset when an opportunity for IMPROVEMENT arises, and so often, this city FAILS.
The AJC and the website look should be a bridge of the past and the future. Having been a graphic designer for the past 20 years, I know what good design looks like. And this is NOT it. Sorry.
If the AJC was some small local paper…fine, the “logo” would work. But for a city of 4 million people, that is struggling to find itself STILL, you must do better.
Its very simple really… observe what SUCCESSFUL cities are doing. (And not to copy, but learn.)
Being the MAIN source of news about Atlanta gives your paper and your designers a HEAVY burden. You bear the task of giving Atlanta the respect, and admiration of the world. Sounds silly to some, but true. This is how design is viewed in New York City ad firms. (I’ve worked at the best) You cannot just slap something together and think you have done your job.
Its very plain to see by the many negative comments here, thats EXACTLY what has happened.
**step your game up AJC designers…BAD DESIGN.**
As a daily reader, this is a step in the right direction. The editing still needs work though. Several times a week I find articles plagued with misleading headlines, typos and chopped sentences. Also, dead links are frequently a problem. And just because it’s a blog doesn’t mean the writer gets to be sloppy (this means you Rodney Ho). I hope the redesign isn’t just superficial. There needs to be a commitment to overall site quality.
I have to agree with the majority… I do not like the new site. Sometimes it’s okay to leave things as they were. It lacks any real design and the navigation sucks, as an avid reader of this site( I check several times a day) I think I will start getting my new at Foxnews.com or WSBTV.com.. their sites are very graphic and easily navigated.
Of course you expected pro/con comments…that’s what happens with change. I like it…smooth, sharp, clean looking. I have been doing logos over the years and I’m glad you took the giant risky step of ‘coming up to date’. No matter what other graphic artists say, because even there you will diffence of opinions, you did a super job! Although I do miss the ‘feels like temperature’. Good luck!
Chiming in to echo “I understand wanting a sleeker look, but this is not it.”
The design is far too soft, the logo looks silly and the focus problem (blur of nondescript content toward the center of the page) that the old one had is still there and perhaps been magnified now due to the mushy look of the right rail. The design could really use some punch.
The positive is that you’ve wrested the stylesheets back from oblivion and kicked those nasty old JavaScript bits out for jQuery. Congrats to whomever did all of that work, I know it was probably daunting.
I am a native of Atlanta but currently reside in Philadelphia. I religiously visit http://www.ajc.com, often multiple times daily, just to keep abreast of the happenings of my native city from afar. Though invigorated by the call for a new design, I have to say that I, like many others apparently, am underwelmed by the simplisty and passe’ style of the final product. AJC is a one of Atlanta’s signature pieces, and the world is browsing-believe it or not! Might there be slightly more energy exuded to make the design appear more forward and representative of the level of southern sophistication that the city stands for? Or shall we resign to being stuck with this current rudimentary and uninspired style?
With the exception of the weather and date/time stamp in the margins, I’m not moved at all. Hmmm…I think I’ll browse nytimes.com instead…or how bout this, paper anyone?
Before I didn’t have to scroll down – now I do. How is that progress? As for the logo – I don’t remember what the old one looked like but it’s 3 letters either way. However, I would say this new logo looks less like serious journalism and more like Teen Beat.
The clean look is nice, but I miss the larger number of stories available from the front page of the old design. Where’s the Vent?! I would like to see a logo that is not so bland. I also can’t find the link to the Print Edition. That’s the only place you can find Ken Thomas’ genealogy column. He has so many readers, there should be a prominent link somewhere.
I don’t like it when i pulled it up this morning i thought i was on the wrong site. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” bring the old style back. This one looks like it’s missing something
I thought I was on the wrong site, but when I figured out it was a new format, I really liked it. I am okay with change, and I like the more up to date (looking) format!!
Hate it, hate it, hate it. It is so generic. Nothing pops out at you and makes you want to read it.I am all for change, but not all change is good.Right now all I want to do is find out where you put the vent, and maybe I’ll be okay.
You can find the vent under “Take a Break” on the homepage. You can also access via “News” in the navigation. Looking for the Living Vent? Look under “Lifestyle” and then under features.
Check out our brand new layoff!!
Oops, we meant lay-OUT!
Where is the leadership at this company?
AJC is abandoning everything, including the employees, that made it great. Good luck with your new, exciting changes. Give me a break.
I don’t like this new look at all. The AJC has been suffering from a HORRIBLE identity crisis in recent years! They seem much more interested in catering to those who moved here in the last 10 years from Boston, Chicago, Ohio, New York, etc., instead of taking care of its CORE AUDIENCE – those of us who have lived here and grown up here all our lives. You need to ditch these new “gimmicky” ideas of a new logo, more fancy crap, online video, a stand-up comedian link, etc. and get back to being a NEWS-PAPER…. give me information, content and features that me as a NATIVE ATLANTAN would care about. The old web site look was JUST FINE – this new one has no heart, no soul, no identity. It looks like it could be one of 1,000 newspapers anywhere in the world. Give me back my traditional AJC logo and traditional AJC web site… this new one is garbage and I have no interest in visiting here anymore. I’ll go to a regional paper’s web site or USA Today to get my info now, thank you very much.
So generic! I recently moved to Baltimore and loved the AJC web layout, organization, etc so much that I continued to read the AJC online over 600 miles away! Now it looks about the same as the Baltimore Sun, which is not impressive, hard to read and difficult to navigate.
It lacks personality, the logo is so “blah!” and there is nothing that identifies this site with the history and reputation of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution! What a disappointment, and this coming from someone who does welcome change!
I like that the new format is cleaner. Navigating the site really did get much easier. I can now more easily find more of the features I previously wasn’t aware of.
The logo could be better, but it’s just a logo — doesn’t bother me too much whether it looks like something that belongs on a box of dryer sheets, or if it looks “newsy.” The content matters much more to me.
Having a link to the “Print Edition” somewhere at the top would be most helpful. The NY Times website has a great example of this.
I see there’s slightly less emphasis on the trashy celebrity news junk. The less emphasis, the better. I would appreciate more emphasis on the stuff that actually matters. What’s going on in my part of town?
When the AJC got rid of the Horizon section, there was a promise that there would be more of the type of coverage seen in Horizon. I would love to see an online version of the Horizon section. You could demonstrate that you really are giving more coverage of Horizon-like stories by labeling them “Horizon” and dedicating a page of the website to those stories.
I really thought I was on the wrong site. Just this morning everything was fine. Now, after lunch, I find this. I really don’t like it at all. I really thought I had did something wrong. Please change it back! Please! AJC gives great coverage of news happening now and I truly look forward to it each and every day. Keep up the great work, but in the meantime, correct this error! Thanks
Don’t like the logo (after I found it). The old logo was your brand and recognizable. The new one blends into the banner. While the format of the may be easier to navigate, the page is just like all the other internet site.
The home page is a bit less cluttered, and seems as if it might actually emphasize NEWS a bit more. If so, that’s an improvement.
The arts page, as always, stinks. It is sloppy, incoherent, seldom maintained or updated, and most of the arts stories in the print edition can only be found if you click on the little note at the bottom for people who are looking for a story they saw in the print edition. Stop and think about how pathetic that is. For an example of what real arts pages (plural) in an online edition look like, check out the Denver Post website.
No, I mean it, really: look at the Denver Post website, and imitate what they do (within the bounds of copyright law); no one at the AJC seems to have the imagination to design one themselves, and none of the editors seems to care.
I agree with the critique that the logo is bland; at least you should put, underneath it, “Atlanta Journal-Constitution” in the familiar script. It’s a familiar mark of your brand.
Also, I agree with joeventures about the Horizon stories; some of the best journalism you have done was part of that section, and there’s plenty to report on as Atlanta’s development patterns continue to change.
they censored my previous blog post b/c i pointed out that they were becoming irrelevant since we get classifieds from craigslist, restaurant reviews from Urbanspoon, national news from the NYT.
AJC now caters to people who read Blondie and watch “funny” youtube videos.
this paper is finished. but the Cox sisters have more money than god so they can keep it on lifesupport.
The new logo looks like the style of logo that would have been on a Braves’s cap in the early 1980’s. The new font is a distraction, not an improvement.
So far, the layout/design is much cleaner. I agree with a previous commenter: when is the AJC going to recognize that Coweta, Douglas, and other western counties exist? Not EVERYONE lives in Cobb or Gwinnett.
Is it that hard to look at the LA Times, the Tribune, the Washington Post, or the NY Times websites to see what real newspaper sites look like? I mean, yes, what Atlanta’s pets are wearing and who slept with who on what tv show is absolutely the most important news going on in our area. Way to cover the important stories, AJC. If nothing else, the site looks more like the rag that the newspaper has become.
The new “ajc” design looks like it could be a logo for an appliance manufacturer, and it kind of gets lost. It’s not prominant enough and looks like part of an advertisement link.
I don’t like it. When I opened it up the first time, I thought that I made a mistake by going to another site. The color is gone – where is the color. Go back to the original. It was great!
this is awful — why in the world would you change something that looked so classy????? did somebody have nothing to do? was their job going to be eliminated? well it should be now — get this online ajc back the way it used to be — i was always so proud to think when looking at other papers online how good ours looked — now it’s so ugly just awful — and like everyone is saying “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it”!!!!!!!!! GET IT BACK THE WAY IT WAS!!!!
Like I said before, why fix it if it isn’t broken. It looks like a student project and not a very good student at that. The adds on the right are larger than the articles/menus. The drop down adds need to go bye-bye!! It is just very boring. Doesn’t invite me to look further into it.
I found a bug. Although the main headline changes (now it’s the Ron Clark band), the link associated with that headline still points to the previous headline (the Smoltz story).
Your new look stinks, just like your sorry columnists such as that MORON Cynthia Tucker!!! Your paper is not even Journalism, it is biased towards the LEFT way tooo far, and that is the true reason why the AJC and papers all over the country are failing!! People are sick of the rampant YELLOW JOURNALISM that exists today, and tired of the fact that all fairness, and unbiased reporting is DEAD today! Whatever happened with telling a story based on fact, and reporting news in a way that the facts are delivered, without the manipulation and author’s personal thoughts trying to tell the people what they should be thinking? The new look of the AJC will not fix that!!! Maybe instead of pathetic marketing attempts, you guys should focus on trying to be REAL JOURNALISTS? And what’s up with highlighting and making “ENTERTAINMENT” news so important? That is part of the problem with this country, so many people can tell you the latest BULLCRAP about who Paris Hilton is slumming around with, but God forbid someone knows who their state Senator is!! The AJC is PATHETIC and I personally can’t wait for you to go BANKRUPT!!
The logo looks like a knockoff of the Hewlett Packard Logo. As someone that visits the site everyday sometimes two or more times a day, sorry I’m not impressed. It kind of looks like the draft before you complete the project. Especially since the layout is pretty much the same you just moved headings around a bit, and all I can really see that’s has changed majorly is the logo. A established paper such as this should never change their logo. Your logo is the first thing people see and say oh..that’s the AJC. Right now it looks like a start up paper.
needs a tad bit more color – maybe a green to compliment to blue
too much white – a second color would help to highlight areas of interest to your readers
I got an even better idea… why don’t you change the logo like Pepsi did and make it look like the “Obama Change/Hope BS Logo” I mean, this pathetic paper threw Real Journalism out the window during the election cycle to worship Obama like the rest of our American-Idol crazed society, why not go all the way? Why not just change the log and the name of the paper to “OJC”… Instead of the Atlanta Urinal and Constipation, you can call yourselves the “Obama Journal of Corruption”…
Thank you to everyone at the AJC for your hard work to keep us informed. Overall, you’ve done a great job! I appreciate the opportunity to provide feedback about the website redesign. I am a frequent internet user.
1) The logo is not catchy. I would have preferred to see something more unique in terms of color selection and font. The brand identity is not distinctive enough for the viewer. It is almost generic. I would prefer to something more creative.
2) The organization of content is much better. The content is easily accessible in terms of navigation on the screen. I enjoy the stories. The timing of stories and the accuracy works well for my needs.
3) I like the visual enhancements such as more video, pictures, flash elements.
4) You offer a great variety of stories. I enjoy Private Quarters and Vacation pictures. Nice touch to keep your general audience connected. We are invited to add to the site. Great engagement opportunity. I really like the photo galleries.
It’s still slow, clunky, and lacks good design. All you did was change the logo and move some stuff around. Thankfully those stupid expanding ads are gone but this is much the same old design with a few minor changes. A true redesign would have addressed usability, the clutter, and directed my eyes somewhere important.
I subscribed to the AJC for several years, and when they quit delivering in my area I bought it at the store. I loved setting down in my easy chair at night and reading the AJC. I am sorry but setting down at a computer and reading the paper is one of the most non relaxing things I can think of. I called about mail delivery but could not get same day delivery Thanks goodness the Gainesville times and the USA Today still serve my area.
I thought I was on the wrong web page and had to log in twice. I am not feeling the new layout, prefer the old one. However, change is supposed to be- my suggestion would be to tweak it just a bit.
Everyone bow to the authority of Professional Web Designer!!! All hail, his holiness!!! Lean not on your own understandings, but trust all html queries to Professional Web Designer!
I’m surprised you didn’t post a picture of your degree, or better yea link to your portfolio. Yeesh! While I don’t necessarily disagree with anything you said, AS A GRAPHIC DESIGNER WHO DEALS FREQUENTLY WITH WEB DESIGN (see I’m legit now), your attempt to legitimize your comment through your pretentious title is one of the douchiest things I’ve seen in quite a while.
I do appreciate that I no longer have to wade through several columns of celebrity or non-Atlanta news to know what’s happening here, today. If I want entertainment news, I’ll go to people.com. I count on your expertise for local and regional happenings. Keep those at the top!
In general, I find your new layout more scannable than before.
ONly two headlines really pop. The rest of the type is very light and almost sinks into the background. It’s a lot of small type on the page. Also, the banner photo is kind of small to be a banner photo. But I like the layout–much easier to find things that I want.
Looks like my 4 year old designed it. Very plain and not pretty at all. Must have taken at least an hour to design. There isn’t even a Living tab. I guess you must have let go your real designers.
The look is perfect. It is washed up, just like the AJC. We once had a great newspaper, but now it is a mere shadow of itself and staffed by left wing hate mongers such as no talent Cartoon Boy with his sidekicks – Cynthia Tucherheadinthesand and Jay Boogerman. It really is a great design for this washed up rag.
No worries, they soon will be bankrupt and out of business. It would not take much to get back to being a great paper. Report the news not Invent the News or Slant the News or Spin the News. Try being an impartial observer who reports the news instead of spinning it to the left.
Fire the idiots who run the Editorial Board as they have NO TALENT. Cynthia always finds life is viewed best through her racial glasses. Jay looks at the world through a funhouse mirror designed to distort the truth such as his recent hack job on Ronald Reagan. This group has no idea that Carter is our worst President and Ex-President.
I agree with this earlier comment:
If Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman are still running editorial content, then the new look is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic…
I’m not too crazy about the new format. It was a bit text heavy to me. Visually I found it harder to pinpoint what I was looking for, like this was my first time looking at it rather than being a frequent user. Also, the blogs were hard to find. As a side note, why isn’t Henry included on the metro page anymore. We didn’t fall off the planet you know, and as one of the fastest growing counties, you’d think the AJC could find us important enough to include. I agree with others about those half page ads, get rid of them. Keep them small, if I’m interested I click on them, but please don’t splash them in my face. The AJC.com used to be a pleasure to view, but now I’m not sure sure.
What happened to the name of the paper? You seem to have lost your identity of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The format seems more readable, though. Wish there as a tab for the Metro section.
Hey “Carter is a Fool”. Real pple work here. People who may or may not agree with a lot of those leftist. People who would be in some serious serious trouble if they lost their job. Please don’t be so flippant about the company going down. We don’t need any more bad news during this trying time. Talk about the design, not your opinion.
After further reveiw,your site still lacks any style to it.
Aalso why do you continue to leave links to some things that are old & useless, ie: under clayton / metro Katrina General Stepping down/ after 11 months I believe he’s left the building, & 95 new high school coaches
begin practice, only 8 months old. WHO’S SUPPOSED TO BE WATCHING THESE THING ?????
Oh that is what you call it….well if dumbing down the paper version was more of a shock after 35 years of subscribing to something not even big enough to lay in the bottom of my birdcage….this is not a surprise because WHOMEVER is making decisions over there doesn’t know what the heck they are doing. I am canceling my paper and going with a real newspaper–the times or even gasp usa today.
This resembles more of an amateur college paper. But then again. That probably is fitting. You used to be a great paper, did you lay everyone off???? and now ith a staff of two you are pretending to have a paper?
Hi guys,
Not bad, I can get used to it, BUT the blogs are too hard to find. May want to consider putting them as an option in the top bar (not just under “entertainment”).
Fool with your layout all you want, but please show some discipline in your headline writing “Branake: Stimulus would help economy” is not what the Fed chairman said. As quoted in the first paragraph of the story, he said “could help”, as long as his other suggestions were implemented. Was this an oversight, or propaganda? Hard to tell with the AJC, new logo or not.
I do not find this format pleasing or any easier to use. I find it cluttered and totally uninteresting. It reminds me of the drab Chicago Suntimes and the New York Times. Lifeless. Where has all the southern heritage gone.
I like the new format- cleaner and easier to use. Only thing I am not sure about is the logo- Why don’t you go back to the old one? It had more “class” and distinction, in my opinion.
This design does not not look good at all. It’s not attractive to the eye at all and makes me think of a website designed for pre-schoolers, Please change it immediately!
Love the new layout. It was long overdue. Kudos to your web team for making such a bold change. As with everything people hate change and unfortunately the majority or web users adapt to this change very slowly but be proud of your new website and don’t worry about all the complainers. They will soon forget AJC.com was ever any different.
BIG step backward! Site is busier than it was before in my opinion; old site was much simpler to navigate and stood out among other news sites that I have seen. Now AJC.com looks worse and like other newpapers sites, staid, busy, navigation-difficult and like any other newsite. But why ask us what we think? You’re not going to change it anyways (though you should change it back).
I’m glad you went back to the straight drop-down menus. Previously highlighting ‘Sports’ and then having to mouse down and left or right to choose ‘Hawks’, etc was a pain — if you moused over adjacent categories (easy to do on a laptop with a touchpad) you lost your place and had to go back and start over.
I think it’s great that you “manned” this blog to help readers navigate. Very nice service.
It was probably a BAD idea to post the question/blog on the first day. It appears most people can’t find things – that’s to be expected with a rearrangement. We also know that a lot of people just don’t adapt well to anything different.
IMO, the site is fine… I read it today actually not even knowing it was a redesign (I did find it less cluttered), and I did notice after 17 years the link to “Would you name your child Exxon, Peach, or Texaco” is FINALLY gone from the home page.
I must agree with the others though. Whoever thought that logo was representative of the paper, this era, or a city like Atlanta was way off. That logo is real, real tired.
Nice enough, I guess. Why spend the money to change it? In my next life, I want to be a consultant convincing companies to change things so that they can be…changed. Not necessarily better, just changed
Let’s all vote with our fingers. Just like the changes a few months ago to the mobile web site, I waited 1 week, went back and it had not reverted back, so I deleted AJC from my bookmark bar. AJC relented and it came back.
I will check back in one week and if it is the same, I will delete it from the bookmark bar. I went cold turkey to the AJC 2 years ago after getting it for almost 30 years. You removed the sections of the paper I liked to read.
If I had a HS student in Digital Media turn in something like this, their grade would be “below” average.
This is terrible – does it have all the bells and whistles on it yet? The NY Times site is white, and it doesn’t look this wimpy. I just redid my blog, and at this point, there’s not much difference between the two – which means that you guys have lost some juice, because I should be able to instantly tell that some professional level graphic designers have been at work here.
The logo is as bad as that Izzy thing that was promoted as the Olympic mascot.
Can we get some swagger back into the logo? Some sharpness? Some design sense that evokes the hand of a mighty corporate news behemoth, rather than the efforts of a teenager tooling around with the Adobe software he got for Christmas?
I know damn well you’re not going to give the VP who spearheaded this sh&t a bonus, unless its a bus pass for him and his family to get out of town. This is the FLAGSHIP paper in your enterprise – how could you do this to your readers?
We’re missing one MAJOR component here … a DIRECT link to The (Metro) Vent from the home page! In fact, the Vents should be their own drop-down menu item under Entertainment or Opinions … just make it EASIER to find The Vent quickly! Otherwise, I like the simplified structure!
It looks like you’re trying to compete with the big boys…and doing a poor job of it. C’mon guys. Be the local newspaper that you are and stick with what you know. Bad design, bad banner ad placement, horrible logo. Nuff said.
The new web page loads much faster – and “gone” is that stupid ad that blocked half my screen for the first minute the page was open. This is an overall improvement.
I’m digging it. It’s not as busy and is easier on the eyes. It didn’t take as long load on my screen, either. I’m lukewarm on the logo, simply because it’s rather dull. You could use a tad more color, though.
Your newly designed home page demonstrates that not all change is necessary or effective. The overall appearance is unappealing and forgettable. Please think this through more carefully and give us something more creative and visually appealing!
Typical Atlanta style….bland, no real identity, the only one in the place that thinks it looks good, and is scared silly by true cities like NYC, Chicago, and LA.
Uninspired logo, too little content, no real organization to the page. This new design is not an improvement, and I am spending less time navigating the site as a result of it.
Not sure why you felt the need to change your site but it is now extremely difficult to read. I don’t like the changes at all. At least give us some contrast so it will be easier to read.
I visited the AJC site several times a day and knew exactly where to find the info I needed. Now I can’t find a thing… I don’t like it at all. Its not about making changes its about making changes that make sense. This does not make sense to me.
I really like the new format! Simple and less flashy is definitely the way to go. Looks like your serious about information and less about eye candy banners and blinking advertisements. Thanks!!!! I’ll continue my subscription!
i like the new format very much. i think if the people who don`t like it would open their minds to change, and sit back, exhale and be patient. they too will find that there is always some new way to open the mind whenever we view something `different`. it`s all about how you open your mind to `change`.
peace, lafae
Nope. My very first comment when the page opened ” I hate this new page”. Plain, boring, nothing special. It does look like webmaster101. Is this another sign of the economic times? I’ll go to MyFoxAtlanta.com.
I think the new homepage design is a step down from where you were. It’s much harder to find key news items. Not user friendly and way less attractive. You’ve butchered your logo with the graphic treatment around it.
I guess I will get used to it. Seems like something is missing. Please get rid of the drop down adds on the front page, very annoying. Change will happen but this seems a bit too plain. Maybe that’s a good thing.
This format is too BRIGHT and not comfortable to read. I usually read ajc.com early in the morning and late at night. The new format is like an overexposed picture, or a SLAP in the face! Also – it appears very similar to CNN.COM, the old format was unique and colorful. The new format is stark and plain. THUMBS DOWN!
I don’t mind the new look. What I mind is meaningless headlines. Nobody cares that Madonna’s dog died except for Madonna’s dog and it died. Seriously, put up some real news on those headlines.
Well it seems that Atlanta has spoken!!!!! It gives me hope that this city has some style…so substance.
Sadly the people in charge need to either – die off, leave for Alabama, or just quit whatever job they have.
WE NEED A CITY THAT HAS A REAL NEWSPAPER. we need a paper that honors the past and looks foward to the future, all the while making any changes WITH CLASS… THOUGHT AND REAL TASTE.
WE NEED A CITY THAT HAS REAL ARCHITECTURE!!!!!!! Not this bullcrap cookie cutter Post, Gables, Psuedo McMansion crap. For example- Why would the developer of the new property going up at the base of Freedom Parkway and the Blvd ave. and hwy interchange be allowed to put up such a disgusting plain -Jane building?? Why did these idiots get approved???? This was an opportunity to create some amazing buildings that ADDED to the Atlanta skyline that is so stunning in that area. ALL OF ATLANTA’S POSTCARDS SHOW THIS AREA!!! Why did not one INSIST this be designed by an award winning noted designer??? SHAME ON ATLANTA!!!!!
ATLANTA NEEDS TO BE A CITY THAT HAS PUBLIC ART!!!! I have never seen a “city” so devoid of art!!!! Does this place have NO CULTURE?????!!!!!
From now on any project exceeding 2 million $$$$ needs to have 100k in public art factored in… this art needs to be approved by a panel of Atlanta’s taste-makers…NOT some old crusty losers that think that STUPID FAKE ARCHWAY at Atlantic Station is art… what a joke!!!
WE NEED A CITY THAT HAS A REAL NITE-LIFE!!!!! Why is this city so damn boring???!!!!! Tourists have NO REASON to come here!!!!! That WACK Cenntenial park?? LOL That wack, WACK world of COKE? That WACK Aquarium?? The Underground?? LOLOL
STOP MAKING IT HARD FOR PROGRESSIVE BUSINESS OWNERS WHO WANT TO OPEN UP BARS, CLUBS AND STORES A HEADACHE!!!!
SELL LIQUOR AND BEER ON SUNDAY!!!! Like REAL cities do!!
CLOSE CLUBS AT 3AM Like REAL cities do!!!!
GET A CLUE ATLANTA!!!!!!
WE NEED A REAL CITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THIS HORRIBLE AJC LOGO AND LAYOUT IS EXACTLY THE SAME STUPID SIMPLETON THINKING THAT HOLDS THIS CITY BACK.
(and no…… I’m NOT moving back to NYC… so don’t waste your breath!) LOL
The new layout is just fine. A lot of the major newspapers are going for the new streamlined appearance (and for those of you that are surprised that this happened so soon, the AJC sent out that survey MONTHS ago – I received the survey and the additional information related to content last year).
Yes, the look and a lot of the features and functions have moved, but do you complain when a shopping site changes how it looks? Oh, a shopping site doesn’t have a blog where you CAN complain. You just have to be able to navigate to an area that LOOKS like what you want. I don’t think that this is SO bad that you just stop pulling up the website. Are you gonna go and start picking up the physical paper? The one that most of you can’t stand? Get over yourselves. The AJC made a business decision, one that most forward thinking companies make to keep up w/ the times. The old layout was a bit dated; it’s been in service for more than a few years. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to view it, but I challenge you to find another local site w/ the coverage that ajc.com provides.
The new format does make it easier to find what I read AJC for (state news, esp politics), but I don’t like the new logo and AJC website is still more like People magazine than a substantive newspaper.
…blah, dull, drab, non-descript, ordinary, mundane, awful, terrible, sucks, crappy, and did i mention blah? please, go to the new york times, la times or chicago sun times for inspiration. this design does absolutely nothing for me. it’s an embarassment to all those who call atlanta home. please change it. thanks, JiMiFLiX!
AJC? Ummm….are we selling soda pop or reporting news here? The logo looks like it belongs on a soda pop cap. I love the new menu,,,but the old design and old logo was much better.
If your designers were looking for an ‘about face’ for the spread, they achieved it. However, as a long time reader and lifetime resident, I have always associated the AJC with a classier more refined look. This one will take a LOT of getting used to.
This looks like something that my granddaughter who is 11 years old could have done. Who is so desperate for job security decided to
do something so childish and unprofessional. Making changes just
for the sake of change just to make sure you justify your job is
outright pitiful.
i don’t like the new logo either – it’s throwback hp with ‘ajc’ letters in the middle instead. the font is very juvenile/whimsy. branding didn’t get this right.
Great change! I would like to offer a couple of improvements. Please add more babes in short skirts & bikini’s, and an expanded sports section – then it would be perfect! Change is good!
I guess the AJC has joined the “CHANGE” bandwagon eh? I am not sure I like the new format…but in time it will grow on me. Will the print version format change as well? Is this a way to cut costs? I can’t even find my favorites…Metro section, horoscopes etc. I have to hunt & peck to find what I want. Don’t particularily like it…but it’s free so I login, read what I want to read and log back out…nothing to get too bent out of shape about. Don’t sweat the small stuff people.
I like the new format but I have also noticed lately that there have been frequent grammatical errors. For example, the Obama link reads Obama wants “reamining” 350B bailout money. There have been numerous other stories that have one or more errors and I know everyone makes mistakes but there should be much more scrutiny when it comes to print.
The old format was much easier to navigate and stood out much better. Makes me wonder why you changed it. Hope you did not pay too much for someone to come up with a lesser option than what you had.
Can you add the ability to comment on your stories. Maybe even offer suggestions for additional stories so you can become a mainstream player again.
It breaks my heart that the logo changed. The AJC logo always has been bold and powerful. The new logo? Soft and fluffy, totally dismissive of the history of this once-great newspaper.
As for the layout … I actually like the white space and some of the reorganization. But I don’t know if I’ll ever get past the changing of the logo.
If there ever was a doubt whether or not this paper still covered Dixie like the dew, this new logo answers that question more definitely than any words ever could.
Dont give a hoot about the layout of the webpage. Im more interested in the content, which still SUCKS!!! Still reads like a cross between USA Today and STAR magazine.
hey you guyz, stop dissin the new logo, Bristol worked at it for like……over an hour!
shes be commisioned to redesign that gold topped building you guyz got downtown!
she’s gonna have it painted Bratz Pink! you betcha!
I’d have to agree with some of the other posts regarding the logo. We can do better than that. Probably a result of design by committee.
Otherwise, though, I think this is very good work. You’ve stuck to solid grid, you have a good footer that’s packed with consistent global navigation, and the main navigation at the top is very good and makes it easier to get get anywhere with minimal clicks. The typeface is airy enough and readable for the older crowd. The sliding ‘Inside the AJC’ feature is nice also — clean and easy to use. For a newspaper, a clean layout is more important than eye popping design, and you — like the New York Times Online — have taken a good step in the right direction.
Whoever did the new logo is NOT smarter than a 5th grader! Very disappointed with the new logo – loss of identity with the faded, lighter blue vs the strong bold blue; all that history washed away. It’s hard to look at the logo seriously. For the headmast, I’d like to see some background color used. That along with the old logo would give it an immediate and strong presentation! The font is easy on the eyes. The basic layout is better organized.
Nothing wrong with change, however, this format puts me in the mind of a blog as opposed to a news periodical. If I didn’t know the AJC I wouldn’t think that this was the city newspaper. I might think it some offshoot type of site like accessatlanta.com. My feeling is that this is a newspaper and therefore you should let it be known that you are just that in your logo.
Did that dude say “don’t sweat the small stuff”???
Hey Bubba –
Its thinking like that, that gave us that stupid looking yellow bridge across 75/85.
Its thinking like that, that gave us that stupid slogan “everydays opening day-ATL”.
Its thinking like that, that gave us that stupid community around Atlantic Station.
Its thinking like that, that gave us that stupid Atlantic Station!!!
Its thinking like that, that gave us that stupid GW Bush.
– I wish Obama was our Mayor.
I don’t like it. It’s very genetic. The other format was the AJC that I was familiar with. Even though it was “busier” I didn’t mind it because it reminded me of the print edition. Looking for a new home page as we speak.
What about a tab for Arts and Culture…? Your reduced coverage and visual arts reviews are really hurting you among folks I talk to in the arts community, as AJC becomes less read…there’s so much going on locally, in large AND smaller venues; we want to read about it, and see images…
Without all the dramatics, I also agree that the new ajc logo looks too much like HP and seems uninspired. I do think, however, that the site is crisp, clear, and it doesn’t stand out (in a good way). I like that it’s heavy on text with images lightly interspersed. I agree with others that the drop down ads are annoying, but I have been tuning it out since the first time I saw them.
For the love of God, could someone correct the spelling of “remaining”, under the heading politics and transition, it was mentioned 20 mins. ago. There’s a nifty thing called spell check someone might want to look into.
Like the layout – the logo mimics the old HP logo too much – plus it doesn’t give the AJC a ’serious paper’ appeal against the other big ones. The logo looks kinda like a gossip site. The page is perfect, the items easy to find, just feel the logo isn’t ‘professional’ enough in a world class market!
Rest assured that your feedback will be taken seriously when you refer to the design as ‘genetic’. This is why aptitude tests ought to be prerequisite to the right to vote.
Sorry guys. For a world-class publication in a world-class city, I find this new look a bit simplistic, juvenile, and magazine-like. At first glance it appears too colorful and not a good package for hard news. Sorry but you asked!
I really like the new logo – gives weight to the fact that more people are getting their news online & online readership is going to drive business decisions & revenue not print production. The rest of the site really looks like a re-skin more than a redesign because my eyes go to where I’m used to seeing things (breaking news, images, etc) and I easily find what I’m looking for and expect to see. Nice job!
New logo looks like a cheap rendition of HP logo. They may not appreciate their corporate logo being copied so badly. Liked the old format better even though it was too busy. It at least looked like there was more substance to it. The new one looks washed out. A decent high school student could have done about as good. Very disappointed in the effort especially with all the decent web designers out there.
Did you get the money to do this be alienating all of your readers in the North Georgia that you stopped delivering the paper to to save money?? Idiots…
I like the clean design of the homepage. Easy to read. The logo is very weak though. I think the AJC needs a very powerful dynamic logo that everyone recognizes like the NYT. I do like to read the online “Print Edition.” I miss holding a real paper in my hand but convenience, ease and costs make this not reasonable. I wish the Print and Online Editions matched verbatim. I also hope that the AJC recognizes what they have lost in shrinking their delivery area so severely. Lots of people love the AJC around Georgia and they no longer get it. Like my Mother, only 1.5 hours drive from downtown ATL. I even heard of a man selling the AJC out of the back of his truck so people could get it in the hinterlands. I think the use of the word “footprint” for circulation territory is a PR nightmare. Very insensitive. The AJC has been a part of people’s lives for many years before some of the punks that work there were born. The other Georgia is important. Not just some metro counties, despite the costs of delivery. I live in Midtown Atlanta and only read the paper online so that is fine for me. The AJC always needs to be truly customer service oriented and that will solve the problem. Keep at it!!
Please stop screwing with the comics. I don’t want anything dropped or changed. Color is great for Sunday, but totally not necessary for weekdays. You had it right, but just had to “fix it”.
I get links on the net from all over the place concerning news article from different media sources (i.e. radio, newspaper, and TV sites). My biggest complaint is having to search for the state or nation of the source of the article on the net. I live in the Atlanta area so I know it the largest newspaper in Georgia, but I could not find anywhere that said it was in the state of “Georgia”. I doubt anyone with basic geography knowledge would not know the newspaper is in Georgia, but mapquest does list 10 different cities of Atlanta in the United States. Regardless, I think the AJC would like to be considered a major news source in Georgia unless the cuts in circulation to rural areas of Georgia meant that the AJC was going to try to disown most the state.
I CAN BE CONTACTED THRU THE EMAIL SUPPLIED HERE AND HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH YOU USING MY VERSION FOR A NOMINAL DESIGN FEE ($300) AND CREDITOF ITS CREATION. As you may notice in my redesign I was very aware of the historical feel of the spelled out version, I feel usage of this is important when a serious, “journal-istic” feel is wanted. The sleek AJC font is meant to convey the future, modern world we are speeding towards. The circle is symbolic of 285 and gives the ability to “stamp” or brand when needed. The colors are a bit bolder than that thing at the top of this page. Atlanta needs to be viewed by the world as BOLD, NEW and Cutting Edge.
it’s a bad knockoff of the chicago tribune. check it for yourself chicagotribune.com. while you’re there, check out some of the articles. the writers at the ajc could learn a thing or two about writing from the trib. and the editors too–some papers, online or print, catch spelling and grammatical errors.
The logo font is too thin and there is no focal point. The logo is a weak generic design with a very bland color. The website overall is not as easy to use as the old one and many people are going to have to reset their fonts in order to even read the site. So WHY?
I love the new look and feel but miss the easy access to the Metro section from the header. Your readers want news from their home counties without having to hunt for it. Put METRO back on top. Otherwise… kudos on the new design. Well done.
Please do not keep this boring, uninspired and utterly lackluster design. I makes it hard to return to the site. Design is supposed to draw the reader in, visually communicate something grand, tell the reader what they can expect. In short, it should make the reader want to read. This design fails miserably. It looks like a logo for an upstart soap company. I admonish you to reconsider. It’s a graphically a disaster. Remember New Coke? Change is good when it’s inspired, and there is nothing about this that says inspiration. It’s a do-over.
Ugg-leeee. And I agree wholeheartedly with the comments that the new “trendy” logo is a pointless – no, stupid – effort to distance the site from one of the proudest journalistic traditions in America. People turn to a newspaper website, rather than Joe’s News Blog, because of the history and gravitas of that institution. Did the new publisher have something to do with this lunacy?
Sorry don’t like it. We check the site often and it just seems to much to me now. Something is just not right, sometimes less is more. Also all the pop up adds and moving adds are a little to much. All we want is to read the news. I don’t mind change, when it’s for the better. Cannot say this is better, Sorry!
The design or color makes no difference to me. However, I am yet to find Rick Badie’s blog or any of the others. I have searched for a long time. I can not waste any more of my time looking.
I like the direction you are going (simplified), but I think you need to simplify even more. I don’t like the new logo…but the logo doesn’t really matter to me. Thank you for making the top banner expansion optional.
My suggestion would be to allow users to customize the layout to their liking (like http://my.yahoo.com and http://igoogle.com). Otherwise, you will never satisfy a majority of readers.
I agree with Curt. Adopting a logo that matches your URL makes sense, however to abandon the traditional masthead script is short-sighted. Minimally, you should have kept “The Atlanta Journal Constitution” script across the top, that’s your brand, or do you wish to deny it? The clean look of the rest of the home page is refreshing and simple.
I don’t like the new format because I can’t find the “Question and Answers” section. It may seem trivial, but I always looked for to reading that section to learn something new.
Hate it! It is very boring and plain. The site looks like it has been left in the sun too long and has washed out all the color! And the new logo really is very bland and washed out as well. I can understand making changes, but this was too drastically in the wrong direction. I also agree about the ads when you first log on-HATE THEM!!
Get rid of the pop-up commercials on the front page. They always take away from the headlines, and are a pain to eliminate. Annoying your readers is not the best thing to do.
I’m not as concerned about the color of the page or the logo as much as others seem to be. What concerns me is content and navigation. Thus far it seems much easier to get around, less cluttered, and the pages seem to load faster. These things I like. I’m fine with the new logo and honestly was fine with the old logo. I haven’t noticed a change in content.
The opinion page needs it’s own section on the navigation bar. It was much easier to get to the opinion section on the old site. It is also misleading and ironic to put opinion under news.
I do not like the new format. The new logo is just plain. It does not stand out at all. The ads are thee only things that pop. The news articles are lost on the ads.
Love the new logo and the larger type and clean layout. Would love to see more feature material from Catherine Fox, Pierre Ruhe, Bo Emerson and Jim Auchmutey. They are such good writers, but don’t appear enought in print. Please use their talents more and more. Can only help your circulation.
I am not crazy about the look of the redesign, the drop down menus take up too much screen space and are no match to the previous dynamic menu bars. Most of all, the new ajc.com appears to be much slower than before, it times out all the time which it never did before. GET A BETTER WEB SERVER, OR, GET A BETTER WEB DEVELOPER…
My first reaction upon loading the new page was to double check the headlines of the news stories to see if they were current. The page, or maybe it was that logo, struck me as so 2003. Literally, it looked as tired as your editorial stance.
I think your money would have been better spent replacing your editorial staff (pretty much the entire staff with the exception of Jim Wooten) and bringing in some decent, and honorable, people to assist Mr. Wooten in a true message of hope, and compassion.
Oh well, absent such improvement to your blatently obvious, unapologetic, hate filled, elitist editorial bias, I will continue to visit the Vents (assuming I can find them each day) and nothing else.
The worst part on this online edition is that I can not wrap day old fish, of the kid’s soiled diaper in it.
The new format is horrible. No info, no news, just a list of headlines. NO content — much like the printed portion of the paper. Most of your experienced, best reporters and writers have been laid off, and it shows in superficial coverage and thinner papers. But hey, color comics!!! That certainly helps. Every day there is less and less reason to read you — on line or in print. As a former journalist, and a long time resident of Atlanta I am deeply saddened by this decline.
I like the new layout. The flow of information on the page is easier to read, and the page seems brighter without all the graphics the prior layout had.
I do agree with the other poster that the huge ad that shows when you load a page is annoying.
As for the logo, it’s about brand recognition. The average person feels comfortable with something familiar in the midst of something new, so you may want to consider changing that portion back to the original.
If you must use my name, pls. use only first name. Re new format, the home page is too cluttered, there’s no link for the Vent, & who cares about celebrity over indulgences?
Your new logo is really not attractive. The two colors, the serif font,it’s way too busy – what were you thinking? It’s very “old” looking, not in a good way.
How do I find Cynthia Tucker’s & other’s editorials?
Is there another online AJC newspaper in addition to this site?
The AJC has preserved the freedom of all of us by being a statewide and nationwide government watchdog providing a check and balance to politician’s excesses.
I am concerned that this will be lost due to cancelling statewide delivery.
The site improvements are fine. It’s the content that’s lacking. OLD, out of date reviews, especially of restaurants that are now closed is ridiculous. If you can’t update a review in 4 or 5 years what good is it. I understand every restaurant can’t be constantly updated, but don’t act like your information is somehow relevant because a writer made a couple of comments about a place in 2004.
We rely greatly on our users to let us know when a restaurant is closed (or newly opened). As often as restaurants open and close in a metro area of this size, it’s the only realistic way we can offer what we do. So please do tell us! We want this to be an environment where you can recommend, review and exchange information with fellow users. Thank you for your input — we appreciate hearing from you.
I consider myself to be a Republican. Conservative and Libertarian at the same time. I sometimes find Jimm Wooten to be too far Right. I oftentimes find Jay Bookman to be too far Left.
There are times I could agree with both gentlemen.
Yet, I don’t see the bias that evidently quite a few readers see. Because I get my news from more than one source. And, I think, I have enough intelligence to form my own opinion with out any reporting bias (real or perceived) influencing it.
Tucker only writes one day a week now. Is she going back to two days a week? Once a week is plenty for her slanted views. Wooten is retiring and you are stating that he is still working once a week. Is this true?
With Barr once a week, Wooten once a week and the new columnist 3 times a week, you are still not balanced. Bookman blogs daily and if Tucker now writes twice a week along with the constant left leaning editorial cartoons, there is no balance. To balance this, you need two conservative columnists and another editorial cartoon.
The most biased part of the editorial page are the left leaning drawings of Luckovich. You need a more conservative editorial cartoonist to balance his left leaning scribbles. I would suggest a syndicated cartoonist such as Michael Ramirez from the Investors Business Daily.
I quit a 10+ year subscription to the AJC due to its far-left positions on all issues. Cynthia Tucker is the biggest racist in the entire metroplex. The AJC wouldn’t have to make all these cuts if they just reported the news and didn’t interject its political and racist philosophies. You want to increase subscriptions? Maybe look at successful publications like the Wall Street Journal. Learn from your fallen leftist rags like the Denver paper and the LA Times.
I agree that the paper is too liberal and seems to be trying to appeal more to one racial group and that is exactly the reason why I quit subscribing years ago. Balanced coverage…equal parts liberal and conservative, black and white, would make a difference in my considering another shot at subscribing. In order for the AJC to make a run at staying in print, you need to appeal to a broader base…..Business 101, anybody?
Perhaps another reason for a dive in subscriptions is that, for example, the editor writes things like “None of these choices HAS been easy”. It’s HAVE been easy nimrod. The AJC’s English is typically awful.
A lot of folks (in GA, at least) perceive bias as anything that does not agree with their opinion. I think the AJC has a balance, but, even as someone pretty liberal, there has been a tendency, IMHO, to the left side of the equation. It would be nice to have a mix of liberal/conservative in all sorts of ways. For example, liberal in social policy but conservative in economics–those do exist.
As for me, I have to drive 100 miles roundtrip now to get the AJC (I don’t do that), or squint at the print on a computer screen. I am not a happy camper about that. IMHO, the AJC, as Georgia’s premier newspaper, owes something to us in the hinterlands as well. The local paper is a weekly, filled with advice from preachers and the ag economist, as well as the vet. I can get a paper from Chattanooga, but not from Atlanta, and I live closer to Atlanta!
I totally appreciate the albeit late response from the AJC and the willingness to afford change in their approach to bringing us the news. I wish these changes had been prompted more by a desire to be fair and balanced than a reaction to economic conditions but I’ll take this anyway. For a mighty long time the AJC has slipped down the path of liberalism and bias in their reporting and quite frankly lost the respect of many. Without real competition in the Atlanta market, the AJC has been allowed to go their own way because readers had no other substantial choices. Only now, with the economic times, does the AJC see the benefit of trying to appeal to all of its potential readers. Like I said, it’s a late but welcomed change. I look forward to seeing these changes unfold in the near future. It is my hope the AJC has once again realized its position in the city and in the state and in the south and will focus on delivering the news in an unbiased and credible manner. I’ve been disappointed in the focus and the content of the AJC in the past but will embrace changes towards fair and unslanted coverage if those changes truly materialize.
Tom–none means not one. Not one of these choices HAS been easy. If they had chosen more than one choice, it would be have. Of these choices is a prepositional phrase, not the subject of the verb. Geez!
Just to clarify on questions from “Carter is a fool.”
By July 1, Our new columnist will blog. Wooten will continue to blog and will write a once a week column. Tucker will return to twice a week. So… by the numbers (and columnists are tough to categorize and play a straight numbers games)… We will have the new columnist, Wooten and Barr for five columns a week; and Bookman and Tucker for four columns a week. You raise a good point on Luckovich. Our op-ed page editor has added more conservative syndicated cartoonists in recent months. I hope you’ve noticed.
Carter is a Fool
March 8th, 2009
9:29 am
Tucker only writes one day a week now. Is she going back to two days a week? Once a week is plenty for her slanted views. Wooten is retiring and you are stating that he is still working once a week. Is this true?
With Barr once a week, Wooten once a week and the new columnist 3 times a week, you are still not balanced. Bookman blogs daily and if Tucker now writes twice a week along with the constant left leaning editorial cartoons, there is no balance. To balance this, you need two conservative columnists and another editorial cartoon.
The most biased part of the editorial page are the left leaning drawings of Luckovich. You need a more conservative editorial cartoonist to balance his left leaning scribbles. I would suggest a syndicated cartoonist such as Michael Ramirez from the Investors Business Daily.
I read your “The path ahead for AJC” article. I wish your market research people would have contacted me as I would have given them some advice.
If you want to sell papers, first get in touch with your readers.
For example: in the Living Section artical: “Dozens of ways to stretch your dollars,” many of the restaurants are ridiculously priced such as the Melting Pot $25 dollar fondue dinner and $5 drink specials. Exactly which group you are catering to with these so-called dining dollar stretchers is beyond me. Why not stick to the very companies that use ads and coupons within your own paper for promotion such as the Logans Roadhouse which is underneath Ecco $44 for two?
Next: Technology. In this high tech age, it seems that Husted’s column is ever-shrinking. I am not a big fan of his writing per se, but wake up AJC as this is the internet age. When I do manage to find information such as web sites that may be a benefit, it was worth the five minute read.
Oh but we have the homefinder! like anyone is actually looking for a home right now and a “Caribbean outpost in Cobb. Where is the beneficial news and information there? Perhaps a couple years ago before the bottom fell out of the economy it would have been a good article.
For now, my advice is to focus on the “news” and information that may benefit your readers and help them through these tough times. At this point the only reaon I may keep my subscription is for the wife and her coupons unless I can talk her into the savings difference from the price of your paper.
One last thing, in case you did not know, the metro area expands beyond Cobb, Gwinnett, Fulton, Clayton and Dekalb Counties. “Paulding County” seems to be featured in your paper only when there is a homicide which may be once or twice a year.
I doubt you will consider my offerings to any degree, as this paper has always seemed to be ignorant of the people who subscribe but since this is the only major paper, I thought I would give it s a shot.
Regards,
Lenny
This may come across as petty compared to the liberal vs. conservative debate. I have noticed how many stories on-line have missing words or typo’s. I would estimate it to be running at about half the articles. In my view, you lose some credibility when you can’t even put out a story with fully correct spelling, good sentences, and no typos. I really don’t know what the rate is for the print edition. I rarely read the AJC that way. But it is really disappointing to be reading along and have to figure out what word the writer left out and what was really meant.
Have you considered recycling all the AJC papers that people read and then throw away? How many tons of paper would that be, do you think? There would need to be several convenient locations of course, for people to drop their papers off. I know that there are large dumpsters at several schools, etc., but would it make a difference if the AJC were doing it’s own recycling? Probably not cost effective!
Lenny… Thanks for your comments. Even though you weren’t in the market research… you reflect much of what we heard. People want news. They want us to play the role of watchdog in the community (read Alan Judd’s story today on peanut inspections). On Sunday, they want us to be a bit more thoughtful and explain the “why” behind the news (James Salzer’s story on Georgia legislators’ personal financial problems; the op-ed piece today by William Egart, a flight safety instructor from McDonough). And they want us to help them live their lives. In homefinder, you’re right, we need to find a balance. Stories about beautiful homes remain popular. I suppose it’s a welcome break from these tough economic times. Those are some of most clicked-on photo galleries on ajc.com. However, there are many people facing much more serious home issues, and we need to provide that information as well.
All you need to do is look at the total staff of the editorial page. Wooten has been the only voice of the conservatives. Every one else is a radical liberal, lead by one of the most radicals in the country. Who is she going to surround herself with….moderates??? This paper serves the community at large, but it has a decided slant in both it’s reporting, editorials, and ‘that issue that makes white Americans cowards’.
I read on Page A-3 in your article from Julia Wallace how the paper was going to start proof reading to stop bias. I turn to the next page and read an article titled “President says recovery not certain this year”, only to see true liberal bias. The article states how Obama is going to “redistribute wealth from about 3 million elite familes to forgotten lower and middle classes.” A non bias paper would have said upper income to lower income, and left out the true liberal bias, class warfare word of elite and forgotten. This is why the AJC is a Liberal paper losing readers, and having to sell the sunday paper on the corner for $1.00.
You say you want my business. I have been a reader for over 25 years.
Now each week, I hear that this or that is being cut from the paper. Today my Sunday paper did not arrive until 9:30. The excuse was that the truck was late. I will say the same thing to you that I stated to your representative who I waited almost 10 minutes to speak with this morning, “Totally unacceptable”. I will be contacting a local paper for a subscription. Thank you and I am sorry that your newspaper no longer meets my needs.
So liberal editors are assigned to look for bias & balance. Good luck with that. You are in the business of public trust and you have lost it. I used to get the AJC at my office and at home. You lost my business several years ago.
Free advice on limiting content- cut your racial articles in half and you can add content. Your “all things have racial undertones, overtones, or bias” gets old very, very quickly.
Dear Ms. Wallace,
Thank you for the reply. I truly hope that these changes will bring more balance to the opinion section. For the online readers, we do not see the other political cartoons. This needs to be addressed.
David Hill’s comment about the bias in the stories is right on point. You need to look at this carefully as your reporters often makes these types of assertions.
Totally liberal view points!! Many of my friends now just get the Marietta Journal in Cobb. Used to get AJC, but now live in a different area. Also channels 2,5,11 are totally controlled by left wing! Most need to learn to read many different sources and then draw their own opinion, but don’t do it.
The AJC has always been in the tank for the left, and no amount of cosmetics will change that fact. The reason? Name one journalism school which is even slightly conservative.
A few years ago the AJC dropped O’reilly and Ringwald columns in an attemp to bring what was said at the time to bring balance to the editorial page. What I saw was a further down hill slide. How about just printing the truth and you won’t have to worry about being liberal or conservative or is that asking too much from the AJC.
Dear Ms. Wallace:
Although I appreciate the AJC’s efforts to offer balanced reporting, you do need to realize that those so-called conservatives who resort to name calling and yelling will never subscribe to the paper, anyway. They use terms such as “radical Liberals” while portraying themselves as thoughtful conservatives. David Hill (above) laments as “liberal” a statement in an article that says Obama’s plan “redistributes wealth from about 3 million elite families to forgotten lower and middle classes.” Actually, Obama’s plan gives a tax break to 98% of Americans, while letting a huge tax break for 2% of the very highest wage earners expire. You don’t see that in many articles, and cannot be described as a “redistribution of wealth” – but apparently, some people see this as an example of liberal bias. My point is that you will never, ever, make these right-wing complainers happy, unless you ask Rush Limbaugh to write your entire paper for you. Please keep the mix of columnists that you have. We live in a state that is dominated by Republicans whose idea of consumerism is to give a mammoth fee increase to Georgia Power. We need the excellent voices of Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman, and of the Atlanta Journal Consititution, more than ever. Don’t give in.
You seem to be trying to admit that the AJC has a strong liberal slant but just can’t quite get yourself say it. For example, Wooten is rarely mentioned without a descriptor of “conservative” or “right” but I can never remember you using “liberal” or “left leaning” when you refer to Bookman or Tucker. Please correct me if I’m mistaken.
Ms. Wallace,
I read your comments in this morning’s paper and want to affirm the desire to take deliberate steps to address the bias issue. Like many of your readers, I was very disppointed in what appeared to me was a lack of balance in your news coverage and editorials. It was for this very reason that I failed to renew my subscription. I now purchase the paper only on Sunday to keep up with local advertising. Although I do not intend to resubscribe at this time I do want you to know I affirm your desire to provide balanced coverage.
I think that it is quite humorous that the AJC is failing and now is making a token attempt to appeal to conservatives to boost circulation! What happened to all of the Obama pandering during the campaign? Did it not give the paper the numbers that you thought it would?
As the AJC makes its selection of a new conservative columnist, please do your part not to fan the flames of culture war. Surely we’ve had enough self-righteous rhetoric and blind ideology to last us all a lifetime, and surely we’ve degraded what passes for civic discourse shamefully enough for all to agree that we owe both ourselves and posterity an honest attempt to be more responsible, more thoughtful, and more more worthy of respect. I would ask that you disqualify any columnist candidate who used the word “liberal” in his or her trial column. Newt Gingrich’s shamelessly Orwellian transformation of the word into an obscenity was foul enough in his day, and has by now become the hallmark of rigidly hostile, destructive, and frankly stupid discourse.
Please choose a conservative columnist who can make the case for his or her views without resorting to cheap straw-man counter-arguments, without ranting about fundamentally irrelevant far-fringe opponents, and without feeling compelled to oppose, regardless of its merits, any idea not already approved by the current dictators of far-fringe conservatism.
One can be more conservative than David Brooks and still make sense. One can be as serious as William Buckley and still be a real conservative. One can be a conservative and an actual patriot at the same time, determined to think, write, and speak in a way that is good for our country, that helps frame honest debate about critical issues, that encourages us to stop shouting and think. Faced with current proof of the bankruptcy of our lifestyles and our hyper-partisan politics, we cannot afford for a newspaper as important as the AJC is to its region to contribute any further to the breakdown of public civility and reason. A knee-jerk conservative partisan might generate strong, partisan reactions from your readers, but would we be better off? Would Atlanta be a better city for it? Would you be able to get along better with your neighbors, or expect more meaningful public conversation about the great issues and difficult solutions confronting us?
I suspect (and fervently hope) that a clear AJC decision to walk away from the culture wars, to publish points of view that clearly start from sense of shared responsibility, and to encourage its readers to work together to create a meaningful, sustainable community would actually be good for the paper’s long-term viability. We need the AJC to lead, and in doing so make its editorial page an indispensable agent of change for the better rather than just another place where the angry get angrier and the foolish feel confirmed.
I am new to this “conservative/liberal” stuff, I always was into the “Republican/ Democrat” divisions. All this seems silly. If we could stick to the truth, to the facts written in a neutral way, as for a factual school report then we could all, maybe, be happy. If opinions are needed in print, then they should be clearly labeled as such and your counting of bias makes sense. If we must read “factual” articles for bias then all facts are suspect. I would say that the paper needs to keep that old TV cop,Joe Friday, in mind and stick to “the facts, just the facts”…unless it is clearly stated that this is opinion. If all this brouhaha is about the two editorial pages of your relatively fat newspaper then we all involved in a tempest in a small teapot! After all, I, at least, read your paper for news facts, not for your collected opinions of it.
Sincerely, Joyce
You will have a tough time identifying liberal leanings when the survey is done by liberal leaning editors. The problem with perspective is that the statements are usually factually correct. Example: During the election Sarah Palin was usually referred to as “first-term Governor Sarah Palin”; I NEVER saw a reference to “first-term Senator Barack Obama.” It’s the same thing with congressmen who are suspected of improper behavior. Has anyone ever seen a reference to “Democrat Gary Condit”? Even during its proper targeting of Mayor Bill Campbell, did anyone ever see any reference to him being a Democrat? Contrast that with Republican Senator Larry Craig and Republican Senator David Vitter. AJC: It doesn’t have to be a lie to show bias.
This argument about bias is so stupid. This country is basically split 50-50 (or 45-45 with 10 being undecided). If you stop the so-called bias then you’ll alienate the 50% of liberal readers you have. Stopping the bias will only make it so that the conservatives are happy and the liberals are angry. That won’t help your circulation any (or very marginally since Georgia is a red state but only by 5 points). The problems with the decline in Newspapers in general is much deeper than the bias argument. And to all the conservatives who are going to chew me out I would like to point out the entry about The Washington Times on Wikipedia. Surely we can agree that the Washington Times is not biased. The Times has lost money every year since it’s inception and has had nearly 2 billion dollars poured into it. All the while having only 1/7th the readership of the Washington Post.
Bill asks why we describe Wooten as an conservative, but don’t describe Bookman or Tucker as liberals. That’s a good point! We haven’t had anyone question where Bookman or Tucker stand on the political spectrum. We do however often hear people say that we have NO conservative columnists, so have pointed them toward Wooten and some of our regular conservative columnists like Krauthmammer. They see David Brooks as a liberal, because he writes for the New York Times. You know it’s more complicated than that. In some of the market testing, we did one version of the editorial page where every columnist was labeled. The readers rejected that, saying (appropriately) that not all opinion is so easily categorized.
The AJC needs to focus more on local stories. You can get national news, sports, ect., from a variety of sources online, yet the one area AJC can COMMAND remains the “redheaded stepchild.” You took an even bigger step backward by doing away with the zone coverage. Same with sports. Instead of covering more preps (seed-beds for future subscribers) you cut back.
And PLEASE, don’t reply with some kind of spin about how great you do local coverage. I READ the AJC everyday. I KNOW what you do.
The politically correct format of you newspaper/website is sickening. For example, every gay news story/issue is always put front and center on your website, and stays there for days. But unlike the Gwinnett Daily Post; the almost daily stories about rape, hit-and-run, drug running, home invasion, etc., carried out by the Hispanics in Gwinnett County are almost never reported by you. By the way, when are you going to enlighten your readership with a story about the tuberculosis epidemic in Gwinnett County, and the illegal aliens who are responsible for it?
Your pathetical PC policy of selectively publishing photos of defendants in crime stories also deserves mention. Two homegrown stories come to mind. In July, 2006, a Coca-Cola executive was arrested for attempting to sell trade secrets to Pepsi. When the story broke, you reported it without showing a photo of the perp. The story, w/perp photo, quickly went national, and about four days later, you were one of the last publications to add her photo to a story update, revealing to your readership that she was black. Talk about white liberal guilt!
By contrast, in January 2009, you reported (w/ no photos) about an Obama-supporting couple whose house was torched while they were on their way to his inauguration. Days later, when it was revealed that they were the prime suspects and subsequently arrested for arson, you put their photos front and center in your story update, revealing that they were white. Again, white liberal guilt in play here.
In closing, your publication is doomed. Your intellectually dishonest approach to news reporting will continue, in spite of your best efforts, because of your irrational aversion to the truth, and the twisted liberal logic that goes into your day- to-day editorial decisions.
I subscribed to the AJC 5 years ago when first moving to the Atlanta area as a way of getting to know this metro region. Besides being a news junkie, I always enjoyed reading newspapers and getting the facts of what is happening.
In that time, I have threatened to cancel my subscription several times only to clench my teeth and shake my head at the total lack of objectivity throughout the paper, not just the editorial pages. I can even stand Luckovich, if he was balanced on alternate days with an opposing view. Cythia Tucker……..well, she has done more harm to your paper than you seem to understand. Have you ever considered the demographics of your typical subscriber? They are not Cythia Tucker. To make a point, let me exaggerate the biased messages you are sending: 1), Atlanta is a well run crime free visitor mecca, 2), hip hop is God’s gift to the area, 3) Gay life style is celebrated and 4) individual responsibility is not important as long as the local, state and federal government are there to provide handouts. Exaggerated yes, but not by much.
My last 6 month’s subscription is coming due. This time, I will not renew. Despite past promises of fair reporting, it never happens. Nearly every change you make to the paper is a negative in one way or the other. Good objective investigative reporting is sadly lacking. It is time to use my laptop with my morning coffee……………
Ms. Wallace, it is true that not all opinion is “easily categoriezed”- but apparently “conservative” opinion is since it is always labled as such. I do think that having a base understanding of where the writer lies politically does help in understanding their perspective. The AJC agrees or they wouldn’t do with with Mr. Wooten 100% of the time. The likely reason your first effort at “labeling” was rejected is becuase you have largely alienated your conservative readers. I doubt very seriously you have enough of a conservative base left to offset how liberals feel when one of their own is labled. Us on the right are used to it.
I am white, Christian, Atlanta Public School educated, and a Georgia Tech graduate. One of my most valued and trustworthy partners is Black Muslim. Being fiscally conservative, socially liberal, I agree with most of the above comments. Not only is the news reporting slanted including the lead headlines and paragraphs, the liberal editorial headlines and opinions tend to be misleading and omit important facts. The AJC has created more bias and racism in the public through its publication.
I find it hard to believe that even Ralph Magill would approve of your editorial staff.
I don’t read a newspaper to get confirmation of my political views. If you are so twisted with hate that you want to conduct political warfare even in your newspaper choice, I feel sorry for you. I read Tucker and Wooten too. I watch CNN as well as Fox. I’m fully capable of weeding out the news from the slant. In fact, I don’t believe it’s possible to get a perspective on the news without looking at the media from both sides of the political spectrum.
However, I want the news primarily. I find such actions as completely reformatting the online version of the AJC to be not only unnecessary but also confusing. I don’t need to go on an Easter egg hunt to find my favorite features in the AJC.
Finally, I disagree with those who want even more local news in the AJC.
The newspaper has already become so parochial that it’s necessary to go elsewhere to find a full range of national stories. The front page consists almost entirely of Georgia coverage. The Metro section focuses on petty political squabbles within the 100 or jurisdictions in the area. Finally, the Sports section is so focused on the Georgia Bulldogs, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, the Atlanta Braves, and the Atlanta Falcons that it’s necessary to go elsewhere for national coverage. Why can’t the sports editors recognize that millions of people who’ve moved to Georgia aren’t very interested in which state players got arrested this week?
If the AJC wants to survive, it needs to become a national newspaper.
Judging from a large number of the comments by the conservatives, it is hard not conclude that they consider the AJC biased whenever the views expressed don’t match their own. That’s what makes the AJC a racist, liberal rag.
Georgia is a blood-red state so even middle-of-the-road comments smack of the dreaded liberalism to most conservatives no matter the level of reasoning in the article because they are so far to the right. Ask them about Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and they’ll say they get it right most of the time. For such people there is no middle ground. There is only the demented Left and the patriotic, God-fearing Right.
Therein lies the dilemna for the AJC. Does the paper wish to continue its tradition of balanced reporting pointing out the good and bad about the Left and the Right from the high middle ground or will it become a cheerleader for the Hard Right?
The choice the AJC may be facing is between maintaining its integrity and boosting its sales. That will be a very difficult choice.
Frankly, though, most of the people I refer to would not subscribe to the paper because the have Rush Limbaugh to comfort them.
What the hard conservatives here will surely reject is that with the overall bias of reporting via TV (especially CNN and FOX) being very conservative (and often distorted), a more moderate voice is badly needed.
I’m not in such a forgiving or understanding mood as “Longtime subscriber”. How sad that wide-ranging decisions of such great import are being made based on your assertion that …”A few think we’re too conservative. But many more believe that our editorial pages are too liberal and that bias seeps into our news coverage. We have heard you on the bias issue and are taking deliberate steps to address this.” Count me in on the “few” who think you are too conservative (aside from your coverage of the local/state angle, do you ever stop and read the AP headlines/articles?). Why are you promoting Thomas Oliver (who I thought had been banished once before to outer Gwinnett for journalistic incompetence) for articles that encourage people to go out and buy handguns as they await the collapse of our society? Does your turn to the right mean we look forward to more like-minded tripe? I’ve never written to complain or comment (much unlike the conservative readers you regularly publish in “Letters to the Editor”), but now as budgets tighten I see no reason to continue to throw good money at the AJC as it gives greater content legitimacy to these factions. You are the journalists and the professionals and you should be making decisions based as to the accuracy, quality, and immediacy of the AJC and not based on whether you are being judged as “fair and balanced” on the content. Bottom-line, I realize you have to run the AJC as a business, but in the future you can count me in on the Atlantans who will cancel subscriptions based on your decision to kowtow to the very vocal and misguided right-wing base. Reading the obits and the comics will no longer be enough to entice me to renew my subscription.
I DO NOT LIVE IN GEORGIA, BUT READ THE AJC EVERY DAY ONLINE. YOU SEND ME ALL THE BREAKING NEWS ALONG WITH ALL THE REST. AS A DELTA RETIREE, I ESPECIALLY
LOVE YOUR COVERAGE OF DELTA AIRLINES. IT IS FIRST CLASS. IT HAS KEPT ALL OF
US WELL INFORMED THROUGH THIS BANKRUPTCY AND MERGER MESS.
NOW, IN MY OPINION, YOU ARE TOO LIBERAL. YOU HAVE TWO ON YOUR STAFF THAT MAKE ME CRINGE. CYNTHIA TUCKER’S COLUMN APPEARS IN OUR NEW ORLEANS PAPER TOO. HER WRITINGS ARE NOT FIT TO LINE THE BOTTOM OF A BIRD CAGE. THERE IS ALSO YOUR CARTOONIST LUCKOVICH. HE IS TALENTED, BUT LEANS WAY TOO FAR LEFT. HE WAS JUST AS BAD WHEN HE WAS WITH OUR LOCAL PAPER. I CAN’T SPEAK FOR ALL OF NEW ORLEANS, BUT MANY OF US DON’T MISS HIM AT ALL.
WE NOW HAVE A TALENTED AS WELL AS BALANCED EDITORIAL CARTOONIST, THANK YOU. I DO HOPE YOUR PAPER SURVIVES IN SPITE OF THESE TWO LEFTISTS!!!!
I used to subscribe and then quit for three reasons 1. It was much better when there were two papers, If you had the Journal and the Constitution again the more conservative one would bury the other. 2 When it came time to re-new, you automatically doubled, tripled or quadrupled the rate! 3. Too much left leaning editors, opinion articles, cartoonists and mega-maniac race-baters. Your subscribers are those who vote conservative in GA, you are losing these and the ad dollars that follow them. Your paper cannot survive on the liberal, and majority black south Atlanta metro area. THEY DONT SUBSCRIBE! You are the major paper in GA, outside of the 285 loop and south Metro, THEY VOTE CONSERVATIVE, they are conservative and whether you believe it or not, they are Atlanta and GA’s money base. They don’t want to be constantly bombarded by your liberal editors opinions and views on issues. Thats why they don’t subscribe or advertise. Even so called “non-bias” news media, must be operated as a business and cater to their customers. And but for a few exceptions (mid-town), the liberal, or majority in ATL minority, are not your customers. The liberal papers in LA and New York can survive because of their subscriber make-up, THE AJC CANNOT!!!
PS> Hey Vent Guy, and ONLINE Vent Guys; Since you won’t post this comment I’ll post it here!!
SEE WHAT HAPPENS ATLANTA, CLAYTON COUNTY, DETROIT, WASHINGTON DC, OAKLAND; WHEN YOU VOTE COLOR INSTEAD OF A PERSONS CHARACTER, INTEGRITY, EXPIERENCE AND ABILITY…..OR IF YOU VOTE FOR A PARTY INSTEAD OF A PERSON. ALL THESE ARE DEMOCRAT AND FAILING…..
I would like a response to having another cartoonist balance the scribblings of Luckovich for the online readers.
Here is another case in point as to bias. Cynthia Tucker writes glorifying Barney Frank who is most likely one of the people who should be held accountable for the economic mess we are in by his repeated assertions that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were solvent. He blocked the repeated attempts to overhaul these institutions and head off the coming problem.
I would like an answer to the cartoons for online readers.
CARTER IS A FOOL writes: Here is another case in point as to bias. Cynthia Tucker writes glorifying Barney Frank who is most likely one of the people who should be held accountable for the economic mess we are in by his repeated assertions that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were solvent. He blocked the repeated attempts to overhaul these institutions and head off the coming problem
____
This is just so much Hard Right propaganda. The policies that lead to the housing bubble very much belong to Mr. Bush who espoused home ownership as a means of building Republican majorities. Mr. Frank is on record as having warned that not everyone will have the income to own and that quality rental housing should be a priority. Mr. Bush’s policies originated during his first term when Mr. Frank was not chairman of the Congressional committee.
CARTER IS A FOOL’s comments illustrate the myopia afflicting so many. We’ve just finished eight years of Mr. Bush and we’ve had Mr. Obama for a month and a half yet the Hard Right is trying to pin all the fault for our economy on Mr. Obama. That’s why a moderate voice is needed so badly.
I totally appreciate the albeit late response from the AJC and the willingness to afford change in their approach to bringing us the news. I wish these changes had been prompted more by a desire to be fair and balanced than a reaction to economic conditions but I’ll take this anyway. For a mighty long time the AJC has slipped down the path of liberalism and bias in their reporting and quite frankly lost the respect of many. Without real competition in the Atlanta market, the AJC has been allowed to go their own way because readers had no other substantial choices. Only now, with the economic times, does the AJC see the benefit of trying to appeal to all of its potential readers. Like I said, it’s a late but welcomed change. I look forward to seeing these changes unfold in the near future. It is my hope the AJC has once again realized its position in the city and in the state and in the south and will focus on delivering the news in an unbiased and credible manner. I’ve been disappointed in the focus and the content of the AJC in the past but will embrace changes towards fair and unslanted coverage if those changes truly materialize.
Someone needs to say this out loud.
No matter how you reformat the paper,
reformulate your news content or
redesign your logo, Cynthia Tucker is
your “brand.’
If I want to read Thomas Friedman, Maureen Dowd or David Brooks, I’ll read The New York Times, not the AJC. While adding another local columnist is a step in the right direction, the commentary section needs to and should focus much more on local news, issues and problems that face metro Atlanta, not giving prime real estate to syndicated columnists from elsewhere due to a lack of printable content or space that needs to be filled. Write more local news oriented editorials, have a larger, more diverse or more specialized commentary staff or have your current columnists write more.
Also, I think using terms like ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’ to describe your commentary staff undermines them intellectually, and their audience by the way. That’s an easy way out to appease critics of bias. It basically pigeonholes them in such a way prevents them from writing commentary that could lean both ways. The issues that affect people today are too complex to be rigidly labeled as ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’. That kind of language furthers the partisan divide at a time when Atlantans (and America) can’t really afford it.
The worst thing a local newspaper can do is misinterpret their audience and not specialize, especially in the commentary section. The AJC does a good job to a certain extent, but as readers, we want (and need) more local opinion, because that’s why we read the AJC. If we want national or international news, we’ll pick up the New York Times or The Wall Street Journal or turn on CNN.
Read the following for a well thought out discussion on Barney Frank’s significant contribution to the economic problems. Houckster is incorrect. The requirement for loaning money to those who could not afford to pay it back is NOT Bush’s dictate. The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (another Foolish Carter problem) was revised during the Clinton years to force lenders to lend money to those not qualified or face additional federal regulations.
Nowhere did I say that this Obama’s fault. It is the fault of those who did not fix the problem in Congress when it was brought to their attention. Not only did Frank not attempt to fix the problem, he blocked these attempts.
This is not a HARD RIGHT position. Liberals love to jump up and call names to make their case. The issues are far more complicated than calling names and making wild accusations.
A fair and balanced view of the world through reporting is needed. Not a biased view that said Bush is at fault for everything and is Bad.
Ms. Wallace, first of all, liberal or conservative is in the eye of the beholder. I recall when some professional women decided to be known by their own first name (e.g. Mrs. Mary Johnson instead of Mrs. Frank Johnson), that was considered liberal and those women were derisively called “modern women”. Then, some women decided not to take their husband’s last name at all and THAT was considered downright militant by some people. My point is that anything the AJC does is going to be labeled by *some*one as biased. Balance is a good goal but given how fickle people are, I doubt that it is a destination that can be achieved.
Second, on any given day, I will read a number of things in the AJC which I think are liberal or a number of things that I perceive as conservative. I would not assume that changes in subscriptions are reflective of anything other than the impact of electronic publishing on the print medium. (I didn’t understand the concept until I bought a house with built in shelves but, since most of my reading is done electronically, I have nothing on my shelves.) People don’t subscribe to what they can get online. So, in addition to agreeing with the comment that people who don’t subscribe now aren’t likely to subscribe because of an attempt to be “unbiased” (whatever that means), I think the AJC should look at other business models instead of trying to meet a nebulous and (in my opinion) unattainable standard.
One suggestion I have is to allow more opportunities to comment on stories in the online version. I think people might be surprised to know what other people are thinking about the news in Metro Atlanta.
I ended my subscription to the AJC because the paper kept getting delivered to my neighbor. Every day it was on the neighbor’s driveway. Every stinkin’ day. Complained three times to the AJC. Each time they promised to get it right. They never did. Unbelievable. I now throw their solicitations in the trash without even opening them. Who needs the aggravation.
The AJC is a far left drivel of a newspaper. I will never subscribe to it as long as Cynthia Tucker runs her anti-white/anti-Jew/anti-American/pro-Islamic Obama propaganda.
Shame that the Cox family is too stubborn to allow their affirmative action mouthpiece to drive this newspaper to the ground.
Good riddance. May the AJC soon join the Rocky Mountain News
I agree with Will’s comment about making sure the opinions pages put focus on local issues. AJC staff opinion writers do address national news, but local commentary is a crucial part of their jobs. It also will be so for the new conservative columnist, who generally will be expected to write about local and Georgia issues 60 percent of the time.
I am amazed at the number of respondents to this issue who want more conservative issues discussed and who think the AJC is extremely liberal. I am middle of the road, used to be Republican, now somewhat liberal and newly turned Democrat. I don’t want to see more conservative columnists in the paper. Mostly, they lean too far to the right. If you can find a conservative columnist who keeps to the facts, and reports constructively, then fine. I don’t think this can happen. As for the liberals like Cynthia Tucker, I agree with most everyone that she is too extreme. I personally don’t read her or Jim Wooten most of the time. And I also agree with some of the other people who wrote in, that we need to see less of those writers who write for New York papers or Washington papers as their views hardly pertain to issues here in the South. Since you are essentially a Southern regional paper, can you not report on issues here in the Southern states? I would like to see more well-rounded bias free articles and I do like some national and International news. You can keep the comics and I can do without the Living section. Just give me the news, the plain news will do without bias and without embellishments.
I haven’t paid for a subscription since 1989. The militant left-wing hate machine (Tucker and Luckovich) would have to disappear before I would consider buying an issue of AJC again.
I don’t subscribe to the AJC any longer for three reasons (1) Jay Bookman (2) Cynthia Tucker (3) Luckovich. For Bookman all things big government and socialist are wonderful and anything restricting government intrusion into a person’s life or encouraging self responsibility are bad. Tucker sees everything in black and white, black is good and white is bad or worse. Luckovich is neither amusing nor thought provoking merely pathetically bitter towards anyone or anything with which he disagrees. I read the AJC on line for local news but quite often skip certain articles when the headline is blatantly biased one way or the other. I don’t just blindly drink the conservative kool-aid but I also don’t want the liberal “big government knows best” baloney force fed to me by some reporter with a personal save the world agenda. Most of the racial uproars in the Atlanta area are stirred up and kept roiling by the all media outlets especially if it concerns some of our immense number of illegal residents. I do not feel the least bit of sympathy or remorse when an illegal is deported or locked up, they aren’t supposed to be here that is why they are referred to as “illegal.” Tear jerker articles about their plight should be published in the Mexico City paper.
Here’s an idea – how about the media promoting MODERATION instead of liberal or conservative? I am convinced that the root of every problem we have in this country is a result of our polarization of ideas. At least, that is how we are portrayed in the media and by politicians. However, I am equally convinced that the majority of the population falls somewhere smack in the middle of the bird, and not just on its right or left wing.
But controversy sells papers and gets ratings. If we were all holding hands and singing Kumbaya, a lot of media types and politicians would be out of a job.
Granted, it is over-simplification to equate this to a sports analogy, but in some ways, politics and racial issues in particular are a little like sports. It’s only natural to root for your own “team”. But the more the other side gets in your face and taunts you, the more hostile you become. Before long, a brawl breaks out and you can no longer just enjoy being a sports fan. It becomes personal.
We are a nation divided, and the blame for this falls squarely on the shoulders of the media and our politicians, because you all have chosen to portray the extremes of every subject, forcing the populus to feel we have to pick sides and go to war with one another.
The fact is that most of us, regardless of race, religion or political beliefs, want the same thing – a good job, a nice place to live, good education, equal pay and equal opportunity. But we have been led to believe that in order to accomplish this, the other side is standing in our way. If the media focused more on what we all have in common, instead of polarizing our differences and labeling us as one side or the other, we would all stand a better chance of reaching our goals.
Frankly, I stopped subscribing to the AJC years ago because I felt that none of the articles represented my place in society. As a white, lower-middle class working person, all I could read about was the unfortunate plight of African-Americans and how whites are bad and blacks are victims. This type of journalism is grossly unfair to both races, and is just another example of portraying the extremes and pitting us against one another. Whites are tired of being labeled as racists and being made to feel that no matter what we do, it’s never enough. Is it any wonder there’s a growing resentment on our “side”? It’s not racism, it’s self-preservation. And I feel confident that there are just as many African-Americans who are tired of being portrayed as the race of victims and would like to go about there business without skin color being front and center of every conversation.
So how about more articles that portray BOTH sides of a situation and give the readers credit for being able to think for ourselves. Right now, the only options we have are to have our collective blood pressure skyrocket at being perpetually forced to side with diametrically opposed opinions. It would be refreshing to have both sides tone down the rhetoric and find ways to bring us together. But as I said before, what’s in the best interest of our nation doesn’t always equate with what’s in the best interest of media and politics, i.e., money and power.
So how about starting a trend in the media… everything in moderation. Try it. We might like.
Now living in a area that was deemed by the newspaper to be “too far out side the metro area” to have delivery, I will say that I miss my Sunday paper. You say that the ad dollars were down and that is why you couldn’t deliver the paper out to Habersham any longer. My family used to get the ads and drive into Gainesville or to Buford depending on what the sales were. Now we have no way to know. How does that help anyone? Seems like a shorted sighted way to save a few dollars.
On the recycling issue…when I was in elementary school, every month there was a news paper recycle contest. Every class room had a sign out by the sidewalk and every famliy lined up their news papers behind the correct sign in brown grocery store basg or tied with a string. The class with the most papers got to have an ice cream party.
CARTIS IS A FOOL’s weak response to my comments is noted.
To supply an IBD editorial as any indication of the real state of affairs is simply asking too much. I would as likely buy the Brooklyn Bridge. It is one distortion after another. The true state of affairs will have to be determined by a much more rigorous analysis. Suffice it to say it is stretching the imagination to pin so much blame on a congressman as opposed to the President of the United States and the majority Republican party.
Nor did I say that CARTER IS A FOOL blamed Mr. Obama for the current state of our economy. I was speaking in the broader realm that the Hard Right is busily trying to build this very case and even a quick look at the blogs (heavily Hard Right in number) will confirm this. And yes, Barney Frank (because he’s a Democrat and especially because he’s gay) is a juicy target.
The reality is the Mr. George W. Bush was president of the United States during the time the housing bubble began to emerge. Hard Right adherents like to, as CARTER IS A FOOL has done, point to Mr. Clinton’s attempts to get more people to qualify for loans by relaxing the standards under which the ability of the borrower to pay back the loan was adjudged. They fail to note however, as CARTER IS A FOOL does, that the economy was in a different condition then and incomes were still expected to increase making the higher risk tolerable.
Under Mr. Bush, however, incomes stagnated and American debt climbed. This changed the situation and Mr. Bush was responsible for tightening up on requirements if that was what was prudent to do. With a majority in the House and Senate (with a few southern conservative Democrats almost sure to go along, why didn’t he?
Nor during Mr. Bush’s years did we have an effective SEC keeping watch on investment bankers. Christopher Cox, a Mr. Bush appointee, put in place a voluntary supervision program for Wall Street’s largest investment banks that he stated had contributed to the global financial crisis. It was another case of a Bush appointee doing “a heckuva job”.
From 2003 as energy prices began to escalate and as the teaser rates began to expire too many people who got bad loans could not keep up with the payments and it all reached a meltdown point last year with panic on Wall Street making things a dozen times worse.
The AJC has discussed these issues.
The meltdown of our economy is directly attributable to Mr. Bush’s policies. No credible case can be made to deny it. The only alternative the Hard Right has is to make as much noise attacking Mr. Obama and Mr. Frank as possible. Where’s all the personal responsibility that the Republicans liked to remind us moderates that we didn’t have?
I agree with most or at least the majority of posts, the AJC if waaaayy to far left. I wouldn’t read Cynthia Tucker if I was paid to. I cannot believe AJC would keep such a racist, race baiter on their payrolls. For the person who posted, “Please choose a conservative columnist who can make the case for his or her views without resorting to cheap straw-man counter-arguments, without ranting about fundamentally irrelevant far-fringe opponents, and without feeling compelled to oppose, regardless of its merits, any idea not already approved by the current dictators of far-fringe conservatism.” You need to read Bookman, that comment sounds like your describing his left leaning articles. I also agree that if there is anything to report about a Democrat that has done something illegal, immoral or both AJC doesn’t say “Democrat so and so” but if it’s a Republican that does something illegal, immoral or both AJC says “Republican so & so.” For the post that says the housing market is Bush’s fault (you must be Bookman or Tucker because almost everything they write about says that), you don’t know your facts. It was Barney Frank that pushed us into this mess and Frank should not only be kicked out of Congress he should be in jail.
I do appreciate the paper trying to be more fair and balanced but as it’s been said before it might be too little too late. AJC shouldn’t have waited until they fell on hard economic times….who knows if they’d have tried this sooner they may not have as bad of hard economic times.
I cannot understand why people are getting so upset. We ALL need to think about cutting back during this economy and the newspaper is no different. OK, so they need to combine parts of the paper…big deal. The paper is too liberal? Well, for the conservatives in the bunch, maybe it is a GOOD thing to read what “the opposition” is writing and thinking. (Remember, keep you friends close, keep your enemies closer!) After all, what else can you buy for 75 cents? Some people spend more each day on one cup of coffee or are willing to shell out $4.95 for the latest gossip rag. Give me a break! Stop complaining. The money I save in the Sunday paper’s coupons more than pay for my subscription PLUS I get to read whats going on and get to read opinions other than my own. (I simply say a quiet prayer for that person.) It’s a win-win situation.
The biggest thing lacking at the AJC is a little salesmanship. This is no longer 1995 when you could sit back and wait for advertising to pour in and readers had no good choices for getting a daily compendium of world/national/local news and sports. They have plenty of choices. You have to make them think yours is the best, and I don’t see any effort to do that. It’s bizarre to me.
I’m sure you think the AJC “brand” is still strong and you’re half-right. Lots of people still know the brand. Problem is, they just don’t GIVE A CRAP ABOUT IT, and fewer and fewer read it!
You need a good ad agency and some pedal-to-the-metal campaigns. I’m talking billboards, drive time radio, the whole deal. Forget the crappy house ads and stupid shopping destination campaigns. You need to yell at people that they NEED the AJC — print or web, their choice — to know what the heck is going on in metro Atlanta. Doesn’t matter if it’s not totally true. You gotta make em believe it. My 2c. Good luck.
Every newspaper has a right to an editorial position. I personally think that Tucker is a radical and Bookman is a lightweight hypocrite who gets his column emailed to him from the DNC. Who cares?
The damage, though, to the AJC’s perception of fairness comes from your news coverage. The damage comes from what you choose to cover and the stories you choose not to. If you would fix the perception of bias in your stories, make sure that your newsroom and your editors represent a wide range of views. Make sure your headline writers do too. Only when your newsroom reflects a wide range of views can you be able to cover stories without the natural bias that comes from having a point of view.
I applaud your decision to talk about the subject of news bias openly. Most papers are following the deny, deny, deny mantra to their graves. I will rejoice if the AJC will become an even handed voice of fact and accountability in this fair city. I will even buy a subscription.
To the troglodytes of the far left who want to use this space for your political rantings. Bag it!
The AJC has asked a question about bias. If you don’t think there is any, God bless you. There is short bus coming by for you in the AM.
The AJC, like many papers is in economic trouble. Unlike many papers, they are opening addressing the fact that a large part of the market perceives them as captive to the left. They have become more liberal than their market but more liberal than the market,a prescription for economic death. We are talking about how the AJC might address that issue. In many markets this issue has become a matter of life and death for the newspaper.
If you want to be sure that you keep your liberal echo chamber I am sure you will find many to agree with you. However, you will not be reading local newspapers with all your progressive friends, There won’t be any newspaper.
For it’s survival, the AJC must find a way to be relevant and valued as a source of news and opinion by a broad swath of the market. The progressives among us would have the AJC become the Great Specked Bird.
I think that the AJC shouldn’t listen to questions of “bias,” and should instead focus on improving the quality of its composition and facts–what should be the goal of all newspapers. Some people are going to complain about the political stance from which you report, or appear to report. Who cares? You’ll never satisfy these people, unless you’re American Conservative or the Nation. I regard current events from the political left, but I would rather read an AJC more biased towards the right if it were a better paper.
I’ve noticed the paper can have problems with technical terminology–it uses the phrase “heavy rail” to describe “city-to-city rail,” for instance–and I found Tim Eberly’s headline (and the response I received after pointing this out) describing a 17 year-old African American male as a “boy” (as opposed to “teenager”) to be of questionable taste. Otherwise, compositionally, if the paper were a little less “dumbed-down” feeling, it would be nice, but I can take it as it is.
My advice: Stick all your money in reporting, and kill the vent, and moderate comments so that overtly racist remarks don’t post. I’d look at the AJC.com more if reading it didn’t make me feel like I’m reading something that panders to rednecks. My perception is also that the website specifically opens racially-charged stories–MARTA, Clayton County Schools–for comment more often than other subjects, which is worrisome.
Dano, I’ve only lived in Atlanta for 9 years, but in that time I can tell you, only about 4% of Atlanta’s population could handle the AJC resembling the Journal. The lack of pictures and the above-5th grade reading level required would pretty much stump 96% of the idiots who live here.
Let’s face it. In the last 4 decades Atlanta has gone from a white city to a black city and the AJC has evolved from a paper that reflected a white conservative perspective to one that reflects Black liberal views. Why are we surprised? Every major newspaper in black majority cities espouses the same liberal, Democrat, entitlement, big Federal Government, Obama values.
No effort, no matter how well meant, will succeed in changing the cultural values of the AJC. It reflects the community, and Cynthia Tucker personifies it. Good try, Ms.Wallace. You couldn’t change it if you wanted to.
On a more important survival issue, if you want to save the AJC, fix the horrific online version. Living in Florida, I read the AJC online, and it is AWFUL. Separate the AJC from Access Atlanta, and create a newspaper. The format is terrible, although recently marginally improved. The stories stay on the site for literally months. If you want to see what a great newspaper website looks like, look at the New York Times.com or the Wall Street Journal.com. Instead of hiring a useless conservative columnist, go get a first class web designer and catch up with the future of information.
I gave up my subscription years ago as did most of my neighbors and friends. The content and opinions were so out of touch with Georgia values that I could barely bring myself to read it. The irrational opinions of the editorial page (ie: editor Cynthia Tucker) was one of the biggest reasons for my leaving the paper. I miss reading the paper and hope you are truly making an effort to turn the paper around to reflect the interests of the majority of Atlantans & Georgians. If so, I’ll be one of the first to subscribe again.
Your article is fully BSPR. That’s what we have come to expect from the AJC. The main investigative reporting is about places to eat or drink. You are becoming the Southside Sun. Facts, not BSPR is the only way to pull this paper out of the hole it has put itself into.
Earle is right on the web site. The recent redesign is at least cleaner, but you look at the main page and you really don’t get any clue what you’re looking at! Again — it’s like you guys are still in the old days where everyone “had” to get the AJC. News flash: THEY DO NOT! Information has been commoditized and if you’re going to sell it successfully you gotta sell yourselves not just wait for people to come crawling back because they will not! Instead of a little AJC logo the web page should scream “Atlanta’s #1 24/7 news source!!” or some such. It would tell readers where they are and it might even remind your staff what they are supposed to be doing.
Used to subscribe to the AJC years ago but canceled my delivery after many years due to the liberal nonsense coming out of both news and editorial pages. Conservative readers have been jumping ship for years and telling the AJC the reason which has fallen on deaf ears (”we’re losing readers because of the internet” – wrong!). As long as Cynthia Tucker & Luckovich are on staff, then your sudden enlightenment and promise to be fair will not impress folks like me. You could dismiss both tommorrow and your readership would probably double in a month. I would subscribe just out of principle alone to vote my affirmation.
Add me to the list of people who stopped subscribing because the liberal slant just angered me every time I read the paper. Not just on the editorial page, but the liberal slant of the news. I can choose not to read Cynthia Tucker if I don’t want to, knowing that she is about as far left as is possible, but when I read news stories — not editorials — the writer should be objective, and if the writer can’t manage to keep his or her own personal opinions from flavoring the article to the right or left, then the editor should do his or her job and reword it so the piece is objective.
Ms. Wallace, Thank you for your willingness to listen, as you maintain journalistic standards needed by the metropolitan area, and those from the rest of the country, who visit you online daily. Many are former Atlanta residents, as well as subscribers, who have relatives and friends in Atlanta. We appreciate fast updates, pictures, and opinions from all sides. We are a thinking people, who recognize how difficult your job must be. Every last article does not need a label, to indicate political slant. That would hobble columnists and cartoonists. To the well read, it all balances in time. Those readers who insist that only their views are correct, and thus more important, are attempting to get you to drop certain employees’ work, because they do not share their view of the world. How boring would that be, if all did? For every threat to stop reading the AJC, someone is offering to limit their own horizons. There are some people who cannot be pleased. I depend on you, to do your best. Thank you for your efforts, and I wish you much success.
I’m all for decreasing the size of the publication as much as possible without losing too much of the content. Less for me to take to the recycle bin, plua I’m sort of a ‘Reader’s Digest’ scanner. But don’t want to give up my favorite comics, any of the editorial page and the vent. GREAT column today by Wm. Egart re getting back to basics and glad the AJC is getting more basic.
I’m all for the AJC down-sizing without losing too much of the content. First, I’ll have less to recycle; but also speed-read a good bit and like shorter columns, Reader’s Digest version? GREAT column today from Wm. Egart about getting back to the basics, and glad to see my AJC getting a bit more basic too.
After years of printing anti-white, anti-conservative, anti-police, anti-american GARBAGE in not only your op-ed columns but your “news” sections, I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU CLOSE DOWN!!
Diane (like the name: )……at 2:34…..You hit it on the head……..By the way, don’t kill the vent…..it’s one of the most thoughtful and entertaining parts of the AJC…….If that’s gone, I most definitely would never resubscribe…..
It’s just too bad about newspapers in general. I used to love to get my evening paper and read it during dinner. When the evening paper stopped, then I just didn’t have time in the morning to read the morning paper, so I discontinued it. But it’s really uncomfortable curling up with my laptop.
Now I just fall asleep watching Bill O’Reilly and hoping that Keith Olbermann and Rachael Maddow would get kicked off the air for their lunatic rantings.
Julia,
I really think you’re COMPLETELY missing the issue people have with bias, which might be the root of the problem. You can have equal numbers of columns published from the far right and from the far left and call youself balanced when you take the average, but what you’re missing is that people want to read column by columnists who are capable of being fair and balanced, not far right and far left. You’re liberal leaning columnists don’t have the mental capacity to fairly evaluate national issues. EVERYTHING they see and write on is far left. We’re sick of it. It’s wrong and it’s harmful to the public at large. Wooten has called out Republicans on many issues when he’s disagreed with their actions/policies/behavior. While he’s obviously conservative, he’s also fair in his treatment of foul behavior by all of them. THAT is the model we expect from all of them, not some mythical average of left and right leaning columns.
Also, go back and do a tally of the people and parties your paper has “endorsed” in elections. How many R’s and D’s do you have? I’m guessing the ratio is somewhere close to 95% D’s. You’re problem goes beyond column counts, Julia. Why can’t you just present the candidates and not only let, but encourage the people to make up their own minds. Stop being so arrogant you think your opinions deserve a place in the public forum that is this states major newspaper.
Another issue other posters have already touched on is your editorial cartoon. Luckovich is a big problem. He, like your liberal columnists, is incapable of being fair and balanced. You’ve either got find another cartoonist to balance him out or replace him with someone who’s capable of balancing their own thinking. I would bet he alone is responsible for a big chunk of your subscription losses. We’re sick of seeing the same one trick pony every day.
Good luck with your efforts, Julia. I really do wish you well. A challenge you will have to figure out at some point is whether you want to appeal to the metro Atlanta population at large, or your subscription base at large. There is a difference and finding the balance is the key to your survival. Good luck.
I think there is a clear bias in terms of the regions of the Atlanta metro area. I do not believe that all of Atlanta, South Fulton County and Clayton County are as bad as people believe. However, there are so many negative articles that are put out about these areas. These areas, while they have their problems like any other area in Atlanta region, in some cases, are being unfairly targeted and the only stories you read are bad. How about some good news from these areas?
I also think the newspaper needs to make more of a concerted effort in incorporating more of the news from the southern suburbs, notably Henry and Coweta, as these pages seem to hardly be updated as frequently as any of the other pages. Henry County is becoming a critical player in the metropolitan area and Coweta has a rapidly growing population- both on the Southside but neither gets the attention it should get. The AJC has sections like ‘Around Sandy Springs’ and ‘Northside.Talk’… how about ‘Southside.Talk’ and more blogs about things that are happening in the southern suburbs? The southern suburbs are very important to the metropolitan area too.
“None of these choices HAS been easy” is proper Engilsh. The subject is “None”, not “choices”. The AJC has grammatical errors daily. This is not one of them.
As I started to read your article in this mornings paper I was so afraid that you were going to cancel printing the comic section but I was relieved to see that was not the case. I do wish that “Peanuts” would not be so small in the daily paper. I do read most of the editorials and I agree with Cynthia Tucker aometimes and not other. Today I enjoyed Thomas Friedman and Willam Egart.
After reading these comments, I almost don’t know where to begin. I guess I will rely on my own instincts and not read all the hatred espoused by members of a South that will not return, no matter how much they wish for it.
As a journalist who has moved to on to web content, I hurt plenty for the plight of newspapers. I worked at the major daily in Montgomery and I used to look up to the AJC so much when you had more experienced journalists and you did more crusading and investigative pieces. You easily had the best sports staff in the South, evidenced by how Len Paquarelli, Chris Mortensen, et al have moved on to national significance. You can’t replace that kind of talent easily. (I must say, however, that your best columnists — save Cynthia Tucker — are still in sports. Steve Hummer, Schultz and Mark Bradley should be used like Mike Lupica (New York Daily News) and Mitch Albom (Detroit Free Press) are at times and be allowed to write general interest columns.)
I think you do a decent job of being fair and balanced. (Ignore the cultural backwater that is most of the posters to this particular story. THEY ARE SCARY! They probably think Sarah Palin is qualified to be president and think Fox News is actually fair and balanced.)
Cynthia Tucker is a treasure and role model for the city. She won the Pulitzer for a reason. While, truthfully speaking, I don’t think she rises to the level of Leonard Pitts, Eugene Robinson, etc. she is definitely second-level among top tier black columnists in the country.
I will be quite happy when Jim Wooten leaves, so I want even waste much copy on him. This paper allowed him to make the single black mother the bogeyman for the past eight years while he could see no wrong in a Bush administration (cronies, contractors, crooks and ne’er do-wells) that ate happily at the public trough for the last eight year and brought this country to its knees. As you can probably tell, I have somewhat liberal views but I can stand an honest conservative (a la David Brooks of the NYT) that tells the truth and shows solid, consistent insight. That was not Wooten. He did as much race-baiting as Tucker was accused of and rarely got called on it until the people started to see him a straw man toward the end of W. administration.
I wish you much luck, AJC. Time waits for no one, and technology and change has wrought much to our beloved industry. But there is always a place for hard-hitting journalism — as evidenced by the WaPo series that did more to find Chandra Levy’s alleged killer than any police force. Keep up your watch as the fourth estate. Don’t let these knuckle-draggers in here obsessed with race and stupid, disproved policies (Reaganomics in the dusty salesbin of history! Trickle-down theories, 10 for a buck!) change your beliefs and foundation of as a servant of a beautiful, progressive city. Keep innovating to stay alive and keep us informed.
I came in to comment on the None Has/Have but catlady beat me to it!
I am tremendously impressed with the focus and well thought through statements here. Usually things get absurd in these reader comments. I think that reflects on the seriousness of the prospect of a major city in danger of losing its newspaper. As Atlantans we can’t have that happen.
To me, fairness is an easy thing to monitor and I can only assume that the management hasn’t prevously selected to do so. It is why journalists had a much reapected profession and what the founding fathers had in mind when they established a constitution that encouraged freedom of expression and press. Both sides make good points here but as the so-called conservatives have been MORE slighted, truth seems to me to be on their side. I also, however expect opinion journalist to stir up controversary and give them credit for being outlandish at times in order to do so.
There is a particularly good point made of the use of selected terms in writing a supposedly straight news article. Such terms as elitist, lower anything… class or educated etc. are slipped in well into the article but have no place at all unless quoting someone else’s words. They are an opinion and a judgement.I realize that’s harsh but so is the prospect of losing a major newspaper. Atlanta needs an objective daily print source for its news.
First of all, let me say that I am (as Lewis Grizzard said) a southern white male. Also politically independent.
Please do not cave to idiots because of the economy. They can always dial up Limbaugh if they crave to have their egos stroked. No matter what or who you print, these fools will always complain unless it falls in line with the prominent GOP propaganda of the day. Please do not allow those who refuse to evolve dictate policy for the AJC. There are those who will find racism and liberalism in anything that does not conform to Jim Crow era thinking.
Atlanta is the Metropolis of the south, filled with diversity and culture, not to mention being home to many fine academic institutions. I think our newspaper should reflect all of this.
For those who don’t like it, tune in to Boortz or Oriely or Limbaugh if you really have the desire to be lied to for entertainment.
Sorry to hear about the cuts. We are entering the inevitable part of the internet. I come from a household that always had a subscription to the AJC. My parents still do subscribe to the AJC. My folks are old school that way. I’ve never ever subscribed to the AJC. . . but when I moved from my parents house, I didn’t stop reading the AJC. I simply look at it online. I don’t care if you become the mouthpiece of the GOP to satisfy all the sayers of “the AJC is too liberal”, you will never deliver as many paper copies as you did 5 years ago ever again. The news is online now and the old school paper folks are, sad as the truth of mortality is, aging. Most new readers will be online readers. How the AJC, or any other major newspaper, deals with this forthcoming reality is anyone’s guess. Online ads don’t cut it like the paper ads.
As to the liberal/conservative schism, whatever. Tucker’s black liberalism is highly offensive to me whereas I find Bookman’s liberalism to be smart and insightful. Wooten. . . Wooten is the kind of conservative columnist a liberal would hire to make conservatives look stupid. Bob Barr is excellent. The only one of the above I’d like to see go is Wooten so he could be replace (I guess you guys are already kind of doing that) with a conservative with some cognitive ability.
The paper in general has, and I know this to be a fact, left important facts out of stories because the facts were politically impolite. Facts such as the race of a perpetrator if the perp was black. The copy-editing is horrendous. There have been headlines badly botched on a fairly regular basis (online edition). Coverage of world events is poor which is fine because I get that news from a combo of sources ranging from the NYT, The Economist, Al Jazeera, Wash Post, and WSJ.
Local social coverage is great. I know about registering for the Peachtree Road Race because you guys have it as a headline. The restaurant reviews are excellent, travel, and weekend things to do, it’s in there and I think that’s great. It’s good coverage. This does not speak to the “Access” pamphlet you people put out. I want to punch Access in the face. Access is a story by itself. State and local politics, however, get pushed to the side and that makes your local coverage in general average.
My solution: First: Figure out a way to make money online. That may be impossible. Second: Keep national and world coverage where it’s at. People like me go for that kind of stuff from other sources anyways. Third: Keep your lawn and garden, and restaurant reviews, etc., where they are at (get reid of Access because it is horrible) because they are good. Fourth: MORE state and local politics. Fifth: this goes to the above two; GO LOCAL IN A BIG WAY. The AJC should be about Atlanta. I want to see the politics of the Dekalb sheriff/CEO mess in depth. I want to know the big arguments in the Capital. I want to know about Chief Pennington going to a neighborhood meeting. I want to know any big news coming out about HD or KO. When I read the AJC, I want to know about all things Atlanta. That’s the social stuff, yeah. But it’s also the politics and business.
Otherwise, I think you guys have a wonderful local paper. It’s not a Wash Post or NYT. But I think the AJC is a lot better than the naysayers love to proclaim.
The AJC is in love with politics and spends a significant amount of resources on both reporting and offering editorial opinion about politics. Well, here is something political for you to ponder… Everyday there is an election in the market place. There, people vote (with their money) for the goods and services that they need. People vote for goods and services that have value, quality, and integrity. And, they vote for goods and services in which they trust and believe in. In the vote for news media you are loosing the election.
Diane at 2:34 may just have a new campaign strategy for your “market place vote”. You should take a very serious look at her comments. You have beat us up enough already. And, we’re not going to buy your products any longer.
Why does everything have to be labeled conservative, liberal, white, or black? The real purpose of a newspaper should be to report the news using undiluted facts instead of injecting the political opinions of the writers or editors. The failure to do this is causing many once good newspapers to fold. The world of today is not the world of 30 years ago and the printed newspaper is not the primary news source anymore. I hope the change you say the AJC is making will restore faith in it but it very well could be too little too late. I hope not. As long as Cynthia Tucker is associated with the AJC it will not be seen as a fact centered news source. She is the one bad apple that spoils a whole basket of good apples.
HCS comment very well reflects the general distrust of the AJC.
So the AJC is having to downsize their paper due to lack of readership. Do not blame technology nor the internet. There are numerous publications out there that may not be growing leaps and bounds, but are financially strong and have a balanced editorial staff.
I have been here almost 20 years and am sick to death over the garbage that the AJC spews from its own employees. Tucker, Bookman, and Luckovich cannot be more left-leaning than the Tower of Pisa. When are you folks in the mgmt dept going to wake up and see the bias??? Do any of them actually have to go out of the AJC building to see what is happening in the real world? Do any of them actually have to interview folks for honest opinions. If you want an even balance, then have a counter opinion for Tucker, Bookman, and Luckovich next to their rhetoric diatribes. This would make equal, but fair reporting.
I seemed to recall that most of the Democratic Candidates being selected for President Obama’s staff have failed to pay most of their taxes for the past few years. Yet, the AJC staff and editorial board seemed more interested in bashing Rush and other Republicans for questioning Mr. Obama’s actions. How dare you chastise them when all you did for the past 8 years was spew political and pure hated towards the Bush Administation. Your articles appeared to cheer that the Iraq War was being lost. Now you whine about the Republicans picking on Obama. Boo Hoo! Give me a break. Is there anyone in your office with any common sense to report on all sides? Quit trying to make the news and just report the news. This is all that I want and if you want my continued subscription, then lay off the personal attacks and fire most of the editoral staff. A letter from the editor really does not impact my life, so if you are making more cuts, start with the Editorial Staff.
Next, keep the Business Section and expand on it with employment stats and stories from the other 8 metro counties. I do not see anything on Forsyth or Dawson Counties yet these places are still growing leaps and bounds. Why don’t you commit a half page to each of the 18 local counties to report building activity, permits, sales, foreclosures, and new business ventures. I am sick of hearing mostly about metro Atlanta and Clayton County. Also runs stories as they are told. Many times, I have read a story off an internet site only to see the same thing printed several days later in the AJC. This is not news, just recycled print.
Also get rid of the lame, Living Section and the Movie-tar sightings. Who care which star had an overpriced dinner at some Buckhead Diner? This garbage does not positively affect a person’s life. Leave the celebrity garbage for the Enquirer or Star. Just this morning, you all printed a front page story on Jane Fonda and her acting abilities. This is pure crap and should not be in Section A. No one cares about Fonda or her thoughts. This is the problem with your paper. It appears that most of the staff is just out of touch with reality. Also learn how to print color. All I get is a blurred copy and cannot read the story. Do you know how to fix your type settings? This does not take a college degree, just competence!
Expand the World News, Business, and the Local County News and I will keep my subscription. The comics are nice, but you all have just wasted too much time and print on your recent favorites contest. Maybe you should have the same contest for your Editorial Staff. This would be a good use of ink.
I am in marketing and sales and could actually do a better job than half of your staff. Would you hire me, probably not, because I am not from Atlanta, do not care for keeping the old ways, and would demand accountability from all staff members. I would actually require the Editorial Staff to provide proof for the stories that they are running. I would also reduce the price back down to 50 cents and concentrate on only the news that really affects the readers and residents. Your love for us really does not matter, just figure out how to run a quality paper. This is not asking too much. Or, maybe it is???? Time will tell!
Hey AJC! Either include the words Democrat or Republican next to all names, including the AJC staff members so that we will know their slant, or leave out all labels and just report the story. Leave out the phrases; I think, I feel, We should, You Should, or anything that signifies the feelings of the columnist. This would provide a more equal, maybe not fair, but balanced article. As a matter of fact, why do we even need a picture or name of the columnist? Just write the story and do not give the credit to any staff member. Oh that’s right, you cannot do that! It would not give Tucker or Luckovich their much flawed Pulitzers. We all know that is the true meaning of being a journalist. It is all about awards, not readership, not subscriptions, and especially not about facts!!!!! Hey, at least the major sports teams dump their staff every few years in order to rebuild. Maybe you folks should do the same?
This isn’t enough. You need to hire an ombudsman, a Public Editor.
If you’re truly committed to becoming a good newspaper again, which is a long, hard (if not impossible) journey from where you are right now, you must do more to get your readers to trust you than make promises in occasional columns. You must add real transparency and accountability, and the only way to do that is to have a reader’s representative in exactly the model the NYT uses (one year term only; can’t be fired/censored/edited, etc.).
Until you do that, I’m continuing my 15-year-long refusal to ever buy a printed copy of your newspaper, nor use your classifieds, nor patronize your sponsors.
I once worked as a newspaper delivery driver and I still have friends in the newspaper business in another state and have heard from them how challenging things had been before the economy went bad, and now of course, they are facing layoffs and a very uncertain future even for those that remain. Like the workers at the AJC, they have a job to do. They have stories that need to be told and they hope to keep doing it as long as they can. That’s really all any journalist wants to do.
That said, I am not a regular AJC reader. I read online every day. Used to subscribe to the dead-tree version but the paper would consistently get stolen from my yard. Got tired of being somebody’s charity and got really tired of dealing with customer service. I could buy it from stores but I don’t because I don’t go to stores more than once or twice a week. Lucky for me, I don’t have any vices or habits that need to be supplied daily from the corner gas station. No booze, smokes, or lottery tickets. And so they don’t sell me any papers either.
Where I work, none of my coworkers ever has a paper in the office. 40-60 people and not one seems to read it. Maybe they do and just don’t bring it to work, but maybe they’re like me and have no reason to stop where the paper is sold. Maybe the paper just needs to be sold where the readers are. Vending machines at office parks?
And then there was the matter of content: I am a business news junkie. I want more of that, not less. The new AJC will leave me out cold. Sports, on the other hand, is absolutely useless to me. I like the Frys ads on the back but that was literally all Sports was good for. Many times I wished I could tell you to keep that section and give me more of something else. Maybe someday you will be able to make a paper that IS assembled according to what the end subscriber wants. I delivered papers once upon a time; I know how it can be done. Just like making a car, you build the paper by sections per an order sheet and bag it with a name and delivery address. Not every sub gets the same sections. Some get the sports, some don’t. Some opt for more business news. Some don’t get the classifieds. Everyone gets what they want. Someday someone will do this and make a killing with it, simply by giving customers what they want.
Yes, I am aware that the paper truly depends on advertisers, not subscribers. And it’s hard to sell ads when everyone is getting a different paper. But without subscribers, who may leave because your product doesn’t fit their needs, then you’ll also have no advertisers.
TV Week? No loss there. Most of us are on satellite or cable and we have -nay, we require- the EPGs to keep up. No printed TV listings magazine is going to work in the modern era, not even the ones that come from the cable or satellite companies.
Comics? Does anyone actually read them? Do they really, or do they just say they do? Do people still look for tonight’s lotto numbers hidden somewhere in Ziggy? Is that reason enough to keep running comics?
The editorial page seems to be a fire-brand topic if the comments above are any indication. I don’t have any to add because I don’t read the editorials. Long ago, I realized it didn’t have anything to do with me and didn’t affect my life in any way, so I ditched reading it. It has probably been four or five years since I the editorial page and it hasn’t hurt me one bit. That I know of.
I do the same with local or national TV news: I quit watching it more than a year ago and have found that my feelings about life improved. I still get my news, online. AJC.com, MSNBC, Newsvine, Reuters, NYT, Freshnews.org, multiple blogs and anywhere else. So I still feel in touch but at the same time I am not forced to see and hear stories about murders, deaths, robberies, endless blood and gore and stupid ratings stunt news. Dropping all that junk has definitely been a win for me.
Anyhow, my point is that it IS possible to read the paper and skip the parts that bother you and still get something out of the parts that don’t.
My last comment is on the recent web redesign. Hate it. The old flyover menus used to provide direct access easily to any part of the site. Now? Well, you try to find Ask AJC. Try it. It’s here. I’ve stumbled across it once or twice but I have no idea how to find it, or View from a Cop, or the Vent. The site map is needed way too much.
I am glad the annoying registration nag has apparently gone away. Either that or I am just permanently logged in now. Dunno. But it seems like there is no more nagging. Thanks.
The AJC’s problem, like most newspapers, isn’t conservative or liberal, it’s a lack of talent and perspective. One newspaper editor suggested to me the hardest job he had was finding reporters who understand numbers – “there’s a huge difference between a million and a billion – and most reporters don’t get it.” If they understood it, if they had ever had to meet a payroll or run anything besides a newspaper, they might understand that. As it is, every daily newspaper in the country is running a virtual monopoly into the ground because they are so biased and liberal. You people are so clueless in your coverage of simple numbers it’s no wonder newspapers got the banking debacle screwed up.
You have a decent technical school down the street from the AJC, why not hire a columnist from Georgia Tech instead of another UGA type like Wooten. Or an economist from Emory or Georgia STate, someone who has actually done something in business – as opposed to another clueless AJC-trained minion.
The problem with conservatives the past eight years is that they have had to defend George W Bush, whose White house full of Rovian liars was basically indefensible. Who could defend starting a $3 trillion preemptive war with Iraq, when anyone with a brain understands that Iran and Iraq hate each other – they behave like neighbors in ghetto-on-ghetto crime and were our best allies against each other. Bush was not conservative, he combined church and state – which never works anywhere. And while he held all three branches of government, he did nothing to stop or limit abortion. It was a joke – he was not conservative at all – just a silver spoon drunk who sobered up and found a simplistic dumbdown Jesus which made him project America’s shadow all over the world. Al Gore, despite his rantings about climate change, at least understood the most conservative premise and prinicple of all – that sending money to Arab states like Saudi Arabia was sending money to the people who hate us. Sixteen of the 19 September 11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia – and Bush’s eight-year addiction to oil continued the greatest transfer of wealth in history.
If conservatives in South Carolina had elected John McCain in 2000 instead of the incompetent Bush, the country and the AJC would not be so utterly confused about having a conservative dialogue.Not only did Bush leave America in such a state as inexperienced first term senator from the corrupt Chicago Democratic political machine win easily, he left the Republican Party to the boorish debate of Rush Limbaugh vs. the equally inept Michael Steele. After the GOP, which could have had Romney, ran McCain eight years too late, along with Ms. Bush-in-a-skirt, the equally well-read Sarah Palin, the party and movement is a joke. Country First, my ass. The problem with Newt Gingrich is by the way, he’s a bigger sleazeball than Clinton where it comes to how he treated his family and ex-wives. Which is the only thing that saved Clinton in the first place, his tormentors were bigger moral hypocrites than he was.
The first criteria for your new conservative columnist should be honesty about how far the Republican Party has strayed off course from its fiscally conservative roots into Bush’s big government hypocrisy. You need a columnist more like Grizzard, not a he-says, she-says foil to Cynthia Tucker. You need someone who understands why Rush Limbaugh is such a turn-off to anyone under 60, and how the GOP could totally implode against a rookie senator from Illinois. If you wonder why America is in trouble, it’s because once-great papers like the AJC keeps hiring biased commentators who scream liberal or conservative but do not understand basic economics or foreign policies. YOur new conservative columnist will be no better than Wooten, a status quo shill for Bush and God’s Own Party, and the country will shift further and further into the increasingly socialist grip of incompetent Democrats as banks and and our armies continue to fail.
Ms. Wallace, you are overseeing the continued slide of a once-great newspaper, and for perpetuating the mindless liberal-conservative debate that is destroying America. You have a great responsibility to try and connect with the people of Atlanta and Georgia, and you and this new publisher have assured that the AJC will continue to be a non-factor in Atlanta. Bill Kovach was the last great editor of the AJC, a Ralph McGill for his times. It’s not too late Ms Wallace, but the clock is ticking on your oversight of a once hallowed institution. Right now you are to the AJC what Rick Wagoner is to GM – not entirely to blame, but the watchman when it all came apart. Hire a decent metro columnist, a centrist who will criticize both sidees, and take the debate to a higher level – don’t sink to hiring another biased mouthpiece who is always in lockstep with the people who destroyed the Republican Party. Hiring the opposite of Cynthia Tucker gets you nowhere but pushing the Coxes toward the point where the Hearst family is with the Chronicle – ready to close it to keep from losing more money. Hence, this clueless publisher they’ve already hired as your boss.
Good luck, Ms Wallace. I’m afraid Atlanta magazine nailed it – you have managed to make the AJC, a monopoly newspaper, so meek and marginal that most Atlantans don’t need or want it. You don’t have once voice down there that readers from both sides of the debate trust or respect. To date, that is your legacy. While I’m sure you’re not alone, it’s your name on the masthead.
My conclusion of the liberal vs. conservative position of the AJC that has been raised here is not shaped by the pre-identified positions of the editorial writers or cartoonist. Rather it is an issue of the positions taken by the newspaper on topics such as endorsements of political candidates, social issues, and the like. In my opinion there is a definite AJC liberal leaning in all. But then the last statistic that I heard (during the election) was that 87% of the news media is bias in that direction. So I guess it is no surprise that the AJC is supportive of the positions of the Democratic Party and liberal thinking in the greater majority of social issues. I do think its interesting that for a number of the editorialists there is no blog – nor, for that matter, an easy way to reply to their slanted editorials.
Julia, this morning, the AJC contains the following:
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is ending former President George W. Bush’s limits on using federal dollars for embryonic stem cell research, with advisers calling the move a clear signal that science — not political ideology — will guide the administration.
This is exactly the same line of argument that Ms. Tucker used in her editorial on this subject. The moral concerns about stem cell research are dismissed as “political ideology”. Ms. Wallace, this is exactly what we see as bias. You don’t respect or even understand the other side of the story. Ms Tucker will ultimately gag on her editorial which fairly glowed with Obama’s commitment to science and facts. Of course we are embarked on a ruinous spending spree that is utterly rooted in liberal dogma. The hypocrisy from Ms. Tucker and the sycophants from the AP( now with the imprimatur of approval from the AJC) is breathtaking. As I said, Ms. Tucker will have years to eat her arrogant words.
The truth is that the division about stem cells reflects the division about abortion in the US. Obama is desperately trying to position this matter as a science versus ignorance and you are his willing toady.
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You state a “few” think the paper is conservative but “many” think it’s too liberal and you’re going to do something about it. In other words you’re going to continue to publish and add more racist literature to your bigoted newspaper. Your blogs constantly attack our President and your vents are consistently one-sided; if you attack minorities or our President you are “voted” up and anything that attacks Limbaugh, GWB, etc. is voted down. What was painfully obvious was the “vent” about Black History which the “vent guy” loves to publish every February which attacks Black people’s celebration and was voted to the top. The “vent guy” is very biased but then he’s obviously following the lead of your newspaper. Your journalist constantly refer to our President as “Barack” and then offer excuses as to why he’s not called President. The AJC is very disappointing and biased and I wish I had an alternative to finding out what happens in Atlanta; I certainly would access that website rather than yours.
Shame on Cynthia Tucker for being a Black woman contributing to this trash.
A previous blogger has already addressed my biggest problem with the AJC : that being Mike Luckovich’s unrelenting ultra-liberal cartoons with no cartoons depicting other political views being given the same prominence.
Another example of possible bias by the AJC is on today’s front page…the lead headline. The headline reads “Tax breaks pushed to spur hiring” and the 6th paragraph in this article, written by James Aalzer, reads : “Opponents of the package say it may not create good-paying jobs. And it will slash revenue at a time when more and more Georgians rely on the state for health care, education and other services.” The first sentence is (hopefully) accurate in reporting what opponents in the state legislataure feel about this bill. The second sentence quotes no one, and as written amounts to an editorial comment by the AJC This may simply be an error in punctuation
( making two sentences when it should’ve been one…with a comma following “..about this bill” and replacing the capital “A” with a lower case “a” ) but it may also be a subtle bit of bias, too, as the sponsors of this bill are House Republicans.
I just noticed something else : Julia, in your 3rd from the end paragraph ( above…in your “AJC Changes” conversation, written yesterday ) you wrote : ‘On the opinion pages, we are in a concerted march toward providing a rich marketplace of views, including liberal, conservative and others…”, why do you list “liberal” before “conservative?” L before C ?
While it shoud be obvious to all that you Opinion section is not balanced: four liberal columns per week, one conservative, and one libertarian; the bias also extends into the news sections. For instance, when writing colums about the recent recession and mortgage crisis, little is ever mentioned of the subject’s actions that led to their problem. The sole focus appears to be to elicit sympathy for this “victim” as opposed to evenly dscussing how their decisions created or at least added to the problem. For example, you wrote a about a man with a $45,000 income, $1,700+ mortgage and $800 in child support being behind in mortgage payments and never did the article ever mention that this scenario was a recipe for financial disaster that should have been fixed when he divorced two years earlier. The article in the other areas should be balanced also.
Unbelievable! The newspaper in a major American city will have no dedicated Business section? I understand your budget considerations, but Atlanta is the headquarters for a number of world-class corporations and considers itself a major force in the business world. And, yet, business news will be cut to a few columns in a section of mixed news? With the economic crisis this country is facing, it’s unimaginable that you are cutting out this most important section!
A clarification to Jeff’s comment about the number of @issue columns by AJC columnists. Jim Wooten writes three columns a week in print, plus a daily blog. As he moves toward retirement he’s planning to ease back to one column a week plus his blog. Before then, we will have hired a new full-time conservative columnist, who will build to three columns a week plus a daily blog.
I’m no MBA… in fact I’m no BBA, but it seems to me their are some basics being overlooked here. As the head of Biochem at Duke (his name escapes me) taught me regarding doing research, you can never hope to get the answer unless you ask the right question(s):
Is the print AJC financially “carrying” the online AJC?
Is Acess Atlanta a revenue producer for the online AJC? Are you getting PR money from these “Stars”, “bars (restaurants, etc.)” etc. that you’re giving valuable exposure to?
Have you considered charging for the online version by providing acess via a , say, $.05 sale of ID and passwords by just providing a mail-in envelope at supermarkets, drugstores etc.? (Seems I’ve heard it’s easier to get a penny from a million people than a million pennies from one.) You could still provide a tantalizing website displaying the days coverage but accessing the details isn’t possible without being a pd. subscriber.
I ask these questions because I can’t think of others that might solve the plight of the decline of print and rise of online. But surely there are those in the business who can.
I know the above online subscription scenario is possibly expensive to administer but there must be a workable way. And it could be automated. Surely it would be no more absurd than the current “Customer Service” fiasco of not only AJC but all companies: punch 2, enter your tax bill times the number of children in your family divided by the GNP, stay on the line your call is important to us… whom Bell South, your cell carrier’s revenue, the “workers” that seldom if ever solve a problem, etc.?
I think it’s pretty clear from most of the comments here that simply having equal numbers of “biased conservative” and “biased liberal” journalists will not make for an unbiased newspaper. As I said in my previous post, presenting biased extremes only enrages emotion and promotes polarization, not balance. Report the FACTS from both points of view, tone down the rhetoric, and let the people form their own opinions. Opinions formed out of emotion or repetitive talking points from the extremes are opinions that are ill conceived and do not serve us well.
It would seem as a 15 yr subscriber (yes I remember when the Journal and the Constitution were TWO separate papers) that naturally news will undergo changes. It would seem that your “readership” seems concerned with balanced reporting. I would settle for reporting. Lets review. I have PREPAID for a one year subscription for a 7 day delivered newspaper. In that time, it seems that few if any have noticed you have terminated nearly 70% of your reporters eliminating any actual REPORTING. What most have failed to realize is that you are pulling your “news” off the AP wire, which anyone can do for free. Since its just a simple matter of downloading a national story or two, you fill up the rest of Section A with ads, a few syndicated op eds, and call it a day.
Then to further eliminate the rest of the paper in the last 18 months
a. delete the Home and Garden section, replace with three columns on a weekday
b. eliminate the entire Friday weekend entertainment Atlanta section, try to slide that in as the GoGuide which contains nothing, eliminate the Living section
c. multiple iterations of the cartoon section hoping that most of us will give up and download those for free
d. Get rid of the metro sections for each region until its just a repeat of Section A, and a column for each county, oops wait, that was a problem, lets get a freebie volunteer to write in local news
e. fire all the local sports reporters, keep one on to cover all the pro sports, let the local papers–who by the way are fully funded on ads cover hs, college, and minor league, and rec sports carry on
f. Well by now the paper is so thin, the cat can carry it in, so lets start cutting stuff out of Sunday–combine several sections, lets cut Business, TV, Parade, the comics (again)
g. if you have not noticed, the ads in the paper are so thin, the Sun paper looks like the old Thurs paper. ARE you losing ad revenue yet. You could just throw the coupons in an envelope and compete with VAL-PAK and give up on “reporting” all together
Since you have cut the paper in half, am I getting a refund????
My friends and I always enjoyed the bridge columns as they provided conversation and debate over new conventions, techniques, etc. Couldn’t you return bridge and eliminate one of the crossword puzzles in Living and Arts Sunday edition? The number of people playing bridge far outnumbers the number doing crossword puzzles.
Even after the republicans in DC failed to support their own ‘tax breaks for the wealthy will heal the economy’ plan, the Republicans in GA demonstrated their culture of greed by tacking on a last minute capital gains tax cut for their wealthiest supporters. Even more offensive is that this was tacked onto a piece of legislation that started as a responsible approach to giving tax cuts to businesses in exchange for hiring people. So, I’d like to hear our new conservative columnist address this issue. How will cutting huge amounts of income from the state budget help the bulk of Georgians make it through these tough times? How will we deal with the transporation issues that were not resolved by the legislature with less state income? There was no requirement for those who received tax cuts to keep that money in the state, and we have seen how the greed of America’s wealthiest citizens has led this country into financial disaster. More of the same for GA….?
For Wingfield “a conservative columnist”:
1- I’d like to know what other country you visited that attracts so many immigrants it is a problem for the work situation? How much does this other country offer in aid once pregnant mothers cross the border, what kind of employment with no income tax, subsidized everything, almost mandatory translators,access to FREE health care, abundant food kitchens, etc.
2- What is wrong with saying that the US of America is the best country in the world?
3-Is the AJC a step down from the Wall Street Journal for you?
4-Your vanilla flavored or chicken soup response as to why you want the conservative columnist job at the AJC will not likely increase any conservative/libertarian readers for the print or internet version. It had nothing to evoke any support for any beliefs I hold true about democracy and our US Constitution.
5-I am not from the south like you. It is good your old southern friends where able to make your connections for you to get the AJC job….after all, you are equal in that premise…it is who you know (not what you can do).
Quite frankly you opening representation bored me.
Now that I’ve seen your picture you fit the puzzle. The 30-somethings that use the internet for info. They are the still part of the me generation, not willing to “surrender freedoms for security” and certainly not into self reliance. Have you polled your target audience? They LOVE Obama, think $ for them grows on trees and OWED to them,they don’t know current events, personal money management,,,good luck. They are not the sophisticated readers for the WSJ.
Welcome to the AJC Kyle! I hope you’ll not toe the phoney (neo)conservative mantra/agenda, and embrace true (paleo)conservatism & the Old Right as extolled by patriots like Dr.Ron Paul, Pat Buchanan & Lew Rockwell. We need a Constitutionally adherent real (paleo)conservative voice at the AJC!
I hope you know, that there can be a difference between a fiscal conservative and a social conservative. A true fiscal conservative is all about the money, and doesn’t really give a crap about the little guy. He may look to Ebenezer Scrooge (before his conversion) or Gordon Gecko as his role models. A social conservative such as many Bible believing Christians are, would not necessarily be a fiscal conservative, as we are called to “bear ye one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2). Would a Christian be against the government helping out the little guy, such as someone about to lose their home? No, especially if they had been duped by some unscrupulous lender or loan officer. In my humble opinion, if the powers that be had stepped in to stem the tide of foreclosures before it became a tsunami that battered the whole economy, we all wouldn’t be in this mess. To bail out Wall St after the catastrophe, and help the little guy after the fact, is like putting a new roof on a building with a rotten foundation. Or giving liquor to a drunk driver at the wheel, to steady his hands. Greed is not good, Gordon Gecko was no hero, and if this society does come to a real conversion, it is well on the road to hell in a hand basket.
Porter
+++
In response to your economic stimulus editorial: Why should businesses be exempt from paying taxes? They consume our nation’s physical and economic infrastructure to an even greater extent than individuals do. Isn’t it fair for them to pay their share of what it takes to make our American economy go, just like the rest of us do. Moreover, since the majority of GDP results from individual consumers, wouldn’t it make more sense to incent THEM instead of businesses. Furthermore, businesses tax revenues are already disproportionately low. Although America’s coporate tax RATE may be high, what is actually COLLECTED, according to the US Dept of the Treasury, amounted to only 15% of government revenues in 2006 (and 2006 was the highest proportion in decades). We have already seen over the last ten years that when taxes are reduced and rules are relaxed on corporate America, they simply pocket the additional profits. This is one reason middle class real income has declined over the last decade. Reducing taxes on business is patently unfair and would likely be ineffective.
Mr. Wingfield, what are you thinking? Why come to a newspaper that rants against freedom & capitalism and subscribership in the tank? The only thing this paper is good for is wraping fish! People that read this paper are totally uninformed & naive. It never occurs to these readers that jobs are created by the rich not by poor people. Take my advice & go to Jacksonville FL to a good newspaper.
You said that “You don’t want blogs on papers”, is what readers have told the AJC.
Blogs and electronic media are not problems they are the new medium for how information is gathered and conveyed. The “paper” newspaper may be revamped ‘for now’, but the treeless only edition of the AJC and other newspapers is coming. You can slow it down, but you can not stop it from happening. If you abandon incorporating blogs and new media into the AJC you may have a few Luddite happy readers for now; but the paper will succumb with that outdated thinking.
It is a painful time for many journalists who for multiple reasons are being lost in the transition of the newspaper business model; but in the long-range view the landscape is abundant with opportunities for smaller and more agile news groups to gather and communicate more and better information quickly both locally and globally.
All I ask is reduce the reliance on AP feeds that we have all previously read online. We need topical, in-person coverage of city and state (remember middle Georgia is essentially paper-less, thanks to the birdcage liner they call the Telegraph). Be vital.
We live in an area in which you suspended home delivery. We tried mail subscribing but it’s woefully inconsistent. You could sell plenty of papers at a couple of designated rack sites near Interstates. Please consider it.
You write, “We believe unique local content makes us special. Therefore, even though we reduced the staff by about 90 people, we go forward with only five fewer news reporters. We have reduced our arts reporters, but we will be building a strong stable of free-lancers who are experts in the arts, including long-time AJC writers.”
It seems as though your actions don’t fully reflect these beliefs. The arts — especially the fine arts, and not just popular culture, which is more than amply reported on the Internet and in other media outlets — truly make Atlanta unique. Why, then, has the newspaper sidelined experienced critics who contribute importantly to the cultural dialogue in metro Atlanta to the sidelines, only (we fear) to be brushed off and dropped altogther after the dust settles following the April 28th launch of the redesigned paper? Moreover, what is the commitment of the editors who might hire the freelancers to keeping the arts central to serious journalism in Atlanta? This commitment has already been seen to be lacking. Critics write review and cover stories that the editors routinely decide not to print. Why is the AJC diminishing itself in this way, and making the newspaper even less interesting to read?
Since you’re pulling out of my part of the state as of the 26th, it’s all completely irrelevant to me. A 50-year daily habit comes to an end from a newspaper that once proclaimed (at least the Journal did) “Covers Dixie like the dew.” And, Ms. Wallace, you can spin this any way you want to, but the reality is there for all to see. You may be kidding yourself, but you’re sure not kidding us … your former readers.
You do mention in your blog that you are also abandoning many long-time readers/subscribers by pulling out of counties, including ours(Barrow). In northwest Barrow, we are definitely in the Atlanta metro area, and after 5+ yrs. as a 7 day a week subscriber, we feel very upset by the cancellation of “our” paper. There really is no substitute for us.
The Sunday paper has been steadily shrinking content wise for some time prior to this latest round of cuts. Frankly, I don’t see how you can expect people to want to subscribe to the AJC when we are actually getting less now, then before. Movie reviews are from non-local sources, no box scores in sports section and in general the sports section is largely made up of AP stories, just to cite a fex examples.
I repeatedly compare the headlines from NYTimes.com, WashingtonPost.com and ajc.com and I am repeatedly embarassed at how “back woods” Atlanta is. While the others were reporting N Korea launching a missile our headline had an Easter bunny and talking about Clayton county schools trying to get accreditation. You have room for only one headline and anything passed that is relegated to small print.
The only thing that I can say about all this is that Georgia’s educational system is 48th in the nation and the AJC reflects that. That’s not something I’m proud of.
You can groom the newspaper all you want but if your sole journey is to support the liberal agenda and damn the conservative then get ready to let another 100 staff look for work elsewhere. The Atlanta newspaper has too long wallowed in reproter hatefulness toward President George Bush and everything else that looks like an elephant. Practice equality of news, well balanced, or practice reading your own want ads for another job.
Down to 200 – from around 500 a couple of years ago. Where are the resources to put out what was once a great paper but is now, and has been for several years, a shell of its former self? How many chiefs and how many Indians are among the 200 or so remaining?
HI!
I have to say I really love the AJC. From my years living there in the early 2000’s it left such tremendous impression as a user friendly paper that was packed with content. I am in Philadelphia these days an read the AJC online every day. Will I ever be able to get an actual copy of the AJC here in Philly??? Do any news agencies carry it up here or can/will it ever be printed here?
Signed,
Yearning for Ink on my hands.
Julia, with the changes created by the economic situation, what can we as readers expect from the AJC’s business coverage? The business section has been consolidated into main news but will the AJC still be committed to the high standards of business journalism? Can we expect to rely on the hard business news during the week and the softer features on the weekend? Thanks for your work.
I’ve been a subscriber for over 25 years. My favorite part of the paper was the arts coverage, which has been gradually reduced over the years. Now, with the art critic, classical music critic, and theatre critic gone, I see no reason to continue subscribing (the arts stories from the print edition frequently didn’t show up on the website).
By the way, why has the AJC long had the worst online arts page in the nation? If you don’t believe me, look at the online arts pages of the Denver Post, for example. A city of similar size, and they manage to do it right.
If it is true that Cynthia Tucker is no longer the editorial page editor, then I might consider subscribing to the AJC once again. After too many years of reading Tucker’s vitriolic columns, I stopped taking the paper although I buy it on the newsstand occasionally. If I see an editorial page with a better balance of opinions, rather than a page dominated by Tucker’s ultra liberal diatribes, then possibly I will consider renewing my subscription.
As a transplanted Georgian in Texas who closely follows events in Georgia via your Web edition, and as an old timer who remembers when English teachers would recommend the newspaper for examples of correct English usage, I wish that some experienced editor would spend some time editing the online articles before they are published. I have been appalled at the convoluted paragraph structure, confusing sentences, and just plain “typos” found on web sites that carry the banner of major metropolitan newspapers. No, it’s not just AJC, but I’m left to wonder whether anyone bothers to edit these online articles. I would like to see AJC lead us out of what seems to be a well established case of carelessness and inattention to details.
“Not to be overly proud, but it’s great work by so many people in the newsroom and throughout the company.”
Did you really write a sentence using the word “proud” right after sending that many good people packing? Wow, that took cojones for sure!
Unfortunately, your readers are much, much more intelligent than you seem to realize, and they were probably reading this phrase as, “On April 28, we’ll be showing you what our downsized staff can do. We realize there will be less intellectual and artistic coverage, but we’re hoping you won’t notice that amid all of the turmoil. We know that much of our news content will be done by freelancers, which is our way of saying “cheap labor” but again, we don’t think you’ll notice.
I have neither the time nor patience to collect all my thoughts about the AJC. Suffice to say, I have, overall, enjoyed the Journal (was my favorite) for many years but became overly antagonized when it joined the Constitution.
Having traveled heavily for neigh on to 43 years and having had the opportunity to read many, many great (and some not so great) newspapers in my career, I feel as though I can comment with some authority on this subject. I read papers from small towns to large cities.
As a “die-hard” conservative, I am obviously more pleased to read those tabloids and newspapers that veer toward that slant. I have, however, read opposing views and respect those as such – not agreeing but listening and trying to understand the writer’s views nonetheless.
In my over 2 million air miles flown I’ve also had ample time to pick up various newspapers and read them in-flight. Here, too, I tried to be fair to those I disagreed with. There were, for the most part, many, many more left-leaning than right-leaning but here I might add that even those lefties were somewhat balanced (well, as much as they tried to be)in their viewpoints and Op-Eds.
Having said all this I can tell you now, very truthfully, that there have been only a hand full of papers in the USA that have irritated, disgusted and thoroughly gotten under my skin (enough to raise my blood pressure to ELEVATED heights!), as much as your own Journal -Constitution.
This is not to say that I don’t read it, only that I love reading newspapers and there are some redeeming attributes with the AJC, e.g., sports, business, local news, etc.
You (the AJC personnel) have said over and over again that circulation has dropped and you can be sure that the AJC is leading the pack there. But, even with discontinuance of circulation areas, stopping various routes, and other shrinkage management, why do you suppose the AJC continues to lose readership particularly in an area that has added over 2,000,000 people in about 15 years? As the area has grown, your paper circulation shrinks! What could it be? Is there are reasons other than blaming the internet and changing reading habits?
I’ll pass this along as 2 possible reasons: Cynthia Tucker and Mike Lukovitch. In all my conversations over the past several years (in meetings of organizations I belong to) those two names, when brought up, solicit the greatest among of ire and angst than any I’ve ever been able to capture from a like/dislike standpoint.
It was rewarding to see that CT is finally leaving for DC but Mike is still here.
Finally: my subscription is up for renewal late this summer or early fall and I will join the thousands of others that honestly can’t take it any more. I guess Lukovitch finally did it for me; a person who alone made up my mind..
If only a great and wonderful city had a fair political cartoonist!
I’m a longtime reader in Thomasville, although now my only real option for your current news is ajc.com. I miss the good old days of morning and afternoon editions, back to the exciting days of Ralph McGill and all the great AJC journalists who exposed the bad and extolled the good in our society. It made us better informed citizens and our state a better place in which to live. I’m 64 and will follow the AJC online, even on to the next medium, whatever that may be.
How can their be quality critical coverage of Arts events without Pierre Ruhe, Wendell Brock, Drew Jabarra, Catherine Fox, just to name a few? How will the public come to know what is happening in this communities artistic venues?
Some time ago, a wiseguy said that the function of newspapers is to “afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.”
Also, sometime ago, another wiseguy said that the function of newspapers is to print “all that’s fit to print.”
These nostrums aside, in reality the newspaper business has become a vehicle for the expression of the owner’s interests. It is true all throughout the media, whether it is newspapers, books, magazines, music, movies, television, or radio and television news or radio and television programming. What appears in front of your face or in your ears is a product that is designed to 1) compel you, and 2) further the owner’s interest.
Back in the arely 1980’s, Ben Bagdikian, a former associate editor for the Washington Post, wrote a book called the “Media Monopoly.” Some of the critics of the time jeered at the very prospect, because his thesis included 50 news organizations. 50! But as Bagdikian aptly noted, they were tied together in very peculiar ways, not the least of which was looking out for Number One.
Now that number has shrunk down to 6. And as far as I can tell the public isn’t any wiser today than they were when Bagdikian published the first edition of his book. Most of the public is eager to embrace whatever is put before them. There are a number of psychological studies that make this very point–repetition in the public’s eye equals verification.
I must now say that it should be in the owner’s interest to see that the very country in which these activities take place continues to be a “going concern.” The very economic forces which have caused this newspaper to shrink like a raisin in the sun will also cause this country to wither, and die.
The removal of Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman from the AJC would inspire me to re-subscribe after an approximately ten year hiatus to the newspaper that once covered “Dixie Like Dew” . . . You folks have never accepted the message of your readers! Really . . . I remember when you could travel in any direction from Atlanta for a day and find an Atlanta paper prominently displayed at a local newsstand. Unfortunately, those days are gone with the wind. A reality check for the Cox sisters thirty years ago would have made a lot of difference in today’s newspaper subscriptions.
Loudly announced to potential Atlanta readers, letting Ms. Tucker know that she best find her way in DC for a regular CNN TV gig or something with the Short Greek for Sunday Morning and telling Mr Bookman to brush up on his landscaping skills just might start a subscription resurgence. Has this crossed your mind?
By the way, when you made your news room culls, hopefully, you made note of the news writers that dug deeper for the most accurate, concise, and timely story letting the marginal writers go. Marginal writers . . . You know, the ones that put a lot of words in a story but have nothing factual to say and leave the reader wondering what he read?
By the way, have you figured out that a timely and accurate AJC website is a winning website?
One last note . . . For the latest in Atlanta business news, I go to The Atlanta Business Chronicle. What does that say about the AJC?
Given the reaction of the online community as well as the rise of such local websites as inDecatur and DecaturMetro while the AJC continued to close local bureaus, do you regret stating the following in 2007?
“Online, we will show that we know Atlanta best, providing superlative news and information and becoming the preferred medium for connecting local communities”
Fair and balanced? Yes. That is a goal for which *every* entity that claims to be a “news source” should strive. But I encourage the AJC to look with great skepticism at those whose perspective is skewed toward a particular end of the political spectrum while complaining that the AJC is overly influenced by the opposite end of the political spectrum. Simply put, it is impossible to prove a negative and the more the AJC tries to prove that it is not partisan in its reporting, the less it succeeds in that proof. Worse yet, such attempts to prove impartiality only serve to assure the complainants of the legitimacy of their claim. They are never going to buy the AJC and trying for that business is a fools errand.
I have been a long time 7-day a week subscriber to the Atlanta Journal and then the AJC. I have lived in Atlanta all of my life and come from a family that has always subscribed to the Atlanta papers. We have all become increasingly disappointed in the quality received against rising cost of the AJC. The widely recognized left-wing liberal bent espoused by the paper in general does not and will not play well to your audience. That fact that you are just now figuring that out says something about the state in which you find your business. The AJC would like for us to believe that all of its misery is due to the economic climate and rise of the internet as an alternative news source. You take unrepresentative surveys & then self-congratulate. Stop fooling yourselves; the decline in your business says it all. If the the AJC was indeed fair in its reporting and a good value for dollar spent, your subscription base would not have fallen so precipitously regardless of the internet or recession. I have had as much of the glory of diversity, the advantage of illegal immigrants, and the deification of Mr. Obama as I can stand. I would also remind you that when I purchased my subscription to this paper, I was buying the TV Week booklet (yes, more people use it that your faulty survey allows), the separate business section, more than 3 pages of sports, and comics that were large enough to read without a magnifying glass. I did not purchase this sorry rag that it has become. Try as you might every time you cut or distort some additional feature to the point of unrecognition, there isn’t enough lipstick to put on this pig. The more you self-annihilate, the more circulation you will lose and the demise of the AJC will become a self-fulfilling prophesy. The only way to save it is for you to wake up and take responsibility for ruining this paper and reverse course. While you’re at it – honesty with your readers rather than deception and excuses for giving them less and less would be a good way to start.
As an online reader I would like to see columns such as “TAKE TO TASK” and “TECHNOBUDDY” have their title first. Many times the subject line does not reveal who wrote it or the subject matter.
I agree with the writer who asked that you place paper racks along interstate routes; so many people in unserved areas were left out when the AJC stopped delivery. It still is a great newspaper, compared to having no newspaper at all.
In all of President Bush’s eight years as our President, I don’t remember Jay Bookman applauding even a single thing that, in his opinion, he did right … like keeping us safe from more terrorist attacks. And as for Mike Lukovitch …. his behavior was shameful; through his medium, he was 100% consistent with his insulting, hateful cartoons of our President, and in doing so also insulted the millions of Americans who elected and re-elected him. There’s been NOTHING fair and balanced coming from these two in the AJC.
If all this great reporting and great content is so desirable and sellable, why haven’t you been doing it? If a reduced work force can accomplish it, why haven’t you achieved it? If the reduced work force is so dedicated, why weren’t you dedicated before? If you had to “listen” to readers to find your way forward with the same strategy and tactics newspapers have used for decades, why weren’t you doing it before? And the largest newsroom “in Atlanta”? Whoa, hold those ambitions. This has the whiff of a deathbed conversion.
I hope your stated intentions are sincere and not just lip service. (Sincerity and commitment have been grossly lacking in the 3 to 5 previous declaration of meaningful changes.)
I hope that you or someone with influence can actually recognize balance when you read it. Balance in political news and commentary. Also balance in regional news and commentary. (i.e. Atlanta is the center of our little universe, and as such is critical to our success.) But it is not the only important location in that universe. (The surrounding areas have long been equally important it our success.)
One of the things that encourages loyalty is familiarity. If the list published in Creative Loafing is correct, some of the AJC’s best and brightest are leaving. I believe that will hurt reader loyalty. Please do not cut Ken Thomas’ column. The AJC’s many readers who are interested in genealogy rely on his column. It is difficult to find on the Web site.
SO,the AJC is going to become nothing but a print version of FOX News,I will NEVER read the OP-ED page again and hope this rag dies the slow and painful death it so richly deserves! Ms. Tucker was the only columnist I read.Fair and balanced!? Right-wing boot lickers is more like it? Dear God! Ralph McGill must be turning in his grave right now!!
As one who treasures the historic role newspapers have played in this country and as one who appreciates the concept of “newspaper” in general, I am not at all happy to see the changes that will be forthcoming. At the same time, the social, cultural, and economic realities of the 21st Century, post-modern world mandate that these changes take place. I applaud AJC for approaching the task with a concerted plan and for making a genuine effort to integrate the wishes of the largest possible number of readers. That being said, I suspect that by the time my children are my age, the traditional paper and print newspapers will be a memory and electronic media…Internet or otherwise…will rule the day.
The AJC Online could be much improved as as NEWS site if you would feature more news and less celebrity fluff and garbage “Above the Fold.” Your paper would do well to return to the practice of reporting the news, not spinning it and adding a political bent, as many others here have pointed out. I would also hope you retain at least one copy editor who has received good training in English grammar, as your subject/verb usage is often flawed. Fewer columns, and so called “points of view” should be replaced with factual reporting. Also, do no leave potentially sensational news topic to coverage by photo caption alone. That doesn’t tell the story behind the photos (e.g. protestors at the court house picketing foreclosure sales. Well, why did they picket? Why didn’t they pay their mortgage instead??)
As ANYBODY can blog and broadcast via YouTube these days – legitimate news vehicles MUST DEMAND accuracy, clarity, and balanced reporting of the whole truth. Or what’s the point???
The AJC has a long, long history of being “unfair and unbalanced”. I never understood that strategy because with such a liberal leaning newspaper you were purposely offending those with opposite views (independents included) and in Atlanta and surrounding areas, that’s 50% of the people at least you have driven from your readership in order to push your established liberal leaning views.
Now we are supposed to believe that you have left that agenda behind? I don’t think you can truly change your deep held commitment to liberal journalism, though removing Cynthia Tucker is a good first start.
Maybe you are finally getting the big picture! People are sick and tired of you left wing liberal fish wrapper. Thank goodness Tucker and Bookman are departing. Their arrogance of late has been a bit much and played a major role in canceling our subcription of 30 years. There are so many more places to get the news these days!
“We heard that you want a newsy and fast-paced newspaper during the week and you’ll get that. We heard you want a more relaxing and rewarding experience on Sunday and you’ll get that. It’s a new look, a new nameplate (one for Sunday and one for daily). You want more watchdog coverage, and we’re providing it. You want a newspaper that’s easy to scan to find the things on which you want to spend time. We’re doing that.”
This sounds eerily familiar – am I about to find an ATL version of the MacPaper (USA Today) laying on my driveway (or, usually, in the flower boxes at my mailbox) every morning? If so, count me among the 40+ year readers of the AJC that will discontinue my subscription. While I do find a few of Luckovich’s efforts to be in poor taste, I feel we are fourtunate to have him in town. While a student at UGA in the ’70s, I looked forward to reading the paper every morning while hanging out at Memorial Hall, sitting on a bus, etc. It is a shame that will no longer be possible for my kids.
Ms. Wallace,
You have a difficult challenge. Publishing is dead. Content is king. Classifieds have gone to Craigslist. Your market is more conservative than the AJC has been for decades. There is a vocal minority in Atlanta who will scream loudly if your coverage does not tilt far left. You are no longer the arbiter of what actually happed, the communal gathering place. The AJC no longer has the credibility with the public that advertisers used to crave. Your army is about 40% of what it was.
In all candor, we are actually on your side. We want a good newspaper in Atlanta and don’t wish ill to the employees of the AJC. But we want a change.
Ms Wallace, I appreciate your communication and believe the AJC will be successful. With all the sources of online information, I do read “hard copy” papers less,but that doesn’t reflect on the AJC. It also impacts my readership of NYT, WSJ, Time,et.al Please do not listen to neanderthals who used your communication to post one more ignorant conservative rant about Cynthia and Mike. By the way, I believe CT and ML are both rising stars on our national scene. They’ve been consistently recognized. What I do hate read– the angry, irrational (and often racist) posts from people like Darryl and Nancy Dempsey who have chosen to make personal insults about some of your best people. That kind of meanness makes me uneasy. Still, I have high hopes for Georgia given the results of the last close election.
I have subscribed to the AJC for the last 30 years and plan to continue to do so as long as it exists and I can afford the subscription. A free press is critical to our freedom– and that includes opinions that I may not agree with like those of Jim Wooten. Long live the AJC! Long live Cynthia! Long live Mike and Jay! Down with intolerance and closed minds! My only request: please edit the blog comments faster to remove reader posts that are blatantly racist or obscene. Those kind of comments have no place in civil,intelligent discourse.
I LOVE Mike Luckovitch; his cartoons are spot-on. I like that the AJC is not so hard right-wing; it’s time this country move forward and be more progressive in thought and deed. But I miss the old style of the AJC–mainly when it was thicker–and contained more info than now. As with books, I fear all this techno stuff is bringing an end to print–books and newspapers as we’ve known them. Try to hang in there, Julia.
National news is on the web when it happens, as are sports. The paper needs to report local and regional events in depth in an unbiased way, unlike CT’s practice. Eliminating Pierre and arts reporting is NOT GOOD and detracts from local news reporting. Concentrate on those things that are not fully covered elsewhere instantly.
I don’t envy your task but I think one key to future success is for the AJC, still a big company, to think like a small one. With the corporate reigns tied to you, this in itself may be a difficult road to stay on. All too often, what the AJC does not report speaks louder to me than what it does include. I was disappointed that when the recent debate on cross-ownership in media was big news on the Internet, I could find no mention of it in the AJC’s pages. I would view such topics not as something to be avoided but as an opportunity to break from the pack of large media outlets and shine an open, honest and informed light on your own profession. This would be a central part in reinventing your business.
I hope that the improvements to the AJC will not stop with the print edition. The online edition is very important to those of us in the outlying communities that no longer have home delivery. The online edition needs to be kept up-to-date. The Vent is a good example. It has not been updated since Friday.
Also, coverage of the counties north of the metro area is sorely lacking unless something totally stupid or ghastly occurs.
I have been a reader of this newspaper since I was a kid and now I’m 56. Most of my life I have lived in Coffee Co and was disapointed when we could no longer get the print edition. This paper has made Ga a better state so I view fair and balanced as a Fox code word.If this paper is turning right let me go vomit.
Glad to see the AJC is moving forward to survive in these changing times. Maybe it’s also time for the AJC to become the GJC (Georgia Journal Constitution) & become a state paper instead of just an Atlanta local paper. For the same reasons the AJC is struggling, I’m sure most, if not all of the newspapers in the state are also struggling. The small newspaper in the south Georgia town where I live just isn’t what it used to be. Why not consolodate all the newspapers in the state into the GJC, take on some of their staffs & facilities & become a state-wide publication? Maybe do regional editions instead of purely local ones. Just a thought because I think the days are numbered for small, home-town papers.
I can remember taking a tour of the AJC newsroom a couple of years ago and when we stopped by the “national desk,” I noticed a photo of President Bush with his eyes poked out and he was made to look like a cartoon character from Mad. That was all the proof I needed to realize what I had known for years. The AJC was and has been arrogant and unapologetic for their liberal leanings throughout the years – only to use the excuse that it was never in the reporting, just on the opinion pages. I wonder if that picture of President Bush is still sitting on someone’s desk, OUTSIDE of the editorial department. Want to be relevant? Too late. I have more choices now. But I do wish the writers and others well. I hate to see so many people lose their jobs.
Tad asks about our business coverage. We understand that Atlanta is a business town and business coverage is an important part of what we provide. We still have a strong line-up of business writers. Thomas Oliver is retiring, but he will continue to write his Sunday column. Long-time business writer and editor Henry Unger will be our new columnist. He has a deep understanding of how Atlanta works. On the arts front, we will have fewer full-time writers. Veteran editor and reporter Howard Pousner will be covering cultural institutions. And former arts writer and editor Tom Sabulis is building a network of free-lancers, including long-time AJC staffers. He’ll be looking for people with deep expertise in a variety of arts topics. If you have suggestions, email him at tsabulis@ajc.com.
“And former arts writer and editor Tom Sabulis is building a network of free-lancers, including long-time AJC staffers. He’ll be looking for people with deep expertise in a variety of arts topics. If you have suggestions, email him at tsabulis@ajc.com.”
What is the AJC’s commitment to covering Arts Openings around town. Will there be a critic at the opening of Jacques Brel on April 22nd at the Alliance Theatre, freelance or staff?
I like having a newspaper but where I am (Suwanee), I struggle to get significant relevance out of the AJC for where I live. Any chance of AJC assisting with a small weekly paper for my area? That local focus coupled with some of the more in-depth articles from the core AJC product on regional and national issues would be nice.
Would be great if you could find a way to balance liberal/conservative coverage so that each side could be well-represented (the “She Said/She Said” piece was grossly insufficient and seemed like mere lip-service in addressing a significant, pressing need for balance).
It’s been about 15 years since I was a subscriber. I’m interested to see what April 28th will bring!
Even a moderate would agree that Luckovich’s cartoons are rancid, hateful, spiteful, and nasty. And those describe when he’s not talking about republicans. Then he’s even worse. But I stopped my Sunday-only subscription when it became utterly apparent that the paper was catering to high school sports fans, GTech and Bulldog fans, or African Americans. Beyond that core constituency, the rest don’t matter. I read the Boston Globe online every day. I’m a republican and that paper is ultra liberal. But it’s not purposely exclusionary and shamefully parochial. The AJC’s sports page is a joke, it’s token conservative, Jim Wooten, was an embarrassment, and its addiction to anything local at the expense of important world events made it a paper from which I removed the adds then tossed in the recycling bin. Note: a good friend of mine who works at the AJC has told me it’s a conscious choice who the paper caters to. Well, when the 20-35-year-old demographic is your market, a demographic addicted to Hollywood style news and cyber relationships, you reap what you sow. Good riddance, AJC.
A midwest transplant, I have been a AJC subscriber for 28 years. I have traveled extensively for business and pleasure, and have read 100’s of local papers (big and small). The AJC has had it’s ups and downs concerning coverage of stories that interest me over the years. I have been PO’d at Mike Far Left-kovitch (a truly dishonest political cartoonist) for years, but at least in recent years you have published intelligent conservative writers such as Thomas Sowell (and others) to offset your overall liberal bias. Comparing your paper to the others that I have read and for the size of the metro area you cover, where it has been overwhelmingly lacking is in the Sports section. It had been just bad before but now it is rock bottom. Same with your Business section, but fortunately I also read the WSJ, but have no alternative for local sports that you have abandoned (there is more to local sports than the pro teams and 2 local colleges).
Why in the world would you use the words “fair and balanced” when they have become code words for Fox News’ pandering to the right? Just wanted to let you know that I will be canceling my subscription. I simply am not interested in contributing over $160 a year to people who have decided to tell their readers what they want to hear whether or not it reflects the reality of the world.
What is the status of sports columnists? I know that Tony Barnhart took a buyout last year but is now back with the AJC with his blog. What is the story there? It was a HUGE mistake by you guys to offer this to the best college football writer in the nation in a city that breathes the sport every day of the year….I also read that Terrance Moore was offered a buyout (which was long overdue as I can’t believe the AJC approves his columns and the content of them…)
Beginning in May, we will have two general sports columnists, Mark Bradley and Jeff Schultz. Terence Moore is one of the staffers who took the buyout. Terence began writing his column in 1985. Here’s what he says about how he approached it: ,”My objective was to get people to think, not to agree or disagree, just to get people to think.”
In answer to T….companies don’t pay taxes, individuals do. When corporate taxes are raised the increase is passed onto the consumer of their products through price increases.
I think it’s all so much hooey. I actually think it’s so much more than that, but this is a family paper.
1. Copy editing has fallen by the wayside.
2. You rely too heavily on news feeds.
3. Everybody knows that a newspaper should be neutral. The JC hasn’t been neutral in years.
4. It seems counter-intuitive to fire (and isn’t that what a lay-off really is?) the very people who cover the local news of a newspaper that suddenly wants to be more, er, local.
5. A lot of these people who are commenting want to be able to buy the paper state-wide.
6. Mark Slockett? Really? He was laid off just before being eligible for full retirement benefits?
Do you really think your core readers care about what T.I. and Lil’ Wayne are doing? Neal Boortz was 100% correct when he labeled the AJC the “largest hip-hop newspaper in the country.”
The reason the AJC sucks, honestly, is because it is written to be read by the hardly-literate. Far too often I’ve notice grammatical and spelling errors in news stories. That’s embarrassing for the newspaper in the nation’s 8th largest media market. I won’t even comment on the left-wing bias of the newspaper.
Also, do we really need a Faith and Values section of a newspaper? Could you see a real paper doing this?
You’re nothing but a bunch of liberals, sweating because the free market has decided it’s time for you to go. I personally cannot wait for you freeloading Democrats to all be given the boot and padlock the doors to the AJC shut forver, where you can finally do what you were meant to do: clean toilets and wash dishes.
We probably all have notions of how to make the AJC more viable. Here are mine and they’re probably worth what I’m charging.
1. Begin to charge to get online content (print subscribers would get a free online subscription). I know the reasons for free access (build numbers, get more online advertising). But it doesn’t work. Instead, you’re giving us a choice … get the content free, or pay to get it. When you also consider that online has additional advantages – including more up-to-date news … for instance scores of games played too late on the West Coast to make the print edition … you’re creating a real disincentive to subscribe to the print edition (you’re sure not alone, I realize that’s how it’s been done, but I’ve also noticed that it isn’t working for any newspaper).
2. Paired with No. 1, emphasize local news, even at the expense of national and world news. There are so many outlets for national and world news but not so for local. Use the remaining horsepower you have to own the local news franchise. You can easily – and already do – overpower what’s available from wires, TV, etc. And – if the online service is paid subscription only – you aren’t eatting your young.
3. Create and take advantage of more personalities … just as is true for TV and radio, names and a unique viewpoint create a draw. For instance, a Grizzard clone would be a big help. (OK, I realize that they broke the mold with him, but there are people who could do a credible job of creating that sort of an audience).
I’m very much rooting for the AJC, especially the print version. It’s one of those things that we would all miss (even those who complain) if it was gone. And if the news business goes online only, I’m pretty sure that the revenues from that wouldn’t support a large news gathering operation.
Take care of your customers – for instance, my Sunday paper is routinely delivered late these days. I remember – when I was in the corporate world – hearing something that seemed overly simple and not very smart:
“Your best customers are your customers.”
It took me a long time to realize how right that is and how important. Any business’ strength is from those who have already raised their hands and said they want the product. You have to take care of them first. My sense is that – instead – newspapers in general have bent over backwards to go after people who wouldn’t read the newspaper even if it was delivered to their bed along with breakfast.
I do not think the ‘too liberal’ ‘too conservative’ thing is a huge deal. I know there’s a lot of noise from both sides, but these are the people who probably will still read the paper. It’s the folks who don’t write in, who aren’t involved at all, that are at risk.
I have had to start engaging in local news outlets outside of the AJC to get quality news outside of the metro area. I’ve also had to take up the slack writing technology articles for local papers due to the inadequacy of Technoboob or is that “Technobuddy”? Did he get bought out? Fact is the paper has become a phenom in weak brained material focusing on junk rather than the stories of the day. Considering how much of a failure the legislative session is, I am surprised you haven’t put the bully pulpit against the leadership.
The paper has been increasingly sliding toward a demonic demise that shows how out of touch the paper has become. It seems the Macon Telegraph among others has been taking up the slack.That definately shows the slide of the paper. I personally believe the demise of the paper started in 1993 with the death of Lewis Grizzard and the inadequacy of the paper to get a proper replacement. We do not need “Atlanta Today” paper, we need the paper to develop a network not a bureau reporters and resources that give insight on politics, education and important issues not “Momania” I keep seeing you lamenting the Georgia Trauma network, but I never seen or heard a story about how a incident happens, life flight is called for and all the other details that make up this thin thread of a network. Maybe more information than just lamenting Grady as a Level One Trauma Center. (Erlanger is as well though it’s in Chattanooga) that might get more people interested as well as the cost ($12,000) and looking at solutions to reduce cost or get that cost shared. It’s half filled stories that make one wonders what’s going on down at the AJC.
as an atlanta resident (note:atlanta, not the suburbs), I greatly enjoy the ajc print and online edition… dont let the brainwashed right wingers of the suburbs determine the content of the paper… business section may be lacking sometimes but sports and metro are on point…
A few clarifications:
* Yes, we are covering Jacques Brel at the Alliance. Pierre Ruhe will be there.
* We have continued to grow our audience. About two-thirds of people in metro Atlanta read the newspaper or ajc.com at least once a week.
* Unfortunately, we needed to reduce the size of the newsroom by one-third because of financial challenges. Most of that reduction was accomplished by voluntary separations, but we had to do some involuntary separations. None of them were easy. All the folks had served the company well — some for a very long time. However, no one who was laid off within “months” of reaching retirement. All were more than a year away.
* The pull-back of circulation in the state has been difficult. I’ve heard from so many readers about how much they miss the newspaper every day. Unfortunately, the costs were too high to continue. I wish we could have figured out a way to make that circulation profitable. Unfortunately, we couldn’t. We are, however, offering an electronic version of the newspaper in those areas
I haven’t been a fan of the AJC in a long time. Its liberal bias has forced many to turn to other more respectable news sources. I am glad C. Tucker (goodbye wicked witch of the west) is leaving and that the hip/hop arts editor (for example) will be out as well as other overtly liberal contributors, editors, and sections of the AJC.
I hope the AJC puts on a new face and focuses on real news and delivery of its coverage in an unbiased manner. I hope attention to correct grammar is also given to printed material as the literacy level of the AJC seems to have dropped to that of the 7th grade. I’ve seen other comments about the sports section only catering to high school, UGA and GT. I’m perfectly fine with this and if the transplants to GA don’t like that please consider subscribing to your own hometown paper. Why should the AJC provide coverage of every school followed by those not native to the area?
I hope the AJC succeeds in its attempt to restructure itself. I know for certain that Atlanta struggles without a credible newspaper and what we’ve had here for a long time has been a disservice to our city and our state. Good luck AJC.
Thank you for the opportunity to engage in a conversation with the Editorial Staff from your loyal readers & subscibers. I hope as the day goes on you will make more of a concerted effort to converse with us, however.
I’m here, as a long-time reader & Sunday subscriber, to express my displeasure for what has happened specifically to the Sports section as of late. I’ve long since stopped reading your local, national, & international “news” coverage because of your leftist slant & obvious agenda. However, I’ve reamined a reader & supporter ONLY because of the Sports coverage. I was raised on the incredible writing of the late, great Lewis Grizzard and will always be grateful to the AJC for its continued support and coverage of all Georgia Collegiate & Professional sports. I am a UGA graduate and season ticket holder – let me put that out there & make it abundantly clear to which Team my loyalty lies.
I recently learned of the demotion, if you will, of your BEST Writer Michael Carvell. I’m truly shocked and so very disappointed. Since Michael’s presence in Collegiate Recruiting, your coverage has been bar none BETTER than those of the paid services, Rivals & Scout! His page is my first click every morning and his stories kept many of us interested & excited about incoming student-athletes during the very long, and often boring, offseason of college football. His human-interest pieces on these student athletes are outstanding and something I’d NEVER read before in the AJC. Most importantly, his coverage doesn’t have the familiar snarky & biased tone of Schultz, Bradley, Bisher, & Moore. He reports the facts, covers athletes being recruited by all Colleges & Universities in our surrounding area (not just the state of Georgia) and are never biased. In addition, its been so refreshing to read up-to-the-minute content like that of a beat writer! He’s scooped the Athens Banner Herald & even David Hale on numerous occasions, not to mention the writers from Rivals & Scout. That is most certainly not what we are accustomed to here unfortunately. But what has impressed me the most was his outreach to fans of college football all across the south. He’s always been engaging in his web content, is very active with AJC Sports readers on twitter, on the blogs, etc. He sought our opinions, went above & beyond to meet our expectations for content, and reached out to his readers. I’ve NEVER seen that here and its been a great & much needed change!
So for those reasons (and many more quite frankly) I’m at a loss for why you’d make the tragic mistake of removing him for reporting on college sports recruiting! He’s the best you’ve ever had (leaps & bounds above Towers & Tucker) and it would be a tremendous mistake on your part to remove his content. I can promise you I most certainly will not be back nor will I continue to support a paper who so obviously has very little repect for their readers’ wishes. I implore you to dig a little deeper & listen to your readers about Michael Carvell’s content. We don’t want to lose his talent and you, quite frankly, can’t afford to further alienate your readers & advertisers.
If Cynthia Tucker is gone, I may come back and subscribe. She and Terrence Moore were the 2 main reasons I stopped my paper. The AJC became too liberal and became a voice for the liberal politics of the City of Atlanta instead on the other 4 million people that live in the metropolitan area. When you ignore the suburbs, where the vast majority of us live, you lose the majority of your subscribers.
If Cynthia is truly gone, I will give the new paper a try by picking it up a couple of times at a newstand. If the liberal tendencies of the past are gone, I may consider subscibing agaion.
I think your missing the point, clamming up is going to create more of a demise than it is if not spreading. What I advocate is a network of free lance, or finding ways to work with Otis Brumby/Appen and other papers to form an alliance, a state version of the Associated Press, but deals more with the insights. What is Eric Johnson saying in Savannah or Austin Scott in Tifton. The fact is the paper can either be the newspaper of the capital city (the state) or it can go to hell and join the hip hop tabloid of half crazed marginal j-school students. I think going isolated and cold is the death knell of the paper, You killed yourself with moralistic liberals that tornent us with diatribe that would only make Joe Lowery proud. Instead of striking the balance and picking up the pieces, the AJC has become a old spinster locked up in a cave that refuses to innovate and therefore die a cold cruel death of fate, for unwillingness to push the envelope.
Oh yeah, and there are stores banding together to buy or obtain the ajc in bulk and sending them into the “blacked out” areas because of the anger and disenfranchisement of your readers outside of the fashionable metro areas. Also, I noticed Chattanooga press has also taken over your spaces that you have abandoned. So for your shortsightedness there are people taking advantage and exploiting even if it’s your brethren in the paper business.
I’ve read the blogs coming to you this morning – they are right on it Ms. Wallace – now it’s up to you! The only other thing I would like to add is: the comic section stinks – personally, whoever thought up the latest configuration, I hope they took an “early out” too! BTW Mr. Ruhe, why don’t you ever tell us about Theatrical Outfit productions – they are very good – check ‘em out sometime!
I am still in shock that the AJC will stop having newspapers in Athens-Clarke County. I subscribed to the AJC for more than 20 years, until it stopped delivery to my neighbor just outside of Athens. I then tried to subscribe at work Monday-Friday, but that is not an option, at least as I was told by the subscription department. Shortley therefter it was announced that no AJC’s would be distributed to Athens, which is just 70 miles from ATL and the home to UGA, Georgia’s flagship university. It is ironic that I will be able to buy a New York Times in Athens, but not the AJC. It makes no sense to me.
Your article in today’s paper regarding changes being made was most interesting. While I realize the industry is changing to meet various demands, I would have preferred that the customer service center remain in this area rather than moving it to the Philippines. With Georgia’s unemployment rate among the nation’s highest, was moving customer service to a country on the other side of the world that much more cost effective? And would readers who live in Atlanta and the surrounding area want to call another country regarding delivery in their own neighborhoods? I think not. After having several delivery problems myself and making several calls to the new service center, I am not impressed. I realize the employees are learning and may in fact do a satisfactory job at some point; but hiring Georgia residents who already know this area and who need employment would have been a preferable choice. The AJC should take a cue from one of Delta’s latest decisions and move its customer services back to America. If the AJC truly wants to remain a viable newspaper, it must keep customers happy. In this economy, sending jobs overseas and having less customer service does not make for happy customers.
As a former AJC employee I can tell the readers their main goal is to make money. Advertising is where their heart is, not on providing the best news coverage. The AJC believes since it is the main source of print news in the area they can publish whatever they would like and readers have no other option so they have to buy the AJC. We see how that’s working. Newspapers are more concerned with winning Pulitzer’s than providing what the readers actually want. They are losing over $1,000,000 per week so please do not believe for one minute they are concerned about readership. They are making the changes to try to draw in more advertisers. These “lay-offs, buy-outs” are eliminations of staff, nothing more, nothing less. They want less people to do the same amount of work with the same amount of pay. So do not be confused as to why the content is crap, rushed and full of grammatical errors. They would rather get less talented folks who will work for hardly nothing to make as much money as they can. After all Cox is a for profit business, interested first in bottom line, customers second.
I want to make one final point. I understand the AJC is a business, and has to make business decisions based on economic trends. However, I also feel that being “The Newspaper of the Capital City” that the paper has a responsibility not just for local coverage but regional and state coverage. The paper has kind of been shirking that responsibility for a long time because of the “fashionableness” and that it didn’t fit the “Liberal Mantra” of I gotta a axe to grind and here’s my avenue.
Because the paper has been “winging it” for so long, it’s credibility factor has been marginalized, therefore that’s a preeminent cause of subscriber shrinkage. For me about the only thing worth reading in the paper is the Fry’s Electronics ads. So now instead of correcting the misguided tilt of the hand, the paper is shrinking into a a creature of it’s former self and now something not much more than the Marietta Daily Journal. a precipice fall I might add. I’m not encouraging the continued $1 million dollars a week losses. I am however suggesting a reinvent of the paper so that it may be something of an honor to read. Not having obscenities hurled due to it’s consistent trashy demeanor. I want newspapers to survive, but I also believe that newspapers have civic and social obligations that has somehow fallen down the cracks of expediency, or to fill some social mantle of GOD help us all what did that crackpot Cynthia Tucker have to say again.
Thank you, Julia, for your honesty and willingness to speak to your readers today about a subject that many have unfortunately experienced first-hand. It’s hard to see good friends let go. I personally think that the reported stories and writing styles of the AJC are not overly slanted one way or the other, and that they are intact and complete. There are other city newspapers that barely cover their stories, where all of the information is summed up in a catchy title. This is not the case with the AJC. Thank you!
Well Julia, I’ll give you an ‘E’ for effort on this but in the vast scheme of things nothing is really going to change at AJC…you all have been for years the liberal ‘mouth of the South and an absolute disgrace to the values of true Southerners.
I stopped my AJC Subscription years ago due to mounting liberal stance of the paper. Though I still go on-line for the Obituaries in the AJC, I try my best NOT to read any of the editorial articles..the utter wackiness of Bookman and Tucker defies the term ‘human logic’. And the really scary part Julia is that you all really do believe all the drivel that you publish.
I’m old enough to remember people waiting by the news-stands in the old Rexall Drug Stores for the paperman to show up with the evening editions…days that are and have been long gone for decades due primarily to the AJC’s liberal left-winged policies.
You call it economic hard times, economic downturn…those of us who remember when the AJC went l left-wing liberal call it what it is stupidity…
As Momma Gump said “Stupid is…as stupid does!”
Good luck on the makeover Julia, you certainly need it.
I’m not sure why I bothered to read these comments because I stopped my subscription 2 years ago. After 30 years, the AJC no longer met my needs and I realized they did not care. I seldom bother to read it on line.
When a product is not useful, it goes away. I see that coming for AJC and there will be few to care. They shut us out years ago.
I stopped my subscription because of your liberal views and Cynthia Tucker. I want the news. I do not want the reporters opinion or belief. When you go back to reporting the facts and nothing else I will return.
The right-wing lovers of fascism always point to Cynthia Tucker and Terence Moore as the problem with the paper. The real problem they have with these two is they are African-American and they are ‘uppity’ enough to have opinions that diverge from those held by the fanatic right. Both Cynthia and Terence are great in their jobs and they tell the truth. The people complaining about them are the very same dupes who declare FIX news to be fair and balanced. Willingly accepting lies for truth is something they are willingly complicit in!
“While I realize the industry is changing to meet various demands, I would have preferred that the customer service center remain in this area rather than moving it to the Philippines.”
You’re nothing but a bunch of liberals, sweating because the free market has decided it’s time for you to go. I personally cannot wait for you freeloading Democrats to all be given the boot and padlock the doors to the AJC shut forver, where you can finally do what you were meant to do: clean toilets and wash dishes.
As a former employee with AJC, it was sad that a lot of southern counties lost circulation such as Upson,Pike,and Lamar. I heard from so many subscribers,especially the elderly that were so upset by this news.
However, AJC was fair with us upon termination. Anyway, I just finished school and look forward to finding a new career in the medical field.
As someone who pays attention to the high school recruiting scene nationwide, I am saddened that Michael Carvell will no longer be providing recruiting coverage for the AJC. Literally, there is no one at any paper in the country that does a better job than Michael. His outstanding insight, breaking news, and comprehensive coverage of recruiting will be sorely missed. I totally understand the challenges that newspapers face, but I sincerely hope you reconsider removing Michael’s recruiting content.
I stopped reading the paper when the sports coverage began to be shifted so heavily to everything UGA and HS Football. I’m not a fan of GT or UGA, but rather another major school in the METRO area. I know at least one school is getting “more” coverage in the paper just because they advertise, which is really not the way to do business, especially when that additional coverage barely constitutes a blip on the radar.
When you stop sending beat reporters to cover the local teams on road trips – i.e., Knobler the Thrashers and Sekou the Hawks – you start losing a great deal of credibility with your readers. When you ignore a lot of great things that are happening in other local sports – i.e., two Division I college baseball teams that aren’t GT or UGA in 1st and 2nd place in their respective conferences, you ignore me as a reader.
There’s more out there if the AJC cares to look for it. Unfortunately, the impression is that they don’t.
It’s not Print vs. ‘Net, particularly on Sunday mornings. For years I looked forward to sitting on the deck with a cup of coffee reading the Sunday edition, sorting through the ads. The internet can’t replace that lost pleasure.
I quit reading a number of years ago, when the complete lack of balance, even in the choice of comic strips, finally had me reading nothing but the advertising flyers and classifieds.
The free market is indeed speaking. If content is king, balance has to be the queen.
I was wondering how laying off Mark Slockett, a man who worked as a newsroom clerk and assistant for well over 30 years, helped the paper’s overall bottom line. Mark was only months away from being able to retire with full benefits after his long career of dedication to the only “family” he had left in his life — his AJC family. Mark’s status in the newsroom was not nearly as high-profile or financially rewarding as all of the writers and editors who managed to stay employed through the years and after the buyouts, nor will he ever manage to find a job that will provide him with as much personal reward and satisfaction as his job bringing papers to the newsroom, delivering mail to the staff, and running errands for the M.E.s did.
And how did you reward this man, who always had a friendly smile for everyone he encountered while he did a job that few people would’ve sought to do? You fired him just before he could’ve left the company on his own terms, and with his full pension intact.
Tell me, Ms. Wallace — did the recovery of all Cox News Service would’ve lost to Mr. Slockett really improve the company’s bottom line?
Was it worth it, in retrospect, to treat Mark so shabbily after he had given his employer a lifetime of dedication and hard work?
What a shocking lack of compassion and heart the AJC has shown. Shame on all of you who were involved in the decision to dismiss Mr. Slockett so unceremoniously.
Miss J…it is obvious why you are a “former employee”. Get the chip off your shoulder and get the facts straight before you comment. There are many other things that I would like to say but I doubt if they would be allowed to be posted here.
No rational person could read the comments on the blogs at the AJC or any other paper and come to the conclusion that conservatives are meaner than liberals. Dana Milbank, of all people, has a story on that matter in the Washington Post asking why the lefties are so angry.
As for those who see all of us who disagree with Cynthia Tucker as racist I would urge you to be careful with your language. It’s an easy epithet to throw and a hard one to take back. People don’t forget being unfairly attacked with that sort of language. We were just treated to MSNBC and CNN using similar language and unfettered rage toward conservatives who disagree with them.
That kind of race baiting is not going to help the AJC or this state.
Does anyone buy the your statement that you “heard” what AJC readers want? So now you’re going to fix things? According to your liberal, social-engineering agenda, you forgot to add.
Here’s a few tips I’m sure you’ll ignore:
Report the EVENTS. Report what actually happened, not what your ilk thinks SHOULD happen. Identify criminal suspects at large by sex/height/build/ AND RACE.
Just report the news; don’t try to shape it to fit your leftist political bent.
I am a dedicated recycling person, and have recently purchased biodegradable doggie bags for walks with my dog. (I found out about them in my AJC!) While I’m grateful my daily newspaper is never wet in the morning, I wonder if there is an affordable way for the AJC to bag the home deliveries in biodegradable plastic bags. I’m willing to pay a little more for my subscription in support of this environmental effort.
On another subject, I often email AJC articles of interest to friends and family who do not live in Atlanta. It is not always easy to find the print edition online or to locate the article on ajc.com. I wonder if others have experienced this as well. Do you plan to make any other changes to ajc.com? If so, a search engine that locates what I’m looking for with one or two clicks would be wonderful.
Some are using this forum to vent political views or other agendas. I’ll try to stay on topic.
1) Layoffs are distasteful and unpleasant, but most reasonable folks understand why they’re necessary. My only criticism is this: You allowed Creative Loafing to do a quicker, better report on your personnel changes than you did. I get that an any employer must be sensitive to handling information related to personnel matters. However you had to know information was going to leak, and you should have been the initial and primary source for that topic. I can’t emphasize that point enough.
2) I’m more than willing to keep an open mind about the future of the AJC. You say you want it to be improved, I believe you. And I believe it can be. I’m glad to hear that you’re using professional freelancers, who — despite some criticism on this forum — shouldn’t be sold short. I wouldn’t be surprised to see improved content in certain areas.
3) I’m a lover of the news. I read the paper first thing in the morning, then throughout the day I check updates online. If I had to choose BETWEEN the two, I’d choose the online because it’s fresher…
4) I wouldn’t mind paying for the AJC online as a subscription as long as it’s content were unique enough to the local (Atlanta & Georgia) scene that it couldn’t be supplanted by other news sources. I don’t need national news from the AJC, at least in the print edition. If the AJC was the only place I got my news, sure, that would be different. But let CNN online cover the nation and world. I want the AJC for what’s happening in my city and state.
5) You’ll get criticism no matter what you do. Some people don’t like improvements, because they don’t like change. Don’t sweat it.
6) Folks criticizing the handling of Mark Slockett — truly a good guy who will be missed at the paper — ignore the fact that he made his own bed by refusing the buyout. I think it was probably heartbreaking to see him have to go. But allowing him to stay on would have established a precedent that could have cost the AJC millions if sued by other employees later on. You did the right thing, not the easy thing.
7) Summary: do a good job, improve the offering, make the AJC something that’s vital and unique from any of the meta-news search sources. That’s not just the best way, it’s the only way.
Good luck to you and everyone there. You still have a heck of a team!
Certainly newspapers are charged with the responsibility of reporting the “good, bad and ugly.” The democratic process is well-served in that manner. However, that process MUST NOT be tainted by political favoritism. Opinionated journalism must be reserved for the
EDITORIAL page (section). Time and again I see news articles prostituted because either the publisher, editor or journalist has a political “axe to grind” and denigrates his (her) profession by outright favoritism. This, in some way, has not served print jourrnalism well. Above all, “call the shots” down the middle. Don’t let one political party or figure “slide by” while “trouncing upon” the other because of your political bias. When done, your profession is not well-served and your readers and country are cheated.
Ted… Thanks for your comments. We do have a very strong team committed to doing the journalism that is so critical to this community. Today’s newspaper is filled with examples of that: Tammy Joyner on a family rewriting the American dream; Bob Keefe’s profile of Congressman Tom Price; Bill Rankin on the “crisis” in the death penalty system and Sekou Smith getting us ready for the NBA playoffs. Several people have asked about ajc.com. In the past several months, we have been working to improve the site. We have added google search in the top right corner. It is dramatically better than our previous search. We also are focusing more on news. In the recent changes to the newsroom, we have created a round-the-clock breaking news team so we’re faster and more thorough with the news you want.
Since I live in Eatonton my home delivery of AJC will cease on or before the new format is born..
I can not understand why the AJC would actually tell loyal readers to go away..
If Putnam County is too far from Atlanta to matter and the cost to service this area is too high simply RAISE your price for home delivery in this and other outlying areas.
A well rounded fair and balanced newspaper is as essential to the FORTH ESTATE as that FORTH ESTATE is to good government..
We all witnessed the recent national elections where most of the FORTH ESTATE sold out to the liberal/progressive mantra of “Change”. Now those who would give this recent history a fair look will see that the nation still does not know what “Change” really means and the FORTH ESTATE seems to have become the propaganda arm of the current national government.
The point is, without a good, healthy and balanced print media we all seem doomed to repeat a failed socialist agenda.
THUS I would pay more to support the AJC since the AJC is a real newspaper and, sadly, so far, the Macon Telegraph is little more than a poor grade of FISH WRAP..
Regardless of whether you at the AJC relent and continue to deliver to Putnam County I wish you the best in this rather uncertain changing world. American LIBERTY needs you and other daily newspapers we can read over coffee with nothing more than a candle for light.
Your readership may claim not to want a tabloid, but most of the stories that appear on the “most popular” list on your webpage would be right at home in the National Enquirer.
After the AJC ended the editorship of Bill Kovach, I thought we were being force fed mediocre newspaper. Now I see that if this community has the mediocre newspaper, it is because we deserve it.
I’m very amused by some of the previous comments. Many on the far right consider the AJC.com overly liberal in its slant, when the AJC is one of the most moderate and balanced newspapers in the country. Strong voices from conservative, liberal, and moderate perspectives receive prominent play on the editorial and op-ed pages on a regular basis. The truth is, the ultra-conservative consider anyone who’s more moderate than them to be overly liberal. Their idea of “fair and balanced” is Fox News.
I also find it funny that some bemoan the AJC’s focus on local and state issues. To me, that’s the point of a local newspaper. We have plenty of 24-hour national and international news sources available to cover those stories. I want my local newspaper to tell me what’s going on here, not on the other side of the world. As a south Georgia native, I’d rather see the AJC cut back on national and international stories in favor of more coverage of stories from other parts of the state.
My only real complaints about the AJC are the depth of the reporting and the quality of the editing. Far too many articles leave too many questioned unanswered, and far too many contain glaring errors (often clearly caused by over-reliance on spellcheckers). As a professional writer and editor who spent 5 years working in newspaper, I find myself much too often frustrated by poorly reported or edited articles. I’d rather have a smaller, higher-quality newspaper than one that tries to “cover Dixie like the dew” and falls short.
>>The truth is, the ultra-conservative consider anyone who’s more moderate than them to be overly liberal. Their idea of “fair and balanced” is Fox News.<<
you must admit that while Fox News is biased on the conservative side their coverage, i have found, to be much MORE BALANCED than NBC..
(I must admit here that I jusr recently discovered Fox News after having given up on NBC, CBS and ABC as being too much “in the pocket” of the far left liberal democratic elite..
Also, just to be open, my personal politics are conservative with a definite liberal “leaning” like: favor a womans right to choose, favor stem cell research and so forth..
The reality is that there are far more middle of the road people than far right OR far left..
You and the other AJC execs just don’t get it. This is a Republican/Conservative state and the liberal slant to C. Tucker, Jay Bookman, and Mike Luckovich along with so many others at your paper dooms your AJC to failure (going out of business). The editors and so called journalists hate everything conservative and report the news accordingly. I grew up in Atlanta and the paper that I read almost all my life went off the deep left end of the news with Bush hating/bashing. Then, your reporters slobbered all over the O’Bama election like a 16 year old boy with a hot date in the back of a ‘67 Chevy.
You editorials have no problem throwing out the racist label on conservatives as “right wing radicals.” Get used to it, there are more conservatives in Ga than liberals except for the Dekalb, Clayton, S. Fulton areas.
I stopped my subscription to the AJC six years ago when all of the Bush bashing was in style. I still do not get the AJC but occasionally read for sports news for the Braves.
If your content continues its liberal slant then I will get my news from all other sources (WSJ, Marietta paper, Fox news online, etc). Good luck trying to stay in business with Tucker/Bookman/Luckovich. Maybe, someone at the AJC might get a clue from the former subscribers.
“Many on the far right consider the AJC.com overly liberal in its slant, when the AJC is one of the most moderate and balanced newspapers in the country. ”
Says who? You?
One need not be a member of the “far-right” to see the AJC’s absurd bias. I worked for Cox Communications for years and the liberal slant of the AJC was a commonly accepted fact among the staff.
Growing up in the southeastern USA, the AJC was once the voice that was listened to by everyone weather you agreed or not!! For a very long time now it is simply another poorly managed, local, politically correct, daily paper! Close the doors and go away!!
My husband and I had taken the AJC 44 years before home delivery was stopped January 2009. What good is a new design when you can’t subscribe or buy the AJC? Yes, we are bitter to be losing the AJC; Yes, we tried mail delivery and a trial online. Not satisfactory.
Greg… If you stopped subscribing six years ago and now only read the paper for the Braves coverage, you have missed quite a bit a change.
The latest is a change we announced Monday on the editorial pages. Cynthia Tucker is moving to Washington to become our national political columnist. We are dividing the editorial page editor job, which Cynthia held, into two jobs. Andre Jackson becomes the Editorial Editor, responsible for writing the institutional editorials. Ken Foskett becomes the Opinion Editor, responsible for putting together pages that reflect a balance of different viewpoints and different topics. Our columnist line-up will be:
Cynthia from Washington
Jay Bookman
Kyle Wingfield, our new conservative columnist, who starts in May, Kyle was most recently an editorial writer for the European edition of the Wall Street Journal.
Also, Jim Wooten will continue writing his “Thinking Right” column in July, after he retires. And Bob Barr will give his Libertarian and unpredictable views once a week.
We also will offer a wide array of syndicated columns from all political viewpoints, as well as regular pro-cons on issues.
Our editorial pages offer a variety of thought-provoking opinions – from all sides of the political spectrum.
Despite the fact that the complaint cited most often in today’s posts is concern about liberal bias, Ms Wallace has refused to address the issue at all. The complete unwillingness of AJC management to even consider the possibility that there might be any truth to this gripe has been a large contributor to their drops in circulation, which are much larger than the industry average.
I canceled my 10 year subscription to the AJC several years ago for one reason: I could not stand the ever increasing bias in both the opinion and news sections. I know many others who have done likewise. If the AJC really wants to win back readers, it needs to address this issue. I don’t care what changes they make to the format, if the AJC continues its recent tradition of favoring political activism over ethical journalism, I’m not buying.
The AJC is a Liberal Newspaper and this is very easy to prove. I have been in Atlanta since 1987 and have yet to see the AJC support a Conservative or Republican for either the Georgia Senate seat or the President. The AJC is Liberal-Democrate all the way.
Whoa, I didn’t read any of the other blogs BEFORE I wrote the first time. Now, I want to make it clear I read the newspaper to get information and I do not let liberal leaning columns change my opinions. I do critical thinking and if I don’t agree with a columnist
I pass over their diatribes.
I’ve been a AJC print subscriber for years, but knew that media change would continue to morph the AJC. Many of us recognize you have no choice but to continue to move to new models of providing news. As i write you, I’m sitting at the table, much as I do in the mornings with my coffee. Now I have a pc notebook besides me instead of the printed AJC. But where am I still looking? To the AJC. So keep the great editorials, newscoverage, and political cartoons coming. I’m learning to use your website as a future primary source–and liking it more each day. Good luck as you transition Atlanta journalism in this new world.
I hear this SO much and it’s so tired. There’s this absurd idea out there that newspapers have been pressured into not giving descriptions of minority suspects. The fact is that if a description consists of almost nothing other than the fact that a suspect *is* a minority, it’s not really a description.
One of the first things you learn in journalism school is to write what is relevant in a news story. Saying that a suspect is (for example) a “black male between 18 and 30 years old, 5 foot 8 inches to 6 feet tall, wearing jeans and a black sweatshirt” tells the reader essentially nothing and just serves to further malign an entire group of people. If that’s all the information we have, it could be any one, what, 150,000 people in the area? If someone had seen the car he was driving, a license plate number, heard someone address him by name, something distinctive about him that might help someone pick him out, that’s a different matter. But basically saying “It was some black guy” is pretty pointless. Worse yet is an even more vague description like “white or HIspanic male.” Now you’ve got nearly half the whole metro area in your description.
My understanding is that non-information like that doesn’t contribute to the story and only serves to further malign a large group of people. Also, sometimes police are evasive about details of a suspect’s appearance when they think they’re closing in and don’t want him/her to know it.
There are a number of parts to a newspaper. Of course the AJC has some leanings, including Mr. Wooten on the right. I read him and often wince; and, I read Tucker and Bookman and wince. I read a lot of opinion and wince. Now and again, I read and resonate. That’s what opinion is.
So why is it that ya’ll won’t read what you don’t agree with? It seems to be limiting.
As to the news, the AJC has been middle of the road, at best, for a long time; but, it’s what we’ve got other than what passes for full local news on TV. (Not to slam WSB radio – it can’t do more more than report what is breaking.)
Print is probably on its way to the morgue and I lament its passing. I miss it, especially on the weekends. I also am annoyed by tonight’s dinner or whatever it’s called at AJC.com and a host of other non-news fluff on the website, especially since they take away from the resources needed to fulfill what the paper says is its primary mission, to report local news. (On this line, it is very frustrating to read an AP story about a news event in Georgia.)
All this said, I will continue to read the paper online (I never click an ad, sorry; and, the pop-overs used to annoy me until I trained my subconscious to look elsewhere, or look for the “X.”)
Ms. Wallace, I still occasionally get a paper to read at lunch. I wish you well in your hunt for revenue. I’d even be willing to pay for content along the line of Steven Brill’s recent proposal, not happy, but willing.
A bit of history on the endorsement question: Until 2002, we had two newspapers, the Atlanta Constitution and the Atlanta Journal. The Constitution generally supported Democrats; the Journal generally supported Republicans. Since the Journal stopped publishing and the editorial pages were combined, we have supported a mix of candidates. We have certainly leaned Democratic, but not completely. For example, of the two Republican U.S. senators, we endorsed one (Isakson) in the general election
Mr. Wingfield…. I’m going to talk to you as only a true southerner would do. Why don’t you come on over, sit down, drink a glass of tea or a beer, and tell us a little bit about yourself. Now who are your people? Where did you attend church? Where did you go to school? I understand you’ve been away for a while now… you haven’t forgotten the most important sports rivalry in this history of the world have you?
Welcome home. I trust your column will be informative, balanced, and not afraid to tackle the issues. Go Jackets!!!!
I’m curious if you could tell us in detail what “conservative” means to you?
Also, I wonder what you opinion is of this statement: “People who labels apply to themselves do themselves a disservice by indicating to others that their decisions are based on the ideology of a group rather than their own independent evaluation of each issue?”
“People who apply labels to themselves do themselves a disservice by indicating to others that their decisions are based on the ideology of a group rather than their own independent evaluation of each issue?”
Lately, what the AJC doesn’t say has at times spoken louder to me than what it does cover. I think one of the most true tests of the AJCs new management, and of your own watchdog role, is whether we see anything regarding media news, particularly as it applies to the debate on media ownership consolidation, cross-ownership and FCC action on these issues. If I can’t trust the AJC to throw an honest spotlight on itself and its own business, how can I trust what it says on anything else? Thanks and good luck ahead.
Georgia is a red state politically by a wide margin. The AJC is notorious for being far left of center. You haven’t been giving the dogs (your audience) the dog food they want. A swing closer to the center may just help your bottom line. How about circulating to Lumpkin County again. I was not happy over having my home delivery of the AJC canceled. You deliver to Hall County just next door.
What steps are you taking to correct the numerous grammatical errors and oversights in editing that appear on your website every day? For example, from a headline story today comes this gem: “Police say Michaels’ BMW hit the Carters’ Mercedes and then both cars cross over to incoming traffic.” The grammatical error notwithstanding (I think the writer meant “crossed”), the paragraph from which this sentence was taken contains two references to Ms. Michael as “Michaels” (not to mention that if her name were actually “Michaels,” the proper possessive would be “Michaels’s’”–perhaps a less well-known rule, but a rule nonetheless) I could probably pull 50 more examples from the site at any given time. It’s hard to take the AJC seriously when its stories read like they are written by fourth graders.
Local News – that will give people in the Metro what they cannot get on cable, twitter, etc. Doesn’t have to be expensive. For example: Why not send someone to pull zoning applications and tell the folks whose thinking about moving dirt in their back yards before the bulldozers rumble wakes them to their morning coffee? You and I know from having covered local government that the deal to develop is done by the time there is a meeting held. Is it true you killed the crime beat? Are you kidding me? Do you not realize that all readers, no matter how silk purse they may claim to be, are RUBBERNECKERS. On the same vein, Angelina Jolie sells, but do we have to feed the fat people oreos? (I like analogies). The dailies such as the Gainesville Times, or others out in the burbs cannot “Watch” local government the way the AJC could, but doesn’t any more. There are all sorts of sordid tales of real government corruption, outrageous police action that are growing in numbers because the word is out: The cop (you) is not on the beat. ( I work in a law firm and I am working two cases, one in Fannin and one in Stephens County where incompetence deprived two men of their freedom…a Jonesboro lawyer is handling a case where a policeman ran over a homeless man and not the County is doing every thing they can to get out of compensating the man.) There is so much more out here that shapes our every day lives long before Washington even makes a ripple. Feel good stories about the neato things Atlantans do..where are they? In a recession, those stories sell papers, lure readers. We are southern by God, and we celebrate our rednecks, our folk artists, the people who use hubcaps for landscaping. But where is that coverage? We’re glad when we meet reporters who look like they are indeed real people, southern, with mortgages. Where are those guys? The quirky southerners. Look at some of the cool pieces coming out of Atlanta Magazine, Garden and Gun, Creative Loafing. They’re mining your territory! Don’t you want it back? Look up some of those freelancers and get them to do some of that neat stuff they do to give the living section something that looks like living in a funky south.
But it looks like the AJC doesn’t care. It used to be that if I learned of any gossip relating to a development or crime or corruption, or neato people, I headed for the AJC. Consistently, these days, nothing. I don’t recognize the community portrayed in the pages. It sends a message that you are not part of the community, you are isolated from it. So I think your position and your mission to gather our comments is a glimmer of hope. I want a vital AJC, but I want it to be a real paper again as a citizen, and not so much as a resident…there is a difference. But as a resident, I want a colorful spread of feature stories. More pictures (your photogs are amazing…we need more of it) I want you to be the Fourth Estate again. Believe me: The guys who take our tax money, know you’re not watching. I’d like to know what the plans are for local news.
The AJC as become another media source in the “monkey see, monkey” media circus. The hype, gossip, speculation, smoke & mirrors and very, very little substance! More of the same B.S.!
If you were really thinking you would discontinue punishing yourselves trying to print and deliver a daily newspaper. The cost of delivery alone should be enough to make it a no-brainer. Not to mention the cost to the environment.
The future is now! Be bold and leap into the 21st century!
I would just like to be able to BUY THE NEWSPAPER AGAIN where I live. I think that cutting the circulation area was the biggest mistake that has been made so far. We used to read the ads in the Sunday paper and then drive to Gainesville or Buford because we do not have the stores available in Habersham.
OK, let’s begin with how you will be a better source of journalism:
For years, readers have been subjected to ongoing defensive remarks from editors and writers at AJC claiming there was no bias at AJC. To this day, Ms. Wallace seems to try to deny bias, but then admits that new changes at AJC have “led to fairer coverage — more care in our play of stories as well as more straightforward approaches in headlines and local and wire stories.”
So were you (the AJC) or weren’t you biased in presenting the facts. If you were, that is as close to a fatal journalistic flaw as a news organization can make. For too long defenders of the practice have tried to confuse the argument by injecting the axiom that editorial columns MUST be opinionated. We ALL agree with that. But, PLEASE, keep the opinions on the opinion pages. If the AJC has been guilty of bias otherwise, and many – including Ms. Wallace – appear to feel it has been, a major front page apology and correction is due the readers and former readers of the AJC. For too many years our complaints have fallen on deaf ears, or worse, have been turned back on us in an attempt to characterize our complaints as uninformed, unsophisticated, and unsubstantiated.
The first and most important trait we expect from our journalists is brutal honesty, closely followed by intense intellectual curiosity, unintimidated by surrounding circumstances. When will we see that type of reporting from the AJC, starting with the topic which should be most accessible to its own reporters, which is “What went wrong with the AJC?”? Many readers must be unsatisfied with the official characterization of the circumstances involving the departure of Ms. Tucker and her daily influence at the AJC. The absence of a complete telling of her downgraded role in the paper is just one more reason readers have not to trust the AJC any topic published. If you can’t included the painful truths about the inner workings of your own paper – and certainly there must be more to tell during this unique “perfect storm” of challenges for the print media – then don’t waste your money on focus groups and special telephone lines trying to learn what readers are thinking. We’ve already acquired all the information we need to make an informed decision.
Thanks for your feedback. I hate that we’ve had to cut home delivery in some areas outside Metro Atlanta. In this economic climate, however, the company has had to make some difficult business decisions. I’m told the circulation folks ran analysis to try to make it work and tested options like raising prices. Unfortunately, it just cost the company too much to continue delivery in outlying areas.
Good luck Shawn. Best place to see what we’re up to out here is Twitter. That’s how we keep an eye on you folk, in other words. I advise doing likewise. Don’t talk down to us and you’ll be ok. Not that you would do that, of course.
Will chat more later. Gotta go tighten my corset for the BBQ. I’m sure you can relate.
Cheers, http://twitter.com/SpaceyG
One commenter asked why we don’t just eliminate the print edition and move entirely to digital publishing. A large number of readers still prefer a print newspaper experience to getting their news online. And there are many others who are happy to get their news online during the week, but still want a Sunday newspaper experience.
The new AJC takes these changes in media consumption habits into account. The daily newpaper, the Sunday newspaper and ajc.com each have some dedicated staff; other journalists in our newsroom contribute to all three.
A breaking news desk works first for ajc.com, getting the latest from all over the metro area (and to the reader who asked, yes, they still cover crime). The daily staff is dedicated to bringing readers a broad sweep of news in a smart, efficient package. And the new Sunday AJC recognizes that on the weekend, many readers want to relax with the newspaper and understand the why behind the week’s headlines.
Readers will see the new design beginning Tuesday. Let us know what you think.
Welcome, Shawn. DO the best job you can and cover local issues. Recognize local blogs and other Atlanta media outlets because they deserve credit. You’re working with much less and you’ve said goodbye to a lot of great journalists, photographers, graphic designers and news researchers, but you still have incredible talent in that newsroom. Nurture them and let them do their jobs. rely on news wire for the fluff and don’t play it up.
And if some readers still can’t seem to grasp that the news pages are separate from the editorial board, then you’ve lost them. And if the editorial board shakeup (I think it was wrong) doesn’t satisfy those readers, then they’re totally clueless. Forget about them. Hang on to your core audience and report, report, report.
Good luck. Right now, ti’s just ajc, creative loafing, atlanta magazine and a handful of blogs covering communities.
Like others have said, cutting your circulation area is a problem. I live less than an hour from Atlanta, in Spalding County, and I can’t get the AJC, even on Sundays. What the AJC needed to do was find a more cost effective distribution system to get the paper to people wanting to buy the paper (aka PAY YOU MONEY).
I couldn’t care less about the redisign… I CAN”T GET THE AJC. Oh well, I keep my money in my pocket. Brilliant!
Less cencorship. I want to see people speak their minds with out fear of being moderated. Don’t cut out opinions that don’t agree with your own. I’m a little skeptical since your from the South. I think this newspaper needs more of an outsider to do things right. The South is always so out of touch with the rest of the country.
Hewlett Packard (HP) wants their logo back! On top of that it’s a poor, washed out looking facsimile.
The Metro section is handy and the lay out with the drop down menu is far superior to the previous crappy design, but I don’t want to see stories from the last month or two still in with the current stuff. Apparently there aren’t enough writers to find new stories out there even if they aren’t hard hitting headline news. And when you do a local community story your writers almost never do a thorough job. Information on location or times for events are often left out. There should at least be links to bring us to maps, schedules and other pertinent info. You leave the same stories on the web for weeks so apparently there isn’t enough to fill the pages on a daily basis, so why not do the stories more thoroughly.
Headline: Police search for victims stolen blue Ford sedan….and….how about a model, a tag, vicinity it was last seen? Duh. Fire at Kennesaw apartment complex, families left out in the cold….name of complex?….address, general location of complex…Duh (to be fair tv outlets do the same thing, but that doesn’t make it right).
Photos are often left out that should be included but somehow didn’t make the web master’s final draft. National stories with photos seem to be available in other newspapers but are missing in yours. If you can’t afford to send a photographer solicit digital pics from readers. It would make the paper more interactive. However, when you have solicited pics in the past for fluff pieces, you do not offer any assurances that the person submitting it will not be taken advantage of and lose their rights to the photo. A simple…the image will only be used for publication on the paper’s web site and not published or used in any other form without permission. You guys have left it open to use the images we submit in any form you wish. Not fair if you make money off it with a book, etc. If we can’t trust you to do the right thing with their usage we won’t turn over all the great photos that could be shared with the other readers.
The word going forward is “interactive”. You can solicit stories, photos, announcements over the web far easier than sending someone out to cover it in a lot of cases. You have a chance to turn all that hot air from the blogging and twittering to some useful purpose. Like the man said, “there are a million stories in the “Naked City”…Your staff can proofread and tweak them at the office faster and more economically. I’ll bet we have readers who can actually write a story on a local event with more thoroughness and expertise from what I’ve seen from some of your writers. What do you think would happen if there was a section asking for information or stories, photos on various subjects from their local area.
Invest in more internet people who know what they’re doing to keep up so the web site is more timely (like within 30 minutes, not seemingly 2 or 3 hours or more for some of the more current breaking stories). If you’re going to compete, you need to be timely and offer something the other outlets aren’t. Guess how many other sources I can go to to get the same info?
Good luck.
What we need is another Lewis Grizzard, who will tell like it is will humor and insight. That sold papers just as my cousin Ralph McGill did with his writtings.
Stop referring to the 9th largest metropolitan area in the U.S. as “The ATL” . . . ATL is an Airport, not a city . . . Saying The ATL is Slang . . . Newspapers should be a model of using correct and proper English . . . When your newspaper, or web-site, uses Slang, I lose a ton of respect for your organization and I have to question your credibility . . .
Also, why do you put so much emphasis on celebrities and their million dollar homes . . . ?
Do you really want to make this a popular news source? Provide a comments section on every single article written. Allow folks to speak their opinion on each article without bias’ed editing like what happens in the vent sections. You will have a traffic like you’ve never had before.
Gerald hit the nail on the head. Here in Bartow County (Cartersville area) lukewarm Republican John McCain pulled 72% of the vote again Obama. We are part of metro Atlanta and your paper’s content and editorials should reflect the fact that the majority of your readership is conservative.
After you all quit distributing the paper in North Georgia, the Chattanooga Times Free Press came in to fill the gap. Great paper. They truly give BOTH sides on issues. How refreshing after watching the AJC turn into a shell of its former self. I don’t miss the AJC at all.
One reader asked about the “Private Quarters” and “Private Quarters Splurge” features, which are visual tours of homes; in the case of “Splurge,” rather lavish homes. Those are extremely popular features. I understand that some readers might not be interested, but at ajc.com the features get quite a bit of traffic. As one reader explained to me, it’s a little bit of a bright spot in rocky economic times.
All that you say sounds great. I hope it will translate into action. There are so many typos, malapropisms, misspellings and other careless errors in the online edition — I am no longer able to buy the print edition since you have stopped distribution in my town — are inexcusable lapses of basic journalism. I once emailed Julia Wallace and pointed out several monstrous goofs. I asked her to reply back if she cared. Result — no answer.
I read an article in Creative Loafing about the “downsizing” and tne rebranding of the AJC. Sounds like you’re trying to become the NY Post of the South. I’ve subscribed to the AJC for over 20 years. I will not be renewing my subscription.
“Free (fill in the blank with anything)” as in the “Free Press” is an interesting concept. Ah, if only it could be found to exist anywhere in reality. The AJC certainly has not been free from an overtly overly abundant liberal bias over the years.
Many mainstream issues go unreported or they’re buried so far back into back-page obscurities, to at times give them the barest amount of coverage possible that readers should demand of the AJC publishers’ they at least be given a proper public listing in the obituary section, after receiving less than the dignity of a decent funeral.
It was some what uplifting to see some small changes taking place in the editorial section’s opinion page, though, too few hard hitting conservative voices are going to be represented in this so-called “free exchange” of ideas to offer any genuine balance in prospective for the readers to form a public consensus.
The AJC has been slow to face the changes confronting the media information market. Like it or not, convergence, one of the tentacles of globalization so warmly embrace by this paper and called “The Inevitable”, impossible to reject and to be gladly received by all, has the AJC gasping for life. Yet, the AJC finds it hard to gulp the bitter brew they readily have encouraged others to swallow with a smile.
The blogs should continue and will, because news-information has transformed into an elongated cycle, it no longer dies on the printed page when it is newsworthy. It’s life extends now often beyond the news that was made, into the news that is being made by the news (i.e. grassroots movements like the TEA PARTY which no doubt one political party or the other will try to dominate and take charge of to their advantage. However, despite the plays being made by the major political parties and certain media outlets they are overlooking the host of issues that have produced this outcry that is revolting against both political parties and their misbehavior.)
How unfortunate frauds abound on the AJC blogs that attempt to sway opinion by masking their true identity and often make multiple comments under false and fictitious names to appear as though public support exists for something that only one is fomenting. Like any fraud when perpetrated, if allowed to continue it corrupts until all integrity is utterly destroyed. As witnessed in the mortgage industry and on Wall Street frauds, without trustworthiness and real value eventually a collapse takes place.
In time perhaps the AJC can regain a good standing and profitability but you are very correct Ms. or Mrs. McIntosh, the readers are indeed the real news experts who judge daily the trustworthiness and integrity of your reporting with the proper measure from all points of prospective represented.
Why does a newspaper have to be labeled as “Liberal” or Conservative”? Why not just print news and views and let each side take from it what they will instead of attempting to be Fox News print version? Also, where is Cynthia Tucker?
I’m more concerned when readers believe the news content (as opposed to the opinion content) is slanted or not balanced. As public editor I will look into examples you bring to my attention. So feel free to email me with specific examples whenever you believe we’ve fallen short in that area.
We know that readers want balance in the viewpoints presented, and the redesigned AJC includes new ways to emphasize different points of view in a story, explain how we got a story and offer readers information about the sources we use in stories. And you will see more pro/con viewpoints when appropriate.
Hey Shawn. Good luck in the new gig. Ready for a couple of hard questions?
I walked into your office from the tiny Rocky Mount Telegram almost four years ago, happy just to be in a big-city newsroom. Our first conversation was about the power of blogs — I recall you being a bit dismissive of the concept at the time. Glorified columns, I recall you called them. Indeed.
Shawn, I left the paper, pre-buyout, without animus. But there are some worthy battles I left unfought. I’m deeply concerned that a diminished reporting staff — and let’s not kid ourselves here, the AJC took a serious hit in boots on the ground — coupled with the paper’s financial weakness, will make some of these battles harder to fight. I question the AJC’s commitment to aggressively pursue open records and open access. I see the paper continuing to make very conservative calculations of cost-benefit tradeoffs when a fight is on the horizon.
Case in point: This paper’s reporters have followed a practice of avoiding requests for e-mail under the Georgia Open Records Act. These kinds of requests are commonplace from most newspapers. But my understanding when I first arrived here was that the paper’s legal arm genuinely believed if requests for e-mail became commonplace, the legislature would act to exclude e-mail from the Act. So the paper has refrained from viewing some legitimate correspondence not because of legal action, but because of the threat of legal action. Will this policy continue?
My second concern is how thinly-spread crime coverage appears to be now. Granted, I’m in the camp of critics who believe crime coverage has generally been over-wrought, sensationalistic and exploitive … anywhere except Atlanta. Plainly, crime in and near the city has been increasing. But the paper has just one reporter covering the police beat for Gwinnett, North Fulton and Cobb counties now. A second reporter covers the city and Dekalb. Two reporters, covering close to 3,000 police officers and related agencies. I know, I know — there’s a staff of generalists to platoon in when something major breaks. But given the increase in crime (at least the perceived increase), and the clear corruption problems exposed by the Neal Street shooting, I fear that resources have been diverted away from examining these public agencies just at the time when that examination would be most valuable to the reading public. Folks like Atlanta Unfiltered are going to continue to scoop the heck out of the AJC if this stands. That may be an acceptable tradeoff, but I’d like you to address it.
Third, the business section of the paper appears to have been completely eviscerated in the last purge. I haven’t seen the market research, naturally, to show if the business writers were pulling their weight in readers or not. But the paper appears to have conceded the field to the Atlanta Business Chronicle and its imitators in Gwinnett, Cobb and elsewhere. I suspect the editors of these papers might disagree with this sentiment, but I fear that these business newspapers tend to be more conciliatory than challenging to the business community. You lost Kevin Duffy, Andy Miller, Mike Pearson and the great Thomas Oliver in the last round. Again, just as interest in business reporting spikes, the AJC backs away. Paul Donsky can’t do everything. Can you explain this decision?
And last, there’s this lingering question of bias. I find it interesting that the paper appears to be shifting to a more conservative posture just as it sheds itself of coverage and circulation in the more conservative parts of metro Atlanta — the outlying suburbs. I recognize the need to challenge the audience. Perhaps that’s part of the plan here. I imagine this is competitive positioning. If I were a potential online competitor to the AJC, I would set up shop just to the right of the paper and clean up in the more advertiser-friendly suburbs where the paper has pulled back. But the effect may be to alienate empty-nester urban news readers — a group growing in financial clout, even now. That’s an interesting trade to make. I do wonder how that will work.
Shawn – I think LO’s remark about the lack of box scores and statistics in the sports coverage was referring to the online edition. I, too, find it irritating that I have to go to the ESPN website to get statistical sports coverage of local teams because the AJC doesn’t provide it.
When I wrote to Cynthia Tucker to correct an error in her column…..I cited the search engines on the internet as my sources.
She wrote back to say ” she uses ” dead wood sources” as her search engines.
That told me all I needed to know about closed minds at leftist AJC.
Maybe you can try bringing real journalism back…less of the sensationalistic drivel being spewed from the majority of media outlets these days (including the AJC). We need more n-e-w-s, not some much commentary and not how many apartment fires or banks were robbed last night. (Let the crime blotter be the crime blotter). The paper should report just the facts (not tainted or bias) and let only those who actually have perfected the craft provide creative and interesting news.
One of the great things about a paper use to be that it had different news every day. The problem with the AJC online is that (for example) the same pictures and the same stories have been on the Gwinnett County page for 3 or 4 days.
One gripe about AJC.com: At the end of articles these is a subheading – “More on AJC.com”. Sometimes there are very recent related articles. More often, however, it seems the links are weeks or even months old. It is disconcerting to read an article months old without realizing it, not to mention a waste of time. Why not put the date of the article next to its reference on the main article’s page? That would save a lot of clicks just to land on old “news”.
This is for “dontlistentodittoheads”
You say “And if some readers still can’t seem to grasp that the news pages are separate from the editorial board, then you’ve lost them.”
Your tone is arrogant, condescending pseudo-patience with people who are less bright than you are. Bag it. People are not stupid, no matter what you think. They know the difference between reporting and opinion. Historically, they find bias in both. They don’t like supporting editorial writers with whom they have radically different opinions. Imagine for a moment that Hannity and Gingrich were the editorial board of the AJC. Then I could give you fatuous, condescending dismissals while you canceled your subscription in a huff.
I think it was a huge mistake to remove so many counties from your distribution area. It will be very difficult for our areas to keep up with state politics. My area is Pickens County and we depend now on Chattanooga to provide us with a paper. I feel cut off from so many subjects since the AJC is not available. Between Bent tree and Big Canoe, I know you sold a bunch of papers. Please rethink this action.
1) Make the readers pay for the online paper. Since the circulation is now down to metro Atlanta, if the rest of the state wants to read the paper, they can only get it online. If someone is already a subscriber, give them a special code to access online stuff free. Sweeten the pot with exclusives that aren’t in the paper.
The AJC was originally a pay enterprise online. The Houston Chronicle and New York Times are considering going back to the model.
2) Enhance your archives. Currently, the AJC’s online archives on the site are on an outdated search engine and use an outdated style. The search engine is quite poor and doesn’t include images or the newspaper page. It also only goes to 1939.
3) Digital photo archives. Getty Images has their stuff available for a price. I think the AJC could scan their vast photo archives, make them searchable, have thumbnail previews, and make a little bit of cash for reprints. Anyone who’s familiar with printing off microfilm knows that a) they aren’t in color and b) generally print in poor quality.
5) Quit trying to be inoffensive. Ralph McGill and Lewis Grizzard worried little about what the readers thought. Grizzard was about entertainment, but had some not so nice sobriquets as a touring book author. McGill wrote what he believed as right. Luckovich is your top editorialist these days. And he doesn’t write.
To the reader who asked the four or five top concerns I’ve brought to the editors’ attention, I just want to remind you I’ve only been in the job five days! Check back in a month or two!
Seriously, I imagine they will include these areas:
- Making sure our journalism is accurate and thoroughly reported and reflects a wide range of viewpoints;
- Making sure we make the right decisions about what to cover and what to take a pass on;
- Making sure we correct factual errors, quickly and completely;
- Responding to our readers’ needs and feedback; and
- Continuing to provide aggressive watchdog coverage.
Since those are the priorities of our editors as well, I’m not sure I’ll have to bring them to anyone’s attention. But I”ll appreciate your feedback along the way about how we’re doing.
Just to quickly answer a couple of other readers’ questions and comments:
To the former employee who said we are not aggressive about public records, we’ll just have to disagree. The AJC has taken legal action (and won) many times to protect the public’s access to public records.
As for business coverage, moving weekday business news inside the A section and trimming it was one of those difficult choices we had to make. The business pages are still full of local news every day and we are trying to edit tightly so we can provide national briefs and top news as well as the full local report.
Watch for the new re-designed Sunday business section next week; I think you will enjoy it.
To the commenter who asked about the link “More on ajc.com” at the bottom of online stories, those links are often recent news but at other times our editors link to older stories that might provide background or context to the current story.
And to the commenter who suggested we charge for online content, improve our archives, etc. to improve the bottom line, thanks for the suggestions. I think all newsrooms are watching to see what works and what doesn’t as we try to transition our business model to a digital platform.
Thanks again, everyone, for the feedback and discussion. Catch managing editor Bert Roughton here tomorrow.
Hello,
This question may not be in your “area” but customer service is no help either. I have decided not to renew my subscription because the cost is about double what it would be for a new subscriber. This is not fair to loyal customers. Customer service sent me emails TWICE that said someone would be in touch with me within a couple of days. I would like to renew but only at the best cost available. Or I atleast want someone in management to know why I’m not renewing. Thanks for your attention. Gwen Margaritondo
Here’s the most recent email:
From: AJC Customer Care
To: nckgwn@att.net
Subject: Re: Why I’m not renewing [#10070083]
Date: Thursday, April 16, 2009 9:14:35 AM
Thank you for contacting The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
We apologize for the delay in response. However, we have forwarded your
information to the correct department for discounting the paper. A
representative will contact you within 1-2 business days.
Please feel free to contact our Customer Care Department at 404.522.4141 if you require additional assistance in the future.
Thank you again for your e-mail to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Rodney Moore
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Operations Representative
Such a shame that your caring for readers does not extend to Rabun County. We, too, appreciate and enjoy a GOOD paper that presents local,state, national and international news. I suppose to be adaptable is good, but as an advanced senior citizen, a 30 year Yankee implant to Georgia, and a dedicated reader of the AJC (even online)I miss reading the paper and enjoying my coffee at the breakfast table!
Just my comment.
This is first Sunday in 20+ years without a Sunday Paper.
I have to take attitude that the AJC has ceased to exist.
What a terrible thing for a paper which once said it covers Dixie like the due to cover hardly anywhere now.
I’m glad tgo see that some”old line” journalists are doing it better. TARFI theres always room for improvement. Way to go! It woud be too big a commute to get your, I;m in Clarkston Mich! Maybe i can get it once in a while on the net. Just thought I’d give you a friendly ‘thumbs up’ Writing can be such a challenge, even my own poor blog, (here goes the plug) i say this for now @ blogstream. ideas come free, or cheap. Doing it, takes the other definition of ‘work’. Have a good day.
The toughest thing for me has been the awful fact that we’ve had to reduce the numbers of counties in which we circulate. It’s one thing for people to leave us, it’s another to take the paper away from loyal readers. I have a vacation house in a county that used to get the AJC, and it kills me when I go to the convenience store and no longer see it in the rack. But our business realities wouldn’t let us continue delivering to such a wide area. At one point, we estimated that it was costing us $5 per newspaper to deliver it to some parts of the state. I hate it, but we really didn’t have a choice. Let’s hope for better times.
In the meantime, we do offer an online version of the newspaper that offers something at lease closer to the experience of reading the paper – as close as you can get without the pleasure of the actual paper. Check it out at ajcprint.com. I’d love to know what you think.
We live in rural south Georgia. The paper is no longer delivered on a daily basis down here. Any way your coverage area will be increased?
Since we can only get the paper “ONLINE”, are you going to charge for this service? THANKS AND
LONG LIVE THE AJC
I love the AJC, but sadly it is no longer available here in the mountains. Please, as you re-design your online version, remember us up here. I have been reaing the daily newspaper since I was 5 years old, and it is a major disappointment to live out my golden years in an area where no major newspaper is available.
Bert – the changes you portend are good over all. My beef is with the
ON LINE paper. The DeKalb Section is always thin and the pictures and stories stay up forever – to wit the Marine Corps School and its headline. And, the slant to the political left has left me cold. Objectiviy has left the building! AJC paper is losing out to the weekly fare as far as news goes. And, their reporters and editors are really accessible. One more thing – your DeKalb beat guy seems not to gather the facts before he submits his stuff and the editor doesn.t know so misleading and untrue stories get going. I am a native ATlantan and a Grady baby and know what the AJC used to be – BETTER!
I moved to Banks County from Phoenix, a culture shock to say the least. The AJC was the closest thing to my Arizona Republic. Now the AJC is gone. The online version is just not the same. Why is it that rural Georgia is always the areas left out while metro areas prosper?
How long will it be before AJC begins to charge for the online version?
A fresh face must equal a fresh content.
What is a blue paper doing in a red state? When is Cynthia Tucker leaving? and Mike Luckovich’s cartoons are a detriment to our society.
Look, I stopped reading your paper when I noticed that at the end of my read I was thouroughly pissed off. The counter to this is the , Wall Street Journal, I read and read and I get my news.
So a fresh face MUST BE followed by a fresh, factual, unopinionated, politically unbiased content. Can you do that? Look at Page A3 today, 3 ways to build a more efficient newspaper, where is the fresh content? Uou think this is just about efficiency?
The most important news this week has been the Interrogation tactics, where is the other side? You think the LA Times is a reliable source rather than a propaganda machine? You are supposed to give us the facts so we can be informed and make up our own minds. Rest my case.
Rosita: Just blame the managing editor – the copy desk never saw my little essay. It reminds me again of how important it is to be edited – even if you’re an editor. It’s also cool that you can fix it online and not feel miserable that you have printed a quarter million copies with a stupid typo. Please read the newspaper as carefully and email me when we let something by.
To folks losing the printed edition, please take a look at ajcprint.com and give me your thoughts.
Jack: I’m happy to discuss the issue of bias, but it really helps me to discuss a specific case. I’m not sure I agree with you that the newspaper used to be better – I know, I was here. But I will say that my focus at the moment is making Monday’s newspaper as good as I can make it and then moving on to Tuesday.
Ena: Good morning. I appreciate that you have rested your case, but I must ask, did you read the newspaper’s coverage? Was there something in that coverage that suggested a bias? I’m sorry that you dislike the work of Cynthia and Mike, but many, many readers love them. Our editorial pages carry a variety of opinions in a pretty balanced way. But balanced does mean that you represent opposing views. Our new columnist Kyle Wingfield, who comes from the Wall Street Journal, is likely to keep our readers on the left feeling challenged quite often.
Don’t forget the old who, what, when, where, why. “Pulitzer oratory” has become so bad that one routinely has to read to the final paragraphs buried deep within to discover the reason its news.
Bert, I really appreciate your responsible attitude toward errors. That’s part of the solution. But I must ask, isn’t involving the copy desk also part? That seems to be a major flaw with the online edition: writers rush their copy to the site without anyone proofing it. It may seem small to non-journalists, but journalists (I’m one, too) know that accuracy is an essential component of reportorial excellence. Good luck
Phil: Interesting that you raise this point. It became clear to us as we spoke to readers last year that they really, really wanted is to boil things down and cut to the chase. We heard them and are editing our stories to get as much to the top as possible – particularly with the daily – and to write with as much brevity and clarity as possible. This doesn’t mean that we don’t have greater ambitions for stories that merit it, but it does mean that we are editing just about everything with a view to provide you the most news we can in the time you have for us.
Bert – howzabout putting some people in the DeKalb Bureau – they seem to come to work once a week measured by what the online section contains. By the way the Marine Corps school stuff is STILL up!.
Rosita: No one values copy editing more than I. (After allowing a typo in my blog in full view of people who can fire me, I have a fresh appreciation.) Unlike my blog piece, everything that goes in the newspaper is edited by experienced editors. We’ve had a few structural changes that have disrupted the editing process some, but we have not lowered our standards or decided to tolerate errors.
The AJC has been our newspaper for over 40 years but now that you’re excluding Clarke County from your delivery area we’re switching to the New York Times. We’ll miss you but the times are a-changing and we can change with them. Stay intelligent and don’t be taken in with the majority of our backward politicians in this state of Georgia. Report the facts not the biases except to critique the biases.
Jack: My first job at the AJC was covering the DeKalb County Commission and its, uh, colorful chairman, Manuel Maloof. DeKalb is very important to me personally, and it’s key to our strategy of focusing on the core counties. I promise I’ll look at our coverage and do the best I can with the resources we have.
I’ve been a faithful reader of the AJC since it was “The Atlanta Journal” and the Constitution was a totally different paper. I actually do enjoy the ability to read the paper on-line, although I miss Sunday afternoons with the paper strewn all over the living room. From my perspective, the most unfortunate result of budget cutbacks at the AJC has been the obvious reduction in editorial review staff. The abundance and pervasiveness of grammatical errors in the writing is quite noticeable and extremely annoying. One has to wonder if the writer is making so many errors in verb tense, what else might he or she be overlooking? The ability to publish on-line gives one the ability to do so quickly, but does not relieve the writer of the responsibility to ensure the text is accurate. If you don’t have the money to hire a proper review board, at least hire people who can construct a simple sentence with the correct verb tense (or know how to use the grammar check button on the computer).
Jack: You want me to answer that as you run out the door to choir practice? Why not ask the meaning of life? A lot of factors are hurting newspapers – longterm trends in the way people consume news content, the rapid evolution of the Internet and the implications this has had on all advertising dependent media, etc. But I believe there’s a place in the media landscape for a newspaper – a printed newspaper. I don’t believe the AJC is dying – I do believe the AJC might be in serious peril if we didn’t change. A lot of that change will be evident with the redesign that you will see next week. A lot will be less obvious and has to do more with how we cover the news and invest our reporting and editing. I’m also hoping that readers won’t take us and what we do for granted. We aren’t perfect and we make mistakes, but I can’t imagine what would have happened in metro Atlanta over the 38 years I’ve lived here if someone from the AJC hadn’t been keeping an eye on things.
MSH: I solicit your help. Please let me know every time you see such a mistake. This will allow us to figure out where we have weaknesses in our systems. Email me at broughton@ajc.com, or call me at 404-526-5681. We owe it to you all – and the language – to correct this.
I will be happy to do so. I reailze the English language is a living, constantly evolving entity, otherwise we’d still be speaking Latin. Schoolkids read this paper also, and should have good examples of writing set for them. This one rather jumped out at me this morning. Please let me know if I’m being overly particular: “Police say Michaels’ BMW hit the Carters’ Mercedes and then both cars cross over to incoming traffic. The Carters’ car hit Tracie Johnson’s Volkswagen. Michaels regained control of her BMW and continued on.”
i applaud your efforts but this paper is as left as chavez. you try to argue that the coverage isnt biased, but the constant selection of stories against republicans and the amazing lack of stories bad for dems (along with your constant endorsement of dem policital candidates) show your paper’s true intent. plus, the writing is poor. the only decent thing going on right now is bob barr’s column, because he is critical of both the left and the right and plays it straight. we all know that cynthia’s opinion is going to be pro-obama, race card, but bob really puts both parties in their place. move bob out of the opinion pages and into the editorial page and i will consider subscribing to this paper.
Bert: 5 front page aricles, yes I get it. But the A Section is full of articles from the AP, LA Times, NY Times; If you have to rely on these sources for the news, then this is the sad part. These are propaganda machines Bert – clearly – So the AJC has become one of those where the same biased news keeps getting reported.
I have high hopes with the New Public Editor Ms McIntosh. Her bio sounds promising and I hope she will deliver.
and Good Morning to you too; I value freedom of the press in it’s full meaning; not a copy cat of redundant propaganda. I hope I am being very clear to get my point across to you; value your intentions and the love of your job; and my comments are to give you input to the overall problem with the AJC – loosing circulation – the content is very questionable. Respectfully, have a great day.
sorry, forgot to give other praise. mark bradely’s blogging during the basketball tournaments was awesome. i was at work and it was like i was there. we asked questions and he answered. even though we all know he is anti-tech, i really appreciate the extra effort he put forth during that time. i look forward to it during the bowl season and maybe nba finals. he did a great job.
maybe that is something that you should consider. whenever we see these stories in the paper, they are stale. journalists put them them and we read them. there is no interaction with the journalist. we only get the surface of what he or she was thinking and often misinterpret the writing. maybe to make the ajc a living paper, you can provide the means in which, online, we can interact with the journalist (obviously, ap stories aside). email is used now, but we dont see the conversation. you can do it where for 2 hours a day, each story will have a blog link in which the person that wrote the story can be asked questions. if people are interested in the story, it will help to drive interaction with the story. plus, you will be able to see the types of stories and manner of interaction in which the readers are most interested. you do this a little bit with the opinion blogs, but that is not news.
May I call you Bubba? I’m not really arguing about our coverage. I am asking for something more specific. My job is to see what the problem is and address it. Sometimes I feel like a doctor examining a patient who complains of having a pain without telling me exactly when or where it hurts. I also sometimes feel as if I’m hearing from a lot of people who haven’t seriously read the paper lately. That’s fine. I’m thinking of ignoring what I experienced in the 1980s and buying an American car because I think it might be the right thing to do. People and products change. So, here’s my challenge, Bubba, start reading our paper next week and for the next couple of weeks. If after that, you honestly conclude that we are a bunch of semi-literate, leftist propagandists, they you’re only out the cost of a decent bottle of wine. If you decide that we’re better than you thought, then you can make an informed decision about whether to subscribe or not.
Ena: I appreciate your support for the free press. We do have limited choices in bringing you world and national news. I believe this is a sad reality, but for perhaps different reasons. My experience tells me that you are a bit hasty in dismissing these newsgathering institutions
as propaganda machines. I’d say that in most cases, they are reputable news people trying very hard to get it right. Sometimes, we disagree with their approach and news judgment and often decide against running something they have produced. But this is the exception rather than the rule. I would find it very helpful if you would ignore the source of the story – as much as you can – and get to the details of what they are saying that strikes you as biased. That gives us something to work on and look for. Now, we may not always agree with you on what is and isn’t bias, but it really helps me to be as specific and clear as possible. We also are going after our own content to intentionally provide balance – look at the Sunday paper’s treatment of assessing Obama’s first 100 days. You can always email me at broughton@ajc.com or phone me at 404-526-5681 if you have a concern. I’d love to hear from you.
Why do people insist on whining about certain writers? There are certain writers I don’t care for, but guess what….I DON’T READ THEM. It’s people like you that have ruined America, forcing your way on everyone. Sad.
also, maybe part of the newspaper can be a “follow-up” section in which the original journalist puts down some of the questions and additional informatino or thoughts other readers may find useful or interesting. further, by providing for an interaction capability, us readers can interact with each other. by acting as the forum, the AJC strengthens itself and its brand.
bert, by the way, i did not mean to imply anything about illiteracy (i think that was another blogger). i have been reading your online version for quite sometime. i am looking forward to seeing the changes. i started reading the marietta daily journal online because i honestly was tired of only reading about how the right was corrupt (we all know its on both sides) and seeing biased coverage. hopefully, you can change things.
i am really looking forward to teh online interaction, if you start it. i would love to talk to the journalist that wrote the article of interest to me. i would also like to see what other people are asking and commenting about the story. this would be awesome for the race to the governors house.
It’s laughable to suggest that the AJC editorial page is anything other than stridently left-wing. Having one token conservative on staff (and only one–you even had to go to a writer living in England to find a replacement) says all you need to know about the leftoid tendencies of the AJC.
Here’s the thing, Bert. You could get away with having a paint-by-numbers Leftie editorial slant (and spare us the bit about editorial being seperate from “reporting”–how many people in that building didn’t vote for Obama? I doubt it’s higher than single digits) when you had a monopoly. Your monopoly is gone, and so is every conservative reader who’d had enough of being insulted and belittled by the Tuckers and Luckoviches and Bookmans of the AJC. Those people are the vast majority of your potential customers, and we’re not coming back.
bert, good luck! gotta head off to church. i am excited about the changes and sincerely appreciate you listening to your audience and replying. i also like the fact that you are defending yourself, because that shows to me that you believe in what you are doing and care. maybe in 2 years we can read about how the ajc lead the newspapers into a new age. now that would be cool.
OUR NEW EDITOR: “I appreciate that you have rested your case, but I must ask, did you read the newspaper’s coverage? Was there something in that coverage that suggested a bias?”
THIS IS EXACTLY THE PROBLEM. You can’t even agree that the AJC leans left. If you don’t come on here and admit that is has a leftward bias, then I will see you as another editor who doesn’t get it. When someone takes over a failing business, the first thing they need to do is figure out what the problem is so they can resolve it. If they can’t even figure out WHY it is failing, how will they succeed? Once you can accept that this paper is left leaning and that is the MAJOR change that needs to take place RIGHT NOW, then you will get the support from readers like me…the same readers who have canceled our subscription over the past 5 years.
I am encouraged on some of the other things that you are trying to accomplish, but they aren’t your main problem.
Thanks for highlighting the online print edition. Today was the first day I had heard of it and I’ve been reading the ajc online for six years. While I too lament the absence of a paper here in the mountains, I am thankful that ajc.com is still free!! I began my early working days in the same manner as you and will always value the experience of reading an actual newspaper. I don’t really have a complaint or concern, just wanted to say thanks for your posture and for dealing with the harsh realities of today. Keep the newspaper going – it is one of the few things that brings light to places that need it.
Bubba: I’ll listen to readers like you day and night because you make us better. Please check us out and let me know how we’re doing.
Mitchell: While I’m pleased to give you a laugh, I’m sorry that you believe we’ve blown it. But your comment strikes me as someone who isn’t deeply familiar with our newspaper. I will offer you the same challenge, but it will require that you invest in the product a little. Next week go out and get the paper and then continue reading it through Sunday. (Heck, go out and get the Sunday paper today, it’s a fine sample of our product, if I do say so.) Repeat step one. After that, if you conclude that we are what you believe us to be, then you have risked little and perhaps gained a lot. If I’m wrong and you are basing your opinion on what you experience every day with the AJC, then help me by indentifying where we express bias. Cynthia and Mike don’t really count because they are clearly in the opinion business and we make no bones about that. Are you willing to give us a try, or are you content to just throw rocks?
Andrew: I would admit that if I believe it to be true. I believe our news pages – the area I have some influence over – provide balanced, accurate coverage. I believe our editorial pages offer a diversity of clearly marked opinion, some left, some right and much in the very gray area in the middle. The point I’m trying to make is that people often say all these things without really reading the newspaper. Read it, find examples of what you think shows bias and then let’s talk about it. I believe it’s in your interest as well as mine to have a thriving newspaper in metro Atlanta and that well-focused, specific criticism will make it better.
Hi, Bert. I’m excited about all of the thought that has gone into this, and relieved that the watchdog role is still taken very seriously. Seeing “State of Play” last night, I was reminded that while newspapers are made up of human beings who themselves wrestle with issues of right and wrong, the urge to investigate and hold leaders accountable must be protected and strengthened in a world full of frivolous distractions. Thank you for holding firm on that! I have never doubted your determination to do so.
Cathy Hulbert
Roswell, GA
No Sir, it’s in my interest to challenge a newspaper that has been an embarrassment to this city. I was looking forward to a new editor who may bring our newspaper where it should be. YOU DON’T HAVE A CHANCE IF YOU DON’T SEE THE BIAS….it’s a shame.
I continue to be mesmerized reading though the statements over the past few days how the Editors and Staff “listened to the public”. Yet, the rumbling of discontentment have been heard for years. I, for one, got tired of paying for the abuse imparted on me as a customer and reader over 3 years ago. So now, you have listened, you have changed the format, the reach of the paper has been reduced, you are adding other view point, all that for the hefty cost of numerous employees who were laid off.
Hence my question… what was the tipping point that made the AJC realize that, after years of steadfastily ignoring its constituency, listening to it had become a novel idea that, perhaps, meant the road to survival?
As a subscriner since 1985, with time out for some work in California, I’ve seen many changes in the AJC. My initial sunscription was to the Journal, and then I contiinued with the AJC.
I watched as the AJC swung left with Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman, among others and, over time still occasionally read Ms. Tucker but quickly learned to completely ignore Bookman. There was an occasional conservative opinion offered (Tuesday and Friday) but the “reader;s input” section was, by Ms. Tucker’s choice, always full of liberal, left-wing comments, most commenting favorabily on her editorials. So, it got t where I rarely read the Editorial section. Then, you began sneaking liberal thought into your “News”stories, by choice of content and stated positions by your “reporters.”
Then, you cut the number of columns of information from 7 to 6. Well,…still O.K. but it seemed that the size of print was also decreased. Now, you’re going to a “Reader’s Digest” size paper with only 5 columns! Tour Daily “Comic” section is already so small that I have a hard time reading the little six panel cartoons. You do realize that your average daily reader is not a 16 – 17 year old but people much more “seasoned” who, in many instances, already have a need for some reading magnification, don’t you?
Also, the cartoons are no longer funny, with LIO, Pearls before Swine, Brewster Rocket, Scary Gary, Non Sequitur and others. Several of those are far from funny. They fit in the “weird and Sick” criteria.
The “New” AJC reminds me of Girl Scout Cookies. It’s getting smaller, you get less content for a higher price and it appers to be less satisfying before you even taste it!
I’m going to give it “the Old College Try” for a few days. If it provides any satisfaction, I shall keep my subscription. But, if it turns out the way I think it will, I will cancel my subscription.
Cathy: I haven’t seen the movie but I hear that it has scenes that would make someone like me blubber in a public place. I have no doubt that someone soon will present us with the idea of an automated newspaper reporter – input the facts and the software would provide a clear, typo-free story. Without doubt, that would reduce the heartache. But newspapers are special, important and vulnerable places because of the people attracted to work for them, and nothing can really replace that.
Bert I just sent you an email with an example with the acticle on A13 about the interrogation tactics. Classic miss labeling of the headline and miss representation to the public; and Yes, I do like the Obama 100 days in office reporting; very fair, thank you. NO I am not hesitant about dismissing the news gathering institutions as propaganda machines as I know that is what they have become; hopefully the people can force them to turn around and work for us rather than Washington DC, George Soros or Moveon.Org to name a few. Thank you.
Remember, a lot of the cuts in size, etc., are in response to the realities of the business and lousy economy, not because we’re eager to cut back. Also, if the paper turns out the way you worry it will, I might cancel my subscription, too.
Piozou: That’s an interesting question. I’m not sure there was a tipping point per se. We have seen the obvious for some time – that readers were moving away from the printed newspaper and that it was becoming increasingly difficult for us to continue as a profit-making business without making some important changes. We decided that it was essential to focus the newspaper on serving readers who are likely to stay with us. It may sound ridiculously simple, but we decided a few years ago to go after people who like newspapers and to redesign our newspaper to appeal to them. Rocket science, right?
All: It’s too pretty a day for us to be stuck in front of these computer screens, so I’m going to go out for a while. I’m heading to the Inman Park festival but will return later to continue. Go ahead and post comments about what we’ve been discussing so far and anything else – so long as it’s related to the newspaper. If you see me at the festival, I’d be happy to continue the conversation. The very pretty yet patient woman with me will be my wife. Her name is Melinda, and she is the newspaper’s toughest critic.
I have serious concerns about the way the publisher has quietly changed the constellation of the editorial board. Gone are Tucker, Bookman, and Downey….replaced with, hmmmm….the publisher. Are there other newspapers that allow the publisher to participate on the editorial board? It seems non-transparent and suspect to me.
P.S. Good luck, Bert. You’re a lot more fun that the other AJC conversation folks!!
Bert, You are one brave dude to field all these accusations about “bias”. Most people get their national and world news from sources that agree with their own bias on cable, radio, or the net. They then come to the AJC to find out what is happening in Georgia and are outraged that you are not FOX News or MSNBC -”shocking it is how biased you are! “(YODA quote) . Bias has become a code word for “you don’t report what I want to hear”, regardless of what is news. Stay strong Bert
I must say that I marvel at some of these comments that suggest an AJC left-leaning bias. How can this be said of a newspaper that actually gives Bob Barr a voice? I’d prefer to see his 2nd amendment promotion and his secession support of Texas packed off to, well… Texas.
Happy to know that your new look will keep opinion, left and right, on the editorial pages so those who want to keep up with the news, but are intolerant of different viewpoints, can just skip those pages.
Personally, I think you’ve done an incredible job minimizing coverage of the poverty, ignorance and inequity that is ubiquitous to our city, state and region. But when I want even less, I can always just toss the AJC aside and switch on your sister Cox radio station for the balance of Neal Boortz.
As another reader who no longer gets the paper in habersham county, i wanted to say that one on the things that i miss the most is the ads that came in the paper. Our family would read the paper on sunday mornings after church and then plan a trip into Gainesville or Buford to go shopping. I hope the businesses realize how much they are losing because of the cut backs.
Why do you not offer paid subscribers to the AJC free access to ajcprint.com as well? On those all-too-frequent days when my paper doesn’t arrive or arrives late or arrives wet or is missing sections, it would be most helpful to be able to read the paper online rather than wait for a possible redelivery. This access should be free to all paid newspaper subscribers.
Online version is poor substitute. I will read articles here and there but no interest in reading whole paper online. You have lost loyal subscriber for good.
Bert,
In the beginning of the “new way” of the AJC I was very hopeful. I heard the admissions that the AJC had to be more careful about being sure that its stories were not ideologically biased. The next day, the AJC published an article about stem cell use that might as well have been a promo for a pro stem cell position. It was simply advocacy journalism. There was not even the barest aknowledgement of another point of view other than a dismissive wave. My hopes for the AJC evaporated as a realized that the writer was either clueless or dishonest.
Now you ask for a trial. You ask for us to come and see, judge for ourselves. Bert, we will. One and only one more time.
Napilotano said at a White House news conference Sunday that the emergency declaration is standard operating procedure—one was recently declare for the inauguration and for flooding.
Okay, so my AJC is going to be unavailable to me in printed version for the first time in my 50 years of living. Fine, I’ve been reading the online version as I travel around the world for the last few years, anyway. My question is: Do I need to cancel my subscription out here in Athens, or will it be automatically canceled when delivery stops to this far flung outpost of liberalism in an otherwise conservative state?
This is the best explanation I’ve gotten thus far. We appreciate your honesty.
I’m a big sports fan. In the past year or so, I’ve watched that section shrink and shrink. I’ve watched a lot of your good people — Barnhardt, D’Allesio, Michelle Hiskey — leave. Will the sports section continue to be smaller?
Is sports just no longer a priority, even though UGA is an hour away?
The editorial board needs to balanced and you have not even admitted that this a problem. You have Thinking Right (now retired) vs. Cynthia (In Charge), and Bookman with the wild leftist cartoons of Toonboy. This does not represent the values of your readers. Well it might now that you do not deliver to the outlying areas.
All I ask for if you have two from the left, you have two from the right. I also ask that you have a cartoonist to balance the leftist lunyluko.
This paper is a sad reflection of the once noble paper that covered Dixie like the Dew.
It is not too late to fix it, but you have to admit there is a problem and look to balance your views instead of leaning left and ignoring the problem. The problems faced by Newspapers are not just fixed by just looking to find balance. Technology and the marketplace are putting outside pressure on this business, but you should not make it worse by ignoring your internal problems and continuing to tick off the readers.
Can’ wait until you quit delivering in my community, as the deliverer wakes me up at 5 am with a blaring radio. I have called twice to ask that this stop to no avail. As for the paper, it is another sad victim of the internet and it’s poor quality will not help save it.
You publish in a state where Republicans hold the governorship and comfortable majorities in both chambers, yet you haven’t endorsed any but Democrats for president or governor since … Eisenhower?
And then you feign confusion when confronted with your famous liberal bias — while claiming to look for ways to better serve Georgia readers?
“There are certain writers I don’t care for, but guess what….I DON’T READ THEM”
Right and if the bulk of the writing is from writers I don’t care for, I DON”T BUY THE PAPER.
The problem is that the AJC is writing for a San Fransisco audience, but they are serving a red state. Frankly, I ended my subscription because I was tired of being demonized for not sharing the narrow views of Tucker, Bookman Luckovich and the rest of the editorial board. You folks refuse to acknowledge the obvious bias of the paper, which is fine, but I don’t have to buy it and I don’t.
My question to any AJC writer/reporter is this: Do you have a military writer on staff? If not, you certainly need one badly. I can’t even give you a story or a report on the tribulations of my agenda. i am requesting you get a military reporter with the military in mind.
Lots and lots of bitter people out there! It’s attitudes like that keeping our country from moving forward. That and big business, big government and wall street having lost all credibility, all trust and all sympathy through selfish, greedy deeds of their own. In the middle of all of that…. God Bless the local newspaper! But, one thing, on the Sunday Jumble, can you print the answer upside down like you do the rest of the week, so I don’t see it when I turn the pages looking for the puzzle!?
I’ve seen this kind of thing before, where the guy at the fair sits above the big tub of water while slackers throw baseballs at a target, hoping to knock him in. Well, you’re still sitting there and you’re not wet. Good work, maybe you should try your hand at mediating that thing in the mid-east, it couldn’t much harder.
AJC has seen it’s best days. You have taken away the paper from the people that enjoy reading it the most SENIORS. AJC has no respect for people or staff. You have allowed a reckless news staff, a reckless staff of higher ups destroy this company. When I see your building it looks so pitiful. What happen to the joy and pride of the AJC. New reporters, new writers, new staff, new whatever nothing will save the AJC. New York Times is much better than AJC. Your paper only cares about the wealthy people of the south. Go ahead and consider AJC out of business it will happen it’s only a matter of time. This newspaper business is not the same and the so call improvements you are making will not last. Nobody likes the paper you guys product. NOBODY!!!!!!!!!!! Accept and move on. Maybe a new media will come to Atlanta and show AJC what it takes to stay in business. You must be fair to all people.AJC needs to understand fairness to ALL.
I hasve been reading the daily newspaper since I was old enough to sit with my father every morning and talk about one article in each section. I still read the print daily but if the AJC wants to look for the decline in subscriptions it needs to look inward at itself. My paper does not arrive till after 830am which is entirely toooo late for an am delivery and half the time it is nowhere near my door. I live in a building and i assume I am the only one who gets a paper on my floor and the delivery person when the elevator door opens leans out and “chucks” down the hall towards my door. So am am ready to cancel my subscription as well and just pick up a copy when I can…. it is a shame that you have lost focus on the Customer.
Bert,
About the movie: State of Play — yes, it touched the ever-present journalist’s heart in me because there was so much heart in the movie. The characters were dealing with real corruption in politics, the realities of enw ownership and real challenges in shifting from paper to on-line reporting. It was a brilliant snapshot of where we are. And while it is so easy to sit back and criticize journalists, if you haven’t walked a mile in a reporter’s shoes, your insights are limited.
I’m also lost in Athens. I’ve been a reader and subscriber for a couple of decades, and I’m unable to understand this decision to cut us off. The AJC has a printing plant in Gwinnett County, for pete’s sake! Is this just another bad business decision in the wake of so many others? I hope for the AJC’s sake not, although I must say I wonder how the top people there are still employed. Kind of like the banking industry, I guess.
And as for the alleged left bias of the editorial pages, I feel sure that if you did a rigorous, unbiased analysis of the editorial pages over several months or years, you’d find a strong conservative slant. It’s Bob Barr, Charles Krauthammer and Wooten all the time.
I think it’s admirable how you’re responding to the veiled attacks here by some. We all know it’s a tough economy…some things have to change, whether we all like them or not. That’s just the truth of it.
Anyway, keep up the good work. You’ve still got a supporter in me.
As long as the AJC has Bookman, Luckovich and Tucker it will continue to die a slow death. I know you have one conservative columnist but frankly- he is just a token so the AJC can pretend to present both sides. Hey, you have a cool last name…but good luck. The AJC is sinking fast.
OK. Thanks everyone for the comments. I see the themes are still sort of the same. I’m pleased that a few lefties suggest that instead of being ultra-liberal, we’re actually the tools of the right-wing conspiracy. Are you balanced if you complaints from both sides? Let me say again that we strive to present the spectrum of American political thought – as much of it as you can squeeze in our editorial pages. Whatever your point of view, you should be able to find a challenge or some comfort. I hope everyone at least something to think about. Our news pages, on the other hand, must be free of political agenda. A couple of you have pointed out some legitimate concerns about specific stories, and I will spend some time with those when I’m in the office tomorrow.
And again, I challenge everyone who comes to this conversation with a preconception about the AJC to have the courage to be challenged by actually reading the newspaper for a couple of weeks. If you see evidence of bias or anything else that concerns you, let me know and I’ll take your concerns to heart.
To those who no longer receive the paper, it breaks my heart. But let me say again we didn’t leave your parts of the state by choice. I guess we could continue printing everywhere in Georgia and continue with the same size and staff we had in 1990, but I’m guessing we’d be broke in a matter of weeks. We’re are taking these steps to preserve the newspaper because we believe in what we do. Let’s all hope for better days.
On sports, it’s true we’ve reduced space and have become pretty conservative about how we assign reporters and editors. It isn’t that we don’t care, it’s that we must respond to the realities in front of us. And we’re are listening very closely to sports readers as we proceed. When we can make changes that are within our means, we do. But it would be dishonest of me to suggest that sports readers wouldn’t see the difference. My best advice is to be patient with us as we move through these changes but make it clear to us what you believe you must have in your sports report.
We don’t have a military writer at the moment. As I hope you know, we’ve had some good ones in the past. Let me take that concern on board as we look at our staffing. If you have a specific story you’d like to discuss, give me a shout.
And Billy, if you sit in the target, you get dunked. That comes with joining the carnival.
Those of you with specific service complaints, I will share those with the right folks on Monday. And let me know how it goes. I’m at broughton@ajc.com, 404-526-5681.
I deeply miss the print edition of the AJC down here in my small town in south Georgia, but I am grateful to at least have the online version. It’s not the same as holding a paper in hand, but it at least keeps my informed. There are certainly aspects of the AJC that I dislike, but I still appreciate the news. And, I have to say, I respect you for being will to post your thoughts here and then take all the pot shots from disgruntled readers. If I were you, I’d go back outside and enjoy the day.
Keith: I’ll be back outside shortly. I gave a speech at Georgia Southern a year or so ago, just after we stopped delivering to that part of the state. The people there were wonderful. I went to a place in Statesboro called Snookies, and met the owner, Bruce Yawn, who was very saddened to lose the newspaper. He wasn’t a computer guy and didn’t really know we had an online edition. I told him, and he was cheered a little but I could see he had lost something very important. Losing readers like you and Bruce is hard for me to take. I’m hoping people up here will pay attention to folks who now know what it’s like to be without us. I even had a guy tell me that he missed hating us.
We all have our opinions on virtually every subject. I appreciate the fact that the subjects are discussed and that sparks us all to be involved.
I agree will Jack about the online news articles. After about a week or so, replace them. The articles about the Weeks have been online for months. Keep them fresh.
What about a section dedicated to helping those readers that have been devastated by the recession? Articles on jobs, job fairs, training opportunities, etc. Along this line, how about more help with seeking the best price for goods, perhaps help locating coupons, free services, etc.
Each month, each municipality in each county has a Council Meeting. How about including those in the Metro sections in the county coverages?
When we read about a subject, it would be nice to be able to read the previous articles on it as well. We have to pay to enter the archives to do this. Could you create a link online, in the article, so the previous articles can be viewed also?
I enjoy reading the AJC every day. It is set as my homepage. Good Luck!
Wayne: These are good ideas. Let me ponder them some more.
Peaches: I meant to say something about your concerns about the way we played the stem cell story. I think you may be right about that one, and I’ve said so in the office. This is a complex story in which people are invested deeply on both sides – as if there are only two sides to the issue. If I remember correctly, we clearly represented the opponents of lifting the restrictions on the front page but the stories that day, taken as whole, could lead one to believe that the newspaper was celebrating the decision. I honestly believe the decision making in this case – including my own – was off key. We tried to make up for it in subsequent editions, but that one gave me pause as well. Thanks for giving us another chance.
This is silly. To pretend you have just sliced bread when this Sunday/daily dissonance has been with us for decades. Every “consultant” has touted it, and most readers accept it. But once again a newspaper editor, sent out by the publisher to joust with critics of the cut-our-way-to-prosperity insanity, resorts to a thumb-sucking rationale that makes almost no sense in the 21st Century. The answer to your woes is simply: print news. Stop slashing reporters and editors while trying to convince us and you that less is better. News is by definition labor intensive. Yet this editor would have us believe that “different” and “smaller” and “cheaper” equates to “better”. It’s okay to lie to us. It is real bad, though, to lie to yourselves. When your goal has been reduced to having the biggest newsroom “in Atlanta” from “Covering Dixie Like the Dew,” then your demise is evident. Too bad. Just stop lying about it.
I think the electronic version is worthy, though still waiting for the “paper screen” from MIT. Will this include coupons and other ancillary items such as TV week and coupons though? and will those coupons be accepted by the vendors. If it does, paper may have a chance..
I feel like I am listening to folks like the Final Exit/Kervorkian, that make things sound like the end of the world is just going to be ok, and grin and bear it. Rather than innovate, it’s slash and burn. As I stated last week, what needs to happen, what must happen is to get the newspapers to get together and share and bring about information of substance from a local, regional and state purview. If the paper wants to be the Atlanta Daily, then admit it. But stop this happy go nonsense that everything will be ok by cutting staff and personnel. The electronic version you just laid out should have been implemented YEARS AGO. RIP AJC.
Please, the changes to the newspaper are being done for financial reasons. Not that there aren’t improvements along the way. Just be honest. The newspaper is losing money and readers understand to remain viable that can’t continue. Just tell us that. If we need you as a watchdog, you need to be truthful when it concerns your motives
ok, I give up. tell me how circulation goes down nearly 20 percent during the week and readership is up 2 percent. did you hire people from enrons accounting division? shortly, you can sell 100 newspapers and readership will still be up. you advertisers must love the fact that they buy print and they get online. makes me salivate.
Since you no longer deliver to the area where I live, you have lost mine and many more readers. I spoke to several convenience store employees and they all said it is hurting their walk in business.
I have switched to another newspaper.
Tell ya what …YOU continue to shamelessly deny that your newspaper is liberally biased in its selection, placement and wording of news stories, and I’LL continue to go elsewhere for my morning read.
I have subscribed to the AJC for decades – I hate to say how long. However, my weekday news is gathered online. My husband likes to read the physical paper so we continue to subscribe for all 7 days. I do read the editorials but with quite a jaundiced eye due to your overwhelmingly liberal bias. This unabashed bias makes me question everything I read in your paper, so I make sure I read multiple sources to get a more balanced view.
On Sunday, I sort through the paper and pick out the Living Section, the comics and Parade first (used to include Arts & Entertainment for the book section). I do not look at your coupon or ad sections except to try to filter through and find the Parade. I think you hide the Parade in there so I have to at least touch those sections. Somedays I have to go through the stack 3 times to find the Parade. The TV Weekly is a waste of paper for me. I never look at it.
My husband goes right for the front page, @ Issue and sports. We trade sections after we’ve finished our first choices.
I look for certain articles online only.
You have lost me after over 20 years as subscriber.
I do not think online only is a vaible business model and your decision to force out your best writers does not help either.
I think newspapers should do away with their editorial pages. Then let’s see if these people are lying or not about their claims they stopped reading because of “liberal bias.”
It’s funny how some people complain complain complain about the AJC but they’re still on the site. They’re probably the same folks always complaining about the mail service, the weather, their health, and their neighbors.
I sort the Sunday paper, reading the sports section first. I then return to the front page and read through the section. I read editorials. I stop. Later in the day I the other sections in no particular order.
Don’t think that waving jazz hands in our faces is going to make for the lack of content, the profound brain drain that you allowed to happen, and the gutting of the editorial board.
Asking for our Sunday newspaper routine is insulting after the way the print reader has been dismissed.
AJC circulation is down nearly 20%, maybe that’s because they have very little original content and an extremely left-wing bias.
THE STAR-LEDGER, NEWARK, N.J. — 287,082 — (-16.82%)
ST. PETERSBURG (FLA.) TIMES — 283,093 — (-10.42%)
THE OREGONIAN, PORTLAND — 268,512 — (-11.76%)
THE ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION — 261,828 — (-19.91%)
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE — 261,253 — (-9.53%)
“It’s funny how some people complain complain complain about the AJC but they’re still on the site.”
Yeah, but we are not paying for it. Big difference. Look at the circulation drops relative to other papers and maybe you might start to see that there is a real problem.
The AJC’s local coverage is still useful, but few people are going to pay for a subscription just to read the Metro section.
This newspaper is falling apart. Today the Dear Abby column was cut off midstream, yesterday an obituary for an 8 or 9 year old child listed the child as a 1 year old and in the past few weeks I have caught numerous spelling and grammatical errors. For goodness sakes, in the online version you described someone’s boyfriend as their “bo” instead of “beau.” Ridiculous, meaningless columns such as the “social butterfly” are still being put in the newspaper even though no one reads them except for the people featured that day and hard hitting articles are being cut or even eliminated.
A few suggestions. One, hire someone to proofread your paper. 24/7. Because based on the past few weeks you should be embarrassed. Two, get rid of the fluff columns and let investigative reporters investigate. Three, I personally don’t care much what your conservative or liberal editors think. I am here to read the news, not read what their opinion is about a subject. I would prefer you cut out all editorial articles. Occasionally, let people involved or experts write pro/con articles about subjects.
Sharecropper and Concerned, we certainly are not trying to sugarcoat the economic challenges we face. No one here likes having to make difficult decisions to reduce staff or cut circulation to outlying counties. As our publisher said in a recent letter to readers, “We can only be a strong, free press — beholden to no one — if we are profitable. Right now, the AJC — and other newspapers across the country — are struggling financially.”
And it’s true that there are some parts of the new design (the narrower width, for instance) that are driven more by finances than by reader demand.
But there are numerous improvements in the new AJC as well, improvements that were driven by reader research. It’s easier to navigate and scan; the pacing is better; the font is more readable and there are lots of new features, especially on Sunday, that readers we’ve tested it with really like.
Long time reader, I promise we don’t intentionally hide Parade. It’s just that Parade, like the ad inserts, is not printed with the regular news sections of the newspaper; it’s inserted after printing.
With a print newspaper you are forced to read the story in the format provided. With e newspapers you can select any format. Why is there a question if you have access to the Internet? Maybe a federal bailout is the temporary answer to American print’s last agonizing twitches.
As a “60 something” who lived most of my life in Atlanta, I was always a 7 day a week subscriber until moving just across the state line into NC four years ago. At that point I began to read the AJC online during the week but to always buy that precious Sunday paper. That is, always, until you discontinued Sunday delivery to the northeast part of the state. It’s a funny thing but I would be happy to pay $5 a week to hold that paper in my hands again, but I am not interested in paying to be able to see online what I can no longer hold in my hands, to sit down with in my living room, to read, starting with the front page, in order, all the way through, to place the TV Week on my coffee table and, in the evening, cut out the coupons. I enjoy all the advertising circulars inside, the more the better. I look forward to those seasons when there are more of them, i.e. Mother’s Day, Christmas. I even read the classifieds. We still do a good bit of shopping in Atlanta, so all of the advertising is relevant to we who do not have much access to shopping, maybe even more so. Maybe you could consider a more expensive “exurb” edition to send to the hinterlands. That “dieing demographic” is still relevant (they buy stuff!) and pretty substantial in number.
I think one of the big problems in this country is all the labeling everyone does constantly. “Liberal” this, “Right Wing” that. Seems like everyone complaining about the AJC being so liberal just wants to read an opinion that only agrees with their own. Can’t we think for ourselves any longer? And why all the labels? I think it’s time for more independant thinking and less labeling. If you don’t want to read an editorial, don’t. There’s more to the paper than just those pages. I really believe we as a country would get more done if we did away with all the labeling.
Can we please stop this constant liberal vs. conservative battle. The ‘New York Times’ and ‘Washington Poat’ are liberal papers that I read on a regular basis. Neither paper has this on-going rage from conservatives complaining about the liberal bias of the paper. They just don’t. The AJC, as opposed to good quality reporting, fills space with comments from conservatives complaining about the paper. We know conservatives don’t like Tucker, we know liberals don’t like Wooten.
Let’s move on to a smarter paper. If you want a ‘role’ model, go study the ‘Post’, good in-depth stories worth reading. (I know the ‘Post’s circulation is down, don’t use that as a defense of your minimalist paper.) If you want people to read the paper, sell us a quality paper.
BA, Most of the circulation decline in the most recent report was because of cuts in distribution. The AJC cut its distribution area from 74 to 49 counties in mid-2008, and to 27 counties this winter.
I know that seems counter-intuitive to deliberately cut readers during difficult financial times, but delivering to those outlying areas costs more than we can make for those subscriptions.
I enjoyed Michaels comment about the “country” labeling everyone. It’s the media that does the labeling and the AJC was particularly good at criticizing the “bad conservatives”. The AJC lost sight of the big picture. Although they are a news agency, they need to make money. Unfortunately for them, they swung so far left that they alienated and lost many conservative customers, you know, the rich ones that have the money to buy their paper. Forget the editorials which I never read anyway because they were so biased, the way they report the news and what they decided to report on is biased too. So it has nothing to do with being an independant thinker. When I read the news I want to read the facts, not some liberal reporters interpretation of the facts. If I wanted BS, I’d watch Kieth Olberman and Rachel Madow. And since the AJC does not provide unbiased reporting, I am not, and will never be a customer. I’ll continue reading my local newspaper which reports the facts.
Yes, the dieing demographic does purchase quite a bit, they have the highest disposible income of any age group. But, as younger people age and older people pass away, there will be fewer and fewer people who get hard copies of the newspaper.
It’s not a business model that has the brighest future
The editorial pages are just the visible part of the AJC’s problem. If a reader has a viewpoint, be it left or right, that reader will have questions about any issue or story that they read. As a conservative, the AJC has consistently ignored or doesn’t even consider the questions that are raised in my mind (for example; has all this spending to eliminate homelessness actually eliminated any homelessness or just built a new bureaucracy?). The content in the stories, the questions asked, the issues raised, even the placement and length of the stories betrays a deep-seated liberal culture at the AJC.
The NYT and the WaPo reflect their regions and readership. The AJC doesn’t.
Bankruptcy, the fact you are here means you are a customer. The fact you take your own biases and cast them onto objective news stories just demonstrates on the more clearly it is your brain that is bankrupt. This newspaper reports the fact, the slant comes from your interpretation.
When you completely remove Cynthia Tucker from any connection to the AJC, your paper has improved. Additionally, remove all fluff from this newspaper and report the news……good, bad, and indifferent. Having neutral slant on the news will go a long way for the AJC to survive.
I have been a reader of the Atlanta newspapers for decades; both the Constitution and the Journal at first, now just the AJC. To say the the AJC has declined in virtually every category is to put it mildly. My wife and I recently canceled our subscription, because I just couldn’t take it anymore. Going from 3 sections on Sunday into 1 (Arts & Living, Travel, and the Style section) while claiming there is no loss of coverage or readability—puleeeeeeeeeeze. Meanwhile, the quality declines. Even if you have spellcheck, and use it, it helps to first be able to spell. Every time I pick up the paper, there are errors, sometimes egregious ones. You want to save money??–stop printing the Saturday paper, it’s been a waste of pulp for decades. Stop printing the TV section, it’s what? 4 pages long now? Seriously consider publishing only several times a week, and, as a reader above suggested, stop lying to yourselves and trying to lie to us that everything is just as good as it always was. Nobody really blames you, it’s the economy, stupid. But to continue gutting a once very fine paper while passing it off as still a fine paper borders on sacrilege, in my opinion. I’ll always honor Mr. Grady and his paper. I’ll always remember reading the daily paper with my father over breakfast, before the rest of the family got up. But I’m glad Daddy’s gone, so he wouldn’t be having to read this with his poached eggs. The smell from the remains of the carcass of a once noble publication is now the only thing “that covers Dixie like the Dew.”
I “USE TO” look forward to reading the paper for at least 1-2 hours on Sunday mornings, over a cup of coffee, eggs and grits. But I cancelled my subscription about a year ago when the AJC stopped making Gwinnett section….sorry you guys are going backwards
Ward, I appreciate your comments. It’s that kind of specific feedback (the story idea on the homeless funding) that helps us respond to readers. We recently covered, for instance, cuts in city support for a homeless shelter at Peachtree and Pine and the city’s contention it was not getting results. That’s not exactly the story you mentioned, but I hope it demonstrates that we are interested in covering issues like that completely and showing more than one side of the story.
As much as practical, I’d ask that other readers who complain of liberal bias on our news pages give specific examples. I’m not asking that in order to pick an argument, but to have specific, actionable information I can share with our editors.
Now as far as complaints about some of our opinion columnists leaning left, I don’t need any further explanation on that; readers are pretty clear and specific about what they don’t like.
The cuts in circulation have been going on for a few years now. To say readership is up even in total is not honest. I will stick by what nowayjose said about Enron accountants.
Also, your prior publisher put you in this mess, granted, the economy stinks, but, his consultants, his hires, and his lack of leadership was the main reason.
As far as the changes to the paper, I am sure they will be fine. But, getting readers to give their opinion is a bit contrived…like betting on a sports team after the final score is posted. You had an outcome in mind, increase bottom line performance, and to me, that makes sense. Just tell us. I would guess that if these economic hardships hadn’t hit, the changes to the newspaper would be a lot different.
I am thoroughly disappointed at not having the AJC to read because delivery does not come to the Athens area. My wife and I looked forward to our Sunday mornings reading the newspaper and discussing articles and exchanging sections over a cup odf coffee. Coupons, crossword, puzzles, advertising and news, I miss them all. Can’t you at least compromise and send us papers on Sunday. Some person that lacks knowledge about what consumers wants is making a major error. Online is fine but sometimes you just wanna step away from the computer.
A couple years ago, I changed my daily subscription to weekends only. Like many of you, I did enjoy the coffee and paper routine on weekend mornings. As I grew increasingly impatient with the bias slant on all issues political and racial, I decided to cancel completely. Recently, I picked the Urinal and Constipation on my Kindle. Don’t know if it is the lack of photos (especially that Racist – Tucker) or what, but I find myself reading more of the AJC than ever before. Report only objective news, do not support politicians or politically touchy issues, and you just might come out of this alright.
To the readers who ask how readership can be up while subscriptions are down, it’s not any tricky accounting. It’s just that we are referring to combined print and online readership. So you folks, here, are counted as readers even if you didn’t see a print edition today.
I’d say that clears it up nicely, Shawn. Keep up the good work. Some of us who hold your paper in our hands and visit your site don’t mind admitting we do it because we want to.
Tucker, Bookman and Downey demoted…. now if you’d just send Luckovich and his ratty scrawlings on his way, the AJC just might be readable again. For as long as it lasts.
Ok, I’m older but at 54, not THAT old. BUt I still love a printed newspaper. I almost never look at the online site. I want it in my hands! It gets me through my three times a week dialysis session. On Sunday, I take out the ads that don’t interest me, then I go to church. And I leisurely read almost every word of the paper for the next day or two. Alas, not taking me as long to read as it once did.
Friday, April 24, page B1, “Allow car washes, councilman urges” — para 7 “…That’s because Lake Lanier…remains at 9 feet below full…”
Friday, April 24, Page B2, “Corps declines request to raise Lanier by reducing water releases” — last para “Winter rains raised Lanier far more. Since late December, the lake has risen 13 feet and stands about 7 feet below full…”
Well, one of these two stories is factually wrong. (I believe the first one is wrong.)
Also, the AP stylebook says you should spell out whole numbers less than ten.
I see stuff like this fairly frequently, but when I’ve reported similar to insideajc@ajc.com, I never see a correction, so I’ve kind of given up.
I would love to comment on the new paper. However, it hasn’t been delivered yet. It is always there when I leave for work at 6. I take it with me. This morning, I waited until 6:15 and no paper. I guess the new look is invisible.
Your new newspaper format is horrid. It reminds me of the “Weekly Reader” I used to receive in grammar school. The print is small and very light. I will give it some time and try to get used to it. My first opinion is that it is just awful.
Baseball standings so tiny that I need my glasses to read them and a sports section that qualifies as tiny too (all of 3-and-a-half pages) simply hastens my decision to ditch the AJC in favor of USA Today.
The new design is too hard to read! It is way too compact. Some pages have 6 columns & are barely legible. Older people read the newspaper, but won’t be able to read this fine print!
I also would love to comment on your paper but after being a subscriber for 20 years you no longer deliver to the Toccoa/NE GA area. You people have no idea how you have alienated so many people with your selfish decision. The AJC is not just (well it wasnt) a Atlanta newspaper, it WAS a state icon that everyone could take pride in and enjoy but you took that from us.
I’ve been a subscriber since 89′, sorry folks, I know you are struggling, but, it is my opinion that you have finally put the last nail in the coffin lid. It looks like a failed USA Today. Font size too small. What’s with the faded colors and subdued sub-headlines? I hope you didn’t pay someone for this new layout. It is really terrible. Do something fast. I equate the new AJC look to that fiasco of Couric replacing Schieffer at CBS News.
Hate the new format, looks like a cheap USA Today. Faded front page is a jumbled mess of columns. This may finally be the end of our 20 year subscription for home delivery because it is no longer worth it.
I’m a native Atlantan and longtime subscriber, but this is it for me. A gimmicky and cartoonish remake isn’t the way to get more people to subscribe. Perhaps instead you should have tried hiring some writers/reporters who have knowledge about what they’re writing about.
Not good. I don’t want to be a naysayer, and will give it a few days to get used to, but the new paper feels like the local community paper we already get. Not serious news, just fluff and funnies. Disappointing given how much you have put into the change.
The real problem of note is how the AJC editors have failed to figure out what has caused the decline in readership/subscriptions; that would be the total lean to the left of the reporting, editorials, etc. while the subscribers are much more moderate. Just take a look at which media are seeing increases in viewership/readership and you should have learned: Fox News, WSJ, and other moderate to right leaning organizations are catering to the people who can afford to buy your paper. I was recently asked at my son’s soccer game if I was the only one who still subscribed to “that rag”, when I brought your crossword page to the field. I think that’s close to true. Everyone got so sick of the unbalanced support during the last election that they can’t bring themselves to give the AJC any respect. I even pledged to stop subscribing, but gave it a 6 month extension because I’m an avid reader. But with the changed paper, I guess this is a final run for me as well.
I have a great idea – bring back what worked !!!!! The AJC from not that long ago . I have been reading for 32 years and am thoroughly disgusted with the so called ” new and improved “.You lost me.
No matter what you do to the columns or font sizes, the AJC is still a piece of junk liberal rag. Until that changes, your readership will continue to drop. You are serving a tiny dot of blue constituents (ISP Atlanta) surrounded by a sea of red constituents (the rest of the state). Get a clue, formatting is not your problem!
Terrible colors — especially the Sports section. C’mon, is kiwi green really a sports color? And the sports stats are so small I need a magnifying glass to read them! Overall, I am very disappointed in the changes. The paper size is too narrow, the “new” font looks cheap and frivolous. For a major daily, I expect a little more serious tone and appearance. I know this is a cost-cutting move, but if I wanted to read the USA Today I’d go down the street and steal one from the Marriott Courtyard!
I first went to the editorial pages and noticed a welcomed change, one that indicates that you really did listen to all the feedback from subscribers during the last few weeks : NO Lukovitch and Jim Wooten in Cynthia’s old spot. THANK YOU !
Fine. But exactly when will your liberal bias in the selection, wording and page placement of news stories be addressed? You remain starkly at odds politically with too much of your potential paying market here in metro Atlanta.
Is any amount of furniture rearrangement likely to compensate for that?
Reading for the first time this morning, I find the new layout confusing. It’s difficult to scan the paper to find articles I want to read. The font used in the Vent and the Obituaries is. The old format of using bold font for the first few words of each Vent made it easy to move from one posting to the next. That’s no longer available and it is hard to scan from one posting to another.
It is difficult to visually separate the obituary listings on a county basis. I’m interested in one or two counties and it’s hard to find them in the list.
So far, this new layout isn’t an improvement for me. Maybe it’s a matter of getting used to it, but im not sure that’s the only reason for finding it difficult to read.
The new AJC is awful. The new print is so small that it is very difficult to read, espcially in the business news section. And why have you discontinued printing the PGA and LPGA tournament results in he Sunday edition. For years you have provided the final scores and winnings of both tours and that information is not available anywhere else. I have been a subscriber for over 65 years and miss the old format and news. Muste you use such small print for he view and financial statsitics?
I’m sad to see so many great newspapers like the SF Chronicle, Seattle PI and others come to their end. I know the AJC is trying to stay afloat, but I’m not sure this redesign is the answer. The reason I don’t subscribe is that many stories are poorly written, burried leads, and often opinionated. (I’m not saying liberal/conservative, just opinionated.) The number of AP stories seems to be growing while in-depth Atlanta stories are shrinking. Business stories seem to be left to the Atlanta Business Chronicle and in-depth features left to Atlanta Magazine. My suggestion, which is born out somewhat by others who study media, is to increase the depth and bredth of local coverage, leave the national news to AP/Reuters. May I also suggest a kid’s page, similar to the Washington Post’s Kid’s World. May I also suggest that the writers be trained/retrained on how to write a news story. Some of the writing is just awful.
I was very, very sad to see the new edition of my beloved Atlanta Journal-Constitution Newspaper.
I understand that these are tough economic times for newspapers but I feel that the AJC could and can do better.
Sunday newspaper had a front page story that said it would continue on Page 10 but was instead it was on Page 5. This is not up to Atlanta readers standards. Even a downsized paper need proofreading and quality control.
I understand that you are shifting your focus to the Internet but there are millions and millions of websites and newspapers on the Internet.
Getting readers to visit and stay on your site with all the other web options available is optimistic. You cannot flip thru the pages of a website and get the same type of intimacy you get with a paper.
I believe that the “Fourth Estate” and the AJC are giving up much, much to quick. America is a country of newspaper readers. Atlanta needs a fresh vibrant newspaper with Atlanta coverage rather than a lot of stories that could have been written weeks ago.
I would also like for the AJC to consider the “blockbuster” idea of lowering the price of the paper to .25 cents on a daily basis. I would much rather have 100,000 people buying the paper with a gross of $25,000 than having 25,000 / 30,000 people buying it at .75 cents. You get the paper in more people hand and attract more advertisers.
When you go in the local convenience store you always see a stack of unsold AJC Newspapers. I suspect that advertisers see this as well.
As a former AJC employee with nearly 10 years of service in the Circulation Sales Department I pray and hope that the AJC will survive and flourish.
I understand that first and foremost you are running a business so you have to find a way to make ends meet. Having said that, is turning the AJC into a second or third class newspaper for a city that strives to be first class really a good idea? Sometimes something isn’t really better than nothing.
Good morning all. Is the font hard to read? Our testing found otherwise. We selected a font that was specifically developed for “older” eyes. It is more condensed, and makes for faster and easier reading. Our previous front had a lot of white space that slowed down the reading process. If you have other newspapers nearby, take a look and compare. I have three others on my kitchen counter and think ours is the easiest to read. It may take a bit of adjustment, though, because of the smaller paper size and smaller use of photos. Is our design version of USA Today? In developing the design, we took the best ideas from elsewhere and merged into what seemed right for Atlanta. We heard over and over from readers how much they like the organization and color-coding of USA Today. You see that reflected in the design. We also heard about how much people wanted a lot of information, without wasted white space and large photos. They like the newsiness and density of the Wall Street Journal. You see that reflected as well.
Well, Today’s the day for the new “Look”. What a surprise! This morning I woke up to find a copy of USA Today in my driveway! Is this April 1st? Funny!
I’m really wondering what the purpose of these changes are? The paper is harder to read, the additional color seems to make it more expensive to print. So in times of declining readership and decreasing revenue this seems counterintuitive. I’m not sure at all how this is going to help keep your newspaper alive.
I may get used to it, but I doubt it. This is pushing me further away from the print edition and more to my on-line sources for news. My husband is a big fan of the print edition and he found the new format harder to read and harder to focus on the stories.
Are you kidding?? Very disappointed in the redesign..type is extremely small, paper is tiny, logo is blah..
If the redesign is so great why does it change back to the original design over the weekends… AJC will lose a significant number of daily readers due to the change..
I didn’t see Julia’s explanation before I posted. One of the things I said to my husband this morning is that it looked like you were trying to look like a cross between USA Today and the WSJ. I’m not a big fan of USA Today – too much fluff. I like the WSJ, but I put up with their multiple columns and crowded look because of the content. For the WSJ this look is their trademark – you recognize it immediately. It’s not necessarily the best format, but it’s immediately identifiable as their brand and the articles are top notch.
This isn’t true for the AJC – it’s not your brand, it’s more difficult to read and the content isn’t worth it. Cosmetic changes aren’t going to keep your readers – you need good, reliable, unbiased reporting that we’ll turn to even if the paper isn’t full of color or gimmicks.
Is this a joke? This morning there was a copy of USA Today in my driveway, no AJC! Is this the “New Look” Maybe you guys should have introduced the new paper on April 1st!
Tragic. A once-great paper surrenders, and is forced to walk the streets of Atlanta dressed as a free weekly.
I am appalled as well as saddened, because I now realize it’s over for the AJC. And I know it’s over between me and the AJC – it’s not even worth the less than 5 minutes required to read it. I will miss it.
In journalism schools across the country, the AJC will be held up as a case study of how print is dying.
Well, since it’s no longer sold in my area, who knows? Good luck with it. Everyone knows redesigns foisted upon readers all at once creates upset. The correct way to do it is a little at a time and don’t make a scene about it. Then people digest it and don’t even notice they’re taking medicine.
The paper has been going downhill for a year. I can’t judge your newest debacle because today’s delivery did not happen, also something which is becoming more common. When do you retire?
It just “feels” thin, and cheap. When you hold the WSJ or even the old AJC, the width of the paper gave it gravitas. The new paper feels thin and cheap.
The fonts are hard to read. Even with “young” eyes.
The colors are cheesy.
The layout is crowded. Yes, the WSJ uses it . This is not the WSJ.
I understand the business model is changing, and that paper costs money. But honestly, this change is “new coke.” Sadly, I enjoy reading papers so much that I will continue my subscription. But just like when I drank “new coke,” I won’t enjoy it as much as I did in the past.
I personally love the new design. It’s crisper and I find it easier to read and find the articles I want to read. And I love the font. Don’t mind most of the people on this post. We all now that Georgians don’t welcome change well.
Forget the color and use the money you save to make the black print bolder. I am a print-oriented person but you have made the AJC so difficult to read that I am not sure it will continue to be worth the struggle.
TERRIBLE !!! This new format is the worse makeover I have ever seen. Looks like a comic book, too cluttered, too buzy, too confusing to get through. I couyld read the old AJC without having to put on my reading glasses. The new type is too small, too close together and looks like a local bulletin. If you don’t change, I will cancel my subscription.
The font style used for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and section headings look amateurish and give that feel to the paper. I don’t think the date on the front page needs to be quite so big. Overall look reminds me of USA Today. I applaud the AJC for doing everything they can to survive. It is tough times for the newspaper industry.
After 45 years of reading the local paper daily, I called it quits last month with the AJC. I felt I was aiding and abetting a socialistic agenda by sending money to the AJC. I am a die hard capitalist, and the socialism this country is adopting is scary. The AJC and many other local papers are partly responsible for not uncovering or revealing the truth about some of the candidates on the ballot.When was the last time, if ever, did the AJC endorse a presidential candidate that was not a Democrat?
I will get my news from the Wall St Journal, and get my sports from online sources. I truly miss my daily reading routine, but the AJC dug it’s own grave.
Are you kidding me??? Very disappointed in the changes…The redesign is absolutely awful and full of cheap gimmicks.. font is tiny and hard to read for a middle age adult, paper is compact, cheapen the look. If the “new look” is so great why is the AJC going back to the original version on weekend editions when readership is much higher.. been a loyal long time daily reader.. no longer.. please change back to what gave you longevity or your organization risks losing a significant number of daily readers..
I agree with the consensus. I understand Julia Wallace’s defensiveness. But I think she’s made a mistake. I think the colors, EVERYWHERE, instead of for special emphasis, makes the page confusing. What’s wrong with a traditional newspaper look? Is “modern” always better? Look at buildings designed in the 1960’s. Modern. Easily identifiable. Horrible for the most part.
Indeed, it is so thin, it looks like a small town weekly version of USA today, or perhaps an advertising flyer.
When Coca Cola introduced New Coke, it was the marketing flub of the late 20th century. Get a clue. Admit your mistake. Put it back. Seriously, folks, you have some fine writers on your staff. You need to figure out a way to honor the newspaper tradition, keep your focus, and still stay viable. I don’t believe this is it.
I know that coladawg. Most Atlantans know that the world isn’t static and nothing stays the same forever. I think most people on here just want to complain about something.
We hate it. Seriously considering cancelling subscription. With what I get from the AJC I could make due with the neighborhood weeklies. Also rec’d a price increase a couple of months ago seems like we are paying more for less. If there were options open I think you would lose many readers.
The print might be easy for someone younger than 40 to read, but for those of us whose vision isn’t what it used to be, the change in font is not a helpful one — not by a long shot. At 41, I am not at the point of needing reading glasses just yet, but I can tell you that this morning, I nearly squinted through the first two sections, whereas last week, I had no trouble reading the stories at all. Did you study only young people while doing research for the redesign?
Additionally, I am very disappointed in the similarities of the “new AJC” to USA Today…if I wanted to read tidbits and snippets of stories, I would subscribe to USA Today, not my “local” paper. The most horrible part, though, which has been mentioned previously, is the sports scores — this is where I literally got up from my table and used a magnifying glass to see last night’s Braves score. Why should I have to do this?
The colors are also off-putting. Since when was it all right to fashion a newspaper after the colors on a Trivial Pursuit board? Oh, right — when USA Today did it.
It just seems as though you are trying to attract the lowest-common denominator of reader…the ones who gravitate toward bright colors and funky type. I didn’t think the redesign could possibly be as bad as what passes for acceptability on ajc.com, but management seems to have outdone itself with this terrible print offering.
I long for the days when my “newspaper” didn’t look like the flashing lights of a small-town carnival. Send in the clowns — don’t bother…they’re here.
Your sans-serif face is a bit too hard to read, and I’m not quite that elderly yet. The vent, for instance, is a bit of a strain. I understand the constraints you were under with the new paper size and re-designs are never easy. Hang in there; readers eventually will adjust.
Sad, very sad. I know that you’re trying desperately to stay in business, but this latest change appears to confirm that the AJC is in it’s death throes.
Absolutely Horrible!
The new font is Too Small.
Both my wife and I have too much difficulty reading it.
Perhaps your extensive study relative to font style and size should have included some real live testing with some of your local senior citizen customers rather than rely on someone else’s data.
If the font size is not changed soon we will be forced to cancel our subscription.
This change just about puts the headstone on your publication. First you up your subscription, then make the print so small we older people have to get a glass to read it. Then you make your cartoons so small they aren’t funny anymore, and the sports page has gone to hell in a hand basket. I give you less than six months, and you’ll be out of business. I know the people in South Georgia are ready for your demise. I’m considering USA today as a paper of choice…
As a longtime newspaperman, I’m more disturbed by the changes than I could have imagined. Worse, I hear the editorial board is being reshaped toward a more conservative view. Ralph McGill is turning over in his grave.
It’s terrible. It’s so “rinky Dinky” You have five columns with
4 to five words on each line. I pre-paid my subscription in Jan.
and I’d like to have 7/12’s of my money back.
Just another short thought: Many folks here are comparing the paper unfavorably to USA Today. Do y’all realize that USAT is the only major paper in the country that has GAINED readership in recent years? Whatever they’re doing, it works. Maybe that’s why it has been copied so often.
As I used to enjoy the AJC I always wished it was USA Today. My dreams have come true. Do you really think font, color, and page layout were your paper’s biggest problems? I am not sure you have a realistic idea who your customers are today – and more importantly who they will be in the future. You seem to have produced a paper designed to appeal to a generation that doesn’t – and likely won’t ever – READ the newspaper (at least in print). Terrible job.
I’ll be honest, the paper made me – a bona fide newspaper junkie – a little sad today. Not that the design isn’t great, because it is. It’s doing the most with the evaporating resources available. I like the concept and execution, and I’m confident it will get even better. It is fresher, brighter, more readable. I was somewhat shocked, however, that the Atlanta Hawks playoff game coverage wasn’t in my paper this morning, and the game was on the East Coast.
The tinge of sadness comes from just seeing what print journalism has become. There were only 3 1/2 pages of classifieds; the paid obits may be creating more revenue now. Display ads are almost nonexistent; there were less than 2 pages of ads in a 12-page ‘A’ section. The Living section had only the two pages of movie listings. I know, it’s only Tuesday, traditionally a light advertising day. But in reality, this is a trend that is accelerating.
My sadness comes from the fear that this new approach simply isn’t enough. I’ve read the AJC since 1956; I subscribed to both papers until the Journal died. I remember the Blue Streak…
Much better in print than the description looked like – I was afraid it was going to be even narrower.
It looks much more “texty” – the new font has clearly let you eliminate white space while preserving the readability.
Glad to see that you’re still including box scores in the sports section – I was afraid that would go away.
Hopefully when the economy improves, the amount of content can increase again – it seems pitiful that it’s so thin, but it’s probably just the Macy’s inserts that are missing.
This is truly sad. In order to survive due to reduced advertising revenue, the AJC has to shrink both the size and quality of the publication.
Your readers are understanding of your plight – in order to save money given the economy and the lack of demand for advertising in print medium, this needed to be done. However, in my view, there has been a negative impact to the newspaper. It’s so light, I don’t even think I would hear it hit my driveway anymore.
At the end of the day, your readers will need to judge for themselves, but please be honest with us – the change is about business realities, not a new and improved format.
Pathetic. The AJC is obviously dying…let it go with dignity. The makeover is horrible. While the AJC is sick it amazes me that print space is given to The Vent, Peach Buzz and other such trivial garbage at the expense of news. This latest example delivered today has made up my mind not to subscribe any longer.
It’s very hard to read. I had a copy of an old AJC and compared it to today’s paper — there is no comparison in the readability. I finally gave up and went to an online newspaper. I’m worried even more now about the print version of the paper — I believe we need the newspaper to survive! But your core readership, I’m guessing, has eyesight like mine. Did this “award-winning” design team have your market group actually READ the paper or did the market group only comment on the cosmetics?
How bad can you make it? You have succeeded in making the AJC print version the worst I have seen. The print is so small I can’t read most of the paper. For many years I have enjoyed reading my paper over breakfast, not now. I guess the TV will have to come on sooner in the morning. At least USA Today uses a font size large enough to read. I will stay until I see the Sunday edition and if it is not improved then goodbye AJC!
So CAR is afraid the paper is becoming more conservative. Let’s hope CAR is right. Have you seen cable rating lately? Fox, the fair and balanced network liberals love to hate, has double the ratings of any other cable news group. Clearly, the people who are working, who are paying taxes, who are creating the wealth Obama is giving away, support a more conservative approach. These people are also the ones who buy newspapers and support advertisers.
Ralph McGill was first and foremost a businessman. He’d do what he had to do, including kiss George Bush on the mouth if necessary.
What a shame. The fonts are now too small, and the ink quality is subdued. I see where AJC had consultants for this new look; I hope you haven’t paid them yet. You have carried economy too far.
It still SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The new and improved AJC is a joke isn’t it? I mean, you must be kidding!!! I was born at night but not LAST NIGHT. If this is better than what we got 50 years ago from what was then two newspapers for a nickel each, then I am a monkey’s uncle. You must believe we are all idiots if you think the new format is going to drive circulation upward. Your liberal bias was bad enough and the only good that I can see will come from the new and improved AJC is that fewer people will read! You have delivered something you call new and improved that is hardly big enough to use as a fish wrapper. Count me as a former subscriber. With these kinds of continued improvements, you will be out of business soon and we will all be better off. My money can be spent much more wisely, and I plan to do just that. Please cancel my subscription!
It’s amazing sometimes how people at the “top” just don’t get it. We canceled our subscription after they raised rates for “less” paper. It was frequently delivered late or not at all. I feel bad for the AJC the struggles most print media have gone through, but bad is bad. Chrysler and GM have the same issues – people at the top just don’t get it.
Why put another nail in your coffin?
Hard to read!
Bland format!
Front page was terrible…no highlights, just a lot of little and dull print. And it’s self inflicted.
I may go online for news that I used to go to AJC for!
I hate to see this loss happen to Atlanta on top of so many other reversals.
Atrocious! Your paper was already going downhill with numerous grammatical and typographical errors and erratic headline fonts. Now it’s a scimpy rag with columns pressed together and stacked on the front page so that you can’t even follow a single story to its conclusion. My husband has been pushing to drop it, and I’ve resisted. No longer. Farewell!
Both my husband and I are avid newspaper readers. We have had a subscription to the AJC for 10 years and before that thru parents, etc, another 60 years. My father is probably rolling in his grave because of how you’ve butchered his beloved paper. I, too am appalled. I absolutely hate what you’ve done to the paper!
Based on the consistently horrific tone of these comments, I’m saying a little prayer for Julia and the AJC staff. I know they poured their heart and soul into this, and this is not the reaction they expected.
It really does not look good. The reversed fonts on the pastel backgrounds are weak-looking and hard to read. The long vertical columns are also a dreadful way to organize breefs. Seems to have a lot of color for color’s sake on it. I give it a D; it rates better than an F only because it’s so hard to shave more than an inch off the width of the page without making hideous compromises.
I think all the content, font and formatting changes are fine, but I don’t like the new masthead. Looks cheap/generic. Like the recent Tropicana package redesign that bombed. Nevertheless, I appreciate your efforts to keep the AJC alive in this economy – we need you, AJC!
Just got the new paper–looks great. And reads great. I let my subscription lapse a year or so ago, but count me back in. My favorite paper is the Financial Times Weekend edition, but this may give it a run for its money. Kudos–and continued good luck.
Lousy look. And it isn’t even original — it’s just a rehash of USA Today’s “McNews” format — short/no-depth reporting and cluttered pages. There’s also an over-reliance on wire service stories and pickups from other publications, which is evidence of the bloodletting that’s been going on in the AJC’s editorial staff. The cost cutting hasn’t been restricted to just the paper either. I just cancelled my Sunday subscription because the AJC’s circulation department wouldn’t deliver it (and, typically, there are no human beings taking calls from subscribers on Sunday anymore…it’s all voice mail and e-mail). AJC, your days are numbered.
I think the look is fine. Of course I was not unhappy with the old look. The test will be your efforts and successes in shaping the content.
Balance, real balance, not balance as determined by a Committed Progressive Democrat or Liberal will be difficult. For example: Last week in your OpEd Section you had “Two Views”. One view, the “Yes” view, was clearly on subject and argued the Progressive point well. The Opposing view, the “No” position, that you selected was not on point at all. You may want us to conclude that the Conservative view is therefore less convincing. But the fact is that you chose a poorly written, possibly even edited, column; then presented it as the “No” position.
Also is it possible that you could have written the original question such that the “Yes” position was Conservative and the “No” position was the Progressive?
Balance is hard work. Can you recognize balance? Can you deliver balance? Past experience says no. Time will tell.
Will your newspaper come in the LARGE print edition like Reader’s digest and other publications. I can’t read the paper now – even with my glasses on. Very irritating.
Sweetheart, I think what everyone is saying is…..”you have a lousy newspaper and no amount of cosmetic changes will help.” Your newspaper is too liberal, your sports pages are absolutely awful and I can’t even find the words to describe your awful coverage of high school sports. Please fire everybody and start over and next time try to be relevant. Political correctness has killed your once great newspaper.
The new format is a big improvement. BUT continuing front page stories in back pages with completely different, unrelated headlines is confusing and maddening.
Re: Page 3, Denser Design Gets In More News – “pack in the most content without wearing out your eyes”. Yes – you’re trying to put 10 gallons of syrup into a 5 gallon bucket! Younger readers with good eyesight are getting the news from the internet. Older readers and the aged will have great difficulty. I understand cutting costs, but there must be a better way.
Anyone remember the Atlanta Times? No, of course not, most of you are carpetbagging Yankees who can’t tell collards from turnip greens.
To enlighten you, it was a competing daily paper many years back that died a fairly rapid death due to the Cox family’s domination of the Atlanta news market (AJC, WSB).
Maybe now it’s time for a new, fresh, approach built from a foundation of balanced online and print excellence.
If someone will front me $20 million, I’m willing to give it a go.
Way to difficult to read now. The vent is a different font and many of the vents are not even sperated with spaces. Hate the fonts throughout. Columns are too hard to read. I’m the only one that has received a paper in my sub-division today, and that’s because I called to have it delivered after I still had not received it by 8 am.
I do not care for the new design at all. The articles are too crowded together…and the constant columns….YUK!
Why bother with different sections?, The daily paper is so small now, you can just combine it all together. It’s just a crappy look. I MISS THE “OLD” LOOK!
WOW WOW WOW. What an absolute joke. I know that Ms. Wallace must try to put the best face on the new AJC and defend the design changes, but really, this is shockingly pathetic. Do the publishers REALLY believe that THIS is going to save the AJC, a once great newspaper, the voice of the South that “Covered Dixie Like the Dew”??? Jagged-edge columns, poor organization, terrible graphics, and probably THE ugliest flag/nameplate of any large daily newspaper in the nation. No offense to Lacava or any of the designers at AJC, but this must be the most ill-conceived redesign I’ve seen, and I’ve been watching alot of them across the country. Do you people NOT look at other front pages on NEWSEUM.COM???? Hang today’s edition on a wall inside the AJC newsroom under a sign that asks, “Would YOU buy this newspaper?” That would be an embarrassing assessment. Look, I’m only 30, but I used to LOVE to buy the AJC, because it was a NEWSPAPER, just a classic, well-put-together broadsheet. Every newspaper in the country is ruining itself because they (and you) just don’t get it. You just CANNOT figure this out, and yet the answer was so easy. Expect to join the NYT for a 20% decline next quarter. The saddest part of this is that you will stick with this design out of stubbornness and unwillingness to admit a mistake. Until the last dog dies. And this dog is on its last leg. This is a sad, sad day for the AJC. Again, WOW.
The new look is cheap. The classic appeal of the old format was one in which people could recognize and relate. People traveling into Atlanta will now pick up this amateur looking newspaper and make a judgment on our city. It has no “international-city” appeal; it looks very “small town” and is not indicative of the image this city aspires to promote. This new look is not refined and has no character. It looks like a poorly executed attempt at a USA Today knock off. Raise the price if you must, but do not wash away all semblance of pride and sophistication. You have successfully alienated your longtime readers. Internet is always changing and technology keeps everyone on their toes, but the fact remains; there is just something so comforting about the consistency of the paper. Why change something so historic? Lady Editor, you are right, print is a powerful medium; please re-assess this unrecognizable medium make-under.
Here’s a suggestion that may keep your current readers and draw new readers to the paper. There is already a USA Today (and, as noted, a successful one) – don’t try to fill a void that isn’t there. Instead, do more indepth local stories with writers that present balanced view points. Give us something we can’t get elsewhere. When I see so many stories in the AJC coming from the newswires, I wonder where our writers are. I can get wire stories anywhere. What I can’t get are the local issues covered in an unbiased way and the Atlanta stories that won’t get covered elsewhere. That’s what I’d pay for – not the same stories I can find elsewhere in a colorized format.
I wanted to like it, but some parts are very difficult to read. I have very good eyesight, and often found myself having to put my eyes very close to the paper to read things like the baseball boxscores and “On the Air” sections of the sports section. Also, “the rest of the week” section of the weather uses a very small font. I can’t begin to imagine how people without very good eyesight will be able to read this comfortably. On the positive side, I do like the extra color.
Hopefully you’ll read all of these. 2, maybe 3 positives out of 90 or so?? And while your response is fine, defending the research on fonts etc., you fail to acknowledge, discuss or even defend the content of the paper and the editorial makeup. If you want to sell a product, you have to design and produce what the user wants. Why do you and the staff, and I assume the owners of the paper ignore this?
Also, I trust you will try to get the Cox’s and Kennedy’s to read all of the comments. But then, that might cost a few their jobs.
I am a 20 year subscriber who hates to pile on this morning. I truly want the ajc to survive for the long run but you have just hastened your own demise with this trashy new look. Simply stated, my reaction this morning is that I despise the new look. It kind of reminds me of 1985 when another favorite Atlanta icon proudly rolled out New Coke. There is nothing about it that I view as an improvement. When I first picked it up and inspected it, my initial reaction was that this was some kind of cruel joke. Several people have given voice to my exact reaction — this is a poor cross between the old Weekly Reader and USA Today, neither of which I cared for. The format is so uninviting; I don’t even want to read it. It is hard to read, too small (both the size of the paper and the print), lacking in content, and makes ineffective and annoying use of color. Your sales staff should sign up for training from whomever sold you on this “new look” because they can surely sell anything.
Usually can read most parts without my glasses. Now need them all the time and a magnifying glass for the stock listings and the sports ratings. Bought a Marietta Daily Journal, the first in years. HELLO MDJ.
Julia, like I stated when the “new” online version was released, it is not good practice to ask users how they feel on the FIRST day of change. There are psychological things change does to the mind, and you’re receiving a lot of the effects of this by way of feedback.
THE “NEW LOOK” IS HORRIBLE. I CANNOT READ THE SMALL PRINT. WHEN MY BILL BECOMES DUE, I AM OUT OF HERE. I WILL NOT PAY FOR A PAPER I CANNOT READ!!! SO AFTER 35 YEARS, IT’S GOOD BYE. NANCY
What a disaster ! As you are aware, your revenues have been falling as well as your subscriptions. Clearly, the vision you have laid out for your paper continues to propel you down that slope again. I have gotten so tired of your editorials, and your sports section especially Terrance Moore tries to provoke editorial comments to drive readership. Sorry, but the inverse is happening. Like so many others, I enjoy USA Today as I can read it and the format is quick and easy. You have missed the ball so much on this new format. Why doesn’t AJC just go out and buy USA Today, and deliver it instead.
I guess i can get used to the format. I want to know where Luckovich(sp?) is. My only other comment is that with the ‘new’ policy of being un biased you are bringing commentators that are totally biased….
This looks terrible, is difficult to read, and overall seems to be a bad high school journalism effort. Very hard for me to believe professional journalists looked at this and thought it was a good idea. Your Sunday TV section, which I used to keep for reference during the week, is now a joke. You have lost so many of your good writers (Thomas Oliver, Terence Moore etc.) that you would appear to be little more than a clipping service. Horrible moves, that i wish you would reconsider. New Coke appears a brilliant decision compared to this one.
Wow. I was going to criticize the redesign and call it strangely atavistic. (It looks like a poor man’s Baltimore Sun. Funny thing is poor men actually read The Sun, so…) But the response on this thing is so universally negative, anything I’d say would be redundant.
Overall, not a pleasing look. The dense type is too hard to read. (I’m sure your graphic designers struggled with this — they all know the benefit of “white space” in design). The extra color is nice, but the weather page seemed “faded” compared to the intense colors in the old design. And what’s with the super large mast head. Gee, we all know what paper we’re reading — you could have allocated some of the mast head space to news! Sure, you are saving on newsprint, but you may end up losing readers who find the new look not worth the effort to read.
I like it overall. It has a nice clean, crisp look and I like the bolder headlines. My only change would be to make it was a little shorter and wider. But then I suppose then it would resemble Creative Loafing.
Now all you have to work on is the liberal slant. You have a good start with Cynthia Tucker gone. I would also put Charles Krauthammer and Thomas Oliver on the front page. They make more sense than all of the other editors put together.
The comparisons to USA Today are accurate. If USA Today has grown in subscriptions lately, it’s probably only because other papers have gone out of business and it’s become the only economical choice in those areas. I don’t know of anyone who considers USA Today a serious or respectable newspaper. It’s a quick, light read when you’re on the road and it’s free. If that’s your business model goal, then you may succeed.
I don’t mind the section design so much, but the front page design does make the paper look cheap and less serious. To call it “Modern Classic” is just simply a misnomer. It’s more “Post-Modern” or “Eighties” design – which implies a certain cheapness and superficiality, to which everyone is reacting.
There must be a lot of legally blind people in Georgia if ya’ll are having
so many problems reading this font! You guys don’t driver do you? Tell me where so I can keep out of your way!
Wow. Tons of great designers right here in Atlanta and AJC hires a Montreal firm to output this garbage. It’s a mess of an attempt to make a newspaper look and read like a Web site. You can’t click a newspaper, folks and you can’t base quality design on what focus groups like.
Message to Ms. Wallace: You said Publico was customized for AJC. Which weights/styles are you referring to? All the fonts look like the original release to me. I recently considered using this font for a project and was quite surprised at how tightly spaced the text version is. It feels like the display version, with sturdier serifs. It needs to be set with looser tracking, but that would ruin the kerning, obviously. A pity you didn’t have Schwartz redo the spacing. I also think the leading between lines is too tight. A bit more space would making reading more comfortable.
Change the masthead to ITP Today. To take a cue from Serpent-Head, “It’s the content, stupid.”
I remain appalled that Condi Rice’s visit to ATL for Boys & Girls Club national headquarters warranted only a two-column pix w/slugline on the lower right of Metro page 1. The 100 or so well written comments here speaks to the caliber of readership you have, or perhaps, had.
I actually like the look of the new daily AJC–and I have been reading it every day since I first moved to Georgia more than 40 years ago. However, you need to do whatever it takes to restore the AJC to communities like Bremen and Athens and Griffin that you are denying the right to read your newspaper. I know they can read news on line but it is not a newspaper they can hold in their hands, share with one another on the couch and clip articles from for memories. Guitting circulation was the biggest mistake the AJC ever made. I just hope those of us in places like Rome won’t be your next victims.
The paper looks snappier but even with my new prescription lens I find it harder to read. The problem, for me, is that the rows are too close together. I compared to Monday’s AJC which has a wider row spread and could read much easier. If the demographics of your readers are tilted to seniors, I am probably not alone in my opinion. Younger folks should be OK.
Mugglemikki: Your ill attempts at snarkiness betray your immaturity. Do you “play the dozens” at family visitation at the funeral home? You’re lucky this crowd is too polite to flame and critique your keyboarding (lack of) skill.
I would love to comment on the look, but you no longer deliver here in Spalding County, less than an hour’s drive from Atlanta. Based upon these comments though, RIP AJC
You will rationalize keeping this design by saying, “Well, it just takes people a while to get used to change” or “Well, we focus grouped it, got hundreds–no, thousands–of opinions, and this is what they told us.” This is a joke. Newspaper focus groups always tell you what they think you want to hear, or what they think they are expected to say. “We want better organization, we want to read the news fast, we want a fresh look so we will feel like we are actually reading the internet, blah, blah, blah.” And you people listen to that hogwash!?! Look at the great AJ/AC/AJC designs from the late 90’s, for example. Now those were some great looking newspapers that made you want to buy them when you saw them on the rack. This design wouldn’t inspire me to spend a nickel on it. Too bad, you could’ve saved yourself, but instead you just stepped closer to your grave. If I was in charge over at the AJC, I would scrap this “college campus newspaper gone awry” design TOMORROW and do an on-the-fly, overnight Hail Mary, and beg the readers for forgiveness. Of course that will never happen, because it seems the leadership at the AJC seems intent on driving this paper right into the ground. And you actually PAID a consultant for this redesign????
Yes, the circulation of most newspapers has declined in recent years – but the AJC has lost more readers than almost any other paper. Who is responsible and accountable for this subpar performance?
Since you stopped delivering to Athens I have no idea what it looks like. Why not publish a picture online so those of us who have been cut-off can have a look. I have been a reader from back when the Journal and Constitution were seperate papers. You certainly no longer “covers Dixie like the dew.”
Apparently, your testing failed, based upon the majority of comments here on this blog. While I appreciate that you, Ms. Wallace seem to brush off the very people who care about this newspaper — the actual Readers, and defend instead, your testing and your focus groups.
That is, in an of itself, a sad statement about the approach of this new editorial board. If I wanted “newsiness” I can watch the Daily Show. I don’t want NEWSY, I want NEWS.
My head is still hurting from my attempt to read the AJC’s new format. The font is so light and so tiny it is virtually impossible to read without a magnifying glass. I found the colors to be annoying and not even remotely close to a true representation of the real world. I understand the need to cut back in order to survive, however, you have shrunk the paper and its content to the point where we as consumers now need to decide whether the AJC in its new format is really worth the price of a subscription.
Hey folks … the masthead is on page 2 and highlights management, delivery and advertising information. The flag, or nameplate, is the banner at the top of page 1. I agree … the new flag is quite a change – I think I would have gone with The AJC, saving space and developing the brand around “The AJC.” Fonts are a funny thing – you drop the point size to allow for more ’story’ and people complain. You increase the point size and folks complain that the stories don’t have enough meat. Both fonts are fine, it’s the size that may be an issue —maybe a little adjustment on the size of the sans serif Boomer font is needed.
I encourage readers to look at content, not just the packaging … we’ll get used to the new style and color. I remember being shocked when the NYTimes added full color – now it’s expected. Good luck to the AJC staff — please continue your focus on content — we’ll all get used to the new look.
I find it hard to believe a high-priced consultant made these type and color choices. The nameplate is clunky, the heads look like blown up body type and the body type needs multiple adjustments. Many of my design students could have served you better. For free.
First of all, I am not impressed with the looks on the weather page. It doesn’t look very professional. Secondly, I always look to see what the weather will be in Pittsburgh, Pa. because that’s where my 88 year-old mother lives. Now you neither show it on the map or include it in the list of U.S.cities. This is very disappointing.
I’m disappointed in the new format. It looks too much like a small town local paper that carries the “cat up a tree” kind of stories. The look betrays the quality of the content. You have fine writers and lots to write about, but that doesn’t matter if someone is too embarrassed to be seen in public reading it. On a positive note, I do like your web site and visit it frequently. Despite being a boomer who still loves the tactile activity of reading a “real” newspaper, I’m afraid this new format has me longing for the digital version. I can’t tell you how sad it makes me to see one of America’s great cities be without a kick-ass daily newspaper.
You said that thousands of readers guided you to the product we hold today and that an “award-winning design firm” was hired to come up with the new format. My opinion is that AJC needs to ask the firm for a refund. It is absolutely horrible, everything all squished together and extremely difficult to read. My boss said when our subscription runs out, he will most likely cancel.
I wish I can say I am a Reader in Buckead but I can NOT read the paper!
Font is too small and too light. Stories have NO content!
I was a 40 + year subsrciber: when the subsription runs out, I am gone!
USA Today, here I come !!
(One good thing : at leastTerence Moore is gone, maybe we will get double lucky and he will stay off channel 2 as well!)
I like it.
For a person with bad eyes, the new font makes a world of difference.
The smaller pages are easier to turn.
The verticle briefs columns are more reader friendly.
The Business Section will likely draw more readers as part of Section A.
However, soy ink and recycled paper do not eliminate delivery trucks.
Newspaper enthusiast, interesting you suggested that the nameplate might have used AJC. That’s what we will do on Sunday. We tested it with readers and they preferred to have the full name during the week and the AJC brand on Sunday, which they said was an appropriate time for a more relaxed look.
A single spaced 8.5×11 sheet of paper could also be called “modern classic”. Your new format is uninviting and unreadable. Stop writing “guides” on how to read this paper and simply publish what worked for decades. I’ll give it a chance, but not for long. Ms. Wallace writes it may take a bit of adjustment; my adjustment may be to unsubscribe.
As a former, 32+ year, employee of the newspaper I am going to make a few comments. I learned to read with the Atlanta Newspaper. And I did read many papers over the years, pasted them up and created ads for it.
Don’t try to change your look. Make the paper familier. The type should be legible for old tired eyes. If one cannot see — one won’t read. Use a font that is legible and readable.
I have not seen the new look. But really? Lime green for the sports section?
Oh yeah. It seems you have let all the good people with many years of ink flowing through their blood, you let the life of the paper go. And kept many of the people that consider the AJC “just a job”
Have you thought about this??
It’s incredibly hard visually to find a story after the jump. There’s just too much text that’s not broken into any kind of sections for the eye. I’ve redesigned web sites in the past, so I know how critical people can be of anything different. I try to be very careful not to fall into that trap. But I’m disappointed with your redesign. It looks like a low rate college newspaper. I love you guys and want you to stay in business, but this isn’t going to help.
We are 7 day a week subscribers and enjoy the AJC. The new format is fine, however; the ink comes off on your fingers and you have to wash your hands after reading the paper. This was not a problem with the prior paper.
Thank you,
Sad, sad, sad. We moved to Atlanta from a city with a fine, respected newspaper, The Washington Post, but have subscribed to the AJC since then because we both like a print edition. But in recent months, the AJC has been losing relevance daily. The Social Butterfly is a perfect example–who really cares about a bunch of wealthy socialites going to parties? (Well, I guess they do — hope they’re buying enough advertising to make it worth your while.) It’s a throwback to the 50’s. It has NO relevance to my life, but at least you had Luckovich, who gave the paper some national credibility, and decent comics. Now Luckovich is gone along with most of the comics I want to read. Everything else is available elsewhere, better. The paper has been getting slimmer and slimmer and the content less relevant. Today’s paper was an embarrassment–unreadable, flimsy, cheesy. USA Today (McNews) is looking pretty good in comparison. The lady who’s using it for her lizard’s cage won’t have enough for even one decent cagelining but at least it will be in the appropriate place. I will read the Post online–I certainly won’t go to the AJC for anything but the store coupons. What’s the point? If I have to go online for news, I may as well read a better paper. Sorry. RIP.
My 85 year old Grandmother doesn’t do anything until she reads (and sometimes re-reads) the AJC. She was very disppointed this morning with the smaller format claiming that it was much harder to read.
I completely understand the change but do see the difficulty for my Grandmother.
Let me count the ways this redesign is terrible:
1. It’s ugly. It’s a jumble of overlapping headlines, uninteresting photographs and garish colors.
2. It’s dense. There’s only one, tiny picture above the fold on the front page. My eye doesn’t know where to look, except away.
3. It’s retro in the worst possible way, like something from the pre-computer 1980s.
4. The colors on the inside sections are atrocious. Lime? Teal? Wine red?
5. The flag is dopey. The font of “The Atlanta Journal-Constitution” looks like the font for a small-community news pamphlet or a child’s art project.
6. It’s small, 32 pages, including comics and ads.
Times are tough, AJC, but have some dignity. This is a Frankenmonster of stitched together bad ideas.
Deanna, I agree with you. The reason we are all so upset is that we love the AJC and we WANT the paper to succeed. But this, well, this is the death knell. Likely, the circulation losses will accelerate, and within 18-24 months, the AJC will not be viable. People vote with their dollars, and when you put out a bad product, you lose. Look for web-only by early 2011.
I do not like it AT ALL. The print appears to be smaller and the lines closer together. It is not attractive and if I saw it in a news stand I would not be inclined to purchase it.
Can you justify letting all your arts critics take a bailout? I can’t believe that freelancers will do a better, more thorough job of covering the symphony and art in Atlanta.
If you’re trying to emulate a successful newspaper, USA Today isn’t it.
I would have chosen instead the more credible look of The New York Times, which does a masterful job of conveying it’s look in a consistent way for both print and online versions.
No matter whether you’re reading print or online versions, you know without question it’s the New York Times.
The AJC is a big city paper. It should look like one!
C’mon Julia, just listen to what folks are saying and thank them for their feedback. Reflect on it, go to a local Starbucks or Waffle House and actually talk with some people – then respond. Your admonishments and focus-grouped-blather continue the arrogant tradition of Cynthia, and we’re all a bit tired of it.
I think in this economy, it was quite prudent to have high school newspapers editors consult for free on this one. Hopefully, the actual journalism will remain more professional.
A NEWSpaper should be just that – NEWS! News of today and Here. National interests that affect EVERYBODY Should be on the front page with leader paragraphs only And Important State then local items in the the first section….
And
Like the oath required of All Other Official Witnesses to any event – The Truth; the WHOLE Truth; and nothing but the Truth. The AJC has neglected these concepts for decades. Why should I buy strictly propaganda that I cannot regard as truthful? (Yes, I know the that meaning of ‘propaganda’ has nothing to do with truth).
For example…
Who have the Italians hired to protect their civilian fleets?
Why is voter fraud only prosecuted where there are paper ballots?
What do ALL Terrorists have in common?
What is the truth about ‘profiling’?
The TRUTH folks is NOT in the AJC.
The ONLY reason I would even buy the weekend edition was for the tv supplement. Even though there were errors it was a simple to follow and cheaper than $4 TV Guide. Now you don’t even have that! What you do have only covers to 22:30 hrs.
Good luck in you new look….. but like the saying goes – “Looks are only skin deep”.
You gonna have to start telling the whole truth and for a loooooooonnnngggg time before anyone will rely upon you again.
I along with many others can’t comment on the “new look” since we no longer are able to read the print version in Athens and many other communties. But as a former (not by choice)30 plus year subscriber/reader of the AJC, It sounds like from what I am reading, that might be a blessing. Thanks for the memories!
After reading so many other comments that I agree with, I do not know what to say, except horrific and terrible. Too much extreme makeover all at once with what appears less content. I was recently thinking of cancelling my weekday subscription and this surely has helped me with that decision.
RE: AJC issued 4/28/09: Columns under heading “Welcome to your new AJC”, the print is dark and easy to read, but under the “Redesign FAQS” column the print is lighter and therefore HARDER for me to read! Why do you switch from dark to light print (makes no sense)! You did the same thing on Page B2 (upper part of page is dark print but the Vent is LIGHT print and harder for me to read. Get rid of the LIGHT print! I am 62 years old. Since the AJC is so much smaller (fewer total pages) I certainly hope your subscription prices are going to decrease accordingly! Another thing I like in the AJC TV Schedule is that you color the movie information that is listed throughout the Schedule. This helps greatly when I’m looking for a movie only; I can quickly skip through every else and only check out movies. Great idea!
I was anxiouslky awaiting delvery of my todays’s paper to see the new look…I=’m sorry to tell you that you did not give thought to the older subscribers….I’m soon going to be 78…I think I started subscribing to the paper around 1956, and trust me, my eyes were much better then. I pride myself on the fact that I had implants in 1998 and continued to read both papers and magazines without a problem. The “new AJC is not acceptable in my book….the print is entirely too small! I realize you’re suffering with the economy too and you’re cutting back on areas I love the most…..I re-newed my subscription in Jan. (?) but will honestly think long and hard about what I’ll do next year…. I had to share my disappointment with you!
Not good. But it’s probably your plan to do away with the print edition entirely during the week anyway. With the redesign, people will no longer buy it or subscribe to it, which will help you be able to say you were forced to stop the print edition. I’m so sorry this has happened to papers throughout the country. Sad days for journalists.
Who cares what it looks like. If Luckovich is actually gone, the respect and class of the newspaper just rose about 1000% and improved beyond what any consultants, focus groups or marketing firms could do. Excellent job.
Whiff!! Phew!!! And that with a nod to knowledge that change is hard to accept.
If you are trying to hold on to your older readers (who else reads newspapers anymore?), this won’t do it. I have read newspapers avidly since WWII in several cities. Now that I am retired, nothing I like more than to have a second or third cup and read the paper. Finished it this AM before the first cup was gone.
You have heard enough about the size, appearance, type, and the like from the 100+ who commented before me. Consider this an echo for most of the criticisms. Add this one – color ads or pics bleed through the cheap newsprint and make the text on the other side harder to read.
My principal dislike for the new version is not format, although I find it unpleasant for reading. I am not pressed for time so much that I want my news in “sound bites”. If there is something of interest, I want more than one or two column inches. A casual perusal of your first new edition goes something like this: Front Section – 12 news stories – rest sound bites and ads; Business – one page of stories and one of sound bites; Sports – 3 pages of sports coverage, five pages of car ads.
My biggest heartburn with the AJC, however, is the invoice I received last week. I pay quarterly for my subscription. The rate was increased over the previous quarter by 55%!! No advance warning – not even a note inside the invoice envelope with any sort of explanation. Your timing is impeccable.
I dislike getting my news seated at my computer, but internet here I come!
Upon entering my driveway from my morning run, my first thought was, “Is this a joke?” All the way down the sidewalks of my neighborhood I kept repeating the same phrase. I’m a native Atlantan. We received the Constitution and the Journal (my mom loves newspapers). My dad reading the paper to me as a baby led to my fascination with words and news. I’ve grown up with the paper. As a writing instructor with a penchant for AP style, I overlooked those glaring errors and used those mistakes as teaching and coaching moments for my college students. I’m so glad I ended my journalism class yesterday because the tragedy that is this new design would be the focus of our discussion. I thought I would be in the minority about how awful the paper looks. I’m so glad to see that others are echoing my sentiments. I realize there will be those who are happy with the new direction, etc., but as one writer wrote, this is the nail in the coffin. It seems as if this paper is now designed for those who need pretty pictures and colors to help them understand the content because the big words were hard. Here’s a word those folks should be able to understand: Yuck.
I am impressed with the investment that you are making in your future AJC! I like the color and I look forward to seeing the new Sunday paper. I am surprised to hear everyone complain that the paper is hard to read considering people seem so willing to read off a Blackberry or laptop screen.
Brad Nelson writes: “Jagged-edge columns, poor organization, terrible graphics, and probably THE ugliest flag/nameplate of any large daily newspaper . . .”
The reason for the “terrible graphics” is because they laid off their entire art department! Way to go, AJC.
Its hard to hide the truth when a newspaper is circling the drain. Changes in font and color don’t mask the minimal content and reduced circulation due to severe budget cuts.
Hopefully a conservative paper will rise from these ashes to take the role as Georgia’s paper of record and we can finally be done with this dance.
The new format looks cheap, and the smaller size feels skimpy. Newspapers are supposed to look dignified, signifying the importance of the news. I read alot of news online, but when I pick up a newspaper (I’m a seven-day subscriber to AJC) I want it to be a traditional experience. Call me old-fashioned, I guess I am.
It wasn’t the recent reduction/combination of several sections in the Sunday paper recently that helped me know that my decision to stop the daily AJC was wise. It was the obligitory Coca Cola story on the front page. As a life-long daily newspaper reader (and a freelance journalist for several newspapers not including the AJC) my growing frustration with the paper has been content–or more correctly lack of content. While the AJC has eliminated excellent, informative sections such as Atlanta and the World, the Sunday features section (can’t remember the name), the religion section and now has combined Sunday sections with less and less of interest to read, the paper no longe provides the reader with a broad spectrum of what is happening in the world. With the elimination of international reporters, regional and state reporters and now the reduction of the daily newspaper to an anemic headline service, the problem isn’t so much the jarring design as the lack of usable content and the absence or credible news judgement.
While the Associate Press moves around 1,000 stories a day, the AJC ignores most of them while providing the daily obsessive coverage of Coca Cola, Delta Airlines, upscale housing developments and rap stars. Unless the word Atlanta is in a story from a news service the AJC ignores it. Instead, each day we are fed the same old stories about the same old subjects without giving us any understanding of the broader world that we need to know what is going on.
That’s why I gave up on the AJC daily and subscribed to USA Today as well as the (now weekly) Christian Science Monitor and Guardian Weekly. I get the weekend Atlanta papers only because USA Today doesn’t publish on Saturday or Sunday.
I have little sympathy for the declining circulation numbers of the AJC. Fewer people are reading it because there is less to read, there is no depth and the newspaper itself has decided to focus only on Atlanta and ignore the rest of the world and leave much of the state without a metropolitan daily newspaper.
Oh, by the way, tf you think this design is bad, you ought to see the new Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. That design makes the new AJC look like the New York Times!!!.
Most of the comments are about the font and design, so let me linger with these for a while. The look of my newspaper took me aback this morning as well. I’ve been a reader for more than 30 years and have become familiar with each version of the newspaper we’ve produced over the years, but it’s hard to adapt. This kind of feedback is important, and believe me, we’re listening. But I’d ask for a little forbearance. I was at my dentist’s office this morning – to say he’s an avid reader is an understatement – and the office was buzzing over the larger type. So, people react differently, and we have to take that into account. The best analogy I can make about the type after being with it for a while is that it’s kind of like getting a new prescription with your glasses. You should wear them a few days before concluding they aren’t working. Our experts tell me that the font isn’t small and that it’s “optically bigger.” We’ll get something more detailed from them later. On a few other points, we never really looked deeply at USA Today as we prepared prototypes, but our paper is indeed using color to help navigate the paper. There isn’t less content than you would find in recent Tuesday newspapers. The paper is designed to carry more news content – not infinitely much like the Internet – but all that we can fit in the space our business allows. In some ways, Tuesday wasn’t an ideal to launch the new design. But the newspaper will grow during the week and be pretty impressive by Sunday. On the color selection, we spent a fair amount of time on this, and these colors worked well with the readers we tested. The color on the sports section was just about the best we could do while avoiding colors used by local sports teams. I suspect UGA fans would be displeased if we used gold, and Tech fans would be unkind if we went with red. What’s a newspaper to do? It would also be helpful if you would point out some specific aspects of the redesigned newspaper that bug you. It’s hard to respond to “It’s USA Today,” or “I can’t read it.” Anything more specific helps. It’s interesting to me that we’re not hearing much about the stories themselves – the content is what really matters, isn’t it? This newspaper is important to us all – certainly, it is to those of you responding with passion – and we are listening. I’m assuming you want us to succeed.
It’s like a small town paper. I’m 60 and the print is just a blur it’s hard to focus on one artical.The sports has forgoten the rest of the nation especially during collage football season. They say size doesn’t matter but your circulation just got one smaller.
I had to struggle to read the faded and compact print in the new version of the paper this morning — and the red ink is simply impossible. One of the small pleasures of retirement is to have time to read the paper while I eat breakfast, but I simply couldn’t see it today. (Yes, my eye prescription is current.)
I will try to adjust to the changes, but …
Please reconsider the choices regarding visibility.
If Atlanta is the capital of the South, it deserves a newspaper of the same status. The new AJC looks like it came out of Jackson, Miss or Baton Rouge, LA — not a city that is supposed to be the standard-bearer of our entire region! Disappointing.
Bert — to your follow up post, we’re not commenting on the stoires because nothing is new. Today’s paper looks like a style change. The AJC was already struggling for enough content to fill its pages after previously abandoned in-depth, national or international reporting. Neighborhood papers now do a better job covering what matter to local readers than the AJC.
For those who subscribe to a newspaper as a means of rapid access to adverts and wire service copy, the new format is brilliant. For those who want more Fox-news like editorials, the editorial changes are refreshing. The rest of us are sick of heart about the changes to a great paper, and wondering why we should continue to subscribe.
Do not like it AT ALL. It is about the size of the local newspapers that are thrown in our driveway for free. Print is really small – I am not a senior and I even find it too small. Very “cluttered” pages. Have been a subscriber for many, many years but when our subscription runs out, will not renew if paper stays this way.
This is a sad, sad day for me as I grew up reading the AJC. I have been a subsciber since 1971, and I am sitting here now pondering whether I should let my current subscription expire or just ask for a refund right now. This morning’s edition took me about 15 minutes to read. The only people this new version could possibly appeal to are the people who now read your paper for free on their computer. Also, what is going on with no sports reports for events happening after 7:00 P.M.? What are you going to do this fall when UGA has a night game? This has the look and feel of a cheap knockoff of USA Today. There was absolutely no depth to any of the few stories that weren’t taken from the wire services. Please, please swallow your pride and give me back my newspaper.
Ken: Thanks. This is thoughtful feedback. Here’s the problem we have: We could have continued producing the newspaper we produced years ago – including Atlanta and the World, Horizon, etc. – but that would mean that we would be out of business in a few weeks. I’m not sure that’s a strategy that does anyone a lot of good. Our business simply won’t support a newspaper of that size. So, we’ve tried to adjust to match our resources. Sadly, this is a business, and it must make a profit. This isn’t easy, and it isn’t satisfying to anyone. But we must be able to sustain the newspaper. We believe there will be a place for a printed newspaper in the media landscape for a long time, but it can’t be the same newspaper. We aren’t “circling the drain,” as one blogger put it, but we would be if we didn’t change. Having said that, I believe we can produce a newspaper that provides unrivaled local coverage and a smart daily news report that includes world and national news. We retain a big newsroom – the biggest in town – and have beefed up our capacity to produce watchdog and investigative reporting. That will pay dividends to our community. I’m not sure I understand or agree with your complaints about the way we cover Coke or other business institutions. If you have seen a story on our front page in recent months that you believe didn’t merit the play it deserves, then let’s discuss it. I also urge you and everyone else to ease up on some of these tired old complaints and take a fresh look.
Thank you all for your comments, especially those who’ve offered constructive criticism even while acknowledging the hard work that went into this. We feel like we’ve just given birth down here. And Sunday is still ahead!
I just want to jump in and give you some more information about the typography. Even though we’ve tested and retested all aspects of the typography with reader focus groups, I expect we’ll still need to polish out a few rough spots in these early days out of the gate. So your feedback is welcome! Please be as specific as possible (give page numbers, sections, etc., so we can take a look ourselves here). Believe me, we’re sitting here poring over all the feedback and taking all the comments to heart. We wouldn’t have made all this effort to engage readers and then stopped listening today.
I’ve included links below to give you more information about our font choices. I feel really good about Publico, the primary font used for text, headlines and nameplates. We licensed the commercial version for both Publico and Boomer and had each company add or tweak some of the individual characters and letterforms to suit our needs.
The new body text is visually bigger than the body text we used before, but yes, it’s set tighter. This redesign was first about supporting the news and presenting a newspaper that feels serious and newsy. Boomer (get it?), our sans serif was designed originally for AARP and is in wide use now around the country in newspapers and magazines.
Tacky. More and more changes, smaller print, difficult reading and somebody forgot to put the living section in our new paper this morning. What color is that section supposed to be? Go find yourself a paper from say pre-2000 or even more recent than that, even pre-2007, and you’ll find yourself a paper worth reading. Every year the subscription price goes up, every month (lately) we’re getting less and less for our bucks.
Some readers asked about Mike Lukovich. He had a day off yesterday. His cartoon returns tomorrow. In addition, we will be using more syndicated cartoonists, so if you have favorites from other publications, let us know who you like.
Whoa! Not much I can post that hasn’t been said here already. I liken the “redesign” as the final kicks and twitches of a downed and dying deer after being struck by a hunter’s arrow in the right shoulder blade. Besides, none of the reporters I’ve come to know and trust over the years are there anymore. So it’s pointless to even pick up a daily print edition.
I am impressed with the changes. Media needs to evolve, to satify the core readers and attract the new.
I’m sure that much research went into this redesign to satisfy the needs of the core and the new.
The newspaper is a staple with me along with ajc.com. My concern is editorial content and if readers are more engaged, that will satisfy advertisers, which ensures the existance of the paper.
New design is horrible, looks like a weekly published in someone’s garage…totally lacks the credibility, quality and the appearance of what is supposed to be a major market newspaper. Good luck with the “hip” new AJC, you’re going to need it.
Where is Julia? Per her comments in today’s paper, Julia shared the following “vistors to ajc.com/conversations will hear from our design leaders, watchdogs editors and others who make decisions about what goes into the paper.. we want to hear from our readers… we’ll answer your questions and listen to your feedack”
With all the negative comments listed you would think we would have been provided additional feedback from the AJC staff on their decision to completely “revamp” the newspaper causing it to lose touch with its daily readers… did your group REALLY think this decision out!!!
I have to believe everyone within AJC has their eyes peeled to these comments and now are hanging their heads..
All of the readers would really like to see a comment posted from Mike Joesph ( President and GM of the AJC), Doug Franklin the Publisher, Robert Eickhoff Circulation, etc…
…step to the plate Senior Level contacts within the AJC.. you are the ones who made these decisions to drastically change todays edition..
If you don’t response quickly you will continue to lose your daily subscribers.
Anyone else feel the same way? Let’s hear from the AJC Senior Management on this debacle..
You asked how we liked the look, and then complain about the answers you get, when they are unrelentingly negative. So Bert, here are some comments about the content – there is very little to comment on. You have lost your art and music critics, your sports columnist, and your business columnist, all of whom were multiple award winners. Now, you print stories that are either a brief recap of events, with no analysis, or involve no investigative work whatsoever. This is not journalism, it is a clipping service, and I expected and wanted more. Getting defensive about poor selections is not going to weather this storm, and I recommend you learn from the New Coke experience – they too attempted to defend their decision in the face of criticism by emphasizing how many focus groups, marketing surveys et. were involved. At the end of the day it did not matter. People did not like their new product, and were not going to buy it. They changed back. Consider going thou and doing likewise.
Hey, Shawn, Will and Bert, how about actually listening to what people are saying, rather than defend your mistakes. Your Focus Groups let you down, and you are driving away more customers (after dumping a who;e bunch of us through decreased circulation. The AJC is in a death spiral, and your changes are only facilitating the demise by driving away loyal readers. Sad.
Some insight for AJC publishers — Maybe I am one of the rare ones, but I cancelled my AJC subscription long ago and replaced it with the New York Times. NYT costs me more than $50/month, but every day I find something new and insightful that challenges my thinking. The content is bigger — MUCH BIGGER — than Atlanta’s parochial interests. There may not be many premium print readers left, but I think I’m the print subscriber your losing — the ones your advertisers love. I can only image that losing more readers with six-figure incomes with broad, global views and instead catering to a more narrowly focused audience will ultimately will lead to the end of the AJC in print. I always loved the AJC but somewhere along the way you fell out of love with your readers. That’s why I now cheat on Atlanta with the New York Times.
The new AJC is horrible! The only change I don’t mind is the narrower width. I hate the mixed fonts, the choppy layout and the pastel colors that distract from the type. It looks garish, cheap and difficult to read. It’s bad enought that you have omitted many features but to present what you do have in this format is baffeling! If this is the future of printed newspapers, no wonder they are failing.
Bert, if you will give us some content, we will comment on it, but there is a disturbing lack thereof. You guys asked for comments, and then can’t stand the heat. Get out of the kitchen.
B., may I call you B? Mike Luckovich is upstairs in his office, working on a cartoon, one hopes. Commentators are by their natures biased. That’s why we run them on the opinion pages. If all goes to plan, we will have commentators with varied viewpoints that should expose us all to opinions we dislike. The goal is to strike a balance. Let us know if you believe we fail.
I also agree that the new paper looks a little cheap (Bert, i am taking you up on your challenge to give it a week). But, i guess i can get used to it. What is worrisome is that it seemed like the focus was on the look rather than the content. One of the most widely read “publications” is the drudge report. that is as basic and unflashy as you can get, but people read it because the focus is the content. reading the stories today, they seemed a little shallow, as some other posters have mentioned.
i dont know, maybe i was a little taken aback by the look, but i hope not.
This is SO EMBARASSING. I cannot believe this is our Atlanta newspaper. Surely you will not continue to charge for this – it reminds me of the Weekly Reader from fifth grade.
Also – can anyone over 50 be expected to SEE the words?
Man, People are letting the AJC have it. I like the narrower format and the colors. Other than that It’s garbage. I’m in the process of getting my manager to cancel our subscription.
Julia, I’m sorry, I can’t agree with your assessment. The font IS very hard to read. Maybe if it was made darker it would help. I’m a 48-year old male who does not need glasses. I’ve subscribed to the AJC since 1994 when I moved to the ATL. So I’ve seen some AJC changes over the years and this one definately is the most radical and the worst, in my opinoin. Too much crammed in too tight columns and then chopped off to where I have to hunt for the rest on another page. And did you try to read the Baseball standings and scores in the Sports Section? Please. That is magnifyingly small. It’s sad to see these decisions and the inevitable demise of this paper. RIP…
The vagaries of the newspaper business are not the biggest problem for the AJC. As one of the ancients (50), I enjoy a newspaper immensely Unfortunately, there hasn’t been one printed in this city for decades. It is an embarrassment to live in a city with far and away the worst major daily in the country.
I’ve been a subscriber to the AJC since the late 70’s, starting with the Atlanta Journal. When I got my paper this morning, I’ll admit it did not initially impress me. It reminded me of a ‘poor man’s USA Today’. The colors did not seem crisp and did not appeal to me. I plan to review it side by side with the paper on Monday (4/27) and hopefully I can provide more insightful feedback later regarding the look.
Its pretty sad– a once great paper with a powerful progressive regional even national voice reduced to something resembling a small town paper with AP wire stories, feel good local features and little else– ATL does have plenty of folks that would actually appreciate local perspective on national events– yes, even movies… Where has the Arts and Cultural coverage gone for the 9th biggest metro city in the US?…
A once courageous editorial staff reduced to pandering to a perceived audience devised by some second-rate focus group ad men… Sad indeed…
I like your sports page. Fortunately for you it is the only game in town which is why I still keep my subscription. The rest of the paper is the same old drivel in a new format. The BEST news of the new format is the elimination of one irritating race baiter in the form of Terence Moore. Good job!
I am disappointed in the new AJC. I have been a 7-day subscriber since the ’60s, but this looks like the nail in the coffin as regards continuing as a subscriber. After reading the new edition in a leisurely 5 minutes (I used to take 30 mins or so, as I enjoyed the articles), I saw this section’s comments. Shawn McIntosh said his test group of readers liked the new format; he should have asked us.
I also subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, so I placed the two papers side by side. The AJC is narrower by 1″. The Publico print of the AJC is larger than the WJC print, and may have a little denser ink. Both have 5 columns across. Nevertheless, I love the WSJ, and can’t stand the new version of the AJC. The condensed sports section is too brief.
The business section is virtually non-existant. I think the Atlanta Journal-Constitution will not be publishing after the end of this year.
I’m sure the new design is to save money by saving on paper, but my idea has been to have a “local” insert in the USA Today paper. Keep their format, use your writers to fill that section. Have it printed together, save a ton. Don’t dismiss it too quickly. You may not have a choice at this rate.
Have not found a “front page” link on the web site to see the new look. Strange when you’re making such a big deal about it. Typical.
HP still wants their logo back. Like the new print edition design, you stole ideas from someone else and made it worse.
OK, given the current climate of the newspaper industry, I am just glad I still have my paper in the morning! It took me a couple of hours to really take it all in but now I like it. Change is not always bad, I think they made a thoughtful decision and great care went into it. Count me as a happy (and loyal) subscriber!
Thanks Brad for the screenshot. WOW, now I have visual evidence regarding the scope of this disaster. What a mess. I can’t believe that y’all actually thought this would work. WOW!
I’m not complaining about the answers, I’m asking people to be helpful enough to be specific.
I never expected to be praised for taking something as important as the AJC and changing it. I expected people to react this way. In fact, the newspaperman in me kind of enjoys the really smart, snarky comments. It’d be a lot more fun to be on the other side of this discussion. People love this newspaper. I love this newspaper. We all care and that’s why we’re here. On the art and music writers, we had to determine what we absolutely must do as a newspaper to maintain our core reason to exist. We decided it was local news as well as watchdog and investigative journalism plus a heavy focus on producing a quality Sunday newspaper. We didn’t walk away from arts, music and theater coverage, but we have had to find other ways. We retained Cathy Fox, Pierre Ruhe and Wendell Brock on a contract basis to continue providing a substantial amount of the content we know our readers love. We will be looking for other ways to provide this kind of content, and I hope you will stick with us to see some of our exciting ideas come to fruition. We have lost and gained columnists over the years and that process will continue. Without doubt, most of our stories in the daily newspaper are shorter than they used to be – that was true long before today. People have 15-20 minutes for the daily, so we have tried to take that into account. Yet, we still provide depth, particularly on Sunday. A few Sundays ago, we ran a story that ran 120 inches. It was a brilliant piece and it represents the best kind of work a newspaper can do. We’re not moving away from having aspirations of great journalism, but you will need to stick with us to see what I mean. We have added to our watchdog and investigative capacity and have focused some of our best reporters on stories that matter to metro Atlanta.
Sadly, the problem is too big for that. It’s a systemic problem. It started when the AJC allowed reader surveys and focus groups to dictate the appearance of the newspaper. This approach created an incoherent, disorganized, hodge-podge of styles. People wanted different things. Their requests were incompatible. The AJC tried to please everyone. It ended up pleasing very few people.
So go back to the drawing board. Create a unified, easy-to-read, aesthetically pleasing newspaper. All great news sources have clear visual identities, whether it’s the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal, the New Yorker or Time. The AJC does not. It did not before this redesign, but it certainly does not now.
So here’s my suggestion: Quit trying to please everyone. Create one identity that is smart, clean and accessible. Get rid of the Franken-paper.
1. Large print Advertisers will leave for good.
2. You cannot advertise your car for sale 7 days a week. WHY?
3. Instead of alienating everyone, hire someone to listen to what people and advertisers want.
4. Stop blaming the economy, the AJC is responsible for there own demise!
I enjoyed reading the comments about my former hometown newspaer. Twenty years ago, I was in journalism class when we went through AJC section by section. The professor talked about layout, print design, advertising spacing and continuity. He mentioned the importance of someone like Mike Lukovitch to establishing a newspaper’s prominence on a national stage. After reading most of the comments from current and former readers, as well as, feedback from the current AJC board, it seems they removed most of the positive aspects that made the paper a valuable teaching tool in Journalism 101. I am confident reader’s preferences have not changed in 20 years that marketing research would lead to a semmingly poorer product, right?
I posted my comment then read others. Interesting this blog is set in a ‘recent post first’ format, unlike this others.
Most comments seem to dislike the new format. Has the AJC considered an objective way to measure feedback of the format? I’m not saying the points raised are not valid but unless there are ‘counter points’ to consider, you may cause those that do not participate in electronic commentaries to be upset also.
I’ll agree with one of the comments I saw earlier. Ensure the content strikes a balance that will appeal to your audience, regardless of their political leanings. The AJC should keep an internal ’scorecard’, reflecting how they see the articles. One could be provided online to measure the AJCs perception with that of the reading community (realizing this could be ‘gamed’ also).
I also think the idea of possibly lowering the price of the daily paper albeit for a short period of time. This could possibly help by putting the paper into the hands of more readers thus having an impact on advertising sales.
What happened to the “Weekly TV” that use to be included in the Sunday paper. There was no TV Guide in my copy of the Sunday paper. The last revision to the TV guide that only appeared for a couple weeks was really easy to read and well formatted. The TV guide that is included in the daily paper only covers TV times from 8:00pm ti 12:00.
Longtime: Let me address one point. With this design, we have deliberately not tried to be all things to all readers. We focused on people who actually like newspapers, and accepted that a lot of people will never become regular newspaper readers. We wanted to rely on more than our instincts in deciding how to proceed, so we used research, which involved a lot of readers. People told us they want a newsy newspaper – hence the packed front page and focus on hard news. This newspaper is designed to be smart, clean and accessible. But it is different.
Overall, I like the new look. However, I agree that the font is too small. The political cartoon on the @issue page is so small I can’t even read the text. The box scores in the sports section also have me squinting. I LOVE a print newspaper and wish the AJC lotsa luck down the road.
Thanks Brad Nelson for the link to the front page on “another site”. I have one better for everyone.
Same site, but the front pages of 758 other newspapers. Everyone gets to look at how other newspapers design their pages as a comparison to ours. http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/default.asp?page=3
Bert, another thing, there really is nothing community driven, as your staff has been reduced because of money problems. why not give the public a chance to write for you. example, i am a non-employee of the AJC. i write about a story in my community and submit it to the ajc. if the ajc likes it, it gets published and they pay the person for their work. it has to be cheaper than having people on staff that do nothing other than just copy AP stories into the print edition. you can edit for content and grammer. the journalists in this paper just dont seem to be in touch with the community and, from the lack of actual investigative reporting, dont really seem to care. as long as they get their story in before the deadline, thats all they care about.
just think, you write about a murder, and then one day later you get an article from someone that lives next door that tells the whole story, what it was like on the scene, who the cops interviewed, what the victim’s family was like, etc. instead of reporting second or third hand accounts, you may actually get firsthand accounts.
yes, i agree that firsthand accounts can be skewed, but you are experienced journalists. i am sure that, when you want to, you can remove bias and inflammatory comments from a story.
As a member of the reader panel, I have voiced my opinion many times over the past couple of years that the AJC is committing slow suicide by doing away with the very reasons that people (used to) read the paper. The redesign has made matters worse. Reaction in my household this morning: “Eeeww…it’s tiny! These aren’t newspaper colors! There’s nothing to read in the Living section anymore. I can’t believe another longtime staffer is taking a buy-out! Now it’s harder to read -too much type in too small a space. Give me the “Wall Street Journal” so I’ll have something to read at lunch. I’ll check the headlines on Yahoo. Did you see the latest Food section? It was a total of 4 pages! Of course, that beats Sports, which is 3 today.”
I’m sorry, but by gutting editorial and encouraging longtime and respected staffers to head out to pasture, you have made this newspaper practically irrelevant. My father was a career employee for the Detroit Free Press; I worked for the AJC; my sister works for the Journal Register. All are sadly facing extinction as they eliminate the very elements that made the publications essential to people’s lives. I would never have thought that newspapers would become dinosaurs in my lifetime, and I am sad that my teenager, who has always loved reading the paper, will likely not have the option to do so as an adult.
While you lay off hundreds of workers here in Atlanta I’m sorry you thought you had to outsource design positions to Canada. It’s even worse that you so casually mention this fact like you’re doing so to bring us some wonderful new product.
Bubba: We’re talking about an idea not crazy far from what you describe. Let’s continue that discussion.
Also, I’m seeing a lot of people using links to see the paper. That’s cheating, and it makes me wonder just what kind of newspaper readers you really are. Go out and actually buy one at lunchtime and THEN comment. Besides, we need the 75 cents.
Lawrie: I’m interested. What do you see as the reasons people read and have read the newspaper? And the Wall Street Journal, fine newspaper that it is, will tell you little about what’s going on in metro Atlanta. Setting aside the design, what do you see as missing from this newspaper?
The redesign is a diasaster. The font is too small to read, the pages are too crowded, and there is no semblenance of “importance.” Everything on the front page appears to be of equal importance. If this doesn’t change, and soon, you’ll lose me as a subscriber. What a disappointment. A design closer to the USA Today would have been an improvement, but this looks like an amateur newspaper, not a major city daily.
I showed it to every one in our office today, and not a single person liked it.
I am part of the focus group that has worked hard on helping the ajc make the many changes they have made over the past year or so.
Some things we could give opinions on, others we were asked to rate, rank. Believe me, lots of times the AJC heard nothing but grumbles about what they had done. But overall, we were trying to help them become a newspaper that can stay afloat in this economy, that might draw younger readers to increase reader base, and that we, as mostly older readers would be okay with.
I have to agree that the font is very small, and I’m sure many people in the focus group will have something to say about that.
All I can say is give it a chance. Change is hard. We all like what we are used to. It does look different than yesterdays, and even though my input may have helped in some small way, I need to give it a chance myself. This time next week, if I still don’t like it, I will have a list of what is wrong. But I plan on giving it a chance.
The over 40 crowd just left the building, we cannot read the new AJC! Looks like the group your trying to appeal to are 1st graders. Just one problem, they have no money! Are you trying to go out of business?
HATE the new design. It’s awful, doesn’t look sophisticated or cosmopolitan, the way a city like Atlanta should present itself. Type is dated looking and hard to read. Maybe you should have hired a local design firm to redesign it instead of going to Canada. I’m a graphic designer and I’ve seen better work by far in student competitions. Not only did the design firm disappoint, but the editors and others who gave direction and approved it apparently have no taste either.
My first reaction to the new paper is that it has a small town cheesy look compared to papers of the past. In short, I don’t like the appearance at all.
We engaged Lacava Inc. a long before the recent staffing reductions and the two aren’t really related. Lucie Lacava provided deep, special skills that we needed to redesign the paper. We looked, but there are few firms on earth with Lacava’s experience and expertise.
Now it’s full circle for conservativism, via the Re8blican Party. A party that’s been marginalized to mostly the South now has its own newspaper organ, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It is depressing. Southern conservativism doesn’t represent me nor most of the people I know. I’m done reading the AJC.
Well I tried to be optimistic but my only thought is if I wanted to read USA Today then I would subscribe to that paper. I have hung onto my subscription because I am a print person but found the format difficult to read – couldn’t figure out where the “eyecatchers” were so maybe I would read the whole section. Feel sorry for those who pay for obits as now that family member is at the bottom of the Metro section. I’ll see where I am at when it’s time to renew – I have gotten and enjoyed my paper for a long time and have accepted changes with the comics, the other sections disappearing, and the TV guide almost disappearing because you can’t find it but the resemblance to USA Today is a bit much.
The internet. The economy. Change or die. I understand.
I also understand that the very nature of a forum such as this will draw out the negative. People do not clamor to say that “all is good.”
Still, I am sorry to say that i really do not like the redesign. The paper seems to have lost all personality. It feels utterly generic. The lack of hierarchy is a challenge. Without large images to draw my eye, it feels like a wall of text. The kerning makes the whole page feel overly crowded.
I am sad for the challenges you face as a company and industry. I wish you the best of luck. And i hope you are able to find a better solution than the one you are offering all of us today.
I’ll be the contrarian here. I like the new design for the paper. Comparing the three papers delivered to my house today (AJC, NYT, GDP), the font size in the AJC appears to be larger than the other two. Given the size of the news hole that the AJC currently has to deal with and that much of the format was rolled out prior to the redesign (e.g. community page, business in A section, etc). I think you did a fairly good job of packaging what was left. Your readers might want to compare last Tuesday’s paper with today’s — see how the same amount of news plays in both versions.
If there is an issue, it’s with the jumped stories, and the headlines used. For example, Page A1 Delta story says “Airlines continued on page A4″. Then, the A4 head says “Output pressures stock prices”, then “Airlines continued from A1″. Since the A4 head doesn’t mention airlines, it was hard to pick up that it was the continuation of the story, especially given the difference in point size between the head and the subhead.
I noticed that today’s paper finally picked up on the story of the mother killed in the Snellville parking lot is a brief item in the community section. The brief was credited to the AP. Yet, the lead story in today’s online AJC is a staff-written piece with much more detail.
Finally a comment on this blog — why are the comments ‘backwards’ — e.g. with the latest on the top of the page. That means I have to read from bottom to top to follow the conversation, and it’s much harder to refresh the page to see what had been added since I last visited.
OK, I will give my subscription one more week. I normally read the paper without glasses. But I had trouble doing that with today’s paper. I did not like the over emphasis on columns. The color at the top of the pages only seemed to accentuate the washed out look of the rest of the print. Even the colors seem washed out. I found it harder to find where stories were continued inside, as if those headings were more blended into the rest of the text instead of standing out.
It’s been said that some of General Motors problems are because their cars were designed by committees instead of stylists and engineers who were passionate about their jobs. I think the same “committee” design problem may apply here.
When I first saw the paper this morning, my immediate thought was it looked like a small-town neighborhood newspaper — bland and full of “filler news.” But I determined to keep an open mind. Now, I have read today’s paper and, for comparison, yesterday’s paper right after it. The difference in “reading discomfort” from the new design is striking. Although your comments on the new design said you wouldn’t “wear out our eyes,” that is exactly the feeling I get from reading the new format. The letters in each word are all crammed together, making it very tiring to read an article. I seriously thought I would get a headache from the eye strain. I appreciate what you think you are trying to do. But, from a long-time subscriber, you have more work ahead of you to make this a success.
Looked at the screen shot and it didn’t look too bad. The paper wasn’t delivered by the time I left this morning so I haven’t see in in person. My husband says that the paper is very small and difficult to read. He also complained about the ink getting on his hands. I hope that whatever new format you go to, it works. I love having paper in my hands to read.
The problem is less about design than it is about the quality of the news reporting, its scope and breadth. The paper is getting lighter and lighter in its coverage with less in depth coverage and more focus on celebrity news, entertainment and trivia. it is becoming a quicker and quicker read and one can come away from reading the paper without much in the way or hard news. No design will address the obvious commitment to superficiality and puff. Goodbye AJC.
I studied newspaper layout and design in the late 70s at UGA, so yes, I’m dated….however; this new style that was suggested by a Montreal design firm looks more like an explosion of fonts and a sea of grey type. There’s so much eye-clutter on some of the pages that one doesn’t know where to start.
It is understandable that due to the downtown in print popularity that sigfinicant changes had to be made to cut costs but I fear that beginning today you lost many more readers.
Some of us who live outside the magical distribution area have learned to live without the Sunday AJC fairly easily and my bet is that there will be many others thoughout our city who will not be inclined to renew their subscription or continue to purchase single copies.
I have been a 7-day-a-week subscriber to your newspaper since first moving to Atlanta in 1984, first to the Atlanta Constitution and then to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I’ve read the comments here about this latest refashioning, and agree with the negative ones. And I don’t at all care for your incline toward the conservative viewpoint lately. BUT I know that the AJC is making a desperate attempt to stay solvent so they can stay in business as a print newspaper. So please do whatever it takes to keep on printin’. I will subscribe till you fold ’cause I want to read the local news in newspaper form, not via the computer.
Maybe this will turn out like “New Coke”….you will realize that the original didn’t need changes and return the paper to its unique AJC look.
I understand the need for economizing with the content and departure of columnists/reporters, etc. But why change the look? The new look is a jumbled mess. The columns are crammed together, nothing stands out, and it has no personality. The font is not the problem…that is easy to adjust to. However, the crammed look is not appealing & doesn’t entice me to scan headlines & read further.
I have no doubt that the AJC spent a pretty penny on the “expert” design team as well as new equipment to produce the new look. Too bad….your money was not well spent.
This is what’s missing: In-depth coverage of local business, politics, arts; in-depth coverage of national and international news; in-depth coverage of sports; longtime columnists with respected and divergent points of view. Look at your paper 10 years ago, or at the WSJ, and you’ll see what “in-depth” means. Two or three articles that go beyond the front page do not classify as “broad coverage” of local issues. One or even a few paragraphs does not classify as “in-depth” reporting. AP feeds cannot capture or reflect local character. Sure, I can get through today’s paper fast, but I can get breaking news on the internet. I want to be fully informed, entertained, and educated by the daily paper, and that’s not happening any more.
I hate to say it, but one day we are probably going to cancel our subscription because we will come to the conclusion that what we’re getting at the foot of our driveway is not worth the money. My father would roll over in his grave, and it will break my heart. I realize advertising is down and competition is up, but with all your cutbacks, you are throwing out the baby with the bath water. I’d like to know what your current profit margin is. Far too many papers try to preserve unrealistic margins and end up self-destructing in their efforts to stay afloat.
The AJC just got shrunk, and we are mad as hell, etc.
Not only shrunk in size, but it content. In a newspaper, I like to read a well developed story, not a thumbnail clip. You have given up on the Business section, and I really miss the behind-the-scenes Sport Section stories, which are not there due to space limitations.
As far as the font size, your Publico is the same or maybe larger than the font in the Wall Street Journal, but your comment about “tightness” might be the difference. Mainly, it’s a matter of expectation: when I open my WSJ I expect small font, and I expected larger font in the AJC. The new soy-based ink washed out of my clothes easily. Your Sunday political cartoonists are pretty good, so stick with them.
My bottom line: not enough meaty articles, too much thumbnail.
Possibly I should not even be commenting because — after agonizing for months — I finally canceled my subscription to the AJC. The final straw was monthly increases in the subscription price, which was automatically debited from my credit card, with no previous notification about the increase.
And, by the way, when I called to cancel, I was connected to a chirpy, cheerful young man who expressed not the slightest concern that I was canceling and cheerily asked, at the end of my call, if there was anything else he could do for me. Too bizarre!
Previously, I had been growing more and more unhappy with the AJC’s rubber-stamping of the DeKalb County School System’s highly questionable actions — with no attempt to follow up or investigate, even after documentation was handed to an AJC employee described as an education reporter. Unfortunately, this person was not among the AJC employees who were recently let go. That alone speaks volumes about the AJC’s future as a serious newspaper “serving” a major metropolitan area.
I wrote to the AJC weeks ago about these experiences and my concerns. I am still waiting for a reply.
I have seen the “new” AJC. What a come-down! and I say that as both an avid newspaper reader and a subscriber of more than 50 years, as well as a graduate of the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications. If I had not already canceled my AJC subscription, I would now.
Bert, I cheated and used the newseum link, because it would take me two hours driving to actually buy the paper. Looks pretty good to me. And who knew the Times-News in North Carolina was nearly 20 years ahead of the curve with all ragged right. Oh wait, maybe Lavaca did that redesign, too.
First, work on your colors, particularly the yellows. With the grayer, recycled newsprint and the blue/gray background on some columns they’re coming out a mustard color. The sun should be sunny yellow, not an almost spicy brown mustard color.
Second, let the sports guys stay up past 9:00 p.m. For the last several months it has been clear you’re “going to bed” earlier and earlier. It’s getting unusual to get any sports score for a game that lasted until 9:30 or 10 on the east coast, much less a score from any game west of Atlanta. If you must run shorter hours, at least run day after summaries – even a line score. You’re circulating in fewer and fewer counties – there must be some wiggle room (you could even make the sports section section D and insert it last.)
And, just because I can’t count and just thought of it, try covering more of the local teams. The Gwinnett Braves should get more than an AP afterthought. Hire some high school or college kid to cover them and run 6 inches or so an all of their games. Do the same for other “minor” sports in the region and see how much stronger your sports pages will be.
The redesign is what it is – and it’s way too soon to make much of a judgment. But, you can put lipstick on a pig and it’s still a pig. Good, solid coverage of local issues, decent coverage and analysis of national and international,and a clear editorial point-of-view (don’t try to be all things to all people) will keep the AJC alive until we figure out a non-print way to deliver the information in a timely and useful fashion.
And, one more thing – make the tiny effort to actually have the stories in the print paper correspond at least loosely with what’s on the web site. There’s nothing more annoying than going to the website to reread a story and discover the only way to find it is to scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the print edition link hidden away in the agate type.
Suggestions for alternate editorial cartoonists? Michael Ramirez. He would be a contrast to Luckovich in that 1) he can actually draw, and 2) is usually clever and often funny, whatever your politics. Luckovich is just vulgar and insulting.
I would like to mention that while there are many negative responses here, there are many more people out there enjoying the new paper rather than commenting negatively here. That is a big problem with the internet in general. The disgruntled are more vocal than the happy.
Anyway, I think the choice in new typefaces was a great one. Boomer and Publico are wonderful and feel very fresh. Their setting may however be a little smaller than it should be.
We recently cancelled our subscription after 30 years, the main reason is the far to liberal slant of the AJC. The new “LOOK” of the AJC just confirms that we made the right decision. We are just lucky to have the Marietta Daily Journal and the Wall Street Journal as an option to the printed news. Recently read that the AJC had a 20% drop in circulation in the past 6 months. Last one out the door PLEASE TURN OUT THE LIGHTS.
The worst redesign of a newspaper I have every witnessed . Yes, I agree the paper looks cheap. Ugly colors. Even worse, the paper is very hard on the eyes. Sorry AJC you just lost a loyal reader.
I chuckle at the few positive comments, they must be the remaining AJC employees trying to keep their jobs. It top management that just does not get it. Cox had better get someone qualified to save the AJC!
Aren’t you afraid that your obvious use of 2nd and 3rd graders to design and prepare the weather page will run afoul of child labor laws? It truly is an abysmal waste of ink and paper and basically insults the 4th grade mentality of your readership.
We’ve gathered a lot of great suggestions – as well as pure, unadulterated complaints – about the redesign. Both are important, and both now are part of our discussion. I do want to reiterate a couple of points. We’re not trying to shrink the newspaper or reduce content because we’ve somehow lost our minds. We are trying hard to provide you the best newspaper we can with the staff and paper we can afford. Because we believe in the special purpose of a newspaper, we are committed to making the AJC a success. I’ve been here 28 years, as a reporter, columnist and editor, and I have no intention of seeing it die on my watch. But, the quickest and surest way to kill the AJC is to ignore the business realities that bedevil us and continue on our merry way. Part of our assumption is that newspaper readers are informed and understand the real world in which we operate and that readers want us to survive. We know change is hard, but we believe this redesign as well as a refocused newsroom will help. The most important work we have to do is journalism, to produce the content that transcends any design or platform. We have a lot of challenges, but I want to assure you that we won’t lose sight of that. Now, I must excuse myself for a while and worry about Wednesday’s newspaper, but don’t stop the conversation on my account.
The look of the inside pages is very nice. I like the font you are using for body type. But the front page is –sorry to say this– terrible. Way too top heavy…why take up two decks with the banner And why do you have all these butting heads? The front page had absolutely no over-the-fold appeal. Of the four sections today, only sports had good over-the-fold appeal. Maybe today was just a bade day for the front page, but I thought it was realy, really dreadful. The saving grace was the appearance of those inside pages. Use of color photos is nice, but I think your spot color use in headlines etc. was a bit overdone. Remind your makeup people that less is often more. Having said all that, best of luck to all. It is painful seeing newspapers endure the challenges they have been facing.
I like that the new design is born out of a fundamental emphasis on making the newspaper for newspaper readers. That’s a really intuitive move and one that, I think, will pay off.
I cannot say when the last time I started the day without a neewspaper, and since 1990, the AJC has been on my driveway. That will soon end.
I feel the font is hard to read, the sports box scores and standings are way too small. I have mentioned before since you eliminated the business section, that the least you could do is put the closing results on the front page, but the lottery results are obviously more important to the readership. And, Terry Moore is gone in a cost cutting.
It will be very hard to start the day without the paper, but I may have to do it…the new AJC just looks and reads like fishwrapper a day too early.
The new format is poorly conceived and flawed in its design. Who are you trying to appeal to with these changes? Your print readers skew upward in age, yet you reduce the font size and “complement” those changes with a garrish color scheme. The new AJC looks like a high school paper or at best a small town rag.
I love reading print newspapers, and although so far I’m not crazy about the new AJC, I want to like it, I really do. So I’m giving myself time to get used to it. Content-wise, I don’t see that much has changed; I can always go online to get more in-depth coverage. But a couple of notes about the design: the denseness of the text does make it appear grayer and smaller – not good for this baby-boomer’s eyes, even with reading glasses. (And I would guess we’re much more your targeted audience than the younger demographics.) Also, when you look at the first page of each section, there’s just too much going on: it’s a confusion of color, typesize, shading, borders, and text. The eye just doesn’t know where to look first. This is particularly true of 1-A, and a little less true of page 1-D. Maybe it was more a matter of content just for today, but it seemed easier to skim the paper and spend less time with it rather than sorting through the muddle, and I’m not sure that’s the point. My 2 cents worth; I’ll reserve the full nickel’s worth until things shake out a bit.
I can’t imagine not having a paper delivered in the morning, but I’m going to find out. I found the paper this morning very hard to read without focus. Quite frankly, it looks like a cheap, local paper that goes directly into my recycle bin. If you stay with this format, you can count me out.
Hey Bert, you might want to give circulation a call and ask them how many people have cancelled their subscription. The staff is so overwhelmed they are begging for readers not to cancel.
It’s really sad that, as Julia Wallace said, you have “invested millions” in this new design. It’s also too bad that someone has convinced her that white paper is “wasted space.” Look at your own web pages. The negative space has always been a most important part of presenting the active space in any kind of design.
By the way, it is also more important for a newspaper to have a “voice” than to try to appeal to every single person. The people who hate your point of view are not going to love you just because you change your outfit.
Bert, you stated ‘We are trying hard to provide you the best newspaper we can with the staff and paper we can afford’. Well you obviously got what you paid for. And I don’t mean that in a nice way.
The font is hard to read, too small and crammed together. The paper is visually unappealing. Content is lacking, like reading a quick over view with very little depth. You actually get much more detail watching the local news on TV, which is not the way it used to be. I have been a subscriber since the late 70’s, not sure I will continue much longer. Really isn’t worth the price of a subscription anymore, with the contued shrinking of content. Extremely disappointed.
Consider me old fashioned … but I look to newspapers for in depth coverage and objective analysis of the news. And sometimes the occasional investigative report. If I just want a snapshot of today’s news then I already have several options available.
I understand your need to become relative and finanically viable. But use of focus groups and reader feedback often results in self fulfiling “findings”.
Changes in look and feel are not important to me, but changes in how the news is gathered and reported is. Those changes will only hasten the ultimate demise of the AJC because your core customer (like me) will have litthe reason to stay and potential new customers you will find little reason to subscribe.
After being taken to the woodshed by the overwhelming majority of respondents, I hope that you do something in response to the dissatisfaction that has been heaped upon you. Atlanta really does need a quality newspaper, I believe that you feel the same. However, this iteration isn’t it.
This morning I was distressed that my ajc was not delivered, and in it’s place was this cheap tabloid looking piece of garbage. Then I noticed the the title pages in the new hedious looking colors and realized this is no joke. All I can say are my first impressions are “cheap, cheap, and CHEAP!” The print looks cheap, the font looks cheap, the colors are awful. Since when is the sun on the weather lime green? This new look is not just distasteful, it’s truely awful. I can’t imagine the millions wasted on consultants and marketing geniuses to come up with this. Did anyone think to ask Coca-Cola about New Coke? Whatever shortcomnings existed in the content itself (and trust me, there are many), no one will even notice now because they can’t get pass the cringe reaction as this rag heads straight to the recycle bin. I’ve been considering cancelling my subscrition for some time, due to lack of good content. However, I have kept it because I do enjoy reading a paper in the morning, and at least the old version was pleasing to the eye and looked professionally produced. The product now looks like a middle school class project. I guess I should be thankful as this makes my decision to cancel an easy one – a no brainer.
The AJC overcharged for classified ads for so long, a monopoly cash cow that helped fund a bloated organization, that having competition from Craigslist, among other things, has caused it to actually make desperate changes to stay afloat. Unfortunately we don’t have another Atlanta paper to make for a competitive environment so we’re stuck with hoping they make the needed changes on their own volition. Whether we like the new design is only part of the big picture. We really do need a “good” local newspaper that provides investigative stories that make us think someone is looking out for us.
Hey Bert, cute comment about people buying the paper instead of “cheating” by clicking on the link and keeping 75 cents out of the AJC coffers. I would do that, BUT YOU STOPPED CIRCULATING THE PAPER IN SPALDING COUNTY, LESS THAN ONE HOUR DRIVE FROM DOWNTOWN. Sell the paper here, and I would try it out. However, the redesign still stinks.
Things are not looking good at the AJC…literaly and figuratively.
The design is tough on the eyes, is difficult to know where to begin to try to concentrate. Pages are far too copy heavy and it appears that concern for above the fold importance have gone with the wind..and the subscribers.
Sad, just sad..and to think a professional design firm contributed to this!
Just awful. Cheap. “More newsy, sophisticated”??? Sorry, it looks like something out of the 70’s. Like a small town circular trying to imitate USA Today. Or produced by the renown stylists at MARTA.
I have to say that while I have some significant issues with the new look, I am really appalled at the crass, rude, and downright cruel comments from many people here. I can’t recall seeing so many cheap shots in one place at one time. Advice to the editors: go home, have a drink or two and have faith that the sun will still rise in the morning.
I agree with Paul about the nature of today’s comments. However, I think most of us generally understand that newspapers today are having to adjust to the tightening market and economic conditions; many just don’t like the particular path chosen by the AJC. To me the passionate responses are a sign that a lot of readers really care about their newspaper and are feeling let down by it.
Yeah … I have got to agree with Paul. Many of the posts here border on outrageous and, for the most part, are not particularly constructive. AJC staff … chins up and put the pencil to paper, so to speak.
I get the Sunday paper and I am not happy with it at all. The comics are all mashed together and so small you can’t even read them. The TV paper isn’t even worth looking at. The font is too small and doesn’t fit anywhere. I really liked the other TV insert. It had a whole lot more information and was easier to read. I get the paper for the coupons but maybe I need to start using the Internet for them and cancel my subscription. It would save me money in these economic times.
I think Nancy’s “New Coke” comparison from a couple of hours ago is spot on. The question is whether AJC management can swallow its pride and undo this awful mistake.
Also on the mark was Longtime AJC Reader’s comments about reader surveys and focus groups (and I write this as somebody who conducts and uses a great deal of market research). It’s as though AJC management dumped all the research data into a blender and used the result as a substitute for decision-making.
The good news in all of this is that people obviously care about what you’ve done. If they didn’t care, they wouldn’t be bothering to provide all this feedback. On some level we all understand that newspapers play a unique role in our community, and I think a lot of us feel like we’ve been watching the AJC die a slow and painful death for some time now.
The talent drain over the past couple of years has been awful to watch, and I fear the AJC may already have passed its tipping point.
Bert Roughton asked for suggestions. Here are mine. Fire the research company (and the design firm) and rely on experienced journalists to decide what’s important and what’s not. Report the news. Raise hell. Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. And find a clear editorial voice.
That may not be enough, but at least you’ll go down fighting.
Unfortunately, my initial response is not too good. It looks like a poor man’s USA Today. I’m really sorry to read about the problems the AJC has been having that forced such cutbacks. I’ve been a marketing executive for Fortune 500 companies for over 35 years, so I look at problems such as yours from a marketing perspective. I’ve been a subscriber to the AJC for over 25 years, so I’ve seen the changes in format and management. Granted my observations of the AJC’s problems have been from a distance and are, at best, superficial, however that hasn’t prevented me from offering opinions in the past. For lack of a better way to describe it, it would seem to me that your target audience for the paper is the 100,000 or so people who live in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood. You seem to ignore the 2 million or so people north of the perimeter. You may not realize you are doing this, but I think you are. I continue to read articles writen by your local opinion writers that belittle the things that are important to those of us who live in the “northern donut,” as you refer to us. It’s no wonder that I’m one of the few people on my block who still subscribes. Incidentally, I just got my subscription renewal and you doubled the rates. I need to carefully weigh the costs against the benefits. Right now, you don’t look so good.
Where’s the Beef? As the lady in the Wendy’s commercial used to say. I used to be able to kill an hour reading the Sports page, now I am lucky if it takes me 10 minutes. If I only want the scores and short game recaps I can get that on any website. I would like to some some depth. Give me some articles. Let me know more, not less. The metro section takes me about 5 minutes. There is just no reason for me to read most of the very short blurbs. I would rather read a longer story about an interesting topic than the very few highlights of many topics. I like to read newspapers to get some depth to stories not the quick hit, that is reserved for TV news which only has 30 minutes.
My renewal is coming up and I was thinking of canceling my paper. It seems to get smaller and smaller every week. After seeing todays paper I don’t have to think, I know that I will not pay for the paper again.
While I generally applaud efforts to improve products, in this case the effort is tantamount to dressing up a decayed and fundamentally flawed product.
I suggest the editors and others at the AJC focus on improving content, not just on visual packaging. Your content is extraordinarily biased – it boringly and predictably follows a predetermined “spin” agenda. Moreover, using the term extraordinarily in terms of biased and agenda-oriented writing is intended to underscore the damning nature of the comment.
The AJC editorials have become the equivalent of a sophomoric blog for liberalism.
Nice try but I judge the makeover as a distant miss. Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, and you didn’t even get the chairs in an attractive arrangement at that!
I have subscribed to the AJC for over 30 years. We are extremely disappointed in the new look of the paper. It looks like something that would be published from a small town newspaper, except for the coloring. The print is so small you can hardly read it. It’s not very enjoyable reading the paper anymore, it’s more of an effort. It’s hard to find and read articles. Heaven forbid that I have to look for anything in your want ad section. I no longer think it’s worth paying the annual price to subscribe to your newspaper.
Good Lord there’s a heap load of whining on this message board. Surely some of these complaints will never be resolved unless the paper goes back to this (the ideal layout for the whining, one week from the obituaries demographic): http://www.springfieldlibrary.org/gutenberg/images/gutenbibl1.jpg
On the upside, from a purely aesthetic view, I think the new layout is very crisp, clean and easy to read. It’s a daily, so we all should be aware of the fact that the front page will always look different on a day to day basis. I think there probably wasn’t enough use of photography to contrast the page but it’s a great start to get a feel for the new layout. Good Stuff.
In one of Bert Roughton’s earlier responses to a reader’s comments he stated that “we focused on people who actually like newspapers”. I know that the AJC is in a down-word spiral (not a bad way of describing a shrinking publication) and hard choices have had to be made, but to make such a statement about what has been influencing the direction of the paper is disingenuous at best. The new format only exacerbates the problem. It is a big mistake – both unattractive and unpleasant to read.
But it’s the direction of the content that is really going to do things in. Ralph McGill would role over in his grave if he knew how the integrity of the paper is being decimated. To contend that the paper needs to have more “balanced reporting” is giving in to pressures that will destroy any chance of survival. Good reporting can show the good side of what is going on, but oftentimes it is hard edged, in depth and challenging. Certainly, it needs to be objective. With the exception of some of the editorial page comments – many written by other sources – and Mike Lucovich’s brilliant editorial cartoons, the paper is pretty devoid of any serious content. (I’ll also tip my hat to some of the writers on the sports page, a section of the paper I’ve always been drawn to.)
For all of those who are thinking of letting their current subscription expire and are grieving about the potential loss of reading meaty content in the print media, may I make a suggestion. Please consider changing your subscription to the New York Times. As an earlier commenter (DJL) said about the NYT, “every day I find something new and insightful that challenges my thinking”. It will cost you about $2 a day for a 7 day subscription, and you can pick it up outside your door just like with the AJC. The satisfaction in reading such a paper is very rewarding and you won’t have to give up your lifelong love affair with reading the newspaper.
I’ve been subscribing to both the NYT and the AJC for several months and, aside from the sports page and Mike Luckovich, there is no comparison between the two. The way things are going it won’t be long before I’m down to one newspaper – the one really worth reading, the one really worth trying to save.
How about making the content more readable and do this quickly? It’s such a basic concept…typeface should not be so heavy and text (line spacing) is too crammed. It’s actually painful to read. I enjoyed reading the paper before today! Also, the baseball standings are ridiculously minute. Please do a makeover.
I laughed when I saw the AJC’s new design this morning. I looks more like a high school newspaper or a hick town newspaper format. Atlanta is a big city want a be. The transportation system stinks and the city of Atlanta will never be a Chicago or a New York. I always said that Atlanta needs to fix its Transportation and water issues to be a city on par with Chicago or a New York. Now it has a third problem it’s newspaper makes Atlanta look like a hick town!
Also the leading might be a bit tight for the older readers as from what you are reading on the complaints. The type isn’t smaller than the previous version but the tighter leading is making the readers feel it’s smaller. And try using 6 columns at this width a bit more sparingly, there seems to be space for only 4-5 words before you need to move on to the next line.
Martin Guldner, I’m not sure if you’ve had the opportunity to see any publications outside of Georgia, this is the direction many international newspapers are currently taking. This isn’t a small town design by a long shot.
We have been thinking about canceling our subscription for several months and this may just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. The new layout may just take some getting used to but time will tell. One thing I noticed this morning in the new look was on the weather page. I always look at the 5 day forecast to see what you think is coming. It used to be pretty easy to read. Now there is a big cloud or sun or graphic with tiny text for the day and even tinier text for the projected high and low temperatures. Please assume that your readers can actually read and would like to see more text and do not need a big picture. Please place the day above the graphic in larger font and include the temperatures in larger font. These changes would make it easier to read, which is what I think you have claimed to be one of your goals. And thank you for getting rid of the picture of the day on that page that had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the page.
After being a 7-day subscriber for 29 years, this last renewal was probably my last. Forget colors and new mastheads… there is NO CONTENT! It took me exactly 3 minutes and 42 seconds to scan thru the entire paper hoping I would find something I hadn’t already read online somewhere. I hear Taps playing.
This newspaper needs to figure out two things. First, Atlanta is in a conservative state and, as such, most of us do not want a newspaper that is a liberal mouthpiece. Second, not every person in this state is fan of or even cares about UGA. Cover them, yes, but not at the cost of ignoring Georgia Tech so you can cover every time Mark Richt or Vince Dooley sneezes. Until this paper figures those two things out, I can assure you I will continue to not buy your paper. The only thing you will get from me is some pageviews.
Most of these complaints sound like Facebook users whining every time Mark Zuckerberg make a change to the layout. And after they get used to it and begin to like it, they complain when it is tweaked again. Please something constructive. Try running a newspaper in an industry that is falling fast. AJC is attempting to save something that you obviously love. I personally like the new design. Its not as bold as I hoped it would be (look to what is being done in Eastern Europe), but it is a step in the right direction, in form, aesthetics and economy. I like the new color scheme in regards to the different sections, and the borders between the the columns within an article. Overall, its a step in the right direction, considering the direction that a lot of papers are going nowadays. Please, be creative and innovative in this changing market.
I do not like it. It is hard to read and the type is too small. The colors are bland and do not add – it distracts. The colors need to be bolder. I think that I will just get my news online from hereon. The AJC is not worthe the money anymore. I don’t enjoy reading it anymore. It is too stagnant and biased.
As an avid reader of the AJC since the early 1990s when I moved to Atlanta, here’s my solution for one of the problems of the redesign. The eye naturally moves across the page when reading. The multiple columns force the eye to move down and makes the paper feel scrunched. Have some stories, such as the lead and the “below the fold” span 3-4 columns across, while other stories are confined to the vertical columns. This would help to break up the cluttered feel to the front page. The font could stand to be a bit darker too, if possible. For instance, the Vent was very difficult to read for some reason. Anyway, this is my 2Cents.
Bill: OK. I was trying work on Wednesday’s newspaper, but I must respond. I do read The New York Times; I read a lot of publications. I obsess over C-Span. I can’t help it – it’s my personality disorder. But, I’m not sure where you have gotten the impression from this redesign and focus on balance that we have diluted our commitment to journalism. Without any question, we will continue in the traditions of great newspapers when it comes to tough-minded work that challenges people and institutions in positions of authority. We have added watchdog reporters and are deeply committed to the kind of reporting you describe. To be balanced does not me being namby pamby. It means to make an accounting of the stakeholders in an issue and give a breadth of viewpoints in the work. In reality, it means good basic reporting and editing. It doesn’t mean that we will shy away from writing tough pieces or holding people accountable. Our reporters are smart, courageous and the match of anyone out there. My only request of you is to read us, particularly Sunday when we have the space and audience to be at our best. We’ve just gone through a substantial change here – I’ve had this particular job a week or so. But I believe we’re going to surprise folks.
Page A3: “Order of sections will be consistent. You’ll never have to guess from day to day what section will be where in the paper.”
Well since the AJC has been reduced to just four sections, that should be easy.
Also, it looks to me like the font size has been reduced in the few stock quotes that remain in the business section. Am I wrong?
Plus, with all the economic turmoil today, the AJC can only devote three pages to business news?
Wow, a week on the job. I feel for you, Bert. I know you guys are doing your best to save an important Atlanta institution. In spite of our almost unanimous opposition to the redesign, I know most people on this blog are pulling for the paper — and the reporters and editors personally.
Case in point. Look at the homepage on the web site. Headline: “Jeep that matched suspect’s seen near dirt trail”…yet when you click on it, there’s nothing in the story about sighting the vehicle at all. Typical web content from AJC.
The new layout is OK but for the first time I had to put on reading glasses to read the paper. I’m sure my vision hasn’t changed all that much since yesterday…. The new size and colors make it seem like a children’s publication — small and puny. We are getting so much less now, for the same or higher price. That model just isn’t going to bring salvation to the AJC….
You no doubt paid Lucie Lacava a large fee for the redesigned format.
You could have saved a lot of money by buying a copy of ‘The Washington Post’ and saying (repeat after me), “this is what a newspaper is suppose to be”. We are not asking for a ‘cutting edge’ newspaper, we are asking for a quality newspaper and you guys just don’t get it. Admit your mistake and start over. Didn’t you try the USA Today format back in the 1980’s, how did that turn out?
I have been subscribing to your paper for about 12 years. Even though I never liked some of your liberal writings I found some interesting writings, but this new format, especially the small gray writing and crammed format turns me off. I am seriously debating whether to cancel my subscription.
Are you kidding!! where are my magnifying glasses.I know a majority of your subscribers are of my generation(65+ ) We have been a subscriber for 29 yrs. but not for much longer. You have gone the way of the phone book which only our generation uses also. I guess it’s on to the free internet with our children (35 + )
Several people have commented on your goal of “balanced reporting.” “Balanced reporting,” as far as I’m concerned is a cop-out. It’s a philosophy straight out of Journalism 101. I’m not concerned so much with “balance” as I am with “truth” and “facts.” I daresay I’m older than most folks on this blog, but I remember when reporters used to dig until they had the facts and the facts were reported. The “facts” were also used as the basis for editorial opinion. Now, everyone seems to be satisfied with merely presenting “both sides of the issue.” Generally, one side is supported by the facts and the other side is lying through their teeth. A good reporter knows which is which. In my opinion, so-called “balance” is the cheap and easy way out. It’s not journalism in my book.
I’ve been a loyal defender of the AJC since 1991 and it pains my heart (and my eyes) to try to read today’s edition. Watching you manipulate the editorial stance to be a more “red-state” friendly publication is the intellectual equivalent of water boarding. Put us out of our misery and end it!
I posted my earlier comments without reading any of the others. Now that I have read many of my fellow readers comments, it appears the disgust is near unanimous. I am compelled to make one other point. The reason the “new look” appears so cheap and unprofessional is because it is. This is a bare bones cost cutting initiative, plain and simple. You insult your readers intelligence by spinning these changes under the flimsy guise of giving the readers what they want. The only focus group you apparently consulted were a room full of accountants tasked with deep production cost cuts. I’m sure your cost per paper is down significantly, but in a few short weeks your cost per subscriber will have gone through the roof as your readers bail out in droves. Is another cost cutting idea – do away with your news stands as most of them won’t be needed anymore.
I just keep saying it to myself…WOW WOW WOW. What an absolute joke. I know that Ms. Wallace and all the editors must try to put the best face on the new AJC and defend the design changes, but really, this is shockingly pathetic. Do the publishers REALLY believe that THIS is going to save the AJC, a once great newspaper, the voice of the South that “Covered Dixie Like the Dew”??? Jagged-edge columns, poor organization, terrible graphics, and probably THE ugliest flag/nameplate of any large daily newspaper in the nation. No offense to Lacava or any of the designers at AJC, but this must be the most ill-conceived redesign I’ve seen, and I’ve been watching alot of them across the country. Do you people NOT look at other front pages on NEWSEUM.COM???? Hang today’s edition on a wall inside the AJC newsroom under a sign that asks, “Would YOU buy this newspaper?” That would be an embarrassing assessment. Look, I’m only 30, but I used to LOVE to buy the AJC, because it was a NEWSPAPER, just a classic, well-put-together broadsheet. Every newspaper in the country is ruining itself because they (and you) just don’t get it. You just CANNOT figure this out, and yet the answer was so easy. Expect to join the NYT for a 20% decline next quarter. The saddest part of this is that you will stick with this design out of stubbornness and unwillingness to admit a mistake. Until the last dog dies. And this dog is on its last leg. This is a sad, sad day for the AJC. Again, WOW.
I am a long-time subscriber but will probably not renew my subscription. The print is too small and and the line spacing is too narrow. I wear reading glasses anyway, and I had to get a magnifying glass to see the baseball standings this morning. Instead of enjoying reading the paper, I now find it a strain on my eyes. For older readers like myself, the effort is too great. I doubt that the AJC will exist in a print format for much longer.
My only problem really was the font of “The Atlanta Journal Constitution”. I would have liked to have seen it in all black and maybe a font closer to Times New Roman. The curves on the new characters for this title seemed a little too casual for me. Stay classy, ajc.
I admit to being part of the problem–I quit as a subscriber years ago and read rely mostly on the web for timely news. However, I still would buy 2-3 papers a week when I could sneak away for a nice lunch by myself and enjoy the paper. Nothing was better than taking the time to enjoy a few moments with the paper–something you could feel, touch and fold.
The new format really looks like an excelent High School or small town publication. It’s pathetic. I’ll still grab SOMETHING to read even if it has to be a USA Today or other national publication. I undertsnad if the numbers just don’t work and a newspaper is no longer a viable business but the current product you offer now is not part of the solution. Just give up now and focus on trying to have a decent web page.
I am afraid you will be the ones to read this paper.
I refuse to pay for something this poorly designed. We have a free
paper in Cherokee County that puts this to shame.
I can not believe what you just wrote. You just don’t get it…please go back and READ the 331 blogs, You guys blew it and it looks like you are still not ready to see or admit the mess you made with this change.
We now have a city tabloid!! Looks like a tabloid, reads like a tabloid… it is a tabloid.
Maybe the city of Sandy Springs could produce a real “news”paper that is real.
As native Atlantans and always a subscriber because we believed. We now believe we need to relinquish our subscriptions. Maybe I’ll just read the tabloid headlines in the grocery store line.
What a gigantic step backwards you’ve reinvented a smaller “grey-lady”. I may grow used to it, but at first blush the changes are not pleasing I can’t believe you placed a mock up of this very retro shopper sized paper before a focas group of current readers.
Having got that all off my chest, I will acknowledge that you gotta do what you gotta do, to save money. But these changes are VERY extreme. Good luck.
FACT: I’ve never bought the newspaper because I thought it looked (or didn’t look) pretty. It’s still the same copy and uninteresting, predictable stories that I read online the day before.
Well I was trying to decide whether to renew my subscription and the redesign made my decision for me: I will absolutely not pay for such garbage. Its a disappointment to see such poor quality. Theres a reason that newspapers should not be set up 5 columns across (such as the front page of Tuesdays paper); its much too crowded. It looks like an amateur high school newspaper and thats unacceptable. Whats wrong with classic?
People, take two aspirin and call me in the morning. The new AJC pages are the same length as before and about one inch narrower. All the main stuff that was there before is still there.
The main problem is that Mike Luckovich still gets a free unopposed shot which is pure and simple unbalanced journalism.
You write that it is “not unexpected” that you would receive more negative feedback than positive, and I would agree but not for the reason you suggest. It is not change, itself, that readers dislike; it is this particular change that the majority of readers object to; that is the real reason the negative outweighs the positive. You seek specifics so here are several:
1. The design looks like a bad knock off of USA Today. Your designers should keep their eyes on their own paper…literally.
2. The change in size and design make reading more difficult; there is too much on the page.
3. The paper quality feels different…cheaper and more flimsy.
The reality is you cannot do a wrong thing well enough to make it right; and this new look, clearly, is a wrong thing. It is time to rethink and not a time to try to justify and to explain away a bad decision and an unpopular change.
sorry, if the 2 year effort on this redesign is accurate, you needn’t have taken so long. the layout on the section fronts is difficult to follow. the weather page is worse than before, the sports standings are poor, the colors unnecessary etc etc. I understand the newsprint savings from the web reduction and won’t throw a brick your way for that. As far as folks hurling insults at your writers, phooey on them. I don’t want to agree with everything I read. If I did, I could write myself and always agree. A number of your columnists piss me off from time to time and they also get me to think about another side of an issue. That’s one of the reasons I like reading a newspaper.
I am disappointed in the short shriff that weekday’s appear to be getting. I enjoy the newspaper all 7 days, why make me unhappy 6 out of 7? You may need to add a paper-weight to the bag during the week…very light indeed.
as far as reader feedback/input on this redesign, you might have been better off asking a different group. These folks did you no favors.
I really have just marked off the print edition…because when I travel around I cannot purchase outside Metro…so you have done well in limiting access….internet will just have to do…jdawg
Congratulations, the paper is totally unreadable. I was a typographer for over 30 years. The narrow column measure, extremely large x-height of the typeface, its globular letter shape, lack of any stress in the letterform, and the flush left setting combine to make reading impossible. Too many globular letters, too few words per line, and an unjustified setting make scanning impossible. The overall effect is disorienting. Readers won’t sit still for this.
And isn’t there something fundamentally wrong with blind headlines that take two subheads to decipher?
wow. only 8 comments in response to the editor’s defense. maybe no one cares. ajc has successfully dumbed itself down. clearly your goal was to imitate usa today.—specifically, complaints are: complete mimicing of usa today; ultra left reporting, w/ cynthia tucker at the helm (out of step, not constructive, blahblah blah, our time w/ obama, etc) why do you set such a low bar? do you simply think you reflect metro atlanta? why not provide some leadership and TAKE people where they should go? 25 yr subscriber, very sad. this and shirley franklin’s complete abdication at the end to me signal a glacial decline in the atlanta that we have all tried to build over the last two decades. yeah yeah i know, recession, etc, but that doesnt excuse not at all trying to take the high road. thought you all were better than this.
AJC, I can sum up my opinion on the redesign (and wish for the future) by simply citing another venerable Atlanta institution’s foray into fixing what wasn’t broken. Remember New Coke!
What is most disappointing is the employees within the AJC believe their customers are intellectually challenged and are unable to decipher the fact we are being played. With all the money that was at stake with new equipment, paper, and soy ink wouldn’t it have been more prudent to be totally honest with your loyal daily readers and state the business and economic environment requires these types of drastic change to survive? Instead you are taking the approach to insult your loyal readers by attempting to “hard sell” them a product that they are advising has little to no value… complete disconnect
By making the changes your cost per paper will only go down if you maintain subscribers. Based on the 331 blogs earlier today my guess is you will lose 40% of your daily subscribers which will drive your cost per subscriber much higher.. most organizations choose to maintain current customer and grow the business…
Do the right thing by admitting your mistake and quickly find ways to satisfy your loyal readers
Specific feedback — You could solve a majority of the complaints by going back to the original size of the paper and making the font readable to anyone 40 + years of age….
I just returned from a 4 month vacation and restarted by AJC subscription. I thought it was a joke when the first (redesigned) issue arrived today. Narrow columns with little spacing between news items (with small, blurry captions) make the paper virtually unreadable. You have to SEARCH for each and every item that you may want to read. Paper is flimsey, print is small and blurry and it reminds me of a crowded USA Today with no headlines. How anyone could stand up and justify this “change” as something better gives credance to legalizing the sale of Medical marijuana! Loved the old paper. Junk the new version and start over or I’m outta here.
I have purchased your paper for 67 years. I can not read this paper. We have a county paper that I also subscribe to and it is excellent. When my subscription runs out on your paper, I will not renew. It is such a shame. Henry Grady is turning over in his grave today.
It looks like it is printed on very cheep paper, washed out colors and gives you a headache trying to read the small type. Would prefer it in tabloid form like the NY Post. The ink and colors along with the paper quality must improve.
To everyone who says the AJC is doing it for financial reasons – of course they are. If any company out there was losing 20% of their customers for a specific product (in this case the paper version of the AJC)you would try to make changes to the product to attract more buyers – there may be some initial missteps with customers who liked the old version but in order to thrive and survive the AJC has to take some chances. Thanks Julia for taking a chance to ensure that Atlanta still has a viable newspaper. I hope that readers provide constructive feedback that you can use to improve. It’s always easier to tear down than build new.
Ralph McGill’s columns changed my teenaged mind about race; Paul
Hemphill’s columns made the cry; Grizzard’s columns made me laugh
out loud; Celestine Sibley’s columns warmed my heart; Bert Roughton’s
series on the GDOT-Gwinnett County connection had everybody in my
industry talking; Jane Hansen’s articles were responsible for my
becoming a Court Appointed Special Advocate (for children). Having
known what the paper WAS, I am pained by what it’s become and, now, it’s
ugly and difficult to read, to boot. Count me among your former
readers.
The goal of redesigning a product is to improve the product. Can anyone at the AJC honestly think the new design of the paper is an improvement? It is horrible and makes the paper almost unreadable. You have truly taken the joy out of reading the paper. I am a newspaper junky, but I am going to have to give up the home delivery, and just read the AJC online where at least it is readable.
Would love to comment but Athens, GA was ditched from AJC delivery routes effective 2 days ago. We subscribed since the first day we moved here, 16 years ago. I guess not getting the paper is the lesser of the two evils; getting it and hating it. Oh well!
Part of my daily routine and responsibility had been reading the Atlanta Journal Constitution. I have been here since 1978 while periodically commuting between Atlanta, Chicago, and Brooklyn. It is sad that I must stop this routine because the new physical format seems to disregard consideration for readers that protect their healthy eyesight. I understand that the editors are faced with financial pressures and a changing population. Younger readers may enjoy viewing colors and having a paper that can easily be carried in their purses or back pockets.
The former design was easy to read and you could cover and sort through informative articles faster. In it’s current format, it is insanely impossible. I have continually resisted getting my local news from the Internet, for the reason that it is not possible to get in-depth reporting of news events in a fast and efficient format. I hate to say how unfortunately inconsiderate or naive of the editorial staff to disregard readers concern for maintaining their healthy eyesight.
Fortunately the New York Times is available here in Atlanta and I will be able to get my daily world, political, and science news from that periodical. I wish it weren’t true or that the AJC would redesign it’s format or revert to the old.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution, regardless of the presence of John Wooten’s misinformation, was a premier newspaper publication. I grew up in Washington, D.C., and I visit Washington, D.C. occasionally; and I knew that I was fortunate to be living near Atlanta reading a news publication that was considered above the leading newspaper publications. Part my of assessment was based on content, excellent world news coverage, sufficient if not superb coverage of our U.S. Congress and Presidential news, and the informative content found regarding health and sciences. The other part would be whether the paper could present the information in a physical format that was easily viewed. In simple terms, do I need a magnifying glass and ruler to digest the articles.
I did not complain at all when the AJC reduced the number pages within each section and combined sections. Even though the paper was thinner, we were still getting exceptional news coverage. My wife asked me to stop purchasing the AJC because of it’s increased daily price, 75 cents, and it’s reduced size. However, I was able to convince her the articles may be fewer, none the less, the news that was printed in the thinner editions were exceptional. She was persuaded by my observations.
If the AJC is trying to increase it’s readership and reduce operating expenses; focus on content and the type of advertisement and consumer product coupons that will draw on more readership. The paper should not have to lean politically left or right or start wearing clothes that are too tight.
I had no intention of writing such a long comment. Well, when you are losing a loved one, you just take the time to let that loved one know that their past contributions were not ignored and appreciated deeply.
Well, it’s time for me to go to Kroger and purchase a copy of the New York Times and contact the New York Times subscription department and see if I can get a good deal.
Farewell old friend … maybe you will find your way back.
It will be nice to discontinue my future subscription; be it the New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, or the Washington Post; once I’ve noticed a change in the AJC’s current physical format that allows a reader to consume it’s information in an easily viewed font size, with your eyes traveling from left to right, and with the occasional splashes of color photographs. My guess would be that the primary designer of this new format, grew up on the Internet and very rarely reads books.
Maybe the AJC staff will consider how important selling the idea to potential advertisers that in these current economic times by publishing smartly selected coupons, their businesses would benefit from the new traffic of potential cost cutting customers that are looking for deals and savings. No matter how small the deal, a deal is a deal.
The businesses that survive are not the businesses that just cut costs. The businesses that do well in this economy will cut costs and increase traffic.
Some good feedback…I think..
I’ve subscribed to NYT, WSJ and othe regional papers in GA and AJC for 10 years now. Actually, I like your changes. Worldclass? Keep finetuning what you got going. You have to adapt and change with the times…you have to.
THis morning when I picked up the paper in my driveway I was shocked by the size..but did not get time to read until now. It almost feels like I am surfing a website, in fact, size of paper is same as my laptop folded. Stories are easy to follow. The font is sharp and I have bad vision.
A negative? THe main mast does not seem to go with the rest of the paper. Make it black or similar to other sections.
I like overall size. It is easier to maneuver which helps since I tend to read it in bed. As an engineer I focus on practicality and I get it with this design. Looks good too.
Overall I guess it is okay. As with the loss of so many good writers/critics (and of the bookclub column on Sundays) we will get used to it.
I do have four specific comments:
– on the weather page, the weather for today is huge, and the weather for the rest of the week needs a magnifying glass
– the type of the Vent is so light
– I occasionally read the AJC live on the air for the Georgia Radio Reading Service. One of our services is to read the Deaths/Funerals. The mice type here is nearly unreadable for me, let alone a person with vision difficulties
– it seems impossible that there is not a single item of note for DeKalb County in the Community News.
I understand the need to cut costs. I could get accustomed to what appears to be fainter ink. The font is readable. I am not concerned with the narrower page (it is wider than the Arizona Republic). But all the redesign in the world will not mask the fact that the paper is becoming more right-leaning; a ploy that I believe is undertaken at this time of visual change to minimize the effect of the philosophical change.
So I like the look of the paper. The font is a tad small for my 43 year old eyes, and I’m assuming it will continue to get smaller as I age. The thing that really irritated me was that the paper was so skinny width wise and content wise and still cost 75 cents. I know USA Today is 75 cents, but it has lots more heft to it. Good Luck.
Julia, I ALSO can’t believe what you wrote. Negative comments were not unexpected??! I’m sure the expert surveys you commissioned said to expect __% of negative feedback, but not 95% negative (if not more). I’ll ask again; why can’t you acknowledge that you blew it. Admit it. We’ll think so much more of you professionally if you and staff take responsibility for the next 10-25% decline in subscriptions that you are clearly going to see over the next two subscription cycles. And don’t blame it on the economy, or the internet, etc. It’s content!
Was astonished when I saw the Tuesday newspaper reflecting new format and changes. When my subscription runs out , if this is the now and future AJC, my husband and I agree we will subscribe to something else. This is awful. We have been subscribers for 11 years.
Lynn and Dick Ziglar
When the powers that be dropped the slogan “covers Dixie like the dew”…that was the beginning of the END.
The AJC is now a cheap,sleazy,poor imitation of USA Today.
If going back can not be done…then shut it down.
We can read our small city or county newspapers and get a far superior paper. Aren’t you ashamed to even put your names on it?
don’t like the print format? Buy a Kindle and get a subscription to the AJC. Better than physical paper and you can use whatever font size you want and not have to weed thru the ads. I just can’t figure a way to drop Cynthia Tucker’s column from view or it would be perfect.
In fact, maybe the AJC should subsidize a Kindle with a years subscription and drop print all together.
I am writing this constructively, I hope. I subscribe to both the AJC and the Gwinnett Daily Post. I enjoy reading the papers in the morning before I go to school. It is relaxing and gives me articles to bring to school for my fourth and fifth grade classes. I realize the financial concerns newspapers face these days, but I have to admit that I was more than a bit shocked by your debut redesign issue. I found it very difficult to read; unattractive and the pictures were very poor. The larger ones were blurry and the front page had one so small it may as well have been left off. No one really cares about whether you have colors on your section headlines. I took both newspapers to school today and let my fifth graders read the papers. When they finished, I asked them which paper they would buy and they all said Gwinnett Post. When I asked them why, they said the pictures were better, the articles were easier to read. They said the AJC had the print too small and close together and they said the Post looked better. I am sorry, I have to agree. The two papers are the same size, but the look of the other is very much more appealing. As for subscription advice, a lot of teachers say they quit taking the AJC when you stopped having our Gwinnett section. Younger people would buy the paper if it held pictures and articles about high school sports. People want to see their own kid in print. For all you have removed, you should have reinstated the county sections. It was a great loss. Your new size is fine. The lay-out is atrocious. It is the ugliest paper I have ever seen. Even the banner is hideous. Get today’s Post and lay the two papers side by side and see the difference.
I’m bit surprised at all of the negative comments about the redesign. When I first saw the newspaper, I thought there would be less content, a money-saving move. But after reading it, I have nothing but good things to say. I like it, and I have been reading the AJC seven days a week for decades. The focus seems to be on news, not fluff. And I found the layout to be easily readable. I was shocked at the editorial page actually being balanced, for the first time that I can remember. The liberal tilt to the editorial page and the front page editorials, biased story placement, etc., have been my biggest problems with the newspaper. It seems that someone has finally gotten it.
I delivered the Journal and Constitution both in the early 1940s as a boy growing up in Decatur. It has been a number of years since I lived in the Atlanta area, but I read the AJC faithfully on the internet. In my opinion, it is not the newspaper format that is bothersome nowadays -it is the content. Look around the state, and even the country if necessary, and try to find some more Ralph McGills and Celestine Sibleys. If successful, your problems will be solved.
I have to agree with the others who say that the AJC now looks like USA Today (aka newspaper-lite). I could not care less about all the added color on the pages and can only wonder how much extra all the color is adding to the daily cost. The pictures? Very poor quality, blurry and hard to see. I’d rather have one nice clear photo on a page instead of a bunch of small, indistinct ones. The new type? Very hard to read, all the letters seem squashed together and the really thin typeface used (for example) in today’s “Tuesday Fast Read” and “Redesign FAQs” is even harder to read. I could barely read “The Vent” at all it was so thin and light, sort of watery grey, not even black at all!! I know space is at a premium, so I won’t even mention that now one needs to use a magnifying glass to read most of the comics. Oops, I just did…Oh, and again, I do not particulary see the need for the weekday comics to be in color. I understand the need for change and that the AJC has to evolve in today’s economy, but reading the paper today was not anywhere near the pleasurable experience it has been in the past.
Two reasons I subscribe to the paper both found in the metro section: the vent and the obits. I do not like the new font size. The vent has been reduced which is not a good thing and is too hard to read. same for the obits. Too hard to read and the printface looks lighter.
I’ve lived “off and on” (more “on”) in Atlanta for the past 30+ years. Whenever I returned, the first things I did were to connect water, gas, electric, and subscribe to the AJC for home delivery.
I discontinued my subscription, very unhappily, a few months ago. Then, I re-subscribed … I truly believe in the importance of a vital city newspaper. Like everyone, I know the tough economic times all businesses, especially newspapers, are going through.
Then, I got today’s “new” AJC. Tossed on my lawn, a morning ritual (I was once a “paperboy” 50+ years ago in Illinois). I walked out my porch, down the steps, smelling the sweet Spring morning, picked up the AJC, and brought it inside to share as a friend with coffee and eggs.
What a terrible, sad disappointment it was and is. My friend, companion, conversationalist was shrunk, diminished even more. It was illegible. The type to small to read. Most articles simply “rip and read” unedited press releases.
You may be more “environmentally friendly” by occupying a smaller and smaller “carbon footprint,” cutting fewer trees, using soy ink, etc.
But you’re not editing, working, using, enjoying, exploiting your new smaller format. You’ve just taken the same Reuters, AP, corporate press releases and shrunk them. Two pages of comics are shrunk to one where they’re now illegible.
Has anyone ever spoken to and communicated with your “feeds” that content must be shortened so it remains readable? Your business and stock pages (never a strength of the AJC except for ties with GSU and Tech economics) are totally illegible.
The AJC is much more legible, readable on-line … but except for few local events, restaurant reviews is same or lesser content than other on-line sources. You’ve lost your “specialness.”
What’s in the printed paper that’s delivered to my home that’s different, special, LEGIBLE (your typeface and font “trade-offs” don’t work … go see the movie, “Helvetica” to get a grasp), and wanted.
Make the print edition “special” not 90+% the same as on-line. I and others are paying $170 a year for our print edition … on-line is free. Make the print edition special, make it unique, make it legible, design it well.
Why the heck did you turn to a Montreal based firm (Lacava … I thought they designed bathroom sinks and toilets) to redesign the AJC? As much as I love Quebec, they don’t know about “covering Dixie like the dew.”
Please make the print AJC something special again, something I want to have eggs and coffee with, a smart and independent word (that’s legible!)
I’ve been a loyal subscriber for over 15 years and at times I don’t feel complete without reading the AJC every day. Sadly, today I notified the paper that I’ll not be renewing. The type is extremely small and the quality of the paper has steadily declined. I really struggled to read the baseball box scores. My eyes began to hurt. I know the economy is terrible, but the cost cutting drove me over the edge. I want my old AJC back…until then, I’m on strike….
I’m extremely curious of the feedback/suggestions you received from focus groups and businesses. There has been a LOT of thoughful feedback provided, mostly against the new format. I’d be interested to hear from those recommending the change along with their rationale behind it.
At the end of the day, it will be the content that will determine whether I renew my subsciption. It was interesting that the Community News section did not have anything for DeKalb County.
Someone earlier made the suggestion that the AJC consider using ‘citizen reporters’ to help provide local content that might appeal to a broader audience. While we look to our community newspapers for that type of information, it could prove to be a means to help connect communities together through the major newspaper.
I have been a subscriber for 40 years. I will give you my opinion. Cancel my subscription. As hard as you try to convince us this is a newspaer it isn’t a newspaper. It’s a pamphlet. I will get my news on line for free. You have destroyed the people like me who enjoy being a regular reader by being a one sided propaganda organ with people like Mike lukovich, Cynthia Tucker and Jay Booker. We understand you and Ms. Cox has every right to publish her newspaper but we don’t have to pay for being offended. Cancel my 40 year subscription. This new edition is a joke considering what I enjoyed until I was abused and neglected by a political agenda that has killed any idea of news. You created your own demise with us regulars. Sorry but that is how I feel after a lifetime of enjoyment and abuse by your newspaper. Let me repeat……Cancel my 40 year subscription. I will read real news not propaganda.
As I write, there are 346 comments posted here. I counted, and it appears that about 14 of those comments are complaints about the AJC’s liberal bias. Which means that 4 percent of your commenters are concerned about a slant toward the left in your coverage.
I won’t jump to the conclusion that this means 96 percent don’t share that concern, but I do think one thing is clear: You’ve gutted a newspaper that used to be the soul of the South, and you’ve done it on the altar of pleasing a vocal, but small minority who complain about which way your coverage leans.
This isn’t about the design, as many readers have pointed out; it’s about the content. This is a newspaper whose editors, brave journalists such as Ralph McGill, had a history of pointing out those junctures at which our region had to rise above its biases. The newspaper, when it needed to, challenged its readers, the citizens of this region, to consider new ways of thinking.
I understand that your business must make a profit. The times are hard for everyone, and for newspapers in particular. But it seems that, over the past years, you’ve cut your most talented journalists and columnists. It’s their absence, not this design, that drives us away. I’ll get used to the new look. Most of your subscribers will. But I hope the paper’s top editors realize that the design wasn’t causing subscriptions to fall. Nor can you attribute the losses wholly to general trends in media consumption. It was your willingness to cut your best writers and reporters first. You should have viewed them as your most treasured assets, not as the most expendable.
I am really disappointed with the redesign, but perhaps more with the loss of content. I feel like there has been a real compromise in coverage in recent months and a further loss of readability with today’s makeover. I have long been a newspaper reader and choose to acquire my news in this way for what i perceive to be a greater depth of coverage. I’m afraid that the AJC is moving away from real reporting into a succession of small bites which I can easily find online. The current incarnation does not compare with the really fine newspapers still around. It’s a sad loss.
I always thought the ajc was a good-looking paper when compared to many other American cities’. I wouldn’t call this new look “good looking” by any means, but if the content is improved and more sophisticated, then I think I’m going to like it once I get used to it. I like the idea of gearing it towards traditional newspaper readers instead of trying to attract non- readers.
One thing I would fix right away though is the main mast. How about a traditional script in black??? The new blue font just doesn’t look sophisticated at all. Actually it looks like a website, and that does not appeal to this “traditional” newspaper reader. Not a big fan of the color-coded sections either.
When I saw the paper today, I was like this is a little late for an April fools joke. The size isn’t the issue. The layout and design is the issue. The main page was a jumble and not very easy on the eye. The best page in the whole paper was A2. It looks The stories are hard to pick out, the layout looks like you having different people do each page separately. The main page today, the tiny photo looks like an after thought. The headers on each section looks like something created by a High School paper 20 minutes before deadline.
I don’t know what focus group you used, but I think you cut a lot of what made people read the paper. The Vent, the Metro section, TV Week. The one thing that I noticed is hard to read are the movie listings and I have to say one thing about that, thank goodness for Fandango.
I think you need to go back and hire some layout professionals to redo this, so its easier to follow and easier on the eye. I”m just sayin’
My comment to my husband this morning while we were reading the “new” AJC was, gosh, looks like an old USA Today. That’s not a good thing. Intersting to see that a few others noticed the same thing. From now on, we will rely on the Wall Street Journal and our local county newspaper. Good-bye AJC. We’re tired of the old liberal slant, Luckovich and Tucker have insulted us for the last time, and the USA Today type format doesn’t even begin to interest us. There are so many other news outlets to choose from.
I like how the photo accompanying Julia Wallace’s patronizing drivel has changed throughout the day to reflect various airbrushed glamour shots and hairstyles.
A perfect reflection of the new AJC: mask the lack of substance with superficiality. Which describes Julia with pinpoint accuracy.
The change in the AJC is pitiful! If you had been willing to have a fair and balanced paper, it would not be necessary to make such desperate and destructive changes. Over half of your would be readers are politically center or right of center. We are sick to death of your far left propaganda. Unless you become a politically balanced paper, you WILL continue to lose.
I will not leave the AJC even though I grumble at this failed attempt to attract more people. Despite the fact that the new look is off putting I think what the AJC provides is invaluable. I put the old paper next to the new paper today and it is obvious to the untrained eye that the old paper is more classy and professional looking.
It would be a mistake for the AJC brass to think that all these negative comments are from a vocal minority. Really, this is your audience speaking AJC. The best move, no matter how hard it is to do, is to cut your losses and bring the old paper back.
To prolong this just to save face could hurt the paper’s circulation even more.
ms wallace and gang have wrecked the wonderful legacy of ralph mcgill, lewis grizzard et al. this paper is so poorly written and edited, and does nothing to tackle the huge problems with transportation, sprawl, race and education that atlanta experiences. you need a decent metro columnist, not some idiot shill who writes more dittohead drivel for the wsjournal. as a lifelong republican, you have no obligation to repeat the bias of the limbaugh crowd. george w bush was a big government conservative, and he put the country in such dire straits that anyone would be hard pressed to reverse course. if gore had been president, america would have had an eight year head start on green tech, which is the country’s best chance. to add a “conservative” voice from another peabrain uga graduate is so much pablum. bob barr’s column is well thought. why not get newt gingrich or someone with some fresh ideas about why the GOP is in such a mess, not some kid who has no life experience except living in the liberal la-la land of Europe.
Although I prefer the previous format, I understand the need for change, and can live with it. I do, very much, regret that the AJC had discontinued their coverage of NCAA baseball. This is especially hard to understand in a year in which our state boasts two top ten teams. This relegates your sports coverage to that of a second rate publication.
Is it not possible to prvide Atlanta with a quality product and no gimmicks?
I agree with the pamphlet analogy in these comments…I enjoy reading the pamphlets in my doctor’s and dentist’s office more than this crap you call a newspaper…even with this new layout.
Ok, day two and I can pretty much deal with the redesign, except:
1 Color – washed out, pictures out of register. You’re using paper that is gray. The contrast is tough. Your yellows look muddy and mustardy, banners look like stuff an ink-jet printer running out of ink produces.
2. Consider improving the leading and kerning – the type is tight and, as others have mentioned, hard to read – especially the serifed font.
3. Editorial comment – please, please, please let your sports department stay up late. If we’re lucky we get a Braves or Hawks score from a game that ends after 10:00 p.m. Forget it for any other team. Make sports section D, wait for the midnight AP sports wire, drop the scores and summaries in, print that puppy and insert it last. What are you going to do when college football starts in the fall? Run the stories Monday instead of Sunday?
4. Another editorial comment: The Gwinnett Braves deserve some coverage. At least pay some high school or college kid to write six inches for every game. Run it prominently. Do the same for other teams besides the Braves, Hawks, Thrashers, Falcons, Dogs and Yellow Jackets.
5. Yet another editorial comment: Please have the decency to have the print paper stories run on the website prominently. It’s very frustrating to see a headline in print, then go to the website to check the story and not be able to find it because print and web folks at the AJC can’t/won’t/don’t bother to talk to each other and the print story is relegated to the Print Edition link buried in tiny type at the bottom the web page – and then half the time it’s not there anyway.
Finally – it’s time for Cox to start talking with Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and all the other tech folks. Print isn’t going to survive – the model isn’t making a lot of financial sense. Find an electronic delivery system/device that is easily portable (less than a pound), has a long (5 hours +) battery life, is incredibly rugged (can survive being dropped and having stuff spilled on it), can have content pushed to it wirelessly, and is affordable. Think Kindle at about quarter to a third of the current price. Give it away with a year’s subscription.
I understand the need for change in the newspaper industry given the growth of the internet, reduction of advertising dollars, and the weak economy. I regularly check ajc.com and the ajc.com mobile during the day, but I was thankful that the AJC was not going online only like some city newspapers have done. In reading that the AJC was going to make some changes, I was actually excited . . . until I got the product in my hands yesterday. The good: smaller size is easier to handle, quick-view of headlines to allow scanning, more color. The bad: sans serif fonts are very thin and small (even for a 43 year-old), Weather page is difficult to follow (e.g., no state outlines?), color seems to be added just for color’s sake.
Thinking about cancelling my subscription and just reading the online version everyday. (Thanks for listening.)
I understand the need for change in the newspaper industry given the growth of the internet, reduction of advertising dollars, and the weak economy. I regularly check ajc.com and the ajc.com mobile during the day, but I was thankful that the AJC was not going online only like some city newspapers have done. In reading that the AJC was going to make some changes, I was actually excited . . . until I got the product in my hands yesterday. The good: smaller size is easier to handle, quick-view of headlines to allow scanning, more color. The bad: sans serif fonts are very thin and small (even for a 43 year-old), Weather page is difficult to follow (e.g., no state outlines?), color seems to be added just for color’s sake.
Thinking about cancelling my subscription and just reading the online version everyday. (Thanks for listening.)
day two, the in brief columns are in a tough position at least for this reader. weather page still bad…why list temp in atlanta and the same at the airport, even I can figure that one out. sports standings still bad.
you sure are setting some high expectations for sunday. I believe you may be setting yourself up to fail. do you want to be a sunday only newspaper?
I know everyone needs a new look. But certain looks are not good ones. The new look for the Ajc is not a good choice. The words are too small and the coloring of the pictures doesn’t catch the people eye. The new look makes the paper boring and unapproachable. You wants something that is going to jump right at you and this look doesn’t do that.
Thanks Roscoe for the useful feedback. Although I disagree with your view the printed newspaper is doomed, your comments give us something specific at which to look. To the contrary, I think there is a bright future for the newspaper if we can get the business equation right and maintain a high journalistic standard.
I hope everyone will take a look at the Wednesday newspaper, which has been tweaked some. I like it better, and I’m a longtime reader who had some issues with Tuesday’s debut edition.
The feedback has been interesting. It’s important to us, so please keep it coming. On Tuesday, a lot came from people who hadn’t bothered to look at the newspaper but nevertheless took the time to remind us that they hate the AJC. That’s fine, and some of your comments were a hoot. But we’ve decided not to worry much about people who hate us.
Another thread came from folks who no longer see the newspaper because we reduced the delivery footprint. Each one kills me. This was a hard decision for us and accounted for much of the recent circulation decline. But it no longer made business sense for us to deliver to such a large area. In some cases, it was costing us $5 to deliver a copy of the newspaper. You do the math. Yet, we lost a lot of very loyal readers and that’s tough. Let’s all hope for better times.
And we heard from a lot of readers who expressed sincere concern about what we had done to their newspaper. These are the folks to whom we are listening quite closely. We are making adjustments as we go to address the concerns that we can.
Obviously we can’t abandon the new design or reverse course on decisions we’ve made on the basis of a day’s worth of blog postings. This design was guided every step of the way by readers who were very clear with what they wanted from a newspaper. Be patient, keep reading and commenting and let’s see where this takes us.
I have one question: A lot of you are throwing the USA Today bomb at us. I’m not sure what that means to you? Some folks love USA Today, others hate it. It would be helpful to understand more precisely what you mean when you say that.
My eyes are bleeding from this “New” AJC. Why did you have to change the old design. I saw the new version at my parents house and all three of us hated it. Booooooooooooooo….
The new design looks very much like USA Today and I don’t read USA Today even when it is free and waiting outside my door when I travel…thinking hard about switching from 7days to weekends…ugh!
Wow! The negative comments are absolutely amazing! Lots about the new format, but a few about the liberal bias and lack of attention to the huge market north of the perimeter. Bert, you need to be careful that the liberal bias stays solely on the editorial page and doesn’t creep into the news sections. One example: Last month you ran an article about Karen Handel’s announcement of her candidacy for governor. She got around 6 column inches. A few days later, you ran an article about Roy Barnes just THINKING about a run for governor. Barnes’ THOUGHTS got half a page. It’s way too early for me to support a candidate for governor, but bias like this is hard to ignore. The sad part is the writers and editors probably don’t even realize they’re biased. That makes the AJC really scary.
As a full-week subscriber for six years now, I have enjoyed reading the AJC every day. After one day of the new design, I can tell you one thing that needs fixing right off the bat: The weather forecast box is one of the first things I look for when your paper hits my door. I want to see what weather and temperatures will be like today, so that I can dress and plan my day accordingly.
You need to put the weather box back on top, above the fold, and make it stand out like it used to. This is a key service for most of your readers to start their day.
“…we’ve decided not to worry much about people who hate us.”
Of course. Why bother to find out why and make changes that might actually result in increased readership? That’s just foolish.
THIS is why the business model is struggling, not digital competition. WSJ provides proof that print media is still viable… if you’re actually willing to be responsive to your customers.
I would like to have you reconsider the success of this new design, and its appeal to your longtime print readers.
Over-40-eyes can’t read the new print as well. The color and size make it look wimpy. Unfortunately it now has the look and feel of the neighborhood free advertizers you pick up at the door of the pizza joint.
Black headlines and section headings are a must. I went through each page, and was not interested in reading any of the articles. Even the vent had no appeal. The font is too weak for my over-40-eyes. Or something. I feel like an old friend has died.
Can you poll your readership to see the number or percentage of readers who would rather go back to the old design (or something similar to it without the needless color), BUT AT AN INCREASED PRICE. In my opinion, to receive home delivery of last week’s version is worth at least a dollar a day, which would be $30/month and not $18/month.
I asked my husband what he thought the paper costs us per month. I said “Here is the paper. They have a staff of hardworking people. They research the news, write the articles, typeset or format it, print it, deliver it to our door on time every morning. What do you think it costs? Do you think they can do this for a dollar a day?” His reply? “Oh no, it is worth a lot more than that.” He was shocked that it was coming to us at not $40 or $50 a month, but at a mere $18 a month.
Let’s see how many of our readers would rather pay $30+ a month for the old version vs. the current rate for this color advertizer.
And now for a little story. A couple of months ago I went to the grocery store for Tropicana orange juice. I couldn’t find it. They had redesigned the package to something without the old logo. I had to ask the produce manager where it was. I did not like the design because I did not recognize it. I went home, ran the new design by my family. My teenage daughter said that whoever redesigned the packaging should be fired. I wrote to them and explained to them that the look of the packaging was important, and that people wanted the look of the packaging that they were used to. The old logo and design had a lot of consumer loyalty. Apparently a lot of people complained. Earlier this month I received a letter that they had decided to go back to the old logo and package design. The change was not worth the ill will of the consumer.
Let Cynthia Tucker & Jay Bookman get their old jobs back at Pravda, and start catering to all Georgians, not the inner perimeter crowd ! Its news and balanced journalism that sells copy, not pretty colors and socialist gibberish.
I agree with many of the comments. I noticed that the paper has become thinner which means to me that I’m getting less for my money (it’s the same scam that cereal companies have perpetuated on the buying public; do you ever find a 16 oz box of cereal any more). I thought I had picked up a copy of USA Today where the ink catridges were runnng low. The paper font and script size is visually annoying and difficult to follow. I’ve been a subscriber for over 25 years but I tire of just reading about inside the perimeter and the left leaning rants of Cynthia Tucker and her colleagues.
Ya’ll need to do a better job. The older reader will have difficulty reading the paper with its new lay out,and, personally I will not go to the “net to get my news from the AJC.
“Welcome” indeeed? The ink is too, too light in most articles, making them difficult to read comfortably. I noticed, Julia Wallace, your column on A3 Tuesday was in readable, dark ink. If only the valuable news content columns were as easy to read! The print in most of the grayed columns is so light and hard to read, why bother? The paper is so thin, ads and content on one page can be seen through the page and add to the difficulty of reading an article on the other side of the page. My experience is not totally negative – I like the short, quick-read articles……but it looks crowded. There are so many articles to a page, I am reminded why I do not subscribe to the Wall Street Journal. However, at least the WSJ ink is dark.
Two “new AJC” papers later, I put it down within 15 minutes, my eyes too tired from trying to read the morning news to continue. I turned on the TV. As a formerly avid AJC subscriber and reader, I am considering canceling my subscription. You need to fix it quick!
So far, I don’t like the redesigned AJC. It appears much busier due to the decreased paper size and there seem to be less pictures. The worst thing is the tiny, tiny font size of the stock tables, sports standings, weather information, etc. We baby boomers already have enough trouble seeing and this incredibly small type has taken away some of the pleasure of reviewing info in the AJC. Please reconsider some of the font sizes!!
What were you thinking? If I wanted USA Today I would get it. Page One was such a jumble I didn’t want to read it. If the blue/green/red banners are costing more than black, save the money. . At least move the jumbled up blue/gray center strip over to the left. You don’t look like a serious presenter of the news with the little snippets here and there. I read for information and depth on the issues not a quick surface skim. For surface coverage, I can get that on TV
Bert, if you can make reporting with a reasonable amount of journalistic excellence, writing, printing and delivering a newspaper to my front door by 5:30 a.m. throughout a metropolitan area for $20 or so a month a profitable business more power to you. I’ve been eagerly picking up a morning paper for longer than 40 years and don’t look forward to having to find and pick up and load my “newspaper reading device” every morning instead. But with the cost of paper, ink, gas and printing and delivery personnel, as well as editors and reporters and ad sales folks, etc. inexorably going up it’s going to be difficult.
The USA Today comments should be pretty clear – your new look is similar to theirs. Big, trying to be bright colors, ads on the front page and first page of sections, shorter stories with sidebars trying to fill in some details. Decent national and international coverage with lots of AP filler, weak local.
Once upon a time there were several reporters covering just transportation issues – now it seems like there’s only Ariel Hart trying to cover overlapping meetings and issues at GDOT, GRTA, MARTA, SRTA, General Assembly, Clean Air Campaign, TMA, C-TRAN, CCT, GCT and all the others weighing in on the issues. And it stretches into other areas as well – like the sports section getting smaller and smaller and not covering anything that happens after 10 pm. Same with the lottery reporting – a minor but very revealing issue about the value the Coxopoly is placing on the print paper – the last lottery drawing of the day is at 11 pm and you only report the drawings up to 6 pm in the print paper. New happens in the evening – and it’s not unreasonable to expect that if it’s on the 11:00 news that it would be in the morning print paper.
The redesign isn’t earth-shattering. Yes, it looks like USA Today and if that is good or bad is mostly a matter of personal taste. You’ll fix the typography and the color, well, color on your paper stock is always going to be an issue – ask the Detroit News who tried it on similarly colored paper stock starting in 1976 and is still having problems with it – when they can print a paper anymore.
And, again, more power to you if you can make a printed paper profitable without significantly increasing the purchase price.
It really would be helpful for you all to be more specific about the USA Today complaints. I also still urge you to take a harder look on the content side of our newspaper. We carried many more hard news stories on our front page than USA Today, so I’m not sure that we can be accused of being light – the complaint usually lodged against USA Today. Compare yesterday’s editions and you’ll see what I mean. This design does nothing to reduce content, even if it makes the paper easier to scan.
Andy: On the Karen Handel/Roy Barnes story. The story on Handel was about her announcement – which is the exact way we present all announcement stories. Each candidate will get a much deeper look by the newspaper, probably on Sunday. We profiled Barnes – and Sam Olens, as well – because they were getting a lot of attention behind the scenes and seemed to be interested to write about in the pre-announcement period. And you your bigger point, we work pretty hard at keeping our news sections in check for bias, of any kind. We’re not perfect and make mistakes, but the principle is very important to us. Having said that, I’m always eager to hear about specific cases when they believe our news pages contain bias.
Alex: I read each and every posting. Surely you wouldn’t expect us to throw out everything we’ve done on the basis of these blog postings. Wouldn’t that be a bit hasty? We are mining them for smart suggestions and are considering seriously the ones that raise legitimate concerns.
“And it’s certainly not unexpected that our request for feedback would draw far more negative comments than positive. We don’t expect to hear as much from folks who like the changes or approve of the newspaper; those who are satisfied are often less vocal.”
ARROGANCE.
Did you ever even consider that maybe YOU put out a bad, ugly product??? Oh no, no way, it’s we, the readers, who are wrong, not you. Why, that newspaper is gorgeous, because Julia’s big-dollar designer told us it is, and we are just idiots who couldn’t recognize quality if it bit us in the a**.
ARROGANCE.
You want a specific, start with America’s newly-crowned Queen of the ugly flag/nameplate competition. It is pathetic. You cannot screw with a brand this way. It is no longer the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, it is now something unrecognizeable. The ajc/sunday flag actually looks good, I’ll give you that. But that weekday flag is among the most hideous I’ve seen of any newspaper in the country. It’s cheap, childish, doesn’t match the rest of the paper, and is unbefitting a major daily. There, Julia, that’s my specific, among the hundred that I (and we) have.
Like I said, the AJC leadership will ride this pony into the sunset because they will refuse to change out of stubbornness, an unwillingness to admit a mistake, and more than just a little stupidity. And that is the height of arrogance.
>>I have one question: A lot of you are throwing the USA Today bomb at us. I’m not sure what that means to you? Some folks love USA Today, others hate it. It would be helpful to understand more precisely what you mean when you say that.<<
Perhaps I’m simply more of a traditionalists but I liked to old format of the AJC. It had a ‘professional’ look at feel. That’s why I made the comment regarding the new format looking like a USA Today ‘lite’.
I also like the USA Today however it was defined by its layout with colors. If it went to a format like to AJC once was, I’m sure its loyal readers would complain also. Again, I believe this falls along the lines of tradition.
FWIW, I also don’t like the designated hitter in baseball either.
Take the blue/gray column off the front page and section pages.
Take the ads off the bottom of the front page and section pages.
Make the masthead black. Make the date on the front page smaller and black, not white. Get rid of Living and Sports “summary” on top of front page.
Remove the cutesy rows of vertical lines and chevrons
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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Annoying, isn’t it?
Put the big pictures back in the middle of the front page, not down on the lower right side.
Headings like Q & A and the Vent need to be bolder font and not this different font. Get rid of the GRAY fonts on the editorial page. Are you running out of black ink?
I miss the black and white comics. The color ones are not as interesting.
the content was a little better today, but I am still not liking the look. to be honest, as long as I can read it and the content is there, i really dont care if its written in crayons. but, i still do not like the fact that tucker is still here. I know she is in the opinion pages, but its still part of the newspaper. I like reading opposing viewpoints, but she is nothing but a race baiting, bigoted, Obama-excusing, anti-white (I am not white, btw) writer. when she goes on national TV (as she did recently), she is an embarrasment to this city and to this paper.
I hate that any of my money paying for the paper is going to her. Move her out and make bookman the lefty. Even though I dont agree with much of what he says, at least he tries to back his opinion up and leaves himself open to criticism.
take cynthias latest article about mexico and her need for gun control. even though weeks before the 90% data was completely dispelled (where 90% of the guns come from the US), she STILL USED THAT DATA. She doesnt care where she gets her information, doesnt care that it is right or wrong, as long as she can spout it off, she will use it.
To have her on staff is the real embarrassment. Again, ditch her, bring bookman up and things will get better.
I came to Marietta, GA in June 1966; and one of the first friends I had was the Atlanta Constitution. I remember Ralph McGill and his battles with critics and detractors; he always landed on his feet–just like his newspaper.
Others came along after Mr. McGill’s passing; and although each successor made changes, it was mainly journalistic philosophy. Now, we the readers need help with going back to a high quality of readability like we had before April 28. April 28: a day of journalistic infamy.
I am already transitioning to the your online version, beginning with The Vent. Now, if I can only find Judge Parker online.
Our newspaper has landed on its feet many times before. May it do so again–by favoring the many readers who have kept it upright for all these many years.
I am not so concerned about the appearance of the AJC, but the lack of relative content. You have cut the reporter staff too thin. The Sports pages were once very informative. Not now. The AJC is a very liberal newspaper in the conservative South. I have been a subscriber for many years, but do not enjoy reading the daily paper at all. I do read the USA Today for sports. I would think the management of the AJC would try to cover the news that is more of interest to the majority of potential subscribers. Most younger couples in our area do not subscribe to the AJC. A shame that a large metro area like Atlanta has a less than superior newspaper. Take a look at the Charleston, SC, newspaper for some suggestions.
Brad, I totally agree with your comment. They are letting us know that even though they invited up to comment, if it is a complaint, they are going to ignore it. Thanks, AJC.
I find the new format much harder to read. The font may be the same size, but is much harder on the eyes to process. Also, move the “Todays News” bar back to the left side. Get rid of the silly IIIIIIIIIII lines at teh top that are being used to fill blank space, and move the front page weather forecast for the day back to the top. Also, on the back of the B section, the “rest of the week” forecast has a font so small my 28 year old eyes can barely see it, yet alone the senior citizens who I’m sure look at that every morning. I understand trying to save on production costs, but this seems like an unnecessary reformatting in order to appeal to the “non-news” crowd who has no attention span. Afte trying to read this garbage the last two mornings, my attention spanning is waning as well! Get it right or lose a long time subscriber here!
short and sweet.
1- New version is not visually inviting. It looks very cluttered. IE. todays cover story. swine flu main story and sub story / related story the Delta inpact. Cluttered. Chunky.
2- Bad Idea. The ‘In Brief ‘ bar in the middle of each section. It belongs on the left most side. NOT MIDDLE. Adds to level of clutter.
3- Weather. I agree with Ann. the week ahead temperatures are not readable. The font is mice type. Come on; the puffy cloud is almost a 1/2 inch tall.
HOW SMART DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO THINK OF THE FACT THAT THE MAJORITY OF YOUR READERS ARE OVER 40.??
4- Can we have a conservative editorial cartoonist once in a while? Please? Lubkovich or what ever his name is so passe. So tired. How about a Ramirez once in a while for balance>? And not the 1 inch by one inch unreadable one in the corner.
5- font. Not the most readable.
6- you overpaid your special consultant from Motreal. even if it was $1000.
Overall grade D minus. A STEP BACKWARD. (See above)
PS. Sports guy. there is a hockey championship going on. AND ATLANTA has a pro team. So, there might be folks interested in it. OK>? BAck off on the 3-4 pages of basketball and high school sport and give us, i dont know, HALF PAGE ON HOCKEY. OK?
It looks like your major cost savings will be in the ink costs. Headlines are supposed to be attention grabbing. Gray is not!
The typeface is too thin in spite of what you say. There is entirely too much white space. When you impose a gray background over your typeface it almost disappears.
The additional color on some pages is practically worthless. It does nothing to add to the paper.
The weather page is flat out ugly. Again there is far too much white space surrounding the faint typeface. I never did understand why you dropped the previous days rainfall when reporting the other cities weather. Since we have been in a drought condition for the past many years that was a way to see how other areas were doing. How do you differentiate the various hues of red from one another on the temperature map?
Please reassure us that Cynthia Tucker will be leaving soon. Her unbalanced and mean spirited writing will not be missed and will go a long way toward balancing your left leaning editorial page.
Ms. Tucker and ( insert the name of your favorite lefty)
Stop Distorting the news. Please. Recent example.
US Guns go into Mexico.
I drive into mexico (by car) 6-8 times a year. Mexico has none, ZERO customs controls on car coming into Mexico.
Oh – yes. when you hit the border. you stop at a unmanned toll booth. Push a button on a random number generator connected to a Go – no go light. If you get the no -go light, you have to pull over for secondary inspection. This consists of a customs officer opening your trunk. looking at your suitcases for – say – 3 seconds – and proptly closing the trunk.
In my most recent 60 crossings in to mexico. I ve gotten the no go light once.
So, if i had guns in the trunk?????…..
And this is an american problem??
I could almost puke at your level of intellectual dishosnesty.
Why is everyone so negative? The new format is fine. I like the narrower page. One suggestion, bring back the graphs on the financial page. The DOW and Nasdaq. I’d be happy with only graphs. The other detail is online. Just need highlights in the morning.
I love the new format ! Continue the wonderful editorials by comrades Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman. Their support of El Presidente Obama and his agenda of change will seduce the ignorant masses and make our two countries friends and allies once again.
Viva, Che ! Viva, Revolution ! Viva, change ! Healthcare for all !
Why change the weather format? I liked the way I could glance at the old format and see the week’s hi’s and low’s. Now that information is squished down at the bottom of each day and I really have to look close to read it.
I couldn’t even bear to take the paper out of the plastic today. Between the new look and the acquiescence to those who believe the AJC should be a print version of FOX news, I just don’t see the need any more.
From reading various comments here and elsewhere, I’m beginning to wonder if Hannity, Boortz or Limbaugh (or all 3) have targeted Cynthia Tucker. I mean obviously she’d never be someone a conservative would agree with, but why so much vitriol against her now?
Looks like my print paper will be the weekend editions of NY Times from now on. Thank God I can get most of my news from NPR on my morning and evening commutes.
Not a fan of the new layout . . . It’s too jumbled … Not enough seperation between stories … I found myself reading two stories at once. Not because I couldn’t differenciant between them, but because I the stories are so close together … Frustrating . . .
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Are you consciously TRYING to kill the print edition of the paper?
I’m your BASE, for Pete’s sake, a daily print newspaper reader, and I cannot READ the “redesigned” AJC. Who in the world was in the focus group?! Your “new” newspaper–crammed, cluttered, on dishwater stock, no white space and illegible– looks like a parody or a joke and makes “ATL” a laughing stock. I have resisted going online because I still love to read a daily paper. Count me, and the revenue I represent, cancelled. Won’t be back until it looks like a newspaper.
The truth is, It is all about content. If the paper had any substance people would read it no matter the layout, font size or colors. I can paint my kitchen any color I want, it won’t change the fact that the appliances are outdated. Give us substance with good, interesting articles that we won’t get anywhere else and you won’t have any problem attacting subscribers.
As a former employee and a lover of the printed word, I have only one question for you: What were you thinking?
The new colors and layout are insulting. It is as if you are trying to trick a child into buying a bad-tasting treat. “This candy still tastes really bad, but, hey, we put it in a bright, new, shiny wrapper!”
You say you want constructive and pointed criticism? Here goes…
1. Look at the corrections. When I worked for the AJC, a correction rarely ran. You just did not make mistakes, and woe to you if you did. Now, routinely, there are two, three, even four corrections a day. This represents a sloppy product, and people won’t buy it any more than they will pay for a machine that is poorly constructed and routinely breaks down.
2. Offer the type of coverage we want. I refuse to believe that I am the only person who wants to sit down, pull out a paper, and read in-depth news coverage. I can scan the headlines online or watch the first five minutes of the evening news if I want a sound bite. I read the paper for in-depth coverage, and the AJC has completely stopped providing this. Bring back the deeper coverage of breaking news, multi-part series looking at major issues, etc. To sell a product, you must offer something that no one else is offering. That is where the newspaper comes in, because a paper is now the only place you can get news offered in a way that is intelligent and insightful and well-dissected.
3. Stop talking down to me and other readers. The powers-to-be at Cox better rein Julia Wallace in or get a new “voice” for the AJC. Her comments make me cringe. Newspaper readers tend to be well-educated, professional people, and I don’t imagine any of them appreciate the condescending and nasty tone she takes. Contrition and kindness go a long way, and people are usually willing to overlook a multitude of sin when a person says, “We goofed. We’re sorry. Give us a chance to make it right.”
4. Stop hitting us over the head with this “balanced, unbiased” stuff. Reading your editorial page is now about as exciting as watching paint dry. People did not stop reading the AJC because Cynthia Tucker was liberal or because an editorial cartoon rubbed them the wrong way. People love to disagree, and probably more people read the paper just to see what editorial content would irritate them each morning. Put some bit back into the editorial staff, and stop turning out bland, vanilla op-ed pieces.
5. Cover my neighborhood. I don’t need to read countless AP stories about drivel from across the country. I want to know what is going on in my backyard and how it will impact my life. Case in point–one round of recent storms rated only a stand-alone picture and short cutline. This is the kind of story that the paper can take and run with. You can follow a family as they deal with rebuilding. Talk about how the loss of trees will change the flavor of a neighborhood. Write about how residents are mourning the loss of a favorite hangout that was demolished. I could care less about what society matron is throwing a party, but I would love to read about interesting people in our city. I read the WSJ for national news. Give me more coverage about local people and issues.
I have ranted and raved too much, but I dearly love the AJC. For years, I was so proud to see my byline in your paper. We put out such a good, solid product, and I feel we put out a newspaper this whole state appreciated and enjoyed. Please, please, please work hard to restore the paper to its former position. I can promise if you listen to your faithful readers, they will reward you with readership and loyality.
I was shocked when I opened my paper yesterday! I hate the changes – in fact there are so many changes that I can’t list them all here. The Atlanta paper (which I have subscribed to for over 30 years) now looks & feels like a cheap newsletter or USA Today imitation. Why is that loyal longtime subscribers were not asked for their input? What group of people is it that you are trying to appeal to? Personally I would think you would want to please your longtime customers rather than the ones that you are trying to lure away from the internet. I have found that this was true already when it have had to play what I call the “newspaper game” at renewal time. I have to threaten to cancel before I get the $100 less “new customer” rate. Guess what? It’s renewal time again. I’m going to have to think long & hard about it this time. I’m not sure what I’ll do without my paper, but I may have to learn. Shame on you AJC!!!
Julia, your second paragraph could have just read, “We can’t admit we made a mistake, we spent too much money designing this monstrosity, so at this point we have to blame the readers for not ‘getting’ our vision.”
I am not impressed with the new format. The page layout and print look like they belong in a third grade social studies textbook. Just where did you find the focus group who helped determine the redesign?
I understand the need to shrink the paper to save money. I don’t really have a problem with the size, but why did you redesign the masthead? That’s what signifies it’s the AJC from other papers.
Surely you could have found an Atlanta-based or U.S. based company that could have handled the design work instead of sending the work out of the country.
My parents subscribed to the AJC when I was a kid and I’ve continued that tradition since I’ve been out of my own for many years. If I have any say in the matter, we will be switching our home delivery to the Marietta Daily Journal when renewal time comes around.
Marc: Yes, I had a typo yesterday. How kind of you to notice. Sadly, no one is editing me on the blog, and I’m human. Shocking, I know. I do stand by the point – being balanced doesn’t mean being namby pamby.
Roscoe: I owed you some answers:
1. On the paper/color quality: This is heavily recycled paper, which never has the weight of brand new paper. We want to be good citizens, but I’m not sure we’re crazy about it either.
2. We are looking at the fonts pretty intensely. We made some changes today – take a look at the box on the far right of Page One today and compare to the type in a box in a similar location Tuesday.
3. We have some serious issues with deadlines for our earlier edition, which sometimes doesn’t have all the scores we’d like to have. This is a topic we discuss daily. Our late edition generally does provide scores for local teams.
4. I agree on the Gwinnett Braves and we’re working on it.
5. Is there a particular story you sought but couldn’t find on the website? I can track down what happened.
And we are thinking about life after print and smart changes we can make during the next 100 years while we still have a printed newspaper.
I see a thread in the postings that suggest frustration over the fact that we didn’t revert back to the former design after receiving our mandate yesterday from the blog. And some suggested we aren’t listening. This is silly. We’re reading the postings carefully and looking for serious suggestions on ways to improve the design. We haven’t, however, decided to abandon ship because people are expressing concerns about what we’re up to. Once again, we didn’t just wake up Monday and decide to remake the paper on a whim, we’ve spent a lot of time, money and research on this and you will forgive us if we’d like to stick to our guns for a while.
A couple of other responses:
To the newspaper lover: We run more corrections because we are much more aggressive about addressing errors than we used to be. As you probably know, I’ve been here a long time and remember the deep reluctance we all had about admitting an error in public. The fact that we used to run fewer corrections in no way suggests we used to be more accurate. I know, I was here.
I’m not sure why you believe we’ve given up on depth. Read the newspaper this coming Sunday and then come back to argue that we are no more than sound bites. How many stories jumped off Page One today? Do you remember the days when we weren’t allowed to jump ANY stories off the front page? I do. Are those the halcyon days of which you speak? I’ve been here 28 years and I never recall having so many reporters – even in this smaller staff – dedicated to writing watchdog/investigative stories and cover-quality enterprise pieces. It is true we have become more selective about when we allow reporters to write 80-inch stories, but I’m not convinced that we didn’t need more focus and discipline in those old days. You raise a lot of good issues and please continue to raise them, but I invite you to read us carefully over the next few weeks before you form a longer-lasting opinion. We will listen to faithful readers; we must.
“I read each and every posting. Surely you wouldn’t expect us to throw out everything we’ve done on the basis of these blog postings.” No, we do not expect you to throw out everything. We are just expressing what we like and don’t like. Isn’t that what you wanted when you started the blog yesterday?
The AJC squandered whatever credibility it may have had long ago. Mizz Wallace admits to a perception among SOME readers that the paper has a liberal bias, but never goes so far as to actually entertain the fact that the perception is the reality, no, no mea culpa from her. And Mr. Roughton appears to suffer from a fortress mentality.
I go to the Huffington Post every day, and I am seldom annoyed by it. The difference between the Huffington Post and the AJC? The Huffington Post is unabashedly liberal, they celebrate it, they do not deny it. The AJC, on the other hand, has been trying for years to convince us that it has no bias, that it is objective and that it reports the news straight up, no slant, no filter. Fish can’t see the water syndrome.
I have no problem with the editorial pages containing opinion, except for the beyond the pale cartoons. Cynthia Tucker, for instance, she is intelligent, can be thought provoking, and can write, even though I seldom agree with her. (I have not read Bookman in years, he is not worth further comment.) Why do you continue to print editorial cartoons that are mean, vicious and in poor taste?
Yes, we want feedback, and comments that are specific and constructive are great. Even some of the snarky ones contain important messages for us. But we never said this was a referendum. Certainly, we must listen to readers – including the hundreds we listened to as we redesigned the newspaper. We must listen beyond the blog, and it’s interesting to me that readers generally seem willing to give it a try.
I’ve never seen a newspaper listen as deeply and sincerely to its readers. When I’ve described what we’ve done to folks at other newspapers, they’ve been surprised at how much reader input went into the design. But in the end, we must decide what to do with what we hear from readers. And we’ll be accountable for that.
The last one and I’ll shut up and give you enough time to digest all of these comments, decide if and how to adjust, and move forward.
In today’s print edition, below the fold is a story headlined ‘09 to be zoo’s year of rebuilding. Go to the Metro page of the website at http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/index.html?cxntlid=nav_mtr_mtr I go to the metro page because it’s a metro story in the print paper. Not there. Well, maybe it’s on the home page. Nope. Click on the print edition link – finally there it is. This is at 2:30 – that may change later because the web pages are dynamic – which is a good thing.
Bert, if it’s important enough to be on the front of a section page in the print paper it’s important enough to stay on the corresponding web page in a prominent position all day. Granted, this isn’t the most important story that ran today. But until you go all electronic, all the time, people are going to expect to be able to find the same story that ran in that day’s paper – or at least an updated version of it – in the corresponding place on the web page.
Off my soapbox. You want to make me really happy? Run twice as many comics – or more.
I understand about the paper, its color and the quality of printing you can get from it. Just have the color guys keep working on it and remind the designers that the background on this new stuff isn’t even close to white.
I agree…lots of complaints and justifiably so! My weekly neighborhood paper is more readable than this. I’ve always said that the Food Section was the poorest I’ve seen and now with the change I fear it will be even worse. Yes it’s hard to read!!!! You say the font is just different not smaller….well trust me….get with the program as I would be the majority of the readers are bifocal wearers and having difficulty adjusting to this new type. While we’re on it….making the comics in color was just plain stupid…no one needs them in color…I’d rather have you spend the money on improving the readibility factor! The local weather area is a joke…it’s so faded looking it looks like you forgot to finish it.
You don’t like the comments…well too bad…you asked for feedback…I would bet that there will be alot of folks cancelling their subscriptions if things don’t improve.
Honestly, the AJC now looks like my home town paper – for a town of about 100,000 people….not what I’d expect from a big town newspaper.
Right now the paper is only good for lining a litter box, use as a piddle pad or smacking the bigwigs of the AJC upside the head!
I’m not qualified to provide feedback laden with typography-specific jargon nor can I provide much insight on issues of design and layout. But as a subscriber to the AJC for 20+ years and as a regular reader of the big national dailies and as an intelligent, computer-literate, adult business professional, I can provide my qualitative opinion of the redesigned AJC: I don’t like it. I don’t enjoy reading it. The pages are hard for me to look at. Crammed, overloaded, confusing. I now have great difficulty scanning to find articles I want to read. It’s sad to see what’s happened to the AJC. My routine is reading the AJC with breakfast before leaving for work. So far, since the change, this has not been an enjoyable experience. I suspect that when subscription renewal comes around, I won’t renew. And that will be a sad day at my house
I am a native of this area and have been reading the Journal for a very long time. I also have been retired for over 20 years and have had my AJC to read with breakfast although lately I have had to keep my magnifing glass handy but now it is required. The new format and print may be easier for someone younger but not for us older readers. I guess I will have to depend more on TV news since the NEW AJC will not be able to keep me up to date. I wonder where you got the people that participated in your survey but it must not have included those of us who are 7 day subscribers and in my age bracket.
You know, there have been lots of references to the AJC now looking like a hometown paper. I don’t think that’s all bad. I take the New York Times on weekends, but I also receive a nice potpourri of hometown weeklies via the mail. County newspapers are destined to survive the economy, complemented I’m sure by digital media — folks want cut out the school photos and stick on the fridge or share the paper with friends at the local diner over a cup of coffee. If we’re talking content, hometown is good. If we’re talking layout and design, Georgia’s weeklies are among the best in the nation. And, the AJC is taking a lead in listening to its readers.
There are layout decisions that debuted on Tuesday that I don’t like, but overall a genuine effort to make this city’s hometown paper a better product.
You say that you “talked” to thousands of readers, and “they” guided you to the new product we have now in the New AJC? I find that hard to believe!!!! What I see now looks as if it was done by nonprofessionals!! Smaller, light print with everything jammed together, blurry pictures, flimsy paper quality, unattractive throughout,…….the list goes on!! Whoever is the main person responsible for these changes should be ashamed!! It’s like that person or persons who decided to do this was/ were on some kind of drug when they decided to go along with this!!!! Why spend all that money on colored comics every day….or colors everywhere! It’s so unnecessary in a good newspaper! It’s a shame you “spent millions in press upgrades, MORE color, and a MORE newsy, sophisticated look”!!! You failed to accomplish what you wanted to achieve!!!! What a waste of money!!! Your market research failed miserably!! It’s really embarrassing to see the AJC turned into what it is now.
Bert,
The AJC is in the business of selling advertising but you don’t know how to sell your newspaper. As a business owner the first rule is not to offend your customer. You have done that and now many of us (subscribers) do not read your paper which means not enough of us(business customers) want to buy your advertising since no one reads your paper. You have set in motion a downwarded spiral by publishing editorials that offend a large group of your subscribers/readers. No business can survive that kind of bad service. Here is a novel idea….the AJC would have no editorial content in the paper. Just cover the news and entertain your customers. Give them what they want and get out of the opinion business. You will always lose cutomers by disagreeing with them. You are in business and it requires giving value for other people’s money. Political statements get you nothing except lost revenue since people will always disagree. Editorials are for you not us. Like I said I am in business and so are you first and foremost.
Do you need subscribers or are you on the planet alone? 2nd day dawned and we are as dissatisfied as we were on Monday. What a strange thing to do to the newspaper.
Wall St. Journal is one that made changes for the better not worse. Who advised you so miserably?
Lynn T.Ziglar, subscriber not to renew
I wonder how many of these “Marietta Daily Journal” , “Gwinnett Daily Post” and Cherokee references are actually made by employees of those aforementioned companies.
Well, after deleting most of the readable content, to add insult to someone who has actually been READING the entire former AJC for 15 years, now its down to 1/3 of its original content and it looks like a cross between the News-For-Kids and USA Today. So, in researching who you have writing- no one. I actually get all of the content for free– begs the question, why am I trashing up my driveway for money??? Although this stuff makes great garden mulch but is it really worth the prices?? Can’t wait for you to call to renew my subscription. Change is not always for the best.
Without even saying how I feel about the new paper, I’m not sure what the commenters here expect. For the AJC to go back to their old design? To take a poll of readers? From what I’ve read above, they did that for two years. Let’s say they take a poll again … what’s the threshold for going back? 20% of all readers complain? 5%? With a couple hundred posts, I’m sure that’s still an insignificant number in a city as large as Atlanta.
Some people have brought up redesigns and changes on Facebook. After what was viewed as “massive outcry” about their changes and Terms of Service, they put it to a vote. After all the complaining and all the outrage and all the negativity, less than 0.3% even voted — hardly a representation of the 200 million users.
The editors say they spoke with thousands of readers, that sounds like a bigger voice to me. My neighbor was in a focus group several months ago for the paper. From what she told me and from what I’ve read here, the newspaper isn’t trying to win over people who’ve hated the AJC for years. My neighbors and some friends like the new look. Some don’t. But it’s the news that matters, right? I, for one, won’t ever give up my subscription by choice and look forward to seeing the paper in my front yard each morning, right next to the Wall Street Journal. I want to be able to find the stories I want to read and then be able to read them. I’ve been able to do both so far. I do think the printing has been a little light and harder to read in spots, but I’ve noticed that before.
This so called new design is without doubt the most horrible and worthless piece of crap I have ever seen. What effing idiot made this stupid decision. I’ve lived in numerous cities throught the world and this is the worst looking newspaper with the most worthless content I’ve ever seen.
You dumbos have no clue what the people want and you surely don’t care. It’s all about the bottom line, isn’t it. You might as well get ready to close your doors for good, because it’s coming soon. The AJC will be history very shortly.
Well I really don’t care anymore because my subscription expires next week and I will NEVER subscrible to this liberal piece of trash again. I know there will be thousands just like me who will also cancel this joke you call a newspaper.
Hey Tom I am with you. Its the older crowd that has been the most loyal 7 day subscribers. As our group decides not to renew and cancel subscriptions one wonders where the AJC expects revenue from. Advertisers are all but gone.
Its amazing too see the editor has her head in the sand and babbles about change, This is not change its suicide, I cannot read this mess!
STOP THE PRESSES — I have chilled from yesterday’s negative response, I only commented on the masthead — but I think you have done remarkably well to create what you needed to do. I am strongly conservative, and our house still cares to get the paper so we can keep up with our town, and as Maynard told us years ago, Atlanta your town, Atlanta my town, Atlanta good town.
Most people think USAToday is a generic, national newspaper for business travelers who read it in hotels, in airports, and on airplanes. That’s the USAToday we all know.
As a newspaper, it happens to be a very strong visual brand.
For whatever reason, your designers created an adaptation of that design model. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with the AJC. It was focused on a new narrow format, flimsy paper, and the need to pack significant editorial volume into a smaller space. Contemporary newspaper designers know that’s what USAToday perfected.
Which is fine.
But your readers aren’t expecting to pick up a generic, national newspaper in their driveways.
Yes, they want a paper they can enjoy and continue to subscribe to. But they don’t want USAToday. If they wanted USAToday, they’d buy it. You transformed AJC into an ersatz USAToday.
Isn’t that what readers are telling you?
If you truly wanted to to re-build the visual brand of your paper, wouldn’t you first remember who you are, how you should be, and how you should behave? Given the expectations people have? After all, the New York Times completed a dramatic redesign of the paper, not so long ago, to accommodate similar goals, including a narrower format. Yet the paper still looks and feels like The New York Times.
Wall Street Journal accomplished an even more radical re-design; yet still looks like The Wall Street Journal. In fact, even better.
But nothing about AJC remains, except the name, and perhaps the editorial page layouts, which came out best in all of this. Why? Because you didn’t change them much.
Moving forward you want your readers to ‘be specific’. But your readers can’t be specific and tell you what troubles them — they don’t have the experience or the language to do that. Apparently you don’t, either. But they can tell you what they know and what they feel. And they did.
What you did is take their paper away from them, and in return, give them what looks alarmingly like a generic national rag. What is astonishing, is that these are the people who are most loyal to you.
Of course, this is only partly about newspaper design; it’s more about the management of a visual brand.
Publication designers say, people get over change. Don’t worry about it. Give them time. But I work in a different world. Brands are stronger than page layouts.
There’s only one authentic way to re-design the AJC: You must decide-define-identify-understand-and-accept the enduring DNA of AJC — reaching back into its heritage if you have to — and then re-purpose what you discover for a new world. This is a world where readership is declining, pages are narrowing, and online competitors are stealing news out from under from you.
There is probably a fabulous, exciting newspaper ready to be re-invented in there somewhere. You have to find it.
You can be pretty sure that aping an aging airport newspaper that has nothing to do with Atlanta isn’t the way to go about it.
Unlike many other posters, I welcomed the change. I even looked forward to it. I really like the smaller paper size and I find the new format great for scanning for articles. This format does a good job separating articles.
I do have a few complaints. The close spacing of the text makes it hard for my eyes to keep on the right line. I have to constantly refocus to stay on track. This makes my eyes tired. Also, the light color backgrounds make the text appear very faded (not enough contrast). Finally, the tables of data (sports scores, stock prices, etc) are literally impossible to read without magnification (and I have 20/15 vision).
Just for the record, I agree with the multitude of posters that the content of the paper is way off balance, but that isn’t related to the new format so I won’t go into that.
I do understand the amount of effort it took to plan this change and how hard it to separate the useful feedback from the whining. I appreciate and applaud the efforts of the AJC staff to continuously improve the paper.
I’m a longtime fan and supporter of the AJC, and no one wants to see the paper stay in business more than myself. With that in mind, I’m writing about the new, denser font that you’ve started using. Simply put, it’s unreadable and is only going to lead to a further drop in subscriptions. Older readers are not going to continue paying for a paper they can’t read, and the denser type is not going to motivate younger readers to buy the paper any more than a more readable font would.
With the economy faltering and dropping readership, you can’t afford any mistakes, and this new font is a mistake that’s not going to be solved by changing the weight and inking. It’s my hope that you realize this sooner rather than later and change to a less dense font before your readership drops further. The AJC is much too important to our community to do otherwise.
I think Wednesday’s paper was slightly better than Tuesdays in that the front page did not seem so dependent on everything being in only one column. But the font still sucks. If the goal is to provide the same content on less paper (hence the denser font) why waste so much real estate on Luckovich’s cartoon? It’s HUGE compared to the rest of the paper which seems so small and cramped.
I do see signs someone is listening (the Vent bold type and the changed sort order on the blogs). I can’t comment on Thurday’s changes as the paper had not shown up when I left this AM.
Ian: Thanks for the thought-provoking posting. It kept me up last night. You struck a nerve with the DNA reference. I’ll come back to that. The reason we probe on the USA Today complaint is that it tends to be a thoughtless perjorative. It is, in a way, a generic complaint. It usually means one of two things – either we’ve used color in a way that suggests USA Today or we’re moving to become a light, breezy and inconsequential newspaper. We intend the color to aid navigation – a much bigger issue with the Sunday newspaper to be sure. I’m not much worried if people just don’t like the additional color. I’m not nuts about it myself, but we didn’t redesign the newspaper for me. I must say that it’s flatly untrue that our design was derived from USA Today. It evolved on its own from early visions we had – most of them much more radical. Readers – hundreds of them – guided us to this design, leading us to a place we hadn’t expected to go. Because the design takes so much of its underlying principle from what readers told us, I believe it will speak to readers and they will embrace it. The narrower format was actually a coincidence – a business decision made as we prepared the new design. What I do worry about is the suggestion within the USA Today complaint that we have somehow lost our journalistic compass or our sense of Atlanta. The worry about our DNA is lodged somewhere in that concern. We have no intention of delivering a generic newspaper to the end of our readers’ driveways. We intend to present them a locally focused newspaper that understands that readers of a big metro want world and national news as well. I take your point that we must retain and remember who we are as we move into this next chapter of this great newspaper’s story. I hope the DNA of the AJC that existed when Margaret Mitchell was a reporter can exist in this newspaper. I think it does. It continues in our stories and photography. That’s where what’s best about The Atlanta Journal-Constitution still lives. It’s untrue that nothing but the nameplate remains, the editors, reporters and photographers are still here. I’m still here. But your thoughtful posting reminded me of the importance of remembering who we are – a newsroom committed to metro Atlanta, a newsroom that can produce work that transcends any design or platform In the end, the design works only if it serves our journalism. If this design succeeds at that, then I believe our DNA will be preserved, passed on and perhaps improved.
I hope you are listening hard to the complaints about the bodytype font. It is awful. Reading even the best-written story is like wading through mud.
The only downside of going back to the old one or something similar is you might lose a little word count with a less-dense font. But if no one can wade through this muck — and my 51-year-old eyes cannot, even with glasses — what good is it? I’m sure your writers would rather have 500 words readably published than 600 that are unreadable.
Otherwise my only complaint is the washed out colors and crappy paper, which negate the whole idea of a more thoughtful, high-quality news package. It looks like the press is low on ink or something. And while I understand wanting to be “green” and all with the triple-recycled paper, I really and truly do not think that’s your top priority at this juncture.
Let me add that I do like the section front brief columns. Unlilke some folks I also like the big day/date banner. Whenever I forget what the date is I refer to the paper on the kitchen table, and now I can see it!
This is one of the worst re-designs I’ve ever seen. Specifically the front page looks like the a 1970’s version of the Atlanta Business Chronicle. We may enjoy different typefaces online but please don’t assume those translate to print. Please bring back the old AJC.
I think everyone needs to give the folks at the AJC a break. It is NOT easy publishing a newspaper and I for one would rather see some changes and not see our paper go away. A little patience would be nice.
I’m sorry to disappoint if you were reading these posts and expecting another complaint, because this isn’t one. All I see all over this blog (mostly) is a bunch of stubborn, frustrated, and confused readers that act as if their entire world just turned upside down with this redesign. They talk as if USA Today invented color, colors need to kick you in the face to be effective, and text can’t be read unless its on poster board paper. Give me a break. I know you’ve had you’re paper a certain way for awhile, but times are tough, and, yeah, AJC spend a bit of money to save a lot of money and also to gain new and keep old readers. Are you going to fault them for trying to survive in a world where the writing is on the wall that their days are numbered? Everything is online, but I still believe in print. However print definitely isn’t going to survive unless there are steps of drastic changes. This is the first one for them. Yeah, they may have lost a bit of DNA in the process, but that can be remedied. The point is they’ve finally summoned the gall to invest in new printing techniques that will at least have a chance at fighting the competitive information market.
Look at the front page. Don’t look at what’s different about it. Just look at the information. Yep, its all there, much more organized, you actually know what day it is now, and there is a much better consistency in story sections with the little >>>> all over the place. You see a >>>>> ? Look right below, there’s your headline. There are similar changes throughout that both speed up and clarify information intake. You may think these are unimportant changes, but I think if you’ll give the newspaper more than a couple days before jumping on the bandwagon of complainers, you’ll find once you get a bit adjusted to the new visual cues, all the content (which is should be what we really care about) is still there and much easier to navigate. As far as the font goes, same deal. Its more condensed, faster reading font. If you can’t read it, its probably time for another eye exam because your likely wasting additional time elsewhere on the road where you miss your turns because you can’t read street signs. Again, with a bit of time and practice and possibly healthy vision, you too can read this font comfortably.
I’m sorry about the hard truth, but there it is. The readers of the this newspaper who like it the old way are not going to be able to support this paper staying in business. Bottom line. Guess who the AJC is losing to the internet. Not those 40yr+ people, but everyone below that, and I know its hard to teach an old dog new tricks, in fact, its nearly impossible. So I give the AJC credit for responding to the writing on the wall that if they don’t respond with new strategies this paper will die along with every other city paper in the US and world for that matter. They are taking the first much needed stepping in attracting new readers, and, hopefully, keeping old ones (no pun intended). I think if you give it some time and don’t automatically assume change is bad, you will actually be able to appreciate this paper for what it has always intended to convey: content.
After 47 years of being an avid reader of the AJC, and enjoying it every morning with my coffee, I no longer look forward to that pleasure. The “new” look is crowded, the print is dim and tiny, and the paper is extremely hard to read. Please admit yo ur mistakes, and go back to the old format! Listen to your faithful readers and return “our” paper to us as it was before. We do not need any further complexities to unbalance our lives.
Bert — thank you for taking the time to read everyone’s opinions. It means a lot to know that at least you guys are listening and working with the readers. I am a 28 year reader of the AJC and have to say that while the redesign was a bit tough the first day, it is growing on me rapidly.
My biggest complaint is to clean up the main mast of the paper — it looks very amateur-ish — make us look like a top flight city and make the “Atlanta Journal & Constitution” much more stately and big league-ish……it is the first thing people see when they pick up the paper or walk by it, and the current version spells unsophisticated all over it. Also — along the top bar at the top of A1, why not have the days forecast (high/low temp) pollen count, and any other pertinent info for the day (may Braves score from previous night, lottery numbers) right up at the top and then a nice clean “AJC” headline below that and then this thing will really grab readers attention in a more positive way.
As a graphic designer, I can appreciate all the hard work that has gone into re-designing the AJC. My two cents: when a story jumps to a new page, the header looks the same as if for a new article. Before, it was easier to tell at a glance what stories on the page were new, or if they were continuing from somewhere else. Now all the headlines look similar. Maybe a lighter/thinner font for jump articles?
You can tinker with the graphics and colors all you want. Perhaps you should have hired an interior decorator instead of some PR firm, before making purely cosmetic changes. When I see the names of Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman off the AJC payroll, I will consider resubscribing. It is the news content and the way it is presented that sells copy. I am degreed as are most of my friends and colleagues. The primary complaint I hear about the AJC is the blatant left-leaning, race-based political slant injected into nearly every story. Its more than perception. In case you have not noticed, Georgia is a “red state”. From a marketing standpoint, perhaps you should start considering the political and social perspectives of others. I’ve resided in metro Atlanta since 1987. I’d like to know what is going on in the rest of my state, as well as the suburban communities. This news source fails me. It seems to be focused on the inner perimeter. I’ve often wandered what percentage of your subscribers reside within the boundaries of I-285. If that is your target market, that is fine. Your own obituary will be forthcoming as a result.
In redesigning the sports page, you apparently have all but forgotten that high school sports exist. Are a few sentences about a lacrosse player and an AP story about postponements of games in Texas the best you can do when it is playoff time for spring sports in Georgia?
As a subscriber of 20+ years I am sad to see this day come. Not only can I read the reverse from one side of the sheet but the colors are so light that they blend together and make this one of the most difficult papers to read that I have ever seen. I am not a fan of the smaller size either. My subscription is expiring and I guess that in the future my news will have to come from the internet or television much to my dismay.
your decision today to run a Thomas Sowell column is a great start.. I know you’ve run his columns in the past, but not frequently enough. Most conservatives I know ascribe more to his views than to the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, etc.
Who in the world redesigned your liberal rag. It had to be some retard from the ghetto or outer space. No sane person would have deliberately printed such tripe.
At one time many years ago I enjoyed the AJC but no more. If you people would wake up and realize who it is that buys your rag you would make changes to get these people back. The first thing you should do is fire that racist Cynthia Tucker, fire that sissy no brains Bookman and in particular fire that wimp, Lucovich who is allowed to attack our former president and our militay people any way he wants to. When Lucovich is gone you will see numerous former subscribers back reading the AJC including me.
The anger that some people rant about toward editorial comment never ceases to amaze. I do not understand how someone that preaches American values such as free speech only wants to read exactly their own views and not even permit the other side. Anyway that is really for another day.
What is on most people minds is the design, font, spacing etc. I can not believe anyone thinks the design has comfortable “readibility” I find the content still there but what good does it do if I have to struggle to see the words on the page. What good does content do if the colors are so muted that they appear unfinished and “cheap”. What good does content do if I have a headache from the effort associated with the font and density. What good does content do when I couldn’t see the editorial carton without a magnifying glass. What good does content do when the major league standings were so small that it was too much effort to actually read. What good does highlighting excerpts from articles in color when it barely shows on the page.
The paper needs to present information physically clear and bold enough to be comfortable. Get less dense, get more ink on the page becasue only then will we be able to be comfortable enough to judge the effort you are making with content.
The anger that some people rant about toward editorial comment never ceases to amaze. I do not understand how someone that preaches American values such as free speech only wants to read exactly their own views and not even permit the other side. Anyway that is really for another day.
What is on most people minds is the design, font, spacing etc. I can not believe anyone thinks the design has comfortable “readibility” I find the content still there but what good does it do if I have to struggle to see the words on the page. What good does content do if the colors are so muted that they appear unfinished and “cheap”. What good does content do if I have a headache from the effort associated with the font and density. What good does content do when I couldn’t see the editorial carton without a magnifying glass. What good does content do when the major league standings were so small that it was too much effort to actually read. What good does highlighting excerpts from articles in color when it barely shows on the page.
The paper needs to present information physically clear and bold enough to be comfortable. Get less dense, get more ink on the page becasue only then will we be able to be comfortable enough to judge the effort you are making with content.
Never mind all of the negative flack. As a journalism grad, I know quality when I see it in print. Sure, there may be a tweek here and there at first, but the overall result is awesome. The font, and definitely the color puts new life into the paper. This is something it needs. There is a loss in readership, and in this economy, eye-catching tactics are needed. The AJC is being left behind in comparison with some of the nation’s papers. With all of the ‘interesting’ comments about USA Today, people must remember how effective USA Today has been, and still is. The old style was dull, and lost people. There was never a reason to pick up the paper unless there was a national crisis we wanted to read about. It was boring. I’m conservative in some ways, but too much of a hold on something, actually causes you to lose it. I’ll keep on reading as long as you move along with the times. Time to put away the horse and buggy. There is a new era in Journalism.
Never mind all of the negative flack. As a journalism grad, I know quality when I see it in print. Sure, there may be a tweek here and there at first, but the overall result is awesome. The font, and definitely the color puts new life into the paper. This is something it needs. There is a loss in readership, and in this economy, eye-catching tactics are needed. The AJC is being left behind in comparison with some of the nation’s papers. With all of the ‘interesting’ comments about USA Today, people must remember how effective USA Today has been, and still is. The old style was dull, and lost people. There was never a reason to pick up the paper unless there was a national crisis we wanted to read about. It was boring. I’m conservative in some ways, but too much of a hold on something, actually causes you to lose it. I’ll keep on reading as long as you move along with the times. Time to put away the horse and buggy. There is a new era in Journalism.
Nobody cares about pretty colors ! Take off the rose-colored glasses ! Put the celebrity culture nonsense in the lifestyle section, not the front page ! As for editorial content, show some balance ! A token conservative columnist is not going to sell newspapers.
I wish you still had direct links to the end of an article (ex. See page A 12) It’s too much trouble to have to keep flipping to finish each article. A hot link like you used to have is MUCH EASIER. Please reconsider.
OK, readability seems a little better today, I hope it’s not just me caving, BUT, You ask for suggestions here are more of mine:
• Take the sports off of the front page
• Go back to B&W comics
• Lose the color splashes
• Don’t try to be the USA Today
• Justify the text
• Reduce the number of columns by one across the page to ease the eye jump and smooth readably. I feel all scrunched up when I read it the way it is now. Loosen it up somehow.
• Lose Glen Burns, too much space devoted to weather
• List S&P 500 daily (+-) beside Dow Ind and NASDAQ
• Don’t try to portray you are going to be fair and balanced when you are so definitely a liberal/progressive organ, leave fair and balanced to FOX, you can’t pull it off
• Drop the pro and con liberal/conservative pieces, just stick to your bias and let us filter out the real news from the wire news you print
• Keep in mind that there are folks that live outside 285 that, mediocre or bad, do depend on the AJC as their daily morning read
PLEASE, PLEASE change the font or what it takes so that I can once again read the AJC. I travel a great deal and have read newspapers from most major cities in the U.S. and I have always said the AJC was the best, particularly the sports section. I am unable to read the paper today. You either made the print smaller or did something that now makes the paper so dificuly to read, it’s just not worth the effort.Please do something. You are leaving me, I am not leaving you. But unless something is done, I am finished reading my favorite newspaper. Don’t do that to me. Thanks for listening
1. Why publish a photo of some bloke on the weather page? I bet he only reads the teleprompter… Maybe he is a boyfriend of someone in power at the AJC? Who cares?
2. Those empty clouds – all weather today looks identical for the whole week.
3. New picture of Jay Bookman with hairstyle a la John Edwards? Is this also something that the consultants advised?
The bottom line – get back the money you spent on the consultants – sue them and get it back. They and this Julia Wallace – their mouthpiece in the blog will cause that subscriptions will drop faster than in 2008.
The sudoku needs a little more space around it, especially on the right hand side. As the week progresses and the sudoku gets harder, I need that space to mark in. The new reduced-size paper makes this much more difficult than last weeks version.
Please, please, please do NOT break a word between pages. It may take a fraction more space, but it is so hard to follow the stories when I have to flip back and forth to see what the beginning of the word was.
My family’s personal opinion – ditch the color on the daily comics – they are easier to read in black and white. Even my kids like the black and white better.
“I picked up the paper this morning, and I thought this must be some kind of cruel joke. How could the paper be narrowed AGAIN? My community newspaper is wider than this. The width of the newspaper was decreased a short time ago. Now you’ve decreased it even more?!! This is simply unacceptable. Atlanta is an international city that hosted the Olympics, and has the world’s busiest airport. And yet, our daily newspaper looks like something out of a small town in Mississippi. Every national and world article is from the Associated Press, and there is no “State News” section. How can a capital city newspaper not inform us about the news that is happening around the state? We don’t have a clue what is going on around Georgia. An international city’s newspaper should give more than just local news.
This new font style makes the words look like they are too close together. Why make a change if it’s not for the better? With all the major corporations headquartered in this city, we don’t even have a Business section anymore. I just don’t understand the rationale for these types of changes. By making the paper smaller, thinner, narrower and letting go dozens of quality reporters, do you think this will make more people subscribe to the paper? I’m not buying the media excuse that more people are reading the news on the internet. When people click on ajc.com, they’ re probably reading the blogs and Sports section. How many of those people are reading real news? How can you raise the price of the AJC and then gut it like this?”
Now, I’m sitting hear looking at these posts from these knuckledragging right-wingers. AJC, if you keep taking advice from conservative readers, you will destroy this paper. They don’t care about the paper, they just want their misguided beliefs reinforced. A few may care, but the majority of them want to sabotage the AJC. Look at how they constantly whine about Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman. I mean, it’s the Opinion Page for Christsakes. Do you hear progressives complaining about Bob Barr? Or Jim Wooten? We simply ignore Wooten, we know he’s a professional propagandist. I don’t care about them being on the editorial page, I expect to see different viewpoints on an OPINION PAGE.
The AJC needs to go back to the previous design, increase the content, and increase the width of the paper. Certainly, you don’t think people will continue subscribing to a paper this narrow and thin. I realize these are tough times for the industry, but you have to do better than this.
I have been a subscriber for a long time and I am quite disappointed in the paper now. The print compared to an earlier edition is too close which makes it very difficult to read. I am a senior and I will not strain my eyes trying to read the crowded print, squeezed columns, and small print in areas. I will not renew my subscription and will read the paper on line instead. You cut and cut the quality. You should have sent a magnifying glass with each subscription. Reading the paper was a morning ritual with my cup of coffee. No more straining my eyes.
Bert,
Coming from a 10+ daily loyal reader, forget about all of the complaints relating to content of the newspaper — these folks should have been complaining prior to Tuesday’s change in format — as far as I can tell the content found within the AJC was the same on Monday as it was Tues – Thurs.
Seems as if a majority of the readers concerns relate to the size of paper, font spacing, and poor (yellow and thin) paper quality.
AJC could consider the following:
1. Replacing the 100% recycled paper with a partial recycled whiter higher quality paper that will offer greater contrast and enhanced picture resolution — not 100% green yet still using soy ink and partial recycled paper.
2. If your research group is completely sold on the font — keep the current font — just improve spacing between letters.
3. Enlarge the size of the paper — Enhances the feasibility of spacing the font without disrupting the overall format which the focus groups states works well.
This way everyone wins — every morning the reader receives a readable newspaper with vivid contrast — AJC is able to continue selling the new edgy format, still keep the claim of using soy ink, continue using the current colors, and with the increase space can address a majority of minor cosmetic changes loyal readers have been sharing in the blogs the past few days (i.e weather, Baseball Standings, Stocks prices, etc).
I understanding there would be an added cost per reader to make the above changes yet believe the increase would be made up in renewals of your traditional readers ( 40 + plus ) and the potential new younger clients that the AJC is attempting to capture that currently absorb their news through the internet.
With the new design you threw out any heritage your brand enjoyed and replaced it with a very generic look. My wife’s reaction was the AJC now looks like a free weekly.
As we know, it is very difficult to edit every inch of the newspaper. You do an excellent job of editing. Naturally, the more editors you have the fewer mistakes that occur. So, I am offering a little editing info. On the Weather page, you have Key West listed under both the SOUTHEAST and the U.S.. In previous editions Kansas City was listed under the U.S..
I could not believe how short the Food section was today. What happened to the beer and wine reviews? I have taken a daily newspaper my entire life. The reasons for taking a local paper are to keep up with local politics, find good restaurants, the Vent, comics, the obituaries, and the comics. Why did newspapers ever allow online access for free? If you have a good paper people will read it. My 20 year olds read it every day so it is not just for old people.
As longtime subscribers to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, we have reacted without comment to the cutbacks of recent months, though it was hard to accept them. But what you have offered up this week as the “New AJC” is “the most unkindest cut of all.” The redesign is the most uninviting thing I have ever seen in print. It’s scary to think that you invested millions in this change and that you call the result ” a sophisticated look.” The print is so small, crowded, and difficult to read that I just gave up trying. If, as you say, you are trying to increase the satisfaction of your regular readers, this is not the way.
I have subscribed for years but I too am rethinking that. I understand you have to cut costs. I also understand change as I work in the software industry. However, your change is not for the better. The paper is harder to read and it is definitely harder to find things. You have slimed the product way down but my cost went up when my subscription was renewed which is another reason I am thinking about dropping my subscription. Why pay more for less? I am very disappointed in this new product.
My first impression on seeing the “new, improved” newspaper style was “this looks like one of those cheap freebie publications you pick up from paper boxes outside of businesses.” The font in places such as the vent is very difficult to read. I have excellent vision (just got new glasses) so there’s nothing wrong with my eyesight! I usually like to see changes but feel that the recent round of changes have cheapened the quality of the newspaper, not improved it.
It’s intersting how the AJC/conversation gets updated by deleting posts the previous night that are critical of your editorial policies. I have kept co[pies and you are not fooling anyone. You say you are listening but in fact you delete the voices you don’t want to hear. You want to discuss fonts, ink, etc. and many of your readers want to discuss your views of offensive editorial content by Luckovich, Bookman and Tucker.
I am working as visual editor of kerala kaumudi publishing from kerala,india.I have gone through your newspapers new design in the net.You have said its modern classic design.Can you explain on it? while go through some of the pages I had got a feeling that you have given 50:50 priority to story and visuals .Is it so? Is it the new trend?
tksajeev http://www.newspaperdesign.ning.com
The type on today’s front page is aired out a bit and we think it improves the readability. Take a look and let us know if you agree.
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I wish I could say it solved the problem, but it doesn’t. There’s just not enough space between the words and everything runs together — I find myself skipping over articles that I want to read because of it. You’re encouraging an internet sort of reading experience where the reader is prone to skim headlines and skip the articles, and, ultimately, that’s just going to lead to readers canceling their subscriptions and skimming their headlines on the internet.
Simply put, here’s my advice for keeping the paper in business:
1. Go back to the old font or one that’s just as easy to read.
2. Ignore the completely out of place comments concerning editorial content (you didn’t redesign the editorial content). Anyone whose going to quit buying the paper for that reason already has, and they’re not coming back. They’re bitching for the same reason they always do: They get off on it — road rage is all the rage.
Thanks for bolding the county names in the Obituaries and also the first few words of each Vent.
I still have a little trouble locating a particular county in the the Obituaries. I think it’s because the spacing between the county name and the first listing in that county is too small. Or, since you’re listing the county on its own line, maybe a bit larger font would help?
I don’t yet find the color coding of each section name (Metro,Sports, etc.) particularly helpful. I don’t look for a colored background to identify the section name (Ex:green for Sports)- I still read the section name. Maybe I’ll eventually remember the color associated with each section, but since I read the paper section by section, the color coding isn’t particularly helpful to me.
Overall, I’m getting used to the new format and I’m having less difficulty in finding articles that interest me and in finding where they continue on another page.
The new design looks cheap and small town. It looks more like an effort to cut cost than to present a big city newspaper. Keep the OLD format and fire some of the NEW staff. I’ll stick with the Jackson County Paper.
To “Deleted” who said we delete comments overnight, that’s simply not true. If you made a posting and can’t find it later, email me directly at insideajc@ajc.com and I will check and see if perhaps you posted to another blog or something.
The changes to the AJC are pretty much a plus, with the exception of the print. I can not read the new print that you have choosen to use, nor most of the people that I mention it too. The print is one big blur. As a subscriber and reader of the AJC for many many years, I have enjoyed reading the AJC, but if there are not a change to the print so it is readable I will have no other choic than to cancel my subscription. I hope you can make the change so that I can read the print so I can continue to purchase the AJC
Thanks
Mike
Years ago Mike King wrote a defensive article in which he said “don’t compare us to ‘USA Today’ and ‘The Wall Street Journal’, we are a local paper”. Yes, you are a local paper. Other than a crime story, when was the last time the paper had a story about the goings-on in Athens, Augusta, Columbus, Macon and Savannah?
Let’s just cut to the bottom line. We don’t like the resign. You guys have bet your professional resumes on the resign and you’re not going to admit your wrong. For the money spent, you could have retained any number of reporters who could travel to the hinderlands and write stories. Thursday’s ‘NYT’ had an article about Rodney Cook’s arch.
Thursday’s ‘WPO’ had an article about the Supreme Court upholding the conviction of the bank robber in Rome (GA), whose gun accidentially dischared during the attempted hold-up.
In closing, back to Mike King. What paper do you want us to compare to the new ‘AJC’. Please tell us, then we will know the quality standard you are aiming to achieve.
The AJC now looks like USA Today! Everything is jumbled. When reading an article it is difficult to find the remaining article on the next page. I have to really search for what I am looking for. I read most of the paper every morning, now it takes longer because there seems to be no consistency whatsoever. The page carrying the remainder of articles I’ve started should be much easier to find, and in some sort of order.
I also don’t care for the new font, the colors, or the headers! I subscribe daily, and have for years. I hope with all the complaints you will be making future changes!
I appreciate the need for reducing the size, but the pages are too visually crowded. The sans-serif type in the shaded boxes is very hard to read. The arrow-shaped horizontal rules are unnecessary; you’ve already got the shaded box rules and/or the thinner (and preferable) single-line rules. Readers need white space between elements to differentiate them. The pastel colors, and especially the puffy front-page banner font, detract from the dignity of what should be a serious newspaper. I think you took informality a bit too far.
Disappointed. That was my reaction (after the initial shock) to the wholesale changes on Tuesday. For the past 15 years, I have started my crazy day by stealing a few minutes in the morning with a cup of coffee and the AJC which was my way of relaxing. This week I found myself unable to do that as reading the paper is no longer an enjoyable or relaxing experience.
My eyes are constantly looking – even longing – for something to catch them without success. The lack of contrast – from the gray paper and pastel colors to the bold typeface so close to the standard – restricts the flow of the page and forces me to literally search for something of interest. Bring back the bold, brilliant colors and clean lines and compartments of yesterday.
I understand the need for change in this environment but this has all the makings of New Coke – that is, if the editors are smart enough to listen to their constituency. Otherwise, it may have the makings of Cerberus Capital – that prescient group of individuals that purchased DaimlerChrysler a couple of years ago.
I’d also suggest to the editors not to get defensive about all of the feedback. We’re certainly glad to know that you are listening and taking the constructive criticism seriously but keep in mind that people are passionate in their opinions because they are passionate about the paper and want to maintain that passion.
And please put aside the tired argument that so much “research” went into these changes. I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts that had you gathered a large sample of long-time readers in a room and produced Tuesday’s edition there would have been the same outrage you are hearing in this blog. At least that could have played out outside of the public domain.
After all of the legitimate complaints about how dense the type is, you’ve responded by reducing your paragraph indents to one word. Whoever is in charge of making these decisions about the font is either blind or has super vision. In any case, the rest of us are left with a great paper that is now impossible to read.
I guess my comments are like the rest, the print is too small and too compact. I would imagine that in this time of electronic everything, the majority of the people subscribing to a print copy of the newspaper are middle agers and up. In our home we get our news in many forms, I subscribe to the paper for a few things, local news, the daily puzzles, the food section and coupons.
So, what happened to the food section this week? I couldn’t believe it was so small, with so little information. What a shame, I looked forward to all the information this section held and have a folder full of clipped information and recipies.
Also,I would like to address the blocks on the Sunday large Sudoku. For years I have been complaining to myself about the size. The daily Sudoku is large enough, and then the Sunday puzzle is so small I can hardly write the number in. After ten or fifteen minutes, my eyes tear like crazy and I just have to stop. It would be my dream to finish the puzzle. Would you consider making it as large as the daily puzzle?
I know no one likes change, but I feel I have the opportunity now to let you know what I think. Perhaps there are more people who want the same thing.
One more thing, you made the paper narrower, that’s fine, but could you make it shorter, more like a magazine. You see, besides being visually impaired (reading glasses only), I am vertically challenged (short), so a magazine format would be ideal.
i don’t feel that wednesday nite sports should be reported on the friday edition. the area of delivery has shrunk to a size now that at least you can go to press later, and still get the paper delivered in time the next am and report at least the local sporting events.
I don’t want to pile on, ‘cuz Lord knows this has been hard on y’all. I just wonder how you test a font like the sans serif for weeks or months ahead of time, only to find out when you print it that folks can’t read it. I suggest testing older readers next time and not just the 20-somethings in your newsroom who have good eyes. Because as we know, older folks are much more loyal and regular readers of the paper. I’m only middle aged and my eyes are only somewhat weak but I had a lot of trouble with it. I do appreciate you bumping up the font a bit to make it easier. Hang in there; Atlanta needs its newspaper so don’t give up the fight.
No mention that you intend to become a balanced newspaper instead of the spokesman for all things “liberal”. I will check with a newstand purchase once in a while before I re-subscribe.
The new AJC look is visually striking. Great job on making this venerable publication look like it was birthed in the 21st century. Now, what are the chances you continue the migration from newsprint to electronic version by a redesign of AJC.com to look like the paper?
After all, by most experts’ estimation, the newspaper industry will have to migrate to paid web versions in the next five years or face oblivion. Young readers haven’t taken up the habit of grabbing the ol’ fishwrap with a cup of joe in the morning: they would much rather click on their bookmark in their browser while sipping a tall mocha latte at their favorite coffee emporium, or at work.
You’ve already made the transition in your blogs (like Peach Buzz), take the next step and ad the rest.
If you lead in the push to 70% Web, 30% print revenue, you might just get to see the AJC banner in 2100… Here’s hoping y’all do.
Dr. Chuck, I like the e-print edition myself so I’m glad you are recommending it. Just want to note it does’t include the Sunday comics or ad inserts; only stuff we print on site.
I still love print newspapers though I constantly use website news sites all the time, for work and personal interest. I was shocked when I saw the new AJC print edition. To me it feels like going back in time, largely because of colors and layout, and like moving to a tabloid newspaper such as USA Today. Neither of these are positive points. It will be interesting tomorrow when I get the first Sunday edition. I’m sure I won’t cancel my subscription, but at this point I have to say the new format definitely doesn’t win me over. Like most changes, I guess I’ll get used to it. Sigh!
BJ, I’m not expecting this to make you like the new AJC design any better, but it’s got some pretty strong differences from USA TODAY. USA TODAY uses big visuals and not that many stories on the front and is a much looser design. The AJC new design has high word-to-visual ratio, high story count, and is pretty dense in design, in some ways similar to the Wall Street Journal.
I know folks see similarities to USA TODAY because of the color navigation (colored section headers) but the design philosophies are very different.
Shawn, thank god you’re going the “high word-to-visual” route. Too many “news” options (print, web-based, TV, …) only feed us “snippets” of information, barely skimming the surface of what is happening. And some TV news has even done away with snippets in favor of
“news” that is just endless freakouts and arguments, ie Headline News’ Nancy Grace. Some of us still have enough attention spans to want to dig deeper into what’s going on in the world. I hope the print AJC continues to give its readers some depth. I know your business, especially the print side of it, is undergoing massive changes due to lower ad sales and lower circulations. Overall your readers want you to succeed even though we may whine a lot about how you have to get there.
I love the new format and the narrower paper. Easier to fold and read when traveling. I like the font although it could be a little darker. Keep up the good work.
There are lots of little things that keep disappearing after each “improvement” such as the daily Celebrity Birthdays and the Genealogy column that used to appear on Sunday. These are the types of things that round out a paper. The hard news is old and has already been read online by the time the paper hits. Tthe little things used to make subscribing worthwhile.
Keith, I think you just correctly identified one of the challenges of modern newspapering. When nearly everyone read a paper, and it was the only “mass medium,” it was easy to have something for just about everyone. Some people loved the bridge column, others turned each day to celebrity birthdays, and some couldn’t get out of bed without Dear Abby. As readers and advertisers moved to the Internet, most newspapers had to get smaller. And start choosing what to leave in and what to take out.
Any newpaper company making bad choices about what to keep and especially what to take out can cause even more readers to leave. So newspaper edtiors need to know what thier readers like best and be sure to choose wisely.
We’ve discovered that most of our 7-day readers are not reading the news online, and they really want and need to get the day’s news in the weekday newspapers. That doesn’t mean there aren’t still a lot of “little things” to round out the daily paper, but news is the main mission.
On weekends, we have two kinds of readers, those who read mostly a newspaper for their news all week, and those who read online during weekdays but still want the experience of a Sunday paper. That’s why you will find our new Sunday edition loaded up with those kinds of “little things” that can make reading a newspaper such a pleasure. In additon to the old standards, we’ve added some new destination features. When you pick up the paper tomorrow be sure to check out Page 2 of Metro, Business and Sports and check out the “Milestones” feature in Sunday Living and Arts.
Good reading and I hope you find the “little things” still make a big difference.
“So why make the page narrower? It was one of the difficult decisions that we’ve made, including eliminating delivery in some counties, and cutting staff and sections, in response to an extremely challenging economic situation. We’ve used a lot of reader research to decide what we needed to keep and what we could let go in order to reduce costs and continue to bring you a daily newspaper.”
–Well, the difficult decision was a horrible one. It’s a shame that people around Georgia cannot read the capital city newspaper. I don’t know who these readers are you claim to have consulted. I could understand the staff and section cutback if the newspaper was all that Cox owned. But Cox Enterprises owns cable systems, radio stations, television stations, Autotrader.com, digital telephone, high-speed internet, and on and on. With Cox Enterprises profiting from all these other sources, it is unacceptable to gut the only daily Atlanta newspaper like this. It’s just sheer greed.
They have ended the @Issue section on Sunday, AccessAtlanta, Movies and More, CityLife, Thursday Homefinder, Atlanta and the World, Horizon, and Home & Garden. They discontinued the stand alone Arts, Travel, Business, and Better Health sections. The Food Section, Sunday AJC Homes, and AJC Jobs are all super thin now. That’s all I can remember, I know there’s more.
All options should have been exhausted before narrowing the newspaper AGAIN. A daily paper this narrow can’t even be respected, it’s almost a sick joke. The other day the Front Page (A) section was only eight pages, with the Business section included. Who are these mythical readers who claim to want a “less comprehensive” paper during the week? Why would someone want to pay 75 cents and get a smaller paper? Do you really think people are going to “get used” to this new design? Seriously? I desperately want to see the paper survive, but with these types of cuts I can’t envision people continuing to renew their subscriptions.
Tim, I understand your frustration with cuts in content. We don’t like them either.
Just for background, here’s an exerpt from a letter our publisher, Doug Franklin, wrote to readers in February:
“We can only be a strong, free press — beholden to no one — if we are profitable. Right now, the AJC — and other newspapers across the country — are struggling financially.
For years, the AJC was sustained by classified and retail advertising. This revenue allowed us to deliver the newspaper to you 365 days a year at a very reasonable price. But as people turned to the Internet, classified listings declined. Our retail advertisers have been forced by current significant economic challenges to reduce their ad spending.
This is our challenge. We know you depend on us more than ever. The latest data from the research firm Scarborough shows that about 2 million people in Atlanta read the AJC every week. We provide more in-depth local news and information than any other source. We also know you continue to rely on us for the best shopping information from our advertisers. In these tough economic times, you want to spend your money wisely, and our advertisers help you do so.
So … how do we face these financial challenges? It won’t be easy. Just like you, we have to live within our limited means.
No business can lose money for long, and we are working day and night to turn this around. We are making difficult decisions: we have cut staff, frozen pay, reduced our circulation area and taken a sharp pencil to all our business costs.
We’re listening to you more than ever. In the past year we heard from thousands of readers — through surveys, focus groups and other feedback channels — who have guided the changes we’ve made so far. We know that we’re at our best when we act on what we learn from our readers.
We can’t do everything we want or everything you want.”
As for whether people will continue to subscribe, I certainly hope so. The newspaper remains an incredible value. For 7-day subscribers, it arrives every day on the driveway at a cost of about 60 cents. You can’t even get a cup of coffee for 60 cents these days, and you certainly can’t get a cup delivered each morning.
Eager with anticipation, I picked up the early Sunday AJC which is distributed on Saturday. What a disappointment! What in the world did you do to the Sports section? Eight pages only and full of adds:
Page C1 – large banner ad at bottom for upcoming Hawks game
Page C2 – full page car ad
Page C3 – half page tires ad
Page C4 – 7/8ths of the page is ads
Page C5 – 3/4ths of the page is ads
Page C6 – half page of ads
Page C7 – full page ad
Page C8 – full page ad
What’s going on? Did all the sports writers call in sick with swine flu or something? Looks like the AJC used an extremely high ads-to-content ratio in this section. Anyone looking for a “relaxing experience” reading Sunday’s Sports is going to be sorely disappointed.
Rondell, the early edition has less news because it’s put together Friday night, roughly the same time as the Saturday edition and there’s little news at that point that hasn’t already been in the Saturday newspaper. Folks who buy it usually want an early jump on coupons or to read feature content rather than news content.
I agree with BJ: the new look seems to mimic USA Today, only the writing in AJC has deteriorated to the point where it is about as bad as USA Today. My wife and I were just discussing what we should do and we will probably start getting the New York Times delivered and cancel the AJC. The NYTimes has many in-depth articles on many relevant topics. This isn’t about a liberal paper vs. a conservative paper. It is all about what is a GOOD newspaper with good journalism, true investigative journalism, detailed stories, AND a wide range of editorial opinion. I’m sorry to say it, but AJC just doesn’t come close.
8:15 and still no paper. It has been late everyday this week. Not a good start for a new product intro. I remain hopeful and cautiously optimistic though….
I’m one of those readers in your ’sweet spot’. I’m over 40 and have subscribed to newspapers in every city I’ve lived in. Your redesign is hideous. The flow of the paper is fouled up. Today, for example, you’ll get to page A8, which starts your “Nation” section. A9 is more Nation, then A10 is story continuations from A1, then a nice 2 page ad, then, on A14, if you can find it, you’ll see “Nation in brief”, then ads and more continuations from A1, then, finally on A19, more “Nation”. This kind of “flow” is evident in the weekday papers too, which drives me nuts. I expect to see the “…in brief” content at the beginning of the section to give me a quick overview of what’s inside.
The color choices for the various sections are quite ugly and don’t make me feel “relaxed” or “invited” to read.
Please make the paper look like one from a major city and not like a neighborhood newsletter designed by an unskilled volunteer. People like me won’t bother looking at the “content” if the paper looks amateurish.
I have enjoyed the AJC for many years and want to see it last for many years to come, but please startup a new “redesign” effort ASAP!
I’d comment on the new Sunday paper but it is now 9:40 and it still has not been delivered.
Just a comment from the weekly edition regarding a headlines that are whiteouts within a color block. Very amatuerish in my opinion, maybe if the letters had a black ink border or some depth and definition to make it really standout would add a “finished” and professional look.
Anyway if I ever get my Sunday paper I let you know what I think.
Target Audience, we can refine the “flow” issue you address. To a degree we’re constrained by advertising configurations … and I should point out that today we have the full-page guide to the new AJC on A3 which won’t be there in the future. A3 will be available for news and that should help make the flow a bit more pleasing.
This kind of specific feedback is helpful, so thanks for submitting it.
I’m about 4,500 miles away from home this week. Otherwise I would not bother to read the excuses for AJC. After subscribing for 31 years, I stopped. Not much to read on Sunday or any other day of the week. I wondered how my life would be without AJC, but realized the last 5-6 months I didn’t really have it due to all the changes.
For 20 years, I received AJC through News for Kids program once per week in my classroom. In all those years only one student in my class subscribed to AJC. I used to think that was sad–until I stopped it in my own home and realized it was not necessary in my life. Scary thought.
I’ve bought the Sunday paper twice this year for $1 at a roadside vendor. I read most everything in less than 3 hours. It used to be 5-6 hours of information. I don’t have TV by choice and you no longer meet my needs. Seems there are thousands who feel the same way. What happened AJC? You dictate what you want us to know instead of giving what we want. So, I voted with my feet.
to the managing editor: okay, i gave it a week, as you suggested. i dont like the style, but am getting used to it. my big deal is still the writing. its like the writers at the AJC on staff really dont seem to care. they give the most shallow and surfaced of accounts. i mean, this is their city. they should report more than some national outlet. its really bad. has everyone that was good left? I am sorry, i wanted to give you a chance, but you really didnt change anything other than the look in my opinion.
HS Teacher, when you get home I’d ask you to give us another try. The new Sunday paper is the product of more than a year of conversations we’ve had with lots of readers from all over the Atlanta area and we’re trying hard to closely align the news content with reader interests. Spend a couple of bucks one Sunday and see what you think.
And I hear what you’re saying about not spending as much time with the paper, but 3 hours of information/entertainment for $2 is really not a bad value these days.
There is so much liberal slobber that by the time I get it all wiped off, the paper is not legible. Perhaps I’m having trouble with flow due to the writers’ abilities these days ~ typos and grammatical errors galore! As a reader since 1976, with intermittent moves across the country and much travel globally, I must admit it really is not well thought out. Keep working, I believe it can happen.
Mr. Gay: Do you really come home from church and go through the Arts and Leisure sections? Really now. Anyway, the first Sunday section is well done. You should be proud. You sound like an intelligent young man. Probably cut your teeth with some other fine journalists who have since departed. The Sunday paper is good, and I was prepared to be critical. Well done CTG.
Hey Red, have you checked out Kyle Wingfield, our new conservative columnist on today’s opinion page? It’s his debut column and it’s pretty interesting. Kyle is a Dalton native but he’s spent the past few years writing from Europe for the Wall Street Journal, so he has a unique perspective on the path the U.S. is taking under the Obama administration. Check it out if you haven’t already. One columnist is just one columnist, but I think you’d have to call it a step in the “right” direction. (Sorry.)
Sanman, have we met somewhere? I’ll have you know I used to be a season ticket holder to the Atlanta Opera and had tix for Friday night but couldn’t make it due to a lingering cough. Opera patrons tend to not appreciate that.
Thanks for the positive feedback.
It’s the only printed choice we have and it has grown completely intolerable and almost unreadable since the beginning of the Obama presidential campaign. Think there is a correlation?
Cynthia “Mckinney” Tucker can be singularly credited for it’s decline and she is rewarded with an assignment in Washington DC. Good riddance, she is the most intellectually dishonest new person this city has ever seen.
Folks, I’m off to First Methodist off the Square in May-retta. If you’re heading that way I’ll be the guy sporting a green bowtie and damp hair. Be back online about 12:30, but y’all keep the comments coming.
The How Do You Like Me Now column in sports is a really fun idea. But so far, almost every one of them has been someone I, a lifelong AJC readers, couldn’t care less about. And don’t ask me for suggestions. It’s not what I get paid for. Tell your sports staff that in order for people to want an update on someone, they have to have once been someone we cared about.
Wow. You are “listening” and as a result you will have bigger type. Bolder type. That is impressive. You have discovered “watchdog” journalism on the way through the jail house door? Goodness.A narrower page because the readers will prefer it? Did you ask? Bulletin: A narrower page MEANS LESS NEWS!. Reminds me of my days as an editor when the m.e. of the Las Vegas Sun said he used to run a showgirl — as undressed as possible — on the front page every day, with the lead headline in red. He got complaints. The big guys sat down and made changes.
They made the lead headline blue.
Next for the fast-disappearing AJC, blue headlines.
Charles Gay, I think you hit the nail on the head without realizing it: for you, the paper is A and Sports. For me, it’s Business. For other readers, it’s probably something else.
But you still print just ONE paper and ask everyone to take it or leave it. The redesign is the same. Take it or leave it. That’s just hard to accept when there are plenty of online options that don’t ask readers to settle for anything.
Another problem is distribution. On a typical daily basis, I am never in a place where the paper is sold. Never see vending machines for it. Don’t smoke so no need to go to a store for that. For fuel, pay-at-the-pump means no need to go inside for that either. And grocery stores don’t seem to ever have papers any more. Even if I wanted to read the whole thing (and I usually do when I get one), it’s hard to buy what one never sees.
Home delivery? Not an option for me. My lovely neighbors steal every copy and your subscription sales department is currently asking customers to commit to EZ-Pay for months in advance when those customers are not certain they’ll have a job. Once again, a take it or leave it way of doing something.
Good Morning. Some change from April 28; but in the words of Richard Dawson from the old Family Feud show, “Not There!” The Vent became easier to read, and the ink may be somewhat darker; but the box scores and the standings in the Sports Section are still too small and “busy-looking.” “Busy” probably describes the readability in general, because one has to “read through” a point of interest before that item can be read easily.
I have already started my transition to the online version, and I can handle that. Just tell me why I cannot find the Judge Parker comic strip online; it’s the only one I read.
My current subscription deadline is May 13, and I will give every consideration to the tweaks and reworks by that time.
I can go back to 1966 when I first knew The Atlanta Continue and Mr. Ralph McGill. There were bumps in the road then, but he and his newspaper always landed on their feet. I’m still hoping for a smoother landing.
Watch over us, Mr. McGill.
Julia,
How about doing some of that good journalism that one sees in the Wall Street Journal. Good move sending Ms. Tucker to Washington, she should feel more at home.
Re: Investigative stories not being authored or reported by the AJC or any Media
This Obama Administration is a target rich environment for watchdog stories and none of it seems to be getting pursued.
1) The CIA Debacle: Juxtaposing the Valerie Plame kerfuffle with the recent outrageous “cherry-picked” disclosure of the CIA Interrogation docs. Align this with the CIA’s often leaking like a sieve during Bush’s eight years. CIA gets payback and our country is not safer because of it.
2) Unchecked Executive Power: The incredibly non-constitutional powers given to the Treasury Department, the FED thusly expanding the power of the Executive Office of the President which was one of the call to battle cry’s of the Democrat Party and the Big Media for the last 7 years against Bush.
3) The EPA: recent designation of greenhouse gas as toxic and harmful to the environment to lend support to the Global Warming oops Climate Change oops “Whatever new talking point is” that the environmentalists whackos come up with to scare monger the people and drive politicians to non-sensical legislation to TAX 100% of the people. Al Gore lies to Congress on April 28th about his business connections to global warming totally discrediting his testimony. Alternative Opinion testimony blocked by Henry Waxman after the witness Lord Monckton flies over here from Europe.
4) Nancy Pelosi: third in line to the Presidential throne and she is caught red handed being notified of interrogation methods as far back as 2002 then lying about it all in April 2009. This should be a 10-part expose leading to her ouster from the leadership of the house. Throw in the Jane Harman chapter, the Dianne Feinstein debacle and this reveals a California Politician based corruption of the Democrat Party unseen in history this story will SPIKE your readership big time.
5) George Soros: This person is a convicted felon ineligible to vote in most states in the USA and he controls the Democrat Party with his billions. Juicy Juicy Story. This foreigner is manipulating national politics openly and without watchdogs of the press interest at all. Openly brags about earning $1 billion dollars during the economic meltdown since Sept 08.
Incredible juicy stories with lots of accurate content that will BOOST sagging AJC subscriber ship. Go against the liberal progressive conventions and AJC popularity will SOAR.
The AJC has an opportunity to make Georgians proud where are you on this AJC?
I think the vast majority of people who read your paper take these changes in stride and don’t want to lose a daily, much less Sunday, paper. Critics can be found everywhere; there’s a natural tendency for some, even many, people to want to speak back to their newspaper as loudly or louder than the newspaper speaks to them.
I disagree with some comments here that the writing in the ‘new’ paper is lower quality. I find this can be easily refuted by the facts, too numerous to go into here, but facts that can be demonstrated by the many examples I see everyday in your articles. I will take the time, though, to give some examples of the most important aspect, to me, of a good news story. And that’s how the beginning paragraph transitions from the headline to the essentials of the story. For instance, in today’s ajcMetro section, every story on the front page made this connection. Example 1: Story: Secrecy shrouds Cobb’s parkland plan. “Cobb County officials won’t disclose locations of 277 properties they are eyeing for parkland, and a county committee says it will meet behind closed doors to decide which ones should be purchased with taxpayer money.” Now, tell me this doesn’t make the instant connection to the headline and set up the rest of the story. I like articles that begin with the crux of the matter. Articles that start out in the clouds somewhere are not as likely to grab my interest in reading the paper, which is to get information and news.
Example 2: Story: Medical mistakes unhappy reality. “A surgical team at Northside Hospital was supposed to remove one of the patient’s breasts – but performed a double mastectomy because of a mistake, state records show.” Example 3: Protecting and serving homeless. “A cop who encounters a homeless man can ignore him. Or he can simply tell him to move on.” What better set-up could you get than these two examples?
Bottom line, your writing’s fine, even exceptional in many cases.
I read two in-depth articles today, the one on Zinkhan, which provided information I had not heard or read before, and the one on schools and the need many high school graduates have for remedial courses as college freshmen.
I also read Kyle Wingfield and disagree that there are few choices in European economies or that they get ripped off. I lived in Germany for 5 years in the ’80s and this is just not the case. Bring it on, Kyle!
I’m back. Mr. Webb and Ms. Decatur: I’m no expert on fonts but I can tell you we’re paying close attention to readability. I think today’s Sunday paper benefited from the feedback we got from readers earlier in the week and we have made improvements. The baseball standings in the Sports section are on our radar and we’re working on that.
Scott: Those may very well be great stories but the AJC isn’t in a position to investigate them and it’s got nothing to do with our politics. We made a strategic decision some time ago that our staff needed to focus on local and state news – something readers can’t get in depth from other sources. Now that our staff is smaller, it’s even more imperative that we focus our resources on our local communities. In addition, the type of investigations you’re talking about need to be undertaken by reporters who cover Washington, not reporters in Atlanta. Happily, the NYT, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Washington Times, and others are positioned to look into those types of stories. If they produce them, we will publish them.
Now, if you or anyone else has a tip about something fishy going on in local or state government, that’s our job and I’d like to hear about it.
I am one to give new products a chance, so I will do so with the new design of the AJC.
One thing that is really disgusting is how the top brass of AJC is tripping over themselves trying to appease the conservative base in Atlanta. I have never seen such kowtowing in my life!!! For example, look how quickly the editor pointed out the reader about the new conservative editor. But has he yet to defend the writingS of Cynthia Tucker? It’s like he is distancing himself from one of the most esteemed writers at AJC. Ms. Tucker has even been referred to as “Cynthia McKinney” and once again, no comments from the editor. There is an old saying that goes “You can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time. But you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”
Don’t forget AJC, those “liberals” you are trying to distance yourselves from spend money just like the conservatives you are out the red carpet. How about just giving Atlanta a top rated paper instead of trying to please a certain segment of Atlanta.
I am from the norhteast, consider the NYT the standard in most respects (though I don’t always like its politics), can deal with some color and pizzaz, but have considered ending my subscribption based on the new lay out. It makes me dizzy, and it’s hard for me to see where the news is. The single biggest issue is the highly distracting grey verticle bar down the middle of each first page. It completely disrupts any logic to the page. I noticed the Sunday version is without this grey bar, and I am fine with its look. Please get rid of that grey bar in the daily as well. Honestly, it gives me a headache when combined with all the new color blocs. Uch.
Mr. Attitude, I appreciate your comment. We have taken some flak from the left for moving right and from the right for still trending too far left. What we’re trying to do is bring more balance to the political discourse in our pages. Our goal is to present points of view from all sides so readers can make their own, informed decisions about the issues of the day. I’m sure everybody will let us know how we do.
How did you post an, “I’m leaving for church, etc.” at 11:12 a.m. and drive/park/walk there and get there in time to be a part of the service? Seriously, I want to know how to pull that off and if “First Methodist off the square in May-retta” is the key, I’ll start coming there. Have the pastor contact me.
The service we attend starts at 11:15, and we live right off the Marietta Square, less than 1/2 mile away. If only my daily commute were such a breeze!
A belated comment to the public editor: I hope we will never always agree entirely. That would probably mean I’ve got to change immediately and for a conservative, even for a progressive populist conservative that would be like having to re-build Rome within a day.
I’ve lived in other major media centers and the AJC is the worst paper I’ve ever read, or attempted to read. Editorials aside, there seems to be a race angle to most stories. I’m wondering what percentage of readership cares about such things. Just report the damn news without the obvious slants. How about some conservative or middle of the road perspectives? I can tolerate Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman by avoiding their socialist diatribes.
Thanks for the new conservative editorial voice AJC. (You need a few more.)
Margaret Thatcher’s dictum still holds true: “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”.
Thanks for the keeper Kyle. Now when is our President and the Democrats going to run-out of China’s money and we have to begin covering our own debts through the hidden tax of inflation?
I’ve also noticed the Republicans are now concerned about spending and job loss. Where were these guys Kyle, eight compassionate Bush years ago when we conservatives were screaming at them to stop their job destroying, taxing, borrowing and spending ways?
I have been an AJC subscriber for 10 years. My subscription is about to run out and the AJC has been calling me twice a day for the past two weeks to urge me to subscribe again (when I see the caller id says AJC, I don’t pick up). I have been horrified by the typos, spelling errors and general errors in the paper for the past couple of months. I waited until I got today’s “new” Sunday paper before making up my mind. You lost me AJC. A couple of suggestions to keep readers who have not made up their minds yet. 1. Hire proof readers for the online and print version. 2. Get rid of silly columns like “Social Butterfly” that no one reads (except the people pictured in the column) and have more in depth local stories.
Sue, I’m sorry to hear you’re dropping us. I’ll just tell you and everybody else that we’re aware that typos have been a problem lately. I think a lot of it is attributable to the change in fonts and other operating system issues, but that’s no excuse. We brought in additional proofreaders last week and they caught a lot of errors but evidently not everything. We will work harder at it.
Gang, I have grass that needs cutting (all this rain!) so I’m going to attend to that and come back later in the afternoon. Keep posting comments; I’m reading every one and other editors are too.
All in all, Mr. Gay, I think Sunday is better. Question, though: What happened to Gimme Five, which used to be in sports? I used to like the daily lists. I even had a suggestion make it into print as an idea. Why not revive it?
The new look for the paper is really awful. This is the worst change in Atlanta since “new coke”. It looks weak, out of focus and dull. Please rethink and bring back “classic AJC”
So Tim…let me get this straight. You demand that the people who make the AJC confirm to your requirements even if they lose money because in your opinion, they can afford it. Where I come from that is just theft. You want to steal their money for your use.
I would much rather that the AJC keep changing until they find a model and structure that makes money. That would mean that the people in Atlanta find enough value in the paper to pay more than what it costs to produce it. If the AJC had been following that approach for the last decade, they would be in much better shape today…and we would all have a better paper too.
Sunday paper looks good. It appeared to have more, longer stories than previously, especially in metro. I hope Mark Davis is a Sunday keeper — he’s a good writer, and has been in the paper too seldom.
Confused by the picture of food on the left-hand page between two stories. Didn’t make sense.
Enjoyed the article on Korean entrepreneurship in Gwinnett. I can’t find it on AJC.COM, though.
I could care less about comics in color, but I do care that some features such as the vent and the obituaries are so small and dim that one can hardly read them. It seems you have “cut enough corners” without reducing the amount of ink. Also, the Sunday Homefinder is just a joke anymore. In today’s issue there wasn’t even an article written about the property. And what happened to the Home Search and Vacation Homes features? We have been loyal customers for many, many years but are seriously considering not renewing when this subscription expires.
We all appreciate your Herculean task in revamping our paper. We want the AJC alive and well, but we also need to be able to read it. It is not easy in its current form, and I often can’t find what I want or where I’m going. Especially in need of fixing is the “continued on A10″ at the bottom of such articles. It is almost impossible to read. Please make the type bolder. You have skipped a line between the article so it is already set off. But I thank you for your efforts. I’m sure we will get used to the new format with practice.
Back again.
Trent, thanks for the positive feedback. We felt Gimme Five had run its course after a couple of years and ended it a while back. Maybe it was because we were running it every day. If other readers like it too, there’s nothing to say we couldn’t just do it on Sundays.
Jon, Mark Davis is indeed a great writer and I’m happy to say he’s on our Sunday staff. It’s worth pointing out that we’ve created a staff of 32 reporters, editors and photographers who work exclusively on the Sunday paper to ensure that it’s strong every week. Other reporters from the rest of the AJC newsroom also contribute stories from their beats, but in past years the Sunday paper was an afterthought for many – even most – busy staffers. Our Sunday group works all week, and in some cases for several weeks, on stories we know will land in the Sunday paper and we think it makes the Sunday AJC a smarter, more comprehensive, and better thought-out read. You’ll of course be the ultimate judge.
That’s a long way of saying yes, you’ll be seeing Mark’s byline on most Sundays.
Folks, it’s after 5 p.m. and I’m signing off for the day. This blog should be active for a while longer so I’ll check for additional comments late tonight or in the morning. Thanks for the constructive criticism, which we do take seriously and helps us make adjustments. If you have a concern, an idea, a question, or anything else to say about the Sunday AJC you’re welcome to email me at cgay@ajc.com.
It would seem what you are telling us is that we will get a paper whose quality we have come to expect, but only once a week. Take the rest of it because we tell you we talked to a really big bunch of people and they liked it so you should too. The fonts and readability seems to be better than Tuesday (could hardly be worse, but it at least keeps us thinking you are listening). However the content and quality of writers your readers are so ardently calling for seems to be an unreal expectation, and you guys can’t seem to quite figure out how to tell us that. Maybe you should go to a Sunday only paper, and put out a product we can all be proud of.
Today’s Sunday paper was depressing. A poor imitation of USA Today, or perhaps a neighborhood amateur paper. You guys are surely joking. It is sad to read your artificially upbeat comments about the current state, i.e. demise, of a once proud paper. I doubt if this poor excuse for a paper will be around even another year. Sorry, but its true. People who know how to read will be leaving in droves. Colorizing a bad product does not change the content.
First off, I do like the overall redesign of the paper. As a long-time daily subscriber (16+ years), you’ve done a great job in a difficult time for all news organizations.
My only complaint is the new masthead for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. If I bring the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, (and many other great newspapers) to mind… it’s that they all have a strong visual identity. The NY Times uses it’s famed masthead as a graphical icon for delivery trucks, paper boxes, online, direct-mail, and a wide variety of other applications. These mastheads all date back to the individual paper’s origins. Certainly over time they’ve been modified, tweaked and streamlined… but they still serve as the historical visual anchor for the publications.
I’m sad to say that the redesigned masthead looks like USA Today-Lite. I could remove “Atlanta”, and replace it with “Anchorage” or “Albuquerque” without much problem. When I first moved to Atlanta from New York, you had both a strong masthead along with the quote “Covers Dixie Like The Dew”. I thought this was perfect!
As a new resident of the Capital of the South, I wanted a paper that was the obvious voice of my neighborhood, my community and the region. You continue to do that very well… it’s just that I believe you’ve lost any visual connection to your long history. A loss indeed.
Can’t say the Sunday paper changed my mind from what I thought during the week. The colors, I can take them or leave them. The new font isn’t good. Some of the adjustments have been good, there’s less long column stories than Tuesday. But the Sunday paper is small compared tot he past years and coupled with how extremely!!! thin the weekday papers are, especially with so much content moved to Sunday, I feel like I’m not getting what I should for my money.
I can definitely see you’ve applied some of the feedback to the paper. In the 5/4 AJC, I visually noticed a difference in some of the font sets and colors. I like the change in color for the Sports section however I believe the Living section should have a more contrasting color. Side by side, initially they both are similar. FWIW, I do like the darker color used for the Sports this week over the initial copy from last week.
The new paper design is terrible. who wants a “European daily” looking paper. The content is scant as well. The WSJ is going to be the only decent paper left and it is getting to “modern” looking. If I wanted People magazine or US magazine I would have bought it.
I am seriously considering canceling my 7 day subscription.
I understand the economic difficulty that you are facing due to decreased circulation. I don’t believe that you will be able to retain readers with your new format. It is much more difficult to read. The box scores are unreadable because of the small font as are many of the Sunday comics. The pages are all far too busy.
I have been a subscriber for 21 years but will not be renewing my subscription. I will not pay more for a product with less content and readability
R.I.P. Atlanta Journal Constitution. You were once a great paper, even with the ridiculous liberal slant in reporting and editorial. I predict there will be no printed AJC within a year. You haven’t figured a thing out. It’s sad.
Your new design looks like a re-fried version of USA Today. If you want to save costs on paper, you need to consider tabloid. Look at Newsday, for example.
In the future, little printed press will survive. My students—a bunch of millennials—certainly lack the habit of reading printed newspapers. You’re romanticizing a medium that, for economic and ecological reasons, is bound to disappear in its printed form.The sooner you adjust to this reality, the better.
In addition, you have failed to adapt to shifts in Atlanta’s population. Despite all the cosmetic changes, you’re still writing for a public that no longer exists: an eminently Southern population, educated in a conventional way at homegrown institutions. Wake up and smell the coffee. The power of the Sun Belt comes from elsewhere, and it involves a multiplicity of reading habits and tastes. It’s impractical to imagine your audience as a homogeneous whole. I arrived to ATL ten years ago, bought the AJC for five years, and then stopped. Your paper never spoke to me—nor to many other imports to the ATL metro area. The day your staff reflects ATL’s population, you’ll have a better chance—in the meantime, you’re still caught in a time warp and have failed to evolve fast enough.
In sum, unless you embrace even more drastic change, my guess is you will continue to suffer as a cultural product without a solid customer base.
Shawn, a clarification: Is your job to represent the AJC or represent the readers? That’s an honest question. I know that public editors at papers like the NYT are expected to criticize their own newspaper when they disagree with its decisions. Does the AJC allow you to criticize it? If so, why have you been so supportive of this redesign when the overwhelming majority of online responses have been negative? Do you actually like this redesign? Please explain. Thanks.
Note two things on the coupon. First, it’s for $1, not a free paper. Second, If you print it to a color printer, it will use up a dollar’s worth of ink. You don’t get to see or format the coupon. You hit print and it produces a full page four color coupon.
I’ve been OK with most of the changes to the daily AJC. However, I do miss what I call the scores page in the sports section. I realize the MLB and NBA scores and standings are still there. However, I want the one page where I can see such things as golf tournament scores, college scores, high school scores, sports transactions, etc. at a glance. I know all of this stuff is online and I am an avid Internet fan. However, I may have to go to a lot of different sites and pages online to get this information. This quick sports read is an important part of a morning newspaper that you have taken away from readers.
I’m still hanging on to the Atlanta Journal habit … and don’t read the morning paper til the end of my day. It’s really “old” news by the time I get to it … so I’m not looking at headlines — I get that online during the day as it happens (ajc.com and others). Probably most of what I’m reading is not really time sensitive, just general interest. Really bugging me in the last several months, and getting progressively worse: typos! — I spot several each day (need a proofreader? I’m looking for a job!)
I understand that you had to make difficult personnel reductions, but please pay closer attention to the editing. As KBG said, stories are riddled with typos and just plain mistakes. (Example: “Then catch the train or brave traffic into work.” Should be: “Then catch the train or brave traffic IN TO work.” Shawn, did you read this carefully before posting? All that “While our Sunday paper xxx, the daily paper xxx” is a bit overwrought.)
Headlines don’t match the stories and Associated Press updates to local stories read like rough cut-and-paste jobs. The corrections read like a short story. Take the time to make sure loyal readers get a GOOD read. It really is frustrating.
Hi, KBG,
I’m sorry to hear that you’re spotting so many typos in the newspaper (and I hope I haven’t made any in this post). As you can imagine, we’re bothered when we make mistakes, and we’re working harder to try to catch more errors before they reach your doorstep. For instance, we just put a pretty rigorous proof-reading process in place at nights. Given all of the changes we’ve made to the paper over the last few weeks, coupled with the fact that we’re constantly making tweaks on the fly to respond to issues that have come with the redesign, errors are still sneaking in. That’s not meant to be an excuse, but rather, an explanation. We’re working on it, I promise. And you should begin seeing some improvement.
Hi, MJ,
I’m intrigued by your comment that “headlines don’t match the stories and Associated Press updates to local stories read like rough cut-and-paste jobs.” Can you be more specific or cite a particular instance? I’d like to know more about that.
I really like the new tv guide, but someone needs to get the folds right. It is set up for a perfect 1/8 fold, but everything is off so it will not do right…
How about making the “Sunday Paper” a day of rest from all the America-hating, Christian-persecuting, Caucasian-bashing, left-wing, Obama Kiss-Up fest and have at least a noticeable degree of objectivity.
Also, in case you jokers at the AJC didn’t know (and you apparently do NOT by your lacking coverage), Atlanta now has a NHL Hockey Team that is celebrating its 10th Anniversary here. How about at least a weekly update on it?
Hi, John,
Thanks for posting your comment about the Sports section. I agree that the score board feature added a lot to the section, and I’m sorry that you’re now going to different sites to find this information. I can tell you why we did what we did, but I think the more important piece of information to relay is that we’re working on restoring that feature. I hope to have something firmer in the next several days. You’re not the first person to mention this, and given all of the feedback we received, it’s something we’re trying to figure out. As a sports fan, I miss it, too.
Hi, D.
I just chatted with my friends in ajc.com, and they tell me that for some reason, the updating of that particular feature slipped through the cracks. We hope to have some new material posted online soon — perhaps as early as next week. Thanks again for letting me know.
If there were more content, I would be pleased to spend more time with the paper. It takes less than 15 minutes to read now, frequently because there is so much less content. AP feeds and wire reports do not make content. I can, and do, get that from CNN or the other talking heads. Putting effort back in to local content might help me spend more than 15 minutes with the paper. More time with the paper would of course increase the number of ads I see.
(Larry just beat me to the punch, but here it is anyway – more local coverage please!)
Local sports & local government news are the only reason for a daily paper. You’re mostly good on the local sports, but I’m starving for local (Atlanta) government coverage. The big three for Atlanta should be crime, traffic, and education – I want to read something I didn’t already know everyday about one, if not all, of these.
We get the police blotter, but rarely do we get anything from the mayor/police chief (unless the citizens stage rallies – see ATAC). Regarding the press conference announcing the arrest of the Standard murder suspect – thanks for verbatim report, but there a huge stories to report. Report about the gangs and what APD are doing about them. Report about how our severely underfunded/understaffed criminal justice system took four months to piece the evidence together (and perhaps how many crimes this kid committed in the meantime).
Regarding education, the new small schools initiative is a huge deal. Perhaps struggling schools may benefit, but most of us believe the good schools that we are counting on are going to be hurt by this. Please dig a bit deeper and help us hold APS accountable for such a massive change.
I believe the AJC must do more on local coverage to become the citizen’s advocate – otherwise, it’s not very useful to me.
Hi, Larry,
Thanks for the post, though I’m going to have to quibble just a bit. Look at today’s paper. On the front page, there’s our story on Republican gubernatorial candidate John Oxendine saying he’ll return $120,000 in questionable campaign contributions — less than a day after we first reported on them. We have a story on a computerized phone scam (and who among us hasn’t been slammed with these pesky warranty calls?) Did you read April Hunt’s story on the changes along Buford Highway in Doraville? I haven’t even mentioned our on-going coverage of the “water wars,” or Jeff Schultz’s column on the Hawks, or David O’Brien’s insight and insider information in his “Braves notes” feature. Yes, space is limited. And yes, folks don’t have as much time to spend with the daily paper as they do with the Sunday paper. But I’d have to say there’s a lot of news in the daily paper — and quite a bit of unique local content that you simply can’t find anywhere else. I do appreciate the comment, and I’d like to ask one last question: Any specific thoughts on local stories we ought to be covering?
Mark – glad to see you guys are still taking comments on the new version of the newspaper. The print is so small, I cannot read it. The columns are so close together, you cannot just sit and soak the paper in like a newspaper is supposed to be read. Most of the stories are nothing more than Associated Press articles. Your slant towards the liberals remains puzzling if you want the folks advertisers are interested in subscribing. Everyone I have talked to about the new newspaper is embarassed. Atlanta is a major city. The AJC looks like a high school project. If you don’t change, you will be out of business by the end of the year, and that is a shame.
Here’s my issue. The AJC has been reasonably honest about the dire straits it’s in and the severe cuts in resources. OK, readers know this and still want a newspaper that covers the community well. But how does it make sense that with the limited remaining resources you’re spending them on all this redesign stuff and having all these high-level managers address the public when the one thing you have to sell us is news?!?!? How does this redesign get us readers more news about the community? How is you, Mark, spending your high-level manager hours getting more local news in the paper? All of the constructive comments on this site have focused on that. Let me tell you something, if you just printed a black-and-white, six-column sheet with 3×1-inch woodcuts (say, like the WSJ of five or six years ago — the highest circ paper in the land), YOU COULD HAVE MORE SPACE FOR LOCAL NEWS!!! And guess what: More people would get the paper. That is what you’re trying to sell us. Some of the reporting expressed in photos and charts is interesting, but please ask yourself the marginal-cost/benefit of having another reporter being able to cover story/beat or another artist/photog/designer being able to create an image based upon a reporter’s work. It’s this sort of fundemental business analysis that seems so foreign to newspaper managers (because they operated as monopolists for so long, I suppose).
Newspapers have been playing the re-design game for what, like, 40 years now? When has it ever made a bottom-line difference? Never; not once. At most, it serves the purpose to distract readers from the diminisishing size and content (we’re not that stupid, by the way). I think the cliche “moving the deck chairs on the Titanic” will soon be replaced by “Redesigning the Newspaper” as emblematic of an ultimately doomed enterprise.
I will forgo a further point of what will be necessary for the AJC to compete in the online world, as that is another topic. But the lack of managerial focus on the fundemental news-delivery function of the existing newspaper does not bode well for the future.
The AJC lost its value and relevance for me as a subscription when it became common for the hired staff to aggressively hype their personal political agenda. They should set up a personal blog site for such hype rather than hijack the media.
I refer to the AJC.com on occasion, but it is still disconcerting that the trivial and trashy take up the most prominent space on the AJC homepage. The hyped political agenda still occurs, but it is not on my (subscription) dime any longer, and I am free to skip it. The note-worthy news is relegated to the lower half of the page or the tabs while top-billing space is devoted to has-been celebrities and their self-destructive antics.
I am glad to see that the AJC.com significantly improved the Search Engine. Finally, it is a useful tool.
RECOMMENDATIONS for AJC.com:
(1.) Clean up the AJC content, return to serious reporting. Chose to target a well-read audience
(2.) Report DAILY on health, technology, business, political, and financial news.
(3.) Update Articles and News more often.
(4.) Revive the lost skill of Investigative Reporting
(5.) Do Not Denigrate Your Brand by Competing with The National Inquirer. Celebrities have a marvelous platform on Twitter, MySpace, blogs, etc. Let that demographic gleefully text their little thumbs off about Britney Spears and XL-Obnoxious.
Thank you for taking comments. Older print edition are locked in the archive, so it’s hard to pull them. I have tried. It’s also hard to search for old stories from the home page. I have to use Google.
From today’s story about the UGA professor on the home page: “Fullington said Zinkhan dug a 15- to 18-inch deep hole, pulled a pallet full of dirt and debris on top of him and then fired a single shot to his head with .38 handgun. A gray Puma sports bag containing clothes and .22 handgun were found with him.”
Shouldn’t it be “with A .38-CALIBER handgun. … and A .22-CALIBER handgun”? I know these are “quibbles” but the little things make a big difference.
Mark, my newspaper habits have changed over the years, yes, partly because of the Internet. I used to subscibe to the AJC and the New York Times 7 days a week, then just on Sundays, then just the AJC, then just the NYT on Sunday. Now, I don’t subscribe to any print newspaper. I spend the first part of my day in front of the PC reading several newspaper sites, first the AJC, a little of the NYT, and then onto CNN & Fox.
I’d like to tell you the Internet was the sole driver of this change, but unfortunately an equal consideration was the lack of content in the AJC on Sundays. For some reason, and I am unable to be very precise here, I just feel that there could be substantially more specialty and other content. An example that appeals to me personally is technology. It is now handled in two columns of largely commentary on the same topics over and over again by the same writer. Now, I don’t like it when people begin with “Now here’s how they do it in New York…”, but that newspaper has significant content and an overall broader scope in my opinion.
If I were designing a Sunday newspaper, I think I would get the NYT, along with the Chicago Tribune, perhaps the Miami Herald and maybe the Los Angeles Times and whatever the San Francisco paper is called, and look critically at them to see what combination of parts would be most appealing to Atlanta & Georgia readers.
Doing such a thing would offer more than can be obtained on any website, since the “shelf life” of such a newspaper would be longer than the first touch, i.e. pick up the paper in the morning, deal with it in whatever timeframe is appropriate to you, then out it goes. Elements of this newly designed newspaper would include glossy magazine sections, multi-advertiser coupon inserts for the week, printed on a heavier stock, perforated, a monthly Special Report on some topic that would be an insert, and of course nationally syndicated columnists and writers. And the local news of the week is covered as appropriate, put to bed in two stages, one for stories that can be reported on by Friday and the other to be in a later edition printed for home delivery and covering news through Saturday mid-day.
There would be two by-products of this…creation of jobs at the AJC and significantly increased advertising opportunities for local and national advertisers. The former is because of the increased requirements for writing and content and research staff and the latter because not only could the AJC offer “regular” advertising, i.e. ROP, but also advertising in the special sections that people would retain after Sunday to read later on in the week. At least I think this is how it would play out. Never designed a newspaper before.
Hi Bob,
You asked about the “featured” obituaries. I was waiting for Mark or one of the writers to respond, but here is my understanding. The featured obituaries must be timely and of general interest to the public. The person does not have to be famous or widely know, but their life and accomplishments should be noteworthy. Either the funeral home or an individual can notify one of the obit writers about someone of interest. The writer will confirm the situation with the funeral home and then find family and friends to interview. Typically a picture is needed that shows the person doing a hobby or some other activity related in the obituary.
Again, the story needs to be timely with regard to the funeral or memorial service.
I hope this is an adequate answer. If not, maybe a more complete answer will be forthcoming.
Hi, J,
I’m now back from my meeting, and I wanted to respond to your post. You wrote that you’re starving for local government coverage. I’ll stipulate that we could always do more, but I feel as if we’ve really hit our stride in providing readers more meaningful coverage of their local governments. I would point to David Bennett’s work on the DeKalb County tax assessors or Eric Stirgus’ coverage of the Atlanta public schools budget. In looking at our Metro section today, you’ll see that we reported on new police officers in Sandy Springs, an upcoming hearing on alcohol restrictions before the DeKalb County Commission, city workers moving into new office space in Woodstock, and a happy-ending story between Gwinnett County and Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful. I would also point to Take to Task, which runs inside our Metro section at least twice a week. Talk about holding public officials accountable! So far, we’ve gotten hundreds of pesky neighborhood problems fixed. I’d also hold up our Government Scorecard and Weekahead features, which run on Mondays. Of course, not everything we write is a long story, nor does it need to be. But in looking closely at the paper, I feel pretty good with where we’re heading (and remember, I stipulated earlier that we could always do more). If you have some specific story ideas you’d like to suggest, please let me know.
Good People ;
We are in bad economic times being nourished by the Keynesian financial stimuli that your paper endorses .That is your right ,but. a grev.ious error that will haunt all of us in the future.
Having said that,it places you in the position of having to support that philosophy and the recipients thereof.
My friends ..that is not your market …..the entitlement takers do not provide jobs..do not take the corporate risks…do not pay the brunt of the taxes in this country.
Truly Yours;
Carl M Aven
770-992-2092
Please add Lacrosse scores in the boxscore section of Sports!!
Dump the local columns on Saturday and bring back a real editorial page – it’s one of my favorite sections of any paper and not having it on Saturdays ticks me off.
The AP is a biased source of right-wing malarky. Please disassociate yourselves from those yahoos.
It’d be nice to see some meatier reporting on local and state issues. Most of what you print seems to be straight from the PR junk the governments pump out on a daily basis.
Why can’t the AJC provide a more complete TV guide? If not 24 hours, at least bring back a complete daytime list. I’m interested in daytime programming as well as what come on television after 6:00 PM. I understand most cable/satellite providers provide a program list but for me it has always been quicker to look at the TV guide.
1. I use the AJC primarily for local news. I’m interested in whats going on in the area not just Atlanta. I know the “A” in AJC is for Atlanta but you are the primary paper for the entire metro area. Please cover all of the local counties better.
2. The new format has some readability issues. I admit that i wear bifocals but I simply can’t read some of the text because of the small fonts and the way the different colors bleed into the paper. I’ve actually given up on the comics entirely.
3. I prefer to have the local business news easy to find. When it is buried in the A section I tended to not go digging for it.
4. Delivery has gotten terrible again. It is consistently late (i.e., after I’ve left for work).
I do not read the paper. I am too busy in the morning just trying to get to work. I do read the online http://www.ajc.com though at work. I enjoy it. As a whitewater enthusiast I am more interested in how much precipitation will fall and where than the actual weather. I am also interested in topics that involve bicycle commuting, green space, and etc.
I have a sunday only subscription to the AJC. When it expires soon, I will not renew for another year. Because the new format is awkward in size and difficult to read. Leisure reading a sunday AJC on sunday is gone.
Bob,
I’m sorry that I didn’t respond to your post sooner. Because it involved online “guestbooks,” I once again needed to chat with my friends at ajc.com. But first, let me talk about obituaries in general. On my desk, I keep a copy of “The Last Word: The New York Times Book of Obituaries and Farewells.” I refer to the book often, and it’s reminded me that the obituaries can sometimes be the best-written stories in the newspaper. What makes a worthwhile obituary? It’s simple: stories of ordinary folks who enrich the tale of life without shaking the earth. For the most part, that is standard we follow in the printed newspaper. Consider, for instance, today’s staff-written obituary on Joseph Kyle Orr, the local investor who ran the “Pot O’ Gold.” Or Monday’s staff-written obituary on Harold Elphingstone, the former Delta pilot who had many passions in life — mainly his love of birds and his love of flying. I’ve read that the best-written obituaries celebrate life — not death, and in the book I mentioned earlier, the obituaries of are referred to as “stimulants to sweet memories of better times.” As for the online guestbook, we promote that when the person is particularly well-known, such as Coretta Scott King, or when that person’s death has tugged at a community’s heart strings, such as John Henderson, the beloved bartender who was killed during a robbery at a Grant Park tavern.
I have been a loyal reader of AJC for many years. It has dismayed me to see AJC writers replaced by syndicated writers, such as Roger Moore, or AP wires. I like to read a paper and the content is not meaty enough these days for my habits. I swore that I would stick by the paper if the Food Guide remained the same. Alas, imagine my dismay when I opened Thursday’s paper last week to see very little in print and several features appeared eliminated or clearly shortened. I just sent in a subscription request to WSJ….and may drop AJC, just picking up my Sunday paper at the grocery for the coupons, etc. The AJC is no longer written for readers…what a shame.
All the emphasis on Sunday leaves the week day paper looking like a has been. So many things got moved to Sunday, like the Buyer’s Edge Saturday section for one example. I can’t believe I’m paying for such a thin paper during the week.
It almost seems like you’ve screwed over the week day subscribers to please the Sunday crowd. I don’t like the narrower format as I can’t read it without glasses. I don’t see a 7 day a week subscription as a good value, though I haven’t cancelled yet. Heck, the food section was only four pages long last week and two of those pages were a Kroger’s and an Ingles ad. There’s just nothing left.
I am a long-time (over 20 years) weekends-only subscriber. I have resisted the online edition, favoring the feel of the paper in my hands. My family has always known better than to bother me until I read the Sunday paper, and most Sundays the Living section was held as a afternoon treat. Well, no more. I was optimistic about the new format – change is good, right? Not in this case. For the second week now the ad papers well outweigh the newspaper. Where’s my AJC? Now I can quickly thumb through what’s left of my dear Sunday paper in just a few minutes. Every section is a mere shadow of its former self. The look of the banner is awful, the font is hard to read, and the articles are shallow. I actually saw a typo in the long-planned first new version. So much for careful planning and attention to detail. I can’t help but see this as the beginning of the end.
Last year I won a AJC contest for long-time subscribers and got 2 free tickets to the Braves game. We had a wonderful time watching the game from the AJC box with yummy snacks, drinks, hats, t-shirts and nice gift bags. I felt like a valued customer. What I remember most is the young woman from AJC subscriber services who wanted to hear from all the winners about how much we love our newspapers. The message of the day was that AJC was concerned about the decline in subscribers in favor of the online edition. Well, I’m no longer feeling the love – the new paper doesn’t deliver any bang for the buck. maybe the online edition won’t be so bad after all.
@Mark – The AJC wont be printing a weekday paper much longer. My friend works in the newsroom and says all the editors and reporters admit that the weekday papers are boring and useless.
I waited several weeks before deciding to add my two-cents’ worth of commentary about the new newspaper format. I’ve had enough, and will not be renewing my subscription. What I can’t fathom is that the AJC boasted that it spent over a million dollars to look like this. If this had done in any other line of commerce, I would think it would be labeled financial mismanagement. I must agree in part with Chris’ comments (May 12th). The AJC has indeed “lost all its value and relevance” for me. It looks like a USA Today wannabee, with the type set smaller and more difficult to read, and adopting all those full-color trashy trendy cutesy over-sized banners/captions to disguise the fact that AJC is printing a great deal less. I’m not getting my money’s worth. Chris also did a very good job on addressing AJC’s editorial policy of sensationalistic reactionary rhetoric. And the editor’s idea of what is worthy of being carried as news is certainly not mine. The AJC does indeed need to get back to the basics and better reporting.
thank you, thank you for running Thomas Sowell’s and George Will’s columns yesterday…. I simply do not understand how any logical person could argue against their views.
It followed the link from Jonathan above and found the whole process of AJC reporters spying on blog posters and trying to silence them chilling. Let’s have the reporters and the editors who tried to suppress speech on AJC.com come out of the shadows and take responsibility for their actions.
The AJC would never accept “we explained our policy” as a substitute for accountability and we the readers should not either.
Atlanta is quite a comfortable place to call home, but it is a little on the dull side. So it’s probably difficult to have a paper that is more interesting than the city it serves. You probably can’t be too innovative with the content, or the freedom-fries crowd will want to boycott you for being “too dang liberal.”
So you’re in a bit of a pickle really. The paper is comfortably dull. Unfortunately that isn’t going to appeal to many people that have lived outside of the southeast for any significant period of time but are now living here.
Maybe you should put the AJC out only three or four times a week. Maybe you should have a Spanish version widely available. Put a Korean section in the Sunday paper, possibly. Do you have an AJC video channel? If not, do that. Pair up with some reporters from another city and cover each others beat for a couple of weeks. Maybe we’ll all realize we don’t have it so bad, or maybe we’ll get some new ideas. Maybe you should turn some of your reporters into blogging referees. Put a reporter in an isolation tank for a week, with air holes of course, and see what kind of article they write. What are their observations?
Jonathan, don’t know if you saw my comment at the bottom of the article you linked to; it might have been added after you posted the link.
And Serene, the AJC does not try to silence blog posters; comments are removed only if readers alert us to a concern or something objectionable like obscenity slips through. If you read the article, you will see the author was actually making the case that the AJC should pre-screen comments.
Atlanta needs to speed up creation of decent mass transit in order to continue to attract corporations and businesses that will create jobs and provide the economic engine for our economy. Every major US city outside of Atlanta – Washington DC, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, even Savannah! – has extensive mass transit systems. MARTA is very user-friendly, so far as it goes, but that’s the problem, it doesn’t go far enough. MARTA needs to be expanded so that users can access the entire city. I always use MARTA for the airport, but there is no way I could actually commute to work in a reasonable period of time – in fact, it’s faster for me to walk the 2.7 miles to work than use MARTA. Also, raising the fare will actually reduce income to the system, in my opinion. I lived in NYC at the point when discounted fare cards were introduced for the first time under the Giulliani administration. A lot of nay-sayers forecast a bankrupt system. Instead, system-wide income increased dramatically, and, the system got safer! The system got safer because of an increase in ridership during off-hours, and the increase in income came from more people riding because the system was safer – a positively-skewed cycle! If MARTA could get me to work in less than 30 minutes I would ride daily – and so would most of my coworkers. Oh, I do economics research for a living… .
I’m a native metro Atlanta, who was raised in Gwinnett and told that MARTA and most mass-transit were only useful to criminals. I hate to admit it but after living in the DC metro area and spending time in New York, I came to the conclusion that mass transit works, but MARTA just sucks. The METRO back in DC was great…. I could take the Yellow line from my home in Alexandria, VA all the way right to my job. I had a car but it was so much faster to take a metro system that was clean, fast, safe, and economical. Whenever I would come back home to Atlanta I would look and MARTA and see a rail line that didn’t really go anywhere, trains were few and far between, dirty, old, and just not pleasant to ride on. Make MARTA like the METRO back in DC and I would ride it. Oh, for people who freak out about MARTA bringing crime, the yellow line I rode on went to South East DC (Super High Crime Area), yet none of the criminals came over to Alexandria (across the river) on it, go figure.
Hi There;
Thanks for kicking off this discussion. I’d wondered what topic would be discussed first. Transit’s a worthy one. I’ve lived in 5 cities, 3 of which had some form of rapid transit, and I’ve navigated systems in D.C. and NYC and elsewhere.
Mass transit’s a worthy topic for community discussion and we at the AJC want to be part of the drive toward a solution, so to speak. The issue might be a little moribund at the moment, since gasoline’s no longer selling for 3 cents an ounce in the ATL area.
The big question will be, as always, what’s the most-efficient use of scarce resources: a lane of asphalt or a line of steel rail, light or heavy. We might do well to restrain a bit our automatic assumptions when thinking about the answer IMHO.
And, yes, factors such as our population density, travel patterns, farebox recovery and the like should be part of the calculus. Building a train to nowhere would make no sense, financial or otherwise.
By comparison, my old hometown of St. Louis launched a light-rail system to much community derision and sneers in 1993. The joke was it would merely serve to haul criminals (and minorities) to the airport. Well, ridership rapidly exceeded expectations pretty quickly and the system’s been expanded twice.
Even with its newly hired “token” consertative writer, the Atlanta-Obama-Journal is still a very left-wing newspaper, on par with the dismal, failing New York Times
Hi:
Thanks for writing. Moreso than any other newspaper where I’ve worked in my 25 years in journalism, the AJC’s taken the most steps to achieve balance on its opinion pages. Our hiring of a new conservative columnist is proof of that, especially in a time when newspapers across the land are hiring few people. We’ve tried hard to present a balance and variety of opinions, both red and blue. We’ve also taken steps recently to label our opinion pages as, just that, opinion.
Our intent is to provide a respectful forum where diverging opinions co-exist.
I don’t know that Marta is the answer. We have too many business centers now. Many of us don’t work downtown or even within the perimeter but we’re all fighting traffic. I think we should get more aggressive about giving incentives to individuals and businesses for car pooling, considering location when hiring and for telecommuting etc. We need to think outside the box of roads roads roads.
Given the stories the AJC doesn’t cover, and the slant on the stories they do cover, not to mention the cowardice of the AJC editorial board to take on certain entities in Atlanta, the AJC is the last organization to lead this discussion with any credibility.
Nice try on the AJC’s part to position itself as though it actually has some relevance in the day to day lives of metro Atlantans. But there’s a reason, many reasons in fact, that even among major newspapers, the AJC’s drop in subscription numbers has stood out as a testament to its failure to serve the readers, and society at large.
A better Atlanta will only come to fruition:
1) When we put leadership in place that operates with a decent level of COMPETENCE.
2) When we rid these streets of the riff-raff and crime that plagues the community.
3) When we put a police force in place that is NOT corrupt from top to bottom and actually cares about protecting and serving the community. Fat chance of that, and I could elaborate in depth on why that will never happen.
3) A real mass transit system goes without saying.
4) End the ever present racism, bigotry, and classism (from all directions) that still permeates throughout the metro area and manifests itself in public policy, law enforcement/(in)justice, development and everything else. Yes, I SAID it! It will also never happen by the way.
All key things if Atlanta is to truly become a great city that is for all, by all and benefits all who may come, or are here already. We can split hairs later.
As a recent college graduate relocating to DC and having lived in SW Atlanta for over a decade, I am sick and tired of the MARTA debate. We all know the reason that Marta does not go anywhere. People continue to complain, about service being slow, about dialpidated cars, and long wait times, yet MARTAs revenues are down $50M+ for the year. The STATE LEGISLATURE has FAILED TO ADEQUATELY ADDRESS THIS ISSUE. Back in the ’80s, when MARTA had the opportunity to expand, various communities from Fayetteville/PTC all the way North to Alpharetta, mounted SERIOUS RALLIES and PROTESTS because they DID NOT WANT MARTA in their community. The end RESULT, MARTA (when compared to other major cities NYC, DC, CHICAGO, etc) does not really go anywhere. Ridership is down significantly because it is such a hassle. I personally love MARTA, when I was taking classes at Georgia State, it was the best way to get class every morning, yet and still there are some serious obstacles to MARTA’s success and much of it is because of the stigma associated with MARTA and the lack of effective partnerships between law-makers at all levels in Georgia. In short, public transportation is not a priority for the Governor, our senators, and other elected officials who could actually make a difference on this issue. Such are the facts, that if Atlanta does not get its transportation (rail -light/heavy, and interstate HWY’s, traffic grids/patterns) we will LOSE our ground as the major metropolis of the South to Charlotte or hell, even Birmingham.
How can anyone argue against making Atlanta a better place? Hmmmm. Nevertheless . . .
Amyone who thought the AJC finally ‘got it’ and was poised to become a real ‘newspaper’ should be disabused of that notion by Saturday’s piece by Julia Wallace and Andre Jackson. No, the AJC cannot and will not shed its do-gooder persona. Julia, who was famously going to eliminate bias in the paper, penned a mission statement that is nothing short of a liberal manifesto, and Andre assured us that, once again, the AJC will be ‘full of it’. Presenting the news is not enough, nope, we’ve got a responsibility to reshape society, to change the world, to right wrongs, and to fight injustice wherever we find it, to boldly go . . . .
If you prefer less government, less governmental inteference, lower taxes, more control over how taxes are spent, and more freedom in general, take a hike. Oh, BTW, you are all unsophisticated, intellectually challenged, greedy, narrow minded bigots. . . .
Well first, we need to get rid of the “black leadership.” Atlanta has gone downhill since it went from a mostly white to a mostly black city. That is not a surprise of course. The thugs have destroyed Buckhead, Atlantic Station, and are now invading Virginia Highlands. I can’t believe that there are literally murders and violent crimes DAILY here, caused by the thugs 99% of the time. Other major cities don’t have nearly as much crime, because they are not all black cities. I will never understand why thugs have to ruin everything.
Finally, the kettle reaches a rolling boil. That’s what Democracy and free debate are about!
Again, I’d humbly make the distinction between our news pages and what we now label plainly as “Opinion” pages. On our opinion pages, you’ll find the likes of Thomas Sowell and new guy Kyle Wingfield all the way on across the wide aisle to Cynthia Tucker and Thomas Friedman.
I’d add in a 3rd variable — our Sunday editorial page. There, Atlanta Forward is a new effort by the AJC Editorial Board to discuss — not dictate — ideas and issues intended to move Atlanta Forward. We want input from many corners on this critical subject.
The intent here’s to discuss a sort of business model, if you will, to brainstorm ways to make the Atlanta metro region — not just the city of Atlanta — a more competitive environment in which to draw industry, jobs and tax revenue.
And, yes, growing our region will require tough choices made with an awareness of the ancient principle of economic scarcity — how best can we use our resources?
Growing business and the jobs the private sector creates has to be a key part of that conversation. Business development is a big part of what’s put us on the map as a region.
And, yes, maintaining a reasonable quality of life on things like air, water, schools and taxes factors into all this, too.
Some of the comments above reflect the issue I immediately thought of when I heard about this project. The question is, “What is Atlanta.” Do you mean the city, the core counties, or the entire region as defined by the ARC (some of which the AJC no longer covers)?
The news staff seems to have limited its coverage OTP, except for little blurbettes. Does the editorial staff intend to go into surrounding counties to determine what they are doing to move themselves forward…and by extension the entire metro area? For example the largest economic development effort in Georgia (except for state government itself) is happening in Gwinnett.
Balance, right. Ha. Ha. You still run only the cartoons of the Bush Hating Luckovich without any balance. His poison pen goes unchecked. When is Cythnia (we are all racists) leaving? There is no balance. It would probably be way too much to ask to balance the poison drawings of Luckovich with someone like The Cartoons of Two-Time Pulitzer Prize Winner Michael Ramirez.
Sorry Andre, but drawing a distinction between the news pages and the opinion pages doesn’t cut it, when the mindset and mandates of the editoral board handcuff reporters and their supposedly objective reporting in the news pages.
There are way too many instances where the AJC reporters have introduced a story, and left vital aspects of the story uncovered, when coincidentally covering those aspects would clash with the AJC editorial board’s agenda in commenting on the story.
There are also far too many stories that are introduced, that literally beg for a follow up, yet no follow up is forthcoming, and when reporters are called on it, they can offer no legitimate reason for not following it up and, if you catch them in a candid moment, will let on that higher ups killed the story.
In essence, you want us to draw a distinction between the editorial board and the news reporting, when it’s obviously that looking how too many stories are covered, or not followed up on, the AJC itself doesn’t make the distinction.
This bias, this willingness to let political agenda hamstring objective reporting does not go unnoticed. Look at your subscription numbers if you don’t believe it.
You laid out some good discussion areas to include for a conversation about advancing Atlanta.
You might include having a tax system that both provides for consistent funding for the services we need from our governments and that is low enough to foster economic growth and prosperity.
Any discussion of the things we want from the government must also include the sacrifices we are prepared to make to pay for those things. Else we become like California who votes for services they are unwilling to fund…a definition of immaturity.
OK. I’m gonna wade into the debate again, realizing we may end up in agree-to-disagree territory, which in America, isn’t always a bad place.
I’ve worked at 5 newspapers, including this one. Their editorial boards ranged from scarlet red to deepest blue. At all of them, I’ve seen journalists work hard to keep a bright-line distinction between the opinion and editorial pages and the news reporting operations.
I came to Atlanta a year ago as an editorial writer, having been a business editor for a decade. I was allowed by my bosses to take a pro-capitalism view on many issues, such as oil speculation. The logic of the argument was what carried the day. To provide balance and fairness, we certainly printed opposite views as well.
We’re quite serious about working toward achieving balance and fairness, as well as transparency in our reporting.
We will continue to buy the Sunday AJC to get coupons. Other than that, we don’t bother to waste our time looking through it. I guess there are some who still read it for the sports. Other than that, the number of readers you don’t have would astound you.
Andre, I think you’re trying to obfuscate the issue, by portraying it as a red state, blue state debate, and pointing out the opinion pages have views that reflect both.
The issue isn’t the opinion pages. The issue is how the agenda of those who shape the opinion pages obviously manifests itself in the angles reporters take, or more importantly omit, to shape supposedly objective reporting to fit the needs of the editorial board.
One could take the time to lay out a specific case in regard to one long running story in the AJC, but one would have to be convinced the editorial editor is really up to the challenge of discussing an issue that strikes at the credibility of the paper.
It’s pretty easy to respond to those who hand you a rebuttal on a silver platter with a knee jerk response about the liberal editorial board.
Not quite so easy to respond to those who refused to be boxed into a simplistic paradigm such as red state/blue state and will instead call you to task when your paper has failed in its duty as a member of the Fourth Estate, now is it?
A couple questions for you . . . where are Jim Wooten and Maria Saporta? Are there any journalists left there? I subscribed for 33 years but grew so disillusioned with the inferior news product and liberal bias that I cancelled my subscription. I once spent about $60,000 a month advertising in the AJC. That was another time and a paper of a different quality. The product is no longer a newspaper Ralph McGill would appreciate – probably not Reg Murphy or Bill Kovach, either. The new look is reminiscent of a good comics insert. Good luck with the new job and Have a Nice Day!
Pretty quiet in this digital village at the moment. Gonna venture out to lay in provisions for ever-hungry children. Will check back in a bit. Thanks to all who weighed in; we appreciate your comments and your support of the AJC.
Kind of ironic Andre, that as soon as you were directly challenged to defend the integrity of your paper, by someone who obviously didn’t fall off the red state/blue state turnip truck yesterday, you decide to take a powder and go feed the children.
I guess we’ll have to update the Harry Truman saying for purposes of this blog: If you can’t stand the heat, go to the kitchen! LOL
I know this will be hard to believe for some, but nothing could be farther from the truth than the notion that the editorial board controls news coverage at the AJC. I worked there as reporter and editor for 28 years, until last summer, overseeing coverage of most of the most controversial topics in our news pages. A member of the editorial board called me exactly once, to make a suggestion for an angle for an investigative news package that was about to see print. It was a suggestion only. I said no, that would that make a point that would in fact be misleading. That was the end of it. There was no pressure for me to do anything to follow up on that suggestion.
I also cannot recall ever having a story killed for any sort of political reason. Some were held for more reporting, some were held for rewriting for clarity. Some were killed because an editor (sometimes me) did not think the story was worth the time and effort that would be required. When editors or reporters disagreed with one another, in my experience, all parties involved had an opportunity to make their case.
The AJC may well have problems, as the shrinking revenue and news staff will attest. But editorial bias bleeding over into the news coverage is not one of them.
I do love a good pie. I hope you buy those children a pie – or better yet, cook them a pie. Now, I can’t speak for the newsroom but I can speak with authority as a reader . . . and the paper continues to disappoint. Maybe a few splashes of color can stem the tide but I suspect not. It seems those that subscribed don’t now choose to do so . . . and those that are targeted perhaps do not read the paper. That is quite a dillemma. It is good that you get a fresh start, Andre, to save “The South’s Standard Newspaper” that no longer “Covers Dixie Like the Dew”. We’ll check back with you in six months and see how you’ve done.
Hi Andre, Bob Herndon here. President of the Atlanta BBQ Club. http://www.atlbbqclub.com. We are trying to make Atlanta a Better city by having a cook-off at Turner Field. Are you familiar with the Memphis in May cook-off. It brings $40 million of tourism and econ. impact to that city. The BBQ battle in Washington D.C. brings. 350,000 people to the city. BBQ is a Southern Food and we are the Capitol of the South and we do not have a BBQ contest in the city.
If you have any contacts with the Vistor’s bureau or convention people that I could get I would greatly appreciate it. We have it all lined up and just need to get the word out.
Ok Atlanta Unfiltered, since Andre doesn’t apparently want to come out and play, perhaps you can vouch for the AJC in his stead.
Let me give you one specific example. Clayton County losing accreditation.
First off I would venture to guess that the AJC has done more major stories on Clayton County schools in the last two years than every other school system combined. Is it fair, Atlanta Unfiltered, to say, at the very least, the story was given major scrutiny by the AJC?
Now it’s no secret the AJC editorial board has a real dislike for one of the teacher organizations in Clayton. My purpose here is not to defend them, so I won’t name them, nor will I quibble with the AJC editorial board’s opinion, since after all, it’s an opinion.
My issue is somebody’s opinion, be it the editorial board’s or someone else at the AJC definitely colored the objective reporting of the story.
I say this because of all the stories done about the accreditation scandal, not a single story focused on SACS. Is it just coincidence Atlanta Unfiltered, that the organization most critical of SACS is one that is not in favor with the AJC editorial board? And is it just coincidence that, in the dozens of stories devoted to the issue, not a single one took a critical look at anything SACS did?
Is it just coincidence that if SACS was looked at with a critical eye, it might possibly lend credence to the concerns of an organization in regard to SACS, an orgaization that the AJC editorial board so adamantly opposes?
For example, if SACS has accredited every single school system in its domain for decades, no matter how much political infighting there was in the system, no matter how many scandals the system had, no matter how horrible the academic performance was, doesn’t it strike you as odd that no one at the AJC never did a story on SACS itself?
Shouldn’t readers, and taxpaying citizens have a right to know just what SACS does, and if they had any personal connections or friendships with anyone in Clayton past or present if, as a for profit agency that makes its money off of taxpayers, it appears to be nothing more than a rubber stamp agency?
Wouldn’t you think that might be worth at least one story, given that the AJC covered every other conceiveable angle possible with this story with literally dozens of stories?
Not one story as to how SACS operates Atlanta Unfiltered? Not one story that would question its purpose, when every school system for decades has been given the SACS rubber stamp approval, regardless of how awful its performance truly is?
And you really want us to believe that there is absolutely nothing to the fact that the organization most critical of SACS, is an organization despised by the editorial board, and that it is just pure, total, complete coincidence that the AJC reporters, in all of the dozens of stories they wrote on Clayton Schools and accreditation, never once cast a critical eye towards SACS?
You would have us believe instead that AJC reporters looked fully into SACS, and didn’t find a single personal relation or political connection worth reporting, and instead concluded that SACS is so immune to politics, so above reproach in each and every thing that they do, that the readers don’t need to know anything about how SACS conducts business, even if as taxpayers, they support this for profit agency?
You really, really want us to believe that higher ups at the AJC don’t dictate or influence what reporters write, or angles they pursue, but instead you would rather have us believe that the Clayton County reporters are so inept, so incompetent, that it never even occured to them to look into the organization that caused so much havoc when they took accreditation away?
It seems you either have unyielding respect for the AJC editorial board, or complete contempt for the AJC reporters on the Clayton beat.
Perhaps there is a shade of gray I have missed in my concluding statement. Enlighten us, Atlanta Unfiltered.
And Andre, assuming your children now have the needed sustanence, please feel free to join in as well.
I’m back.
I’ll admit that i’m no expert on Clayton County schools, but I will say that IMHO the story was worth pursuing journalistically, given that the district faced multiple challenges, among them its very accreditation.
As I noted in today’s editorial, if this nation’s going to compete, all our kids need a shot at a good education, end of story.
I moved to Georgia from a district in another state that had similar challenges to Clayton County. What that meant was, basically, parents there who could afford no other choices sent their kids to public schools. Those who were connected often got their kids into magnets or into the interdistrict transer program. Those who could afford it also often sent their kids to private or parochial schools.
In looking at the time, I wanted to wrap up by thanking all who jumped in here today.
We appreciate your comments, and opinions. We also appreciate your support of us.
Oh, to answer the earlier question, Jim Wooten’s still with us for a little while yet, before he heads off to a well-earned retirement. Kyle Wingfield’s working hard to represent conservative views for us.
Maria Saporta left us some months back.
Thanks to all; have a good evening.
I feel a bit sad about Atlanta. What I would like is long gone. I wish Atlanta were a great Southern city in which people liked to visit and live and work.
But it is better known as the city with mayors going to jail, airport concessions run by the families of mayors, dubious police protection, prolific aggressive street vendors amd beggars, discriminatory hiring practices, ancient and broken water lines, inadequte transportation and a liberal beehive in the midst of a conservative state. Atlanta even managed to diminish the Olympics in more ways than one.
The liberal AJC has waited too long to act as a neutral observer. I can remember cringing as I watched Cynthia Tucker on Lehrer News Hour as a Georgia editor presenting a liberal facade. There was no representation of Georgia politics but only Atlanta’s far left AJC.
Luckovich hated President Bush as much as our enemies hated Bush. This cartoonist did not try to hide it but reveled in ugly repeat after repeat. The AJC sank with him as he even insulted American troops … ex.(our soldiers being roasted on a spit). Pulitzer prizes to AJC became the epitome of blind liberal achievements and little else.
Atlanta arose like the archetypical Phoenix. Now it seems like a burnt ol’ bird that cannot rise above prejudice, incompetence and dishonesty.
Do tell us why you came to Atlanta, Mr. Jackson, when Georgia is pictured so often by liberal news media as the ignorant bumpkin of the USA. I shall look forward with hope for fair and open minds at the AJC as prompted by Editor Andre Jackson.
Andre,
One question for you on the editorial page. Why is it that the AJC consistently refers to Kyle as the Conservative writer when Bookman is not described as the liberal writer. I don’t wish to impute motives, but it seems that the AJC seems to want a warning label on one of the writers but not the other. Instead of my distant guess…why does the AJC consistently put a label on one of its editorial writers?
Well, looks like Andre never did “check back”, so those who left comments or direct questions will remain “response-less”. I know the dialogue was a little slow, maybe setting the time for evening, and not during daylight of a beautiful Sunday, might have made more sense, in that respect…
As for the future of the Atlanta metro region (& therefore the state), I for one, am not very optimistic. The legislature is far more willing to continue it’s childish & self-destructive game of our own Georgia-style “Civil War”, pitting Atlanta against “everyone else”, as if it will continue being the goose laying golden eggs no matter how unlivable & uninviting the region becomes.
As for transportation, I’ve seen nothing but talk, talk, talk, for the last 25 years, with the legislature’s abject failure to address it in any way this year pushing any action further & further into the future. No major city in America attempts to run it’s mass transit with zero funding from the state, well, none but Atlanta, where the state stubbornly believes it must be able to operate self-sufficiently, or MARTA be damned.
But I think Andre actually gave away the problem in one of his comments. When he said,
“Growing business and the jobs the private sector creates has to be a key part of that conversation. Business development is a big part of what’s put us on the map as a region.
And, yes, maintaining a reasonable quality of life on things like air, water, schools and taxes factors into all this, too.”
Atlanta has operated on that very paradigm, develop, grow, expand, make money now, & worry about consequences later, for decades. Whatever budgetary shortfalls may arise, the thinking is that it will simply be covered by “yet more people & businesses relocating here”. However, with every year seeing more & more cars, & traffic becoming more & more unbearable, one needn’t be a rocket scientist to see the cost of buying land & building either mass transit or roads rising every more rapidly. So, here we are in 2009, about 30 years after we should’ve had a transit plan on the drawing board, and in the meantime, executed it; instead we still sit on square one (& gridlocked), with not even a viable plan having been agreed upon, funded, or begun! Not good…..
Unfortunately, having the focus, as Andre stated quite accurately, on business & development, with “quality of life” being a secondary afterthought, has totally screwed this city & region. While other cities did pay attention to how its residents & visitors will get around, have parks for recreation, good schools, a lively & progressive arts community, clean air, access to healthcare, & adequate police & fire protection, Atlanta has slowly slid in the opposite direction. Have all those who made theirs, while the getting was good, killed the goose that has been laying these golden eggs for so long?
serene, that is a wonderful observation! One might ask if Andre will have a label, too. Conservative? Liberal? Please tell me it won’t be “Fair and Balanced” . . . that one’s taken. That the paper had to advertise for a conservative voice rather than find one among the ranks may speak more eloquently than this humble observer. This is another facade much like the one that suggested there were once two newspapers in town. Yeah, right. Well, the AJC product is tumbling down the cliff. Maybe Andre will be able to apply a bit of lipstick to the pig and make things better.
First off, I must reject any notion that AJC reporters covering Clayton County deserve “complete contempt.” Megan Matteucci, who covered Clayton County until recently, is one of the best and hardest-working reporters at the paper. She did a great job on the accreditation story.
I don’t recall any investigative stories on SACS. That could well mean that it’s not a story. I see nothing in your post that would indicate otherwise. I do sense that you have an ax to grind with SACS.
But even if there were, the AJC’s failure to publish one is no indicator of sinister intent. There are far more investigative stories out there than there are reporters to do them. News organizations must make choices about what to cover. It’s always been hard for reporters to break away from their beats long enough to report an investigative story properly. It’s become even tougher as reporters have had to file for the Web site as well as the print edition, and as their beats have expanded.
Yes, I do want you to believe that higher ups at the AJC rarely dictate or influence what reporters write, or angles they pursue. They may suggest a story, but there’s little or no consequence if the story isn’t done. In fact, top editors at the AJC choose to exert very little influence on what specific stories are covered. AJC’s big cheeses have shaped the newsroom by deciding what beats will be covered and by whom. After that, most news-gathering decisions are made by overworked and stressed-out reporters and mid-level managers.
I wish the top editors had MORE influence, if that would mean the newspaper would pursue important news stories more aggressively. But the AJC has spent so much time reinventing itself in recent years, and bailing water, that the attention of those editors has been devoted to other decisions.
The AJC is a pretty fair small town paper – only, this is not a small town. There’s nothing on the plate. Lots of fluff, though. We can learn all about hip-hop and barbecue but very little about the real news stories of the day. Andre, you have quite a task ahead of you trying to convince your readers that the AJC offers a balance because you trumpet one conservative voice you hired off the street.
Edward Abbey once said “Growth for the sake of growth is the philosophy of the cancer cell.” It is sad that you make the assumption that Atlanta needs to grow.
How is it that your own vision does not include a stable Atlanta but one where the quality of life is improving? Your first point for consideration is “Do we have the right pieces in place for future economic growth?”. I ask, “Why do we need future economic growth? When will it stop? What makes growth intrinsically good?. Other points are related to quality of life but you address it directly only in terms of fueling economic growth: “Do we have the quality of life that brings newcomers to an area…?”
I don’t want Atlanta to grow. During the 90s, it is said that we clearcut 30 acres a day, every day, to make room for growth. Our traffic and sprawl have become among the worst in the country. Our air quality suffers, and our lives suffer from over-long commutes.
I challenge you to ask the important questions first, and the most important is how we can improve the quality of life for our citizens without the drawbacks that growth by necessity brings.
Hey AJC, why no story on Obama’s trip to NYC for dinner and a play (at our expense)? Seems to me he could have incurred a “cheaper” date by attending a play in DC?
Didn’t he just recently speak out about Corporate CEO’s holding meetings at resort locations (or something to that effect).
They never answer questions about balancing the Cartoon Boy’s poisoned pen scribbles. Notice that he avoided that question as they all do. He also did not comment about Cynthia and when we will be shed of her calling everyone racists. New person, same mindset = same result. Still headed over the cliff. Not even a metro Atlanta paper as it does not even cover my county and never has. I am missing the fact that we don’t have a good newspaper. We buy it on Sunday for the grocery coupons and read the ball scores online.
If it goes away, something will take its place and maybe will actually look at the region demographics and listen to the readers.
First of all, this isn’t about SACS, the Clayton schools, or any of the teacher organizations. There’s more than enough blame to go around when it comes to Clayton’s problems on that front.
This is about the AJC and its coverage, and just as importantly, the coverage it omits.
Many, many, stories could have been used to show this. Stories about Coca-Cola and other corporate or government icons come readily to mind, stories the AJC often has to be shamed into running by having the Sunday Paper or Creative Loafing break them first.
But the reason that Clayton story was picked is that it’s such a shining example, in that it is an ongoing story, covered in such detail, that you can’t use the handy excuse that the newspaper has only a limited amount of space to cover stories.
So, Atlanta Unfiltered, just to clarify, you don’t see anything that would warrant, in the dozens of stories written about Clayton County and accreditation, any reason at all to write a story about the accreditation organization that was central to the woes of the Clayton County School System?
It’s of absolutely no news value at all to look into the organization that has rubber stamped virtually every school system in its domain for decades, no matter how horrible the school system’s perfomance, when it suddenly decides that Clayton County schools are the one, the only school in the entire southeastern United States that needs it accreditaion pulled?
It’s of no value to the readers of the AJC to ask how a for profit organization, which makes its money off of taxpayers, conducts business?
It’s of no value to readers to know if there were any political or personal connections that might have lead SACS to take the almost unprecendented step of taking accreditation?
Maybe you don’t have contempt for the editorial board, or for the Clayton County beat reporters, but you obviously have contempt for the readers if you think they are so ignorant that they would take at face value a claim that political considerations don’t seep in from the higher ups at the AJC and influence how reporters cover stories.
And, given the decline in subscriptions, even compared to other major newspapers, it appears the contempt is a two way street, despite the hackneyed attempts of this blog to address it.
No one is asking you to be an expert on all that has happened with the Clayton Schools. In fact Clayton schools isn’t the issue. Any number of stories could have been picked; the Clayton one stands out because it is so long and ongoing, a pattern emerges as to what the AJC covers, and more importantly, what it omits, and how it coincides with the AJC’s editorial agenda.
No one argues the the story didn’t deserved to be covered, and covered indeed it was with literally dozens of stories.
But shouldn’t have at least one of those stories looked into SACS, the central player in the story, and how it conducts business, given that it had virtually rubber stamped ever other school system, regardless of how horribly it performed, for literally decades?
I realize this puts you in a very difficult position, having to defend that which is virtually indefensible, but they have put your name on the letterhead and called you the point man for questions and comments on this blog.
My point is I know a bit more about the AJC newsroom, after working there for 28 years, than you do. I know for a fact the editorial board does not control the news stories. You know, apparently as a matter of faith, that they do. If you have evidence of stories suppressed by the AJC, name them.
There was a reason Lester Maddox walked the streets of Atlanta with an axe handle.Go back to his era as Mayor of Atlanta and look at the out of wedlock birth rate,murder,robbery,rape,buglary….any crime or social statistic you want.That speaks the truth.
Anybody of any color with any brains, knows that Atlanta is like Detroit,New Orleans,Washington DC when it comes to baring it’s soul to the people who live in this sespool.You want to be liberal ? Now you the results !
Here’s another idea for a better Atlanta.Let’s make Mexico a deal where we will send them 10 people who won’t work,wine all the time, and we’ll take 1 mexican in return.
Not to beat a dead donkey with the fish-wrapper here but sorry Andre, balance cannot be achieved with a singular Conservative voice within the ever deeper cellar existence of the Left Wing AJC.
Two thoughts:
I moved out of Atlanta city proper in 2001, don’t work in the city proper and rarely go downtown for entertainment any more. All I can say is good radiance. It’s a crime filled and graffiti covered mess. How embarrassing it must be to see what visitors to Atlanta are faced with. I honestly though Shirley would take Atlanta up a notch or two. Sadly, it’s been brought down instead.
All the AJC noise over a single “conservative” columnist (and some guests) while the other columnists are not labeled does tell volumes (as another post pointed out). kinda makes Kyles sound more like a token columnist or a curiosity. (No offense intended towards Kyle).
Shawn,
I went to the link and re read the story and your comments at the bottom. When the AJC looks up the IP address of commenters on the blog and then tries to publicly identify them because it might be “newsworthy” in their sovereign opinion, I think that is trying to silence people from writing freely.
Let’s have the editors and the reporters in this matter step out of the shadows and into the public light so we can judge their actions for ourselves.
Had someone in government followed a similar approach you would never allow the matter to end with “we reviewed our policy”. I would like to see the AJC come clean and explain the whole affair with names and reasons publically explained.
The 2009 election for both Mayor and City Council is an enormous on-going story for our city and it’s residents. Why not have a weekly page on recent quotes, shifts in positions, philosophies, etc on our candidates? I live in Pittsburgh, Atlanta. I would love to take a reporter up and down my streets and show them what neglect and lack of leadership does to a community. This in itself is mind-boggling – ZERO CODE ENFORCEMENT and a decay in process. Let’s start hitting home on reality and aggressively holding public officials accountable for sitting on their hollow promises. I have taken the energy and time to begin a blog for this election. http://voteatlanta2009.blogspot.com/. I hope the AJC begins to cover this election in greater importance.
Ken, credit where credit is due. This is a comment not so much about the opinion pages as about the paper as a whole. Some years ago, I emailed one of your colleague to complain about the content of my Sunday paper. What set me off, though I may recall this incorrectly, was a picture that ran on the front page, above the fold: Britney Spears. My comment at that time was that there was so little news in the paper, and most of that from wire services. Well, what a change. I am very favorably impressed by the newspaper I found at the end of my driveway this morning. The reporting on graduation rates in Georgia, on the financial incentives offered NCR, on vaccination rates among Georgia schoolchildren, on anticipated pollution problems at abandoned building sites in the metro area — these and other first-rate stories in today’s AJC offer some vindication of the managing editor’s decisions over the past many months. So, from one recently skeptical reader, thank you and sincere congratulations. I hope to continue seeing such hard-nosed reporting on news stories, and, yes, a vigorous but civil conversation on the pages you will be editing.
Jim, thanks very much for the comment. The AJC has gone through some tough times of late, as I’m sure you’ve followed. But one upside is that it’s forced us to get back to basics, and focus on things that matter. (As I write this, I’m also hoping Britney Spears doesn’t make a fool of herself somewhere, and end up on the front page tomorrow.)
A few weeks ago I sent an email to letters@ajc.com noting a contradiction between the AJC’s stated 150-word limit on letters and the actual length of published letters, which sometimes exceeds 200 and even 250 words. My email was neither answered nor published. Although I have noticed some decline in the number of overlong letters, the AJC is still not enforcing its policy uniformly. Why don’t you either follow your own rule or change it?
When I came to Atlanta from NJ by way of Boston, in 1983, I was impressed to find two newspapers. Each with its own political viewpoint.
I have paid for home delivery of the “morning” paper ever since. Two things motivate me to read the paper every day, Doonesbury and the feeling of ignorance if I don’t.
Oftentimes I converse with someone who only heard the headline and not “the rest of the story”. I delight in furnishing the details that usually change the person’s perspective on the particular issue.
In the past few years the AJC has forced me to go to the internet for more of what I never lacked before. The Car Talk column, synopses of movies on TV, some favorite cartoons, the wood working column ( by Jack Warner) , architecture reviews ( by Catherine Fox) and informative business reporting ( by Maria Saporta). The AJC has also disposed of some things I will never get on the internet. Such as movie reviews by someone in Atlanta, the @Issue section with quotes that summarized the week’s news.
I do not look forward to getting all of my news from the internet. The local content will be gone. No longer will I know what is happening in my own county of DeKalb.
Who will gather the news that is presented on the internet? Has anyone looked that far into the future? Too many papers are either for sale or in Bankruptcy.
And, I believe, the quality of reporting is already suffering in the print editions. Cut backs are too close to the bone.
I do not envy your position. I hope that you succeed in your pursuit of righting the ship. I know that if you fail, Atlanta will be left with no one to exercise the Freedom of Information Act to inform the populace of the shenanigans behind closed doors throughout the State of Georgia.
As it is now, I foresee the AJC morphing into “McNews”…a USA Today for the masses in the south. And goodbye to the Dayton Daily News, Palm Beach Post, AJC, et al. Please succeed, do not let that happen.
If you want to know where the AJC falls short Mr. Foskett, read your own letters to the editor and the various blog postings on education. If there is one common concern among teachers, it’s that their hands are tied in matters of discipline, and that school systems often sweep these incidents under the rug.
Not only do teachers have that concern, but other citizens as well, as indicated by the number of print and online comments from parents who have withdrawn their kids from the public schools for that very reason.
Yet other than a few throwaways lines from Jim Wooten in his blog, your editorial board has never, once, written a full editorial endorsing the position that teachers must be given more authority, and more support from the school systems, in matters of discipline.
If I’m wrong, then please show us the editorial, written by one of your editors, that fully devotes itself to endorsing that position.
If I’m not wrong, then please explain why they haven’t, and how you expect them to have any credibility on education issues with their readers, with such a huge, gaping hole in their coverage?
Please don’t avoid the issue Mr. Foskett, by pointing out letters or column on the subject by readers or outside columnists.
Please address the issue directly Mr. Foskett, and tell us why your editorial board has never written a column, specifically devoted to, and endorsing the position, that teachers must be given more authority and more support from the public schools in regard to discipline.
You asked, in your 10:30am post, to let you know where the AJC has come up short. And it’s been done, and done in a civil manner. Now are you ready to live up to your end of the bargain and address this on this blog?
Neil, you are correct that some letters run longer than 150 words, which is primarily due to the fact that most letter writers do not follow the limit. If I set the limit higher, then the letters would be that much longer.
We’ve recently moved the letters to the first Opinion page in a space that will force letters to be closer to the 150 word limit.
There is one other area where I make allowances for longer letters. Occasionally, the subject of a news article will write that the AJC story did not adequately reflect their position, or left out some important details. In those instances, I will allow a longer letter to address those concerns.
Why does the AJC spend so much time apologizing to people complaining about the so-called liberal content of this paper/website? Most of the people that do the complaining seem to only want their views reflected here.
Second, where has the local coverage gone? Dekalb County opinion and news coverage is almost non existent. Funny how the people complaining most about your liberal slant are getting excellent coverage. Gwinnett County for example has specific blogs and its own opinion columnist covering that county. Dekalb County has nothing, why is that?
Jay, I share your concerns about erosion of content, though some of the material your cite is still available in print. Catherine Fox, for example, regularly provides visual arts criticism to the AJC, even though she retired this year (see her nice review of the Monet exhibit in Friday’s Go Guide).
The decline in content is entirely driven by economics at this point. The AJC, and every other American newspaper, aren’t making the money they used to, and that has forced cut backs.
I’ll also say, however, that the AJC has gotten much more serious about listening to readers such as yourself, and tuning the newspaper to give readers more of what they want. Your comments will be read by every senior editor here, and I promise you they’ll be noted.
I appreciate you’re hanging with us. Like you, I can’t really imagine what life would be without a morning newspaper.
Regarding more control for teachers in the classroom. This is an excellent idea for the editorial board to consider, and I’ll forward this comment to Andre Jackson, the AJC’s Editorial Editor.
On Monday, we devote a page to education topics. We’ve had a feature from teachers on why they teach and why they quit. I’ve noticed that many of the teachers who left teaching cite inability to enforce discipline in the classroom as the reason.
I agree with Where AJC Falls Short. It is in most cases a blame the teacher world. It happened recently to me. Student cut class and did not take the final exam. Parent called and chewed me out for recording a 0 for the exam.
The above was not about discipline, but it touches on the lack of respect for what we do and the very limited support and tools available to us. We are always wrong in our decisions regarding disciplining someone’s little angel when the little angel is disrupting the learning in our room.
It is not just the parents that fail to value what we do. Politicians do so as well. Our Governor recently slapped many of us across the face with his decision to create his own master teacher program when he did not like the National Program supported by Governor Barnes — National Board Certification. The legislature in their fine wisdom sort of agreed to dishonor their word as to salary incentives and rolled this back to 10 percent of what a new teacher makes. Even the “wonderful” politicians thought that they rolled this back to 10 percent bonus based on the teacher’s salary the year the teacher earned the certification. Instead it was rolled back to 10% of a new teacher’s salary.
Education is slipping in Georgia because there is no longer a partnership between parents and teachers. It is no longer assumed that the adult (teacher) is correct. Teachers are not always correct, but the assumption now by a parent is whatever Suzie told them happened and thus the teacher is wrong, at fault. I am not sure how to fix this as it is cultural and climate change that has pulled down learning and discipline in our schools.
It will be nice to see someone balance Cartoon Boy’s poisoned pen scribbles as to hating all things conservative. I hope this will not be just another failed promise by the AJC. When does Cynthia (we are all racists) leave town?
Thank you for responding. Passing the idea along to Andre Jackson is good, but it doesn’t address the issue. The issue is, there is no way you should have to pass this idea along!
After 9/11, did you have to pass along to the editorial board that they should discuss Osama bin Laden? I doubt it.
Yet the editorial board ducking this issue, damages their credibility as much as refusing to discuss Osama bin Laden would damage their credibility to talk about 9/11.
Can you please address why they haven’t addressed it, because it is not hyperbole to say that other than a few blurbs from Wooten, the editorial board has never once taken a stand on supporting teachers in that regard.
Perhaps you can correct me if I’m wrong. Have you ever read an editorial in this paper, outside of a few blurbs from Wooten, where the editorial board endorses giving teachers more authority and support on discipline issues?
I did a quick check back to 2000, and I cannot find an editorial on this topic. I honestly have no idea why not. It’s a good topic. In terms of how the editorial process works, once a board member elected to write an editorial on this topic it would be up to them how they came down on it. Part of it would be identifying the specific policies or actions that a school district could take, and recommending changes. Again, this would require some understanding of the current situation and how it could be improved.
The most important characteristic of any opinion piece appearing in the AJC is that it should be intelligent, thoughtful, reasonable, factual, etc. Just because someone has an “opinion” does not make it worthy. Furthermore, regarding conservative, liberal balance. Most of your so-called conservatives have not a clue about what it means to be a conservative. Most of themn are free-market libertarians, surely one of the more socially destructive forces to ever come along. As far as liberals. Since the AJC dropped Molly Ivins (now deceased), I don’t think a leftist-liberal has appeared in your pages. Sadly, some of the writings of your pseudo conservatives fail the coherence test. I wonder what Eugene Patterson and Reg Murphy would think of their offerings?
Thank you for addressing the issue directly, and acknowledging that it has not been covered.
Thank you also for your honesty in not making excuses for why it hasn’t been covered, for it is indeed a huge, gaping hole in the editorial board’s portfolio.
To understand the enormity of it, imagine your editorial board writing numerous editorials about Michael Vick the last several years, and not a single one mentioning dogfighting. You wouldn’t think your editorial board was writing openly and honestly in regard to Michael Vick if that were the case now would you?
And frankly, because of that gaping hole, many readers think the AJC has yet to engage in an open and honest dialogue about education issues.
Since the older members of the AJC board, save Wooten who is now leaving, seem completely unwilling to address this, I’m not sure passing along a suggestion to address it will actually do any good.
Perhaps you can focus your influence on your new guy, Kyle. Hopefully he still has an open enough mind to address what obviously, except to the AJC editorial board, is one of the biggest challenges facing education today.
When the “balance” one is trying to achieve is between the Truth and a Lie an opinion editor, by half-measure does Truth no good.
Anita Hill was obviously telling the truth on Clarence Thomas, and he lying, and by his voting with the illegal majority opinion, as enunciated by Justice Breyer’s ‘Bush v. Gore’ dissent, Thomas proves that evil has gained advantage by relying on gentle, good Americans’ misplaced sense of fair-play.
Just because evil dresses itself “civilly” does not make outrage on the part of patriotic Americans any less appropriate.
Bush and Cheney committed 9/11. Any with a question about this established fact need merely read a scholar of proven integrity, Emeritus Professor, and PhD, David Ray Griffin’s “The New Pearl Harbor,” a free download, in its entirety on Google Scholar, patriotically donated after the profitable sale of millions of copies to some portion of the majority of Americans who know for a moral absolute that Bush and Cheney committed 9/11. This erudite book proves in scholarship and irrefutable reason and logic that they committed the crime.
It was this short work which was issued to a great Georgian, Max Cleland, before he resigned from the 9/11 Commission cover-up.
Like Thomas Paine’s best-seller “Common Sense,” and the sale of papers published by John Peter Zenger, the AJC can prosper anew by simply being a purveyor of truth to the People.
Traitors and their apologists, and others committing Misprision of Treason, can argue as civilly as they wish, but the editorial staff of a fine newspaper like Atlanta’s biggest and best, has an obligation to the Creed and to Journalism to Righteousness and the Truth.
There shall be no profit in protecting the false elite against the sovereign People, which make America exceptional. “Annuit Coeptis” shall make it profitable to the AJC to do good for America by promulgating and protecting the Truth.
The AJC should put itself on the right side of history, in service to the Creed and the People, by promoting to its readers that electing Max Cleland as Governor of Georgia is the right path for all Georgians and Americans. Like Georgia’s Hugh Thompson who singlehandedly stopped the Massacre at MyLai, Governor Max Cleland can help President Obama bring to justice the traitors of 9/11 – “sine qua non” in restoration of American Justice and Righteousness.
Lead the way AJC. Let Truth guide your vision that rot not be your ruin.
Mr. Will Jones,
You are really confused after drinking the spiked Kool-Aid. I know that you also believe that Cynthia McKinney was a conservative who did a great job in Washington instead of a kook race baiting clown.
You have the right to your opinion and the right to voice it, but that does not make it the truth. None of what you wrote is the truth.
Where the AJC Falls Short,
Never have I read anything in the paper about supporting teachers having the tools to maintain discipline in the classroom in order to teach. I have had one class this year with two students who disrupted the learning daily. Upon contacting one parent, I was informed to deal with it as it was not acceptable. In other words, it is your problem not mine. The other parent talked about the student needing extra attention. All the while this student talked about his mother as being so stupid to his friends. It is not uncommon for parents to ask the teacher in a conference the question — “What should I do to discipline Sammy?”
Parents need to help support the learning environment and support teachers unless shown that the teacher is incorrect. I know of no teacher who wakes up thinking that today is will be great fun to hassle some student. Unfortunately most parents want to be their child’s best friend and not their child’s parent.
Only traitors and ignorant philistines will fail to read this sedulous proof of Bush’s and Cheney’s treason, by a scholar of known, proven integrity…unlike the anonymous detractor/fascists who take exception to the proven truth of their “Fifth Column” of Rome’s Anti-Christ, as identified by America’s Founder, Thomas Jefferson.
It is no coincidence that only the Roman Catholics on the Supreme Court voted in the unconstitutional ‘Bush v. Gore’ (Viz. Breyer dissent) to make Hitler banker’s closet-queen draft-dodging grandson our president to commit 9/11 as a “Reichstag Fire Redux,” nor that his father and his grandfather’s protege, Richard Nixon, could not accurately identify their respective locations upon hearing of John Kennedy’s assassination, which sent 58,000 of us to die for the pope in Vietnam.
As to Cynthia McKinney: she only provided an inoculation to Bush’s treason: a little of the truth to protect the Big Lie. She and Michael Moore are virulent Roman Catholics, and they know whose “side” they’re on: not the American People’s or G-d’s. Had they had Truth and Righteousness in them, they’d have called it like it was, knowable at the time: Bush and Cheney committed 9/11.
The book given as a patriotic donation by its author and publisher, is incontrovertible.
Any who read it know the Truth. Those who claim Bush and Cheney didn’t do 9/11 are traitors, dupes, or transparent morons.
The AJC must lead the way, as Atlanta, and Georgia, is the future of America.
Man never landed on the moon. The Holocaust is a lie. Shall I list a few more way out there. Gore lost. Get over it. Bush did not cause 911. Get that straight. Cleland is a nice man who promised to vote for the belief’s of Georgians and then did not — the voters fired him. Simple, plain truth.
Oh well, after your last long missive there is no sense in wasting anymore time debating this with the owner of a closed mind.
Who’s the one who refuses to read a book? Afraid you actually might learn something prejudicial to your worldly faith in a sectarian faction whose multi-generational treason is documented for the other eighty percent of us?
The Beast shall be cast into the Pit by the American People…many philistines, hypocrites, liars and traitors will be sent along for the ride to Hades.
Does anyone know where to find cheaper tickets for Jay-Z concert at Chastain Park July 12th? This is the first time we’re visiting Chastain Park and the tickets I saw online were for $86 and they were lawn seats! This may be “normal” since the concert is in a few weeks and Jay-Z is performing! Anyway just thought some people can give me a few ideas! Thanks!
I would like to know why the AJC has not posted “events” that are happening in the Fayette County area lately. The Fayette County Master Gardeners had a garden tour on May 2 and were counting on a bit of publicity. When I say a bit, it’s because I submitted a big article, a small article, pictures, calendar information, and just a sentence. I submitted all this so the AJC would have a variety of lengths to choose from according to what they could publish. I submitted to 10 Days Out, the Big List, the AJC on-line special events, I e-mailed H&G@AJC.com, I called the news tip hot line to find out what to do to have our event published, I followed her directions by typing everything all over again onto an e-mail letter itself rather than having attachments, I e-mailed again asking for publicity, and we got NO PUBLICITY AT ALL. The AJC is delivered in Fayette County. Other county garden tour and similar events were publicized. On April 23 on page D2 under “Social Butterfly”, garden tours were listed. Why was Fayette County’s not listed? I would like to have an explanation, please.
Also, what was the reasoning to take away Erica Glasener’s and Martha Tates’s articles on Thursdays? I so looked forward to their articles.
I hope that Fayette County Events will not be neglected in the future.
It seems to me the AJC uses the thought process that the readers are too busy Monday-Saturday (and Sunday) to read anything of depth as a defense for a minimalist paper. “If our readers were not so busy, we would print more.” We have heard this excuse for years now and we see it coming in every response from the editors.
If your logic were correct, the ‘NYT’ and the “WPO’ would be minimalist papers. Or do the residents of NYC and DC have more time to read a detailed story printed in good to great newspapers.
I agree, Steve. It is amazing that now, all of a sudden people “just don’t have enough time” to read newspapers during the week. Since when? It’s not as if the economy is booming and everyone is busy. The unemployment rate is sky-high. If people aren’t reading, it’s not because they don’t have the time.
I was down in Macon a couple of weeks ago. I picked up the Macon Telegraph and brought it back to Atlanta. I took the front page of the AJC and put it on top of the front page of the Macon Telegraph. It was hard to believe, because the Telegraph was protruding out! The smaller-city newspapers now have a larger width than the AJC. It’s unreal how narrow the paper is. It looks so pathetic in the newspaper bins around the city.
With the economy in turmoil, we no longer have a stand-alone Business Section. Corporate corruption will only worsen with less reporting and fewer watchdogs. And the Living Section is so thin and paltry it can be read in 3 minutes. They need to put some wire articles in the Living Section since they have AJC reporters writing so few. It is inexcusable for a section to be that small.
I never understood why the AJC doesn’t have a section titled “State News”. They give us a little National and World news, and then leave us clueless as to what is going on around Georgia. So I’ve been glad to see that recently they have included some articles from around the state in the Metro Section. We need more, though. That might be one of the reasons there is a disconnect between Metro Atlanta and the rest of the state. If you only read the AJC, then you are totally ignorant about the happenings around Georgia. I should not have to look on the internet to get an idea as to what is going on in Athens, Columbus, Savannah, Macon, Augusta, and other cities.
We need a comprehensive paper, this talk about people being short on time is just an excuse to further gut the AJC. There are plenty of us who want solid reporting throughout the week!
This is no longer a big time newspaper. The content is shallow and lacking. Also, who is editing and spell checking the stories? Each and every edition is rife with mis-spellings and sytax errors. The spelling especially is at the level of a high school paper.
Pathetic. This once-great Southern newspaper has wasted away — like a dying cancer patient on life-support. It’s not much more than a useless tabloid anymore. Paper has kept shrinking in small increments — they think nobody notices — there is less and less in it. Really who is going to pay to read this thing anymore? Certainly not me. They really just need to put this newspaper out of its misery and be done with it!
Pathetic. This once-great Southern newspaper has wasted away — like a dying cancer patient on life-support. It’s not much more than a useless tabloid anymore. Paper has kept shrinking in small increments — they think nobody notices — there is less and less in it. Really who is going to pay to read this thing anymore? Certainly not me. They really just need to put this newspaper out of its misery and be done with it! It’s really time to pull the plug. RIP AJC.
Why is the AJC not printing a comment because it’s a duplicate comment? Of course it’s a duplicate comment! If you printed it the first or second time it was posted, a poster wouldn’t have to duplicate it.
And why is there no new Conversation Starter blog for June, 21? Did the questions get too tough for the AJC editors to answer?
http://www.prweb.com/releases/junior/civitan/prweb2557504.htm.
The next generation of leaders is an important part of the future of any city. 300 teenage volunteer leaders from across North America will be attending the annual Junior Civitan International Convention at the DoubleTree Hotel Atlanta Northwest, June 25-28. Every year these community service leaders, who represent approximately 12,000 outstanding middle school and high school student volunteers in the United States and Canada, come together to share their experiences, participate in training, and celebrate their organization’s tremendous impact.
Sincerely,
David Bledsoe, NMC
Civitan International
800-CIVITAN david@civitan.org
This commy rag of a newspaper really isnt worth using as a substitute for toilet paper. I so look forward to the day that AJC files for bankruptcy. You guys cater to the democrats/socialist who only spend they money on cheap licka and ho’s, hence, your fate of bankruptcy.
Decent and respectful citizens dont swallow and refuse to feed at the AJC garbage scowl.
Glad you are on board at the AJC, I wish you the best.
Just FYI, I recently gave a short speech (two parts), conservative, stating my pride in America. It is entitled “A reaffirmation of American Greatness,” You’ll find it on my Blog at http://www.NationalDirection.Blogspot.com
Sorry it comes from an oldtimer who some feel is about a Bazillion years old. Mary Beth my wife looks great, much younger, and we have just celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary–Never had any interest in going to Argentina, she’s the best!.
I would welcome any comments you might have on improving the little speech.
Now, I was not a W2W follower in the strict sense, but I did check it at least once or twice a week. I am well aware that blogs tend to get corrupted by attention-seekers (this one, apparently, is no exception) who 1.) stray from the topic as soon as they arrive; 2) flame those they do not agree with, and 3) act like general horse’s rear ends.
Is that why the W2W was shut down? Or did the women just run out of topics?
As for the paper, I am a 7-day subscriber and loyal reader for my entire life. I am 43 and an Atlanta native, and though the paper does slant liberal, this doesn’t bother me too much, generally. I consider myself a slightly left-leaning Libertarian.
I enjoy the AJC, and sincerely hope it can remain solvent. It does sometimes seem tame as newspapers go, but that’s not always bad. There are very few spelling and grammatical errors in it, which I appreciate, and content on a number of issues I am concerned about.
Even though Cynthia Tucker was a bit too left-leaning for me occasionally, I will miss her. I rarely agreed with Wooten, but I’ll miss him, too. (I thought his homage to Tucker was beautifully written and heartfelt.) The new “conservative” columnist is not a bad writer, and is not as strident as many on the right, so I look forward to agreeing with him some, too. I enjoy Luckovich, but it’s true: he needs to take Obama to task for SOMETHING soon, or I’ll have to grudgingly agree with those on the right who slam him for being too liberal.
In general, keep up the good work. The layout change is growing on me, and I understand the hard times newspapers are facing.
How is it that 5,000 people show up in Cobb County for the tea party and the AJC is silent about it? AJC had no problem at all crowing about the Gwinnett Tea Party being canceled, but when a tea party actually happens, you can hear crickets. Everyone knows that the AJC has always been in favor of higher taxes for working people, but this WAS an actual news story, not Beyonce tripping on a dog turd on Peachtree street.
Thank you Stephanie Ramage, for exposing AJC editor Julia Wallace for what she truly is in the latest edition of the Sunday Paper. Not that it’s likely she has the nerve to answer your questions. As you can see by what has happened on this Conversation Starter blog, when the questions get past the cupcake stage, the standard operating procedure is to cut and run.
From the July 5 AJC.
Michelle Obama brings her superstar glamour to Moscow this weekend as she accompanies her husband on his summit with the Russian president.
Really? Really?
I personally like Ms. Obama but this fawning coverage is just over the top. When did the AJC stop being a newspaper?
Lets be honest, the ajc is dieing because it sucks.I have done ads with them for the last ten years and spent well over 2 million dollars in that time. This year I moved my ad money to the radio because I do not feel like the Ga population shares the same views as the ajc. If I wanted the Obama news I can always go to cnn. They call themselves the black news.
I think it’s hilarious when Ken claims “to know Atlantans”. Every Opinion page writer on his staff is a flaming liberal except for Kyle – the only reason they kept Wooten on board for so long is because he’s senile. However, the majority of people that actually PAY to read the AJC are over-whelmingly Conservative. So much for tailoring the content for the people that actually support your organization.
Sorry but you guys don’t have a clue as to who actually pays your bills. The only thing the AJC seems to do well these days is to put a racial slant on every news article.
The AP is reports:
A federal jury has seen video of a former Louisiana congressman accepting a suitcase filled with $100,000 in cash outside a northern Virginia hotel.
Will we see this story in the AJC. No chance. Wrong party
Why do the conservative cartoonists deserve the label “conservative” when you won’t label Luckvoch? At least liberal?
It goes to your mindset that offends many of us as readers. Represesnting a conservative perspective is somehow out of the mainstream. Of course we know that it’s the AJC that’s out of step with its market.
Pissing it’s readers off…one day at a time.
Bert, I remember when you used to cover Clayton County School Board meetngs in the old days. You’ve come a long way. All new reporters ought to start off with a Clayco assignment.
Well it’s been some months since the AJC launched the “new AJC” with a slimmer format and a supposed new perspective on balance and fairness. How are they doing?
From my perspective…no change. Its still the same elitist, we know best liberal journalism. Stories about democrat corruption are deep sixed. Republican corruption stories are highlighted. The talk about being sensitive to being fair is talk. No more time for talk. No more time for conservatives to give the new AJC a chance. It’s time to leave, time to stop the subscription, time to take the AJC our of my internet reading list. Time to look to a source for news that is more interested in the truth.
Today I read an article that stated that white males in Georgia were more impacted by unemployment in the current economic downturn than any other group, but no information was given on the percentage breakdown of those other groups. Just over two weeks ago an article sourced from the Georgia Dept of Labor indicated that unemployment for white males in Georgia had reached 8.4 percent while unemployment for black males exceeded 16 percent. Which article is correct?
Ken, I congratulate you and AJC for increasing coverage on educational issues. Our schools are in real trouble now and there are several reasons for this. As a DeKalb Teacher for over 20 years I have observed many changes in our society that seriously affect education. Our superintendent, Crawford Lewis, observed at our meeting last Thursday that the educational system we have today was put in place over 200 years ago, and has really changed little since. Fixing education today will require much more than the discipline of children. Lack of discipline is a problem and teachers do need more authority to manage behavior problems. However, a more fundamental truth here is that the behavior problems we encounter in school are just a symptom of more serious problems. In fact, harsh discipline very often makes the problem much worse. Key issues include the following: 1)The structure of education is wrong: Classes sizes and length of class periods are often not appropriate for effective learning; and teachers cannot engage students in learning subject matter effectively when content volume is overwhelming. Teachers have NO latitude to respond to student curiosity or time to permit students to develop content proficiency. 2)At enormous cost and damage to the educational process, our tests (which are used to determine school success or failure) are measuring the wrong things. Educating our children should not be a process of forcefeeding them large quantities of facts so that they can regurgitate them on the next exam, and then, with sufficient review, deposit the right answers again for the standard exams now required. When a student graduates from High School, I believe (and I think most folks believe) that he/she should be prepared to enter our society and have the knowledge and skills necessary to become a good citizen. The CRCT’s, Graduation Tests, and other standardized exams don’t address that. What we actually measure with these tests is a students ability to retain a set of facts (or practiced math skills)long enough to put a check mark in the correct box on a piece of paper. Students today who graduate from HS (many with A or B averages)often cannot write coherently and have difficulty understanding and communicating with adults. Many of our best and brightest have an unreasonable fear of failure. Most have very limited ability to take initiative, and need to be told, not just what needs to be done in general terms, but a detailed step-by-step set of instructions to accomplish a task. Most kids today, if pressed, will tell you that they are bored with education and that it is not relevant for them. I think that we have, in part, arrived at this sorry state of affairs in education by being led astray in measuring the wrong variables and overresponding to the results.
Please remember that there is no more critical need in our society that to properly educate our children so that they can continue to make our civilization work. Yet our society does not want to address this issue in any comprehensive way.
I would like to challenge AJC to dig deeper into the issue of education than just to air the frustrations of various stakeholders and rehash the same old tired proposals that offer a “quick fix”. This is not a band-aid problem.
One very disturbing proposal that is gaining bureaucratic support in the Federal Government is the idea of incentive pay for teachers. This concept sounds like a really good way to reward effective teachers. In an ideal world it might work pretty well. However, most public schools are not close to that ideal. The working environment has become very difficult for a classroom teacher to function effectively on his/her own. Sharing of everything, including classrooms, copy machines, lab equipment and storage areas, is usually a necessity. Each teacher and each class of students have their own special requirements and needs. To teach effectively in this environment, teachers depend heavily on each other. Very often, the adminstrator is unaware or dimly aware of these circumstances. Effective teachers are those who learn to cooperate with each other and their colleagues to an unusual degree. A pay incentive program that would fairly reward individual classroom teachers will be extremely difficult to develop. If it is unfair or even perceived as unfair, it will undermine the efforts of those other teachers who did’t receive the pay and destroy their incentive to help each other. Competition between teachers for supplies, use of equipment, or seeking favor with administrators to get the additional pay, is more likely to destroy a public school than to improve it. The only thing I can think of that should receive consideration for incentive pay is academic extra-curricular organizations, competetions, etc. Athletic coaches are given extra pay but, at least in most public schools, academic coaches (for things like Science Olympiad, Academic Bowl, Science Fair, Debate, or language clubs) are not. Yet these teachers get no pay incentive. There would be a great improvement in teacher participation in after school academics with a little incentive pay. Also, AJC could help by providing a greatly expanded media coverage of these academic events. Recognition of student efforts would sharpen competetion and motivate more students to participate.
In any event, I am very glad to see the emphasis that AJC is putting on educational issues and look forward to more serious, constructive debate in your public forum.
Actually, no blog, just a question. I read where the staff of the Governor’s Office plan to take furlough days, just as teachers and prosecutors are. I have not heard where the legislative staff is planning on taking furlough days. And, while I am at it, how many staff members are there per legislator?
I’m taken back by a story on convicted sex offenders illegally obtaining gov’t housing. I mean we put these laws in place that a sex offender can’t live 2000 feet from any place children gather(churches, schools, bus stops and etc.) Note: These people have done there time and have been in therapy, probation and registration. The real likelihood of them re-offending is rare and if they do it usually something like not registering on time or an offense not sex related. To top that most 90% of offenses don’t involve children and most sex offenses are committed by non-sex offenders(no history and first timers). These men and women must live somewhere. Leave these law biting citizens a lone. They have done their time and paid for their crimes. Remember how the supreme court said the registration requirement is not punitive? Yah right!! Society, articles like this, HUD, My-Space and other organizations make it punitive!
Julia, You should not believe your own words. I think most people don’t even think the paper is worth commenting on. So don’t think the happy readers aren’t commenting. The AJC has become the worst paper I have ever read. I’ve been a sub. for 26 years. National content and the front page is terrible, sports coverage outside of Atlanta is almost nonexistent. For example, I missed the end of the golf match yesterday and today there were only about 50 words?! NASCAR was a list of who won and the print for scores could hardly be read. I will not renew and I hate that, but this paper is not worth reading.
Obama and Congress is quick to throw the first punch at healthcare and insurance reform. However, has anyone noticed that they are not addressing one of the primary reasons for the rise in healthcare costs? This has to do with tort reform. Because lawyers are the first to get rich on malpractice cases, there is no incentive to address this issue. Until we can get some semblemce of sanity into this area, malpractice insurance for the medical profession and the healthcare practice will continue to rish astronomically. Why hasn’t this issue been addressed?
Tort reform is the bogeyman of health care reform. Law suits are our regulatory system. Where is doctor and hospital regulation up front? There are hundreds of thousands of negligent acts by health providers every year. The average person must have recourse. In any event lawsuits and insurance premiums for malpractice constitute only a samll percentage of the health care budget.
I didn’t realize the AJC had canceled Bill Husted until I read what Charles and KD wrote. Where can we find archives of his column? Why would you cancel such a great column?
Atlanta needs a regional newspaper, so its sad that the AJC is adamant about staying a tool of the democratic party. Fox news isn’t in lack of financial supporters in the form of advertisers because it actually has people who use it for news on a national level. The AJC management continues to limit its usefulness in this day and age for local news in a major American metropolitan era by its continued biased coverage of liberal/conservative causes. I am sorry to hear of the weakening of the AJC staff because of its support for blind faith in unfair coverage. It would be better if the owners and those who recognize that the AJC as a center of Atlanta entity could fill a vital place if it didn’t keep limiting its usefullness by its editorial board liberal fanaticism while winkingly pretending to be a fair news gatherer for Atlanta.
While CNN was talking about bi-partisanship in honor of Kennedy, I received a phone call from Tom Price, Rep. Cong. asking me to come to a meeting to defeat Obama’s health care plan. How is that for bi-partisanship. They could not even wait for his burrial to enlist support for their cause.
Why do transplants to Atlanta keep refering to the “New South”? Even after living here for twenty years, they still insist on calling it the “New South”, implying that there was once an “Old South”.
There never was an “Old South”.
The South has always been new. It remains largely un-explored, un-noticed, un-developed…..and therefore…….”new”. Nearly 50% of Georgia’s population lives within 30 miles of Five Points, and Georgia is the largest state east of the Mississippi. Most of these folks are terrified of travelling outside “The Perimeter”…..why dont they just break down and call it by its complete name…”The Defensive Perimeter”.
“Dont go outside the Perimeter…..there’s RedNecks out there.”
Sounds like they’re still talking about “RedSkins”, with all the same condecension we used to dump on the Native Americans.
Its the 21st Century Already!
When is Georgia gonna get its stuff in one sack?
1) Build the Fall Line Parkway, interstate from Augusta to Macon to Columbus.
2) Time to encourage Rural Development, stop hogging all the wealth in Atlanta. The Bucket-heads oughta be ashamed of their short-sitedness. All that wealth and virtually no re-investment in anything “outside the perimeter”.
3) Every other city has TWO airports. Atlanta….one. Its about time to develop Peachtree-Dekalb as that 2nd airport. Its the obvious choice. But I guess the Druid Hills Country Club doesnt want the final approach disturbing its members on the 13th hole.
4) MARTA is its own worst enemy. Stop conspiring to extend lines into the suburbs. If MARTA would just come up with a flat “ride all day on one fare” scheme, they’d make plenty of money. Of course, they’d also have to actually “maintain” the equipment, and go through the motions of designing bus routes to mesh with the Rail lines. That may be asking too much.
My favorite latest (safe) headlines, CAU student shot! and exactly why is this a shocker when we have instructors at this school spreading hate, seperation, narrowmindedness, and racism with memos to politicians?
Where do the Republicans come off making a decision on health care reform for me. I refer you to the article in Sec. B pg. 1 where they want to amend the state constitution to prohibit Washington from enforcing health care. Talk about socialism. Since when do republicans make decisions for all. What if I want healt care reform…what right do you have to prevent me from getting it? Where is the democracy here. This demonstration yesterday on the Capital steps shows everyone that some of us want this plan and you (Republicans) have no right to try to prevent this from happening. If you want to see demonstrations…just try this. You would rather continue to see people lose their homes due to the high cost of health care (which is the leading cause of foreclosures) than pass a health care bill? Amazing.
Mr. McIntosh,
I applaud the effort by the AJC to compile arrest incident reports by community. I would encourage you to also collect the arrest incident reports and juvenile complaints (redacted of course) filed by each of the local school districts school resource officers (SRO’s)–most operations which are independent police organizations set up and run by the school districts. These SRO’s have full police powers, including detaining & arresting. Our organization, The Gwinnett Parent Coalition to Dismantle the School to Prison Pipeline has been doing a two year pilot reviewing that information for our community. We do it at a great financial cost to ourselves and get nothing in return – except a more informed citizenry. We are required by the district to do the open records requests to get the data because the district refuses to publish any data associated with their operations. If parents were aware of the incidents and arrests in their own schools, much less communities – they might try to get involved in supporting solutions. Hiding this data just ignores the issues, isolates from the public any questionable arrest/incident actions by the school systems, and eliminates the community from the table. Good luck on your work and please consider the SRO data from the school districts. It is a crime, so to speak, that the data is kept from the public.
The AJC would have a lot more credibility in saying that they are helping readers arm themselves with information about the latest crime reports in their area, if they would seriously look into allegations that crimes aren’t being reported accurately, and Pennington’s New Orleans police dept had a history of doing the same thing.
Stephanie Ramage of The Sunday Paper has not only looked into this, but she had some pointed criticisms of the AJC’s coverage as well, criticisms that the AJC has refused to address.
Why won’t Julia Wallace respond to the questions Ramage asked of her concerning the AJC’s coverage of the police?
And if the AJC won’t hold itself accountable for its own performance, what on Earth makes the AJC think that educated readers on the issue are going to trust anything the AJC says about the police dept.?
First, I’d really like to know why the Atlanta Police Dept is putting so much effort into covering up the crime statistics?
Secound, Why is it Chief Pennington never reacts unless their is an outcry from the communities? Everyone knows gangs have been in Atlanta for years now. Why did it take him this long to beef up the Gang Task Force?
If americans and their government really want to see crime diminish, they would immediately end the failed War on Drugs. While other countries like Mexico and Argentina are taking intelligent steps to reduce the problems by decriminalizing personal use of every drug (mexico) and marijuana (argentina), our government just keeps right on with the same failed policies.
Let’s face it. You can sieze a house or a car to auction off and buy new Dodge Chargers or nifty radio equipment thanks to the unconsitutional civil asset forfeiture laws that accompany the War on Drugs. Just see if that ever happens with a real crime suspect. The same goes for the non-crime of prostitution, with “Johns” losing their cars.
Solving real crimes takes real police work. It takes more than violating peoples rights and setting up sting operations. It actually involves risk. Police these days don’t want to be bothered by such trivial matters as stopping property crimes or actually catching previously convicted rapists that kidnap and imprison 14 year olds in their back yards for 18 years. Just set up a checkpoint and write tickets to pay your salary. Much easier.
Everyone calls for more police, and every day we read of another police involved crime against a citizen. If the police we had today were freed from their parental roles of trying to control personal non-violent choices of the public and actually we able to do real police work, there might be less REAL CRIME.
Further, the War on Drugs only serves to drive up prices and draw in more unscrupuless types. A legal and regulated market would drive down prices, thus vastly reducing the property crimes that fund these purchases, and would put every low-life (except for the pharmaceutical companies) out of business. With no sales territories to control or fight over, gang activity would be reduced as well.
No utopia, but a common sense approach whose time has more than come.
Actually MrLiberty, adjusting for inflation, marijuana prices have risen since the 1970’s but the price of a kilo of cocaine has dramatically dropped off. The pallets of money made from cocaine, its investment in police and government operations here and overseas, have opened up distribution routes — it’s like a business. Therefore you can truthfully say the war against cocaine is a loss.
This analysis, however, will just cause government types to demand more fancy Dodge Chargers, expensive surveillance equipment, helicopters and other toys of the war on drugs. I wonder if Lockheed Martin and Boeing use the “war” to supplement their bottom lines when they aren’t selling weapons systems to the US and others.
Funny things about people with conspiracy theories: the less actual evidence they have, the more they become convinced there is a conspiracy. You may laugh at the birthers but even they have more evidence than the APD is hiding dead bodies and not reporting crimes conspiracy.
If Matt Dempsey is actually a data guru then he’ll know that what he is not statistically valid. I can’t blame Stephany for her errors, she’s gotten The Sunday Paper on the radar of the yuppie crowd and now will beat this drum for as many advertising dollars as she can.
To paraphrase the milk commercial: Got Proof?
No? Why not? Oh yeah, it’s a grand conspiracy. The less actual proof you have, the more it proves your conspiracy (eye roll). Enjoy your descent into insanity.
Go here, http://www.atlantapd.org/ucr/2009/06-2009.pdf, for the APD report to the FBI for June, 2009. It is extinsive and will take some time to load. Decide for yourself, your personal knowledge and this report.
This effort is very encouraging. There is a site: http://atlanta.everyblock.com/crime/ that has some good ideas too. A great feature to add is one of allowing you to put in an address and find all crimes in a certain radius. This would be so helpful in the NPU work.
I’m betting that there are significant number of us in the development community in Atlanta that if we could find a way to harness some of those resources to compliment what the AJC is attempting to do that we could really make a difference.
Jason, that you have to totally misrepresent the position of those who call into question just how accurately the APD is reporting crimes, and why the AJC hasn’t delved into that aspect of the issue more deeply, shows the inherent weakness of your position.
I don’t recall Stephanie Ramage accusing, at any point, the APD of hiding dead bodies; I recall her offering compelling evidence that reclassifying crimes happened in New Orleans under Pennington’s watch, and the resistance she has documented in getting accurate information about Atlanta’s crime stats hardly indicates that she is descending into insanity.
It shows instead that she has asked questions that both the APD and AJC are obviously uncomfortable with considering that the “public” editor of the AJC won’t even address them on her very own blog.
From Mr. Liberty
“Everyone calls for more police, and every day we read of another police involved crime against a citizen. If the police we had today were freed from their parental roles of trying to control personal non-violent choices of the public and actually we able to do real police work, there might be less REAL CRIME”.
Mr Liberty, The problem has never been the citizen’s and community. Take a closer look at the Media. Pay attention to the Vultures, Worms and Cop-Hater-Reporters like the ones on Fox5. They are the ones that will not allow you to do your job. If they heard you farted while on duty they’d report it.
You do have a better mix of opinion columnists.
Interesting though that the AJC would not cover Van Jones until he resigned. I have never been as concerned about the editorial mix of the AJC as I am about the hard news reporting.
We still have heard nothing about the paid pro Obamacare demostrators even when evidence of the payments is plentiful. Lot’s of ignorant speculation about astroturf for those who are opposed to Obamacare but not a word about the bought and paid for attendees of town halls. Your credibility progress has lapsed.
The Cancelling of Bill Husted’s daily Column was another blow to the read ability/utility of the the paper. It is no secret the readership of the AJC is primarily older “Boomers”. These folks, while not the target group for the “New AJC” are still folk that the Paper has a duty to service.
As bewildering as new technologies are to older folk Mr. Husted’s high quality Internet/hardware/whereto…. Columns were a so much appreciated font of clear concise easily understood information as to make them as near to indispensible.
One has to question the wisdom of the people who would make such a decision?
I’m coming to this conversation a bit late, and I’m sorry. If anyone has credible allegations that suggest the Atlanta police are being dishonest in how they report crime, I’d be happy to hear them and dedicate the resources to do the necessary reporting. To date, we haven’t seen clear evidence of that in our reporting, but, being human, we may be missing something. It is undeniable that the Atlanta police have fudged numbers before – I know this because I read the stories I helped edit for the AJC. At the moment, we are reporting pretty deeply on the issue of crime in Atlanta, with the next substantial installment coming this coming Sunday. I know that folks like to portray the AJC as some insular and unresponsive institution, but I’m always curious about such charges when no has bothered to phone or email me.
Twice in a week the ATL loses two promising young woman to collateral damage from gun slinging youths filled with anger and a sense of machismo from brandishing a firearm. What a worthless way to go for young ladies from families whose lives seemed so promising; would they be make their parents proud, become mothers, successful professionals? We’ll never know, how sad society has become when this happens, most of us shrug and think, that’s the way the world is these days….
It doesn’t have to be but people are too scared to stand up for what is right and that is even the sadder part of the story.
Someone knows something about the shooter of these two murders and needs to look inside to do the right thing. Or have they become so jaded and resigned to a sad life that they think it is not worth it. No doubt these murderers may resort to retaliation for someone coming forward to serve justice. That is why it takes courage and the help of a police department that can prosecute and protect.
Is there such a thing in Atlanta anymore or have we all become so apathetic to such human tragedy to promising youth that we simply dismiss their lives as a casualty of the war that goes on seemingly weekly amongst our community.
Do the right thing witness, the murdered young ladies, Jasmine and Fantasia, will bless you!
Mr. Roughton, perhaps you should send some reporters to Kirkwood. The Sunday Paper did and found the following
“The AJC, rather than speaking out, prefers to merely print out the APD’s own numbers and condescendingly imply, by using the word “perceive,” that those who are worried about crime are victims of paranoid delusion.
They are not.
According to recent postings on its neighborhood Web site, citizens in the Kirkwood area say they have reported break-ins only to have the police discourage them from filing reports. “These are not isolated incidents, and four independent occurrences indicate to me a larger problem at hand. I truly think this is a systemic problem from the top down, namely [Mayor Shirley] Franklin/Pennington, and not a bottom up problem from the officer level,” one resident observed.”
When you consider, according to The Sunday Paper, New Orleans’ documented past when it comes to doctoring police records under Pennington, it appears The Sunday Paper is making a valid point when it says the AJC is content to trust the numbers the APD provides, while disparaging those who would question them, despite the anecdotal evidence in Atlanta, and the documented evidence in New Orleans.
While “no one has bothered to phone or email you” they have bothered to post their concerns on this blog, so could you address the charges that the AJC is not finding the evidence that The Sunday Paper is at a fraction of the AJC’s resources, and more importantly the implication that the AJC isn’t finding the evidence because it simply doesn’t want to?
Also to your point that you are reporting deeply, what goes does it do for your data guru Dempsey to break down the data, if readers aren’t even sure if the data being broken down is accurate or honest to begin with?
Well, the things I miss by not being a regular reader of the AJC! Someone sent me the link today and I must say I got kind of misty eyed. THANK YOU, “Where the AJC Falls Short.” Wow. I didn’t even know that anybody had my back. It always seems like no one does. I’m truly humbled. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And actually, Mr. Roughton, feel free to call me or email me if you’d like to talk. I answer my own phone. — Best, Stephanie Ramage
Mr. Foskett,
I read the AJC (Thursday, Sept 17) article from guest columnist Ed Hooper regarding the Medal of Honor. It opened with the byline regarding the upcoming presentation of the Medal to the parents of Staff Sgt. Jared Monti. After reading the article I took notice of the artwork that was included with the opinion article. It was an image of a black soldier with the American flag in the background.
What was the thought process used in deciding the picture for the article? Why would you not use a picture of the actual Medal of Honor?
Why would you not use a picture of Staff Sgt. Monti?
Why was a picture of a non descript soldier used instead?
Tom Califano
Enter your comments here
The AJC is going out of business because they fail to understand the obvious. Print news is old news before it leaves the printing press. Unless you have something in depth, insider fed, shockingly cutting edge, and reporters that doubt everything they hear and see, willing to make their editor have their attorneys on speed dial, this newspaper will fade into oblivion like all the rest.
The Sunday Paper reminds me of the old Creative Loafing investigative reporting. I couldn’t wait to see a new one and read the story promotions. Stephanie Ramage has built the trust of police officers for information sources which is critical to investigative reporting. Her “insiders” can’t wait to help her with her stories because these stories need to be told to shape positive changes for the future of these departments and their respective cities. APD is hugely notorious for their retaliation against officers who go outside the family and will fire them knowing they will eventually get their job and pay back, but oh, the sweet suffering the officers and their families endure at the pleasure of Chief Pennington.
Don’t expect anything worth reading from the AJC this Sunday. They are frightened little journalists that spend more time rewriting AP feed and working on their resumes than asking the tough, probing questions. And their editors are too historically spineless to print a great story if they had one. Keep your eyes pealed for The Sunday Paper and editor Stephanie Ramage if you want an interesting read.
Stephanie Ramage, that really is you! And you’re quite welcome! And is there any doubt, as you allude to in your latest blog entry, that the ongoing embarrassment of being repeatedly exposed by The Sunday Paper caused them to finally take some action? Can you imagine the AJC’s coverage if there was no Sunday Paper? I can. Probably something like:
After interviewing Chief Pennington about the shooting, he reassured us the victim’s severed artery was not caused by a gunshot wound, it was caused by a ‘perception’ of a gunshot wound, most likely due to stereotypical thinking on the victim’s part. And in fact the victim, who died at the hospital, did not deny Pennington’s assessment, thus we have no evidence to believe Pennington is wrong in asserting a crime did not occur.
Heck, what more proof do you need of that than this blog, the self proclaimed “Conversation Starter”? It ought to be called the “Conversation Finisher” because when the questions start coming, the AJC staffers start going.
The best example of that might be when Andre Jackson started getting some real questions about the AJC editorial board’s coverage of education issues, he begged off this “Conversation Starter” blog, saying he had to go fed his kids. That might be the first recorded case ever of someone who, when they couldn’t stand the heat, actually went TO the kitchen.
Hopefully Stephanie, you can one day put the same pressure on the AJC in regard to education issues, as you have on crime issues.
Keep up the good work in the meantime, but I do have to call you on one issue. You never did print Julia Wallace’s immediate response your questions.
Since Bert Roughton assures us all the AJC isn’t some insular and unresponsive institution, we can assume you got an immediate response right?
No doubt Roughton got a response from the mayor’s office, letting him know in no uncertain terms that THEY are the preeminent insular and unresponsive institution in Atlanta!
There’s one important part of the equation left out – the court system. Many of these offenders have arrest histories of multiple felonies but are still out on the street. The police can lock people up, but they can’t keep them in jail…how about an expose on the criminal history of these high profile offenders and why they are out on the streets? I’d really be interested in seeing that article. it seems the heat always comes down on the police, but not the courts who let offenders out while they have two or three armed robbery charges.
- Crime in Atlanta is a very real problem. The number of
unsolved crimes is mounting, and the prison population,
now in excess of 50,000 (the most of any state in the
union) is rising. The primary contributor is the city’s
attitude towards anything that isn’t the product of liberal
arts or social science. Those fields do not provide enough
of a tax base for infrastructural investment or crimefighting
solutions. A rearrangement of priorities is not only in order,
it is long overdue.
The court systems are jacked up! There are people with SEVERE attitudes running our court systems; they don’t care and that is evident. If people were more severely punished maybe crime owuld go down. But instead lets lock up the WRONG people and do nothing about it while others are running “free on bond” – our judicial system sucks. The police can only do so much; punish the criminals more severely the first timeto eliminate a second offense.
Violent crime appears not to have risen on paper, because it isn’t reported on paper.
The types of crime are manipulated.
There was a violent home invasion at my neighbors’. The home was attacked by young black teens, attempting to come in at many different sites – windows, doors, etc. They were under attack, literally.
However, since the teens were scared off before the windows and doors were technically bashed in, it was brushed off and categorized as a simple act of vandalism in the paperwork.
Georgia Daaawg: Good idea on the court system. I was struck by the fact that when police made an arrest in the case of the Kirkwood resident who was shot while mowing his lawn, the 19-year-old suspect was already in jail in DeKalb County on a probation violation. Clearly, there is a lot of recidivism, and it’s an issue worth looking into.
Crime will continue to grow, as long as young adults, teens, can not find jobs in Atlanta, Ga. The victims and a major cause of crime in Atlanta will be from the African American community. Young black males are not likely to find jobs in this economy and as victims of not being able to get (hired), they need to survive.
Robbing a person has become a lot easier and more profitable then trying to sell a nickel bag of weed. My only concerns is that crime was more (one on one ) act of violence- but it seems to have grown into a group of unorganized set of young adults, which make the crime more violent as we are now witnessing.
I went by canby lane the weekend and saw the park and reviwed the area. I had a dream concerning the area and what is happening to the community, I cant rememeber if I was asking GOD what is going on or just putting a letter in everyone’s mail box, but anyway, here is the letter …. Dear neighbor what has happened to our community, some people stay here because they can’t afford to leave because they have been here so long there house is paid for. But what has really happened to the DeKalb county/sw DeKalb area. When we grow up here we were taught value and discipline. Kids now have no discipline and respect for themselves and for other people lives. You can walk around the neighborhood and see for your self a change of crime as well as people not keeping the grass up, the garage, everything looks really bad. You have to take back your community, people use to know other people kids, but it seems like these days you can’t say anything to our youth because you’re afraid they will curse you out, or worse kill you. You felt privilege to live in DeKalb county back in the late 70 and 80 because you knew it was a change happening. You see so many black church’s in our community on TV like, Eddie long, creflo dollar, Rev Jerry black, Dewey Smith, Jr., but what is really going on, when you have so many black church’s in the area coming on TV and crime is still going on and our youth thinks its more important to rap or kill or car jack you, breaking into homes, stealing air conditioning units, hanging out on the street corners instead of going to school working, going to college. They say that prayer changes things. Its time for a change I believe that the lord is sure to come back soon because he is tired of all this mess that is going on. Especially in our black area. We are killing ourselves. The white people said they don’t have to worry about doing that to us because we are doing it to ourselves. There use to be 2 parents in the house hold but now its only 1 with the women working its hard to keep hold of your kids, but you have got to keep them in church , because if you don’t teach them the world will.. I don’t see anything wrong with section 8, but when a person comes from the project and has not had a home, why don’t they feel like they have to keep the grass up, from the end side of the home to the outside. I see kids wondering the streets really late at night. The outside exterior of the home looks like it’s about the fall. We are like the children of Israel wondering around in the desert, we are lost going to here and from. There is a strong hold in our community and we have to take it back before it’s too late.
the court systems are a huge part of the problem…. i am shocked how many repeat offenders of street crimes are released on a “signature bond” …basically they sign their name and promise to come back to court and walk out….below is the legal definition.
“A signature bond, or recognizance bond, is a promissory that is signed by the individual who was arrested in order to be released on bond. Though no monetary transaction takes place when the promissory is signed, a signature bond contends that the arrested individual will pay an agreed upon amount if he fails to appear in court on the given date and time.”"
- Several of the posters on this forum seem to think that
the only definition of crime in Atlanta is the victimization
of black females by black males. I’ve lived in this city 25
years. Victims and perpetrators run the gamut of gender
and race. This sort of judgemental bias is inappropriate in
that it interferes with acknowledgement of the root of the
problem. Easy access to high-powered firearms, rollback
of federal firearm laws, entrenchment of an impoverished
underclass, lack of educational priorities, prejudicial
attitudes about which race or gender should be the most
educated, geographical isolationism, even the integration
of church and state in civic affairs could all be contributing
factors as to why there seems to be an intractable crime
problem in “the city too busy to hate”.
Manipulation: We weren’t able to get into it in the article, but there is a perception that crime statistics are in some way manipulated. In the situation involving your neighbors, it technically wasn’t a violent crime, or even a burglary. But I’m sure they felt as if they had been victimized in a way that “vandalism” wouldn’t capture.
Whether the numbers are intentionally tamped down, I don’t know. If anyone has specific information about it, please let me know.
I find it really hard to believe only 40% of the Atlanta Police Dept are assigned to routine patrol. No wonder Atlanta has a problem. It appears as new Officers are recruited, the Senior Officers are assigned to a desk assignments.
Alan, I also believe one of the individuals recently arrested for a home invasion in Fulton County, where a female was shot in the face and her infant was beaten, was out on bond for committing a murder during an armed robbery (Wimes was his name). Wonder what judge set that bond and how much it was set for?
The Atlanta Police Department is awful. I was shocked when my house was broken into in Zone 1. An sloppy looking officer named Officer Brand showed up and initially tried to tell me there was no reason to file a report. I told him it would be required if I was going to file an insurance claim. Relectantly he told me there were more important crimes in the area that he could be working on. The officer then wrote a report that was a paragraph long, but contained no puncuation except the period at the end of the last sentetnce. 50% of the words were misspelled and it was hardly readable. This was embarrasing that this person actually made it onto the force. What kind od people are they hiring?
Re. the courts and bond for repeat offenders: My understanding is that other AJC reporters currently are looking into that issue in Fulton County and plan to publish an article soon.
This article could have been written twenty years ago… just change the names and delete the portions about the projects and furloughs.Get a real chief and not the political hacks for Pennington (read-current Deputy Chiefs). APD was, is, and always will be a joke. The affirmative “inaction” embraced by the department has been around too long. Mediocrity rules the department and the better officers leave in droves… leaving a joke of officers in their place. We are also paying for the “Girl Power” of Beverly Harvard which did the department no good. They are a joke and a southern black version of the Keystone Cops.
One major problem is that the Fulton County Courts dead docket over half of the cases that they could prosecute. Also, the judges are too lenienet on young offenders. This is destorying our city.
This article is so bad. It’s just illogical–crime, statistically, is down, and we have tons of police on the streets per capita, but because people “feel” unsafe, and because crime is pretty high, that must the mayor and the police do not know what they’re talking about when they say crime is lower. Except crime is lower! If you start with 100 of some type of crime, and you have 90 the next year, even if the average is 50, you’ve still lowered crime. While many arguments about high crime in Atlanta may be fair, by no means is the neutral, unbiased facts leaning towards skeptism of the mayor’s claim that crime, statistically, has not risen. This article is overly hostile to the city administration, probably to kowtow to populist–or, alternately, white or yuppie or even suburban fears–about crime in Atlanta.
I think a good argument that crime might be on the rise is that the statistics lag a year behind. There’s good reason to believe that an Atlanta in 2009 with 10% unemployment is experiencing worse crime than it did in 2008, when unemployment was much lower.
The home break-in argument is wrong, too. A previous poster mentions some case where a crime was not reported as a break-in because the perpetrators did not, in fact, break in. First, this is anecdotal, a quality that often seems to take the place of statistical in the crime debate in Atlanta. Second, there’s no reason to believe that the police department has changed its crime reporting policies, or that criminals are particularly less likely to succeed today than they have been in the past at breaking into houses. Therefore, we have every reason to believe that a reduction of break-ins report would still reflect, overall, a reduction.
I’m not saying crime is getting better or worse, or even that the mayoral administration has done a particularly good or bad job at handling it. I’m just skpetical of anti-crime populism. If you want to substitute feelings for statistical inference, or good arguments, about the crime problem, because you want to feel unsafe, well, that’s your business. But I choose not to feel irrationally unsafe.
Enter your comments here Young black males are running wild in the streets. They have embraced the the thug, gansta mentality which black radio tacitly supports. Whites fear black crime the most but black people suffer the most from it! The young lady assaulted by the white knuckle-dragger in Morrow was an outrage but in that same time period countless others were victims of black on black crime. Where is the outrage? Where are the preachers and the “activists”? I don’t fear the white man, I fear these young, out of control black thugs……….Ask Vernon Forest.
An amateur boxer gunned down in southwest Atlanta defending his vehicle. A Midtown resident beaten to death in her luxury hi-rise. A Kirkwood resident gunned down in his front yard. A bartender in Grant Park brutally shot after accommodating his robbers every demand. A 19 year old shot to death in the parking lot of a Midtown gas station. All in the last year. When do we take back our city?
Pierce Randall: I would disagree that the article was hostile to the city administration, but I appreciate your observation.
Criminologists say crime rates often go down when fewer police officers are on the streets — that officers come across crimes in progress, or are flagged down by citizens who wouldn’t otherwise report criminal activity.
In any event, no one has suggested there is a reason to feel irrationally unsafe. But the fact remains that Atlanta’s crime rate is one of the highest in the nation; statistically, at least, places like New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles are much safer.
Another thought: Do we really want Atlanta, a major city in the South, not to have “special” units? What Major city doesn’t have a vice or swat or narcotics or fugitve or canine or helicopter unit? Patrol Officers who answer 911 calls are reactive in assignment, as the article points out, unless a beat officer happens to be at exactly the right place at the right time a crime is going to occur.
Specialized units are proactive in nature, seeking out the groups who commit most of the crimes (like organized gangs) and trying to build cases against them to shut them down.
More Officers on 911 are needed, but to pull them from specialized units is counterproductive, you’ll wind up with a police force thats completely reactive.
Georgia Daaawg: I don’t think anyone thinks the special units are inherently problematic. Sgt. Scott Kreher, head of the Atlanta police union, made the point that regular patrol beats need to be filled before the special units: “In a perfect world, we’d love to have them all.”
I remember back when the police really patrol the streets, I have not seen a patrol car on my street since 2005, that is why the criminals feel nobody is watching them…but if you speed or stop sign they are sitting watching that kind of crime…just MY thoughts only…
carry on mayor franklin-you make me soooooo proud…duh
One day when I went down town on personal business, I pulled into a street parking lot and a gentleman told me it was 10 dollars to pay. After paying him and as I was walking out of the lot I realized it was the type of lot where you insert money into a metal structure. In essence a was hustled for 10 dollars. I went back to find the gentleman, but he was gone.
I didn’t call the police. But how many people would? Is a detective going to investigate? Is a 10 dollar scam a big deal in a major city.
But how many people would call the police over this? And is it worth reporting?
It is time that we stop protecting the young criminals – Start publishing names, parents names and city – Might just be that some parents will be so embrassed that they will take control of these young people – Start publishing names of judges that continually grant bail bonds or promissary notes for “REPEAT” offenders.
After living in atlanta 35+years, I left mainly because of the crime. Even if you move to the suburbs, the crime reports are all over the tv and news so you can’t even watch that. Then you think you are safe by watching a g rated program like oprah until they run news promos like “baby found in drainstorm…story at 5″ I don’t miss atlanta one bit.
And before you ask, I am here only reading about the floods my relatives told me about.
Don Lively- not a bad idea about publishing names. In Pennsylvania, I have seen billboards on the interstate with pictures and information on criminals.
It’s my sense that the peer-to-peer crime (drug dealers shooting other drug dealers, etc) has been usurped by stranger-stranger, or more random crime, hence the conflict between the city reporting a lower crime rate and citizens feeling that crime is rising. Any truth to me theory?
Atlanta does not provide even basic police services. How many times have I attended an event in Atlanta (such as the fireworks at Centennial Olympic Park on the Fourth of July) and sat in a parking lot an hour afterward because the police group together on the street corners just watching people sit in the traffic instead of providing traffic control to keep things moving. Although I work in midtown, I think twice about coming to Atlanta for anything other than work.
Don Lively and Bibay: Any thoughts on whether to publish names of juveniles? The thinking historically has been that by protecting the identity of young offenders, it gives them a chance to reform and enter adulthood with what appears to be a clean record. Of course, it’s an open question as to how much “reform” takes place, and the juvenile justice system was designed in a different era.
I’d be interested in hearing any ideas on reporting on young criminals or anything else about how the AJC covers, or should cover, crime.
I thought the point below was very interesting in your article.
“Criminologists say a high crime rate is inevitable in Atlanta, where widespread poverty and an influx of commuters, conventioneers and tourists create an atmosphere conducive to illicit activity.”
That being said, isn’t unfair to compare Atlanta to other cities that don’t have comparable socio-demographics? I think you could have done a better job explaining that side of crime in Atlanta.
Well Greg, I have to say that whenever I get stuck in a traffic jam at an unexpected time I usually say “oh, there must be a cop up there directing traffic”. Atlanta has the worst traffic cops I have ever seen. I lived in a much smaller mid-west town for most of my life and they had better traffic cops than Atlanta. So, maybe you should count your blessings.
Catherine: That’s a great question. I don’t believe the police keep statistics on that sort of thing, except for homicides. But it would be an interesting idea to research.
This may or may not speak to the question: Despite what seemed like a huge wave of crime around the Georgia Tech campus in the past few months, the number of reported robberies actually declined. It may be that because more of the victims happened to be Tech students, it seemed like a crime wave.
I forgot to mention the 19 year old Spellman freshman killed by a stray bullet just a few days ago. I just posted the fatalities that I can recall. What a shame we have to live in fear.
alanjudd – it appears that juveniles are commiting what would be considered “adult crimes”. If they are constantly commiting crimes, I would not be opposed to it.
Steve Grayton: One of the leading thinkers on how comparing crime rates between cities is Robert Friedmann, a criminal justice professor at Ga. State. His research suggests that some cities — San Francisco, for example — have more violent crime than would be expected, while Atlanta and others with similar demographics actually have less than would be expected.
Crime exists when people have no moral compass and they can get away with it. Some armed robbers are making their get away in SUVs so economics has little to do with it. The solution is to flood the streets with police. Where do you get the money. Sell assets. If The City of Atlanta sold the airport and Grant Park they’d have more than enough money to solve these problems. It would have the added benefit of placing these facilities in the hands of organizations capable of planning a two car funeral.
I hate to say it but I think that we are much more outraged by random or stranger-to-stranger crime than we are by peer-to-peer crime. Some parts of town are “expected” to have higher crime but when those areas expand to include “my neighborhood” and the victim of that crime is “my friend” then we are more likely to be concerned. It’s really sad, because if we recognized and were concerned about crime in other neighborhoods besides our own, we might have a better chance of fighting it before it spreads.
I thank the AJC for their in-depth analysis. Pretty interesting reporting. One thing I think that may explain the disconnect between the crime rate and perception of crime is that it seems to me the victims have changed. In the mid-90s, a disproportionate amount of the city’s crime took place in housing projects. Now that those projects are gone, that crime has been reduced. However, we are seeing more break-ins, carjackings and muggings of our middle class citizens, and largely middle class neighborhoods like Ormewood Park, Kirkwood, East Atlanta, Grant Park and Midtown are seeing a huge surge in break-ins, usually by armed men. I have lived in Grant Park since 1996, and we’ve never dealt with that many break-ins or muggings….until this year. And my friends in Kirkwood are afraid to take a walk around their neighborhood after their neighbor was shot while mowing his yard.
Until the mayor, city council and the police department stop trying to make excuses and start recognizing that law-abiding, tax paying citizens are being targeted and start doing something to protect us, the citizenry won’t feel safe. We need police on the beats, patrolling these neighborhoods. It won’t stop every crime, but I do think it would help prevent some crimes from happening.
Alan, you mnetion Atlanta Police has a 9.2 attrition rate, almost double that of other dept’s. What has your research shown to be the major factors behind such a high rate?
Money to prosecute the criminals is a problem, too. Why do APD officeres use the most expensive car wash to have their cars washed? It amounts to $15,000 a WEEK. (1000 cars for $15 each). or $60k a month. HOw many officers could be hired for $60k a month?
Use prisoners or use people doing community service to keep the cars clean.
ALso…until the black community instills an element of spirituality and self respect in their kids….this hideous rampage of murder and crime will continue!
Why is Zone 2 (Buckhead, Midtown) the only zone without any police blackouts??????? Crime is no wear near as bad in Zone 2 as it is even in nearby Zone 1, but yet Zone 1 has blackouts daily…. I guess the police care more about protecting old Buckhead blue hairs from getting their purses snatched than they do about real crime like drug dealers, and murderers.
I believe the court system is the main problem. People need to pay for crime and that doesn’t have to always be jail. You get caught stealing, pay back double what you stole, or go to jail. Break in someone’s home pay restitution and fine, or go to jail. Causing trouble at school, pick up trash on the side of the road, or go to jail. Times have changed but the ineffective ways to fix it have not changed.
To pay for some of the cost of the police and the courts, how about white collar criminal? They seem to steal the most and pay the least. Your outraged “citizen” get so mad about an illegal alien, but is muted about the person hiring them.
On the police and judges, give them a pension similar to the military, so the old and tired leave. That would keep fresh offices and judges in the system.
Catherine, Amy: One (perhaps one of many) things the crime statistics don’t reflect is the subtle shift in the identity of crime victims. In the case of Grant Park, crime generally is down in the police department’s Zone 3, which includes that neighborhood. But people who haven’t had to live with crime in the past suddenly are dealing with it daily.
Perceptions are important. The death of John Henderson, who was shot to death at the Standard last January, was tragic. But three other people were murdered within a couple of miles of the Standard in January alone. All of us — and I include the news media — tend to react more strongly when the victim is someone we know, or might know, or, in other words, could have been one of us.
The courts are a very big problem, especially with regard to minors. A lot of the offenders are young. Evidentially, there is a 12-step program (you get 12 strikes before you are out) that applies to all minors, per Zone 3 DA. So if a 16 year old boy walks into my home, slays my husband and robs us, is that strike 7? Also, I joined a group called “Project Turnaround” as a council member. (volunteer PO, basically.) This was a program to help these participants/offenders get back on track monitored by the DA’s office. Most every offender was recomended by the council members to be exempted from the program/put back in jail, for repeat offenses. Nothing was done. My participant, for example, never went to the classes, continued to sale drugs and was shot in during a drug deal gone bad. Why was he not thrown out of the program and into jail? The DA’s office eventually just walked away from the program, but the kicker…NONE, NADA, 0% of the participants were put into jail. They basically were given “get out of jail free cards!” They are roaming the streets worse off today, because they dont believe they will ever receive concequences. Sadly, all evidence supports that theory.
Hi Alan, you make a good point, and I don’t mean to imply that we should be more concerned with protecting innocent citizens in our own neighborhoods than we are in other neighborhoods. Rather, I would prefer that we keep the middle class neighborhoods safe and work hard on improving conditions in some of the less affluent neighborhoods which have traditionally had a higher crime rate. And for the city’s leadership, they should be very concerned about keeping the middle class neighborhoods safe, since the city can ill afford to lose more of its tax base right now. And I know far too many people who have put their homes up for sale because of crime.
A LOT OF PEOPLE think bringing more jobs to a community is going to fix the crime problem, but why would a criminal choose to work for $7.50hr when her could make $100hr dealing or stealing from his neighbors.
It’s not a race problem, it’s a poverty problem and the moment they start teaching these kids in good schools with caring professionals with caring parents then change will come.
Another factor is the AHA tearing down all the projects and moving the criminals all over the city. Crime used to be isolated and easier to contain or simply not care about when it was in one area.
I must first say that I am REALLY suprised that this thread hasn’t turned into an all out race war yet. Let’s see if we can keep it up.
Shirley Franklin and Richard Pennington are the absolute WORST. Is anyone really surprised that we would bring in a clown from of all places New Orleans (one of the most violent cities in the country and overrun by crime), and expect this fool to make Atlanta into anything different??! In addition to that, cops are CORRUPT in Atlanta. One night about midnight, I was heading home from work and driving down Joseph Lowery just south of Bankhead. I noticed a police officer on a darkened sidestreet standing just inside his squad car door exchanging cash with someone!
What in the h3ll business does any cop have exchanging cash with someone while in uniform on duty standing outside their squad car???Either he was:
1) Buying drugs -or-
2) Being paid off to look the other way on all the drug dealing and prosititution taking place in the area.
Why can’t we implement some form of painful punishment like the caning done in Singapore? Locking up some worthless lowlife in a place where he gets 3 meals and medical care is better conditions than he probably has at home. Where is the disincentive to do more crime? MAKE IT HURT REAL BAD !!!
Amy: One of the statistics I found interesting showed that Atlanta has a large gap between residents who earn a lot of money and those who are relatively poor — which, of course, means that the city has a relatively small middle class. And when crime affects the middle-class neighborhoods, the natural reaction is to try to get out.
Nich: It sounds as if the juvenile justice system merits a deeper look. Your experience must have been very frustrating.
If more people defended themselves and their property instead of filing a worthless police report maybe it would put a dent in crime. A dead criminal doesn’t commit any more crimes.
One more thing…whatever happened to chain gang? With economy tanking and no money for road “grooming,” why cant we put these criminals to work? Seems a no brainer to me. Even some of these neighborhoods that need to be cleaned up, they could easily be put to work picking up trash etc. This would also help to rehabilitate them. Let them work off their crimes, and start earning their keep in society.
Alan, I did find that statistic on the income disparity intown to be very enlightening. But what is also somewhat puzzling to me is that the income differential hasn’t necessarily changed all that much since I moved to Atlanta in 1996. So why are certain crimes spiking now? The easy answer is the economy, but a lot of the kids doing the crimes have probably never held a job, like the 15 year old who carjacked my in-laws one Saturday night in January. There is also increased speculation that some of the criminals are more organized (i.e. gangs) than they have been in the past, but I haven’t seen any statistical evidence to support this.
Will you also be doing an article on the 911 system?
A friend of mine was the victim of a home invasion and stabbed with a screwdriver several years ago in Zone 3. She waited 8hrs for police to respond and the attacker has never been caught.
Enter your comments here I too refuse to live in fear, so after 11 years living in Atl I moved to Johns Creek. The police department is well funded and visible, crime reports are available to those who want to know and they are signing HOAs up for the PACT program of police and community togetherness to preempt crime. In the Atl the mayor and commissioners are too worried about taking a tough stand on crime so as not to offend the black voting base, which unfortunately is the main victim of crime. We don’t have that problem in JC and we don’t have the murders and rapes that Atl has either. It’s past time for the black community to put down their race rhetoric and come out against these thugs, on the radio and on the streets.
I would like to see more of that nich. If a person had a choice of working off the crime instead of jail, many would chose work and that would be more of a payback for the offense.
I am happy to see that so many recognize and care about the problem with the youth of Atlanta. I just wanted to add one more tid bit. Why is it that if a criminal has a tatoo, a crazy hair style, etc., that sort of information is inadmisable for line ups, court, etc.? For example, my husband and I were robbed, we live in Grant Park. A neighbor saw one of the guys, a 17 year old boy. He had a very large star tatoo stamped dead center of his forhead and a mohawk. When shown a line up, the star tat, and the mohawk had been photoshoped out. It was inadmisable in court. Why? We had the guy, and nonthing could be done. He went on robbing several others in the many areas surround Grant Park and was eventually caught, but 6 months later….just free.
911 Rehaul: We are now analyzing a database of calls to Atlanta’s 911 center and may be producing some articles in the next few weeks.
Amy: The best explanation I’ve heard has to do with the demolition of the public housing projects. It’s not that the people who lived there were committing crimes, or that they have moved to other neighborhoods and committed crimes. Instead, the projects attracted a large criminal element; there were plenty of easy victims (the women, children and elderly people who lived there), and they were gathering places for selling drugs and other illicit commodities. Thomas D. Boston, a professor of economics at Georgia Tech, has done a lot of fascinating research on this topic. Much of his work is available here.
I think the focus on punishment (caning, chain gangs, etc) does little to prevent crime. It may help repeat offenders, but we have learned that the prospect of severe punishment does little to stop first time offenders – because they don’t think they are going to get caught.
I’m all for completed sentences, cleaning up neighborhoods, etc. But, the criminal justice/punishment is really a separate issue to me from crime prevention. Shouldn’t our goal be to have emptier and emptier jails and fuller and fuller schools and training programs?
We who live in Atlanta all have crime stories. Mine is, I fear, typical: Returning from vacation, I discovered my house had been broken into — dressers tossed, closets rifled, that sort of thing. The thieves took little of value, but of coursemy wife and I called the cops.
An officer came, walked around, and took our report. He gave us a case number, plus a number to call to contact a detective. My wife called several times, leaving a message, and never got a return call. She finally reached the detective, a surly voice on the other end of the line, who promised to be in touch.
We’ve been waiting two years to hear from the detective. Think she’s going to call?
Locking up everyone for longer terms sounds nice and I do agree that a lot of these people have it better in jail that on the street. We can not continue the cost of all these incarcerations. We are going broke. Something else needs to be done.
Catherine and Nich, you both make good points on being concerned with our youth and crime prevention. Our juvenile system is screwed up, and I know it’s quite frustrating for a lot of the police officers who end up arresting the same kids over and over. Nich, I live in Grant Park, too, and one of the craziest things I’ve heard of was over the summer when a certain well-known juvenile delinquent was arrested after stealing a car, and cop had to drive him home! That same cop then drove over to Carla Smith’s house to beg her to help reform the system. I’ve heard from numerous cops that they just arrest the same kids over and over…not the best use of their limited resources.
And I do like the idea of putting “reformable” criminals in a work program….give them some useful stuff to do like picking up trash or park maintenance and maybe it will give them a bit better outlook on life.
But I also agree that more needs to be done to prevent kids from choosing a life of crime. I don’t have any easy answers, but I would love to see community leaders, church clergy and others with influence band together to help convince these kids that getting through high school and picking up marketable skills is better for them in the long run.
Catherine, I agree. But we should rehabilitate as well. Alot of crime is carried out by repeat offenders. To follow up with what you stated as far as prevention. The atlanta school system is really bad. I have a few kids that I have worked with and spoken to in Grant Park and they will all tell you: “you are beat up if you dont join a gang.” “My teacher’s boyfriend is in a gang, and she said I can get paid if I join,” for example. The fact that we have teachers encouraging and recruiting kids to join gangs is a very big deal! You have empty schools becasue these kids and are out “hustling.” These gang leaders are repeat offenders. The kids that specifically told me the 2 quoted statements, are between the ages of 7-11.
Grant: It would be interesting to know whether the detective was just overworked, or uninterested. In other words, is the problem systemic or individual?
My home was broken into and I lost little because the alarm scared him away. I had surveillance cameras outside the house and gave the APD almost 30 minutes of video of this guy trying to find a way into my house. His face was clearly visible in the video. The cops never did catch him and whenever I tried to contact the detective for an update on what was being done, he would not return my calls. The APD is about worthless except for parading in front of the TV cameras for a photo opportunity with Shirley Franklin and catching speeders on the highway as a revenue generating tool. This is the worst city I’ve ever lived in.
Yes, I am a black man and I am TOTALLY f-in tired of this crime. The police need to be PAID so they will WANT to their jobs!!! I wouldn’t want to go mess around with criminals either if I wasn’t getting paid anything..
Crime comes from all races, not just Blacks, but it is sad for me to see the state that some of my fellow young black men are in. With that happening, people group all black men together and that’s not right or fair. Everyone needs to get armed and protective themselves…its really sad that this has to be done, but what else can we do? If they come in my place, they’re getting shot. No questions asked
Enter your comments here
I have to agree with Greg and Catherine regarding the Atlanta Police traffic control. I’ve been stuck in traffic after leaving events at the Fox Theater and sporting events from the Dome and Phillips Arena while the police stand around talking or pretend to direct traffic.
I don’t care what Mayor Franklin or the police chief have to say about crime being down, they’re wrong. They are not being beseiged by home and business break-ins/invasions, carjackings, family members being robbed at gunpoint or murdered, but the citizens in this city are. You can quote all the stats that you want, but the reality is crime is up!!
Alan Judd, you say, “I would disagree that the article was hostile to the city administration.” Perhaps you mean “overly” or “unjustifiably”–certainly, that any hostility exists is non-controversial: the headline of the article is “City leaders fiddle as crime fears flare.”
All I’m saying is that this is an illogical construction:
“Even the achievements Pennington and Franklin cited for the cameras lose their luster under closer examination:
Atlanta’s rate of reported crime has dropped sharply over the past decade — but still ranks among the highest in the nation.”
Yes, crime is bad. But the purpose of the press conference is that it is being addressed, and it’s not getting worse. Now, maybe that’s true or not true, but if a “sharp drop” in crime rates has occurred during the administration and the police chief, it does not follow then, of the press conference, that “The moment’s irony represented a triumph of the status quo over promises of change. More important, it embodied the dysfunction that plagues Atlanta’s police department — a dysfunction that has turned crime into the city’s most intractable civic dilemma.”
A neutral presentation of facts might be,
-The crime rate is down, but it’s still really high.
-The police chief and the mayor have tried to reassure citizens about the crime rate.
-Here are some things the city is not doing that it should.
Essentially, that’s in the article, except it seems to state out-of-hand that the mayor’s and police chief’s assurances are false. That’s overstating the case made by the findings of the article, I believe, to appear provocative while appealing to lowest-common-denominator fears of residents–or, if you look at the way the AJC has shifted its marketing practices, likely suburbanites it doesn’t apply to anyway.
Pierce Randall: Thanks for the critique. I’m not the one to speak to either the headline or the AJC’s marketing strategy. As for the story, I think it was fair to all sides. But that — like whether it was neutral — is a judgment call, obviously.
VL makes an interesting observation. The muggers, rapists and murderers seem to operate carte blanche without much fear of being caught, whereas the red light runners, rolling stop sign violators, speeders, etc are stopped and ticketed. Why? Because of revenue generation. Stopping violent offenders is not cost effective for a terribly inefficiently run major metropolitan city like Atlanta. They’d rather ticket and collect fines from the suburbanites, which further inflames them and essentially kills a revenue stream when the suburbanites decide not to visit the downtown area in the future.
Alan, one other thing I’d love to see the AJC cover is how Atlanta’s arrest rate compares with other metro police department. My friends in Decatur have experienced many of the same issues we’ve seen in Atlanta, yet it seems that whenever I read about a mugging, robbery or carjakcing in Decatur, it’s followed by info on an arrest, and that doesn’t seem to be the case in Atlanta. Is that just my perception, or is there any truth to that?
Catherine, people who commit crimes should be punished. How to keep them from crime is a separate issue. We should try to punish criminals in a way that benefits the victims or society. For some that is jail or prison, but for many we could use different methods.
Amy: That’s a good idea. Police departments have to track arrests for the FBI, so there ought to be some information available. My friends who live in Decatur frequently praise the responsiveness of their police department. So it could be that Decatur’s police do an especially good job. Regardless, it’s worth looking into.
I agree with many posters blaming the court systems…2 weeks ago, myself and 3 other neighbors caught and apprehended a burglar breaking into cars in our parking deck. We successfully subdued the thief until APD arrived (shockingly in 2 minutes after placing the 911 call!). This same person confessed to the officer that he broke into cars in our community just one week prior! The officer knew the perp (a homeless man) and told us he has been arrested over 30 times for theft violations, but the courts release him due to witnesses not showing up to court or not enough evidence to keep them locked up.
First, statistical comparisons between the city of Atlanta and other US cities are almost always misleading, whether the subject is crime, poverty, or parkland. No other big city represents as small a proportion of its metropolitan region as Atlanta (source: the report on city parks by the Trust for Public Land and the Urban Land Institute). A journalist reporting on crime and other trends in Atlanta should know this, and always take it into account. So comparisons to NYC, LA, or Chicago don’t really tell us whether the APD is effective. (Also, Atlanta has an unusually high number of people come into the city (either as commuters or visitors) relative to the population of full-time residents. Therefore, statistics on a “per resident” basis can mislead.)
It’s clear that the rate of violent crime is down since 1990. One obvious reason is that, during that time period, Atlanta’s population increased by about 25% (from 400,000 to over 500,000). The overall education and income levels in the city increased relative to the surrounding suburbs (that’s from a national study reported in this paper). So of course violent crime per resident is down. One reason the perception is different is that the media (especially TV “journalists”) treats certain crimes differently, depending largely on the victim.
Second, the problem in the APD, reported in Sunday’s article for the 500th time, is that they keep losing experienced officers as they add new ones. One cause of this, according to many news reports, is the pay and benefits package does not compete with some other jurisdictions, especially after a certain level of experience.
A few years ago the city council raised pension benefits, partly in an effort to stem the loss of officers. It turns out that sustaining that level of pensions will require tax increases, major budget cuts, or both. We have had both in the past year: a large number of city employees have been laid off, and the council recently voted (barely) to raise taxes to end the furloughs.
It seems to me that if we are going to insists on a larger, and better, police force (I think we should), then we are going to have to accept an ongoing higher level of taxation to support that. There is a libertarian fantasy that, no, we can find plenty of waste to fund more police, but I suspect that’s wishful thinking. The hopeful news is that, as we climb out of this recession, sales tax receipts will increase, and that should help us with the city budget.
The article was correct to point out that numbers alone will not increase safety; better leadership and tactics are required. My one complaint was the headline, which was more appropriate to an editorial than to reporting.
I know this isn’t a Fulton County issue, but I’m curious to know what’s going on in the feeder counties with the transplant of residents from the public housing projects. Sure, crime in those areas where the residents lived has gone down. But those people have to live somewhere. In areas like Clayton County, have those seven types of crime increased?
BPJ: You raise some good points. On the police pension issue, look for the second installment of our Atlanta Project on Sunday; it deals with that matter in detail.
On the headline: I’ll pass along your comment to the people who are responsible for headlines.
“The police need to be PAID so they will WANT to their jobs!!!”
This is BS. Atlanta police are compensated quite handsomely: $40K/year to START with no degree requirement. This excludes the work they get on the side, as well as the various comps they receive. If they don’t want to do their job as a cop, they can go find another $50K job with their high school diploma or associates degree. Good luck.
CK: Serious crime, at least in terms of raw numbers, has been trending upward in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties for several years. I haven’t had time yet to determine whether the rate of crime — the number of reports per 100,000 residents — has increased as well.
It appears the majority of the former residents of Atlanta Housing Authority projects moved elsewhere in the city (as documented in the research I cited earlier by Thomas D. Boston at Georgia Tech). But some people — notably, Eldrin Bell, the Clayton County commission chairman — have suggested that transplanted residents are responsible for some of the increases in crimes.
Are you willing to put your life on the line EVERYDAY for a 40-k a year job? Are you willing to put up with hostility and abuse these officers take from the public for that amount of money? Me thinks not.
Why are we expecting progress against the criminals in Atlanta when Squirrely Shirley can’t even control crime in her own family. Her son in law is doing life for drug sales and her daughter is a convicted felon for money laundering. In my opinion, she tried to play a game of chicken with furloughing the police and firefighters in order to force the city council to pass the tax increase that they were right to deny. I think that allowed the criminal element to gain an upper hand, not that they had that far to go in the first place. Now attempts to catch up are too little and too late. Privatizing the airport which could have put major dollars on the city’s bottom was squashed by Shirley and Delta. Boondoggles like streetcars on an already overcrowded Peachtree St. seemed to preoccupy Franklin’s administration instead of fixing the problems that threaten it’s existence. Even recently, with all the crime that pervades the city, APD expends valuable resources raiding a gay bar and violating the rights of 60 citizens and the only thing they have to show for it is a few employee arrests, I think for dancers in underwear without a permit and numerous civil rights and illegal search and seizure lawsuits yet to be filed.
The city police department will send several officers and a paddy wagon to gay bar to stop some sort of mild sexual “activity” but we got people being robbed and harmed around Georgia Tech campus that does NOT have the attention of the ATL police department. Something is VERY wrong here. We need new leadership now! It’s time to clean house at city hall!!!!!!!!!!
- This same posting can be found on the “Connecting
Communities with Crime Information” forum:
- Several of the posters on this forum seem to think that
the only definition of crime in Atlanta is the victimization
of black females by black males. I’ve lived in this city 25
years. Victims and perpetrators run the gamut of gender
and race. This sort of judgemental bias is inappropriate in
that it interferes with acknowledgement of the root of the
problem. Easy access to high-powered firearms, rollback
of federal firearm laws, entrenchment of an impoverished
underclass, lack of educational priorities, prejudicial
attitudes about which race or gender should be the most
educated, geographical isolationism, even the integration
of churchand state in civic affairs could all be contributing
factors as to why there seems to be an intractable crime
problem in “the city too busy to hate”.
Thousands of dollars and manpower spend on a sting operation to harass patrons of a gay bar?! Do they not have better beats to patrol? They waste more time and money on these “commando” sting operations and the only thing that results from them I have seen is lawsuits on the City which the taxpayers are accountable for. APD = faulty policy, lying cops and no action to solve the real issues of crime in our City.
It’s time to wrap this up for now, although all of you are welcome to continue posting. I’ll try to check in late this afternoon.
One factual correction: Mayor Franklin’s daughter, Kai, was not convicted of money laundering. She pleaded guilty in a federal court in South Carolina in 2007 to illegally structuring a financial transaction and received no jail time.
Thanks to everyone for commenting today. If you have additional thoughts, feel free to email me at ajudd@ajc.com.
“Are you willing to put your life on the line EVERYDAY for a 40-k a year job? Are you willing to put up with hostility and abuse these officers take from the public for that amount of money? Me thinks not.”
If I didn’t have a BA and MBA and wanted to support my family, yes.
Shirley’s daughter not convicted of money laundering? That was how I heard it described. I retract that inaccuracy then but the fact remains that she was aiding her dealer husband to “process” his profits.
I think that everything starts at home….Someone is not tranining these kids, throwing babies in the sewer. Letting them run rapid, where is the father in the house hold. oh most of them are in jail, in the hospital have kids everywhere and dont care about there seed. No I believe that everything starts at home, can you blame it if white people dont want to live around us. we kill each other. I think that crime is everywhere you cant run from it, but for the most part, dekalb county, atlanta, college park mostly black people and a lot of our youth, young black men are committing these crimes. They are not educated and they dont have a strong black role model in the house hold.
I’ve lived in the city for four years and I can state unequivocally that crime is worse. I don’t care about statistics– they can be manipulated to project whatever the administration wants to project. As with many other posters, I, too, am ready to quit the city and move out. I pay an enormous amount of property tax, and see very, very little for it in return– other than a bloated city hall that, by any account, has too many employees based on peer cities.
The CORE issue here is the court system. The system is a revolving door. Until the courts start doling out some sentences with TEETH, nothing is going to change. Get these cancers off the street, and keep them off the street.
AJC- that’s the real story here. Yes, we need more officers, but the court/sentencing issue is the backbone of the problem. Ask your in-town friends and colleagues. This is a common opinion among city residents.
The AJC’s own article reported 2/26/2009 states the APD has the second fewest number of police officers per 100,000 residents compared to eleven other large cities in the country. The article continues to state that 1,100 additional officers are needed in the next 5 years to reach average staffing levels. That said, why does the APD have such a deficiency if the pay is more than adequate?
yeah yeah, we know not all crime is committed by black men. BUT, i live in grant park and all the crime that i have ever seen, has been done by young, black men! we call the police now, no matter what, when we see some young, black guys looking like they are up to no good. we are taking our neighborhood away from the thugs that don’t even live in gp. we love our hood and we will protect it.
Its not one single officer that dont try and do what people need or want but people want to get mad at the officer because things dont go our way, APD is just the city punching bag no one looks at what they go through. granted Atlanta needs a new mayor ECT. On that James anderson comment I can personally tell you i know that is a lie. the only was to slow crime down is the citizens of atlanta help the police in their investagation instead of being and unknown witness thank you
The AJC wants us to believe it’s not a public relations shill for the business interests of this city, and then immediately after running a story on crime, it gives Shirley Franklin editorial space to highlight her accomplishments?
Audacity, meet chutzpah.
And is Shirley really at such a level of denial she wants us to think of the gospel song with the words, “Lord, let my work speak for me”?
What, she couldn’t get Dallas Austin or some other Brand Atlanta cohort to write a ditty called “At least I wasn’t Bill Campbell”?
[...] D.A. said about the Project. The comment appeared in an interesting Atlanta Journal Constitution discussion about crime: I joined a group called “Project Turnaround” as a council member. (volunteer PO, [...]
Bill Husted’s column is usually a must read for me. Although most of us use commputers all the time, most of us are not that knowledgeable and he frequently answers the questions many of us had. I am very sorry to see you are cutting back on his column. I was wondering why I could not find it, until I ran across this discussion.
I have subscribed to the AJC for 7 years. Before that, I have subscribed to good newspapers in Charlotte, Baltimore, New York/New Jersey. Although their politics were out of line with Georgia, I thought the AJC was a good newspaper otherwise. The changeover in my opinion has made it a second rate paper that takes me about 15 minutes to peruse.
The APD spends to much time directing trafic at local fast food restaurants and worring about parking tickets. When will people wake up? I’ve been here for 5 years and can’t wait to get out. The politics here are unreal. I feel sorry for the honest working person cause you probally get ticketed by some corrupt cop or shot in the backof the head like the best athlete this town had cause the PD was on traffic patrol.
Cameron, an important piece of your story is missing. The City was responsible for the administration of our pensions for years. After several City employees were arrested and convicted for stealing from the pensions the Police Pension Board (with the help of the SSPBA) took action and sued the City to take control over our pension. The City lost and we took over the administration of our pensions through third party administrators. It was discovered that some of those arrested and convicted took millions of dollars yet the City refused to go after those individuals and recover those funds. Mismanagement of our pensions for years by the City (under CFO Rick Anderson) is one of THE major factors in their underfunding. While the improvements made in 2001 and 2005 are also a factor, the City refuses to accept responsible for their mismanagement. Not until the Federal Government stepped in and forced the City to manage the funds appropriately (GASB45) and the hiring of a competent CFO in Jim Glass, has their mismanagement come back to haunt them. If you compare police pensions across the country, ours is competitive. By not funding the annual “steps” (no other police department has frozen them), not funding a Career Ladder (as recommended by the Bain Report), and police officers taking home less pay each year on top of furloughs, the pension is the only benefit that our officers can depend on and help with the double digit attrition rate (APD is 10% and the national average is 4-5%). Pensions have been relied upon by the City to supplement loss of wages and career advancement for years. Make sure you don’t allow the City to shun their responsibilities.
Sgt. Scott Kreher
National Vice President, IBPO
President, IBPO Local 623
17 year veteran of APD
Mr. McWhirter,
I was surprised to see the statement by Mayor Franklin “Franklin told the AJC she left it to the City Council to take the lead”, was accepted as a fact and was not challenged.
It was Mayor Franklin who formed the Pension Technical Advisory Committee, and then she systematically disregarded the committee’s principal recommendations.
Had a mayor made bad decisions because of misinformation I would be less critical. Mayor Franklin formed the committee and sought the advice of competent professionals, proceeded to ignore the committee’s recommendations and proposed best practices, and in doing so Mayor Franklin deliberately created this financial problem.
To now allow her to say that “she left it to the City Council” is clearly a failure on her part to be intellectually honest on Mayor Franklin’s role in the mismanagement and failure to take the lead on this and many other issues.
Sgt. Kreher,
Thanks for your comment and your insight. The mismanagement of the pensions, the underfunding of the pensions and the use of pension increases granted in lieu of pay raises have all contributed to the problem Atlanta is now currently in. City Council granted the pension increases in part to slow attrition. For the reasons you list, and many others, it hasn’t worked.
In reporting this story, I found myself calling back and forth between the Council and the administration on basic issues, for example, what exactly the city paid each year into the pension funds. The City Council’s Select Committee on Pensions appears to be making an earnest effort to find possible solutions, and Mayor Franklin’s staff now, as they are soon to leave office, have focused on the problem as well. But there is little communication betwen the two groups. Both have had little or no discussion with the pension boards or the unions. There is no doubt that when Franklin leaves office, this problem will be far from resolved.
THIS IS WHY I LEFT CITY OF ATLANTA AND CORRUPT FULTON COUNTY YEARS AGO TO LIVE IN SUBURBS.
I DONT WANT MY TAXES TO BE WASTED ON THESE COMMUNISTS/ SOCIALIST WELFARE CITY REGIME.
Lou Arcangeli has a bone to pick with Franklin because she passed him over for the chief job in favor of Pennington. Anything he says is slanted because of it. He served on the pension board for years and years and has as much to do with the problems as anybody else.
I was given a ticket yesterday by APD for failing to stop completely before I made a right turn at a quiet neighborhood intersection. I was approaching the intersection slowly enough to stop but saw no other cars or pedestrians, so I went ahead and turned without making a complete stop.
If this is the best APD can do to keep Atlanta safe, then they are truly pathetic. My guess is this officer was behind on his tickets and it’s near the end of the month. I would go fight this but I’m out of town on the court date.
Mayor Shirley Franklins Pension Benefit Increase of 2005:
Thanks to this article it is now obvious that Mayor Franklin and former CFO Janice Davis have done irreparable harm to Atlanta by their irresponsible actions and failures of leadership. The financial impact of Mayor Franklin’s Plan is actually worse than stated in Mr. McWhirter’s article, given the additional cost of future retiree health insurance.
One completely outrageous component of Mayor Franklin’s Pension Benefit Increase of 2005 was the adoption of a ten year pension. At that time I served as an elected Police Officers’ Pension Fund Trustee, and I joined with Sgt. Scott Kreher of the IBPO (the Police Union) in opposing this ill-conceived proposal.
While hard to believe, as a result of Mayor Franklin’s Pension Benefit Increase Plan of 2005, City of Atlanta employees can obtain lifelong pension and health benefits after only ten years of employment. [Note: While the Pension Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC) had recommended 10 year vesting, vesting is different than a defined benefit pension, and the pension committee was opposed to a ten year pension.] Fortunately several mayoral candidates have recognized this gross failure and have committed to correct it as soon as possible.
We now know that Mayor Franklin’s early retirement plan was not in the interest of citizens, not in the interest of the Atlanta Police Department, it has contributed to attrition, and it will increase future health care costs. Mayor Shirley Franklin’s decisions have proven to have significant long term negative financial impact on Atlanta. I have to ask: Is this “Best in Class”? Is this “effective and efficient”?
Interesting that people would be offended by the obscene amount of money the city is paying toward pensions to retain employees. Look at state government, where employees hired before the mid 1980’s receive 90 percent of their pay upon full retirement. These employees also receive cost of living increases that are twice that of current “working” state employees AND social security. Yet, nobody screams about this gravy train. Go figure.
It is way past time for the City of Atlanta (and other cities) to replace these absurdly generous pension plans with 401k plans. Hopefully, the economic recession will serve as an impetus for such action.
You mis-report the facts in several respects. First and formost, only about 10% of the increase in the pension liabililty is attributable to the 2001 and 2005 improvements. The vast majority of the increase is due to the city not payining their contributions into the funds for decades which resulted in lost compound investment intrest. The rest is due to poor market performance during this economic downturn, which will improve with the economy. This is not my opinion, but that of the Firefighter’s Pension Fund acturial and I have informed you of that on several occasions, but you refuse to do your due diligence and report this.
In this economy, pensions nationally, both private and public, are taking a beating. To continue to report that the pension liabilities are due to the improvements is just dishonest.
Concerning my quote that the pensions are a damn good deal for the city, you might have reported the hundreds of millions of dollars the city has saved from not paying into Social Security over the decades and tried to do a cost-benefit analysis of those savings vs. retirement benefit. You would find that the city got a better benefit for its retirement investment.
The reason the Pension Task Force recommended the mulitplyer increase, is because salaries are so low in Atlanta compared to the cost of living that employees cannot afford to save anything toward retirement and were being consigned to poverty in retirement.
I can tell you this, firefighters, police officers and general employees don’t work for the city for the salaries. The only thing keeping any competent public safety or other employee with the city is the pension.
The narrative that you and Jim Wooten continue to follow is just not accurate or complete.
In truth, the economic downturn has not hit the city pensions as badly as other investment funds. The liability gap that we reported Sunday comes from before the financial crisis of last fall. The pension increases certainly added to the bottom line liability in a substantial way. Daws takes that as somehow being critical of firefighters or city workers. It’s not. All people involved argue that city employees, especially public safety workers, deserve a decent retirement. The fact that the city has never been a contributor to Social Security is a major factor. However, the issue is not what benefits the city chooses to provide to its workers – it is how will it pay for those benefits? Paying more than $100 million annually out of a general fund for a city the size of Atlanta is not sustainable.
Not sure why City employees get a pension, not sure why they get guaranteed pay raises. Both practices promote a culture of indifference, as evidenced by the mediocre service Atlanta residents receive across the board.
Thank you for a great article that puts water increases in perspective as relates to taxes. It would seem the higher taxes are nothing to worry about compared to higher water bills.
I do have a question about your estimate of only a $1200 a year for the average user though-
If it is definitive that a Stormwater Utility will be built in the next few years, how much more would that add to the current increase of 200% already?
For example, if you have a $100 a month bill now, that means you will have a $300 a month bill in 2012 (based upon a 200% increase). Furthermore, if the “Stormwater Utility” costs are added, (based upon a ratio of past increases relating to the billions already spent), that would mean the same increases would give that $100 a month customer a $500 a month bill if they build the utility?
However your beginning paragraph says it will only go up $1200 a year for the average consumer, in a decade? That number seems incredibly low. Please explain further?
Well, the math works like this: if you have a $100 bill today, you had a $50 bill in 2003, and you’ll have a $150 in 2012 — a
200 percent increase or triple. That’s $100 a month in increases over a decade, or $1200 a year for the average user.
The storm water utility is extra. It’s cost will be defined by how much of the problem Atlanta tries to fix and how
high it sets the fee.
Sobering: the stench of ATL’s sewerage. There is one source of federal funding that I’m not sure has ever been truly explored: transportation. “What? Huh?” you say. “How does transportation figure in our monumental water and sewer infrastructure problem? ” Glad you asked. Where do you think all of September’s stormwater runoff came from? How did it get to the pipes that carry it away for treatment at ratepayer expense?
I’ve previously offered the notion to my City Councilwoman, but not sure the idea’s caught fire. Federal transportation funds can be used to address stormwater runoff generated from federally-funded roads and highways. This is nothing new, but is a purpose for which transportation funds are rarely, expressly appropriated. Rather, they are rolled-in to the cost of transportation projects. However, federal rules allow retrofits that address environmental quality to qualify as “transportation projects”.
Put another way, not just rate-payers, but millions of drivers who regularly enjoy the use of our highways, typically free from standing/pooled runoff, are also enjoying the benefits of Atlanta’s sewer system, without having to pay the cost shouldered by those of us within the city limits. This is not the same as in suburban areas, where stormwater is summarily straight-piped into streams and rivers, without the expensive cost of being treated for heavy metals and other common roadway pollutants.
It’s time ALL users of Atlanta’s infrastructure participate in paying for the overhaul, not just the folks brushing their teeth in the City of Atlanta.
Got you on the math. Basically Stormwater Utility costs are a big unknown and cannot be predicted yet. But even if only one billion is the cost (1/4 of the current 4 billion cost), that would add at least 50% more to your bill in the next decade, from 2003, based upon the same ratios.
To another point though, in your article you state “No increases have been scheduled beyond 2012, but the new mayor and City Council will have to enact them to cover the city’s debt payments.”
If this is definite, how much will the debt payments alone add to your bill after 2012? Another 10%, 20%, more?
Enter your comments here Assuming there’s not much an average person can do about the infrastructure costs, they can attack their own expenses. Despite the fact that less water usage actually drives rates up because the City’s revenue stream must be maintained, if the average homeowner concentrated on two items only, toilets and showerheads, they could dramatically lower their bills. The AJC could help by showing the before/after cost savings on the chart as if these items had been installed at the beginning of the time period, rather than now. The AJC could help by showing that other cities have toilet programs that, rather than give $50 rebates to anyone, actually give the toilets away to lower income residents, who are less able to afford a water saving toilet at any cost or with any rebate. And that other cities have showerhead exchange programs. Showers use the second most amount of water in the home, yet everyone’s being told to use a 2.5 gallon per minute showerhead, which like 1.6 gallon per flush toilets, is the 1992 standard, rather outdated for Atlanta’s situtation now, while a 1.25 gallon per minute showerhead can give a great shower and save an enormous amount of water. Neither the toilet giveaway nor showerhead exchange programs are part of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Conservation District’s programs. The AJC could help by waking them up.
You are right about the rates.
We saw during the drought what conservation does — it costs you more. Why?
Because Atlanta’s borrowed more than $3 billion so far and those loans have to be
paid back to the tune of more than $150 million a year. The city is required to keep the cash flowing
or it goes into default.
RJ — I’ve never tried to break out the portion of the rates tied directly to maintenance vs. debt. I’m
sure someone on watershed can do that.
The problem is the bonds, but also terrible management by Rob Hunter at the DWM. They are the most arrogant and difficult group to work with, and that’s saying a lot with the City of Atlanta. I have had running problems with DWM for almost a year, and you always get treated with an absurd level of high handed arrogance and disrespect (who pays these people? Oh, yes, I do, but still get treated like garbage). The best view of how Mr Hunter runs his group is exemplified by the recent PwC audit of ‘his’ (and I say ‘his’ because he thinks that way) department. They had over 70 problem areas identified ranging from the way they run billing to managing their finances. Instead of spending his department’s limited resources to address these areas, he produced a massive document rebutting virtually all of the audit findings. In essence “nah forget this stuff everyone complains about, we are going to ignore any real feedback and try to fix things around here. I know best”. In the real world, companies and employees do not have the luxury to ignore feedback… This department is poorly managed and it is exemplified by our bills. I live alone, take 3 minute showers, and do the ‘if it’s yellow let it mellow’ and my bill was still $100 last month.
You certainly aren’t alone with those complaints. Everyone at city hall hears them, regularly.
Rob is proud of the department’s ability to deliver on the consent decrees. So, he
tends to defend it pretty vigorously.
Enter your comments here
This was interesting article, though I wonder what’s the logic behind running it only in the print edition and not on the ajc website. Since Judge Magnuson’s ruling made ‘water’ the key issue facing Atlanta right now, why restrict access to the piece?
Essentially what the article is saying is that water, a commodity made increasingly scarce by population growth in the metro area, is just going to get more expensive. And if it’s increasingly expensive, what’s the sense of treating every drop of it to the level where we can drink it? That’s obviously a tiny fraction of the 6,000 gallons an average household use a month.
There are jurisdictions experimenting with reuse systems, Fulton County included.
They treat the waste water to a minimal, safe level and then resell it to golf courses
and other large irrigators. Someday expect a separate system for your home as well.
Rob Hunter and the entire water department are bufoons. They all need to be terminated as quickly as possible. I sure hope that the next mayor takes that task as priority #1.
Depending on who wins in November, you might not have to wait
for Rob and crew to be fired. Some of the top leadership will fly out
the door if the right or wrong candidate wins.
I live in Fulton County, but not the City of Atlanta. What did your research reveal regarding the nature of shared services such as water/treatment? Do the City of Atlanta and Fulton County share water/sewer treatment facilities. It would not seem to make sense to secure water from two different sources. I know Fulton County has separate sewer treatment sites as the county is larger than the City of Atlanta. How, if at all, do they overlap?
The city of Atlanta can bet if they keep going up on there water rates they will see a mass exodus from the city that have already seen people leaving.They also will see more city’s leaving like Sandy Springs did. Unfortunately the city of Atlanta has no one to blame but themselves for the situation they are in. The city of Atlanta seem to find more ways to waste money and each month there seem to be something in the news about how there bloated government did this. From useless spending like the recreational authority (who voted themselves raises) to the cellphone incidents to the trips officials made at the taxpayer expense and finally the years of the Atlanta government pushing the sewer repairs off for years and yet the city was fined by the feds everyday which again cost the government and taxpayers billions. This is the same city who cant seem to collect on there outstanding water bills. The city will have a hard time luring anyone to the city let alone businesses.
Ironically enough, I got home tonight to a certified letter from DWM in my mailbox (had signed a release last week to the postman). It was a notification of a settlement I had agreed to with DWM – BACK IN JANUARY. I already had this credit processed, but for some silly reason, DWM wasted $3.42 on a certified letter 10 months later. More incompetence. And Mr Hunter wonders why he gets criticized, he cannot even keep up with simple customer communication.
Anybody who will call a grown man or woman they don’t no shorty is disrespectful and suspect. That term is a sudle form of disrespect.Atlanta has lost the respect they once had for one another. Also the black middle class must reach out to the large Black lower class in Atlanta. The City always have a Black Mayor and you would think that lower income Blacks would be given more city services and help to rise above there situation.But thats not the case. If you ignore the poor they will kill you in the streets and in your homes.They want your attention. They need you. But you to busy at the supper club with your smug friends.We all must serve in one way or another.Pay now or pay later. You still will have to pay.
Doing something about the crime problem involves more than setting up speed traps and seat belt violations. Unless you are a high profile murder victim the police are statisticians and record keepers whose real function is that of being a revenue generating tool. It is left up to the citizens to figure out who perpetuated their crime against them via their own camera systems, etc. Police response times that I have encountered are measured in hours, not minutes and I have NEVER seen a police patrol thru my neighborhood. I have no problem with vigilante justice and I believe that it would have a more detering effect than the slap on the hand that the criminals know they will receive if they are caught for B&E or auto theft. If some young burglar had both his arms broke he would think about where he went wrong every time his mommy had to wipe his azz for him for the next couple months.
I work downtown on Forsyth and catch the bus at 5 Points and sometimes MLK & Forsyth. Panhandling in that area remains a problem. In the evenings I dread going to the bus stop. Just last Thursday 2 panhandlers accosted me within a span of 15 minutes just after 5 p.m. Not one of us waiting around for our buses gave money and one of the panhandler’s reacted violently by jumping up and down yelling and making disparaging remarks about women who wouldn’t give him money. Keep in mind this was right beside the Police Station there. Panhandling is still prevalent and the ones doing it are frightening.
Doesn’t affect my quality of life here in Marietta because I don’t have to go downtown for work, and choose not to go downtown for entertainment…because of the bums. Why would I go somewhere that I don’t feel safe, much less bring my wife an children??
Nice try, Ernie but the last bus has left downtown. Even your employers at the AJC have pulled up stakes and left the ghastly litter and loiterers on Marietta Street. THERE IS NO DOWNTOWN ATLANTA BUSINESS DISTRICT. All that’s left in downtown now are bureaucrats. Have you seen the gauntlet that federal workers have to run to reach the Sam Nunn building? The Alabama Street exit from 5 Points Station is an embarrassment. How about the windswept ugliness of the Russell building. Atlanta’s “downtown” is not there anymore. The banks, the lawyers, the department stores, etc have all jumped to Midtown or Buckhead. Your story could have been written in 1979, 1989, 1999 or this year. It’s too late, you missed the funeral. Sign the guestbook?
I work downtown and I have to go through Woodruff Park to get to my bus stop. The number of homeless people that hang out there day in and day out is staggering. I would not feel safe walking through the park alone. On average, I get stopped about 5 times just walking to the bus stop. Something needs to be done. I vacationed in Charleston, SC last year and I didn’t see ONE homeless person…not a ONE. How is that possible?
What? and Tom for being the first two to post. Your comments were very interesting, particularly What?!’s comments about how panhandlers treat women. That has remained a common complaint that women are perhaps the most vulnerable or intimidated by aggressive panhandlers. For example, while I have been panhandled a million times, no one has ever yelled at me for refusing them.
Atlanta is the dumping grounds for the homeless, for cities all up and down the eastern part of the U.S. They are given one way tickets on Greyhound to 232 Forsyth St. Once here, they are spoiled by the generous churches, lack laws, and numerous loitering spots. I don’t know the solutions, but I would start by address their addictions issues and truly give mental health treatment to the ones the need it. I worked downtown for over five years with the city pd and would never bring my family downtown. I personally will shop, eat, and go to events outside of downtown.
Longtime Intown Resident, I guess you have a bit of a point. But while there have been businesses closing downtown, the expansion of GSU has been one contributing factor to keeping Downtown alive. And look at all of the people who own condos Downtown. There are still a lot of stakeholders downtown. And as you know, it is also the tourist hub. All of the major convention hotels are downtown, as is the sports complex, the convention center and the growing entertainment and museum complex with the aquarium and World of Coke
Rudy Guiliani is the only guy who has ever figured it out. I lived in NY in the 80’s under Dinkins, and it was awful- graffiti everywhere, homeless on every corner, aggressive panhandling. Guiliani comes in- complete change. a lot of people hate him for it because they think he turned the cops into goons and abused the homeless. But- if you are going to want your downtown area to be a tourist mecca, you cannot let the homeless take over. We were just in California and LA/ Santa Barbara/ SF all have big problems they seem to be ignoring. The ugly truth is no matter how much you want to help get people adequately sheltered, when you go on vacation or business, you do NOT want to have to deal with it.
Recently I went back to Georgia State to complete my degree. I walked a lot going from class to class downtown, like all students. We had a crazy mixture of students (many who looked like bums), street people, business people and tourists. With few exceptions, I remember few issues.
At the time, and things could have changed, some people (other than cops) that kept an eye on the area. They seemed to have a calming affect on everyone.
I work in midtown near the Fox and you can’t go for a walk hardly anymore without getting harassed or almost forced to stop to listen to some sob story from someone needing money. Everyday on my walk home back to my condo was hit up for money as well. Finally had enough around here and moved OTP.
I work at GWCC part time and usually drive east on fulton st and turn left at pryor. last saturday am, I had an extra mc-muffin and when a guy approach my car at the light, I tossed the sack to him with the still unwrapped food. I noticed the dude seemed to wave over the top of my car and I turned to my right and several men seemed to materialize in the woods on the corner headed to my car – time to go and not try that again ..
Rudy Giuliani’s philosophy was that he wanted to dispel the notion that encourage the impression that the homeless “have the right to live on the street the homeless had “the right to live on the street.” Here is a a quote from 2007 that he gave the San Francisco Chronicle when he was a presidential candidate: “The correct, loving, caring social policy is to engage, not ignore … to discourage, not encourage. We would tell them, you can’t live on the street; you’re not allowed to. If you need help finding something, we’re here to help … the one thing we’re not going to allow is just to live on the street. That isn’t a good right. It’s not good for them. It’s not good for the city … it means they are crying out for help, and it should not be ignored.”
Ernie, I have worked downtown for many years. I cannot count the number of times panhandlers have made negative comments toward me for being a woman and not giving. And because I’m not allowed to take pepper gas into the building where I work, I’m at a loss as to what I can do to protect myself if the panhandlers decide to do more than get vocal because I didn’t give. Its also my understanding that one of the main reasons the federal agencies have remained downtown is to help keep it alive. If that is true, its not a good omen.
I disagree with Longtime Intown Resident that “the last bus has left downtown.” I don’t disagree that businesses have left over the last 10, 20, 30 years for various reasons, but a lot of businesses have moved in over that time – Cousins Properties, Winter Construction, Cooper Carry, Southern Company, Cushman & Wakefield, McRae Communications, Ernst & Young, Atlanta Magazine, etc., etc… Other companies have expanded downtown like Deloitte. These are all private sector jobs, not city, state or federal workers.
Add to that the millions invested in the aquarium, World of Coke, future college football HOF and many, many new restaurants and hotels – Legal Seafood, BLT Steak, Mellow Mushroom, Stats, Dantanna’s, Taco Mac, and on and on. I hardly think downtown is dead.
I agree the panhandling is an issue, and I think it is a lot worse in the Five Points area and points south of there.
Also, bubba brings up a good point. The WORST panhandling I have ever witnessed was in California and also Portland and Seattle, for that matter. I don’t know what it is, but L.A., Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle all have huge camps of homeless and panhandlers hanging out in their parks.
Sorry about that. I guess the best thing to do in this situation is what you have been doing – maintaining control of your personal space and being confident and aggressive in how you deal with and react to panhandlers
These people are doing nothing different than what the government of Atlanta and our federal government are doing. The only difference is how they collect it, they beg and the government steals. If you don’t pay they put you in jail. Can one person anywhere show me in the constitution where it says the government has the right to take the money I earn to pay for illegal immigrants health care or for anybody’s health care for that matter. Where does it say I have to pay for their trips abroad?
If you people stopped long enough to realize how much you are being tax you would throw Democrats, Republicans and all the others out of office. They tax your paycheck, the tax EVERY SINGLE THING YOU BUY!!!! That is double taxation no matter how you look at it. They tax the bills you pay….house payment, electric payments, car payments….they even tax your insurance payments …….where does it stop?????
As for your beggars downtown……..don’t call them the disenfranchised…give your visitors a can of mace with the money you steal from us and then let them use them. Maybe that will help.
Ernie … Nice treatment of an important subject with a couple of critical omissions … Your story didn’t include the scores of homeless advocates who basically herd these tired and poor men and women into downtown and Woodruff Park to consolidate their base of power and influence. They tell people who’ve just arrived from the Rust Belt, “Stay down front where people can see you … Don’t let them ignore you and one day they’ll give ‘us’ what we need.” Let’s interview and air the comments of these “advocates” who want Atlanta to be the homelss capitol of America because it serves their fundraising agenda. They’re not hard to find, Ernie. Start around the churches in downtown that let people sleep on their steps but not in their santuaries. Talk to the people serving meals and listen to what they’re preaching.
Second omission was no surprise: Police Chief Richard Pennington, who is more noted for not being interviewed. Even the zone major in the downtown area can’t answer the issues that Pennington is paid to answer.
Third issue: ATL’s City Council needs to answer the question that many taxpaying Atlantans ask: Do we want to continue to be ground zero for the nation’s homeless problem? Should the resources of this city go most to the paying shareholders? And, Council needs to answer soon … The winter of our discontentment soon cometh.
Keep reporting, Mr. Suggs, and we’ll stay tuned.
By the way, I bought two papers on Sunday.
Downtown is no longer a shopping or retail district. we seem to be accepting that and finding alternative uses. What concerns me is that if the panhandling problem is not solved, people will relocate. I think that’s happening now. The first level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is Security. If people are not secure, they will relocate. That goes for workers, homeowners, tourists and conventions. It was interesting to read the mayoral candidates comments on this problem. The only one who had a specific proposal was Kasim Reed, who wants to add 750 police officers. I don’t know how he intends to do that, but I wish him luck if he’s elected. The others only gave vague comments.
Hey Gee,
Nice post. But it might be a little hard to get a homeless advocate to admit or acknowledge that they are profiting – either financially or politically – by keeping the homeless homeless and visible. Also, some of the homeless that I have spoken with feel “safe,” sleeping on the steps of the church. Safer sleeping outside than in some of the shelters. I think that some of the downtown churches and faith community does a good job in providing that comfort and feeding the homeless and poor. You would amazed at the diversity in race, gender and age that I would see in line every morning. And not all of those in line are panhandlers. Imagine how bad the situation would be without the churches. Also, the city councilman, whose district includes downtown, did not return any of my calls for this story. Go figure
Ernie, Thank for giving this issue its due. The statistics in the chart from the National Alliance to End Homelessness point to what I have been saying for years. Atlanta’s problem is not a homeless problem it is a VAGRANCY problem. Subtracting persons in families from the total reveals 5622 singles, and only EXTREMELY rarely female. Combine that with the highest chronically “homeless” number and you see how the problem in Atlanta is different. If we all stop using pc terms (in your case “beggars”) and treat our VAGRANCY problem, all including the truly homeless will be better served. If you are interested I will share my plan.
I’ve seen enough of these online discussions to know that eventually you will get: (a) the “let them die” libertarians ranting that it’s not their responsibility, and (b) the well-intentioned people who give spare change to panhandlers because it makes them (the donors) feel good. At least, that’s the debate we usually get. Pointless.
Maybe this time could be different. Let’s focus on what is the best way to help poor people. I say it’s not handling quarters to stumbling drunks downtown. Instead, give DOLLARS to organizations that really help people, such as the Atlanta Union Mission, the Salvation Army, the Atlanta Community Food Bank, and the well-run shelters.
Giving change to panhandlers is the dumbest solution I’ve ever heard of. Many of them are con men who are not “homeless”. I recall in fall 2005 seeing guys who had been panhandling downtown for years suddenly start identifying themselves as “Katrina refugees”! Second, many of the panhandlers, who ask for money “for food” are really seeking money for drugs or alcohol (there are a number of free breakfasts, lunches, and dinners in Downtown and Midtown – that’s worthy of a news story in itself).
There are well-run organizations that truly help people who need it, and they deserve our support. I donate as generously as I can to these groups. They can also use the gift of our time, as volunteers. This can be a rewarding experience, and also is an opportunity to appraise for yourself which groups are effective.
Some people offer the excuse that they don’t know how much of their contribution goes to help the poor. That’s an increasingly untenable excuse nowadays, with such online resources as Charity Navigator. The better groups use less that 10% of donations for administration and fundraising. Exercise a little initiative and find out for yourself. And think about it: the amount of “waste” that goes on when you give to panhandlers is a lot more than 10%.
Solution: Illegal immigrants are deported AGGRESSIVELY throughout all of our society. That will open up jobs the homeless can perform. The key though, will be that minimum wage will not be required just as it is not required for the millions of illegal immigrants who work outside of the law. By letting these people at least earn some money, they will be able to work their way through the shelter system and into permanent housing. It won’t occur overnight, but did any of us get where we were overnight?
I realize no democrat will ever vote against minimum wage, but the whole underground economy that has sprung up has proven that in a capitalist society not everyone is worth the $6 an hour.
BPJ, you hit it. There is a difference between panhandlers and the homeless. I would say that a large percentage of the 7,000 homeless in Atlanta are not panhandlers. And a lot of the panhandlers are not homeless. One of the latest city campaign’s is to encourage people not to give money to panhandlers. If you work or live downtown, you might have seen the yellow “Giving Meters,” which are retrofitted parking meters. Instead of giving your money to a panhandler, the city is encouraging people to drop their change into the meters. But, of the 16 meters in place right now, the TOTAL average is $5 a day. That is not gonna help too many people. So while it might be fine to drop a quarter into the meter instead of giving it to a beggar on your way to lunch, the best way to perhaps help is indeed to give money directly to an agency or well-run shelter. FYI. The city takes that daily five bucks and donates it to those organizations
ugaaccountant. Let me get this straight. You are saying that the solution to the problem is to 1.) deport all illegal aliens. And 2.) make all the homeless people work for less than minimum wage?
How do you expect anyone to work themselves out of the shelter system without making minimum wage. You have people making minimum wage now who are barely surviving. Who are barely paying their bills and feeding their families. You probably have people in minimum wage who are homeless or out on the streets panhandling.
I’m sure the shelters would be able to adapt quite quickly to a model where they provided food and shelter in exchange for a percentage of their income. I believe in personal responsibility, a hand up not a hand out. If these people want to eat, and everyone does, they should be doing something to earn that priveledge. But right now, it is very hard for them to do so, given that we have so many illegal aliens doing the jobs that require little in the way of skill or training, for very little money.
I ride the East/West MARTA train twice a week and I am entertained by the panhandlers on the train. Last week was a lady selling slices of cakes for the homeless, 2 guys with decorated shoe boxes collecting money to bury his wife and child, a guy selling socks and cigarettes and when I got to 5 Points station there were at least 8 police officers standing around and chatting.
Homelessness is a big problem here in the city and the recession is really not helping the low-income families to stay housed and homeless prevention agencies have tighter budget restrictions.
A lot of the people that are hanging around in the parks and on the streets of downtown Atlanta are ex-convicts that have been released from jail with no where to go and no resources so their only option is to beg for money!
Arresting pan handlers and handing out fines of $1,000 + + is not the answer, it is a waste of tax payers money and these fines can not be paid by the individuals.
Homeless Prevention Agencies should receive more state funding to provide outreach to these individuals, evaluate their situations and build a case management plan to help them get back in to society.
Georgia’s mental health services play a crucial role in helping to end homelessness.
I fail to see the correlation between homelessness and illegal aliens. Granted, illegals work for an artificially lower wage at times but I have a hard time believing it contributes to anyone being homeless. The main culprits I think would be addiction and mental illness. Conquering these problems with city and state agencies would do more to help than deporting illegals.
Thanks Fred for bringing that up. Every homeless person I spoke with, claims that their problems are the result of drug and alcohol abuse and/or mental illness. I am sure that there are other factors in other people that I didn’t speak with, but substance abuse and mental illness are key. I don’t get the illegal alien connection either. If someone can provide some stats or figures I am sure we would all be curious to see them
Homelessness as a political issue will be front and center on Tuesday when the major candidates for Atlanta mayor meet for a candidate’s forum at the North Avenue Presbyterian Church. The 3:30 p.m. program will be sponsored by the Homeless Action Group, who organized the forum “to learn the candidates” positions on services and housing for homeless individuals and families in Atlanta.?
The Homeless Action Group is made up of directors and staff of agencies as well as Atlanta city officials who work to prevent homelessness and to address the needs of homeless and at-risk families and individuals.
To me, homelessness because of crippling addiction or mental illness is a different societal problem than the one i’m speaking to. This is a part of the larger question of universal healthcare, what should be included, and how in the world does it get paid for.
The panhandlers I see in buckhead usually have signs saying looking for work, lost my job, or other such things. They look fit for work, but I haven’t done the research you have. Those people are the ones who were able to find work before that no longer can.
I think Fred hit the nail on the head. In my years working downtown the bulk of the problem seems to be addiction and mental illness. Too many times my coworkers talk about having been approached for “money to buy food” only to have the panhandler refuse when my coworkers offer buy the person lunch instead of handing over the cash. I’ve also heard of folks offering to hire some of these folks for manual labor in some of the construction only to have them refuse. Too many don’t want the hand up – they want the hand out unfortunately.
Fred is right. Homelessness/panhandling and illegal immmigrants are not the same issue. illegals come here to work- no work and they go home or move on to some other location. as someone else stated, most of the homeless have addiction/ abuse issues. i think the point about panhandlers not necessarily being homeless is a very valid point also.
This has been great. I have to go off to another assignment, but I encourage everyone to keep up the discussion. I got a feeling that we are going to be talking about this for many years to come.
Where will the Atlanta mayoral forum on homelessness be held? It was referenced in the article, but I’m unable to find it listed on the HAG website. Thank you!
Here is the info on the HAG debate again
Homelessness as a political issue will be front and center on Tuesday when the major candidates for Atlanta mayor meet for a candidate’s forum at the North Avenue Presbyterian Church. The 3:30 p.m. program will be sponsored by the Homeless Action Group, who organized the forum “to learn the candidates” positions on services and housing for homeless individuals and families in Atlanta.?
The Homeless Action Group is made up of directors and staff of agencies as well as Atlanta city officials who work to prevent homelessness and to address the needs of homeless and at-risk families and individuals.
In the gray and ashen faces of grizzled men on the street,
you can see that life has beat them as they stumble in retreat.
And you can care if they’re crazy, but that doesn’t make em sane
You can see that it’s a problem, but no solution is as plain.
So when they stagger past you and blankly stare away
realize it wasn’t tender mercy that made they go astray.
You can explain away the pathos that shook them to their core
but nothing you or anybody can do will will make them like before.
They won’t be wielding shovels nor fixing up your yard
They’re only good at telling how life has been so hard.
So we walk on past and quickly, glad we dont’ have to run
And shake our heads and wonder if anything can be done.
The media distorts reality in the Atlanta region. Whenever someone sneezes in city governemnt it makes the news. Suburban governments get away with a lot because the media does not find covering them interesting. Thus the perception of a city falling apart – the worst place on earth. This is simply not the case. Day after day we tune in to the local media salavating to find out what happened Atlanta City Government. Shortcomings in government at the state level never garner nearly the interest as misdeeds in city government. Suburban governments make the news only when their constituents protest a tax hike proposal. Pay attention, people. Pay close attention. Even the AJC constantly blogs about Atlanta’s woes while ignoring problems facing other local governments. When one concentrates on the problems of others to the point of ignoring their own problems it only provides the delusion that all is well with me and mine. It’s the others who are screwed up. We’re perfect. I’m not saying Atlanta can’t stand improvements, but stop with the constant hype already. Have a nice day.
The city does nothing for those of us who commute from the suburbs into the city for work. The on and off ramps to the interstates are blocked by malfunctioning traffic lights, developers are allowed to block travel lanes, construction workers are allowed by a corrupt police force to park illegally, thus blocking more travel lanes. Low level city flunkies expect and receive kickbacks from developers for special favors that impose major costs on commuters. I long ago urged my employer to move out of the city of atlanta, and I certainly oppose with a vengeance any expansion of the worthless city into Cobb county, ever. Let the people stupid enough to live and do business in atlanta pay for treating their own s h it.
How is Macon doing? Do they need money? Columbus, Augusta, Ringgold? I don’t understand why the stste, suffering from double digit tax monthly tax declines doesn’t just write a check to every city. After all, if I don’t pay taxes, or if I pay a lot, the bill may not come due for a while. Then we can ask the federal government to write Georgia a check, and when they run dry…oops!
If people have such a problem with Atlanta, the LEAVE!!! We don’t need people full of criticisms, but rather people with solutions. Atlanta has brought a lot of prosperity to the state of GA. No other city in GA could have brought the Olympics here. I think a lot of it is jealousy and racially motivated. If the state would support MARTA it could expand more into the suburbs and that would alleviate some of the transporation problems. If the state and the public don’t start supporting Atlanta more, yes it will fail and Ga without Atlanta would be no good. Most companies and people are only interested in relocating here because of the appeal of Atlanta or being near Atlanta, not Marietta, not Snellville, not Decatur, not Riverdale, not Alpharetta, etc.
And I lived in south Ga for 15 years. There is nothing outside of the Atlanta area but a bunch of trees and farms. I love my hometown, but I’m sorry those areas are dead and dried up because no one is interested in living in areas like that. And for those from those areas who hate Atlanta you’re just jealous, plain and simple.
You bemoan the fact that the metro area pays 51% of the state revenues, but recieves only 37% back. This seems to indicate you believe in proportionality. If this is so, I assume you also believe Buckhead shoud get the same as they pay into the city, or North Fulton should recieve the same as they they put in. Also, I have a large house. I pay much more in taxes than a lot of people, but I get no better service. My children are grown, yet I have to pay school taxes.
If you believe in proportionality, then you would have to concede all things I said, or your story makes no sense.
Sally, any ideas on what Atlanta itself could do change attitudes? Or do you think the attitudes are fixed? I find it interesting that the city seems to tick off some of its closest neighbors — commuters — with relatively small but chronically annoying failures like blinking traffic lights and lanes closed during rush hour for private developers’ construction work. Both seem fixable . . . would those kind of small things change attitudes?
The State should sneer, and the rest of the country as well – Atlanta’s government is clearly corrupt and disfuntional. The city certainly doesn’t deserve a pat on the back. Snicker away; maybe somebody will get the message.
Booger,the percentage paid in versus percentage received was not really meant as a bemoaning. It was a reality check for the belief in the rest of the state that metro Atlanta is a state resource hog. The metro area should be paying more taxes and it does.
Some of you have no clue. Even businesses that are located in the suburbs what an Atlanta mailing address. Why??? Because it has more clout domestically and internationally. So it is to all of our advantage if the City of Atlanta succeeds and not just the suburbs.
However, until the bozos (the elected officials) that keep getting elected year after year are removed from office (both city and state) the same critical issues will remain and not get resolved. The work force needed (the quantities of educated and/or skilled employees) do not live in the rural counties of Georgia no matter how much anyone wants to bash the City of Atlanta. GET REAL!!!!!
October 19th, 2009
9:38 am
Some of you have no clue. Even businesses that are located in the suburbs WANT an Atlanta mailing address. Why??? Because it has more clout domestically and internationally. So it is to all of our advantage if the City of Atlanta succeeds and not just the suburbs.
However, until the bozos (the elected officials) that keep getting elected year after year are removed from office (both city and state) the same critical issues will remain and not get resolved. The work force needed (the quantities of educated and/or skilled employees) do not live in the rural counties of Georgia no matter how much anyone wants to bash the City of Atlanta. GET REAL!!!!!
The City of Atlanta has brough MUCH revenue to the State of Georgia! In fact it has brought in more money than MOST cities! The State of Georgia NEED to give the City of Atlanta much more money than it has been giving the City.
booger – I live in Cobb, and at age 62 I am exempt from the school tax. Those of U in Fulton and Dekalb still have to pay the school tax after age 62, until the day U die, or sell.
Margaret, this was not a story … it was COMMENTARY! Should have been filed under “Editorial!” The opinions and interpretations outnumbered the facts in the story!
It seemed to me the theme of your entire article was the state of Georgia should be giving more resources to the city and sharing more of the city’s burden. This is why I choose the word “bemoan” and after rereading your article, I’ll stick to what I posted.
The metro 10 — the 10 counties called metro Atlanta by the ARC — give more than they get in Georgia. No such figures were available for Atlanta itself. The state doesn’t break things down that way.
I doubt Atlanta gets any more or less per capita than most other parts of the state. The only way to give more to Atlanta is too increase state taxes during a recession. If Atlanta needs more money it is time to increase Atlanta’s taxes. The problems the city has with sewage, water, etc. are nothing new. Most utilities take care of those problems a little bit each and every year and don’t wait for an emergency.
I grew up in South Georgia and have lived in the Atlanta metro for 10 years. Atlanta is an island of race and Democrats in a metro area and state dominated by Republicans and whites. Atlanta has been marred for many years by corruption that has contributed to the recent division.
Out in the rural areas, there is disdain for “Atlanta”, which includes the whole metro area. Country versus city. The influx of outsiders into the Atlanta area. Almost an inferiority complex by some.
I am not a fan of Perdue, but he was right to lobby the rest of the state to help with the water issue. We might think that Atlanta’s opposition on water is just from Florida and Alabama, but it is just as much from South Georgia.
In the end, Atlanta drives Georgia’s economy and national image. The entire metro benefits when the City of Atlanta does well. The entire state benefits when Metro Atlanta does well.
What people need to realize is that Atlanta is the brand, warts and all. All of those who say that industries are looking in Atlanta’s northern suburbs more so than in the city may be right; however, if there was no Atlanta, there would be no Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Roswell, Alpharetta, Perimeter Center, Cumberland/Galleria. Whether a company looking to locate here decides to move to downtown or Perimeter, they come because of Atlanta.
Take Atlanta away, you do not have the suburbs that surround Atlanta. Take away Atlanta, the rest of the state essentially becomes Mississippi (and yeah, I know, that’s a tired argument, but it’s true). Without Atlanta, you do not have a metro area in this state over 500,000 people. Big corporations that create jobs move to large cities; they do not relocate to Macon or Valdosta.
All of those who complain about mistimed traffic signals and lane closures have a real myopic view of things. After living in New York and spending a lot of time on business in other cities like Boston, Chicago and San Francisco, I can tell you arguments over bad signals and closed lanes hold no merit – they all have the same problems.
If the City of Atlanta were to die, the suburbs would lose their luster. Companies would not continue to relocate here, regardless of city versus suburb. How many companies do you hear about moving to the Detroit suburbs(?) – some of which are very nice, but they are in the shadow of the “Detroit” brand.
I don’t think people realize that if City of Atlanta falls then the suburbs and the rest of the state will fall with it. Instead of insulting the City because of its problems why not help it? It will benefit all of us in the long run. So silly…
Wake up people!!!
I don’t live within the Atlanta city limits either –but THIS IS OUR CAPITOL CITY. It reflects the entire state.
As pointed out in the article, other states provide specific assistance to their capitols? YOU NAY SAYERS: HAVE YOU BEEN TO ANY OTHER STATE CAPITOLS??? Georgia is a great state and our capitol city needs serious work to compete! Do you honestly think Georgia will thrive with Atlanta in ruins??
Come on people! You are worse than Sherman was for the city!
That state resources go to a region full of transplants also “galls people. People think, ‘Why in the world are you down here and getting all of our stuff?’ ”
A 2009 Georgia State study found that metro Atlanta gives more than it gets: The 10 metro counties contribute 51 percent of the state’s tax revenues and get 37 percent of its spending.
In other words Goober, it’s the transplants who are giving YOU stuff
Every county outside the metro should secede and let Atlanta be its own state if you hate us so much. We can keep our tax revenue in the area and you can have your beloved rural GA. Good luck with that.
If Alanta would quit ramming themselves down the throats of the rest of Georgia Like how they took away the state flag it would be a much better place to live an work.
As I read Sunday’s cover story “ Georgia Often Sneers as Atlanta Struggles”, I was struck by the omission of the history of Atlanta’s contributions to the state of Georgia.
It was Atlanta leaders including the mayors and the city council who fashioned a plan and executed it that today makes Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport the world’s busiest passenger airport and the economic engine of the state and neighboring states. The $20 billion economic impact of the airport contributes mightily to the economic vitality of the the city’s suburbs and exburbs as over 50,000 people are employed in the private businesses it fuels.
It was Atlanta leaders who wrestled with the questions of race, Jim Crow and discrimination in the 1960’s giving rise to the national and then international view that the city and by association its suburbs, exurbs and the state were “safe” places to invest because this community aspired to a present and future of reconciliation and progress.
It was Atlanta leaders who joined with their neighbors, Fulton and DeKalb counties to lead the southeast region in recognizing the importance of transit and advocated for a local tax to preserve clean air, to improve job access and to connect communities some 35 years ago which was well before the state and regional leaders thought transit was essential to a healthy economy.
It was Atlanta leaders who campaigned with the Olympic Nine to bring the Centennial Olympic Games to Georgia and by doing so cemented the international image of metro Atlanta as an international megalopolis. These are just a few examples of the capital city’s leadership in the state.
Throughout our history, it was Atlanta’s mayors, city Council, civic and business leaders who were less concerned about who in the state benefitted from its efforts but rather it was their visionary leadership that contributed to the health and well-being of the entire state.
What a shame Margaret Newkirk and her editors either don’t know Georgia history or don’t care enough to tell the whole story.
The quote about Atlanta being removed from Georgia would
make the state poorer than Mississippi probably came from
former Mayor and UN Ambasssador Andrew Young. In any
case, there is no city within a 100-mile radius of the ATL
(with the exception of Chattanooga, maybe) that could provide
a similar base of talent, infrastructure, and progressive
potential.
The Census defines the Atlanta-MSA as a 28-county area (up from the prior 24-county definition that, at its time, was also a new definition) that goes all the way to the Alabama line. The ARC defines it as a 10-county area. A 12-county area has been bandied about by many business groups. A letter addressed to an “Atlanta” will go to an address within the Sandy Springs city limit. A strict definition of “Atlanta” would limited you to the area inside the city limits. There is very poor consistency to defining Atlanta and developing cooperation for “Atlanta.”
As can be derived from the Ms. Newkirk’s post below, you can define “Atlanta” to accommodate your agenda and probably has a legitimate third party to verify your definition.
The metro 10 — the 10 counties called metro Atlanta by the ARC — give more than they get in Georgia. No such figures were available for Atlanta itself. The state doesn’t break things down that way.
Margaret, personally, I think some of the attitudes are fixed because their is a lot of jealousy behind them. There is nothing left in my hometown, the major factories there went out of business over a decade ago. The farming industry is not what it used to be and many people had to abandon the farming industry or continue to live in areas where the economy is impoverished. While Atlanta is suffering an economic downturn now, many cities in rural ga have been suffering a downturn for even longer. I do believe some of the jealousy is because many Atlantans, are not born and bred Georgians. We tend to look somewhat negatively upon northerners, some of it is in jest, but some of it is real.
Atlanta is what it is. Talking about it one way or another doesn’t change a thing. The people that choose not to live in Atlanta won’t, those that do will. If you choose to live in Atlanta, you must accept that which accompanies your choice. However, Atalnta does not in any way represent Georgia as a whole. If that were true, the entire state would be over run with street gangs, robbery crews, dope importers/dealers and other sectors of organized crime. Atlanta is crumbling from within, not from outside influences.
I am an Atlanta resident and I am disgusted with this city. It has been exposed as the site of one corrupt or incompetent department and administration after another in never ending succession. The recent show down with police and fire protection being withheld in order to force the acceptance of a tax increase is just icing on the putrid cake. I will be leaving this cesspool in a few years whether property values recover or not.
I’ve never had kids and never will, why am I forced to pay for the education of everybody’s spawn? You parasites are quick to dig into the feed bag of socialized education but scream bloody murder about socialized health care.
RBraswell, take off your blinders the ills that plague Atlanta also plague the rest of Georgia. The only difference is the local media is the grand cheerleader spouting Atlanta’s woes.
Most. if not ALL of Atlanta’s problems stem from the antics and socio-economic legacy of now well over a generation of frequently corrupt black Democrats, practising shameless cronyism over contracts, senior City of Atlanta appointments, Hartsfield airport contracts and the usual snouts deep in the racial spoils trough. This mayoral race has even seen blacks openly trying to foment black solidarity against fellow blacks who aint “down with a black mayor – any black mayor”. Until Atlanta gets way beyond behaving and seen to be behaving like so many other racial spoils fiefdoms, with the next generation of blacks demanding their turn at the city’s trough – regardless of competence or honesty – then the City of Atlanta will continue to splutter (being polite) economically. The city isn’t too busy to hate – its too busy rewarding black cronyism, passing the buck anyway they can for systematic failure and of course blaming whitey (directly and indirectly) at every possible opportunity. Rather than directly and energetically addressing endemic black yoof crime, aggressive homeless beggars on the street, drug dealing and other violent street crime. No one really trusts and respects the APD, they sure aren’t exactly a competent police force. Until folks both feel and perceive the crime, the cronyism and the often astonishing incompetence is a thing of the past Atlanta will deservedly struggle with improving its ability to warrant better treatment from the state of GA and better PR, nationally and regionally.
The Metro Atlanta area, as I’ve read, consists of 26 counties. 26!!! In this mixture, you have 26 county governments, 26 County Sheriff Departments, However many city police, a slew of municipal governments, etc., etc. After living in Atlanta since ‘97, I am STILL amazed at how disjointed this metro is. First move would be to bring all of these goverments/police/fire/beauracracies under one tent. It’s all Atlanta. Second, bring all the differing tax bases under one tent. A $1B investment in Atlanta, beats a small portion going to each county that is further diced to each municipality. It’s crazy. Us transplants see the way the city and region is governed currently and it is country. (Not nationally, but Good OL’ BOY POLITICKING). The entire region suffers from this Billy Bob approach to government. The Governor, who’s mansion sits in Fulton County (Atlanta), and the State House that sits inside Atlanta, chooses not to show any support for the very town where he resides. I get that. He’s from South Georgia. But for an entire state to look down it’s nose at the city that puts this state on the map, economically, culturally (o.k. maybe not so much), but offers more than say, Dublin, clearly signifies a divide based on economics, education, race, and ethnicity. And the yahoos at the dome play into that. Unify the region, put in place folks who can do the job. Eliminate the infighting at both the state and county level and let’s get Atlanta into the progressive light. This is an area of millions of people who deserve better. The joke is there is Atlanta and the rest of Georgia. True. But the politicians here seem more caught up in holding power of their respective districts, while holding the Metro region hostage.
Mayor Franklin brought this pox on the city with her arrogance. She may have got a moment’s satisfaction refusing to shake Governor Perdue’s hand those many moons ago, but the price of this snub was born by the citizenry for her entire term in office. Franklin goes out of office as she went in, leading a city in financial chaos.
Positioning this conversation as a win/lose between the suburbs and the city or the rural areas and the metro is a mistake. That kind of thinking will keep us in the gridlock we face today.
Atlanta needs to deal with the reality of its incompetent governance and the both condescending and racist attitudes that have characterized its communication to the rest of the state. Demanding an entitlement is not a winning strategy for the city or Fulton County. To play with the rest of the state, Atlanta will have to give up some autonomy and some dominance. Atlanta needs the suburbs and the rest of the state.
At the same time, the suburbs and the rest of the state need Atlanta. No one from Ohio moves to Kennesaw, however nice it might be to live there. The surrounding counties cannot profit in the long term at Atlanta’s expense. While there might be short term votes in casting Atlanta as the bad guy, it’s bad for the economy and for the fabric of the state. Frankly, it’s just wrong. the State is going to have to provide Atlanta some financial help for defined priorities. Cooperation is the key for all of us to prosper together.
On this article, you did a good job of discussing the ways that surrounding counties have attacked Atlanta and how politicians have profited from those attacks. It is certainly true that Atlanta’s incompetence, crime and political differences have been open season from many in Georgia.
What you missed was Atlanta’s condescension toward the rest of the state. Reading your article its like Atlanta has mistakes of competence but not of fundamental attitude. This is hardly the case. Atlanta has kept its distance, poured it’s incompetence into the sewers that dump into the Chattahoochee and then downstream. There is ridicule out of Atlanta and a demand that the poorer parts of the state and the richer parts of the state subsidize the jobs programs, the politics and the corruption of the City.
You de-emphasized the damage that the attitudes and communication in Atlanta have done to the relationship with the rest of the state. Not that the rest of the state is without blame… but you did a pretty good job of that.
I don’t think the entire state looks down at Atlanta. In fact, it seems to be just the opposite. But taking care of Atlanta’s sewage and other problems is an Atlanta problem, just as it is a local problem in Augusta, Brunswick, Columbus, Dalton, Jonesboro, Macon, Marietta, Savannah, Valdosta, or any other community. If the state is going to take care of these problems for the city of Atlanta it is going to be one heck of a tax increase. It would only be fair to reimburse communities who have been doing the right thing all along.
I love atlanta! I feel really sorry for those of you who are complaining. I have lived here since 97 when I moved to Grant Park. I can tell you first hand that this city is WAY safer than it was during the late 90’s and early 2000. As for Mutts ARE… comment if you take any large city ie Washington DC, Boston, or New York all land owning residence pay school taxes whether they like it or not. For those of you who are going to “leave” I have heard this time and time again. Please leave because if you are not part of the solution you are the problem.
I too am upset at the loss of Bill Husteds columns. It isn’t even reprinted on the AJC website anymore. His columns and advice are/were one of the BEST parts of the entire AJC. He actually helped so many people, as opposed to most of your non-news articles. I have a suggestion—to save money, why not cut back—–WAAAAY BACK on the racist-bigoted articles spewed from the computer of your Pulitizer Prize winning editor? Those articles only stir up anger & hatred among people. rather than promote good and harmony. Bill’s articles were down to earth, helpful and in today’s stress filled world, a very welcome break PLUS doing what could be called “a good deed” for others. I shared his articles with a cousin who lives UP in the Sierra Nevada Mtns. of California. Frankly there is nothing else in the AJC I would consider sharing with others. You Editors need to rethink what a Newspaper is supposed to be. Changing fonts, ink and size just doesn’t do the job, reporting facts & truth honestly & fairly would do it, for me, anyway.
Bill: These comments coming in from John Sherman, who heads the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation:
In comparing Atlanta to Charlotte, there are three steps that Charlotte has taken and which Atlanta has ignored:
Privatization of city services: Garbage Collection, Fleet Management & Maintenance, Information Systems, Recreational Facilities, Non-Sworn Police, Road Maintenance and Water. The Charlotte city employees actually compete in bidding with the private sector. The bottom line savings has been 38% of the 2005 budget. Although this was recommended in the Atlanta Turnaround Plan (page 53) of 2002, not a single major city service in Atlanta has been privatized or outsourced.
Performance-Based Metrics: Charlotte has developed performance-based metrics to weed out the under-performing employees and to extend additional pay to those surpassing the performance-based metrics. Too many of Atlanta’s employees are under-performing as indicated in the Atlanta Turnaround Plan on page 27.
Independent Professional Oversight: On major projects, Charlotte employs or accept professional volunteers to oversee such projects. A perfect example of the need of independent, professional oversight is the Atlanta Water & Sewer Infrastructure, i.e., in 2007, the cost was $3.2 billion, in 2008 the cost escalated to $4.1 billion, reflecting the need for independent, professional oversight.
Ibrahim Maslamani, the head of Atlanta’s permitting dept., said he used the prospect of privatization as a spur to get employees to improve their customer service.
Has it worked? It’s hard to tell how well the permitting dept functions until the place is swarming with people who want to build in the city again.
It can be turned around with a change in leadership across the board, and the image of the city. CLEAN HOUSE. Atlanta needs a new face. I have told many out-of-state friends that Atlanta is in a downward trend; it is not what it used to be. Over the past 15 years (especially the past 10), the basics of city structure have declined. There’s high crime–you can’t walk the streeets or use an ATM in comfort. Previously nice, safe areas are now filled with crime (Lenox area/Buckhead). Buckhead became Buckhood. Part of it is specific to Atlanta, part of it is national culture–everything is going to hades these days. I would not send my kids to any college in metro Atlanta–none of them. And schools in the AUC? HA! Such wonderful history there, now nowhere near the same, nor will it be for a long time if ever again. Sadly…avoid that area like the plague (or H1N1). GSU/ GT-area? Only slightly better.
The Black politicians seem to only focus on the Black history of the city; there’s more to Atlanta than that. Martin is dead; even his kids aren’t acting right with each other. And since Atlanta became a gathering place and residential conclave for the new generation of hip-hoppers and Black “music,” the trashy RHOA [cough, etc.], it has only destroyed the city’s image, not built it up. This celeb culture here is filled with a bunch of thugs and sloppy-dressing folk that the Atlanta politicians only promote. It’s pathetic to see them adopt and embrace this ilk just because of their “fame”. It reflects poorly on the city.
Suburban folk have always put the city of Atlanta down, but they need to realize there wouldn’t have BEEN any expanse of the suburbs WITHOUT the wonderful development of Atlanta in the late 1980’s early 1990s. To that, there is no dispute. But since that time, city leaders have failed the city.
Even though I do NOT want to hear that twang for the next four years, I am really hoping needs-a-burger Mary Norwood wins, if for no other reason than we need a definitie 180 degree turn…and yep, she would be that! LOL. Clean house. Get out and vote, people. Make it happen. Don’t let this mess drag on any longer.
Actually, I think the city is better off than it was 15 years ago. The population has increased by around 100,000. More importantly, in 1990 the city population was less educated and less well off than the suburbs; now the situation is reversed. (A very carefully done national study established this; it’s a national trend, and Atlanta was #1 in regards to this change.) The long-neglected sewers have been fixed (on time and under budget, as the federal judge recently noted).
Although it took longer than it should have, Atlanta now has a excellent CFO, Jim Glass, who in the past year and a half has gotten the city’s finances in order. One can now track the flow of funds coming in and out; someone should tell Ms. Norwood.
There have been major steps forward in the arts, such as the High’s expansion. The park system is growing. And walking around Midtown is definitely safer than 15 years ago. The violent crime rate is clearly down, although there is more to do in public safety. It is frustrating that the APD has not grown to keep up with the population increase. All 3 major candidates pledge to increase the number of police significantly.
Too many trifling citizens populate the city of Atlanta, until that perceptions changes Atlanta will continually be bypassed by cooporations looking to relocate to this region. Too many young people who have no clue about proper conduct in public, a subculture that celebrates chaos and ignorance. A following of the young who are trying too hard to erase civil from civilization. Too many people who are convinced that its better to beg than work. Too many people who have succeeded by exploiting race and keeping their followers focused on it to the degree that they do not move forward for constantly looking back. I could go on, but I would need an Egyptian scroll. I’m going to say something that I have been waiting to say for too long, and I don’t have to worry about being politically correct. Young black people, we can learn a lot from people who look like us but immigrated here from conditions that were absolutely horrendous. However, their behavior in public is civil. Their demeanor is humbling. They speak English better than we do but with an accent. Their kids normally excel in school if they do no become too distracted by misbehaving American blacks. A young man from East Africa indicated that his parents all but disowned him because he fathered a child by and American black girl and fears that the child will be immersed in a culture of low expectations and low standards. This individual relayed to me the absolute disdain his father has for black Americans and sees us as spoiled individuals with childlkie mentalities who have to be protected from ourselves – a group who scoffs at opportunity. A group that has not realized that entertainers and sports figures do not make decisions that affect policy nor our lives, but we lend credence to people like Kanye West even when they make the most shallow statement that borders on dumbness. Until we reverse the seventy per cent single female headed households and the abyssmal high school graduation rates of our youth and begin to to shun the poison we call hip hop we will continually mill around like people who do no have a clue.
Mindspring founder Charles Brewer and Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus both made very big points in our Sunday story about quality of life issues — crime and panhandling — having a negative impact on the city. Anybody have any thoughts about that? Any thoughts about possible solutions?
Fix traffic and those darn potholes on all of the “Peach” streets. Sonny Purdoo and the State Assembly have done absolutely nothing to solve the traffic issues for Atlanta. The outlying metro counties have failed at fixing the traffic problems as well. As the article in today’s AJC says, companys’ are setting up shop in the suburbs an avoiding the city. Hmmm I wonder why. They look at Atlanta and say “Let’s have a closer look”, then look at the traffic and the potholes going to million dollar condos and say no thank you. I don’t blame them
Let’s start by recognizing that panhandling and homelessness are mostly separate issues: most homeless people do not panhandle, and most panhandlers are not homeless.
Homelessness needs to be addressed by compassionate policies that help people in need, ranging from affordable housing to adequate care for people with mental disorders.
Panhandling needs to be addressed by relentless pressure by the police and Downtown Ambassadors. It doesn’t matter whether someone arrested for aggressive panhandling gets let out the next day – just keep on these obnoxious con men day after day, until panhandling in Atlanta just isn’t worth the hassle.
In addition to the three points mentioned above, there is a FOURTH which is most important for the turnaround of Atlanta: much higher professionalism in management positions, including Department Heads. Recent audits of the Finance Department, the Fleet Management Department and the Watershed Management Department reflect a sad lack of professionalism. In addition, the AJC has reported city employees using city credit cards for personal useage, although not a single employee has been fired. The AJC has also reported city employees using city vehicles for personal use; here, too, there has been no accountability. Department Heads should be responsible for their department and the Department Heads of Finance, Fleet Management, Water, etc. should be replaced with individuals of higher professionalism. Finally, the Chief of Staff should be carefully chosen with a strong background in Public Administration.
The incoming Atlanta mayor should take the first 60 days to review the city’s work of the last 50 years. I suggest he/she start with Hartfield who championed the airport and Lake Lanier taking special heed of the reasons every major corporation including Home Depot have cited. The city provides municipal services and has led the state by investing political capital, the full faith and credit of the city to build essential airport and water infrastructure and now has pledged support for the Beltline and economic development using tax credits and incentives. There is nothing Mr Sherman has added to the discussion other than propose the City of Buckhead.
The city needs to lower its tax rates and improve the quality of life in the city. That’s how it will attract jobs and businesses.
As a college student living in the suburbs but has a dream to live in Downtown, I can see that Atlanta has great challenges. First off, the city needs to do something about its perception as a crime-ridden city. The elected officials of the city need to be much more responsive. Instead of waiting for a string of robberies or other crimes, the officials need to jump on it right after one happens instead of letting things fester and it becomes an immense catastrophe.
Secondly, the politics and waste in the city’s finances need to stop. Perhaps there’s a ton of back-scratching and under-handed deals. Perhaps there needs to be a mayor who has not been an insider to it all so they can do a more objective evaluation of what needs to be cut and what needs to be kept. A sunset law should be instituted to get rid of programs that are not useful out of the budget. City employees that are rude, under performing or otherwise not living up to their duty should be let go after the first reprimand- and if it is egregious enough, they should be fired instantly.
I also believe that the city officials need to work closely with the school board and get people in lower income neighborhoods educated. All of these robberies and property crime is done by people who have less than those who are perceived to have more. Having such a massive differential between the rich and the poor in the city needs to be dealt with. The city needs a plan to help the less educated and the lower income people get better educated and get better paying jobs so they won’t have to steal from everyone else. That would help in solving the quality of life issue and would create jobs for everyone.
The city can also be more flexible on zoning restrictions and be generous on incentives. As I mentioned in my previous post, the school board need to be more proactive on raising education levels in the city (and graduation rates that produce quality graduates, not graduating students because they want them out of the schools.) There’s many things the city can do- but I’m questioning if any of the candidates will really tackle all of these issues appropriately. I’d prefer an outsider to take City Hall- an outsider would be better for a critical evaluation of the current state of the city than anyone who has been involved in the city government for years.
Voice of Reason has a point by saying that Atlanta needs a clean house. Yes it does. However, as I’ve stated in my posts, a true clean house requires that someone not involved in city government politics for years to come in and clean house. It will also take someone who has enough backbone to stand up against the establishment and push things through.
At this point in time, Atlanta needs a mayor that has backbone. Given the structure of the city government (strong mayor-weak council), the mayor’s office needs to be held by someone who is assertive and will not tip-toe around the powers that be. The mayor’s office needs to be held by someone who will hold to what they said on the campaign trail. The mayor’s office needs to be held by someone who truly cares about the city and not by someone who wants to be paid well. The mayor’s office needs to be held by someone who is truly committed to the usage of the taxpayer’s money efficiently and effectively.
Whether or not any of these candidates fit this profile, I do not know. But we’ll see what the next mayor does and whether or not they actually deserve to be in that office once they’re in. Let’s see how long it takes before they fall into the typical back-scratching system that politics has become.
I also want to make two more points. Atlanta also needs to work with Fulton County on a variety of different issues to attract jobs and businesses, such as taxation. People that live in Atlanta, as well as the businesses, have to pay Fulton County taxes as well as City of Atlanta taxes. Both need to work together to lower both of the rates. This would make the city more affordable for business and for people alike.
On the quality of life- I’ve heard that one Fulton County Commissioner posed the idea of putting criminals to work. Even though this idea failed to pass the county commission, Atlanta should consider doing this. Perhaps some of these people committing crimes believe they’ll have an easier life in jail since they get clothes, food, and shelter. Instead, these people should be put to work of filling potholes, cleaning parks and empty lots, fixing up buildings- whatever the city needs done. Since city taxpayers are paying for them to be in jail, put them to work. Doing this will show anyone who wants or is thinking about committing a crime in the city to think twice. This can reduce crime and create a better quality of life for law-abiding citizens within the City of Atlanta which can translate into more businesses and jobs.
In my opinion the AJC goes further than any paper I have ever seen to provide opinions from all parts of the political spectrum. However I do not agree this is a good idea. A writer should be chosen for his/her ability to cover a story intelligently, objectively and accurately, rather than his/her political bias, or ability to rouse or anger a certain group. Today, with Neal Boortz’s inclusion as an “opinion” writer, suggesting traffic cameras carry sniper rifles, the AJC has finally lost me. This kind of thing is not worth reading or paying for, indeed it is offensive. It is sad to see the paper stoop to this. I still look back in wonder at the days of Bill Kovach, brief as they were, when the AJC was a fine paper. After 25 years, I will not renew my subscription.
It might be too late to comment, but I take exception to the comments of just about everyone here. Reform needs to start in the state assembly, which treats Atlanta as if it contained deadly poison while pandering to the rural counties that by any reasoning cannot be called engines of growth. The assembly needs to get on public transit 10 years ago. The new “engines of growth” are going to be working out of their homes and the local java bar and they won’t be doing it from the suburbs. People want intown neighborhoods where they really do work, shop and play and they aren’t going to waste their time behind the wheel of a car stuck in a traffic jam. Connect the neighborhoods with transit and people will invest in the infrastructure of housing and shopping. Older people will move in when their driving becomes impaired, but their enjoyment of life is still sharp.
John Sherman suggests it’s all about reducing taxes through privatization. He can even give us the numbers on how much of the budget was cut through this all-purpose plan. But I wonder, are the services effective and are the customers happy with the new providers? This is the part that’s usually left out of the conversation. When the government offers good, effective services, most people don’t mind paying a little more in taxes for them. Just ask the residents of Decatur.
With more people on the streets, crime will go down. With better city services, the panhandling problem is automatically reduced. But none of this will happen if the same old yahoos in state government do the same stupid things that have not worked in the recent past and are not working now.
Why it it that this piece of crap newspaper never passes on an opportunity to race bait here in Atlanta? Nice headline today on “Racial bias in suspensions” but no facts in the article to substantiate. Just an opportunity to give some people who want to holler discrimination their 15 minutes of fame – what a pathetic organization.
What you have done in cancelling Bill Husted is more stupidity; I continually am having to re evaluate keeping my subscription! Why don’t you get rid of a real idiot like Cynthia Tucker? Can we still submit questions to Hulsted, and how?
Atlanta is not addressing its problems, and business people know this. We have no plan for public transit, we abandoned the Marta train plan with no alternative. We are about to run out of water, and all the city does is chant privatization, which means handing someone a boondoggle. The building department is so bogged down that permits take forever, even with their new fully automated system.
Why do we have so many homeless on the street? There is nothing else they can do. The wages of menial jobs are so low that there is no place they can rent. The mentally challenged, the traumatized war veterans on the street, there is no other place for them to go. Why are they not sweeping the streets? Why are there no industrial jobs that inadequate minds can do? One writer suggests arresting them all. It would be cheaper to provide a work program. Certainly the city needs its streets swept.
We are simply not doing anything about making ourselves presentable to business.
The first thing Atlanta can do to improve the relationship to the state is stop bringing up racial divides, as today’s AJC headlines call Mayoral elections Black vs White….that is the most damaging and irresponsible headlines I have ever seen! Atlanta is divided by economic lines not racial lines! Let’s grow up and become a mature city..putting forth everyone’s ideal to make our capitol city a good example and not name calling and false statements that cause dissension and hatred between citizens.! Put racism or bigotry to rest and just vote for the best candidate!
I am so upset about Bill Husted’s column! He’s my go to person for all things technology related. I’m a little lost without his advice. PLEASE BRING TECHNOBUDDY BACK!!!
You idiots at Cox/AJC have no feel for Atlanta. You have blown out so many good reporters your paper mirrors nothing of life here present or past. Jim Axel dies 30 hours ago and not a mention from you blowhards. 34 years on Atlanta television covering our lives for decades and you clowns are too busy with Souper Jenny recipes or a rapper getting tossed out of a posh hotel. This is a cool city with almost 5 million people. Your paper deserves it’s fate. I laugh when I walk past your machines charging a dollar. Congrats clown team.
I was an asst. Fulton County public defender for 20 years. I got appointed to represent a guy who didn’t like you.
In all the years I had been doing that work his was my first case that had something written in the blank on the arrest report in the place for a nickname. On his it said “$40.” He told me that he got that nickname when he was doing time up at Alto and he got charged with taking $40 out of the purse of a lady who worked there and it stayed with him when he got back on the streets. He said all you cops called him that.
I asked him if that bothered him. He said only when he ran into you because you would say to him “$40, today I’m marking you down to $39.99.”
The reason the city has trouble paying pensions is there are too many over-paid city employees with titles like “Assistant counsel to the assistant counsel in charge of assistant counsels.” And all these folks make over $100,000 a year. If these folks got fired there would be fewer big pensions to pay down the road, there would be money to give present police officers pay raises, have money to higher new, quality officers, and balance the city budget and have a huge chunk of change left over.
But what do I know I’m just a smart-ass white boy who thinks you should be Police Chief, Lou.
Atlanta has been going down hill since blacks have takes over we need in my opinion get Mrs Norwood in there to straighten every thing out and ree needs to quit benning a racist,and bad mouth. How many times have the sewerage been fixed, but not fixed. Most of the black embezzel the tax payer money in Atlanta and that is why its in such bad shape. If we don’t get someone in there to change the way Atlanta is .Atlants will be bankrupt by 2011.They say whites r racists ,hugh, think again .Reed is the most racist of many Blacks. Its time to get Atlanta back the it was when whites was running it and my dear this is my opinion and frankly the truth.Mayor Franklin needs to go and empty her pockets with the rest of the racists.
THANK YOU CHANGE THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I BELIEVE ATLANTA NEEDS DO IT RIGHT VOTE WHITE AND DO IT RIGHT, GET ATLANTA BACK TO WHERE WE CAN GO AND BE PROUD, INSTEAD OF WORRYING ABOUT GETTING STABBED IN THE BACK
First let me say that Mrs. Obama looked beautiful at the state dinner, she is a very attractive women. Then I read that her dress took three weeks to make by 40 people in India. With unemployment so high in this country, it would have been nice if 40 Americans had three weeks of work to make her dress.
If even the President and First Lady don’t support U.S. workers, we are in more trouble than I thought.
In reading other comments regarding “black politicians”, etc, I once again smell the pervasive stench of ancient Republican Dixiecrat ideology that often infests postings on AJC blogs. I am not black, and I do not particularly agree with all of the Democrat party line, but I do recognize the double-speak and partisanship that defines the essence of Republican views, especially as regards race-relations, and jobs.
Today we see that Dubai, which the previous administration tried its’ damndest to obstinately engage in trade relations with (remember the Dubai ports debacle?), is in deep financial trouble yet Dubai doggedly refuses to allow us to purchase any of it’s assets (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091129/ap_on_bi_ge/ml_dubai_meltdown). We are not allowed to engage in free trade relations with this anti-American society that the Bush/Cheney administration was so intent on shoving down our throats.
In light of this, and many other instances of Republican incompetence, as regards the economy and jobs retention/creation, I have abandoned the supposedly ‘conservative’ Republican Party in favor of Democratic views. I am not entirely in favor of the social agenda of the Democrats, but I have had to admit to myself that the Republicans favor lining the pockets of their wealthy benefactors regardless of how that impacts the good of our nation. Simply put, Democrats have proven themselves to be better stewards of our economic future.
Having lived through a multitude of Republican administrations now, many of which I voted for, I have come to the belief that Republicans invariably run the economy into the dirt so that they can make us dependent upon their stewardship, and that working people across the board, will fear the loss of whatever jobs they may retain, and accept whatever wages and loss of benefits that are thrust upon them.
My suggestion then as to “What Can Atlanta Do to Attract Jobs and Business?” is to vote out all Republican legislators and to allow the Democrats a shot at cleaning up the many economic messes that Republicans have embroiled us in.
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My advice on appealling, (been doing this for 15 years)
1. Do not respect the BOE Board of Equalization’s opinion at your appeal. Just show up to that hearing so you can appeal to the next level, superior court.
2. Once the BOE sends you their decision letter, then follow the steps to appeal to Superior Court. This will cost $82.50 but is well worth it.
3. The Judge will assign a FREE arbitration hearing BEFORE you go to court. This arbitrator is usually fairly intelligent and unbaised. (In my last appeal, the arbitrator got the assessor to take down the BOE decision of $280,000 to $180,000)
4. Last resort: If you are still not satisfied, then go to court. You can represent yourself, or you can hire an attorney. Do not be scared. If you have solid evidence your property should get at least a 15% reduction, then THE TAX ASSESSOR HAS TO PAY YOUR LEGAL BILLS BY LAW.
In closing, the most important thing to take away from this is DO NOT SETTLE FOR THE BOE DECISION.
Can’t really explain Patricia. Otherwise, an arbitrator can make sense in many cases — even
if you want to use arbitration to avoid court. There’s two kinds now, binding (which no one uses) and non-binding (which
is new).
RJ. Have you heard back on any of your appeals?
The Fulton Tax Assessor is about 18 months behind on appeals… I have been told my appeals I filed at the first of 2009, will be heard in fall of 2010.
Of course, until they still are making me pay 85% of the taxes, even though I will really only owe 30% of the taxes eventually. Bottom line they will have about 50k of my money tied up for the next 6-8 months.
Here’s a real kicker, even if I am successful with 2009 appeals, the decision will probably not take effect until after 2010 bills, so I will have to pay 85% of the 2010 taxes as well, another 50k extra. Can you believe it?
fyi- On appeals, the arbitration the Superior Court Judge assigns is free.
Good point on the arbitration because the new system requires you to pay up front for an appraisal.
Just look ahead on your appeals, think how many new returns Fulton could get for 2010. The county got about 30,000
this year — that could easily double in 2010. You could be fighting those cases in 2012 or 2013.
And, you’d still be in court on these.
The system’s going to wear you down.
“It’s going to be extremely difficult to match sales prices,” McDaniel said. “You will be severely depleting your [tax] digest.”
Because, you know, God forbid government should ever have to make do with less money. Then they might have to lay off a bureaucrat or two from their comfortable existence. That’s the real bottom line here.
DL, I looked at my zip code’s data (30329) from the interactive map and it’s not clear how you got some of the results. You say the Previous Median Value is $254,900 and that the 2009 Median Value is $274,800 but that the Median Value Change is $0 (with a percent change of 0%). (According to my calulator that’s a difference of $19,900.) Yet you show a Total Value Change of $9,332,085. (?)
Where does the Change Requested (-20%) come from?
Where does the Sales Value % Change (30.68%) come from?
How is the Point Gap (-30.68) computed? (In this case it’s the negative of the Sales Value % Change above.)
Live in a 35 home, identically built Cobb neighborhood. We PAID 420K for the house in January 2008; last year, the house was tax-assessed at 470K even though the last sales in our neighborhood (After we bought our house) were 366, 385, and 390 with two more currently for sale at 366 and 380; however, the county refused to lower my assessment from 470K. Thieves, they are simply thieves!
The legal definition is LARCENY – –noun, plural -nies. Law.
the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods of another from his or her possession with intent to convert them to the taker’s own use.
Besides paying taxes on more than properties are worth we are going to have to pay a lot more because the governor did not sign the Homestead exemption this year. I would think this will be a huge windfall for the counties. Are there any figures on what this will amount to.
President Obama and Congress are practicing medicine. The entire health care industry is skewed toward what government and insurance will pay for. As long as American taxpayers are willing to pay absentee bosses micromanage their lives, they deserve what they get. Insurance and government collect money for doing nothing, then make it as hard as possible for individuals to collect on their investments.
Dr. Obama and Congress are guilty of medical malpractice and should be personally accountable for their decisions. We expect no less from doctors.
Why is it no longer possible to find all of Meredith Ford Goldman’s reviews in one place, as they had been for a long time? Recently, with Mr. Kessler’s “overview” series, Ms. Goldman seems to have been shoved aside. It should be easy to keep Ms. G’s fine work accessable on ajc.com. Kessler’s opinions are worthwhile and nice to have, but don’t substitute for the quality of a real review. As a reader, I feel that we’re being deprived of one of the AJC’s best assets.
a growing population of homeless are startin to assemble under the sprig street/techwood viaduct,the trsh is beggininrg to pile up there,and it has become an operating place for these people,this has happened before,apd needs to flush them out before its too late.
[...] last year and that police might take up to an hour to respond to your 911 call. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitiution, even though over all crime is on the decline for our area it is still high compared to similar [...]
Whoops, Bill Husted got his pink slip and AJC lost another subscriber.
But I do thank AJC for all the memories in the paper. Braves Win!
Katrina! April 30, 1990 editon. Obituraries! Regular size paper.
The Princes Elizabeth and Prince Charles wedding 1948. Back then
there were two: Atlanta Journal (evening) and the other Atlanta Constitution (morning.)
On Sunday there were both in the mornings.
So long AJC, You have been a good friend and did a good job.
I’m amazed at the action taken against the firefighters in Dekalb county who were involved in the tragic death of a person. It was an obvious mistake, and a lot of confusion involved. It’s horrible that a loss of life was involved, and my heart breaks for the family! However, these men risk their lives daily, and should not shoulder the blame for this sad incident. I spent 33 years as an Atlanta Firefighter and served as Captain for 23 of those years. It’s easy to point fingers and monday morning quarterback, but the Chief of the department should be ashamed not to step up and defend these firefighters. I say they should be reinstated immediately. Larry D Bennett AFD retired
What you got with the Senate healthcare bill was written largely by Liz Fowler, top aide to Senator Max Baucus. She can into that congressional staff job directly from being the director of public policy at Wellpoint, the nation’s largest health insurer. Her predecessor in the Baucus staff position was Michelle Easton, who left to go to work for the lobbying firm of Tarplin, Downs, & Young representing guess who??? WELLPOINT. The reason the Senate bill and other efforts in Congress have turned into such monstrosities is that they are industry-written, as are most bills now. Until we stop the revolving lobbyist-congress staff door, nothing coming out of Congress will work for US. The healthcare industry now has over 6 lobbyists for each member of congress and over 500 of them are former congressional staffers. None of them are working for US. They are handing our reps already written bills and greasing their way to passage with tons of campaign cash. Fix the money or fix nothing.
Must I say well put to begin with. This is a very interesting paper but also entertaining. The way its employees express there different opinions baffles me. Its hard to seem that there could be no bias ism in the fields of journalism. For the average journalist most comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
intersting goings on in the metro area concerning tax monies and joblessness and failure to accumulate money to run local governments. i was told the rest. i eat in every day is going to have to close. the inspector came by and found four pages of violations, (previous month, there were none), and the fines are going to double each week if not addressed. given two weeks, not enough time in a 25 year old building that was not designed for a resturant, they are leaving and giving up.
the cops are on the streets like pepper, the cameras have been re upped at the intersections that
used to be too costly to operate, they, the local govt’s are reducing services, raising taxes or at least proposing such, no one is working, not paying taxes anymore and the locals are going nuts to get into your and my pockets.
i will miss my resturant, but the folks who work there will miss it more.
7 jobs lost, gone, cause some fat lady had an attitude or her boss told her to find more violations and get more fine money in the coffiers.
shame
Hey AJC, when are you going to go green and stop littering my yard with your trashy Evening Edge flyers with nothing but ads? I don’t want it, I don’t need it and every time I get it reminds me how insensitive you are to your customer’s needs or desires.
Sunshine laws only go so far if one lacks the pulpit from which to publish. As an example, take DeKalb County’s Alimony and Support Unit. After obtaining Open Records disclosures that showed that, for over 10 years, a series of Chief Judges of the Stone Mountain Circuit had supervised Unlicensed Practitioners employed by the county and allowed by trial judges to practice in DeKalb Superior Courts, the AJC declined to consider publish.
I believe the facts of this Unlicensed Practice system remain unknown to the public. Was the political correctness of child support considered justification for suppressing disclosure ? For whatever reason, declining to publish had the effect of protecting County and State officers (several of whom are still in Georgia government) who abetted this criminal activity. Or did the participation of a Supreme Court Justice, now our Chief Justice, in establishing this system play a part in the AJC decision to suppress ?
Justice Brandeis reportedly said that “sunlight is the best disinfectant.” In this instance, sunlight has yet to be shone on these participants and their activities.
Mr. Haeger, I’m unaware of the situation you are referring to. But there are lots of reasons reporters don’t get to stories, and they have nothing to do with political correctness. Most often it’s because they are busy with a better story.
I give credit to Barbara J. in my bible study class for this. When she was a young girl her dad had his children take an apptitude test so that they could realize careers best suited for them. If our kids could take this very important test in middle school or before their freshman year of high school, then maybe we would have more successful kids once they leave high school, happier kids that actually use what they’ve been taught, and be tested in the fields that they have actually learned. Our kids are different and one size fits all does not apply here. Our kids’ success should be everyones’ concern because they don’t get a “do over”, they only have this one chance.
With recent reporting of school’s superintendants and principles outlandish decisions tagged along with political correctness, I do support the Georgia Open Records Act.
The fury saw at the Texas book war justifies my concern. Schools must educate our kids and not indoctrinate our future resouce into some vile ideology. Our forefaters saw the importance of a church not controlling the government or the governed. If we look further we can see this applies also to ideology not presently considered a religion. However its affect goes far beyond the intentions of most religions. Only through an open process can interested parties investigate why decisions were made or casted out. This means keeps in check those who would willingly defile our children or system of government.
Any and all work of the government should be in the brightest light as possible and totally open to the public. These backroom deals should be outlawed. Any and all negotiations between members of the legislature, all boards and officials in the executive and judicial branch should be open to the public. Any and all meeting the branches have with lobbyist should be recorded and open to the public. This would be true sunshine.
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Deanna
January 9th, 2009
4:34 pm
Wow! What a daunting task. But it looks like y’all’ve done a great job. Looks very clean while still having lots of content and stories on the home page like I enjoy. Well done! Will there be someplace for us to submit usability issues after the rollout?
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Jason Gilstrap
January 9th, 2009
5:03 pm
Deanna, thanks for your comments.
You’ll be able to post comments on this blog once the new design launches. We look forward to reading everyone’s feedback.
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Jay
January 9th, 2009
6:12 pm
Enter your comments here Why couldn’t the change coincide with the stopped delivery of the print edition to the “hinterlands”? You sure know how to confuse folks.
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Looks good!
January 9th, 2009
6:33 pm
Long as y’all don’t mess with Smiling Pets or Taco Mountain, I’m cool.
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jeffrye
January 9th, 2009
10:11 pm
I am hoping you can delete older news stories from the home page on a more timely basis. I am a little perturbed when I click on a story only to have the dateline say it happened 3 or 4 months ago. Furthermore, your coverage of anything to do with intown Atlanta is sorely lacking. I rarely see stories that have anything to do with my area of the city. Yes, there are many readers in the city…it annoys us there is not adequate coverage of city life.
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BG
January 9th, 2009
10:21 pm
Nice redesign. It’s good to see that the leaderboard ad has been removed. Would it be easy to add a few more elements for weather, such as today’s high and tonight’s low, just to the right of current temperature? The Weather Channel does that in their IE toolbar. It would be nice to show a small image of current doppler as well. Okay so I’m a weather junkie.
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Montana L
January 10th, 2009
10:40 am
“Private Quarters” as the top photo nearly every time I hit ajc.com? Come on, what are y’all, a newspaper or Atlanta Magazine Homes?? Gimmie some news, not posh spaces of the monocle crowd!
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Doug
January 10th, 2009
11:03 am
A very nice redesign – keep it clean, with plenty of customizable options and the readers will keep coming!
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Sam
January 10th, 2009
12:25 pm
I’ll definitely watch for the changes, but from the mock-up you’ve provided, I really don’t see much that’s being altered. Everything looks basically the same. What am I missing or not seeing? Thanks.
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LIsa
January 10th, 2009
1:31 pm
agree w/ weather comments above. I use your little weather quick links all the time!
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Steve
January 10th, 2009
2:26 pm
How about making it easier to find message boards on your site? Whenever i post something to a “discuss” forum i can never find the same discussion forum a couple of hours later that i just posted to.
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AK
January 10th, 2009
3:31 pm
Very nice. I’ve emailed several times saying your design needs to be refreshed and suggested you look at WashingtonPost.com as a guide, which it looks like you did. I visit the Post’s site daily and love their home page. In comparison, ajc.com was a huge disappointment. Thanks for listening to reader feedback. I can’t wait for the new design to launch!
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Nick
January 10th, 2009
5:43 pm
Thanks for the much needed redesign. I’m not sold on the logo image or the colors of the logo. Thought you had a good thing going with the AJC Circle. Make sure navigation works fast on slower computers/connections unlike ESPN’s new design. I can’t believe they almost made that site unusable. Looking foward to seeing the udpate.
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bboykins
January 10th, 2009
5:45 pm
This looks really, really good! Couple of things I would suggest is to make the video table horizontal with the Inside AJC.com table. I would put a picture or graphic tease in the area that how has the video table. I would even take that space to promo print product (which I think you all would consider taboo, but you’ll be surprised what traffic that would bring. Oh, and I would move MundoHispanico ad under the new Buzz feature.
Overall, very good navigation and usability. Thanks!
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Wayne
January 10th, 2009
11:39 pm
Could you redo your jobs site? I’m someone outside your now-shrunken delivery area and I think your partnership with HotJobs stinks. I KNOW there are far more jobs printed in the paper than actually make it onto your website.
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Bill Burns
January 11th, 2009
7:05 am
I think your current design is fine. Much easier than many including the New York Times which I read often on the internet. Sometimes “change” in not always for the better. On another AJC matter, I am not happy that you have eliminated the Saturday LTE’s. You have also greatly “cut back” om the size of the Sunday LTE’s. I admit that I have a “bias” in this LTE thing, I have written around 400 of them to the paper in the last seven years.
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horace
January 11th, 2009
10:01 am
Since the ajc newspaper circulation area has continued to get smaller ajc.com is my only option. I can adjust to any format. I hope that the business section is totally revised.
In the current section news that is several months old fills most of the space. News items six months to a year old is not news anymore, only space filler. Please give us more current news.
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Al
January 11th, 2009
10:05 am
I hope that as part of the new design we will see more true news stories featured on the home page and less about every move some hip hop star or desperate housewife makes. I read several major newspapers online daily and none of them devote anywhere near as much home page attention to entertainers. Stick to the news affecting peoples lives on the homepage and leave the entertainment stories in accessatlanta. I do like the new design by the way.
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Scott Baker
January 11th, 2009
11:28 am
Thanks for the great comments and suggestions, they are extremely useful in helping us to improve the site. Many of the issues we have worked on in this rollout are issues that readers have suggested.
In my work – as part of the online design and user experience group – we had three main goals for this iteration of the site design.
- To clean up the design
- Make the site load faster
- Make navigating content easier
Keep in mind we are constantly making upgrades to the site (some visible and some behind the scenes to improve functionality and page loading times). We have many other design upgrades rolling out this year that will continue the design improvements throughout ajc.com.
Weather: BG and Lisa, we realize weather is very important to readers and have some major enhancements planned, unfortunately they won’t be ready in this iteration – so stay tuned.
Logo: Nick, in regards to the logo, there were other logo versions that we had worked on but there was a branding decision to go with a consistent logotype for the ajc brand.
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David
January 11th, 2009
4:06 pm
It looks good. Does this coincide with a redesign of the printed project?
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David B.
January 11th, 2009
5:37 pm
Wow, a few new graphics with no real change. Even after a redesign, AJC.com is still one of the ugliest newspaper Web sites on the Internet. It must’ve taken an incredible amount of time and energy to come up with something that is essentially the same as before – a clutter of advertising and pint size hyperlinks jammed onto the screen. The opening line of your redesign meeting must have been “How can we possibly get all of these headlines and ads crammed into the smallest block possible?”
The reason I feel bad for papers like the AJC is that your revenue plan has turned into something that is almost solely based on advertising with no regard to content/substance. For every link you have on your home page, users can click onto pages that are equally cluttered and ad-chaulked. The more graphics you have distracting the readers, the less likely any news is going to be read. And that raises the utlimate question – what is the point of AJC.com to begin with?
Promote your stories more with longer (or any) lede lines; don’t rely on the headlines by themselves. If you’re trying to attract new business or residents to the city, then start by cleaning up the AccessAtlanta pages for dining and theater. And for God’s sake, keep anything that qualifies as a story for “The Buzz” in that box and off the top stories list. It’s embarassing when the two categories – ACTUAL news, and entertainment – get mixed.
And next time you try to redesign the Web site, look at your competition before settling.
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Patrick
January 11th, 2009
9:18 pm
Please, please, PLEASE fix your polls that have multiple questions!
Example:
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2009/01/10/braves_starting_pitchers.html
There are eight questions and 8 different forms on the page. When a visitor clicks “vote” it’s only for the single question and you have to click vote eight different times. There’s no session state either, so there’s no way to view multiple results on the same page.
Why not just have 8 radio collections and one form on the page? That way someone can answer all the questions at once and view all the results at once.
Also, the flash polls tied to the photo galleries have been broken for a long time. Vote on one question and it won’t let you vote again.
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Scott Baker
January 11th, 2009
9:43 pm
Patrick, sorry about that, it is a less than ideal user experience — a new template for this should be out next week.
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Wayne
January 11th, 2009
11:10 pm
Please include more pictures with your stories on the net.
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Pete
January 12th, 2009
10:34 am
I would like either the time the past was last updated or something similar to MSNBC.com that says last updated x hours/minutes ago. I basically keep a browser window open to AJC all day and it would be nice to see if it had updated. Thanks!
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Pete
January 12th, 2009
10:36 am
Oops, that should be “page” and not “past” above. I was thinking about the time in the past when the page was updated and the fingers led a magic life all their own.
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Tica
January 12th, 2009
2:39 pm
I feel like the redesign has a lot of potential…however, I still feel like the page is too cluttered. Is it really necessary for you to show 5-6 linked stories under each section on the bottom part of the page? There must be some way to simplify that, especially since you’ve already got the headings up in the top of the page. I also would like to echo the suggestion that tells us how long ago the story was last updated (this is important for breaking news).
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BG
January 12th, 2009
2:46 pm
Scott, thanks for acknowledging my weather suggestions. I look forward to the new launch. Someone had referenced the ESPN site. I agree that it’s slick yet difficult to navigate, and attribute most of the difficulty to lack of familiarity.
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Shaun
January 12th, 2009
3:13 pm
The design looks pretty much the same. Are yall going to monitor the comments to keep the racist idiots’ comments off the web?
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Scott Baker
January 12th, 2009
4:36 pm
A few of you have mentioned wanting stories to include timestamps, later this year ajc.com is moving to a more powerful content management system that has that capability. Until then most stories (unless it’s a big breaking story) won’t have a timestamp. One other nice feature, we will also be able to have multiple templates, for example on stories having the option to include a video or larger photos.
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lula todd
January 13th, 2009
6:31 am
Where’s the weather tab?? I NEED that one! Otherwise, it looks great.
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Curt
January 13th, 2009
6:31 am
The logo is awful. No heart, no soul, no history at all. Look at the Chicago Tribune, LA Times, NY Times, etc. Great newspapers don’t disown their past and ditch the look that people know in print. Regain your identity, folks!
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ginger
January 13th, 2009
6:33 am
The overall look is clean and fresh, and seems to be clutter free. The logo is very whimpy,cheap and a bit cheesy looking.I mean baby blue and that font?? ugh!
g
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Diana
January 13th, 2009
6:39 am
I am normally a person who does not like change, but I LOVE your new format…..we are not Chicago or LA. THANK HEAVENS!
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marge
January 13th, 2009
6:40 am
Love the new look. Glad to see the Hollywood Buzz not so “Front and Center” I was beginning to lose respect for you guys as a viable news source. Thanks for the new look, and I notice the sports stories better now.
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herbK
January 13th, 2009
7:15 am
Sucks, but I would guess a 14 yr old with html/css experience could have done it in 15 minutes. Just like the printed version, becoming more irrelevant each & every day.
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Sarah
January 13th, 2009
7:23 am
You ‘fixed’ something that wasn’t broken. I do not like it!
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Lamario
January 13th, 2009
7:25 am
I really like this new site. It looks really clean, streamlined and I like the new logo. Good job!
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Nicole
January 13th, 2009
7:26 am
As an avid ajc.com reader, Im not too impressed with the new look. It seems so plain-I would love the old look back!!!!!!
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RIP AJC
January 13th, 2009
7:29 am
The AJC is completely forgetting that they are the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and they have some history here. The newspapers that will make it out of this mess that they’re in are the ones that are not completely alienating their base with weaker content. What is the AJC offering readers and advertisers except a different logo and newsroom layoffs? Someone called me and told me they were from AJC Media Solutions. It sounds like a start up joke of a company.
Also, Diana is a plant comment.
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Imperial
January 13th, 2009
7:29 am
I like the clean, crisp and fresh look of the new site. Good job to the team that redesigned the site.
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J
January 13th, 2009
7:29 am
Looks good, but PLEASE get rid of those darn drop-down ads that appear when the page is first opened. That is SOOO annoying!!
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Raul Wooten
January 13th, 2009
7:30 am
now, if the AJC could only change Jim Wooten!
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Peachtree
January 13th, 2009
7:32 am
I do not like the new format ar all. I’m not against new things or ideas but this format does not stand out at all.
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Vernelle
January 13th, 2009
7:35 am
I love yu new format…and it does stand out.
Very clean looking. Great JOB AJC
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Brian
January 13th, 2009
7:36 am
Hey, I will support the change, if that means someone keeps their job!! Good luck!!
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Steve
January 13th, 2009
7:37 am
Good job, if it had to be done. Miss not being able to get a hard copy of AJC in my town. The Chattanooga Times is filling the vacuum.
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RBC
January 13th, 2009
7:39 am
much, much better; old was much too “busy”
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jg
January 13th, 2009
7:40 am
Sorry not feeling it – very confusing – but change will happen I guess we will just have to get used to it.
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ART
January 13th, 2009
7:42 am
LOVE the new format – clean, easy to read, and best of all it loads so much faster! I hated waiting for all the “fancy” graphics and navigation tools to load before – just give me the news!
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Craig
January 13th, 2009
7:48 am
I heard your publisher, John Mellot, resigned yesterday. Now I see why.
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dj
January 13th, 2009
7:49 am
Don’t like it! Like old format better.
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Michael
January 13th, 2009
7:51 am
Where’d the crossword go? I have to pay for it now??? That sucks, really. I don’t even like sodiuko, however you spell it. YUK!
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PGA
January 13th, 2009
7:53 am
Well I guess all of those branding compaigns were jsut spent on air?? For years you pushed the circle AJC and now this. I guess the AJC is just like Pepsi in changing their logo. Does it go with the changing of publishers but better yet please change executive editors, sorry but enough is enough. Looks like you hijacked the idea from another local paper.
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Cindy
January 13th, 2009
7:53 am
Where are the blogs? Where is momania? I don’t like it!!!
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John Tackett
January 13th, 2009
7:54 am
Look cleaner and easier to read. Love the new layout.
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Shannon
January 13th, 2009
7:55 am
Sorry, but I don’t like it … don’t like it at all.
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Georgia Gal
January 13th, 2009
7:58 am
If you just gave us back the old logo, I could live with the layout, but what’s up with that logo?? That’s not the AJC’s logo.
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juanita
January 13th, 2009
7:59 am
the print is so small and everything is running together in the stories that you can’t read the story just some of the headlines
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Tisha
January 13th, 2009
7:59 am
So sick of the snarky internet comments! It’s different, It’s clean, get over it!
Besides the logo and the top left quadrant – the change isn’t drastic. It’ll do!
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JEH
January 13th, 2009
8:01 am
Not at all impressed. Any student could have done as well.
STILL OBJECT TO THE FACT THAT NOWHERE DOES THE AJC, IN ANY WAY CONSIDER THAT DOUGLAS, PAULDING & THE WESTERN COUNTIES EVEN EXIST.
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Gary
January 13th, 2009
8:02 am
Sorry, but in the words of Spencer Trilby (Charlton Heston character in True Lies)…”so far, this is not blowing my skirt up, gentlemen”
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steve
January 13th, 2009
8:04 am
can’t find the online vent now….
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Samantha
January 13th, 2009
8:04 am
I do not like it. It does not greet you when you go unto the website. Other than that it’s O.K.
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Nicol
January 13th, 2009
8:04 am
Nah, I don’t like it. Where are all of the choices? The county and local sections. I feel like I’m lost. Bring the old format back. An what is up with that simpleton logo? Its HORRIBLE.
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jk
January 13th, 2009
8:05 am
Meh.
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Reader
January 13th, 2009
8:07 am
its okay kind of plain, but if you must………..ps JEH don’t feel rained on….they dont recognize some of the eastern counties IE:Rockdale, Newton, etc…..
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RIC COLE
January 13th, 2009
8:07 am
Great start at a new year. The new drop down is MUCH EASIER to manipulate. It really doesnt matter if the logo is pretty, DOES IT?
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tiffany
January 13th, 2009
8:09 am
the new layout is definitely an improvement.. it’s modern and user-friendly, and unlike before, it now feels professional. the new logo, however, is like an attempt at a “retro-looking” logo that only looks old.
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Nicholas Stewart
January 13th, 2009
8:09 am
Keep in mind the folks who don’t like change, are the same ones who forbid alcohol from being sold on Sundays.
It looks fine, and in a few days most will forget about the old design.
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tiffany
January 13th, 2009
8:10 am
Enter your comments here
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GC
January 13th, 2009
8:11 am
The new design is good, but the logo is washed-out looking. The two shades of blue are not complimentary to each other. It’s bland, amateurish, and irritating.
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Al
January 13th, 2009
8:15 am
Get rid of that racist Cynthia Tucker and you guys may survive. Otherwise, shut down the paper and this website.
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Dee
January 13th, 2009
8:15 am
The new format is confusing. I liked the old one. I, too, am tired of seeing the same outdated stories week after week. Private quarters? It is just a way for real estate agents to list their listings. Please defer them to the real estate section. I am interested in news worthy stories. I could careless about the latest escapade of some “celebrity”. Last but not least…where is the vent?
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Disgusted
January 13th, 2009
8:15 am
What lunkhead decided to eliminate the Opinion page from the links above the header? Is Entertainment worthy of inclusion, but Opinion deserving of deletion? Send this new publisher back to Florida or Ohio or wherever he came from. The guy has turned an attractive format into a so-so design I would expect to see in the Rome News-Tribune, not the AJC.
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Cayce
January 13th, 2009
8:17 am
I love it! Thanks for moving into the 21st Century. The old website looked like a tabloid with WAY too much junk on the home page. It’s so much more elegantly designed.
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Pat
January 13th, 2009
8:21 am
I do not like the new look. Go back to the old one. The format now is terrible.
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Michael Scharff
January 13th, 2009
8:21 am
I cannot log in as a returning user as of 8:15 AM 1/14/08. Also, I do not like the look of the new logo, and the Sports page was slow to down load. I just filled out an on-line pop-up survey last week from your site, indicating I was Very Pleased with the site. Why would ya’ll have the survey, then go and mess everything up? I DO NOT like the new look.
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Lee
January 13th, 2009
8:23 am
So far I like it! And I promise, if you stop featuring articles on those RIDICULOUS INSULTING “Real Housewives”, I will love you forever! Not only are they not *news*, they are an insult to the hardworking African-American women who shape Atlanta and, in fact, the entire city.
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Nick
January 13th, 2009
8:23 am
Need to have Local Sports Scores Posted on Front Page…..Maybe on the Left side of The Front Page…
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GDuncan
January 13th, 2009
8:25 am
It’s about time for a change……
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Chas
January 13th, 2009
8:27 am
The new logo looks like Hewlett-Packard’s logo. Other than that, the new layout is fine. It’s less busy than the previous one, I think.
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Koz
January 13th, 2009
8:30 am
The new logo – borrowed from Hewlett Packard?
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hryder
January 13th, 2009
8:30 am
In the venacular, “it sucks”, but most of us will become accustomed to the new format and then when you change again for changes sake to maintain readership we will have a similar reaction and adjust once again.
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Sonia
January 13th, 2009
8:30 am
Keeping up with my hometown’s local news was always easy but not easy on the eye. The new layout is great and I am enjoying it from a sunny and snowy Switzerland. Glad you made the changes!
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Voice of Reason Originale
January 13th, 2009
8:32 am
I do not like this. It’s plain, no color; too white; boring. Sometimes the annoying ads are atop the drop-down menus. You need to put “Letters” in the “Opinion” drop-down. In fact, Opinion needs to be in the top navigationv bar. The Vent, etc., needs to be closer to the top and not in a drop down. I like the immediately previous version better. This is too plain and we have to do too much work to get to what we want.
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Susan
January 13th, 2009
8:32 am
Coca Cola is the most recognized logo in the world and one reason is that they don’t keep redesigning it every few years. Take a cue from another Atlanta staple and leave well enough alone! Don’t care much for the new plain jane layout either.
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atlin83
January 13th, 2009
8:33 am
personally, i like the new look – the new logo is pretty good, and the site’s appearance is far more streamlined and easy to look at than the old one. now if the AJC would stop changing the headlines of the same articles every 4 hours, and work on readability…
regardless of my snarky writing comments, nice job with the redesign. while the AJC and Atlanta have history, there’s no reason to keep things static – the AJC isn’t a museum. it can change as it grows.
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Michael Scharff
January 13th, 2009
8:33 am
Why do I not get a “Welcome, Michael” anymore? WHY can I NOT change the weather zip code for local weather like I could before today’s change? AND, WHY, OH WHY, DID Y’ALL NOT WARN ANYBODY THAT THESE CHANGES WERE COMING? (YES I KNOW I’M SHOUTING, AND I KNOW IT’S NOT GOOD ETIQUETTE, BUT I AM NOT HAPPY!)
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tnol
January 13th, 2009
8:34 am
The layout is ok. but what web designer thinks that light blue or gray text on a white background has enough contrast to be easy to read? job #1 is making it easy for the viewer. fix that quickly, please.
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Porkins
January 13th, 2009
8:41 am
Best thing about this design:
The drop down menu gives a vertical list instead of the old horizontal. Much more logical and user-friendly. Good job!
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Lindainatl
January 13th, 2009
8:42 am
This design is hard to see; not as sharp, crisp and appealing. Worse, it is very hard to navigate and find things. It’s also boring. I really hate the opening dropdown ads, which you’ve kept. THAT, you could’ve eliminated. IMHO, this was NOT money well spent. Bring back the fun, colorful look, with easy to find columns and news!
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Vito
January 13th, 2009
8:42 am
The new design is an improvement. The previous design was so awful that just about anything would have been better.
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Mel
January 13th, 2009
8:45 am
I do not like the new format and especially do not like that it was so sudden. The lack of contrast makes it too difficult to read.
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Doug
January 13th, 2009
8:46 am
I really dont care for the new logo, and it will take me some time to get acclimated to the other changes. I agree that AJC says nothing about Atlanta, or the two newspapers that brought us the new for so many years.
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larr
January 13th, 2009
8:47 am
the site design is mediocre at best. like so many other newspapers that have ad directors, with no online experience other than attempting to sell a position their parent company asks them to, having way too much freedom to decide how websites should operate and look. stick to what you know, and let the developers do what they know. the overall product will be ten times better.
everyone that reads this: download firefox, and the ad block plus add on to block all of their ads, and the site is much easier to digest.
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Howard
January 13th, 2009
8:48 am
Sirs…like the new format a lot…not as busy and confusing. Still wish you’d lose those pop-up ads that always appear when you open it. Know how many ignore those things?? Also…on the opinion section, how about listing Jim Wooten by his name, like the liberal writers on your staff…not by “Thinking Right.” I almost skipped it because I did not see his name anywhere!!
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Gary
January 13th, 2009
8:48 am
That logo makes you look weak and washed out….there is something to be said for continuity, constantly tweaking and changing yourself projects a poor self image
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Becky
January 13th, 2009
8:48 am
I don’t like the new design, but I guess as others said, we’ll just have to get used to it..To plain, to boring, to ugly, the list could go on & on..Where is MOMania??
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Bettyboop
January 13th, 2009
8:48 am
Even the Comics suck now! I won’t be renewing my subscription!
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Linda
January 13th, 2009
8:49 am
I’m an out-of-town reader, and one thing I enjoyed about the old format was my local weather forecast that appeared when the AJC page loaded. Could you please restore that feature?
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Jennifer
January 13th, 2009
8:50 am
I can’t find the vents. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
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Joe
January 13th, 2009
8:50 am
Where is the vent!
The change is a w f u l
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geesh!
January 13th, 2009
8:54 am
I just don’t like it. Some parts are good, yes, but overall…me no likey. And Michael, I totally feel your pain. I wanna shout too, but I’m so bothered by this that I can’t. AJC, a heads up would have been nice. I may have adjusted easier with a little warning. Nevertheless, it’s here, and I’m obviously stuck with it if I decided to continue reading this paper online. Logging on is giving me HELL, and I actually enjoyed my personal “welcome” at the top of the page-so much for that! This just sucks…but life goes on. geesh!
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Chad
January 13th, 2009
8:55 am
I also really like the new format, much easier to read through.
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William C
January 13th, 2009
8:55 am
The first thing I noticed about the new format – I can’t tell whether I am logged in or not. Did I miss it or did your designers forget it?
Also, is there a link to log out? This is the one thing that is the least standard of the web sites I use, forcing me to search every month on sites I use to pay bills.
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d
January 13th, 2009
8:55 am
Not so great. Where are the blogs???
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Tracy
January 13th, 2009
8:57 am
As a graphic designer I think this change is horrible. Find some SCAD students to help you next time. It’s too bland and the logo looks very bland. Your photos and ads stand out more than your navigation and logo.
Where is MOMania? Things are hard to find and as a mom I don’t have time to find them.
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C
January 13th, 2009
9:00 am
Poor design. The old was so much better. AWFUL!!!!!
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Ryan
January 13th, 2009
9:00 am
I love the new website! This is a great new look and falls closely in line with google, cnn.com and other sites which garner huge traffic. Keep up the great work as this online geek, will continue to read!
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Cemeeli
January 13th, 2009
9:00 am
I like it, I like it!!!
It’s like getting a brand new Portfolio binder…cool
.
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David
January 13th, 2009
9:01 am
Hate it – need I say more?
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Jacie
January 13th, 2009
9:02 am
It’s just OK. Agree with others that logo isn’t impressive; not something I would stop to take a second look at. We all will get used to the new navigation and not a problem; it definitely looks cleaner. However, I find it to be quite slow. Granted, I’m not on the speediest computer when I’m at work, but the old site was quite a bit faster. I also agree with the annoying roll down ads. So annoying that I never look at them and couldn’t tell you what they are advertising. Although I don’t pay much attention to any ads, I’m more likely to see one that’s just sitting there and my eye goes over it while I’m looking at the rest of the page. I just close the roll down ads as fast as I can find the button to do so.
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issa
January 13th, 2009
9:03 am
Hate it
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kvp
January 13th, 2009
9:07 am
Ugh! I just had a vocal reaction when I opened up the homepage. The old was one pretty crappy, but at least it had some contrast to help with navigation. This looks way less professional than the previous one. I like the new logo in theory, but it’s so soft-spoken and pastel and weak that it just isn’t doing it for me. Make a statement, use some color and contrast. What the hell, y’all???
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ATL Is Better Than Chi/Crock-Town
January 13th, 2009
9:07 am
I Do Not Like The New Format… and for those of you that always want to compare Atlanta with Chicago…Stop Please! We may do some illegal things here in Atlanta, but Chicago takes the Cake. Instead of being known for the self-proclaim 2nd city (which actually belongs to LA, but don’t tell the ppl from Chicago that) Its now known as the most embarrassing/corrupt city in America. No one in the US wants Chicago representing the US in the Olympics. Chicago or Illinois for that matter, will NEVER-EVER be respected as classy city. You lost that with 4 Governors in Jail. Now chew on that!
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J
January 13th, 2009
9:07 am
Like the new format, hate the logo
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issa
January 13th, 2009
9:08 am
I honestly had to recheck to make sure I was on the AJC. I even logged out and logged back in to see if that made a difference
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Matt
January 13th, 2009
9:09 am
Clean and simple is good. Still too many ads. The logo doesn’t exactly scream “history and reputation,” but I guess it fits most of the writing here.
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J David Raiteri
January 13th, 2009
9:10 am
I think paint newspapers, like the typewriter & landline phones & large novels & large file cabinets…..are a thing of the 1900s. In fact, JOURNALISM IS DEAD…..
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Emily
January 13th, 2009
9:11 am
A lot of the changes are subtle, but it is a big improvement. The site is much cleaner and easier to navigate and it might help to remind people what you were starting with. Keep up the good work.
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JLS
January 13th, 2009
9:12 am
The logo looks childish, boring. I’m still looking over the site, but that lower case ‘ajc’ caught my eye and I thought something must be wrong with my internet settings :-/
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DannyX
January 13th, 2009
9:12 am
Not a big fan of the redo. Taking away the Opinion page is a big mistake. No more letters to the editor? No more editorials? Seems you are using this redo to hide the fact that you have greatly reduced the content in the Opinion section. I guess people are easily fooled by flashy diversions.
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Jay
January 13th, 2009
9:12 am
I agree with so many others. I do not like to new web-site. I think it is very childish and un professional. I would like for the AJC to come into the same as the NY Times and Chicago Tribune. So, with all of the resources that you have, please do something that look more 21st century and not to RETRO. I actually logged out then logged back-in to ensure that I was on the correct page.
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Scott Baker
January 13th, 2009
9:12 am
Some have mentioned they can’t find certain things… here’s a cheat sheet…
- News Buzz is now “The Buzz” and is moves to the top of the right column (away from the real news)
-Take a Break items are now found further down the homepage in the right column under the ads – these include:
* Puzzles
* Horoscopes
* The Vent
* Lottery
* Comics
* Quizzes
* Sudoku
* Crossword
Navigation: Under each section there are the subsections (ie under Sports is the Atlanta Falcons section) here are the changes…
- Blogs are now under each section, with top Blogs and a link to the directory
- Breaking news alerts are now in the right rail of every page below the ad
- E-mail newsletters are now in the right rail of every page below the ad
- Featured content (databases, quizzes, etc) are now under each section, with top Featured content and a link to the directory
- Health is now a subsection of Lifestyle
- Living is now called Lifestyle
- Metro news sections (all of them including County pages) have moved under “News”
- Mobile edition is now in the right rail of every page below the ad
- Nation / World news sections have moved under “News”
- Opinion columns and blogs have moved under “News”
- Photos are now under each section
- Print edition are now in the right rail of every page below the ad
- RSS feeds are now in the right rail of every page below the ad
- Tools and widgets are now in the right rail of every page below the ad
- Topics pages are now under each section, with top Topics for that section and a link to the Hot Topics page
- Videos are now under each section
- Weather is now in the header on every page
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Raul
January 13th, 2009
9:13 am
It’s okay
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Jamie
January 13th, 2009
9:13 am
I use Mozilla firefox for a browser and the text is difficult to read. One of the reasons I prefer the AJC for local news is that I prefer reading to watching a video clip. I would recommend making the site cross browser compatible.
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Elissa
January 13th, 2009
9:13 am
I miss being able to click on the print edition to get stories that aren’t posted on the AJC Online. Also, I miss the separate health entries. This new version doesn’t seem as user friendly as the former design.
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edge770
January 13th, 2009
9:14 am
Did you get your logo design done by RITEAID? It’s almost as cheap and hideous looking. Go take a look at west coast or even say the Augusta Chronicle newspaper sites. I also want print ads available such as Fry’s available in a pdf format or able to read them online.
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jason
January 13th, 2009
9:14 am
Thanks for making the changes. I would also like to thank you for making changes to the mobile version that I get on my PDA so I can see the same version as I see on my laptop. That was a very frustrating few weeks when the mobile version was the only one available. And I hope you guys won’t be going back to that. thanks -
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Jeff
January 13th, 2009
9:15 am
Boooooo!!!! The old design was much better. This is plain and amateur looking. I thought I was on the wrong site for a minute. Back to the old!!!
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Anita Hall-Cox
January 13th, 2009
9:15 am
Everything looks faded. Not enough color.
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Jon
January 13th, 2009
9:15 am
This is the only webpage that I have trouble reading. Did you change the fonts? I agree the Logo is boring, but I like the new layout.
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$ Bill
January 13th, 2009
9:15 am
I like the new look! It’s cleaner, less cluttered and a bit easier to read.
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Mark Z
January 13th, 2009
9:16 am
This sucks. The AJC website looks something that you would find use the proxy server at work. Please change back!!
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Mimi
January 13th, 2009
9:19 am
Looks washed out. I am not against change, but it needs sharpening. I agree that the logo should not change. I don’t know and don’t really care what Chicago, LA, and New York do.
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Tony
January 13th, 2009
9:19 am
I’ve participated in several surveys to help improve the site, but had I known this is what they’d do with my feedback, I’d have taken greater pains to be clear. This is washed-out, faded, and doesn’t speak well of Atlanta. A newspaper can be a city’s face — it’s identity. This mimics other Cox sites, sure, but doesn’t do anything for the city’s identity. Maybe busy is good, sometimes. Maybe busy means there’s a lot going on. Maybe busy fits the city’s identity better.
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Lucy
January 13th, 2009
9:19 am
I do not like the new look or format. Not that I am opposed to change, but there is still plenty of room for the old stuff, especiall in today’s world where there is/has been SO much changing that the small creature comforts make life good!! I moved to Birmingham about 2 years ago and the “Birmingham News” cannot hold a candle to the AJC. I looked foward to reading the AJC daily via the internet, or at least I use to…………………….
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stock checker
January 13th, 2009
9:20 am
Way to check your links under business / georgia top stocks – it is forbidden.
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Yolanda
January 13th, 2009
9:20 am
No major objections to the new look, but the LOGO IS HORRIBLE. It’s not aesthetically pleasing and does not connected to the AJC brand. Big mistake – I hope no one got paid to create it.
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Chardonnay Nicole Thomas
January 13th, 2009
9:21 am
The new look is okay, but the AJC logo could have been done more creatively by a really experienced graphic designer/artist. I actually think that the old look was a little more accessible and easier to read, but sometimes change is good.
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Scott Baker
January 13th, 2009
9:24 am
The Opinion page is still located at:
http://www.ajc.com/opinion
It’s in the navigation under “News”
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HS Teacher
January 13th, 2009
9:25 am
I make a better looking web site for myself at school on a MAC computer. Your logo is not what Mr Henry Grady would expect. History does matter and change is not always better.
I think AJC, you learned your lesson about the mobile format. I want to see the exact same thing on my iPhone and my laptop.
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Bernie
January 13th, 2009
9:26 am
You really need to lose the big drop down ads, they are as bad as pop-ups. I opened your site and thought I was at firestone.com. I don’t know why a company would do that to their website. Have some pride would you!
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kim
January 13th, 2009
9:26 am
Curt….the print version of ajc is antiquated…print is dead…if online keeps the same print business plan/look/identity…it will fail just like the auto industry.
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A
January 13th, 2009
9:27 am
Can you please move The Buzz from the very top of the page? How will the AJC ever be taken seriously as a source of news if you have Hollywood news and gossip and the latest from those horrible ATL housewives front and center. Seriously, look at WashingtonPost.com, NYTimes.com, heck even USAToday.com for how a news site should look like.
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Mike
January 13th, 2009
9:27 am
Nice change in the format..much needed…one problem though….the blue is hard to see for older eyes…..perhaps you could darken it more…
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Mike
January 13th, 2009
9:27 am
Trendy, lazy. The faded blue font hurts the eyes. It’s an obvious product of the no-design Facebook and MySpace generation. Do a usability study–or at least read one.
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KSE
January 13th, 2009
9:28 am
I already sent an email saying I thought the new logo was terrible, I really hope this wasn’t a senior level graphic designer who created that for a newspaper. So much is conveyed in the type of font, colors, style that is used and nothing about the new logo says newspaper. The original was much better.
If the AJC folks are bored and need something to do they should try proofreading their online articles before publishing them, I see bad typos all the time.
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Robin Hale
January 13th, 2009
9:28 am
Not a single change is for the better. I wasn’t a big fan of the old layout but at least it wasn’t bland and anemic. Now it’s like looking at a website predigested for second graders. It’s pathetic. Rethink this please!
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Neal
January 13th, 2009
9:28 am
Not bad. The navigation bar needs some color though. It gets lost up there and you almost overlook it.
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inBallGround
January 13th, 2009
9:29 am
Staring to look like USAToday. Maybe you oughtto re-doo access Atlanta for the eneteratinment. I find it the worse to figure out what is where and when (timely reviews would help too).
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Linnie D Williams
January 13th, 2009
9:30 am
I agree with the others. I dont like the logo. The light blue is not
an eye catcher when you long on. When I first signed on I had to look twice cause I thougth I was on the wrong web page.
The info at top of page does not stand out. It seems like now you have
to search more on front page to see if there is any news you want to read. Again with the lighter font—Im working harder now.
Pls change the color if you must keep the design.
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hannah
January 13th, 2009
9:30 am
Right now, people just don’t like it because it is different than what they are used to. I think the new logo is cute and appealing to a younger audience. The new format is much easier to use and understand. Thanks for taking a good thing and making it better
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Michael Scharff
January 13th, 2009
9:31 am
Mr. Baker, I appreciate your tips for navigation. However, you have said NOTHING about being able to get the Local Weather or folks not knowing if we are logged in or not. Really, I’m sorry if I am sounding rude, that’s not my intent. However, the AJC has ALWAYS been my go-to site for news and information, and I am not comfortable with that anymore as of today.
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MA
January 13th, 2009
9:51 am
I don’t mind the new design; it’s the site’s performance that’s annoying me. Slow, slow, slow…
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Scott Baker
January 13th, 2009
9:51 am
Mr. Scharff, I just wanted to followup and let you know that Weather is still at the same location ( http://www.ajc.com/weather ) and can be accessed from the header on every page. We have some major improvements coming in the next few for this section. Also, if you are not logged in you should be directed to a sign in page. You can access email newsletters and breaking news subscriptions fromthe My Account link in the header on every page. Hope that helps.
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BK
January 13th, 2009
9:58 am
You can find all the stuff you are looking for in the menus, people. Learn how to use the Internet. It is cleaner, but the logo is a bit bland. The changes aren’t that drastic. I can barely tell, except it is not as jumbled together.
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Cindy
January 13th, 2009
10:01 am
Looks better, but you really didn’t fix any of the navigation or usability issues that have continually bugged me. Typical ‘redesign’ – all fluff, no substance.
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Scott Baker
January 13th, 2009
10:01 am
We had a server issue that was causing slowness, fixed now
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ron
January 13th, 2009
10:01 am
I still haven’t located the features I like.This site loads like cold molasses.I suppose you spent a lot of money to make this mess.Change for the sake of change.Someone justifying their job.Been there seen that.
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Daxter
January 13th, 2009
10:02 am
Like anything else, it will take getting used to. I agree that the logo is not great.
What I miss is the “Metro” tab in the header. It allowed us to check on stories in each county. Why did you take it out?
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SCOTT
January 13th, 2009
10:02 am
The new look is terrible there is not place to sign in on the front page of this website it’s confusing, i hate it.
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Brandon
January 13th, 2009
10:02 am
The redesign is a HUGE improvement over the previous site. Better in every way. Well done!
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Grace DeVita
January 13th, 2009
10:03 am
It’s about time you made some changes…it’s always been very difficult to navigate
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Rickster
January 13th, 2009
10:03 am
Why mess with a good thing? In an effrot to get better, you mucked it up!!!
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LeFTyNGa
January 13th, 2009
10:04 am
The one thing I always loved about the AJC website is it felt like I was looking at the actual paper. That made it special to me and the navigation was easier. This new format all just seems to blend together. I’m not impressed.
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Mickey Harris
January 13th, 2009
10:04 am
Who cares what color it is,it’s the information thats important. Fantastic Job!
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Kerry
January 13th, 2009
10:04 am
The new look is great! Much cleaner and more streamlined. I don’t have any issues with the logo — I don’t visit your site to see the logo. Most people probably visit your site for easily accessible, quality news.
Now you should try to make your online presence match your print presence, and put more focus on real news stories, as opposed to silly videos or celebrity news. You can’t match Youtube or celebrity sites like TMZ.com.
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Glenn
January 13th, 2009
10:06 am
Gray bars on sides reminds me of “letter boxing”,wuwt?
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Greg
January 13th, 2009
10:06 am
Like someone recently said, “You can put lipstick on a pig….” The fact that “Buzz,” “Inside the AJC,” and other fluff are so prominently featured near the top of the page accurately reflects your standing among true news organizations. Why not be more truthful and just rename it the Atlanta Entertainment Journal?
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Traci
January 13th, 2009
10:08 am
I HATE IT!!!!!!! AJC, why change a good thing?! Bring back the old format. Where in the HECK is the local news???? What’s with the logo? I hate the font as well – it’s hard to read & I’m finding myself squinting to read it!! It’s plain out awful! FIX THIS MESS AJC! WE HATE IT, HATE IT, HATE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hate is a strong word and honestly it’s exactly how I feel about these UNNECESSARY changes!
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martin
January 13th, 2009
10:09 am
The new logo looks like a generic brand of cookies at a Piggly Wiggly.
Thumbs down!
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M'
January 13th, 2009
10:09 am
Oh, get over it…change can be good..and it has come…it does have a cleaner look and feel to it…and it may prove to be easier to navigate over time.
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Heather
January 13th, 2009
10:09 am
It really doesn’t matter what it looks like because its still the same crappy content. AJC sucks.
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Carolina
January 13th, 2009
10:10 am
Why not keep the old logo/branding? You can do a site redesign without changing traditional elements. The new logo doesn’t convey newspaper to me – more like grocery store.
I can see a lot of cosmetic changes were made, but you’ve still neglected to fix a lot of the usability and layout issues. Perhaps take a look at other, great versions of online newspapers like The Washington Post or the New York Post before making a decision on the final version of the site.
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Joe
January 13th, 2009
10:11 am
I like it. Much more streamlined and easy to navigate. Question: Will other section fronts be getting the same new “look” as the homepage? The sports section et. al seems to be the same, other than the new nav bar.
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luangtom
January 13th, 2009
10:11 am
Nice look….too bad the same biased editor is in charge and the same staff is writing for you.
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Patricia
January 13th, 2009
10:12 am
I like the cleaner look/feel to the site but have to agree with the comments about the logo. The color isn’t strong enough.
And as many others have said, the content is still mediocre. I read/refer to the AJC because it’s our city’s paper of record, but in terms of reading hard/incisive news, it’s a joke.
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Ex-Northerner
January 13th, 2009
10:13 am
Much better! The old was very hard to navigate. The naysayers just don’t like change.
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woodie
January 13th, 2009
10:18 am
The layout is less important than the annoying scrolling advertisements at the top of the page. It says to me, “I don’t respect you so I reserve the right to annoy you with banners advertising products 90% of the readers aren’t interested in”. Take some time to look at Google or Yahoo some day. You don’t see these annoying things do you? Compare their traffic to yours. Ask yourself “how do I advertise to a repeat reader who has a narrow range of interests without annoying him with irrelevant ads?” The answer is not hard.
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Mr. Anderson
January 13th, 2009
10:18 am
Why am I reminded of Planet Radio? But seriously, I like the navigation a little bit better but the logo looks too femme or Apple like or something. I know it’s the style today but with news, I like the traditional look like the WSJ and NYT. But that’s me. The format and navigation are win. It’s only the logo that bites.
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yankee ex-pat
January 13th, 2009
10:19 am
actually, most of the “naysayers who don’t like change” are probably on firefox like me, where it’s loading like crap with navigation loading on top of each other. i could care less about the design, before or after. i didn’t even notice it had changed until i tried to go somewhere from the home page, and noticed the loading problems.
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Najeh Davenpoop
January 13th, 2009
10:20 am
I could care less about the logo… the layout is much better. I wish y’all had a feature where you can move around the different “boxes”, like nation/world, sports, entertainment, etc. so that whatever you read the most could be higher up on the page, like how Google’s personalized web page allows you to do.
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Marian
January 13th, 2009
10:21 am
I don’t like it at all. They say “change is good,” but not this one. The new look is bland and unimpressive. The AJC can and should do so much better.
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yankee ex-pat
January 13th, 2009
10:25 am
well, given the sorry state of newspapers today, i sincerely doubt the ajc had the budget to hire web & graphic designers that knew what they were doing. it shows.
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Danny
January 13th, 2009
10:26 am
I love the new layout. It is much cleaner and easier to navigate. Imagine a news web site that makes it easy to find stories, who would have ever thunk it?
A newspaper website should be about the information and not fancy logos and other useless bells and whistles. People that crticise the logo maybe ought to think about what it was they are visiting the site for in the first place. No doubt there will probably be several updates to the logo to strike a balance that pleases the people who value style over substance but so far I have enjoyed visiting the site.
I haven’t been what you call a big fan of the AJC, but that is related to the editorial slant taken. This web site update in my book is a positive.
Congratulations
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Marc
January 13th, 2009
10:26 am
Change? It’s still cluttered and it still looks like it was made by a 9th grader. There is just too much irrelevant news showing up. The page is just too noisy!
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Kevin
January 13th, 2009
10:27 am
Regarding the logo, you couldn’t have created a more blatant rip-off of HP if you copied and pasted HP’s logo from their website.
Go to google, type in HP, and click on images.
Embarassing.
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Shawn
January 13th, 2009
10:27 am
Far cleaner and simpler than before. Text stands out better. Bold primary colors splashed around before were a distraction. The simple interface explains much of the success of the Google search engine and Facebook.
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Steve
January 13th, 2009
10:28 am
I don’t mind the layout chagnes but the logo looks like you’ve reached the webpage of a cleaning product or company. It’s to sterile and cold. The old logo reflects the history of the paper.
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me
January 13th, 2009
10:29 am
I’m ok with change… but the font is waaaaaaaaaaaay to small now!
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B
January 13th, 2009
10:29 am
The fonts chosen for this site are not clearly rendered in my browser (IE 7). Letters are not spaced properly, the tops or bottoms of capitals are clipped. I suspect someone allowed this choice to be made without adequate testing.
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AuburnZ
January 13th, 2009
10:31 am
I like the format, but miss seeing the sports links in the sports recap on the main page. I will get used to clicking the link from the main navigation, but it means I probably won’t scroll around on the main page as much. This is good for me, but not sure it is good for the people that write on the various sections.
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A
January 13th, 2009
10:38 am
One more thing. Could you *please* change to a serif font? It will help make the site look more polished and the AJC look more serious as a news organization.
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Mac
January 13th, 2009
10:41 am
If Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman are still running editorial content, then the new look is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic…
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Rhonda
January 13th, 2009
10:43 am
the font is too small for people with ageing eyes. also the blue on the white is messes with the eyse.
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Davis
January 13th, 2009
10:49 am
It is a bit cleaner – may take some time to get used to…but… why all the focus in your announcement on Entertainment and The Buzz… are you a news organization or E! ?
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Eric Dye
January 13th, 2009
10:50 am
I like the new look (logo) it is refreshing, and clean looking. It even implements the original look and makes the entire page look more organized – good move! When will the logo be in the browser?
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Elizabeth Griffin
January 13th, 2009
10:52 am
Well, you people have got it wrong from the beginning of the internet. Change everything else, leave the logo alone. That is who you are. Which one of the marketing people is responsible for the new logo? Should be on the next bus out. At least it is the same font.
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Heather
January 13th, 2009
10:54 am
The new logo is horrible. It looks amateur. The type, colors, rounded corners. Yuck. Not professional at all. This logo belongs on the box of a cheap toy.
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Amy
January 13th, 2009
10:58 am
Where is the quick link to the blogs? Like Momania? Am I overlooking them?
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tony
January 13th, 2009
10:58 am
While I definitely think it is an improvement over the look of the previous site, it’s still not befitting the largest paper of one of the nation’s largest metros.
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local news please
January 13th, 2009
11:00 am
I’d like to read more about metro Atlanta on the Atlanta Journal Constitution’s web site. Not some guy who crashed his plane in Alabama, which is currently your featured main article. Readers turn to the AJC for local news, about local people. Not pilots in Alabama.
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Traci
January 13th, 2009
11:01 am
I wonder if “Scott Baker” is the one who ERASED my comment. Hmmmm, pretty weird & well typical to say the least! Guess the AJC cannot accept nor take negative feedback on the redesign.
PS: I hate the layout, I hate the font, the logo is horrible and where in the heck is the local news now? I hate everything about the new change! SUCKS!
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She-She
January 13th, 2009
11:07 am
I have put the DENIED stamp on the AJC page. I like the old look much better please change it back asap.
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dreamersrage
January 13th, 2009
11:10 am
The logo is terrible. I agree with others that the colors are washed out, don’t complement each other very well, and just looks a little to small town to me. But, I like the updated look of the site in terms of fonts and arrangement. Easier to read.
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Teresa
January 13th, 2009
11:12 am
THE NEW HOME PAGE SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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gasunshine
January 13th, 2009
11:12 am
I don’t see any difference other than the lack of color. The site is still very busy and cluttered.
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Spade
January 13th, 2009
11:13 am
The new look is clean, but way too plain for my taste. I agree with the posters that say that the AJC is moving too far from the great roots that have been apart of the city of Atlanta for years! Please change it back to “THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION”, and do so before you loose the rest of your readers!
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Cammi317
January 13th, 2009
11:16 am
Where is Momania? I can’t find the blogs!!!!!!!!!
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Brenda
January 13th, 2009
11:21 am
Can’t tell that its been improved, just different. Seems to take a long time to load and it took about four tries to get to this blog because server kept timing out. Also, blue on white or white on blue are the two hardest color combinations to read, might want to research that that next time. The dark blue is ok, but the light blue just kind of fades away. Seems to take more steps to get to some items. Again, not improved, just different.
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DB
January 13th, 2009
11:21 am
Atlanta is very deserving of a first class newspaper, when you guys at AJC get it right it is magnificent.
More investigative reporting, and the Food section needs to be refurbished, it used to be a weekly highlight not that long ago, when John Kessler still had “unfortunate” hair, LOL. I hate the new logo, it looks like a middle school contest winner.
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pj
January 13th, 2009
11:21 am
seems harder to find things (navigate) because its blah-er and nothing much stands out. Need more obvious menus. Now I have to scroll down and look for vent link. I also still miss the old scrolling video strip from many months ago. I never look at the videos in their current design.
What’s with the removal of color? It’s cheaper in print, but easy in digital.
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long time reader
January 13th, 2009
11:23 am
Looks very much as a student did the design – do Not like the new logo. Harder to find the various sections – too much “pop entertainment” on the “front page”. Must be wanting to become a tabloid from the layout.
Makes me glad I have found better written and informed news sources than the AJC.
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MD
January 13th, 2009
11:24 am
It looks highly GENERIC!!!!!!!! Hate it!!!!!!!!
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AtlantaNative
January 13th, 2009
11:27 am
First, you cannot tell it is a newspaper from the site. “AJC” could be anything. It looks cheap and does not import verity or gravitas at all. I’ll bet even Bookman will agree with me on this one thing. From the new look, all your columnists are reduced to mere bloggers as there is no indication this is a newspaper.
Second – it navigates fine now, so that is OK. It wasn’t so bad to begin with.
Third, the logo reminds me of the Sealy mattress company or perhaps dental floss. New is not necessarily better. Remember “Izzy” and “Everyday is an opening day in Atlanta” or “ATL” as short for Atlanta (except it takes longer to say). Just because the marketing department or the outside consultants claim it is a good idea or their surveys seem to show that, dosen’t mean it’s not garbage and merely an attempt to justify their continued employment at the cost of your readership.
The new design reminds me of Underground Atlanta – a completely bland mall and food court with the same name as the original; but with no connection to its history, no resemblance to the original and nothing accomplished to make Atlanta a better place.
Does it fit Atlanta? Yes, because it has no connection with the city or its history, a common theme in Atlanta. This is the city that tried to tear down the Fox. This is the city where foreign visitors are amazed that there is no museum of slavery in the South. This is the City that destroyed the Arts Festival by moving to to concrete well before any drought.
Keep messing with the logo and cutting down on my newspaper and my visits will decrease and 20+ year subscription will eventually end. Keep in touch with our history and cater to your audience and you will keep me.
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Gabe
January 13th, 2009
11:30 am
The site redesign looks great. AJC.com is my homepage, so I see it several times during the day, and always browse the top stories and breaking news. Overall the site looks very clean and very well organized. I have to agree with several of the other comments…the new logo looks awful! It looks like a total copy of Hewlett-Packard. Take a look at any printer or fax machine made in the last 10 years and you’ll see exactly what I mean!
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silent knight
January 13th, 2009
11:30 am
I don’t care for the new style at all!! While the pages seem to load quicker, it’s hard to find the sections I want to read.
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Scott
January 13th, 2009
11:31 am
Looks fantastic. Thanks for updating and streamlining the webpage. I think this is long overdue.
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Macca
January 13th, 2009
11:32 am
The new look is blah, the logo is terrible, but you’ve GOT to start making an effort to update story and special feature links faster. I just clicked on a Budget Travel link about a weekend fare to Salt Lake that was originally published LAST FRIDAY!!! Pathetic.
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argh
January 13th, 2009
11:33 am
seriously? this is a redesign? honestly? oh, wait, no you just took a module from a CMS and copied that. The truly defining thing about the ajc and for that matter, the logo, is the utter lack of respect to history and any sort of tribute that could have been implied in this “redesign”
Guys, who did you hire? have you guys talked to the people at Mario Garcia? Poynter? anyone? Please hire a consultant.
Maybe the new publisher (Doug Franklin) will realize how terrible this is and add his input. Please please please before the AJC loses all credibility.
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Nick
January 13th, 2009
11:36 am
I like the top navigation. It’s crisp, much more informative and I feel like I can access more of the site now. I would like to see Atlanta Weather/Traffic complimented with alerts, big incidents, warnings.
The logo, which has been repeated many times, is off the quality of the rest of your product. I would recommend the circle 2.0ish “AJC” to take it’s place. It would add a darker blue to the top, maintain the feel of the redesign and not look like it was thrown together to get width out of a constrained logo. Add Atlanta Journal-Constitution under if it you need width still to fill the space. Even a typographic logo would be better than the two-tone rounded box.
Major headline font needs work. The font has too much space between letters to be the headline font online. A serif font, as mentioned above, could do the trick or a heavier, more stylized sans-serif headline font.
Overall, good job. I think it’s a definite step in the right direction. I think making subtle changes over time will help your design get tweaked.
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Susan
January 13th, 2009
11:37 am
I don’t like it at all! It’s difficult to navigate, and took me forever to find my favorites…the vents. Put it back the way it was, or AJC will no longer be my homepage.
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Nancy - Jackson, GA
January 13th, 2009
11:37 am
The new design is cleaner, but my questions are regarding the lack of AJC paper copies in my county.
1. Will the AJC make Parade Mag available through your site?
2. Will sale ADs from the Sunday paper be available on your site?
3. What about the Sunday Comics?
4. I tried the AJC Print version and the font is much too small when an article is printed. I attempted to fit it to the page and portions of the article did not print. Please help with this issue.
5. If it is not feasible to home deliver in outlying counties, at least provide weekend papers to some of the convenience stores/gas stations in the county.
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Jane
January 13th, 2009
11:37 am
Obviously, the AJC must really be suffering, since it spent NOTHING on the redesign of this site. It navigation leaves much to be desired and the logo is hideous. I will not start on the content, which in brief has always sucked. But come on, this is the city where I live and I cannot read this paper, though I force myself everyday. At least promise us faster updates on stories (that are poorly written) and links (that may or may not work).
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Sharrieff
January 13th, 2009
11:38 am
Where is the “Opinion” section? How do you expect me to find Luckovitch? In a word, this new format SUCKS!!!
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WTF
January 13th, 2009
11:38 am
Why isn’t our local news on the headline? How stupid AJC? You guys gave the headline to a pilot who aborted his plane in another state headlines over Atlanta headlines. P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C!!!!!
By the way, what’s with the horrible, small sized font. This is definitely a turn for the worse. I would expect way better from a major news source. Bring the old back!
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StephHatesIt
January 13th, 2009
11:39 am
I am sorry, but I cannot agree with previous posts. I actually think the logo looks antiquated and borderline comical–not at all journalistic or anything to be taken seriously. I understand wanting a sleeker look, but this is not it. Nonetheless, I am an avid reader and will try my best to adjust.
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RED
January 13th, 2009
11:48 am
The new format is OK. I prefer the old one. I hope you have made changes to the video section, whereas we can read the caption without scrolling up and down.
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Spade
January 13th, 2009
11:50 am
If you aren’t from Atlanta, and are unaware of the abbreviation of AJC to mean The Atlanta Journal-Constitution then how are you supposed to know you are visiting the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s website? I think the Atlanta Journal-Constitution should be spelled out somewhere on that hideous AJC logo.
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cynthia
January 13th, 2009
11:52 am
I like it! Good job.
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Mike
January 13th, 2009
11:56 am
Everyone needs to quit b****ing! Bunch of drama queens. It’s a subtle change that cleans it up, not real reason to be excited either way.
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Trevor
January 13th, 2009
11:57 am
This new format is expedient, and very exciting, I like it very much and welcome the new change. Once others begin to use it they will also love it. great job on the design.
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Walt Belcher
January 13th, 2009
12:00 pm
The type is kinda small isn’t it? Hard to read and I’ve go 20/20. I can’t even read what I’m writing now. Well, if I get my nose on the screen.
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Gary
January 13th, 2009
12:06 pm
Quickly, (before to many folks see this) go back to the old format. I’ll forgive and forget this mess….btw I still haven’t forgiven or forgotten your removing @Issue from the sunday paper, for that reason alone I no longer buy a sunday paper. Surprise me and do the right thing, go back.
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Douglas
January 13th, 2009
12:06 pm
HORRIBLE!!!! HP needs to sue !!! Fire the design team and art director for approving such crap!!!
Just like Atlanta, the AJC has no identity! Look at the NY Times site, NY Daily News site, LA times site. They all has a sense of history and establishment. Your new logo would have been “new” in 1985…but its 2009. Get the original header back up, and hire a new layout team. Be SMART in design, not just NEW. Once again you are thinking everyone in Atlanta is a dumb as you.
The AJC is no longer reaching to be world class huh? Just a big “town” with stupid drinking laws, no nitelife, and horrible cookie cutter developments going up everywhere. Why doesnt anybody here have any style??????????
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Deirdre
January 13th, 2009
12:09 pm
Where’s the link to ajcblogs on the front page. Do we have to go searching in different depts just to get to a variety of blogs?
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Michael Scharff
January 13th, 2009
12:09 pm
Mr. Baker, I’m just now getting back on after a long morning meeting. I appreciate you response. However, i am afraid you did not address my actual concern as to the weather. Before today, you could enter a zip code for a different location (it could be anywhere in the U.S.) in the link at the top of the home page, and then, that would be the default weather for the user as long as he or she was signed in. So, me being in Augusta, GA, I always knew what my current conditions were anytime I went to the home page.
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Lee
January 13th, 2009
12:15 pm
What? You guys changed the web page? Haven’t noticed….
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Jeff
January 13th, 2009
12:15 pm
The new logo is not good. Not good at all. Really bad. Ugly.
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trent jones
January 13th, 2009
12:21 pm
It’s somewhat better, BUT…
the AJC is not going to survive much longer. seems like you guys are taking the “dumbed down” AOL approach by featuring funny videos on your front page.
and those giant dynamic ads are a disaster. they may make short-term money but they are killing the website.
we all have access to the NY Times and WSJ for national news.
we use craigslist for classifieds.
we use Yelp and Urbanspoon for restaurants
we use rottentomatoes for movie times.
AJC should focus on providing top-notch local coverage. break out into community sections.
AJC cannot survive in its current format. it’s the worst major paper in the country and even the good ones are struggling.
i can’t really blame the web designers for being given such a poor product. there’s not much you can do if you are being asked to cater to the lower-income people who still would read this paper.
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Julia Lavine
January 13th, 2009
12:21 pm
There has been a few comments about not being able to find MOMania. This blog can now be found under “Lifestlye” in the navigation and then under blogs. All blogs can be found at http://blogs.ajc.com/
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Jennifer
January 13th, 2009
12:28 pm
I don’t like how the Opinion section is no longer on the menu bar across the top. Otherwise the change is fine.
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Kurt
January 13th, 2009
12:34 pm
The new design is better. People may think they don’t like it more, but I’ll bet you see more traffic.
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Rae
January 13th, 2009
12:37 pm
I like the new look for the site, but DO NOT like the logo at all!!!!! Please keep the old one or try something else.
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Douglas
January 13th, 2009
12:37 pm
whew! OK , I have calmed down now.
I was so angry that I did not see my typos.
I just get so upset when an opportunity for IMPROVEMENT arises, and so often, this city FAILS.
The AJC and the website look should be a bridge of the past and the future. Having been a graphic designer for the past 20 years, I know what good design looks like. And this is NOT it. Sorry.
If the AJC was some small local paper…fine, the “logo” would work. But for a city of 4 million people, that is struggling to find itself STILL, you must do better.
Its very simple really… observe what SUCCESSFUL cities are doing. (And not to copy, but learn.)
Being the MAIN source of news about Atlanta gives your paper and your designers a HEAVY burden. You bear the task of giving Atlanta the respect, and admiration of the world. Sounds silly to some, but true. This is how design is viewed in New York City ad firms. (I’ve worked at the best) You cannot just slap something together and think you have done your job.
Its very plain to see by the many negative comments here, thats EXACTLY what has happened.
**step your game up AJC designers…BAD DESIGN.**
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Chris Boyles
January 13th, 2009
12:38 pm
As a daily reader, this is a step in the right direction. The editing still needs work though. Several times a week I find articles plagued with misleading headlines, typos and chopped sentences. Also, dead links are frequently a problem. And just because it’s a blog doesn’t mean the writer gets to be sloppy (this means you Rodney Ho). I hope the redesign isn’t just superficial. There needs to be a commitment to overall site quality.
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Chris Boyles
January 13th, 2009
12:40 pm
P.S. I agree that the new logo looks like it’s from 1972.
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joyce
January 13th, 2009
12:42 pm
Put it back like you had it for God’s sakes. No improvement; just an irritation. Have to hit “search” to even find the Vents. Nuf said…
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Jenna
January 13th, 2009
12:46 pm
I have to agree with the majority… I do not like the new site. Sometimes it’s okay to leave things as they were. It lacks any real design and the navigation sucks, as an avid reader of this site( I check several times a day) I think I will start getting my new at Foxnews.com or WSBTV.com.. their sites are very graphic and easily navigated.
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Debbie
January 13th, 2009
12:50 pm
Hate it…..but that won’t stop me from visiting the web site all day….everyday.
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Joe
January 13th, 2009
12:56 pm
Like the new format, HATE the new logo. Why the heck would you choose baby blue??? UGLY!
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jamie
January 13th, 2009
12:56 pm
There needs to be vent access at the top of the page by the weather – for our urgent venting needs.
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Gael
January 13th, 2009
12:57 pm
Of course you expected pro/con comments…that’s what happens with change. I like it…smooth, sharp, clean looking. I have been doing logos over the years and I’m glad you took the giant risky step of ‘coming up to date’. No matter what other graphic artists say, because even there you will diffence of opinions, you did a super job! Although I do miss the ‘feels like temperature’. Good luck!
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Joe
January 13th, 2009
12:58 pm
Hard to read font.
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mel
January 13th, 2009
1:00 pm
Chiming in to echo “I understand wanting a sleeker look, but this is not it.”
The design is far too soft, the logo looks silly and the focus problem (blur of nondescript content toward the center of the page) that the old one had is still there and perhaps been magnified now due to the mushy look of the right rail. The design could really use some punch.
The positive is that you’ve wrested the stylesheets back from oblivion and kicked those nasty old JavaScript bits out for jQuery. Congrats to whomever did all of that work, I know it was probably daunting.
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Paper or Plastic
January 13th, 2009
1:04 pm
I am a native of Atlanta but currently reside in Philadelphia. I religiously visit http://www.ajc.com, often multiple times daily, just to keep abreast of the happenings of my native city from afar. Though invigorated by the call for a new design, I have to say that I, like many others apparently, am underwelmed by the simplisty and passe’ style of the final product. AJC is a one of Atlanta’s signature pieces, and the world is browsing-believe it or not! Might there be slightly more energy exuded to make the design appear more forward and representative of the level of southern sophistication that the city stands for? Or shall we resign to being stuck with this current rudimentary and uninspired style?
With the exception of the weather and date/time stamp in the margins, I’m not moved at all. Hmmm…I think I’ll browse nytimes.com instead…or how bout this, paper anyone?
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Annoyed
January 13th, 2009
1:08 pm
hate it.
Before I didn’t have to scroll down – now I do. How is that progress? As for the logo – I don’t remember what the old one looked like but it’s 3 letters either way. However, I would say this new logo looks less like serious journalism and more like Teen Beat.
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itsme
January 13th, 2009
1:08 pm
The clean look is nice, but I miss the larger number of stories available from the front page of the old design. Where’s the Vent?! I would like to see a logo that is not so bland. I also can’t find the link to the Print Edition. That’s the only place you can find Ken Thomas’ genealogy column. He has so many readers, there should be a prominent link somewhere.
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Michelle
January 13th, 2009
1:10 pm
I don’t like it when i pulled it up this morning i thought i was on the wrong site. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” bring the old style back. This one looks like it’s missing something
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Tami
January 13th, 2009
1:14 pm
I thought I was on the wrong site, but when I figured out it was a new format, I really liked it. I am okay with change, and I like the more up to date (looking) format!!
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Janice
January 13th, 2009
1:15 pm
Hate it, hate it, hate it. It is so generic. Nothing pops out at you and makes you want to read it.I am all for change, but not all change is good.Right now all I want to do is find out where you put the vent, and maybe I’ll be okay.
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C. Davis
January 13th, 2009
1:20 pm
Nothing to get too excited about….it’s OK. Where is the print edition tab. I like to see a list of all the articles like before.
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Kim
January 13th, 2009
1:24 pm
I have laughed all day at the new logo. It looks like an old ’70’s grocery store or maybe a generic brand of canned beans! I give it a month tops!
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Julia Lavine
January 13th, 2009
1:25 pm
You can find the vent under “Take a Break” on the homepage. You can also access via “News” in the navigation. Looking for the Living Vent? Look under “Lifestyle” and then under features.
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Laughing
January 13th, 2009
1:27 pm
Check out our brand new layoff!!
Oops, we meant lay-OUT!
Where is the leadership at this company?
AJC is abandoning everything, including the employees, that made it great. Good luck with your new, exciting changes. Give me a break.
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Jeff
January 13th, 2009
1:27 pm
I don’t like this new look at all. The AJC has been suffering from a HORRIBLE identity crisis in recent years! They seem much more interested in catering to those who moved here in the last 10 years from Boston, Chicago, Ohio, New York, etc., instead of taking care of its CORE AUDIENCE – those of us who have lived here and grown up here all our lives. You need to ditch these new “gimmicky” ideas of a new logo, more fancy crap, online video, a stand-up comedian link, etc. and get back to being a NEWS-PAPER…. give me information, content and features that me as a NATIVE ATLANTAN would care about. The old web site look was JUST FINE – this new one has no heart, no soul, no identity. It looks like it could be one of 1,000 newspapers anywhere in the world. Give me back my traditional AJC logo and traditional AJC web site… this new one is garbage and I have no interest in visiting here anymore. I’ll go to a regional paper’s web site or USA Today to get my info now, thank you very much.
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Cindy
January 13th, 2009
1:27 pm
Lacks pizazz. Very bland. Liked the previous homepage so much better.
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Lindsay
January 13th, 2009
1:28 pm
So generic! I recently moved to Baltimore and loved the AJC web layout, organization, etc so much that I continued to read the AJC online over 600 miles away! Now it looks about the same as the Baltimore Sun, which is not impressive, hard to read and difficult to navigate.
It lacks personality, the logo is so “blah!” and there is nothing that identifies this site with the history and reputation of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution! What a disappointment, and this coming from someone who does welcome change!
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Dondee
January 13th, 2009
1:28 pm
Don’t like it….
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Joeventures
January 13th, 2009
1:29 pm
I like that the new format is cleaner. Navigating the site really did get much easier. I can now more easily find more of the features I previously wasn’t aware of.
The logo could be better, but it’s just a logo — doesn’t bother me too much whether it looks like something that belongs on a box of dryer sheets, or if it looks “newsy.” The content matters much more to me.
Having a link to the “Print Edition” somewhere at the top would be most helpful. The NY Times website has a great example of this.
I see there’s slightly less emphasis on the trashy celebrity news junk. The less emphasis, the better. I would appreciate more emphasis on the stuff that actually matters. What’s going on in my part of town?
When the AJC got rid of the Horizon section, there was a promise that there would be more of the type of coverage seen in Horizon. I would love to see an online version of the Horizon section. You could demonstrate that you really are giving more coverage of Horizon-like stories by labeling them “Horizon” and dedicating a page of the website to those stories.
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Shantel
January 13th, 2009
1:32 pm
I really thought I was on the wrong site. Just this morning everything was fine. Now, after lunch, I find this. I really don’t like it at all. I really thought I had did something wrong. Please change it back! Please! AJC gives great coverage of news happening now and I truly look forward to it each and every day. Keep up the great work, but in the meantime, correct this error! Thanks
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Gary
January 13th, 2009
1:35 pm
I hate the new look…but I greatly appreciate your letting me critcize you again and again about it.
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BolnH20
January 13th, 2009
1:35 pm
Don’t like the logo (after I found it). The old logo was your brand and recognizable. The new one blends into the banner. While the format of the may be easier to navigate, the page is just like all the other internet site.
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BPJ
January 13th, 2009
1:37 pm
The home page is a bit less cluttered, and seems as if it might actually emphasize NEWS a bit more. If so, that’s an improvement.
The arts page, as always, stinks. It is sloppy, incoherent, seldom maintained or updated, and most of the arts stories in the print edition can only be found if you click on the little note at the bottom for people who are looking for a story they saw in the print edition. Stop and think about how pathetic that is. For an example of what real arts pages (plural) in an online edition look like, check out the Denver Post website.
No, I mean it, really: look at the Denver Post website, and imitate what they do (within the bounds of copyright law); no one at the AJC seems to have the imagination to design one themselves, and none of the editors seems to care.
I agree with the critique that the logo is bland; at least you should put, underneath it, “Atlanta Journal-Constitution” in the familiar script. It’s a familiar mark of your brand.
Also, I agree with joeventures about the Horizon stories; some of the best journalism you have done was part of that section, and there’s plenty to report on as Atlanta’s development patterns continue to change.
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trent jones
January 13th, 2009
1:39 pm
ha ha.
they censored my previous blog post b/c i pointed out that they were becoming irrelevant since we get classifieds from craigslist, restaurant reviews from Urbanspoon, national news from the NYT.
AJC now caters to people who read Blondie and watch “funny” youtube videos.
this paper is finished. but the Cox sisters have more money than god so they can keep it on lifesupport.
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Steve
January 13th, 2009
1:40 pm
What was the point?
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Justin
January 13th, 2009
1:41 pm
Bring back the old design…
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EPAJ
January 13th, 2009
1:41 pm
Do not like it.
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GC
January 13th, 2009
1:44 pm
Colors are too light, too bland, amateurish looking. Needs some dash.
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Tom
January 13th, 2009
1:44 pm
The new logo looks like the style of logo that would have been on a Braves’s cap in the early 1980’s. The new font is a distraction, not an improvement.
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GC
January 13th, 2009
1:46 pm
I really like the pulldown designs on the header bar. It’s nicely thought out and brings most of the most-looked-for elements into easy reach.
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KEB
January 13th, 2009
1:46 pm
So far, the layout/design is much cleaner. I agree with a previous commenter: when is the AJC going to recognize that Coweta, Douglas, and other western counties exist? Not EVERYONE lives in Cobb or Gwinnett.
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Where have real journalists gone?
January 13th, 2009
1:48 pm
Is it that hard to look at the LA Times, the Tribune, the Washington Post, or the NY Times websites to see what real newspaper sites look like? I mean, yes, what Atlanta’s pets are wearing and who slept with who on what tv show is absolutely the most important news going on in our area. Way to cover the important stories, AJC. If nothing else, the site looks more like the rag that the newspaper has become.
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Gary
January 13th, 2009
1:57 pm
how about a poll about the changes…dynamite or dogpoop, I suspect it would be about 80% dogpoop
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Nate
January 13th, 2009
1:59 pm
The new “ajc” design looks like it could be a logo for an appliance manufacturer, and it kind of gets lost. It’s not prominant enough and looks like part of an advertisement link.
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Nate
January 13th, 2009
2:00 pm
Enter your comments here
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Chikaodi
January 13th, 2009
2:11 pm
New design is awful!!!
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Nubianteacher
January 13th, 2009
2:24 pm
I HATE IT!!!!! GO BACK TO THE OLD!
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Red
January 13th, 2009
2:26 pm
I like the old look from this morning. I was blown away this afternoon to see this change. There is an old saying, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it”.
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Lynn
January 13th, 2009
2:30 pm
I don’t like it. When I opened it up the first time, I thought that I made a mistake by going to another site. The color is gone – where is the color. Go back to the original. It was great!
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martha
January 13th, 2009
2:30 pm
this is awful — why in the world would you change something that looked so classy????? did somebody have nothing to do? was their job going to be eliminated? well it should be now — get this online ajc back the way it used to be — i was always so proud to think when looking at other papers online how good ours looked — now it’s so ugly just awful — and like everyone is saying “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it”!!!!!!!!! GET IT BACK THE WAY IT WAS!!!!
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Frankie
January 13th, 2009
2:31 pm
Nice!!!!!Clean, Crisp, No distractions.
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martha
January 13th, 2009
2:33 pm
where are my manners — PLEASE GET IT BACK THE WAY IT WAS!!!! THANKING YOU IN ADVANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Tara
January 13th, 2009
2:35 pm
It is not user friendly. Drop down menu is cluttered. Liked the old setup better.
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Rhonda
January 13th, 2009
2:36 pm
Like I said before, why fix it if it isn’t broken. It looks like a student project and not a very good student at that. The adds on the right are larger than the articles/menus. The drop down adds need to go bye-bye!! It is just very boring. Doesn’t invite me to look further into it.
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Allen
January 13th, 2009
2:36 pm
The two main things I want to see from the mainpage are news by county and the op-ed page. You’ve made both harder to access. Brilliant.
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Rhonda
January 13th, 2009
2:37 pm
oops, meant to say “ads” not adds.
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CE
January 13th, 2009
2:39 pm
Sorry guys, I hate it. Very sterile. Guess it’s just another sign that southern charm is gone:-(
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Marc
January 13th, 2009
2:40 pm
I found a bug. Although the main headline changes (now it’s the Ron Clark band), the link associated with that headline still points to the previous headline (the Smoltz story).
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awful
January 13th, 2009
2:41 pm
this may be the worst page of all time. i use to come over here and rip all day long. i now will have to take my rippin elsewhere. maybe cnn?
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Ripped
January 13th, 2009
2:45 pm
This site is dog$%*^! Bring back the old one and bring back Smoltz.
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Jeremiah
January 13th, 2009
2:52 pm
Your new look stinks, just like your sorry columnists such as that MORON Cynthia Tucker!!! Your paper is not even Journalism, it is biased towards the LEFT way tooo far, and that is the true reason why the AJC and papers all over the country are failing!! People are sick of the rampant YELLOW JOURNALISM that exists today, and tired of the fact that all fairness, and unbiased reporting is DEAD today! Whatever happened with telling a story based on fact, and reporting news in a way that the facts are delivered, without the manipulation and author’s personal thoughts trying to tell the people what they should be thinking? The new look of the AJC will not fix that!!! Maybe instead of pathetic marketing attempts, you guys should focus on trying to be REAL JOURNALISTS? And what’s up with highlighting and making “ENTERTAINMENT” news so important? That is part of the problem with this country, so many people can tell you the latest BULLCRAP about who Paris Hilton is slumming around with, but God forbid someone knows who their state Senator is!! The AJC is PATHETIC and I personally can’t wait for you to go BANKRUPT!!
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BC
January 13th, 2009
2:52 pm
The logo looks like a knockoff of the Hewlett Packard Logo. As someone that visits the site everyday sometimes two or more times a day, sorry I’m not impressed. It kind of looks like the draft before you complete the project. Especially since the layout is pretty much the same you just moved headings around a bit, and all I can really see that’s has changed majorly is the logo. A established paper such as this should never change their logo. Your logo is the first thing people see and say oh..that’s the AJC. Right now it looks like a start up paper.
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GC
January 13th, 2009
2:56 pm
I like everything about the redesign except the logo.
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Rainbow Bright
January 13th, 2009
3:00 pm
needs a tad bit more color – maybe a green to compliment to blue
too much white – a second color would help to highlight areas of interest to your readers
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Jeremiah
January 13th, 2009
3:00 pm
I got an even better idea… why don’t you change the logo like Pepsi did and make it look like the “Obama Change/Hope BS Logo” I mean, this pathetic paper threw Real Journalism out the window during the election cycle to worship Obama like the rest of our American-Idol crazed society, why not go all the way? Why not just change the log and the name of the paper to “OJC”… Instead of the Atlanta Urinal and Constipation, you can call yourselves the “Obama Journal of Corruption”…
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Sharon Grandberry Burton
January 13th, 2009
3:01 pm
Thank you to everyone at the AJC for your hard work to keep us informed. Overall, you’ve done a great job! I appreciate the opportunity to provide feedback about the website redesign. I am a frequent internet user.
1) The logo is not catchy. I would have preferred to see something more unique in terms of color selection and font. The brand identity is not distinctive enough for the viewer. It is almost generic. I would prefer to something more creative.
2) The organization of content is much better. The content is easily accessible in terms of navigation on the screen. I enjoy the stories. The timing of stories and the accuracy works well for my needs.
3) I like the visual enhancements such as more video, pictures, flash elements.
4) You offer a great variety of stories. I enjoy Private Quarters and Vacation pictures. Nice touch to keep your general audience connected. We are invited to add to the site. Great engagement opportunity. I really like the photo galleries.
5) Good use of space. I like the white space.
Thank you!!!
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Professional Web Designer
January 13th, 2009
3:01 pm
It’s still slow, clunky, and lacks good design. All you did was change the logo and move some stuff around. Thankfully those stupid expanding ads are gone but this is much the same old design with a few minor changes. A true redesign would have addressed usability, the clutter, and directed my eyes somewhere important.
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RomeNewswire
January 13th, 2009
3:04 pm
Its cleaner and easier to navigate… not sure about the new logo yet…
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John
January 13th, 2009
3:04 pm
Please redo the logo. Looks like your were trying to save money or noone could agree on a new design.
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Joan
January 13th, 2009
3:05 pm
Is Woman to Woman gone?
Also, the logo is so 1989.
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Bozo
January 13th, 2009
3:05 pm
It sucks. Hard on the eyes. However, on the plus side it is so “white” Terence Moore probably does not like it.
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Sue
January 13th, 2009
3:06 pm
Those drop down-ads is what pays for you to read AJC online!
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asu23
January 13th, 2009
3:07 pm
The layout is nice and clean. However, it took me forever to find the Vent- should be a little more prominent.
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Val
January 13th, 2009
3:11 pm
Please return to the old layout. The new layout has too many empty spaces.
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Dale Collins
January 13th, 2009
3:11 pm
Uncreatingly BORING!
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Julia Lavine
January 13th, 2009
3:14 pm
Woman to Woman is still on the site and can be found under “News” in the navigation and then under opinion.
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Tom H awks
January 13th, 2009
3:15 pm
I subscribed to the AJC for several years, and when they quit delivering in my area I bought it at the store. I loved setting down in my easy chair at night and reading the AJC. I am sorry but setting down at a computer and reading the paper is one of the most non relaxing things I can think of. I called about mail delivery but could not get same day delivery Thanks goodness the Gainesville times and the USA Today still serve my area.
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Ree
January 13th, 2009
3:16 pm
I thought I was on the wrong web page and had to log in twice. I am not feeling the new layout, prefer the old one. However, change is supposed to be- my suggestion would be to tweak it just a bit.
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Karen
January 13th, 2009
3:16 pm
The logo and header line are too light in color and too plain. A graphic designer needs to work on it!
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Mike
January 13th, 2009
3:16 pm
Everyone bow to the authority of Professional Web Designer!!! All hail, his holiness!!! Lean not on your own understandings, but trust all html queries to Professional Web Designer!
I’m surprised you didn’t post a picture of your degree, or better yea link to your portfolio. Yeesh! While I don’t necessarily disagree with anything you said, AS A GRAPHIC DESIGNER WHO DEALS FREQUENTLY WITH WEB DESIGN (see I’m legit now), your attempt to legitimize your comment through your pretentious title is one of the douchiest things I’ve seen in quite a while.
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tevo
January 13th, 2009
3:17 pm
I do appreciate that I no longer have to wade through several columns of celebrity or non-Atlanta news to know what’s happening here, today. If I want entertainment news, I’ll go to people.com. I count on your expertise for local and regional happenings. Keep those at the top!
In general, I find your new layout more scannable than before.
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Mike
January 13th, 2009
3:19 pm
Bozo – funny comment.
I agree the new logo is quite “HP”-ish
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nypeach
January 13th, 2009
3:27 pm
ONly two headlines really pop. The rest of the type is very light and almost sinks into the background. It’s a lot of small type on the page. Also, the banner photo is kind of small to be a banner photo. But I like the layout–much easier to find things that I want.
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dc
January 13th, 2009
3:29 pm
Looks like my 4 year old designed it. Very plain and not pretty at all. Must have taken at least an hour to design. There isn’t even a Living tab. I guess you must have let go your real designers.
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BPJ
January 13th, 2009
3:30 pm
It appears the new logo is going over as well as the New Coke did.
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Carter is a Fool
January 13th, 2009
3:53 pm
The look is perfect. It is washed up, just like the AJC. We once had a great newspaper, but now it is a mere shadow of itself and staffed by left wing hate mongers such as no talent Cartoon Boy with his sidekicks – Cynthia Tucherheadinthesand and Jay Boogerman. It really is a great design for this washed up rag.
No worries, they soon will be bankrupt and out of business. It would not take much to get back to being a great paper. Report the news not Invent the News or Slant the News or Spin the News. Try being an impartial observer who reports the news instead of spinning it to the left.
Fire the idiots who run the Editorial Board as they have NO TALENT. Cynthia always finds life is viewed best through her racial glasses. Jay looks at the world through a funhouse mirror designed to distort the truth such as his recent hack job on Ronald Reagan. This group has no idea that Carter is our worst President and Ex-President.
I agree with this earlier comment:
If Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman are still running editorial content, then the new look is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic…
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Finch
January 13th, 2009
4:02 pm
I do not like the new format AT ALL!! Where is the Metro section? It looks like you guys tried to copy the cnn page!?!?!?!?
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Lori
January 13th, 2009
4:12 pm
I’m not too crazy about the new format. It was a bit text heavy to me. Visually I found it harder to pinpoint what I was looking for, like this was my first time looking at it rather than being a frequent user. Also, the blogs were hard to find. As a side note, why isn’t Henry included on the metro page anymore. We didn’t fall off the planet you know, and as one of the fastest growing counties, you’d think the AJC could find us important enough to include. I agree with others about those half page ads, get rid of them. Keep them small, if I’m interested I click on them, but please don’t splash them in my face. The AJC.com used to be a pleasure to view, but now I’m not sure sure.
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Jerry
January 13th, 2009
4:17 pm
In the words of the inimmitiable (sic) Bert Lance, “If it ain’t broke, Don’t fix it !”. I DO NOT LIKE IT !!!
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GRS
January 13th, 2009
4:23 pm
It looks like the HP logo.
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SHunter
January 13th, 2009
4:32 pm
What happened to the name of the paper? You seem to have lost your identity of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The format seems more readable, though. Wish there as a tab for the Metro section.
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Person
January 13th, 2009
4:34 pm
Hey “Carter is a Fool”. Real pple work here. People who may or may not agree with a lot of those leftist. People who would be in some serious serious trouble if they lost their job. Please don’t be so flippant about the company going down. We don’t need any more bad news during this trying time. Talk about the design, not your opinion.
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JEH
January 13th, 2009
4:38 pm
After further reveiw,your site still lacks any style to it.
Aalso why do you continue to leave links to some things that are old & useless, ie: under clayton / metro Katrina General Stepping down/ after 11 months I believe he’s left the building, & 95 new high school coaches
begin practice, only 8 months old. WHO’S SUPPOSED TO BE WATCHING THESE THING ?????
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smh
January 13th, 2009
4:55 pm
Oh that is what you call it….well if dumbing down the paper version was more of a shock after 35 years of subscribing to something not even big enough to lay in the bottom of my birdcage….this is not a surprise because WHOMEVER is making decisions over there doesn’t know what the heck they are doing. I am canceling my paper and going with a real newspaper–the times or even gasp usa today.
This resembles more of an amateur college paper. But then again. That probably is fitting. You used to be a great paper, did you lay everyone off???? and now ith a staff of two you are pretending to have a paper?
Bye Bye AJC. You are history.
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George
January 13th, 2009
4:57 pm
So far, I like it. A lot more articles right on the 1st page.
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Annie
January 13th, 2009
5:03 pm
Hi guys,
Not bad, I can get used to it, BUT the blogs are too hard to find. May want to consider putting them as an option in the top bar (not just under “entertainment”).
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Mort Merkel
January 13th, 2009
5:58 pm
Well, it’s not as craptastic as The Tennessean, but it’s getting there.
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nowhereman
January 13th, 2009
6:03 pm
Fool with your layout all you want, but please show some discipline in your headline writing “Branake: Stimulus would help economy” is not what the Fed chairman said. As quoted in the first paragraph of the story, he said “could help”, as long as his other suggestions were implemented. Was this an oversight, or propaganda? Hard to tell with the AJC, new logo or not.
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Malcolm
January 13th, 2009
6:07 pm
I do not find this format pleasing or any easier to use. I find it cluttered and totally uninteresting. It reminds me of the drab Chicago Suntimes and the New York Times. Lifeless. Where has all the southern heritage gone.
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Beverly
January 13th, 2009
6:11 pm
I love it, its clean cut and easy to navagate
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whateverboo
January 13th, 2009
6:13 pm
I like the new layout.
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ray b
January 13th, 2009
6:14 pm
I like the new format- cleaner and easier to use. Only thing I am not sure about is the logo- Why don’t you go back to the old one? It had more “class” and distinction, in my opinion.
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Tonya
January 13th, 2009
6:14 pm
This design does not not look good at all. It’s not attractive to the eye at all and makes me think of a website designed for pre-schoolers, Please change it immediately!
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Terry
January 13th, 2009
6:15 pm
Hate the new format.I read the ajc.com every day, or I used to. I’m even going to delete it from my “Favorites”. Good-by ajc.com!
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Cliff
January 13th, 2009
6:16 pm
Love the new layout. It was long overdue. Kudos to your web team for making such a bold change. As with everything people hate change and unfortunately the majority or web users adapt to this change very slowly but be proud of your new website and don’t worry about all the complainers. They will soon forget AJC.com was ever any different.
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Janet
January 13th, 2009
6:16 pm
BIG improvement! Looks great!
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Jared
January 13th, 2009
6:17 pm
Wow! I can finally read AJC online easily! Everything is much cleaner and easy to find. Thanks AJC
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Eric L.
January 13th, 2009
6:23 pm
BIG step backward! Site is busier than it was before in my opinion; old site was much simpler to navigate and stood out among other news sites that I have seen. Now AJC.com looks worse and like other newpapers sites, staid, busy, navigation-difficult and like any other newsite. But why ask us what we think? You’re not going to change it anyways (though you should change it back).
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J
January 13th, 2009
6:24 pm
I’m glad you went back to the straight drop-down menus. Previously highlighting ‘Sports’ and then having to mouse down and left or right to choose ‘Hawks’, etc was a pain — if you moused over adjacent categories (easy to do on a laptop with a touchpad) you lost your place and had to go back and start over.
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Jay
January 13th, 2009
6:26 pm
Julia, Scott, AJC,
I think it’s great that you “manned” this blog to help readers navigate. Very nice service.
It was probably a BAD idea to post the question/blog on the first day. It appears most people can’t find things – that’s to be expected with a rearrangement. We also know that a lot of people just don’t adapt well to anything different.
IMO, the site is fine… I read it today actually not even knowing it was a redesign (I did find it less cluttered), and I did notice after 17 years the link to “Would you name your child Exxon, Peach, or Texaco” is FINALLY gone from the home page.
I must agree with the others though. Whoever thought that logo was representative of the paper, this era, or a city like Atlanta was way off. That logo is real, real tired.
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ed cox
January 13th, 2009
6:27 pm
Nice enough, I guess. Why spend the money to change it? In my next life, I want to be a consultant convincing companies to change things so that they can be…changed. Not necessarily better, just changed
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fer
January 13th, 2009
6:29 pm
What was wrong w/ the old format?
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Sp Ed Teacher
January 13th, 2009
6:29 pm
Let’s all vote with our fingers. Just like the changes a few months ago to the mobile web site, I waited 1 week, went back and it had not reverted back, so I deleted AJC from my bookmark bar. AJC relented and it came back.
I will check back in one week and if it is the same, I will delete it from the bookmark bar. I went cold turkey to the AJC 2 years ago after getting it for almost 30 years. You removed the sections of the paper I liked to read.
If I had a HS student in Digital Media turn in something like this, their grade would be “below” average.
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Alma Q
January 13th, 2009
6:30 pm
The logo is quite forgettable. I would not abandon a decades long logo for something that looks suspiciously like the HP logo. Try, try again.
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Kris Broughton
January 13th, 2009
6:30 pm
This is terrible – does it have all the bells and whistles on it yet? The NY Times site is white, and it doesn’t look this wimpy. I just redid my blog, and at this point, there’s not much difference between the two – which means that you guys have lost some juice, because I should be able to instantly tell that some professional level graphic designers have been at work here.
The logo is as bad as that Izzy thing that was promoted as the Olympic mascot.
Can we get some swagger back into the logo? Some sharpness? Some design sense that evokes the hand of a mighty corporate news behemoth, rather than the efforts of a teenager tooling around with the Adobe software he got for Christmas?
I know damn well you’re not going to give the VP who spearheaded this sh&t a bonus, unless its a bus pass for him and his family to get out of town. This is the FLAGSHIP paper in your enterprise – how could you do this to your readers?
To Atlanta?
To yourselves?
KB
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Dano
January 13th, 2009
6:32 pm
We’re missing one MAJOR component here … a DIRECT link to The (Metro) Vent from the home page! In fact, the Vents should be their own drop-down menu item under Entertainment or Opinions … just make it EASIER to find The Vent quickly! Otherwise, I like the simplified structure!
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K
January 13th, 2009
6:33 pm
The logo is boring, but the rest is nice.
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Really?
January 13th, 2009
6:35 pm
It looks like you’re trying to compete with the big boys…and doing a poor job of it. C’mon guys. Be the local newspaper that you are and stick with what you know. Bad design, bad banner ad placement, horrible logo. Nuff said.
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LahLah
January 13th, 2009
6:36 pm
Everything looks fine but the logo is really plain. You all can do better on the logo.
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Pete Marentay
January 13th, 2009
6:37 pm
The new web page loads much faster – and “gone” is that stupid ad that blocked half my screen for the first minute the page was open. This is an overall improvement.
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Maya
January 13th, 2009
6:40 pm
I’m digging it. It’s not as busy and is easier on the eyes. It didn’t take as long load on my screen, either. I’m lukewarm on the logo, simply because it’s rather dull. You could use a tad more color, though.
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SteveSC
January 13th, 2009
6:44 pm
Hate it. Too much sizzle…no steak. The drop down ads are a pain. More news and less BS.
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Paul McDowell
January 13th, 2009
6:48 pm
Your newly designed home page demonstrates that not all change is necessary or effective. The overall appearance is unappealing and forgettable. Please think this through more carefully and give us something more creative and visually appealing!
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Lynn Mc
January 13th, 2009
6:54 pm
I LOVE THE NEW LOOK! IT SHOWS MORE NEWS AT A GLANCE, WHICH IS WHAT WE NEEDED~! THANK YOU!
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DAlex
January 13th, 2009
6:55 pm
Sorry, doesn’t do it for me. To bland, the logo doesn’t pop, layout doesn’t have a natural flow. I’ll be seeing this forever, won’t I. *sigh*
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james
January 13th, 2009
6:56 pm
would like brighter colors and a vent person that will print( all) printable vents ty james
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CB
January 13th, 2009
7:02 pm
Typical Atlanta style….bland, no real identity, the only one in the place that thinks it looks good, and is scared silly by true cities like NYC, Chicago, and LA.
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Al
January 13th, 2009
7:04 pm
The ajc looks like the logo for Sealy Posturepedic. The site is kind of bland, I”m not very impressed.
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jake
January 13th, 2009
7:06 pm
Weak, bland, disappointing. I’m rooting for you guys, but new design looks like it was done on the cheap. No imagination, no creativity.
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CP Girl
January 13th, 2009
7:07 pm
Uninspired logo, too little content, no real organization to the page. This new design is not an improvement, and I am spending less time navigating the site as a result of it.
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gabeaux
January 13th, 2009
7:08 pm
The page is too weak, not crisp enough. Departments should be bolder. This looks like a step backward.
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Richard Thomason
January 13th, 2009
7:09 pm
Did’nt like the other one,hate this one
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Chip
January 13th, 2009
7:16 pm
Not sure why you felt the need to change your site but it is now extremely difficult to read. I don’t like the changes at all. At least give us some contrast so it will be easier to read.
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Nick
January 13th, 2009
7:22 pm
I’m not impressed at all. Too blah!! Just has no pep
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fred
January 13th, 2009
7:22 pm
Too much on each page, like going to home depot the first time, you get lost and walk away
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Lou Ann
January 13th, 2009
7:23 pm
I don’t like the new format. The old one was fine – why change it?? Seems like a big waste or employee time…….and money.
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Dave
January 13th, 2009
7:26 pm
Looks like AJC copied almost identical 11alive web format
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Dee
January 13th, 2009
7:27 pm
I visited the AJC site several times a day and knew exactly where to find the info I needed. Now I can’t find a thing… I don’t like it at all. Its not about making changes its about making changes that make sense. This does not make sense to me.
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Wheels
January 13th, 2009
7:27 pm
I really like the new format! Simple and less flashy is definitely the way to go. Looks like your serious about information and less about eye candy banners and blinking advertisements. Thanks!!!! I’ll continue my subscription!
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lafae richardson
January 13th, 2009
7:30 pm
i like the new format very much. i think if the people who don`t like it would open their minds to change, and sit back, exhale and be patient. they too will find that there is always some new way to open the mind whenever we view something `different`. it`s all about how you open your mind to `change`.
peace, lafae
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horace
January 13th, 2009
7:34 pm
The Delta logo was screwed up by its new designers and now the AJC has followed suit. Both should return to the logo that that was their identity.
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l vee
January 13th, 2009
7:36 pm
dont like it at all no i dont i guess fox will be home page
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Sharon
January 13th, 2009
7:36 pm
Hate it! The only thing I enjoy is the online vent and there isn’t a link to be found for it! Goodbye!
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G
January 13th, 2009
7:37 pm
Awesome! I love the fresh, new, clean look. Keep it up. Now be sure to give us real news and not fluff.
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Ed
January 13th, 2009
7:39 pm
It is so much easier to check on the weather now. I like other changes, too. Thanks!
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Kermit
January 13th, 2009
7:40 pm
This new design must have been done by a student at North Metro Technical College. We used to do stuff like this when I was a student there.
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Kent Mitchell
January 13th, 2009
7:42 pm
Why not use the same format as the Drudge Report? It’s simple, easy to locate stories.
AJC is still about as easy to navigate as Rubic’s Cube.
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Jane in GA
January 13th, 2009
7:42 pm
Nope. My very first comment when the page opened ” I hate this new page”. Plain, boring, nothing special. It does look like webmaster101. Is this another sign of the economic times? I’ll go to MyFoxAtlanta.com.
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Bridge
January 13th, 2009
7:47 pm
Everything is all over the place. Too junky. I like the old look.
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Rebecca
January 13th, 2009
7:49 pm
I think the new homepage design is a step down from where you were. It’s much harder to find key news items. Not user friendly and way less attractive. You’ve butchered your logo with the graphic treatment around it.
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Pam
January 13th, 2009
7:51 pm
Not crazy about it.
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Gary
January 13th, 2009
7:53 pm
new one? sorry. Just “Tweek” the old one a little and you’ll have it right!
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Corazon
January 13th, 2009
7:53 pm
I guess I will get used to it. Seems like something is missing. Please get rid of the drop down adds on the front page, very annoying. Change will happen but this seems a bit too plain. Maybe that’s a good thing.
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Christina
January 13th, 2009
7:59 pm
This format is too BRIGHT and not comfortable to read. I usually read ajc.com early in the morning and late at night. The new format is like an overexposed picture, or a SLAP in the face! Also – it appears very similar to CNN.COM, the old format was unique and colorful. The new format is stark and plain. THUMBS DOWN!
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FirstGlance
January 13th, 2009
7:59 pm
Better, because its faster. Speed kills.
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DHD
January 13th, 2009
8:00 pm
I don’t mind the new look. What I mind is meaningless headlines. Nobody cares that Madonna’s dog died except for Madonna’s dog and it died. Seriously, put up some real news on those headlines.
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Douglas
January 13th, 2009
8:03 pm
Well it seems that Atlanta has spoken!!!!! It gives me hope that this city has some style…so substance.
Sadly the people in charge need to either – die off, leave for Alabama, or just quit whatever job they have.
WE NEED A CITY THAT HAS A REAL NEWSPAPER. we need a paper that honors the past and looks foward to the future, all the while making any changes WITH CLASS… THOUGHT AND REAL TASTE.
WE NEED A CITY THAT HAS REAL ARCHITECTURE!!!!!!! Not this bullcrap cookie cutter Post, Gables, Psuedo McMansion crap. For example- Why would the developer of the new property going up at the base of Freedom Parkway and the Blvd ave. and hwy interchange be allowed to put up such a disgusting plain -Jane building?? Why did these idiots get approved???? This was an opportunity to create some amazing buildings that ADDED to the Atlanta skyline that is so stunning in that area. ALL OF ATLANTA’S POSTCARDS SHOW THIS AREA!!! Why did not one INSIST this be designed by an award winning noted designer??? SHAME ON ATLANTA!!!!!
ATLANTA NEEDS TO BE A CITY THAT HAS PUBLIC ART!!!! I have never seen a “city” so devoid of art!!!! Does this place have NO CULTURE?????!!!!!
From now on any project exceeding 2 million $$$$ needs to have 100k in public art factored in… this art needs to be approved by a panel of Atlanta’s taste-makers…NOT some old crusty losers that think that STUPID FAKE ARCHWAY at Atlantic Station is art… what a joke!!!
WE NEED A CITY THAT HAS A REAL NITE-LIFE!!!!! Why is this city so damn boring???!!!!! Tourists have NO REASON to come here!!!!! That WACK Cenntenial park?? LOL That wack, WACK world of COKE? That WACK Aquarium?? The Underground?? LOLOL
STOP MAKING IT HARD FOR PROGRESSIVE BUSINESS OWNERS WHO WANT TO OPEN UP BARS, CLUBS AND STORES A HEADACHE!!!!
SELL LIQUOR AND BEER ON SUNDAY!!!! Like REAL cities do!!
CLOSE CLUBS AT 3AM Like REAL cities do!!!!
GET A CLUE ATLANTA!!!!!!
WE NEED A REAL CITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THIS HORRIBLE AJC LOGO AND LAYOUT IS EXACTLY THE SAME STUPID SIMPLETON THINKING THAT HOLDS THIS CITY BACK.
(and no…… I’m NOT moving back to NYC… so don’t waste your breath!) LOL
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Trey
January 13th, 2009
8:03 pm
The new layout is just fine. A lot of the major newspapers are going for the new streamlined appearance (and for those of you that are surprised that this happened so soon, the AJC sent out that survey MONTHS ago – I received the survey and the additional information related to content last year).
Yes, the look and a lot of the features and functions have moved, but do you complain when a shopping site changes how it looks? Oh, a shopping site doesn’t have a blog where you CAN complain. You just have to be able to navigate to an area that LOOKS like what you want. I don’t think that this is SO bad that you just stop pulling up the website. Are you gonna go and start picking up the physical paper? The one that most of you can’t stand? Get over yourselves. The AJC made a business decision, one that most forward thinking companies make to keep up w/ the times. The old layout was a bit dated; it’s been in service for more than a few years. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to view it, but I challenge you to find another local site w/ the coverage that ajc.com provides.
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skorpio
January 13th, 2009
8:06 pm
no words
the new logo is just horrible
i know we’re in a recession but dang the teenage computer geek next door could have designed a more colorful page.
3 words:
DO NOT WANT
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Joe
January 13th, 2009
8:07 pm
TERRIBLE new format !!!! You all got ripped off if you paid a dime for this.
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Frank Wren
January 13th, 2009
8:14 pm
New logo, which we DIDN’T ask for, but STILL no Hawks and Thrashers Vents, which we DID ask for…?
Thanks, ajc…
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FalcoRex
January 13th, 2009
8:15 pm
Clean, fresh, white, bright – I like it.
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Katy
January 13th, 2009
8:19 pm
Not enough Color . Too Drab
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Jane
January 13th, 2009
8:24 pm
The new format does make it easier to find what I read AJC for (state news, esp politics), but I don’t like the new logo and AJC website is still more like People magazine than a substantive newspaper.
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James Sanders
January 13th, 2009
8:24 pm
…blah, dull, drab, non-descript, ordinary, mundane, awful, terrible, sucks, crappy, and did i mention blah? please, go to the new york times, la times or chicago sun times for inspiration. this design does absolutely nothing for me. it’s an embarassment to all those who call atlanta home. please change it. thanks, JiMiFLiX!
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Lisa Carter
January 13th, 2009
8:25 pm
I’m sorry. But this is not attractive. I don’t think I’ll be visiting as often.
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Print Fan
January 13th, 2009
8:26 pm
Where is the PRINT EDITION NOW?
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Print Fan
January 13th, 2009
8:26 pm
Enter your comments here
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Jim Chester
January 13th, 2009
8:27 pm
Where’s the opinion page? Oh-and the Metro section?
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Jerome
January 13th, 2009
8:28 pm
**This is racist.**
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displaced
January 13th, 2009
8:29 pm
great look. congrats.
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Denise
January 13th, 2009
8:29 pm
Same s…, different day.
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Graphic Designer
January 13th, 2009
8:30 pm
AJC? Ummm….are we selling soda pop or reporting news here? The logo looks like it belongs on a soda pop cap. I love the new menu,,,but the old design and old logo was much better.
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Kim Hill
January 13th, 2009
8:33 pm
If your designers were looking for an ‘about face’ for the spread, they achieved it. However, as a long time reader and lifetime resident, I have always associated the AJC with a classier more refined look. This one will take a LOT of getting used to.
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Pamela Y Jones
January 13th, 2009
8:33 pm
This looks like something that my granddaughter who is 11 years old could have done. Who is so desperate for job security decided to
do something so childish and unprofessional. Making changes just
for the sake of change just to make sure you justify your job is
outright pitiful.
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bar
January 13th, 2009
8:36 pm
AJC…..I think this new format is terrible. It’s just plain and it does not catch my eye or i’m sure alot of other viewers also.
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mel
January 13th, 2009
8:40 pm
i don’t like the new logo either – it’s throwback hp with ‘ajc’ letters in the middle instead. the font is very juvenile/whimsy. branding didn’t get this right.
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SixSigma
January 13th, 2009
8:41 pm
Great change! I would like to offer a couple of improvements. Please add more babes in short skirts & bikini’s, and an expanded sports section – then it would be perfect! Change is good!
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SP
January 13th, 2009
8:46 pm
I guess the AJC has joined the “CHANGE” bandwagon eh? I am not sure I like the new format…but in time it will grow on me. Will the print version format change as well? Is this a way to cut costs? I can’t even find my favorites…Metro section, horoscopes etc. I have to hunt & peck to find what I want. Don’t particularily like it…but it’s free so I login, read what I want to read and log back out…nothing to get too bent out of shape about. Don’t sweat the small stuff people.
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Faithful Reader
January 13th, 2009
8:50 pm
Hate it! Just hate it. Give me the old layout. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it!
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John Kenna
January 13th, 2009
8:51 pm
If it wasn’t broken… Sorry folks you blew it. This format is a big step back…
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Steamboat
January 13th, 2009
8:52 pm
This is style over substance. Bring real change to the AJC —> Fire Jay Bookman and Cynthia Tucker.
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ANGEL
January 13th, 2009
8:53 pm
I really hate this new look. It’s boring and doesn’t stand out like the previous layout was. The colors are to calm and not vibriant enough.
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Keshaun
January 13th, 2009
8:53 pm
I like the new format but I have also noticed lately that there have been frequent grammatical errors. For example, the Obama link reads Obama wants “reamining” 350B bailout money. There have been numerous other stories that have one or more errors and I know everyone makes mistakes but there should be much more scrutiny when it comes to print.
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Webmaster K
January 13th, 2009
8:54 pm
Okay where’s the Metro link in the header?
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john123
January 13th, 2009
8:57 pm
The old format was much easier to navigate and stood out much better. Makes me wonder why you changed it. Hope you did not pay too much for someone to come up with a lesser option than what you had.
Can you add the ability to comment on your stories. Maybe even offer suggestions for additional stories so you can become a mainstream player again.
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ssiscribe
January 13th, 2009
8:57 pm
It breaks my heart that the logo changed. The AJC logo always has been bold and powerful. The new logo? Soft and fluffy, totally dismissive of the history of this once-great newspaper.
As for the layout … I actually like the white space and some of the reorganization. But I don’t know if I’ll ever get past the changing of the logo.
If there ever was a doubt whether or not this paper still covered Dixie like the dew, this new logo answers that question more definitely than any words ever could.
–30–
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wooleybare
January 13th, 2009
9:01 pm
Dont give a hoot about the layout of the webpage. Im more interested in the content, which still SUCKS!!! Still reads like a cross between USA Today and STAR magazine.
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Vexorg
January 13th, 2009
9:01 pm
Geez, where did your webpage designer get the inspiration for the “new” logo…looked at a Hewitt-Packard printer during the thought process???
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steve
January 13th, 2009
9:01 pm
do we have to cater to blacks so much in atlanta?
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S. Palin
January 13th, 2009
9:07 pm
hey you guyz, stop dissin the new logo, Bristol worked at it for like……over an hour!
shes be commisioned to redesign that gold topped building you guyz got downtown!
she’s gonna have it painted Bratz Pink! you betcha!
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Scott
January 13th, 2009
9:07 pm
Hate It!
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Victor McCrary
January 13th, 2009
9:08 pm
I think the new format is very bland and lacks creativity. It appears the AJC has taken a few steps back. This is not “Change we can believe in”
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Brian
January 13th, 2009
9:08 pm
I’d have to agree with some of the other posts regarding the logo. We can do better than that. Probably a result of design by committee.
Otherwise, though, I think this is very good work. You’ve stuck to solid grid, you have a good footer that’s packed with consistent global navigation, and the main navigation at the top is very good and makes it easier to get get anywhere with minimal clicks. The typeface is airy enough and readable for the older crowd. The sliding ‘Inside the AJC’ feature is nice also — clean and easy to use. For a newspaper, a clean layout is more important than eye popping design, and you — like the New York Times Online — have taken a good step in the right direction.
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Carl
January 13th, 2009
9:09 pm
Being of the older generation,who reads the comics every day.It would be nice if the font in the comics and elsewhere could be larger.
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GJJR
January 13th, 2009
9:09 pm
Change is good sometimes. I think the new look is good. It is not the look that is important but rather what we are reading.
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JJ
January 13th, 2009
9:10 pm
The new look is fresher, more current, cleaner — all together better! Glad to see AJC is not afraid of change.
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Di
January 13th, 2009
9:11 pm
NOT!
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GW
January 13th, 2009
9:12 pm
Whoever did the new logo is NOT smarter than a 5th grader! Very disappointed with the new logo – loss of identity with the faded, lighter blue vs the strong bold blue; all that history washed away. It’s hard to look at the logo seriously. For the headmast, I’d like to see some background color used. That along with the old logo would give it an immediate and strong presentation! The font is easy on the eyes. The basic layout is better organized.
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AnotherWebmaster
January 13th, 2009
9:13 pm
Nothing wrong with change, however, this format puts me in the mind of a blog as opposed to a news periodical. If I didn’t know the AJC I wouldn’t think that this was the city newspaper. I might think it some offshoot type of site like accessatlanta.com. My feeling is that this is a newspaper and therefore you should let it be known that you are just that in your logo.
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Dr. No
January 13th, 2009
9:14 pm
Did that dude say “don’t sweat the small stuff”???
Hey Bubba –
Its thinking like that, that gave us that stupid looking yellow bridge across 75/85.
Its thinking like that, that gave us that stupid slogan “everydays opening day-ATL”.
Its thinking like that, that gave us that stupid community around Atlantic Station.
Its thinking like that, that gave us that stupid Atlantic Station!!!
Its thinking like that, that gave us that stupid GW Bush.
– I wish Obama was our Mayor.
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Amanda Martin
January 13th, 2009
9:17 pm
Not my favorite. I think the old format grabbed the readers attention quicker.
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AC
January 13th, 2009
9:18 pm
I don’t like it. It’s very genetic. The other format was the AJC that I was familiar with. Even though it was “busier” I didn’t mind it because it reminded me of the print edition. Looking for a new home page as we speak.
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Lisa
January 13th, 2009
9:19 pm
What about a tab for Arts and Culture…? Your reduced coverage and visual arts reviews are really hurting you among folks I talk to in the arts community, as AJC becomes less read…there’s so much going on locally, in large AND smaller venues; we want to read about it, and see images…
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Juan
January 13th, 2009
9:19 pm
Without all the dramatics, I also agree that the new ajc logo looks too much like HP and seems uninspired. I do think, however, that the site is crisp, clear, and it doesn’t stand out (in a good way). I like that it’s heavy on text with images lightly interspersed. I agree with others that the drop down ads are annoying, but I have been tuning it out since the first time I saw them.
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DWAYNE
January 13th, 2009
9:20 pm
I LIKE IT, IT LOOKS CLEAN AND UNCLUTTERED, MORE PROFESSIONAL
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Gary
January 13th, 2009
9:20 pm
For the love of God, could someone correct the spelling of “remaining”, under the heading politics and transition, it was mentioned 20 mins. ago. There’s a nifty thing called spell check someone might want to look into.
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Vet
January 13th, 2009
9:23 pm
I do not like the new format…too plain.
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disgusted
January 13th, 2009
9:23 pm
In order to see the homepage I have to adjust the text size to medium. Now the page is unjumbled but the text is too small for me to read!@%#$#@@#$%
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jm
January 13th, 2009
9:24 pm
Just like the end of last year’s Peachtree Road Race….AWFUL!
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jw
January 13th, 2009
9:26 pm
Like the layout – the logo mimics the old HP logo too much – plus it doesn’t give the AJC a ’serious paper’ appeal against the other big ones. The logo looks kinda like a gossip site. The page is perfect, the items easy to find, just feel the logo isn’t ‘professional’ enough in a world class market!
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Brian
January 13th, 2009
9:27 pm
Rest assured that your feedback will be taken seriously when you refer to the design as ‘genetic’. This is why aptitude tests ought to be prerequisite to the right to vote.
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Ryan
January 13th, 2009
9:32 pm
I love it! Old school Bravos “A”.
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Joy Johnson
January 13th, 2009
9:32 pm
Sorry guys. For a world-class publication in a world-class city, I find this new look a bit simplistic, juvenile, and magazine-like. At first glance it appears too colorful and not a good package for hard news. Sorry but you asked!
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Tracy
January 13th, 2009
9:32 pm
I really like the new logo – gives weight to the fact that more people are getting their news online & online readership is going to drive business decisions & revenue not print production. The rest of the site really looks like a re-skin more than a redesign because my eyes go to where I’m used to seeing things (breaking news, images, etc) and I easily find what I’m looking for and expect to see. Nice job!
ps – SEO’s rocking too(kudos Mrs. Fabella)
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SteveR
January 13th, 2009
9:34 pm
New logo looks like a cheap rendition of HP logo. They may not appreciate their corporate logo being copied so badly. Liked the old format better even though it was too busy. It at least looked like there was more substance to it. The new one looks washed out. A decent high school student could have done about as good. Very disappointed in the effort especially with all the decent web designers out there.
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grittykitty
January 13th, 2009
9:34 pm
The whole thing looks terrible – cheap and tacky! Logo looks like a rip-off between hp and Pfizer. Blech!
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Mike
January 13th, 2009
9:35 pm
Nice, clean, and easy to find what I’m looking for quickly. I like it a lot.
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sean
January 13th, 2009
9:37 pm
looks great like the real newspaper
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DR
January 13th, 2009
9:37 pm
Huge improvement over the old site! Very clean, info is where you expect, and the 90s-era design is gone now.
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OMG!
January 13th, 2009
9:39 pm
Seriously…do you really think we want to HEAR Ton Shane?????? Get a clue
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Deb
January 13th, 2009
9:42 pm
Hate it.
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K
January 13th, 2009
9:44 pm
Did you get the money to do this be alienating all of your readers in the North Georgia that you stopped delivering the paper to to save money?? Idiots…
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Mike
January 13th, 2009
9:48 pm
I love the new look. Now if you’d just get rid of Terrence Moore I’d be in heaven.
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George
January 13th, 2009
9:48 pm
I like the clean design of the homepage. Easy to read. The logo is very weak though. I think the AJC needs a very powerful dynamic logo that everyone recognizes like the NYT. I do like to read the online “Print Edition.” I miss holding a real paper in my hand but convenience, ease and costs make this not reasonable. I wish the Print and Online Editions matched verbatim. I also hope that the AJC recognizes what they have lost in shrinking their delivery area so severely. Lots of people love the AJC around Georgia and they no longer get it. Like my Mother, only 1.5 hours drive from downtown ATL. I even heard of a man selling the AJC out of the back of his truck so people could get it in the hinterlands. I think the use of the word “footprint” for circulation territory is a PR nightmare. Very insensitive. The AJC has been a part of people’s lives for many years before some of the punks that work there were born. The other Georgia is important. Not just some metro counties, despite the costs of delivery. I live in Midtown Atlanta and only read the paper online so that is fine for me. The AJC always needs to be truly customer service oriented and that will solve the problem. Keep at it!!
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Brian
January 13th, 2009
9:49 pm
Please stop screwing with the comics. I don’t want anything dropped or changed. Color is great for Sunday, but totally not necessary for weekdays. You had it right, but just had to “fix it”.
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Charles
January 13th, 2009
9:49 pm
I get links on the net from all over the place concerning news article from different media sources (i.e. radio, newspaper, and TV sites). My biggest complaint is having to search for the state or nation of the source of the article on the net. I live in the Atlanta area so I know it the largest newspaper in Georgia, but I could not find anywhere that said it was in the state of “Georgia”. I doubt anyone with basic geography knowledge would not know the newspaper is in Georgia, but mapquest does list 10 different cities of Atlanta in the United States. Regardless, I think the AJC would like to be considered a major news source in Georgia unless the cuts in circulation to rural areas of Georgia meant that the AJC was going to try to disown most the state.
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Gary
January 13th, 2009
9:50 pm
Thank you
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Douglas
January 13th, 2009
9:52 pm
ATTENTION AJC!!! I HAVE TAKEN THE LIBERTY OF DOING MY VERSION OF YOUR “NEW ” LOGO…THE LINK TO SEE IT IS…
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/rnr/992049944.html
I CAN BE CONTACTED THRU THE EMAIL SUPPLIED HERE AND HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH YOU USING MY VERSION FOR A NOMINAL DESIGN FEE ($300) AND CREDITOF ITS CREATION. As you may notice in my redesign I was very aware of the historical feel of the spelled out version, I feel usage of this is important when a serious, “journal-istic” feel is wanted. The sleek AJC font is meant to convey the future, modern world we are speeding towards. The circle is symbolic of 285 and gives the ability to “stamp” or brand when needed. The colors are a bit bolder than that thing at the top of this page. Atlanta needs to be viewed by the world as BOLD, NEW and Cutting Edge.
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Douglas
January 13th, 2009
10:06 pm
heres the logo on a web page….
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/rnr/992064350.html
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lindsay c
January 13th, 2009
10:21 pm
it’s a bad knockoff of the chicago tribune. check it for yourself chicagotribune.com. while you’re there, check out some of the articles. the writers at the ajc could learn a thing or two about writing from the trib. and the editors too–some papers, online or print, catch spelling and grammatical errors.
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Chuck
January 13th, 2009
10:36 pm
The logo font is too thin and there is no focal point. The logo is a weak generic design with a very bland color. The website overall is not as easy to use as the old one and many people are going to have to reset their fonts in order to even read the site. So WHY?
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Barry
January 13th, 2009
10:48 pm
I like the new streamlined look. The previous design of the site was too crowded and busy. Good work!
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Michael in Decatur
January 13th, 2009
10:52 pm
It’s be nice to have the date up top near the logo…..
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Blair890
January 13th, 2009
11:04 pm
I love the new look and feel but miss the easy access to the Metro section from the header. Your readers want news from their home counties without having to hunt for it. Put METRO back on top. Otherwise… kudos on the new design. Well done.
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Hank Tanner
January 13th, 2009
11:18 pm
AWFUL!!!!!!!!!!! IF IT AIN’T BROKE, DON’T FIX IT. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH THE OLD FORMAT?
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Fredrick Robinson
January 13th, 2009
11:39 pm
Please do not keep this boring, uninspired and utterly lackluster design. I makes it hard to return to the site. Design is supposed to draw the reader in, visually communicate something grand, tell the reader what they can expect. In short, it should make the reader want to read. This design fails miserably. It looks like a logo for an upstart soap company. I admonish you to reconsider. It’s a graphically a disaster. Remember New Coke? Change is good when it’s inspired, and there is nothing about this that says inspiration. It’s a do-over.
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PubliusIX
January 14th, 2009
1:24 am
Ugg-leeee. And I agree wholeheartedly with the comments that the new “trendy” logo is a pointless – no, stupid – effort to distance the site from one of the proudest journalistic traditions in America. People turn to a newspaper website, rather than Joe’s News Blog, because of the history and gravitas of that institution. Did the new publisher have something to do with this lunacy?
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Bernard
January 14th, 2009
1:42 am
The new website looks is great! Fresh, clean modern. Umm, about the new logo….Its flat out unacceptable!
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Dr.Weiss
January 14th, 2009
2:12 am
Oh goody! Now I have another reason to HATE Atlanta!
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Mom 2 Boys
January 14th, 2009
2:21 am
Sorry don’t like it. We check the site often and it just seems to much to me now. Something is just not right, sometimes less is more. Also all the pop up adds and moving adds are a little to much. All we want is to read the news. I don’t mind change, when it’s for the better. Cannot say this is better, Sorry!
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ebaby
January 14th, 2009
3:51 am
I miss having the BLOG highlights as part of the “front page”. I especially miss having the direct access to Momania.
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Jim hudson
January 14th, 2009
6:40 am
I’ve got a 22 inch high resoolution display panel and I cannoth read most of your website because of the font size.
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ronald
January 14th, 2009
6:52 am
increase the font size on your monitor
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Jim
January 14th, 2009
6:52 am
The new logo made me think of Sealy mattresses logo when I saw it. hmmmm…dont know if that matters. OTherwise the format looks fine to me.
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john
January 14th, 2009
7:01 am
what happened to accessing the on-line print version of the paper? don’t like the new format at all.
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Paula
January 14th, 2009
7:06 am
The design or color makes no difference to me. However, I am yet to find Rick Badie’s blog or any of the others. I have searched for a long time. I can not waste any more of my time looking.
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Jeff
January 14th, 2009
7:09 am
You might want to do some testing of your new design with the Firefox browser – not everyone is using IE.
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KEN DUDLEY
January 14th, 2009
7:15 am
Why?
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Mike R.
January 14th, 2009
7:20 am
I like the direction you are going (simplified), but I think you need to simplify even more. I don’t like the new logo…but the logo doesn’t really matter to me. Thank you for making the top banner expansion optional.
My suggestion would be to allow users to customize the layout to their liking (like http://my.yahoo.com and http://igoogle.com). Otherwise, you will never satisfy a majority of readers.
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BKA
January 14th, 2009
7:38 am
I agree with Curt. Adopting a logo that matches your URL makes sense, however to abandon the traditional masthead script is short-sighted. Minimally, you should have kept “The Atlanta Journal Constitution” script across the top, that’s your brand, or do you wish to deny it? The clean look of the rest of the home page is refreshing and simple.
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AJP
January 14th, 2009
7:42 am
Don’t care for it. Where are the blogs?
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kc
January 14th, 2009
7:53 am
I HOPE THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS REDESIGN GETS FIRED.
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dino
January 14th, 2009
7:56 am
just deleted ajc from my bookmarks….i like things quick and easy. bye ajc.
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Brandi
January 14th, 2009
8:07 am
Logo is horrible and the site is very bland design-wise. I preferred the old better.
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Chanin
January 14th, 2009
8:13 am
The new publisher needs to be fired…and I wouldn’t pay Douglas $1.00 for the new logo- it sucks. Douglas might want to rethink his career choice.
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George
January 14th, 2009
8:18 am
It’s different…keep changing. To quote a army general: “If they don’t like change, they are going to like irrelevance even less.”.
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Greg
January 14th, 2009
8:21 am
I don’t like the new format because I can’t find the “Question and Answers” section. It may seem trivial, but I always looked for to reading that section to learn something new.
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Angela
January 14th, 2009
8:32 am
Hate it! It is very boring and plain. The site looks like it has been left in the sun too long and has washed out all the color! And the new logo really is very bland and washed out as well. I can understand making changes, but this was too drastically in the wrong direction. I also agree about the ads when you first log on-HATE THEM!!
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Lee
January 14th, 2009
8:32 am
Get rid of the pop-up commercials on the front page. They always take away from the headlines, and are a pain to eliminate. Annoying your readers is not the best thing to do.
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Brenda
January 14th, 2009
8:35 am
It’s cleaner. Not as cluttered or messy. I like it!
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kelley
January 14th, 2009
8:41 am
I think it’s easier on the eyes – not cluttered and junky. But I do agree w/ others who say you need to get rid of the drop down ads. Annoying!
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Mark
January 14th, 2009
8:53 am
I’m not as concerned about the color of the page or the logo as much as others seem to be. What concerns me is content and navigation. Thus far it seems much easier to get around, less cluttered, and the pages seem to load faster. These things I like. I’m fine with the new logo and honestly was fine with the old logo. I haven’t noticed a change in content.
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Jim
January 14th, 2009
8:59 am
the layout is ok. The new logo is atrocious.
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Mark
January 14th, 2009
9:08 am
The opinion page needs it’s own section on the navigation bar. It was much easier to get to the opinion section on the old site. It is also misleading and ironic to put opinion under news.
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chip shirley
January 14th, 2009
9:21 am
I like the NYT cover style better where the front page of the website actually looks like the newspaper.
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Sue
January 14th, 2009
9:52 am
I do not like the new format. The new logo is just plain. It does not stand out at all. The ads are thee only things that pop. The news articles are lost on the ads.
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Mike
January 14th, 2009
9:59 am
Where is the tab for the GA Drought/lake levels? This is desperately needed and viewed by many…
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Mel
January 14th, 2009
9:59 am
The new logo reeks! It looks cheap! Please bring back the old logo!!! Everything else is fine.
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Akintunde
January 14th, 2009
10:01 am
Very nice redesign-clean,easier to read and locate top stories. Thanks. One item-please, please dismiss with the drop-down ads.
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Denise
January 14th, 2009
10:01 am
Uh where is the date? I dont think I really like it as much as the other format… Cleaner.. but I think something is missing
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Mort Merkel
January 14th, 2009
10:01 am
I absolutely hate that you took the opinion section off the bar at the top.
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Joe
January 14th, 2009
10:05 am
Love the new logo and the larger type and clean layout. Would love to see more feature material from Catherine Fox, Pierre Ruhe, Bo Emerson and Jim Auchmutey. They are such good writers, but don’t appear enought in print. Please use their talents more and more. Can only help your circulation.
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Ron
January 14th, 2009
10:06 am
Whose kid did you get to redesign this?
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TBo
January 14th, 2009
10:12 am
I am not crazy about the look of the redesign, the drop down menus take up too much screen space and are no match to the previous dynamic menu bars. Most of all, the new ajc.com appears to be much slower than before, it times out all the time which it never did before. GET A BETTER WEB SERVER, OR, GET A BETTER WEB DEVELOPER…
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HCCynic
January 14th, 2009
10:35 am
My first reaction upon loading the new page was to double check the headlines of the news stories to see if they were current. The page, or maybe it was that logo, struck me as so 2003. Literally, it looked as tired as your editorial stance.
I think your money would have been better spent replacing your editorial staff (pretty much the entire staff with the exception of Jim Wooten) and bringing in some decent, and honorable, people to assist Mr. Wooten in a true message of hope, and compassion.
Oh well, absent such improvement to your blatently obvious, unapologetic, hate filled, elitist editorial bias, I will continue to visit the Vents (assuming I can find them each day) and nothing else.
The worst part on this online edition is that I can not wrap day old fish, of the kid’s soiled diaper in it.
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Patricia Templeton
January 14th, 2009
10:35 am
The new format is horrible. No info, no news, just a list of headlines. NO content — much like the printed portion of the paper. Most of your experienced, best reporters and writers have been laid off, and it shows in superficial coverage and thinner papers. But hey, color comics!!! That certainly helps. Every day there is less and less reason to read you — on line or in print. As a former journalist, and a long time resident of Atlanta I am deeply saddened by this decline.
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CNJ
January 14th, 2009
10:36 am
I like the new layout. The flow of information on the page is easier to read, and the page seems brighter without all the graphics the prior layout had.
I do agree with the other poster that the huge ad that shows when you load a page is annoying.
As for the logo, it’s about brand recognition. The average person feels comfortable with something familiar in the midst of something new, so you may want to consider changing that portion back to the original.
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Fred
January 14th, 2009
10:46 am
The layout is fine. The logo however is miserable. It looks chaep. Totally forgettable. Please change it back.
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fer
January 14th, 2009
10:46 am
The more I use it, or TRY to use it, the more I hate it!
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T
January 14th, 2009
11:42 am
Overall, I think the layout is fine, but I thought the old search format was better. I think the new logo is too simple, but I can live with it.
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Jason
January 14th, 2009
11:43 am
Simpler is not always better. Now the home page looks like a term paper. Every headline is 1.5 spaced. Way to go.
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dino
January 14th, 2009
12:49 pm
THEY NEED TO FIRE ALL OF YOU!!!!!
THE NERVE OF YOU TO EDIT ALL OF THE COMPLAINTS AND LEAVE THE POSITIVE COMMENTS.
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nico
January 14th, 2009
3:41 pm
don’t like it. logo has no personality, website seems to have less content than before. lame all around.
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alice ayliffe
January 15th, 2009
10:45 am
If you must use my name, pls. use only first name. Re new format, the home page is too cluttered, there’s no link for the Vent, & who cares about celebrity over indulgences?
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B
January 16th, 2009
2:59 pm
Your new logo is really not attractive. The two colors, the serif font,it’s way too busy – what were you thinking? It’s very “old” looking, not in a good way.
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Jesse
January 16th, 2009
6:05 pm
How do I find Cynthia Tucker’s & other’s editorials?
Is there another online AJC newspaper in addition to this site?
The AJC has preserved the freedom of all of us by being a statewide and nationwide government watchdog providing a check and balance to politician’s excesses.
I am concerned that this will be lost due to cancelling statewide delivery.
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Carl Johnson
February 5th, 2009
9:40 pm
I think the changes are fabulous. What a wonderful addition to your site. Thanks for making the site so easy to use!
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Steve
February 17th, 2009
9:51 am
The site improvements are fine. It’s the content that’s lacking. OLD, out of date reviews, especially of restaurants that are now closed is ridiculous. If you can’t update a review in 4 or 5 years what good is it. I understand every restaurant can’t be constantly updated, but don’t act like your information is somehow relevant because a writer made a couple of comments about a place in 2004.
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Lynn Orr
February 17th, 2009
3:43 pm
We rely greatly on our users to let us know when a restaurant is closed (or newly opened). As often as restaurants open and close in a metro area of this size, it’s the only realistic way we can offer what we do. So please do tell us! We want this to be an environment where you can recommend, review and exchange information with fellow users. Thank you for your input — we appreciate hearing from you.
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Jay
March 8th, 2009
9:18 am
I consider myself to be a Republican. Conservative and Libertarian at the same time. I sometimes find Jimm Wooten to be too far Right. I oftentimes find Jay Bookman to be too far Left.
There are times I could agree with both gentlemen.
Yet, I don’t see the bias that evidently quite a few readers see. Because I get my news from more than one source. And, I think, I have enough intelligence to form my own opinion with out any reporting bias (real or perceived) influencing it.
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Carter is a Fool
March 8th, 2009
9:29 am
Tucker only writes one day a week now. Is she going back to two days a week? Once a week is plenty for her slanted views. Wooten is retiring and you are stating that he is still working once a week. Is this true?
With Barr once a week, Wooten once a week and the new columnist 3 times a week, you are still not balanced. Bookman blogs daily and if Tucker now writes twice a week along with the constant left leaning editorial cartoons, there is no balance. To balance this, you need two conservative columnists and another editorial cartoon.
The most biased part of the editorial page are the left leaning drawings of Luckovich. You need a more conservative editorial cartoonist to balance his left leaning scribbles. I would suggest a syndicated cartoonist such as Michael Ramirez from the Investors Business Daily.
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Dano
March 8th, 2009
9:31 am
I quit a 10+ year subscription to the AJC due to its far-left positions on all issues. Cynthia Tucker is the biggest racist in the entire metroplex. The AJC wouldn’t have to make all these cuts if they just reported the news and didn’t interject its political and racist philosophies. You want to increase subscriptions? Maybe look at successful publications like the Wall Street Journal. Learn from your fallen leftist rags like the Denver paper and the LA Times.
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Dondee
March 8th, 2009
9:36 am
I agree that the paper is too liberal and seems to be trying to appeal more to one racial group and that is exactly the reason why I quit subscribing years ago. Balanced coverage…equal parts liberal and conservative, black and white, would make a difference in my considering another shot at subscribing. In order for the AJC to make a run at staying in print, you need to appeal to a broader base…..Business 101, anybody?
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Tom Berg
March 8th, 2009
9:37 am
Perhaps another reason for a dive in subscriptions is that, for example, the editor writes things like “None of these choices HAS been easy”. It’s HAVE been easy nimrod. The AJC’s English is typically awful.
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catlady
March 8th, 2009
9:38 am
A lot of folks (in GA, at least) perceive bias as anything that does not agree with their opinion. I think the AJC has a balance, but, even as someone pretty liberal, there has been a tendency, IMHO, to the left side of the equation. It would be nice to have a mix of liberal/conservative in all sorts of ways. For example, liberal in social policy but conservative in economics–those do exist.
As for me, I have to drive 100 miles roundtrip now to get the AJC (I don’t do that), or squint at the print on a computer screen. I am not a happy camper about that. IMHO, the AJC, as Georgia’s premier newspaper, owes something to us in the hinterlands as well. The local paper is a weekly, filled with advice from preachers and the ag economist, as well as the vet. I can get a paper from Chattanooga, but not from Atlanta, and I live closer to Atlanta!
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John
March 8th, 2009
9:40 am
I totally appreciate the albeit late response from the AJC and the willingness to afford change in their approach to bringing us the news. I wish these changes had been prompted more by a desire to be fair and balanced than a reaction to economic conditions but I’ll take this anyway. For a mighty long time the AJC has slipped down the path of liberalism and bias in their reporting and quite frankly lost the respect of many. Without real competition in the Atlanta market, the AJC has been allowed to go their own way because readers had no other substantial choices. Only now, with the economic times, does the AJC see the benefit of trying to appeal to all of its potential readers. Like I said, it’s a late but welcomed change. I look forward to seeing these changes unfold in the near future. It is my hope the AJC has once again realized its position in the city and in the state and in the south and will focus on delivering the news in an unbiased and credible manner. I’ve been disappointed in the focus and the content of the AJC in the past but will embrace changes towards fair and unslanted coverage if those changes truly materialize.
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catlady
March 8th, 2009
9:41 am
Tom–none means not one. Not one of these choices HAS been easy. If they had chosen more than one choice, it would be have. Of these choices is a prepositional phrase, not the subject of the verb. Geez!
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Julia Wallace
March 8th, 2009
9:45 am
Just to clarify on questions from “Carter is a fool.”
By July 1, Our new columnist will blog. Wooten will continue to blog and will write a once a week column. Tucker will return to twice a week. So… by the numbers (and columnists are tough to categorize and play a straight numbers games)… We will have the new columnist, Wooten and Barr for five columns a week; and Bookman and Tucker for four columns a week. You raise a good point on Luckovich. Our op-ed page editor has added more conservative syndicated cartoonists in recent months. I hope you’ve noticed.
Carter is a Fool
March 8th, 2009
9:29 am
Tucker only writes one day a week now. Is she going back to two days a week? Once a week is plenty for her slanted views. Wooten is retiring and you are stating that he is still working once a week. Is this true?
With Barr once a week, Wooten once a week and the new columnist 3 times a week, you are still not balanced. Bookman blogs daily and if Tucker now writes twice a week along with the constant left leaning editorial cartoons, there is no balance. To balance this, you need two conservative columnists and another editorial cartoon.
The most biased part of the editorial page are the left leaning drawings of Luckovich. You need a more conservative editorial cartoonist to balance his left leaning scribbles. I would suggest a syndicated cartoonist such as Michael Ramirez from the Investors Business Daily.
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Lenny
March 8th, 2009
9:46 am
Ms.Wallace,
I read your “The path ahead for AJC” article. I wish your market research people would have contacted me as I would have given them some advice.
If you want to sell papers, first get in touch with your readers.
For example: in the Living Section artical: “Dozens of ways to stretch your dollars,” many of the restaurants are ridiculously priced such as the Melting Pot $25 dollar fondue dinner and $5 drink specials. Exactly which group you are catering to with these so-called dining dollar stretchers is beyond me. Why not stick to the very companies that use ads and coupons within your own paper for promotion such as the Logans Roadhouse which is underneath Ecco $44 for two?
Next: Technology. In this high tech age, it seems that Husted’s column is ever-shrinking. I am not a big fan of his writing per se, but wake up AJC as this is the internet age. When I do manage to find information such as web sites that may be a benefit, it was worth the five minute read.
Oh but we have the homefinder! like anyone is actually looking for a home right now and a “Caribbean outpost in Cobb. Where is the beneficial news and information there? Perhaps a couple years ago before the bottom fell out of the economy it would have been a good article.
For now, my advice is to focus on the “news” and information that may benefit your readers and help them through these tough times. At this point the only reaon I may keep my subscription is for the wife and her coupons unless I can talk her into the savings difference from the price of your paper.
One last thing, in case you did not know, the metro area expands beyond Cobb, Gwinnett, Fulton, Clayton and Dekalb Counties. “Paulding County” seems to be featured in your paper only when there is a homicide which may be once or twice a year.
I doubt you will consider my offerings to any degree, as this paper has always seemed to be ignorant of the people who subscribe but since this is the only major paper, I thought I would give it s a shot.
Regards,
Lenny
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MP
March 8th, 2009
9:47 am
This may come across as petty compared to the liberal vs. conservative debate. I have noticed how many stories on-line have missing words or typo’s. I would estimate it to be running at about half the articles. In my view, you lose some credibility when you can’t even put out a story with fully correct spelling, good sentences, and no typos. I really don’t know what the rate is for the print edition. I rarely read the AJC that way. But it is really disappointing to be reading along and have to figure out what word the writer left out and what was really meant.
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Bill Holsomback
March 8th, 2009
10:01 am
Have you considered recycling all the AJC papers that people read and then throw away? How many tons of paper would that be, do you think? There would need to be several convenient locations of course, for people to drop their papers off. I know that there are large dumpsters at several schools, etc., but would it make a difference if the AJC were doing it’s own recycling? Probably not cost effective!
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Julia Wallace
March 8th, 2009
10:08 am
Lenny… Thanks for your comments. Even though you weren’t in the market research… you reflect much of what we heard. People want news. They want us to play the role of watchdog in the community (read Alan Judd’s story today on peanut inspections). On Sunday, they want us to be a bit more thoughtful and explain the “why” behind the news (James Salzer’s story on Georgia legislators’ personal financial problems; the op-ed piece today by William Egart, a flight safety instructor from McDonough). And they want us to help them live their lives. In homefinder, you’re right, we need to find a balance. Stories about beautiful homes remain popular. I suppose it’s a welcome break from these tough economic times. Those are some of most clicked-on photo galleries on ajc.com. However, there are many people facing much more serious home issues, and we need to provide that information as well.
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Greg
March 8th, 2009
10:17 am
All you need to do is look at the total staff of the editorial page. Wooten has been the only voice of the conservatives. Every one else is a radical liberal, lead by one of the most radicals in the country. Who is she going to surround herself with….moderates??? This paper serves the community at large, but it has a decided slant in both it’s reporting, editorials, and ‘that issue that makes white Americans cowards’.
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David Hill
March 8th, 2009
10:20 am
I read on Page A-3 in your article from Julia Wallace how the paper was going to start proof reading to stop bias. I turn to the next page and read an article titled “President says recovery not certain this year”, only to see true liberal bias. The article states how Obama is going to “redistribute wealth from about 3 million elite familes to forgotten lower and middle classes.” A non bias paper would have said upper income to lower income, and left out the true liberal bias, class warfare word of elite and forgotten. This is why the AJC is a Liberal paper losing readers, and having to sell the sunday paper on the corner for $1.00.
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linda worley
March 8th, 2009
10:23 am
You say you want my business. I have been a reader for over 25 years.
Now each week, I hear that this or that is being cut from the paper. Today my Sunday paper did not arrive until 9:30. The excuse was that the truck was late. I will say the same thing to you that I stated to your representative who I waited almost 10 minutes to speak with this morning, “Totally unacceptable”. I will be contacting a local paper for a subscription. Thank you and I am sorry that your newspaper no longer meets my needs.
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workinDawg
March 8th, 2009
10:25 am
So liberal editors are assigned to look for bias & balance. Good luck with that. You are in the business of public trust and you have lost it. I used to get the AJC at my office and at home. You lost my business several years ago.
Free advice on limiting content- cut your racial articles in half and you can add content. Your “all things have racial undertones, overtones, or bias” gets old very, very quickly.
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Buzz G
March 8th, 2009
10:31 am
This paper will never be worth killing trees for until Ms. Tucker apologizes for what she has done to this once-great paper and walks out the door.
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Carter is a Fool
March 8th, 2009
10:34 am
Dear Ms. Wallace,
Thank you for the reply. I truly hope that these changes will bring more balance to the opinion section. For the online readers, we do not see the other political cartoons. This needs to be addressed.
David Hill’s comment about the bias in the stories is right on point. You need to look at this carefully as your reporters often makes these types of assertions.
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Pam
March 8th, 2009
10:37 am
Totally liberal view points!! Many of my friends now just get the Marietta Journal in Cobb. Used to get AJC, but now live in a different area. Also channels 2,5,11 are totally controlled by left wing! Most need to learn to read many different sources and then draw their own opinion, but don’t do it.
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Rufus
March 8th, 2009
10:42 am
The AJC has always been in the tank for the left, and no amount of cosmetics will change that fact. The reason? Name one journalism school which is even slightly conservative.
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James
March 8th, 2009
10:52 am
A few years ago the AJC dropped O’reilly and Ringwald columns in an attemp to bring what was said at the time to bring balance to the editorial page. What I saw was a further down hill slide. How about just printing the truth and you won’t have to worry about being liberal or conservative or is that asking too much from the AJC.
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Longtime Atlanta subscriber
March 8th, 2009
10:57 am
Dear Ms. Wallace:
Although I appreciate the AJC’s efforts to offer balanced reporting, you do need to realize that those so-called conservatives who resort to name calling and yelling will never subscribe to the paper, anyway. They use terms such as “radical Liberals” while portraying themselves as thoughtful conservatives. David Hill (above) laments as “liberal” a statement in an article that says Obama’s plan “redistributes wealth from about 3 million elite families to forgotten lower and middle classes.” Actually, Obama’s plan gives a tax break to 98% of Americans, while letting a huge tax break for 2% of the very highest wage earners expire. You don’t see that in many articles, and cannot be described as a “redistribution of wealth” – but apparently, some people see this as an example of liberal bias. My point is that you will never, ever, make these right-wing complainers happy, unless you ask Rush Limbaugh to write your entire paper for you. Please keep the mix of columnists that you have. We live in a state that is dominated by Republicans whose idea of consumerism is to give a mammoth fee increase to Georgia Power. We need the excellent voices of Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman, and of the Atlanta Journal Consititution, more than ever. Don’t give in.
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Bill
March 8th, 2009
10:59 am
Ms Wallace,
You seem to be trying to admit that the AJC has a strong liberal slant but just can’t quite get yourself say it. For example, Wooten is rarely mentioned without a descriptor of “conservative” or “right” but I can never remember you using “liberal” or “left leaning” when you refer to Bookman or Tucker. Please correct me if I’m mistaken.
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John Bailey
March 8th, 2009
11:00 am
Ms. Wallace,
I read your comments in this morning’s paper and want to affirm the desire to take deliberate steps to address the bias issue. Like many of your readers, I was very disppointed in what appeared to me was a lack of balance in your news coverage and editorials. It was for this very reason that I failed to renew my subscription. I now purchase the paper only on Sunday to keep up with local advertising. Although I do not intend to resubscribe at this time I do want you to know I affirm your desire to provide balanced coverage.
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Scott
March 8th, 2009
11:00 am
I think that it is quite humorous that the AJC is failing and now is making a token attempt to appeal to conservatives to boost circulation! What happened to all of the Obama pandering during the campaign? Did it not give the paper the numbers that you thought it would?
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Zach Etheridge
March 8th, 2009
11:03 am
As the AJC makes its selection of a new conservative columnist, please do your part not to fan the flames of culture war. Surely we’ve had enough self-righteous rhetoric and blind ideology to last us all a lifetime, and surely we’ve degraded what passes for civic discourse shamefully enough for all to agree that we owe both ourselves and posterity an honest attempt to be more responsible, more thoughtful, and more more worthy of respect. I would ask that you disqualify any columnist candidate who used the word “liberal” in his or her trial column. Newt Gingrich’s shamelessly Orwellian transformation of the word into an obscenity was foul enough in his day, and has by now become the hallmark of rigidly hostile, destructive, and frankly stupid discourse.
Please choose a conservative columnist who can make the case for his or her views without resorting to cheap straw-man counter-arguments, without ranting about fundamentally irrelevant far-fringe opponents, and without feeling compelled to oppose, regardless of its merits, any idea not already approved by the current dictators of far-fringe conservatism.
One can be more conservative than David Brooks and still make sense. One can be as serious as William Buckley and still be a real conservative. One can be a conservative and an actual patriot at the same time, determined to think, write, and speak in a way that is good for our country, that helps frame honest debate about critical issues, that encourages us to stop shouting and think. Faced with current proof of the bankruptcy of our lifestyles and our hyper-partisan politics, we cannot afford for a newspaper as important as the AJC is to its region to contribute any further to the breakdown of public civility and reason. A knee-jerk conservative partisan might generate strong, partisan reactions from your readers, but would we be better off? Would Atlanta be a better city for it? Would you be able to get along better with your neighbors, or expect more meaningful public conversation about the great issues and difficult solutions confronting us?
I suspect (and fervently hope) that a clear AJC decision to walk away from the culture wars, to publish points of view that clearly start from sense of shared responsibility, and to encourage its readers to work together to create a meaningful, sustainable community would actually be good for the paper’s long-term viability. We need the AJC to lead, and in doing so make its editorial page an indispensable agent of change for the better rather than just another place where the angry get angrier and the foolish feel confirmed.
Good luck and godspeed!
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Joyce
March 8th, 2009
11:33 am
I am new to this “conservative/liberal” stuff, I always was into the “Republican/ Democrat” divisions. All this seems silly. If we could stick to the truth, to the facts written in a neutral way, as for a factual school report then we could all, maybe, be happy. If opinions are needed in print, then they should be clearly labeled as such and your counting of bias makes sense. If we must read “factual” articles for bias then all facts are suspect. I would say that the paper needs to keep that old TV cop,Joe Friday, in mind and stick to “the facts, just the facts”…unless it is clearly stated that this is opinion. If all this brouhaha is about the two editorial pages of your relatively fat newspaper then we all involved in a tempest in a small teapot! After all, I, at least, read your paper for news facts, not for your collected opinions of it.
Sincerely, Joyce
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Ken Tanner
March 8th, 2009
11:36 am
You will have a tough time identifying liberal leanings when the survey is done by liberal leaning editors. The problem with perspective is that the statements are usually factually correct. Example: During the election Sarah Palin was usually referred to as “first-term Governor Sarah Palin”; I NEVER saw a reference to “first-term Senator Barack Obama.” It’s the same thing with congressmen who are suspected of improper behavior. Has anyone ever seen a reference to “Democrat Gary Condit”? Even during its proper targeting of Mayor Bill Campbell, did anyone ever see any reference to him being a Democrat? Contrast that with Republican Senator Larry Craig and Republican Senator David Vitter. AJC: It doesn’t have to be a lie to show bias.
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Fetuses With Relish
March 8th, 2009
11:38 am
This argument about bias is so stupid. This country is basically split 50-50 (or 45-45 with 10 being undecided). If you stop the so-called bias then you’ll alienate the 50% of liberal readers you have. Stopping the bias will only make it so that the conservatives are happy and the liberals are angry. That won’t help your circulation any (or very marginally since Georgia is a red state but only by 5 points). The problems with the decline in Newspapers in general is much deeper than the bias argument. And to all the conservatives who are going to chew me out I would like to point out the entry about The Washington Times on Wikipedia. Surely we can agree that the Washington Times is not biased. The Times has lost money every year since it’s inception and has had nearly 2 billion dollars poured into it. All the while having only 1/7th the readership of the Washington Post.
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Julia Wallace
March 8th, 2009
11:39 am
Bill asks why we describe Wooten as an conservative, but don’t describe Bookman or Tucker as liberals. That’s a good point! We haven’t had anyone question where Bookman or Tucker stand on the political spectrum. We do however often hear people say that we have NO conservative columnists, so have pointed them toward Wooten and some of our regular conservative columnists like Krauthmammer. They see David Brooks as a liberal, because he writes for the New York Times. You know it’s more complicated than that. In some of the market testing, we did one version of the editorial page where every columnist was labeled. The readers rejected that, saying (appropriately) that not all opinion is so easily categorized.
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Devildog
March 8th, 2009
11:54 am
The AJC needs to focus more on local stories. You can get national news, sports, ect., from a variety of sources online, yet the one area AJC can COMMAND remains the “redheaded stepchild.” You took an even bigger step backward by doing away with the zone coverage. Same with sports. Instead of covering more preps (seed-beds for future subscribers) you cut back.
And PLEASE, don’t reply with some kind of spin about how great you do local coverage. I READ the AJC everyday. I KNOW what you do.
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Jake Hondo
March 8th, 2009
12:00 pm
The politically correct format of you newspaper/website is sickening. For example, every gay news story/issue is always put front and center on your website, and stays there for days. But unlike the Gwinnett Daily Post; the almost daily stories about rape, hit-and-run, drug running, home invasion, etc., carried out by the Hispanics in Gwinnett County are almost never reported by you. By the way, when are you going to enlighten your readership with a story about the tuberculosis epidemic in Gwinnett County, and the illegal aliens who are responsible for it?
Your pathetical PC policy of selectively publishing photos of defendants in crime stories also deserves mention. Two homegrown stories come to mind. In July, 2006, a Coca-Cola executive was arrested for attempting to sell trade secrets to Pepsi. When the story broke, you reported it without showing a photo of the perp. The story, w/perp photo, quickly went national, and about four days later, you were one of the last publications to add her photo to a story update, revealing to your readership that she was black. Talk about white liberal guilt!
By contrast, in January 2009, you reported (w/ no photos) about an Obama-supporting couple whose house was torched while they were on their way to his inauguration. Days later, when it was revealed that they were the prime suspects and subsequently arrested for arson, you put their photos front and center in your story update, revealing that they were white. Again, white liberal guilt in play here.
In closing, your publication is doomed. Your intellectually dishonest approach to news reporting will continue, in spite of your best efforts, because of your irrational aversion to the truth, and the twisted liberal logic that goes into your day- to-day editorial decisions.
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Bob Proctor
March 8th, 2009
12:05 pm
I subscribed to the AJC 5 years ago when first moving to the Atlanta area as a way of getting to know this metro region. Besides being a news junkie, I always enjoyed reading newspapers and getting the facts of what is happening.
In that time, I have threatened to cancel my subscription several times only to clench my teeth and shake my head at the total lack of objectivity throughout the paper, not just the editorial pages. I can even stand Luckovich, if he was balanced on alternate days with an opposing view. Cythia Tucker……..well, she has done more harm to your paper than you seem to understand. Have you ever considered the demographics of your typical subscriber? They are not Cythia Tucker. To make a point, let me exaggerate the biased messages you are sending: 1), Atlanta is a well run crime free visitor mecca, 2), hip hop is God’s gift to the area, 3) Gay life style is celebrated and 4) individual responsibility is not important as long as the local, state and federal government are there to provide handouts. Exaggerated yes, but not by much.
My last 6 month’s subscription is coming due. This time, I will not renew. Despite past promises of fair reporting, it never happens. Nearly every change you make to the paper is a negative in one way or the other. Good objective investigative reporting is sadly lacking. It is time to use my laptop with my morning coffee……………
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Longtime subscriber # 2
March 8th, 2009
12:08 pm
Enter your comments here
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workinDawg
March 8th, 2009
12:09 pm
Ms. Wallace, it is true that not all opinion is “easily categoriezed”- but apparently “conservative” opinion is since it is always labled as such. I do think that having a base understanding of where the writer lies politically does help in understanding their perspective. The AJC agrees or they wouldn’t do with with Mr. Wooten 100% of the time. The likely reason your first effort at “labeling” was rejected is becuase you have largely alienated your conservative readers. I doubt very seriously you have enough of a conservative base left to offset how liberals feel when one of their own is labled. Us on the right are used to it.
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Nathan
March 8th, 2009
12:10 pm
I am white, Christian, Atlanta Public School educated, and a Georgia Tech graduate. One of my most valued and trustworthy partners is Black Muslim. Being fiscally conservative, socially liberal, I agree with most of the above comments. Not only is the news reporting slanted including the lead headlines and paragraphs, the liberal editorial headlines and opinions tend to be misleading and omit important facts. The AJC has created more bias and racism in the public through its publication.
I find it hard to believe that even Ralph Magill would approve of your editorial staff.
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Roswell Rory
March 8th, 2009
12:19 pm
I don’t read a newspaper to get confirmation of my political views. If you are so twisted with hate that you want to conduct political warfare even in your newspaper choice, I feel sorry for you. I read Tucker and Wooten too. I watch CNN as well as Fox. I’m fully capable of weeding out the news from the slant. In fact, I don’t believe it’s possible to get a perspective on the news without looking at the media from both sides of the political spectrum.
However, I want the news primarily. I find such actions as completely reformatting the online version of the AJC to be not only unnecessary but also confusing. I don’t need to go on an Easter egg hunt to find my favorite features in the AJC.
Finally, I disagree with those who want even more local news in the AJC.
The newspaper has already become so parochial that it’s necessary to go elsewhere to find a full range of national stories. The front page consists almost entirely of Georgia coverage. The Metro section focuses on petty political squabbles within the 100 or jurisdictions in the area. Finally, the Sports section is so focused on the Georgia Bulldogs, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, the Atlanta Braves, and the Atlanta Falcons that it’s necessary to go elsewhere for national coverage. Why can’t the sports editors recognize that millions of people who’ve moved to Georgia aren’t very interested in which state players got arrested this week?
If the AJC wants to survive, it needs to become a national newspaper.
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Houckster
March 8th, 2009
12:23 pm
Judging from a large number of the comments by the conservatives, it is hard not conclude that they consider the AJC biased whenever the views expressed don’t match their own. That’s what makes the AJC a racist, liberal rag.
Georgia is a blood-red state so even middle-of-the-road comments smack of the dreaded liberalism to most conservatives no matter the level of reasoning in the article because they are so far to the right. Ask them about Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and they’ll say they get it right most of the time. For such people there is no middle ground. There is only the demented Left and the patriotic, God-fearing Right.
Therein lies the dilemna for the AJC. Does the paper wish to continue its tradition of balanced reporting pointing out the good and bad about the Left and the Right from the high middle ground or will it become a cheerleader for the Hard Right?
The choice the AJC may be facing is between maintaining its integrity and boosting its sales. That will be a very difficult choice.
Frankly, though, most of the people I refer to would not subscribe to the paper because the have Rush Limbaugh to comfort them.
What the hard conservatives here will surely reject is that with the overall bias of reporting via TV (especially CNN and FOX) being very conservative (and often distorted), a more moderate voice is badly needed.
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Longtime subscriber # 2
March 8th, 2009
12:34 pm
Ms. Wallace,
I’m not in such a forgiving or understanding mood as “Longtime subscriber”. How sad that wide-ranging decisions of such great import are being made based on your assertion that …”A few think we’re too conservative. But many more believe that our editorial pages are too liberal and that bias seeps into our news coverage. We have heard you on the bias issue and are taking deliberate steps to address this.” Count me in on the “few” who think you are too conservative (aside from your coverage of the local/state angle, do you ever stop and read the AP headlines/articles?). Why are you promoting Thomas Oliver (who I thought had been banished once before to outer Gwinnett for journalistic incompetence) for articles that encourage people to go out and buy handguns as they await the collapse of our society? Does your turn to the right mean we look forward to more like-minded tripe? I’ve never written to complain or comment (much unlike the conservative readers you regularly publish in “Letters to the Editor”), but now as budgets tighten I see no reason to continue to throw good money at the AJC as it gives greater content legitimacy to these factions. You are the journalists and the professionals and you should be making decisions based as to the accuracy, quality, and immediacy of the AJC and not based on whether you are being judged as “fair and balanced” on the content. Bottom-line, I realize you have to run the AJC as a business, but in the future you can count me in on the Atlantans who will cancel subscriptions based on your decision to kowtow to the very vocal and misguided right-wing base. Reading the obits and the comics will no longer be enough to entice me to renew my subscription.
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"C"BERRY
March 8th, 2009
12:36 pm
I DO NOT LIVE IN GEORGIA, BUT READ THE AJC EVERY DAY ONLINE. YOU SEND ME ALL THE BREAKING NEWS ALONG WITH ALL THE REST. AS A DELTA RETIREE, I ESPECIALLY
LOVE YOUR COVERAGE OF DELTA AIRLINES. IT IS FIRST CLASS. IT HAS KEPT ALL OF
US WELL INFORMED THROUGH THIS BANKRUPTCY AND MERGER MESS.
NOW, IN MY OPINION, YOU ARE TOO LIBERAL. YOU HAVE TWO ON YOUR STAFF THAT MAKE ME CRINGE. CYNTHIA TUCKER’S COLUMN APPEARS IN OUR NEW ORLEANS PAPER TOO. HER WRITINGS ARE NOT FIT TO LINE THE BOTTOM OF A BIRD CAGE. THERE IS ALSO YOUR CARTOONIST LUCKOVICH. HE IS TALENTED, BUT LEANS WAY TOO FAR LEFT. HE WAS JUST AS BAD WHEN HE WAS WITH OUR LOCAL PAPER. I CAN’T SPEAK FOR ALL OF NEW ORLEANS, BUT MANY OF US DON’T MISS HIM AT ALL.
WE NOW HAVE A TALENTED AS WELL AS BALANCED EDITORIAL CARTOONIST, THANK YOU. I DO HOPE YOUR PAPER SURVIVES IN SPITE OF THESE TWO LEFTISTS!!!!
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Derek
March 8th, 2009
12:54 pm
I used to subscribe and then quit for three reasons 1. It was much better when there were two papers, If you had the Journal and the Constitution again the more conservative one would bury the other. 2 When it came time to re-new, you automatically doubled, tripled or quadrupled the rate! 3. Too much left leaning editors, opinion articles, cartoonists and mega-maniac race-baters. Your subscribers are those who vote conservative in GA, you are losing these and the ad dollars that follow them. Your paper cannot survive on the liberal, and majority black south Atlanta metro area. THEY DONT SUBSCRIBE! You are the major paper in GA, outside of the 285 loop and south Metro, THEY VOTE CONSERVATIVE, they are conservative and whether you believe it or not, they are Atlanta and GA’s money base. They don’t want to be constantly bombarded by your liberal editors opinions and views on issues. Thats why they don’t subscribe or advertise. Even so called “non-bias” news media, must be operated as a business and cater to their customers. And but for a few exceptions (mid-town), the liberal, or majority in ATL minority, are not your customers. The liberal papers in LA and New York can survive because of their subscriber make-up, THE AJC CANNOT!!!
PS> Hey Vent Guy, and ONLINE Vent Guys; Since you won’t post this comment I’ll post it here!!
SEE WHAT HAPPENS ATLANTA, CLAYTON COUNTY, DETROIT, WASHINGTON DC, OAKLAND; WHEN YOU VOTE COLOR INSTEAD OF A PERSONS CHARACTER, INTEGRITY, EXPIERENCE AND ABILITY…..OR IF YOU VOTE FOR A PARTY INSTEAD OF A PERSON. ALL THESE ARE DEMOCRAT AND FAILING…..
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Carter is a Fool
March 8th, 2009
12:58 pm
I would like a response to having another cartoonist balance the scribblings of Luckovich for the online readers.
Here is another case in point as to bias. Cynthia Tucker writes glorifying Barney Frank who is most likely one of the people who should be held accountable for the economic mess we are in by his repeated assertions that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were solvent. He blocked the repeated attempts to overhaul these institutions and head off the coming problem.
I would like an answer to the cartoons for online readers.
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Houckster
March 8th, 2009
1:10 pm
CARTER IS A FOOL writes: Here is another case in point as to bias. Cynthia Tucker writes glorifying Barney Frank who is most likely one of the people who should be held accountable for the economic mess we are in by his repeated assertions that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were solvent. He blocked the repeated attempts to overhaul these institutions and head off the coming problem
____
This is just so much Hard Right propaganda. The policies that lead to the housing bubble very much belong to Mr. Bush who espoused home ownership as a means of building Republican majorities. Mr. Frank is on record as having warned that not everyone will have the income to own and that quality rental housing should be a priority. Mr. Bush’s policies originated during his first term when Mr. Frank was not chairman of the Congressional committee.
CARTER IS A FOOL’s comments illustrate the myopia afflicting so many. We’ve just finished eight years of Mr. Bush and we’ve had Mr. Obama for a month and a half yet the Hard Right is trying to pin all the fault for our economy on Mr. Obama. That’s why a moderate voice is needed so badly.
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John
March 8th, 2009
1:19 pm
I totally appreciate the albeit late response from the AJC and the willingness to afford change in their approach to bringing us the news. I wish these changes had been prompted more by a desire to be fair and balanced than a reaction to economic conditions but I’ll take this anyway. For a mighty long time the AJC has slipped down the path of liberalism and bias in their reporting and quite frankly lost the respect of many. Without real competition in the Atlanta market, the AJC has been allowed to go their own way because readers had no other substantial choices. Only now, with the economic times, does the AJC see the benefit of trying to appeal to all of its potential readers. Like I said, it’s a late but welcomed change. I look forward to seeing these changes unfold in the near future. It is my hope the AJC has once again realized its position in the city and in the state and in the south and will focus on delivering the news in an unbiased and credible manner. I’ve been disappointed in the focus and the content of the AJC in the past but will embrace changes towards fair and unslanted coverage if those changes truly materialize.
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Steve Johnson
March 8th, 2009
1:20 pm
Someone needs to say this out loud.
No matter how you reformat the paper,
reformulate your news content or
redesign your logo, Cynthia Tucker is
your “brand.’
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Will
March 8th, 2009
1:23 pm
Mrs. Wallace,
If I want to read Thomas Friedman, Maureen Dowd or David Brooks, I’ll read The New York Times, not the AJC. While adding another local columnist is a step in the right direction, the commentary section needs to and should focus much more on local news, issues and problems that face metro Atlanta, not giving prime real estate to syndicated columnists from elsewhere due to a lack of printable content or space that needs to be filled. Write more local news oriented editorials, have a larger, more diverse or more specialized commentary staff or have your current columnists write more.
Also, I think using terms like ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’ to describe your commentary staff undermines them intellectually, and their audience by the way. That’s an easy way out to appease critics of bias. It basically pigeonholes them in such a way prevents them from writing commentary that could lean both ways. The issues that affect people today are too complex to be rigidly labeled as ‘liberal’ or ‘conservative’. That kind of language furthers the partisan divide at a time when Atlantans (and America) can’t really afford it.
The worst thing a local newspaper can do is misinterpret their audience and not specialize, especially in the commentary section. The AJC does a good job to a certain extent, but as readers, we want (and need) more local opinion, because that’s why we read the AJC. If we want national or international news, we’ll pick up the New York Times or The Wall Street Journal or turn on CNN.
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Carter is a Fool
March 8th, 2009
1:26 pm
Read the following for a well thought out discussion on Barney Frank’s significant contribution to the economic problems. Houckster is incorrect. The requirement for loaning money to those who could not afford to pay it back is NOT Bush’s dictate. The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (another Foolish Carter problem) was revised during the Clinton years to force lenders to lend money to those not qualified or face additional federal regulations.
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=321237362312361
Nowhere did I say that this Obama’s fault. It is the fault of those who did not fix the problem in Congress when it was brought to their attention. Not only did Frank not attempt to fix the problem, he blocked these attempts.
This is not a HARD RIGHT position. Liberals love to jump up and call names to make their case. The issues are far more complicated than calling names and making wild accusations.
A fair and balanced view of the world through reporting is needed. Not a biased view that said Bush is at fault for everything and is Bad.
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Marie
March 8th, 2009
1:27 pm
Ms. Wallace, first of all, liberal or conservative is in the eye of the beholder. I recall when some professional women decided to be known by their own first name (e.g. Mrs. Mary Johnson instead of Mrs. Frank Johnson), that was considered liberal and those women were derisively called “modern women”. Then, some women decided not to take their husband’s last name at all and THAT was considered downright militant by some people. My point is that anything the AJC does is going to be labeled by *some*one as biased. Balance is a good goal but given how fickle people are, I doubt that it is a destination that can be achieved.
Second, on any given day, I will read a number of things in the AJC which I think are liberal or a number of things that I perceive as conservative. I would not assume that changes in subscriptions are reflective of anything other than the impact of electronic publishing on the print medium. (I didn’t understand the concept until I bought a house with built in shelves but, since most of my reading is done electronically, I have nothing on my shelves.) People don’t subscribe to what they can get online. So, in addition to agreeing with the comment that people who don’t subscribe now aren’t likely to subscribe because of an attempt to be “unbiased” (whatever that means), I think the AJC should look at other business models instead of trying to meet a nebulous and (in my opinion) unattainable standard.
One suggestion I have is to allow more opportunities to comment on stories in the online version. I think people might be surprised to know what other people are thinking about the news in Metro Atlanta.
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Raul
March 8th, 2009
1:33 pm
I ended my subscription to the AJC because the paper kept getting delivered to my neighbor. Every day it was on the neighbor’s driveway. Every stinkin’ day. Complained three times to the AJC. Each time they promised to get it right. They never did. Unbelievable. I now throw their solicitations in the trash without even opening them. Who needs the aggravation.
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Mark
March 8th, 2009
1:34 pm
The AJC is a far left drivel of a newspaper. I will never subscribe to it as long as Cynthia Tucker runs her anti-white/anti-Jew/anti-American/pro-Islamic Obama propaganda.
Shame that the Cox family is too stubborn to allow their affirmative action mouthpiece to drive this newspaper to the ground.
Good riddance. May the AJC soon join the Rocky Mountain News
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Matt Kempner
March 8th, 2009
2:03 pm
I agree with Will’s comment about making sure the opinions pages put focus on local issues. AJC staff opinion writers do address national news, but local commentary is a crucial part of their jobs. It also will be so for the new conservative columnist, who generally will be expected to write about local and Georgia issues 60 percent of the time.
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Dana
March 8th, 2009
2:19 pm
I am amazed at the number of respondents to this issue who want more conservative issues discussed and who think the AJC is extremely liberal. I am middle of the road, used to be Republican, now somewhat liberal and newly turned Democrat. I don’t want to see more conservative columnists in the paper. Mostly, they lean too far to the right. If you can find a conservative columnist who keeps to the facts, and reports constructively, then fine. I don’t think this can happen. As for the liberals like Cynthia Tucker, I agree with most everyone that she is too extreme. I personally don’t read her or Jim Wooten most of the time. And I also agree with some of the other people who wrote in, that we need to see less of those writers who write for New York papers or Washington papers as their views hardly pertain to issues here in the South. Since you are essentially a Southern regional paper, can you not report on issues here in the Southern states? I would like to see more well-rounded bias free articles and I do like some national and International news. You can keep the comics and I can do without the Living section. Just give me the news, the plain news will do without bias and without embellishments.
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D. Rodriguez
March 8th, 2009
2:19 pm
I haven’t paid for a subscription since 1989. The militant left-wing hate machine (Tucker and Luckovich) would have to disappear before I would consider buying an issue of AJC again.
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Mikey
March 8th, 2009
2:22 pm
I don’t subscribe to the AJC any longer for three reasons (1) Jay Bookman (2) Cynthia Tucker (3) Luckovich. For Bookman all things big government and socialist are wonderful and anything restricting government intrusion into a person’s life or encouraging self responsibility are bad. Tucker sees everything in black and white, black is good and white is bad or worse. Luckovich is neither amusing nor thought provoking merely pathetically bitter towards anyone or anything with which he disagrees. I read the AJC on line for local news but quite often skip certain articles when the headline is blatantly biased one way or the other. I don’t just blindly drink the conservative kool-aid but I also don’t want the liberal “big government knows best” baloney force fed to me by some reporter with a personal save the world agenda. Most of the racial uproars in the Atlanta area are stirred up and kept roiling by the all media outlets especially if it concerns some of our immense number of illegal residents. I do not feel the least bit of sympathy or remorse when an illegal is deported or locked up, they aren’t supposed to be here that is why they are referred to as “illegal.” Tear jerker articles about their plight should be published in the Mexico City paper.
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Diane
March 8th, 2009
2:34 pm
Here’s an idea – how about the media promoting MODERATION instead of liberal or conservative? I am convinced that the root of every problem we have in this country is a result of our polarization of ideas. At least, that is how we are portrayed in the media and by politicians. However, I am equally convinced that the majority of the population falls somewhere smack in the middle of the bird, and not just on its right or left wing.
But controversy sells papers and gets ratings. If we were all holding hands and singing Kumbaya, a lot of media types and politicians would be out of a job.
Granted, it is over-simplification to equate this to a sports analogy, but in some ways, politics and racial issues in particular are a little like sports. It’s only natural to root for your own “team”. But the more the other side gets in your face and taunts you, the more hostile you become. Before long, a brawl breaks out and you can no longer just enjoy being a sports fan. It becomes personal.
We are a nation divided, and the blame for this falls squarely on the shoulders of the media and our politicians, because you all have chosen to portray the extremes of every subject, forcing the populus to feel we have to pick sides and go to war with one another.
The fact is that most of us, regardless of race, religion or political beliefs, want the same thing – a good job, a nice place to live, good education, equal pay and equal opportunity. But we have been led to believe that in order to accomplish this, the other side is standing in our way. If the media focused more on what we all have in common, instead of polarizing our differences and labeling us as one side or the other, we would all stand a better chance of reaching our goals.
Frankly, I stopped subscribing to the AJC years ago because I felt that none of the articles represented my place in society. As a white, lower-middle class working person, all I could read about was the unfortunate plight of African-Americans and how whites are bad and blacks are victims. This type of journalism is grossly unfair to both races, and is just another example of portraying the extremes and pitting us against one another. Whites are tired of being labeled as racists and being made to feel that no matter what we do, it’s never enough. Is it any wonder there’s a growing resentment on our “side”? It’s not racism, it’s self-preservation. And I feel confident that there are just as many African-Americans who are tired of being portrayed as the race of victims and would like to go about there business without skin color being front and center of every conversation.
So how about more articles that portray BOTH sides of a situation and give the readers credit for being able to think for ourselves. Right now, the only options we have are to have our collective blood pressure skyrocket at being perpetually forced to side with diametrically opposed opinions. It would be refreshing to have both sides tone down the rhetoric and find ways to bring us together. But as I said before, what’s in the best interest of our nation doesn’t always equate with what’s in the best interest of media and politics, i.e., money and power.
So how about starting a trend in the media… everything in moderation. Try it. We might like.
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PAIGE
March 8th, 2009
2:52 pm
Now living in a area that was deemed by the newspaper to be “too far out side the metro area” to have delivery, I will say that I miss my Sunday paper. You say that the ad dollars were down and that is why you couldn’t deliver the paper out to Habersham any longer. My family used to get the ads and drive into Gainesville or to Buford depending on what the sales were. Now we have no way to know. How does that help anyone? Seems like a shorted sighted way to save a few dollars.
On the recycling issue…when I was in elementary school, every month there was a news paper recycle contest. Every class room had a sign out by the sidewalk and every famliy lined up their news papers behind the correct sign in brown grocery store basg or tied with a string. The class with the most papers got to have an ice cream party.
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Houckster
March 8th, 2009
3:08 pm
CARTIS IS A FOOL’s weak response to my comments is noted.
To supply an IBD editorial as any indication of the real state of affairs is simply asking too much. I would as likely buy the Brooklyn Bridge. It is one distortion after another. The true state of affairs will have to be determined by a much more rigorous analysis. Suffice it to say it is stretching the imagination to pin so much blame on a congressman as opposed to the President of the United States and the majority Republican party.
Nor did I say that CARTER IS A FOOL blamed Mr. Obama for the current state of our economy. I was speaking in the broader realm that the Hard Right is busily trying to build this very case and even a quick look at the blogs (heavily Hard Right in number) will confirm this. And yes, Barney Frank (because he’s a Democrat and especially because he’s gay) is a juicy target.
The reality is the Mr. George W. Bush was president of the United States during the time the housing bubble began to emerge. Hard Right adherents like to, as CARTER IS A FOOL has done, point to Mr. Clinton’s attempts to get more people to qualify for loans by relaxing the standards under which the ability of the borrower to pay back the loan was adjudged. They fail to note however, as CARTER IS A FOOL does, that the economy was in a different condition then and incomes were still expected to increase making the higher risk tolerable.
Under Mr. Bush, however, incomes stagnated and American debt climbed. This changed the situation and Mr. Bush was responsible for tightening up on requirements if that was what was prudent to do. With a majority in the House and Senate (with a few southern conservative Democrats almost sure to go along, why didn’t he?
Nor during Mr. Bush’s years did we have an effective SEC keeping watch on investment bankers. Christopher Cox, a Mr. Bush appointee, put in place a voluntary supervision program for Wall Street’s largest investment banks that he stated had contributed to the global financial crisis. It was another case of a Bush appointee doing “a heckuva job”.
From 2003 as energy prices began to escalate and as the teaser rates began to expire too many people who got bad loans could not keep up with the payments and it all reached a meltdown point last year with panic on Wall Street making things a dozen times worse.
The AJC has discussed these issues.
The meltdown of our economy is directly attributable to Mr. Bush’s policies. No credible case can be made to deny it. The only alternative the Hard Right has is to make as much noise attacking Mr. Obama and Mr. Frank as possible. Where’s all the personal responsibility that the Republicans liked to remind us moderates that we didn’t have?
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fed up
March 8th, 2009
3:56 pm
I agree with most or at least the majority of posts, the AJC if waaaayy to far left. I wouldn’t read Cynthia Tucker if I was paid to. I cannot believe AJC would keep such a racist, race baiter on their payrolls. For the person who posted, “Please choose a conservative columnist who can make the case for his or her views without resorting to cheap straw-man counter-arguments, without ranting about fundamentally irrelevant far-fringe opponents, and without feeling compelled to oppose, regardless of its merits, any idea not already approved by the current dictators of far-fringe conservatism.” You need to read Bookman, that comment sounds like your describing his left leaning articles. I also agree that if there is anything to report about a Democrat that has done something illegal, immoral or both AJC doesn’t say “Democrat so and so” but if it’s a Republican that does something illegal, immoral or both AJC says “Republican so & so.” For the post that says the housing market is Bush’s fault (you must be Bookman or Tucker because almost everything they write about says that), you don’t know your facts. It was Barney Frank that pushed us into this mess and Frank should not only be kicked out of Congress he should be in jail.
I do appreciate the paper trying to be more fair and balanced but as it’s been said before it might be too little too late. AJC shouldn’t have waited until they fell on hard economic times….who knows if they’d have tried this sooner they may not have as bad of hard economic times.
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Susan
March 8th, 2009
3:58 pm
I cannot understand why people are getting so upset. We ALL need to think about cutting back during this economy and the newspaper is no different. OK, so they need to combine parts of the paper…big deal. The paper is too liberal? Well, for the conservatives in the bunch, maybe it is a GOOD thing to read what “the opposition” is writing and thinking. (Remember, keep you friends close, keep your enemies closer!) After all, what else can you buy for 75 cents? Some people spend more each day on one cup of coffee or are willing to shell out $4.95 for the latest gossip rag. Give me a break! Stop complaining. The money I save in the Sunday paper’s coupons more than pay for my subscription PLUS I get to read whats going on and get to read opinions other than my own. (I simply say a quiet prayer for that person.) It’s a win-win situation.
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fed up
March 8th, 2009
3:58 pm
Ditto to Diane @ 2:34.
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goofball
March 8th, 2009
4:42 pm
The biggest thing lacking at the AJC is a little salesmanship. This is no longer 1995 when you could sit back and wait for advertising to pour in and readers had no good choices for getting a daily compendium of world/national/local news and sports. They have plenty of choices. You have to make them think yours is the best, and I don’t see any effort to do that. It’s bizarre to me.
I’m sure you think the AJC “brand” is still strong and you’re half-right. Lots of people still know the brand. Problem is, they just don’t GIVE A CRAP ABOUT IT, and fewer and fewer read it!
You need a good ad agency and some pedal-to-the-metal campaigns. I’m talking billboards, drive time radio, the whole deal. Forget the crappy house ads and stupid shopping destination campaigns. You need to yell at people that they NEED the AJC — print or web, their choice — to know what the heck is going on in metro Atlanta. Doesn’t matter if it’s not totally true. You gotta make em believe it. My 2c. Good luck.
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Enoch
March 8th, 2009
4:44 pm
Every newspaper has a right to an editorial position. I personally think that Tucker is a radical and Bookman is a lightweight hypocrite who gets his column emailed to him from the DNC. Who cares?
The damage, though, to the AJC’s perception of fairness comes from your news coverage. The damage comes from what you choose to cover and the stories you choose not to. If you would fix the perception of bias in your stories, make sure that your newsroom and your editors represent a wide range of views. Make sure your headline writers do too. Only when your newsroom reflects a wide range of views can you be able to cover stories without the natural bias that comes from having a point of view.
I applaud your decision to talk about the subject of news bias openly. Most papers are following the deny, deny, deny mantra to their graves. I will rejoice if the AJC will become an even handed voice of fact and accountability in this fair city. I will even buy a subscription.
Thank you
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Enoch
March 8th, 2009
4:55 pm
To the troglodytes of the far left who want to use this space for your political rantings. Bag it!
The AJC has asked a question about bias. If you don’t think there is any, God bless you. There is short bus coming by for you in the AM.
The AJC, like many papers is in economic trouble. Unlike many papers, they are opening addressing the fact that a large part of the market perceives them as captive to the left. They have become more liberal than their market but more liberal than the market,a prescription for economic death. We are talking about how the AJC might address that issue. In many markets this issue has become a matter of life and death for the newspaper.
If you want to be sure that you keep your liberal echo chamber I am sure you will find many to agree with you. However, you will not be reading local newspapers with all your progressive friends, There won’t be any newspaper.
For it’s survival, the AJC must find a way to be relevant and valued as a source of news and opinion by a broad swath of the market. The progressives among us would have the AJC become the Great Specked Bird.
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Pierce Randall
March 8th, 2009
5:05 pm
I think that the AJC shouldn’t listen to questions of “bias,” and should instead focus on improving the quality of its composition and facts–what should be the goal of all newspapers. Some people are going to complain about the political stance from which you report, or appear to report. Who cares? You’ll never satisfy these people, unless you’re American Conservative or the Nation. I regard current events from the political left, but I would rather read an AJC more biased towards the right if it were a better paper.
I’ve noticed the paper can have problems with technical terminology–it uses the phrase “heavy rail” to describe “city-to-city rail,” for instance–and I found Tim Eberly’s headline (and the response I received after pointing this out) describing a 17 year-old African American male as a “boy” (as opposed to “teenager”) to be of questionable taste. Otherwise, compositionally, if the paper were a little less “dumbed-down” feeling, it would be nice, but I can take it as it is.
My advice: Stick all your money in reporting, and kill the vent, and moderate comments so that overtly racist remarks don’t post. I’d look at the AJC.com more if reading it didn’t make me feel like I’m reading something that panders to rednecks. My perception is also that the website specifically opens racially-charged stories–MARTA, Clayton County Schools–for comment more often than other subjects, which is worrisome.
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null
March 8th, 2009
5:13 pm
Dano, I’ve only lived in Atlanta for 9 years, but in that time I can tell you, only about 4% of Atlanta’s population could handle the AJC resembling the Journal. The lack of pictures and the above-5th grade reading level required would pretty much stump 96% of the idiots who live here.
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Earle in Florida.
March 8th, 2009
5:26 pm
Let’s face it. In the last 4 decades Atlanta has gone from a white city to a black city and the AJC has evolved from a paper that reflected a white conservative perspective to one that reflects Black liberal views. Why are we surprised? Every major newspaper in black majority cities espouses the same liberal, Democrat, entitlement, big Federal Government, Obama values.
No effort, no matter how well meant, will succeed in changing the cultural values of the AJC. It reflects the community, and Cynthia Tucker personifies it. Good try, Ms.Wallace. You couldn’t change it if you wanted to.
On a more important survival issue, if you want to save the AJC, fix the horrific online version. Living in Florida, I read the AJC online, and it is AWFUL. Separate the AJC from Access Atlanta, and create a newspaper. The format is terrible, although recently marginally improved. The stories stay on the site for literally months. If you want to see what a great newspaper website looks like, look at the New York Times.com or the Wall Street Journal.com. Instead of hiring a useless conservative columnist, go get a first class web designer and catch up with the future of information.
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Alan
March 8th, 2009
5:32 pm
I gave up my subscription years ago as did most of my neighbors and friends. The content and opinions were so out of touch with Georgia values that I could barely bring myself to read it. The irrational opinions of the editorial page (ie: editor Cynthia Tucker) was one of the biggest reasons for my leaving the paper. I miss reading the paper and hope you are truly making an effort to turn the paper around to reflect the interests of the majority of Atlantans & Georgians. If so, I’ll be one of the first to subscribe again.
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HCS
March 8th, 2009
5:57 pm
Your article is fully BSPR. That’s what we have come to expect from the AJC. The main investigative reporting is about places to eat or drink. You are becoming the Southside Sun. Facts, not BSPR is the only way to pull this paper out of the hole it has put itself into.
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Earle in Florida.
March 8th, 2009
5:59 pm
Having read most of these posts, I’ve spotted a trend. Have you seen it MS. Wallace?? Cynthia Tucker is KILLING your newspaper.
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goofball
March 8th, 2009
5:59 pm
Earle is right on the web site. The recent redesign is at least cleaner, but you look at the main page and you really don’t get any clue what you’re looking at! Again — it’s like you guys are still in the old days where everyone “had” to get the AJC. News flash: THEY DO NOT! Information has been commoditized and if you’re going to sell it successfully you gotta sell yourselves not just wait for people to come crawling back because they will not! Instead of a little AJC logo the web page should scream “Atlanta’s #1 24/7 news source!!” or some such. It would tell readers where they are and it might even remind your staff what they are supposed to be doing.
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Jay
March 8th, 2009
6:23 pm
Used to subscribe to the AJC years ago but canceled my delivery after many years due to the liberal nonsense coming out of both news and editorial pages. Conservative readers have been jumping ship for years and telling the AJC the reason which has fallen on deaf ears (”we’re losing readers because of the internet” – wrong!). As long as Cynthia Tucker & Luckovich are on staff, then your sudden enlightenment and promise to be fair will not impress folks like me. You could dismiss both tommorrow and your readership would probably double in a month. I would subscribe just out of principle alone to vote my affirmation.
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Anne
March 8th, 2009
6:40 pm
Add me to the list of people who stopped subscribing because the liberal slant just angered me every time I read the paper. Not just on the editorial page, but the liberal slant of the news. I can choose not to read Cynthia Tucker if I don’t want to, knowing that she is about as far left as is possible, but when I read news stories — not editorials — the writer should be objective, and if the writer can’t manage to keep his or her own personal opinions from flavoring the article to the right or left, then the editor should do his or her job and reword it so the piece is objective.
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SuzeyQ
March 8th, 2009
7:08 pm
Ms. Wallace, Thank you for your willingness to listen, as you maintain journalistic standards needed by the metropolitan area, and those from the rest of the country, who visit you online daily. Many are former Atlanta residents, as well as subscribers, who have relatives and friends in Atlanta. We appreciate fast updates, pictures, and opinions from all sides. We are a thinking people, who recognize how difficult your job must be. Every last article does not need a label, to indicate political slant. That would hobble columnists and cartoonists. To the well read, it all balances in time. Those readers who insist that only their views are correct, and thus more important, are attempting to get you to drop certain employees’ work, because they do not share their view of the world. How boring would that be, if all did? For every threat to stop reading the AJC, someone is offering to limit their own horizons. There are some people who cannot be pleased. I depend on you, to do your best. Thank you for your efforts, and I wish you much success.
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Beverly Wittler
March 8th, 2009
7:50 pm
I’m all for decreasing the size of the publication as much as possible without losing too much of the content. Less for me to take to the recycle bin, plua I’m sort of a ‘Reader’s Digest’ scanner. But don’t want to give up my favorite comics, any of the editorial page and the vent. GREAT column today by Wm. Egart re getting back to basics and glad the AJC is getting more basic.
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Beverly Wittler
March 8th, 2009
7:54 pm
I’m all for the AJC down-sizing without losing too much of the content. First, I’ll have less to recycle; but also speed-read a good bit and like shorter columns, Reader’s Digest version? GREAT column today from Wm. Egart about getting back to the basics, and glad to see my AJC getting a bit more basic too.
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NRB
March 8th, 2009
8:18 pm
Too little too late!
After years of printing anti-white, anti-conservative, anti-police, anti-american GARBAGE in not only your op-ed columns but your “news” sections, I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU CLOSE DOWN!!
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dutch
March 8th, 2009
8:46 pm
To the idiot who ”corrected” Ms. Wallace for using the verb “has” with “none.”
She is correct.
None is singular. So is ‘has’ – so take a break.
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Dondee
March 8th, 2009
9:02 pm
Diane (like the name: )……at 2:34…..You hit it on the head……..By the way, don’t kill the vent…..it’s one of the most thoughtful and entertaining parts of the AJC…….If that’s gone, I most definitely would never resubscribe…..
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Kenny Autrie
March 8th, 2009
9:15 pm
It’s just too bad about newspapers in general. I used to love to get my evening paper and read it during dinner. When the evening paper stopped, then I just didn’t have time in the morning to read the morning paper, so I discontinued it. But it’s really uncomfortable curling up with my laptop.
Now I just fall asleep watching Bill O’Reilly and hoping that Keith Olbermann and Rachael Maddow would get kicked off the air for their lunatic rantings.
Where’s Lewis Grizzard when you need him?
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RB from Gwinnett
March 8th, 2009
9:19 pm
Julia,
I really think you’re COMPLETELY missing the issue people have with bias, which might be the root of the problem. You can have equal numbers of columns published from the far right and from the far left and call youself balanced when you take the average, but what you’re missing is that people want to read column by columnists who are capable of being fair and balanced, not far right and far left. You’re liberal leaning columnists don’t have the mental capacity to fairly evaluate national issues. EVERYTHING they see and write on is far left. We’re sick of it. It’s wrong and it’s harmful to the public at large. Wooten has called out Republicans on many issues when he’s disagreed with their actions/policies/behavior. While he’s obviously conservative, he’s also fair in his treatment of foul behavior by all of them. THAT is the model we expect from all of them, not some mythical average of left and right leaning columns.
Also, go back and do a tally of the people and parties your paper has “endorsed” in elections. How many R’s and D’s do you have? I’m guessing the ratio is somewhere close to 95% D’s. You’re problem goes beyond column counts, Julia. Why can’t you just present the candidates and not only let, but encourage the people to make up their own minds. Stop being so arrogant you think your opinions deserve a place in the public forum that is this states major newspaper.
Another issue other posters have already touched on is your editorial cartoon. Luckovich is a big problem. He, like your liberal columnists, is incapable of being fair and balanced. You’ve either got find another cartoonist to balance him out or replace him with someone who’s capable of balancing their own thinking. I would bet he alone is responsible for a big chunk of your subscription losses. We’re sick of seeing the same one trick pony every day.
Good luck with your efforts, Julia. I really do wish you well. A challenge you will have to figure out at some point is whether you want to appeal to the metro Atlanta population at large, or your subscription base at large. There is a difference and finding the balance is the key to your survival. Good luck.
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Jarrett
March 8th, 2009
9:23 pm
I think there is a clear bias in terms of the regions of the Atlanta metro area. I do not believe that all of Atlanta, South Fulton County and Clayton County are as bad as people believe. However, there are so many negative articles that are put out about these areas. These areas, while they have their problems like any other area in Atlanta region, in some cases, are being unfairly targeted and the only stories you read are bad. How about some good news from these areas?
I also think the newspaper needs to make more of a concerted effort in incorporating more of the news from the southern suburbs, notably Henry and Coweta, as these pages seem to hardly be updated as frequently as any of the other pages. Henry County is becoming a critical player in the metropolitan area and Coweta has a rapidly growing population- both on the Southside but neither gets the attention it should get. The AJC has sections like ‘Around Sandy Springs’ and ‘Northside.Talk’… how about ‘Southside.Talk’ and more blogs about things that are happening in the southern suburbs? The southern suburbs are very important to the metropolitan area too.
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steve
March 8th, 2009
9:30 pm
“None of these choices HAS been easy” is proper Engilsh. The subject is “None”, not “choices”. The AJC has grammatical errors daily. This is not one of them.
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Geraldine Carter
March 8th, 2009
9:53 pm
As I started to read your article in this mornings paper I was so afraid that you were going to cancel printing the comic section but I was relieved to see that was not the case. I do wish that “Peanuts” would not be so small in the daily paper. I do read most of the editorials and I agree with Cynthia Tucker aometimes and not other. Today I enjoyed Thomas Friedman and Willam Egart.
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Shawn
March 8th, 2009
10:10 pm
If you are always making the paper smaller, why does the subscription price keep increasing? I won’t be renewing after my subscription ends.
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Kelvin
March 8th, 2009
10:13 pm
After reading these comments, I almost don’t know where to begin. I guess I will rely on my own instincts and not read all the hatred espoused by members of a South that will not return, no matter how much they wish for it.
As a journalist who has moved to on to web content, I hurt plenty for the plight of newspapers. I worked at the major daily in Montgomery and I used to look up to the AJC so much when you had more experienced journalists and you did more crusading and investigative pieces. You easily had the best sports staff in the South, evidenced by how Len Paquarelli, Chris Mortensen, et al have moved on to national significance. You can’t replace that kind of talent easily. (I must say, however, that your best columnists — save Cynthia Tucker — are still in sports. Steve Hummer, Schultz and Mark Bradley should be used like Mike Lupica (New York Daily News) and Mitch Albom (Detroit Free Press) are at times and be allowed to write general interest columns.)
I think you do a decent job of being fair and balanced. (Ignore the cultural backwater that is most of the posters to this particular story. THEY ARE SCARY! They probably think Sarah Palin is qualified to be president and think Fox News is actually fair and balanced.)
Cynthia Tucker is a treasure and role model for the city. She won the Pulitzer for a reason. While, truthfully speaking, I don’t think she rises to the level of Leonard Pitts, Eugene Robinson, etc. she is definitely second-level among top tier black columnists in the country.
I will be quite happy when Jim Wooten leaves, so I want even waste much copy on him. This paper allowed him to make the single black mother the bogeyman for the past eight years while he could see no wrong in a Bush administration (cronies, contractors, crooks and ne’er do-wells) that ate happily at the public trough for the last eight year and brought this country to its knees. As you can probably tell, I have somewhat liberal views but I can stand an honest conservative (a la David Brooks of the NYT) that tells the truth and shows solid, consistent insight. That was not Wooten. He did as much race-baiting as Tucker was accused of and rarely got called on it until the people started to see him a straw man toward the end of W. administration.
I wish you much luck, AJC. Time waits for no one, and technology and change has wrought much to our beloved industry. But there is always a place for hard-hitting journalism — as evidenced by the WaPo series that did more to find Chandra Levy’s alleged killer than any police force. Keep up your watch as the fourth estate. Don’t let these knuckle-draggers in here obsessed with race and stupid, disproved policies (Reaganomics in the dusty salesbin of history! Trickle-down theories, 10 for a buck!) change your beliefs and foundation of as a servant of a beautiful, progressive city. Keep innovating to stay alive and keep us informed.
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Lulu
March 8th, 2009
10:23 pm
I came in to comment on the None Has/Have but catlady beat me to it!
I am tremendously impressed with the focus and well thought through statements here. Usually things get absurd in these reader comments. I think that reflects on the seriousness of the prospect of a major city in danger of losing its newspaper. As Atlantans we can’t have that happen.
To me, fairness is an easy thing to monitor and I can only assume that the management hasn’t prevously selected to do so. It is why journalists had a much reapected profession and what the founding fathers had in mind when they established a constitution that encouraged freedom of expression and press. Both sides make good points here but as the so-called conservatives have been MORE slighted, truth seems to me to be on their side. I also, however expect opinion journalist to stir up controversary and give them credit for being outlandish at times in order to do so.
There is a particularly good point made of the use of selected terms in writing a supposedly straight news article. Such terms as elitist, lower anything… class or educated etc. are slipped in well into the article but have no place at all unless quoting someone else’s words. They are an opinion and a judgement.I realize that’s harsh but so is the prospect of losing a major newspaper. Atlanta needs an objective daily print source for its news.
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Lulu
March 8th, 2009
10:36 pm
I, and am sure journalists, would appreciate the moderator correcting my error of reapected to respected. Obviously I’m a poor typist.
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Jon
March 8th, 2009
11:04 pm
Ms. Wallace,
First of all, let me say that I am (as Lewis Grizzard said) a southern white male. Also politically independent.
Please do not cave to idiots because of the economy. They can always dial up Limbaugh if they crave to have their egos stroked. No matter what or who you print, these fools will always complain unless it falls in line with the prominent GOP propaganda of the day. Please do not allow those who refuse to evolve dictate policy for the AJC. There are those who will find racism and liberalism in anything that does not conform to Jim Crow era thinking.
Atlanta is the Metropolis of the south, filled with diversity and culture, not to mention being home to many fine academic institutions. I think our newspaper should reflect all of this.
For those who don’t like it, tune in to Boortz or Oriely or Limbaugh if you really have the desire to be lied to for entertainment.
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Mr. Anderson
March 8th, 2009
11:15 pm
Sorry to hear about the cuts. We are entering the inevitable part of the internet. I come from a household that always had a subscription to the AJC. My parents still do subscribe to the AJC. My folks are old school that way. I’ve never ever subscribed to the AJC. . . but when I moved from my parents house, I didn’t stop reading the AJC. I simply look at it online. I don’t care if you become the mouthpiece of the GOP to satisfy all the sayers of “the AJC is too liberal”, you will never deliver as many paper copies as you did 5 years ago ever again. The news is online now and the old school paper folks are, sad as the truth of mortality is, aging. Most new readers will be online readers. How the AJC, or any other major newspaper, deals with this forthcoming reality is anyone’s guess. Online ads don’t cut it like the paper ads.
As to the liberal/conservative schism, whatever. Tucker’s black liberalism is highly offensive to me whereas I find Bookman’s liberalism to be smart and insightful. Wooten. . . Wooten is the kind of conservative columnist a liberal would hire to make conservatives look stupid. Bob Barr is excellent. The only one of the above I’d like to see go is Wooten so he could be replace (I guess you guys are already kind of doing that) with a conservative with some cognitive ability.
The paper in general has, and I know this to be a fact, left important facts out of stories because the facts were politically impolite. Facts such as the race of a perpetrator if the perp was black. The copy-editing is horrendous. There have been headlines badly botched on a fairly regular basis (online edition). Coverage of world events is poor which is fine because I get that news from a combo of sources ranging from the NYT, The Economist, Al Jazeera, Wash Post, and WSJ.
Local social coverage is great. I know about registering for the Peachtree Road Race because you guys have it as a headline. The restaurant reviews are excellent, travel, and weekend things to do, it’s in there and I think that’s great. It’s good coverage. This does not speak to the “Access” pamphlet you people put out. I want to punch Access in the face. Access is a story by itself. State and local politics, however, get pushed to the side and that makes your local coverage in general average.
My solution: First: Figure out a way to make money online. That may be impossible. Second: Keep national and world coverage where it’s at. People like me go for that kind of stuff from other sources anyways. Third: Keep your lawn and garden, and restaurant reviews, etc., where they are at (get reid of Access because it is horrible) because they are good. Fourth: MORE state and local politics. Fifth: this goes to the above two; GO LOCAL IN A BIG WAY. The AJC should be about Atlanta. I want to see the politics of the Dekalb sheriff/CEO mess in depth. I want to know the big arguments in the Capital. I want to know about Chief Pennington going to a neighborhood meeting. I want to know any big news coming out about HD or KO. When I read the AJC, I want to know about all things Atlanta. That’s the social stuff, yeah. But it’s also the politics and business.
Otherwise, I think you guys have a wonderful local paper. It’s not a Wash Post or NYT. But I think the AJC is a lot better than the naysayers love to proclaim.
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Ron
March 8th, 2009
11:34 pm
Ms. Wallace,
The AJC is in love with politics and spends a significant amount of resources on both reporting and offering editorial opinion about politics. Well, here is something political for you to ponder… Everyday there is an election in the market place. There, people vote (with their money) for the goods and services that they need. People vote for goods and services that have value, quality, and integrity. And, they vote for goods and services in which they trust and believe in. In the vote for news media you are loosing the election.
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Ron
March 8th, 2009
11:50 pm
Diane at 2:34 may just have a new campaign strategy for your “market place vote”. You should take a very serious look at her comments. You have beat us up enough already. And, we’re not going to buy your products any longer.
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JUST THE NEWS
March 9th, 2009
12:37 am
Why does everything have to be labeled conservative, liberal, white, or black? The real purpose of a newspaper should be to report the news using undiluted facts instead of injecting the political opinions of the writers or editors. The failure to do this is causing many once good newspapers to fold. The world of today is not the world of 30 years ago and the printed newspaper is not the primary news source anymore. I hope the change you say the AJC is making will restore faith in it but it very well could be too little too late. I hope not. As long as Cynthia Tucker is associated with the AJC it will not be seen as a fact centered news source. She is the one bad apple that spoils a whole basket of good apples.
HCS comment very well reflects the general distrust of the AJC.
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Bruce
March 9th, 2009
12:53 am
So the AJC is having to downsize their paper due to lack of readership. Do not blame technology nor the internet. There are numerous publications out there that may not be growing leaps and bounds, but are financially strong and have a balanced editorial staff.
I have been here almost 20 years and am sick to death over the garbage that the AJC spews from its own employees. Tucker, Bookman, and Luckovich cannot be more left-leaning than the Tower of Pisa. When are you folks in the mgmt dept going to wake up and see the bias??? Do any of them actually have to go out of the AJC building to see what is happening in the real world? Do any of them actually have to interview folks for honest opinions. If you want an even balance, then have a counter opinion for Tucker, Bookman, and Luckovich next to their rhetoric diatribes. This would make equal, but fair reporting.
I seemed to recall that most of the Democratic Candidates being selected for President Obama’s staff have failed to pay most of their taxes for the past few years. Yet, the AJC staff and editorial board seemed more interested in bashing Rush and other Republicans for questioning Mr. Obama’s actions. How dare you chastise them when all you did for the past 8 years was spew political and pure hated towards the Bush Administation. Your articles appeared to cheer that the Iraq War was being lost. Now you whine about the Republicans picking on Obama. Boo Hoo! Give me a break. Is there anyone in your office with any common sense to report on all sides? Quit trying to make the news and just report the news. This is all that I want and if you want my continued subscription, then lay off the personal attacks and fire most of the editoral staff. A letter from the editor really does not impact my life, so if you are making more cuts, start with the Editorial Staff.
Next, keep the Business Section and expand on it with employment stats and stories from the other 8 metro counties. I do not see anything on Forsyth or Dawson Counties yet these places are still growing leaps and bounds. Why don’t you commit a half page to each of the 18 local counties to report building activity, permits, sales, foreclosures, and new business ventures. I am sick of hearing mostly about metro Atlanta and Clayton County. Also runs stories as they are told. Many times, I have read a story off an internet site only to see the same thing printed several days later in the AJC. This is not news, just recycled print.
Also get rid of the lame, Living Section and the Movie-tar sightings. Who care which star had an overpriced dinner at some Buckhead Diner? This garbage does not positively affect a person’s life. Leave the celebrity garbage for the Enquirer or Star. Just this morning, you all printed a front page story on Jane Fonda and her acting abilities. This is pure crap and should not be in Section A. No one cares about Fonda or her thoughts. This is the problem with your paper. It appears that most of the staff is just out of touch with reality. Also learn how to print color. All I get is a blurred copy and cannot read the story. Do you know how to fix your type settings? This does not take a college degree, just competence!
Expand the World News, Business, and the Local County News and I will keep my subscription. The comics are nice, but you all have just wasted too much time and print on your recent favorites contest. Maybe you should have the same contest for your Editorial Staff. This would be a good use of ink.
I am in marketing and sales and could actually do a better job than half of your staff. Would you hire me, probably not, because I am not from Atlanta, do not care for keeping the old ways, and would demand accountability from all staff members. I would actually require the Editorial Staff to provide proof for the stories that they are running. I would also reduce the price back down to 50 cents and concentrate on only the news that really affects the readers and residents. Your love for us really does not matter, just figure out how to run a quality paper. This is not asking too much. Or, maybe it is???? Time will tell!
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Bruce
March 9th, 2009
1:42 am
Hey AJC! Either include the words Democrat or Republican next to all names, including the AJC staff members so that we will know their slant, or leave out all labels and just report the story. Leave out the phrases; I think, I feel, We should, You Should, or anything that signifies the feelings of the columnist. This would provide a more equal, maybe not fair, but balanced article. As a matter of fact, why do we even need a picture or name of the columnist? Just write the story and do not give the credit to any staff member. Oh that’s right, you cannot do that! It would not give Tucker or Luckovich their much flawed Pulitzers. We all know that is the true meaning of being a journalist. It is all about awards, not readership, not subscriptions, and especially not about facts!!!!! Hey, at least the major sports teams dump their staff every few years in order to rebuild. Maybe you folks should do the same?
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Rick in Atlanta
March 9th, 2009
2:53 am
This isn’t enough. You need to hire an ombudsman, a Public Editor.
If you’re truly committed to becoming a good newspaper again, which is a long, hard (if not impossible) journey from where you are right now, you must do more to get your readers to trust you than make promises in occasional columns. You must add real transparency and accountability, and the only way to do that is to have a reader’s representative in exactly the model the NYT uses (one year term only; can’t be fired/censored/edited, etc.).
Until you do that, I’m continuing my 15-year-long refusal to ever buy a printed copy of your newspaper, nor use your classifieds, nor patronize your sponsors.
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Patrick
March 9th, 2009
3:53 am
I once worked as a newspaper delivery driver and I still have friends in the newspaper business in another state and have heard from them how challenging things had been before the economy went bad, and now of course, they are facing layoffs and a very uncertain future even for those that remain. Like the workers at the AJC, they have a job to do. They have stories that need to be told and they hope to keep doing it as long as they can. That’s really all any journalist wants to do.
That said, I am not a regular AJC reader. I read online every day. Used to subscribe to the dead-tree version but the paper would consistently get stolen from my yard. Got tired of being somebody’s charity and got really tired of dealing with customer service. I could buy it from stores but I don’t because I don’t go to stores more than once or twice a week. Lucky for me, I don’t have any vices or habits that need to be supplied daily from the corner gas station. No booze, smokes, or lottery tickets. And so they don’t sell me any papers either.
Where I work, none of my coworkers ever has a paper in the office. 40-60 people and not one seems to read it. Maybe they do and just don’t bring it to work, but maybe they’re like me and have no reason to stop where the paper is sold. Maybe the paper just needs to be sold where the readers are. Vending machines at office parks?
And then there was the matter of content: I am a business news junkie. I want more of that, not less. The new AJC will leave me out cold. Sports, on the other hand, is absolutely useless to me. I like the Frys ads on the back but that was literally all Sports was good for. Many times I wished I could tell you to keep that section and give me more of something else. Maybe someday you will be able to make a paper that IS assembled according to what the end subscriber wants. I delivered papers once upon a time; I know how it can be done. Just like making a car, you build the paper by sections per an order sheet and bag it with a name and delivery address. Not every sub gets the same sections. Some get the sports, some don’t. Some opt for more business news. Some don’t get the classifieds. Everyone gets what they want. Someday someone will do this and make a killing with it, simply by giving customers what they want.
Yes, I am aware that the paper truly depends on advertisers, not subscribers. And it’s hard to sell ads when everyone is getting a different paper. But without subscribers, who may leave because your product doesn’t fit their needs, then you’ll also have no advertisers.
TV Week? No loss there. Most of us are on satellite or cable and we have -nay, we require- the EPGs to keep up. No printed TV listings magazine is going to work in the modern era, not even the ones that come from the cable or satellite companies.
Comics? Does anyone actually read them? Do they really, or do they just say they do? Do people still look for tonight’s lotto numbers hidden somewhere in Ziggy? Is that reason enough to keep running comics?
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Patrick
March 9th, 2009
4:07 am
Two more comments….
The editorial page seems to be a fire-brand topic if the comments above are any indication. I don’t have any to add because I don’t read the editorials. Long ago, I realized it didn’t have anything to do with me and didn’t affect my life in any way, so I ditched reading it. It has probably been four or five years since I the editorial page and it hasn’t hurt me one bit. That I know of.
I do the same with local or national TV news: I quit watching it more than a year ago and have found that my feelings about life improved. I still get my news, online. AJC.com, MSNBC, Newsvine, Reuters, NYT, Freshnews.org, multiple blogs and anywhere else. So I still feel in touch but at the same time I am not forced to see and hear stories about murders, deaths, robberies, endless blood and gore and stupid ratings stunt news. Dropping all that junk has definitely been a win for me.
Anyhow, my point is that it IS possible to read the paper and skip the parts that bother you and still get something out of the parts that don’t.
My last comment is on the recent web redesign. Hate it. The old flyover menus used to provide direct access easily to any part of the site. Now? Well, you try to find Ask AJC. Try it. It’s here. I’ve stumbled across it once or twice but I have no idea how to find it, or View from a Cop, or the Vent. The site map is needed way too much.
I am glad the annoying registration nag has apparently gone away. Either that or I am just permanently logged in now. Dunno. But it seems like there is no more nagging. Thanks.
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Kairos
March 9th, 2009
4:39 am
Dear Ms. Wallace,
The AJC’s problem, like most newspapers, isn’t conservative or liberal, it’s a lack of talent and perspective. One newspaper editor suggested to me the hardest job he had was finding reporters who understand numbers – “there’s a huge difference between a million and a billion – and most reporters don’t get it.” If they understood it, if they had ever had to meet a payroll or run anything besides a newspaper, they might understand that. As it is, every daily newspaper in the country is running a virtual monopoly into the ground because they are so biased and liberal. You people are so clueless in your coverage of simple numbers it’s no wonder newspapers got the banking debacle screwed up.
You have a decent technical school down the street from the AJC, why not hire a columnist from Georgia Tech instead of another UGA type like Wooten. Or an economist from Emory or Georgia STate, someone who has actually done something in business – as opposed to another clueless AJC-trained minion.
The problem with conservatives the past eight years is that they have had to defend George W Bush, whose White house full of Rovian liars was basically indefensible. Who could defend starting a $3 trillion preemptive war with Iraq, when anyone with a brain understands that Iran and Iraq hate each other – they behave like neighbors in ghetto-on-ghetto crime and were our best allies against each other. Bush was not conservative, he combined church and state – which never works anywhere. And while he held all three branches of government, he did nothing to stop or limit abortion. It was a joke – he was not conservative at all – just a silver spoon drunk who sobered up and found a simplistic dumbdown Jesus which made him project America’s shadow all over the world. Al Gore, despite his rantings about climate change, at least understood the most conservative premise and prinicple of all – that sending money to Arab states like Saudi Arabia was sending money to the people who hate us. Sixteen of the 19 September 11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia – and Bush’s eight-year addiction to oil continued the greatest transfer of wealth in history.
If conservatives in South Carolina had elected John McCain in 2000 instead of the incompetent Bush, the country and the AJC would not be so utterly confused about having a conservative dialogue.Not only did Bush leave America in such a state as inexperienced first term senator from the corrupt Chicago Democratic political machine win easily, he left the Republican Party to the boorish debate of Rush Limbaugh vs. the equally inept Michael Steele. After the GOP, which could have had Romney, ran McCain eight years too late, along with Ms. Bush-in-a-skirt, the equally well-read Sarah Palin, the party and movement is a joke. Country First, my ass. The problem with Newt Gingrich is by the way, he’s a bigger sleazeball than Clinton where it comes to how he treated his family and ex-wives. Which is the only thing that saved Clinton in the first place, his tormentors were bigger moral hypocrites than he was.
The first criteria for your new conservative columnist should be honesty about how far the Republican Party has strayed off course from its fiscally conservative roots into Bush’s big government hypocrisy. You need a columnist more like Grizzard, not a he-says, she-says foil to Cynthia Tucker. You need someone who understands why Rush Limbaugh is such a turn-off to anyone under 60, and how the GOP could totally implode against a rookie senator from Illinois. If you wonder why America is in trouble, it’s because once-great papers like the AJC keeps hiring biased commentators who scream liberal or conservative but do not understand basic economics or foreign policies. YOur new conservative columnist will be no better than Wooten, a status quo shill for Bush and God’s Own Party, and the country will shift further and further into the increasingly socialist grip of incompetent Democrats as banks and and our armies continue to fail.
Ms. Wallace, you are overseeing the continued slide of a once-great newspaper, and for perpetuating the mindless liberal-conservative debate that is destroying America. You have a great responsibility to try and connect with the people of Atlanta and Georgia, and you and this new publisher have assured that the AJC will continue to be a non-factor in Atlanta. Bill Kovach was the last great editor of the AJC, a Ralph McGill for his times. It’s not too late Ms Wallace, but the clock is ticking on your oversight of a once hallowed institution. Right now you are to the AJC what Rick Wagoner is to GM – not entirely to blame, but the watchman when it all came apart. Hire a decent metro columnist, a centrist who will criticize both sidees, and take the debate to a higher level – don’t sink to hiring another biased mouthpiece who is always in lockstep with the people who destroyed the Republican Party. Hiring the opposite of Cynthia Tucker gets you nowhere but pushing the Coxes toward the point where the Hearst family is with the Chronicle – ready to close it to keep from losing more money. Hence, this clueless publisher they’ve already hired as your boss.
Good luck, Ms Wallace. I’m afraid Atlanta magazine nailed it – you have managed to make the AJC, a monopoly newspaper, so meek and marginal that most Atlantans don’t need or want it. You don’t have once voice down there that readers from both sides of the debate trust or respect. To date, that is your legacy. While I’m sure you’re not alone, it’s your name on the masthead.
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Dennis
March 9th, 2009
6:16 am
This is the 3rd or 4th time in several years that you have announced a new fairness, a new balance, a new regional AJC.
I hope that you mean it this time. I also hope it is not to late.
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Dennis C. Brown
March 9th, 2009
6:44 am
My conclusion of the liberal vs. conservative position of the AJC that has been raised here is not shaped by the pre-identified positions of the editorial writers or cartoonist. Rather it is an issue of the positions taken by the newspaper on topics such as endorsements of political candidates, social issues, and the like. In my opinion there is a definite AJC liberal leaning in all. But then the last statistic that I heard (during the election) was that 87% of the news media is bias in that direction. So I guess it is no surprise that the AJC is supportive of the positions of the Democratic Party and liberal thinking in the greater majority of social issues. I do think its interesting that for a number of the editorialists there is no blog – nor, for that matter, an easy way to reply to their slanted editorials.
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Enoch
March 9th, 2009
6:56 am
Julia, this morning, the AJC contains the following:
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is ending former President George W. Bush’s limits on using federal dollars for embryonic stem cell research, with advisers calling the move a clear signal that science — not political ideology — will guide the administration.
This is exactly the same line of argument that Ms. Tucker used in her editorial on this subject. The moral concerns about stem cell research are dismissed as “political ideology”. Ms. Wallace, this is exactly what we see as bias. You don’t respect or even understand the other side of the story. Ms Tucker will ultimately gag on her editorial which fairly glowed with Obama’s commitment to science and facts. Of course we are embarked on a ruinous spending spree that is utterly rooted in liberal dogma. The hypocrisy from Ms. Tucker and the sycophants from the AP( now with the imprimatur of approval from the AJC) is breathtaking. As I said, Ms. Tucker will have years to eat her arrogant words.
The truth is that the division about stem cells reflects the division about abortion in the US. Obama is desperately trying to position this matter as a science versus ignorance and you are his willing toady.
.
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Wishtherewasanalternative
March 9th, 2009
8:00 am
You state a “few” think the paper is conservative but “many” think it’s too liberal and you’re going to do something about it. In other words you’re going to continue to publish and add more racist literature to your bigoted newspaper. Your blogs constantly attack our President and your vents are consistently one-sided; if you attack minorities or our President you are “voted” up and anything that attacks Limbaugh, GWB, etc. is voted down. What was painfully obvious was the “vent” about Black History which the “vent guy” loves to publish every February which attacks Black people’s celebration and was voted to the top. The “vent guy” is very biased but then he’s obviously following the lead of your newspaper. Your journalist constantly refer to our President as “Barack” and then offer excuses as to why he’s not called President. The AJC is very disappointing and biased and I wish I had an alternative to finding out what happens in Atlanta; I certainly would access that website rather than yours.
Shame on Cynthia Tucker for being a Black woman contributing to this trash.
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Nancy Dempsey
March 9th, 2009
8:01 am
A previous blogger has already addressed my biggest problem with the AJC : that being Mike Luckovich’s unrelenting ultra-liberal cartoons with no cartoons depicting other political views being given the same prominence.
Another example of possible bias by the AJC is on today’s front page…the lead headline. The headline reads “Tax breaks pushed to spur hiring” and the 6th paragraph in this article, written by James Aalzer, reads : “Opponents of the package say it may not create good-paying jobs. And it will slash revenue at a time when more and more Georgians rely on the state for health care, education and other services.” The first sentence is (hopefully) accurate in reporting what opponents in the state legislataure feel about this bill. The second sentence quotes no one, and as written amounts to an editorial comment by the AJC This may simply be an error in punctuation
( making two sentences when it should’ve been one…with a comma following “..about this bill” and replacing the capital “A” with a lower case “a” ) but it may also be a subtle bit of bias, too, as the sponsors of this bill are House Republicans.
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Nancy Dempsey
March 9th, 2009
8:15 am
I just noticed something else : Julia, in your 3rd from the end paragraph ( above…in your “AJC Changes” conversation, written yesterday ) you wrote : ‘On the opinion pages, we are in a concerted march toward providing a rich marketplace of views, including liberal, conservative and others…”, why do you list “liberal” before “conservative?” L before C ?
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Jeff Knapp
March 9th, 2009
8:21 am
While it shoud be obvious to all that you Opinion section is not balanced: four liberal columns per week, one conservative, and one libertarian; the bias also extends into the news sections. For instance, when writing colums about the recent recession and mortgage crisis, little is ever mentioned of the subject’s actions that led to their problem. The sole focus appears to be to elicit sympathy for this “victim” as opposed to evenly dscussing how their decisions created or at least added to the problem. For example, you wrote a about a man with a $45,000 income, $1,700+ mortgage and $800 in child support being behind in mortgage payments and never did the article ever mention that this scenario was a recipe for financial disaster that should have been fixed when he divorced two years earlier. The article in the other areas should be balanced also.
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dailyreader
March 9th, 2009
8:50 am
Unbelievable! The newspaper in a major American city will have no dedicated Business section? I understand your budget considerations, but Atlanta is the headquarters for a number of world-class corporations and considers itself a major force in the business world. And, yet, business news will be cut to a few columns in a section of mixed news? With the economic crisis this country is facing, it’s unimaginable that you are cutting out this most important section!
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dailyreader
March 9th, 2009
8:51 am
Your editorial page is, for the most part, a Liberal rag! Shame on you for showing such a lack of balance!
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Matt Kempner, AJC Public Editor
March 9th, 2009
10:55 am
A clarification to Jeff’s comment about the number of @issue columns by AJC columnists. Jim Wooten writes three columns a week in print, plus a daily blog. As he moves toward retirement he’s planning to ease back to one column a week plus his blog. Before then, we will have hired a new full-time conservative columnist, who will build to three columns a week plus a daily blog.
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Lulu
March 9th, 2009
2:16 pm
I’m no MBA… in fact I’m no BBA, but it seems to me their are some basics being overlooked here. As the head of Biochem at Duke (his name escapes me) taught me regarding doing research, you can never hope to get the answer unless you ask the right question(s):
Is the print AJC financially “carrying” the online AJC?
Is Acess Atlanta a revenue producer for the online AJC? Are you getting PR money from these “Stars”, “bars (restaurants, etc.)” etc. that you’re giving valuable exposure to?
Have you considered charging for the online version by providing acess via a , say, $.05 sale of ID and passwords by just providing a mail-in envelope at supermarkets, drugstores etc.? (Seems I’ve heard it’s easier to get a penny from a million people than a million pennies from one.) You could still provide a tantalizing website displaying the days coverage but accessing the details isn’t possible without being a pd. subscriber.
I ask these questions because I can’t think of others that might solve the plight of the decline of print and rise of online. But surely there are those in the business who can.
I know the above online subscription scenario is possibly expensive to administer but there must be a workable way. And it could be automated. Surely it would be no more absurd than the current “Customer Service” fiasco of not only AJC but all companies: punch 2, enter your tax bill times the number of children in your family divided by the GNP, stay on the line your call is important to us… whom Bell South, your cell carrier’s revenue, the “workers” that seldom if ever solve a problem, etc.?
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Diane
March 9th, 2009
2:21 pm
I think it’s pretty clear from most of the comments here that simply having equal numbers of “biased conservative” and “biased liberal” journalists will not make for an unbiased newspaper. As I said in my previous post, presenting biased extremes only enrages emotion and promotes polarization, not balance. Report the FACTS from both points of view, tone down the rhetoric, and let the people form their own opinions. Opinions formed out of emotion or repetitive talking points from the extremes are opinions that are ill conceived and do not serve us well.
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Laurie
March 9th, 2009
2:54 pm
Dear Ms. Wallace
It would seem as a 15 yr subscriber (yes I remember when the Journal and the Constitution were TWO separate papers) that naturally news will undergo changes. It would seem that your “readership” seems concerned with balanced reporting. I would settle for reporting. Lets review. I have PREPAID for a one year subscription for a 7 day delivered newspaper. In that time, it seems that few if any have noticed you have terminated nearly 70% of your reporters eliminating any actual REPORTING. What most have failed to realize is that you are pulling your “news” off the AP wire, which anyone can do for free. Since its just a simple matter of downloading a national story or two, you fill up the rest of Section A with ads, a few syndicated op eds, and call it a day.
Then to further eliminate the rest of the paper in the last 18 months
a. delete the Home and Garden section, replace with three columns on a weekday
b. eliminate the entire Friday weekend entertainment Atlanta section, try to slide that in as the GoGuide which contains nothing, eliminate the Living section
c. multiple iterations of the cartoon section hoping that most of us will give up and download those for free
d. Get rid of the metro sections for each region until its just a repeat of Section A, and a column for each county, oops wait, that was a problem, lets get a freebie volunteer to write in local news
e. fire all the local sports reporters, keep one on to cover all the pro sports, let the local papers–who by the way are fully funded on ads cover hs, college, and minor league, and rec sports carry on
f. Well by now the paper is so thin, the cat can carry it in, so lets start cutting stuff out of Sunday–combine several sections, lets cut Business, TV, Parade, the comics (again)
g. if you have not noticed, the ads in the paper are so thin, the Sun paper looks like the old Thurs paper. ARE you losing ad revenue yet. You could just throw the coupons in an envelope and compete with VAL-PAK and give up on “reporting” all together
Since you have cut the paper in half, am I getting a refund????
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jo dobbins
March 15th, 2009
11:31 am
My friends and I always enjoyed the bridge columns as they provided conversation and debate over new conventions, techniques, etc. Couldn’t you return bridge and eliminate one of the crossword puzzles in Living and Arts Sunday edition? The number of people playing bridge far outnumbers the number doing crossword puzzles.
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mirror
April 3rd, 2009
1:38 pm
don’t care much for it
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Matthew
April 5th, 2009
11:18 am
Even after the republicans in DC failed to support their own ‘tax breaks for the wealthy will heal the economy’ plan, the Republicans in GA demonstrated their culture of greed by tacking on a last minute capital gains tax cut for their wealthiest supporters. Even more offensive is that this was tacked onto a piece of legislation that started as a responsible approach to giving tax cuts to businesses in exchange for hiring people. So, I’d like to hear our new conservative columnist address this issue. How will cutting huge amounts of income from the state budget help the bulk of Georgians make it through these tough times? How will we deal with the transporation issues that were not resolved by the legislature with less state income? There was no requirement for those who received tax cuts to keep that money in the state, and we have seen how the greed of America’s wealthiest citizens has led this country into financial disaster. More of the same for GA….?
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Jackie
April 5th, 2009
11:30 am
For Wingfield “a conservative columnist”:
1- I’d like to know what other country you visited that attracts so many immigrants it is a problem for the work situation? How much does this other country offer in aid once pregnant mothers cross the border, what kind of employment with no income tax, subsidized everything, almost mandatory translators,access to FREE health care, abundant food kitchens, etc.
2- What is wrong with saying that the US of America is the best country in the world?
3-Is the AJC a step down from the Wall Street Journal for you?
4-Your vanilla flavored or chicken soup response as to why you want the conservative columnist job at the AJC will not likely increase any conservative/libertarian readers for the print or internet version. It had nothing to evoke any support for any beliefs I hold true about democracy and our US Constitution.
5-I am not from the south like you. It is good your old southern friends where able to make your connections for you to get the AJC job….after all, you are equal in that premise…it is who you know (not what you can do).
Quite frankly you opening representation bored me.
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Jackie
April 5th, 2009
7:26 pm
sorry I typed so fast I realize the typos.
Now that I’ve seen your picture you fit the puzzle. The 30-somethings that use the internet for info. They are the still part of the me generation, not willing to “surrender freedoms for security” and certainly not into self reliance. Have you polled your target audience? They LOVE Obama, think $ for them grows on trees and OWED to them,they don’t know current events, personal money management,,,good luck. They are not the sophisticated readers for the WSJ.
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demwit
April 6th, 2009
3:45 pm
Why has the AJC failed to reach its community??
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SaveOurRepublic
April 6th, 2009
5:56 pm
Welcome to the AJC Kyle! I hope you’ll not toe the phoney (neo)conservative mantra/agenda, and embrace true (paleo)conservatism & the Old Right as extolled by patriots like Dr.Ron Paul, Pat Buchanan & Lew Rockwell. We need a Constitutionally adherent real (paleo)conservative voice at the AJC!
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Sarah G
April 6th, 2009
7:33 pm
You can get rid of the MOM blog, the Get Schooled that usually has nothing to do what is going on and the Chatter. All are useless.
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Porter R. Downey III
April 7th, 2009
8:37 am
I hope you know, that there can be a difference between a fiscal conservative and a social conservative. A true fiscal conservative is all about the money, and doesn’t really give a crap about the little guy. He may look to Ebenezer Scrooge (before his conversion) or Gordon Gecko as his role models. A social conservative such as many Bible believing Christians are, would not necessarily be a fiscal conservative, as we are called to “bear ye one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2). Would a Christian be against the government helping out the little guy, such as someone about to lose their home? No, especially if they had been duped by some unscrupulous lender or loan officer. In my humble opinion, if the powers that be had stepped in to stem the tide of foreclosures before it became a tsunami that battered the whole economy, we all wouldn’t be in this mess. To bail out Wall St after the catastrophe, and help the little guy after the fact, is like putting a new roof on a building with a rotten foundation. Or giving liquor to a drunk driver at the wheel, to steady his hands. Greed is not good, Gordon Gecko was no hero, and if this society does come to a real conversion, it is well on the road to hell in a hand basket.
Porter
+++
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T
April 7th, 2009
1:03 pm
In response to your economic stimulus editorial: Why should businesses be exempt from paying taxes? They consume our nation’s physical and economic infrastructure to an even greater extent than individuals do. Isn’t it fair for them to pay their share of what it takes to make our American economy go, just like the rest of us do. Moreover, since the majority of GDP results from individual consumers, wouldn’t it make more sense to incent THEM instead of businesses. Furthermore, businesses tax revenues are already disproportionately low. Although America’s coporate tax RATE may be high, what is actually COLLECTED, according to the US Dept of the Treasury, amounted to only 15% of government revenues in 2006 (and 2006 was the highest proportion in decades). We have already seen over the last ten years that when taxes are reduced and rules are relaxed on corporate America, they simply pocket the additional profits. This is one reason middle class real income has declined over the last decade. Reducing taxes on business is patently unfair and would likely be ineffective.
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RealityKing
April 9th, 2009
10:26 am
Its not the look, its the price..
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Glen
April 10th, 2009
2:45 pm
Mr. Wingfield, what are you thinking? Why come to a newspaper that rants against freedom & capitalism and subscribership in the tank? The only thing this paper is good for is wraping fish! People that read this paper are totally uninformed & naive. It never occurs to these readers that jobs are created by the rich not by poor people. Take my advice & go to Jacksonville FL to a good newspaper.
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Joshua Camp
April 16th, 2009
1:21 am
You should feature photos from the Tea Party. You can find great ones at http://atlphotographers.com/
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Beni Dakar
April 18th, 2009
1:42 pm
Ms. Wallace,
You said that “You don’t want blogs on papers”, is what readers have told the AJC.
Blogs and electronic media are not problems they are the new medium for how information is gathered and conveyed. The “paper” newspaper may be revamped ‘for now’, but the treeless only edition of the AJC and other newspapers is coming. You can slow it down, but you can not stop it from happening. If you abandon incorporating blogs and new media into the AJC you may have a few Luddite happy readers for now; but the paper will succumb with that outdated thinking.
It is a painful time for many journalists who for multiple reasons are being lost in the transition of the newspaper business model; but in the long-range view the landscape is abundant with opportunities for smaller and more agile news groups to gather and communicate more and better information quickly both locally and globally.
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Lee
April 18th, 2009
2:12 pm
All I ask is reduce the reliance on AP feeds that we have all previously read online. We need topical, in-person coverage of city and state (remember middle Georgia is essentially paper-less, thanks to the birdcage liner they call the Telegraph). Be vital.
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Jackson Lovejoy
April 18th, 2009
3:04 pm
We live in an area in which you suspended home delivery. We tried mail subscribing but it’s woefully inconsistent. You could sell plenty of papers at a couple of designated rack sites near Interstates. Please consider it.
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Craig Henry
April 18th, 2009
3:54 pm
You write, “We believe unique local content makes us special. Therefore, even though we reduced the staff by about 90 people, we go forward with only five fewer news reporters. We have reduced our arts reporters, but we will be building a strong stable of free-lancers who are experts in the arts, including long-time AJC writers.”
It seems as though your actions don’t fully reflect these beliefs. The arts — especially the fine arts, and not just popular culture, which is more than amply reported on the Internet and in other media outlets — truly make Atlanta unique. Why, then, has the newspaper sidelined experienced critics who contribute importantly to the cultural dialogue in metro Atlanta to the sidelines, only (we fear) to be brushed off and dropped altogther after the dust settles following the April 28th launch of the redesigned paper? Moreover, what is the commitment of the editors who might hire the freelancers to keeping the arts central to serious journalism in Atlanta? This commitment has already been seen to be lacking. Critics write review and cover stories that the editors routinely decide not to print. Why is the AJC diminishing itself in this way, and making the newspaper even less interesting to read?
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Chris
April 18th, 2009
4:27 pm
Change the way you attract subscribers. Harassing phone calls get VERY old!
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john
April 18th, 2009
4:37 pm
Since you’re pulling out of my part of the state as of the 26th, it’s all completely irrelevant to me. A 50-year daily habit comes to an end from a newspaper that once proclaimed (at least the Journal did) “Covers Dixie like the dew.” And, Ms. Wallace, you can spin this any way you want to, but the reality is there for all to see. You may be kidding yourself, but you’re sure not kidding us … your former readers.
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John Wise
April 18th, 2009
5:10 pm
You do mention in your blog that you are also abandoning many long-time readers/subscribers by pulling out of counties, including ours(Barrow). In northwest Barrow, we are definitely in the Atlanta metro area, and after 5+ yrs. as a 7 day a week subscriber, we feel very upset by the cancellation of “our” paper. There really is no substitute for us.
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Matt
April 18th, 2009
5:17 pm
The Sunday paper has been steadily shrinking content wise for some time prior to this latest round of cuts. Frankly, I don’t see how you can expect people to want to subscribe to the AJC when we are actually getting less now, then before. Movie reviews are from non-local sources, no box scores in sports section and in general the sports section is largely made up of AP stories, just to cite a fex examples.
How do you respond?
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Curtis Hertwig
April 18th, 2009
5:18 pm
I repeatedly compare the headlines from NYTimes.com, WashingtonPost.com and ajc.com and I am repeatedly embarassed at how “back woods” Atlanta is. While the others were reporting N Korea launching a missile our headline had an Easter bunny and talking about Clayton county schools trying to get accreditation. You have room for only one headline and anything passed that is relegated to small print.
The only thing that I can say about all this is that Georgia’s educational system is 48th in the nation and the AJC reflects that. That’s not something I’m proud of.
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Chris
April 18th, 2009
5:48 pm
Write with vigor and don’t apologize. You can’t be the conservative voice unless you have one. Use it.
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John G. Kelley, Jr.
April 18th, 2009
6:11 pm
You can groom the newspaper all you want but if your sole journey is to support the liberal agenda and damn the conservative then get ready to let another 100 staff look for work elsewhere. The Atlanta newspaper has too long wallowed in reproter hatefulness toward President George Bush and everything else that looks like an elephant. Practice equality of news, well balanced, or practice reading your own want ads for another job.
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StingerSplash
April 18th, 2009
6:12 pm
Down to 200 – from around 500 a couple of years ago. Where are the resources to put out what was once a great paper but is now, and has been for several years, a shell of its former self? How many chiefs and how many Indians are among the 200 or so remaining?
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Thomas Bowen
April 18th, 2009
6:26 pm
If by “fair and balanced” you mean to remain the voice of everything “Liberal”, I am afraid you will continue to decline.
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Michael Sousa
April 18th, 2009
6:35 pm
HI!
I have to say I really love the AJC. From my years living there in the early 2000’s it left such tremendous impression as a user friendly paper that was packed with content. I am in Philadelphia these days an read the AJC online every day. Will I ever be able to get an actual copy of the AJC here in Philly??? Do any news agencies carry it up here or can/will it ever be printed here?
Signed,
Yearning for Ink on my hands.
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Tad Hutcheson
April 18th, 2009
7:06 pm
Julia, with the changes created by the economic situation, what can we as readers expect from the AJC’s business coverage? The business section has been consolidated into main news but will the AJC still be committed to the high standards of business journalism? Can we expect to rely on the hard business news during the week and the softer features on the weekend? Thanks for your work.
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BPJ
April 18th, 2009
7:52 pm
I’ve been a subscriber for over 25 years. My favorite part of the paper was the arts coverage, which has been gradually reduced over the years. Now, with the art critic, classical music critic, and theatre critic gone, I see no reason to continue subscribing (the arts stories from the print edition frequently didn’t show up on the website).
By the way, why has the AJC long had the worst online arts page in the nation? If you don’t believe me, look at the online arts pages of the Denver Post, for example. A city of similar size, and they manage to do it right.
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Lisa
April 18th, 2009
8:14 pm
If it is true that Cynthia Tucker is no longer the editorial page editor, then I might consider subscribing to the AJC once again. After too many years of reading Tucker’s vitriolic columns, I stopped taking the paper although I buy it on the newsstand occasionally. If I see an editorial page with a better balance of opinions, rather than a page dominated by Tucker’s ultra liberal diatribes, then possibly I will consider renewing my subscription.
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Bill
April 18th, 2009
9:21 pm
As a transplanted Georgian in Texas who closely follows events in Georgia via your Web edition, and as an old timer who remembers when English teachers would recommend the newspaper for examples of correct English usage, I wish that some experienced editor would spend some time editing the online articles before they are published. I have been appalled at the convoluted paragraph structure, confusing sentences, and just plain “typos” found on web sites that carry the banner of major metropolitan newspapers. No, it’s not just AJC, but I’m left to wonder whether anyone bothers to edit these online articles. I would like to see AJC lead us out of what seems to be a well established case of carelessness and inattention to details.
Thanks for your consideration of my plaint.
Bill
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Jim
April 18th, 2009
10:17 pm
“Not to be overly proud, but it’s great work by so many people in the newsroom and throughout the company.”
Did you really write a sentence using the word “proud” right after sending that many good people packing? Wow, that took cojones for sure!
Unfortunately, your readers are much, much more intelligent than you seem to realize, and they were probably reading this phrase as, “On April 28, we’ll be showing you what our downsized staff can do. We realize there will be less intellectual and artistic coverage, but we’re hoping you won’t notice that amid all of the turmoil. We know that much of our news content will be done by freelancers, which is our way of saying “cheap labor” but again, we don’t think you’ll notice.
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Addme To TheList
April 18th, 2009
10:21 pm
Ms. Wallace:
I have neither the time nor patience to collect all my thoughts about the AJC. Suffice to say, I have, overall, enjoyed the Journal (was my favorite) for many years but became overly antagonized when it joined the Constitution.
Having traveled heavily for neigh on to 43 years and having had the opportunity to read many, many great (and some not so great) newspapers in my career, I feel as though I can comment with some authority on this subject. I read papers from small towns to large cities.
As a “die-hard” conservative, I am obviously more pleased to read those tabloids and newspapers that veer toward that slant. I have, however, read opposing views and respect those as such – not agreeing but listening and trying to understand the writer’s views nonetheless.
In my over 2 million air miles flown I’ve also had ample time to pick up various newspapers and read them in-flight. Here, too, I tried to be fair to those I disagreed with. There were, for the most part, many, many more left-leaning than right-leaning but here I might add that even those lefties were somewhat balanced (well, as much as they tried to be)in their viewpoints and Op-Eds.
Having said all this I can tell you now, very truthfully, that there have been only a hand full of papers in the USA that have irritated, disgusted and thoroughly gotten under my skin (enough to raise my blood pressure to ELEVATED heights!), as much as your own Journal -Constitution.
This is not to say that I don’t read it, only that I love reading newspapers and there are some redeeming attributes with the AJC, e.g., sports, business, local news, etc.
You (the AJC personnel) have said over and over again that circulation has dropped and you can be sure that the AJC is leading the pack there. But, even with discontinuance of circulation areas, stopping various routes, and other shrinkage management, why do you suppose the AJC continues to lose readership particularly in an area that has added over 2,000,000 people in about 15 years? As the area has grown, your paper circulation shrinks! What could it be? Is there are reasons other than blaming the internet and changing reading habits?
I’ll pass this along as 2 possible reasons: Cynthia Tucker and Mike Lukovitch. In all my conversations over the past several years (in meetings of organizations I belong to) those two names, when brought up, solicit the greatest among of ire and angst than any I’ve ever been able to capture from a like/dislike standpoint.
It was rewarding to see that CT is finally leaving for DC but Mike is still here.
Finally: my subscription is up for renewal late this summer or early fall and I will join the thousands of others that honestly can’t take it any more. I guess Lukovitch finally did it for me; a person who alone made up my mind..
If only a great and wonderful city had a fair political cartoonist!
A Duluth Resident
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Grant Plymel
April 18th, 2009
10:48 pm
I’m a longtime reader in Thomasville, although now my only real option for your current news is ajc.com. I miss the good old days of morning and afternoon editions, back to the exciting days of Ralph McGill and all the great AJC journalists who exposed the bad and extolled the good in our society. It made us better informed citizens and our state a better place in which to live. I’m 64 and will follow the AJC online, even on to the next medium, whatever that may be.
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Max Leventhal
April 18th, 2009
11:09 pm
How can their be quality critical coverage of Arts events without Pierre Ruhe, Wendell Brock, Drew Jabarra, Catherine Fox, just to name a few? How will the public come to know what is happening in this communities artistic venues?
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TnGelding
April 18th, 2009
11:36 pm
You must be a glutton for punishment. LOL!
W. Felix Smith Jr.
Cartersville
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jaypat
April 18th, 2009
11:55 pm
Some time ago, a wiseguy said that the function of newspapers is to “afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.”
Also, sometime ago, another wiseguy said that the function of newspapers is to print “all that’s fit to print.”
These nostrums aside, in reality the newspaper business has become a vehicle for the expression of the owner’s interests. It is true all throughout the media, whether it is newspapers, books, magazines, music, movies, television, or radio and television news or radio and television programming. What appears in front of your face or in your ears is a product that is designed to 1) compel you, and 2) further the owner’s interest.
Back in the arely 1980’s, Ben Bagdikian, a former associate editor for the Washington Post, wrote a book called the “Media Monopoly.” Some of the critics of the time jeered at the very prospect, because his thesis included 50 news organizations. 50! But as Bagdikian aptly noted, they were tied together in very peculiar ways, not the least of which was looking out for Number One.
Now that number has shrunk down to 6. And as far as I can tell the public isn’t any wiser today than they were when Bagdikian published the first edition of his book. Most of the public is eager to embrace whatever is put before them. There are a number of psychological studies that make this very point–repetition in the public’s eye equals verification.
I must now say that it should be in the owner’s interest to see that the very country in which these activities take place continues to be a “going concern.” The very economic forces which have caused this newspaper to shrink like a raisin in the sun will also cause this country to wither, and die.
This is a real “do or die” moment.
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Darryl
April 19th, 2009
1:37 am
Ms. Wallace:
The removal of Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman from the AJC would inspire me to re-subscribe after an approximately ten year hiatus to the newspaper that once covered “Dixie Like Dew” . . . You folks have never accepted the message of your readers! Really . . . I remember when you could travel in any direction from Atlanta for a day and find an Atlanta paper prominently displayed at a local newsstand. Unfortunately, those days are gone with the wind. A reality check for the Cox sisters thirty years ago would have made a lot of difference in today’s newspaper subscriptions.
Loudly announced to potential Atlanta readers, letting Ms. Tucker know that she best find her way in DC for a regular CNN TV gig or something with the Short Greek for Sunday Morning and telling Mr Bookman to brush up on his landscaping skills just might start a subscription resurgence. Has this crossed your mind?
By the way, when you made your news room culls, hopefully, you made note of the news writers that dug deeper for the most accurate, concise, and timely story letting the marginal writers go. Marginal writers . . . You know, the ones that put a lot of words in a story but have nothing factual to say and leave the reader wondering what he read?
By the way, have you figured out that a timely and accurate AJC website is a winning website?
One last note . . . For the latest in Atlanta business news, I go to The Atlanta Business Chronicle. What does that say about the AJC?
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James Williams aka griftdrift
April 19th, 2009
1:38 am
Ms. Wallace.
Given the reaction of the online community as well as the rise of such local websites as inDecatur and DecaturMetro while the AJC continued to close local bureaus, do you regret stating the following in 2007?
“Online, we will show that we know Atlanta best, providing superlative news and information and becoming the preferred medium for connecting local communities”
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Indie Metro
April 19th, 2009
2:19 am
Fair and balanced? Yes. That is a goal for which *every* entity that claims to be a “news source” should strive. But I encourage the AJC to look with great skepticism at those whose perspective is skewed toward a particular end of the political spectrum while complaining that the AJC is overly influenced by the opposite end of the political spectrum. Simply put, it is impossible to prove a negative and the more the AJC tries to prove that it is not partisan in its reporting, the less it succeeds in that proof. Worse yet, such attempts to prove impartiality only serve to assure the complainants of the legitimacy of their claim. They are never going to buy the AJC and trying for that business is a fools errand.
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Julie Randall
April 19th, 2009
2:53 am
I have been a long time 7-day a week subscriber to the Atlanta Journal and then the AJC. I have lived in Atlanta all of my life and come from a family that has always subscribed to the Atlanta papers. We have all become increasingly disappointed in the quality received against rising cost of the AJC. The widely recognized left-wing liberal bent espoused by the paper in general does not and will not play well to your audience. That fact that you are just now figuring that out says something about the state in which you find your business. The AJC would like for us to believe that all of its misery is due to the economic climate and rise of the internet as an alternative news source. You take unrepresentative surveys & then self-congratulate. Stop fooling yourselves; the decline in your business says it all. If the the AJC was indeed fair in its reporting and a good value for dollar spent, your subscription base would not have fallen so precipitously regardless of the internet or recession. I have had as much of the glory of diversity, the advantage of illegal immigrants, and the deification of Mr. Obama as I can stand. I would also remind you that when I purchased my subscription to this paper, I was buying the TV Week booklet (yes, more people use it that your faulty survey allows), the separate business section, more than 3 pages of sports, and comics that were large enough to read without a magnifying glass. I did not purchase this sorry rag that it has become. Try as you might every time you cut or distort some additional feature to the point of unrecognition, there isn’t enough lipstick to put on this pig. The more you self-annihilate, the more circulation you will lose and the demise of the AJC will become a self-fulfilling prophesy. The only way to save it is for you to wake up and take responsibility for ruining this paper and reverse course. While you’re at it – honesty with your readers rather than deception and excuses for giving them less and less would be a good way to start.
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Ed Smith
April 19th, 2009
5:41 am
Fair and Balanced!!! Thank you Ms. Wallace. May the AJC, have much success.
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ROD BRIM
April 19th, 2009
6:36 am
As an online reader I would like to see columns such as “TAKE TO TASK” and “TECHNOBUDDY” have their title first. Many times the subject line does not reveal who wrote it or the subject matter.
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Jack Preston
April 19th, 2009
6:55 am
I agree with the writer who asked that you place paper racks along interstate routes; so many people in unserved areas were left out when the AJC stopped delivery. It still is a great newspaper, compared to having no newspaper at all.
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Nancy Dempsey
April 19th, 2009
7:25 am
In all of President Bush’s eight years as our President, I don’t remember Jay Bookman applauding even a single thing that, in his opinion, he did right … like keeping us safe from more terrorist attacks. And as for Mike Lukovitch …. his behavior was shameful; through his medium, he was 100% consistent with his insulting, hateful cartoons of our President, and in doing so also insulted the millions of Americans who elected and re-elected him. There’s been NOTHING fair and balanced coming from these two in the AJC.
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AB Sees
April 19th, 2009
7:35 am
I read everything Cynthia Tucker writes and have been a fan of hers for many years. I will miss her a lot.
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Sharecropper
April 19th, 2009
7:45 am
If all this great reporting and great content is so desirable and sellable, why haven’t you been doing it? If a reduced work force can accomplish it, why haven’t you achieved it? If the reduced work force is so dedicated, why weren’t you dedicated before? If you had to “listen” to readers to find your way forward with the same strategy and tactics newspapers have used for decades, why weren’t you doing it before? And the largest newsroom “in Atlanta”? Whoa, hold those ambitions. This has the whiff of a deathbed conversion.
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Dennis Billew
April 19th, 2009
7:53 am
I have two hopes for these changes.
I hope your stated intentions are sincere and not just lip service. (Sincerity and commitment have been grossly lacking in the 3 to 5 previous declaration of meaningful changes.)
I hope that you or someone with influence can actually recognize balance when you read it. Balance in political news and commentary. Also balance in regional news and commentary. (i.e. Atlanta is the center of our little universe, and as such is critical to our success.) But it is not the only important location in that universe. (The surrounding areas have long been equally important it our success.)
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itsme
April 19th, 2009
8:01 am
One of the things that encourages loyalty is familiarity. If the list published in Creative Loafing is correct, some of the AJC’s best and brightest are leaving. I believe that will hurt reader loyalty. Please do not cut Ken Thomas’ column. The AJC’s many readers who are interested in genealogy rely on his column. It is difficult to find on the Web site.
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timothy perdue
April 19th, 2009
8:06 am
SO,the AJC is going to become nothing but a print version of FOX News,I will NEVER read the OP-ED page again and hope this rag dies the slow and painful death it so richly deserves! Ms. Tucker was the only columnist I read.Fair and balanced!? Right-wing boot lickers is more like it? Dear God! Ralph McGill must be turning in his grave right now!!
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Mid-South Philosopher
April 19th, 2009
8:07 am
As one who treasures the historic role newspapers have played in this country and as one who appreciates the concept of “newspaper” in general, I am not at all happy to see the changes that will be forthcoming. At the same time, the social, cultural, and economic realities of the 21st Century, post-modern world mandate that these changes take place. I applaud AJC for approaching the task with a concerted plan and for making a genuine effort to integrate the wishes of the largest possible number of readers. That being said, I suspect that by the time my children are my age, the traditional paper and print newspapers will be a memory and electronic media…Internet or otherwise…will rule the day.
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Wright
April 19th, 2009
8:14 am
The AJC Online could be much improved as as NEWS site if you would feature more news and less celebrity fluff and garbage “Above the Fold.” Your paper would do well to return to the practice of reporting the news, not spinning it and adding a political bent, as many others here have pointed out. I would also hope you retain at least one copy editor who has received good training in English grammar, as your subject/verb usage is often flawed. Fewer columns, and so called “points of view” should be replaced with factual reporting. Also, do no leave potentially sensational news topic to coverage by photo caption alone. That doesn’t tell the story behind the photos (e.g. protestors at the court house picketing foreclosure sales. Well, why did they picket? Why didn’t they pay their mortgage instead??)
As ANYBODY can blog and broadcast via YouTube these days – legitimate news vehicles MUST DEMAND accuracy, clarity, and balanced reporting of the whole truth. Or what’s the point???
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Expert1
April 19th, 2009
8:25 am
The AJC has a long, long history of being “unfair and unbalanced”. I never understood that strategy because with such a liberal leaning newspaper you were purposely offending those with opposite views (independents included) and in Atlanta and surrounding areas, that’s 50% of the people at least you have driven from your readership in order to push your established liberal leaning views.
Now we are supposed to believe that you have left that agenda behind? I don’t think you can truly change your deep held commitment to liberal journalism, though removing Cynthia Tucker is a good first start.
Time will tell.
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pat
April 19th, 2009
8:33 am
Maybe you are finally getting the big picture! People are sick and tired of you left wing liberal fish wrapper. Thank goodness Tucker and Bookman are departing. Their arrogance of late has been a bit much and played a major role in canceling our subcription of 30 years. There are so many more places to get the news these days!
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Bill Ellis
April 19th, 2009
8:42 am
“We heard that you want a newsy and fast-paced newspaper during the week and you’ll get that. We heard you want a more relaxing and rewarding experience on Sunday and you’ll get that. It’s a new look, a new nameplate (one for Sunday and one for daily). You want more watchdog coverage, and we’re providing it. You want a newspaper that’s easy to scan to find the things on which you want to spend time. We’re doing that.”
This sounds eerily familiar – am I about to find an ATL version of the MacPaper (USA Today) laying on my driveway (or, usually, in the flower boxes at my mailbox) every morning? If so, count me among the 40+ year readers of the AJC that will discontinue my subscription. While I do find a few of Luckovich’s efforts to be in poor taste, I feel we are fourtunate to have him in town. While a student at UGA in the ’70s, I looked forward to reading the paper every morning while hanging out at Memorial Hall, sitting on a bus, etc. It is a shame that will no longer be possible for my kids.
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SAWB
April 19th, 2009
8:45 am
Ms. Wallace,
You have a difficult challenge. Publishing is dead. Content is king. Classifieds have gone to Craigslist. Your market is more conservative than the AJC has been for decades. There is a vocal minority in Atlanta who will scream loudly if your coverage does not tilt far left. You are no longer the arbiter of what actually happed, the communal gathering place. The AJC no longer has the credibility with the public that advertisers used to crave. Your army is about 40% of what it was.
In all candor, we are actually on your side. We want a good newspaper in Atlanta and don’t wish ill to the employees of the AJC. But we want a change.
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Lea
April 19th, 2009
8:53 am
Ms Wallace, I appreciate your communication and believe the AJC will be successful. With all the sources of online information, I do read “hard copy” papers less,but that doesn’t reflect on the AJC. It also impacts my readership of NYT, WSJ, Time,et.al Please do not listen to neanderthals who used your communication to post one more ignorant conservative rant about Cynthia and Mike. By the way, I believe CT and ML are both rising stars on our national scene. They’ve been consistently recognized. What I do hate read– the angry, irrational (and often racist) posts from people like Darryl and Nancy Dempsey who have chosen to make personal insults about some of your best people. That kind of meanness makes me uneasy. Still, I have high hopes for Georgia given the results of the last close election.
I have subscribed to the AJC for the last 30 years and plan to continue to do so as long as it exists and I can afford the subscription. A free press is critical to our freedom– and that includes opinions that I may not agree with like those of Jim Wooten. Long live the AJC! Long live Cynthia! Long live Mike and Jay! Down with intolerance and closed minds! My only request: please edit the blog comments faster to remove reader posts that are blatantly racist or obscene. Those kind of comments have no place in civil,intelligent discourse.
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Voice of Reason #1
April 19th, 2009
8:54 am
I LOVE Mike Luckovitch; his cartoons are spot-on. I like that the AJC is not so hard right-wing; it’s time this country move forward and be more progressive in thought and deed. But I miss the old style of the AJC–mainly when it was thicker–and contained more info than now. As with books, I fear all this techno stuff is bringing an end to print–books and newspapers as we’ve known them. Try to hang in there, Julia.
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Jim
April 19th, 2009
9:00 am
National news is on the web when it happens, as are sports. The paper needs to report local and regional events in depth in an unbiased way, unlike CT’s practice. Eliminating Pierre and arts reporting is NOT GOOD and detracts from local news reporting. Concentrate on those things that are not fully covered elsewhere instantly.
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Mel
April 19th, 2009
9:00 am
I don’t envy your task but I think one key to future success is for the AJC, still a big company, to think like a small one. With the corporate reigns tied to you, this in itself may be a difficult road to stay on. All too often, what the AJC does not report speaks louder to me than what it does include. I was disappointed that when the recent debate on cross-ownership in media was big news on the Internet, I could find no mention of it in the AJC’s pages. I would view such topics not as something to be avoided but as an opportunity to break from the pack of large media outlets and shine an open, honest and informed light on your own profession. This would be a central part in reinventing your business.
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Cathy
April 19th, 2009
9:07 am
I hope that the improvements to the AJC will not stop with the print edition. The online edition is very important to those of us in the outlying communities that no longer have home delivery. The online edition needs to be kept up-to-date. The Vent is a good example. It has not been updated since Friday.
Also, coverage of the counties north of the metro area is sorely lacking unless something totally stupid or ghastly occurs.
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Jerome Adams
April 19th, 2009
9:08 am
I have been a reader of this newspaper since I was a kid and now I’m 56. Most of my life I have lived in Coffee Co and was disapointed when we could no longer get the print edition. This paper has made Ga a better state so I view fair and balanced as a Fox code word.If this paper is turning right let me go vomit.
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Mike Moore
April 19th, 2009
9:13 am
Glad to see the AJC is moving forward to survive in these changing times. Maybe it’s also time for the AJC to become the GJC (Georgia Journal Constitution) & become a state paper instead of just an Atlanta local paper. For the same reasons the AJC is struggling, I’m sure most, if not all of the newspapers in the state are also struggling. The small newspaper in the south Georgia town where I live just isn’t what it used to be. Why not consolodate all the newspapers in the state into the GJC, take on some of their staffs & facilities & become a state-wide publication? Maybe do regional editions instead of purely local ones. Just a thought because I think the days are numbered for small, home-town papers.
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Allen Jansen
April 19th, 2009
9:13 am
I can remember taking a tour of the AJC newsroom a couple of years ago and when we stopped by the “national desk,” I noticed a photo of President Bush with his eyes poked out and he was made to look like a cartoon character from Mad. That was all the proof I needed to realize what I had known for years. The AJC was and has been arrogant and unapologetic for their liberal leanings throughout the years – only to use the excuse that it was never in the reporting, just on the opinion pages. I wonder if that picture of President Bush is still sitting on someone’s desk, OUTSIDE of the editorial department. Want to be relevant? Too late. I have more choices now. But I do wish the writers and others well. I hate to see so many people lose their jobs.
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Julia Wallace, Editor
April 19th, 2009
9:14 am
Good morning. Answers to some of the questions:
Tad asks about our business coverage. We understand that Atlanta is a business town and business coverage is an important part of what we provide. We still have a strong line-up of business writers. Thomas Oliver is retiring, but he will continue to write his Sunday column. Long-time business writer and editor Henry Unger will be our new columnist. He has a deep understanding of how Atlanta works. On the arts front, we will have fewer full-time writers. Veteran editor and reporter Howard Pousner will be covering cultural institutions. And former arts writer and editor Tom Sabulis is building a network of free-lancers, including long-time AJC staffers. He’ll be looking for people with deep expertise in a variety of arts topics. If you have suggestions, email him at tsabulis@ajc.com.
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Max Leventhal
April 19th, 2009
9:29 am
“And former arts writer and editor Tom Sabulis is building a network of free-lancers, including long-time AJC staffers. He’ll be looking for people with deep expertise in a variety of arts topics. If you have suggestions, email him at tsabulis@ajc.com.”
What is the AJC’s commitment to covering Arts Openings around town. Will there be a critic at the opening of Jacques Brel on April 22nd at the Alliance Theatre, freelance or staff?
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Mark Bittner
April 19th, 2009
9:54 am
I like having a newspaper but where I am (Suwanee), I struggle to get significant relevance out of the AJC for where I live. Any chance of AJC assisting with a small weekly paper for my area? That local focus coupled with some of the more in-depth articles from the core AJC product on regional and national issues would be nice.
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Southern Bella
April 19th, 2009
9:56 am
Would be great if you could find a way to balance liberal/conservative coverage so that each side could be well-represented (the “She Said/She Said” piece was grossly insufficient and seemed like mere lip-service in addressing a significant, pressing need for balance).
It’s been about 15 years since I was a subscriber. I’m interested to see what April 28th will bring!
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Jake
April 19th, 2009
10:17 am
Even a moderate would agree that Luckovich’s cartoons are rancid, hateful, spiteful, and nasty. And those describe when he’s not talking about republicans. Then he’s even worse. But I stopped my Sunday-only subscription when it became utterly apparent that the paper was catering to high school sports fans, GTech and Bulldog fans, or African Americans. Beyond that core constituency, the rest don’t matter. I read the Boston Globe online every day. I’m a republican and that paper is ultra liberal. But it’s not purposely exclusionary and shamefully parochial. The AJC’s sports page is a joke, it’s token conservative, Jim Wooten, was an embarrassment, and its addiction to anything local at the expense of important world events made it a paper from which I removed the adds then tossed in the recycling bin. Note: a good friend of mine who works at the AJC has told me it’s a conscious choice who the paper caters to. Well, when the 20-35-year-old demographic is your market, a demographic addicted to Hollywood style news and cyber relationships, you reap what you sow. Good riddance, AJC.
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Bob Rumsey
April 19th, 2009
10:30 am
A midwest transplant, I have been a AJC subscriber for 28 years. I have traveled extensively for business and pleasure, and have read 100’s of local papers (big and small). The AJC has had it’s ups and downs concerning coverage of stories that interest me over the years. I have been PO’d at Mike Far Left-kovitch (a truly dishonest political cartoonist) for years, but at least in recent years you have published intelligent conservative writers such as Thomas Sowell (and others) to offset your overall liberal bias. Comparing your paper to the others that I have read and for the size of the metro area you cover, where it has been overwhelmingly lacking is in the Sports section. It had been just bad before but now it is rock bottom. Same with your Business section, but fortunately I also read the WSJ, but have no alternative for local sports that you have abandoned (there is more to local sports than the pro teams and 2 local colleges).
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Thomas
April 19th, 2009
10:30 am
Why in the world would you use the words “fair and balanced” when they have become code words for Fox News’ pandering to the right? Just wanted to let you know that I will be canceling my subscription. I simply am not interested in contributing over $160 a year to people who have decided to tell their readers what they want to hear whether or not it reflects the reality of the world.
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Jim
April 19th, 2009
10:31 am
What is the status of sports columnists? I know that Tony Barnhart took a buyout last year but is now back with the AJC with his blog. What is the story there? It was a HUGE mistake by you guys to offer this to the best college football writer in the nation in a city that breathes the sport every day of the year….I also read that Terrance Moore was offered a buyout (which was long overdue as I can’t believe the AJC approves his columns and the content of them…)
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Julia Wallace, Editor
April 19th, 2009
10:38 am
Beginning in May, we will have two general sports columnists, Mark Bradley and Jeff Schultz. Terence Moore is one of the staffers who took the buyout. Terence began writing his column in 1985. Here’s what he says about how he approached it: ,”My objective was to get people to think, not to agree or disagree, just to get people to think.”
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Katielenn
April 19th, 2009
10:39 am
In answer to T….companies don’t pay taxes, individuals do. When corporate taxes are raised the increase is passed onto the consumer of their products through price increases.
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Susan Scarbrough
April 19th, 2009
10:42 am
Dear Ms. Wallace -
I think it’s all so much hooey. I actually think it’s so much more than that, but this is a family paper.
1. Copy editing has fallen by the wayside.
2. You rely too heavily on news feeds.
3. Everybody knows that a newspaper should be neutral. The JC hasn’t been neutral in years.
4. It seems counter-intuitive to fire (and isn’t that what a lay-off really is?) the very people who cover the local news of a newspaper that suddenly wants to be more, er, local.
5. A lot of these people who are commenting want to be able to buy the paper state-wide.
6. Mark Slockett? Really? He was laid off just before being eligible for full retirement benefits?
Give the people what they want, Ms. Wallace.
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core reader
April 19th, 2009
10:50 am
Do you really think your core readers care about what T.I. and Lil’ Wayne are doing? Neal Boortz was 100% correct when he labeled the AJC the “largest hip-hop newspaper in the country.”
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Brian
April 19th, 2009
10:51 am
The reason the AJC sucks, honestly, is because it is written to be read by the hardly-literate. Far too often I’ve notice grammatical and spelling errors in news stories. That’s embarrassing for the newspaper in the nation’s 8th largest media market. I won’t even comment on the left-wing bias of the newspaper.
Also, do we really need a Faith and Values section of a newspaper? Could you see a real paper doing this?
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Matt
April 19th, 2009
11:08 am
Sixty response to you Ms. Wallace and TWO responses?
That’s NOT engaging your audience and is symptomatic of the problems the AJC print edition has and is suffering from.
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NRB
April 19th, 2009
11:10 am
Ugh.
You’re nothing but a bunch of liberals, sweating because the free market has decided it’s time for you to go. I personally cannot wait for you freeloading Democrats to all be given the boot and padlock the doors to the AJC shut forver, where you can finally do what you were meant to do: clean toilets and wash dishes.
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BillH
April 19th, 2009
11:29 am
We probably all have notions of how to make the AJC more viable. Here are mine and they’re probably worth what I’m charging.
1. Begin to charge to get online content (print subscribers would get a free online subscription). I know the reasons for free access (build numbers, get more online advertising). But it doesn’t work. Instead, you’re giving us a choice … get the content free, or pay to get it. When you also consider that online has additional advantages – including more up-to-date news … for instance scores of games played too late on the West Coast to make the print edition … you’re creating a real disincentive to subscribe to the print edition (you’re sure not alone, I realize that’s how it’s been done, but I’ve also noticed that it isn’t working for any newspaper).
2. Paired with No. 1, emphasize local news, even at the expense of national and world news. There are so many outlets for national and world news but not so for local. Use the remaining horsepower you have to own the local news franchise. You can easily – and already do – overpower what’s available from wires, TV, etc. And – if the online service is paid subscription only – you aren’t eatting your young.
3. Create and take advantage of more personalities … just as is true for TV and radio, names and a unique viewpoint create a draw. For instance, a Grizzard clone would be a big help. (OK, I realize that they broke the mold with him, but there are people who could do a credible job of creating that sort of an audience).
I’m very much rooting for the AJC, especially the print version. It’s one of those things that we would all miss (even those who complain) if it was gone. And if the news business goes online only, I’m pretty sure that the revenues from that wouldn’t support a large news gathering operation.
Take care of your customers – for instance, my Sunday paper is routinely delivered late these days. I remember – when I was in the corporate world – hearing something that seemed overly simple and not very smart:
“Your best customers are your customers.”
It took me a long time to realize how right that is and how important. Any business’ strength is from those who have already raised their hands and said they want the product. You have to take care of them first. My sense is that – instead – newspapers in general have bent over backwards to go after people who wouldn’t read the newspaper even if it was delivered to their bed along with breakfast.
I do not think the ‘too liberal’ ‘too conservative’ thing is a huge deal. I know there’s a lot of noise from both sides, but these are the people who probably will still read the paper. It’s the folks who don’t write in, who aren’t involved at all, that are at risk.
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ornery
April 19th, 2009
11:31 am
I have had to start engaging in local news outlets outside of the AJC to get quality news outside of the metro area. I’ve also had to take up the slack writing technology articles for local papers due to the inadequacy of Technoboob or is that “Technobuddy”? Did he get bought out? Fact is the paper has become a phenom in weak brained material focusing on junk rather than the stories of the day. Considering how much of a failure the legislative session is, I am surprised you haven’t put the bully pulpit against the leadership.
The paper has been increasingly sliding toward a demonic demise that shows how out of touch the paper has become. It seems the Macon Telegraph among others has been taking up the slack.That definately shows the slide of the paper. I personally believe the demise of the paper started in 1993 with the death of Lewis Grizzard and the inadequacy of the paper to get a proper replacement. We do not need “Atlanta Today” paper, we need the paper to develop a network not a bureau reporters and resources that give insight on politics, education and important issues not “Momania” I keep seeing you lamenting the Georgia Trauma network, but I never seen or heard a story about how a incident happens, life flight is called for and all the other details that make up this thin thread of a network. Maybe more information than just lamenting Grady as a Level One Trauma Center. (Erlanger is as well though it’s in Chattanooga) that might get more people interested as well as the cost ($12,000) and looking at solutions to reduce cost or get that cost shared. It’s half filled stories that make one wonders what’s going on down at the AJC.
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miky
April 19th, 2009
11:33 am
as an atlanta resident (note:atlanta, not the suburbs), I greatly enjoy the ajc print and online edition… dont let the brainwashed right wingers of the suburbs determine the content of the paper… business section may be lacking sometimes but sports and metro are on point…
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Julia Wallace, Editor
April 19th, 2009
11:35 am
A few clarifications:
* Yes, we are covering Jacques Brel at the Alliance. Pierre Ruhe will be there.
* We have continued to grow our audience. About two-thirds of people in metro Atlanta read the newspaper or ajc.com at least once a week.
* Unfortunately, we needed to reduce the size of the newsroom by one-third because of financial challenges. Most of that reduction was accomplished by voluntary separations, but we had to do some involuntary separations. None of them were easy. All the folks had served the company well — some for a very long time. However, no one who was laid off within “months” of reaching retirement. All were more than a year away.
* The pull-back of circulation in the state has been difficult. I’ve heard from so many readers about how much they miss the newspaper every day. Unfortunately, the costs were too high to continue. I wish we could have figured out a way to make that circulation profitable. Unfortunately, we couldn’t. We are, however, offering an electronic version of the newspaper in those areas
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JH in Roswell
April 19th, 2009
11:41 am
I haven’t been a fan of the AJC in a long time. Its liberal bias has forced many to turn to other more respectable news sources. I am glad C. Tucker (goodbye wicked witch of the west) is leaving and that the hip/hop arts editor (for example) will be out as well as other overtly liberal contributors, editors, and sections of the AJC.
I hope the AJC puts on a new face and focuses on real news and delivery of its coverage in an unbiased manner. I hope attention to correct grammar is also given to printed material as the literacy level of the AJC seems to have dropped to that of the 7th grade. I’ve seen other comments about the sports section only catering to high school, UGA and GT. I’m perfectly fine with this and if the transplants to GA don’t like that please consider subscribing to your own hometown paper. Why should the AJC provide coverage of every school followed by those not native to the area?
I hope the AJC succeeds in its attempt to restructure itself. I know for certain that Atlanta struggles without a credible newspaper and what we’ve had here for a long time has been a disservice to our city and our state. Good luck AJC.
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Ally
April 19th, 2009
11:42 am
Ms. Wallace,
Thank you for the opportunity to engage in a conversation with the Editorial Staff from your loyal readers & subscibers. I hope as the day goes on you will make more of a concerted effort to converse with us, however.
I’m here, as a long-time reader & Sunday subscriber, to express my displeasure for what has happened specifically to the Sports section as of late. I’ve long since stopped reading your local, national, & international “news” coverage because of your leftist slant & obvious agenda. However, I’ve reamined a reader & supporter ONLY because of the Sports coverage. I was raised on the incredible writing of the late, great Lewis Grizzard and will always be grateful to the AJC for its continued support and coverage of all Georgia Collegiate & Professional sports. I am a UGA graduate and season ticket holder – let me put that out there & make it abundantly clear to which Team my loyalty lies.
I recently learned of the demotion, if you will, of your BEST Writer Michael Carvell. I’m truly shocked and so very disappointed. Since Michael’s presence in Collegiate Recruiting, your coverage has been bar none BETTER than those of the paid services, Rivals & Scout! His page is my first click every morning and his stories kept many of us interested & excited about incoming student-athletes during the very long, and often boring, offseason of college football. His human-interest pieces on these student athletes are outstanding and something I’d NEVER read before in the AJC. Most importantly, his coverage doesn’t have the familiar snarky & biased tone of Schultz, Bradley, Bisher, & Moore. He reports the facts, covers athletes being recruited by all Colleges & Universities in our surrounding area (not just the state of Georgia) and are never biased. In addition, its been so refreshing to read up-to-the-minute content like that of a beat writer! He’s scooped the Athens Banner Herald & even David Hale on numerous occasions, not to mention the writers from Rivals & Scout. That is most certainly not what we are accustomed to here unfortunately. But what has impressed me the most was his outreach to fans of college football all across the south. He’s always been engaging in his web content, is very active with AJC Sports readers on twitter, on the blogs, etc. He sought our opinions, went above & beyond to meet our expectations for content, and reached out to his readers. I’ve NEVER seen that here and its been a great & much needed change!
So for those reasons (and many more quite frankly) I’m at a loss for why you’d make the tragic mistake of removing him for reporting on college sports recruiting! He’s the best you’ve ever had (leaps & bounds above Towers & Tucker) and it would be a tremendous mistake on your part to remove his content. I can promise you I most certainly will not be back nor will I continue to support a paper who so obviously has very little repect for their readers’ wishes. I implore you to dig a little deeper & listen to your readers about Michael Carvell’s content. We don’t want to lose his talent and you, quite frankly, can’t afford to further alienate your readers & advertisers.
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Rick in Duluth
April 19th, 2009
11:50 am
If Cynthia Tucker is gone, I may come back and subscribe. She and Terrence Moore were the 2 main reasons I stopped my paper. The AJC became too liberal and became a voice for the liberal politics of the City of Atlanta instead on the other 4 million people that live in the metropolitan area. When you ignore the suburbs, where the vast majority of us live, you lose the majority of your subscribers.
If Cynthia is truly gone, I will give the new paper a try by picking it up a couple of times at a newstand. If the liberal tendencies of the past are gone, I may consider subscibing agaion.
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ornery
April 19th, 2009
11:56 am
I think your missing the point, clamming up is going to create more of a demise than it is if not spreading. What I advocate is a network of free lance, or finding ways to work with Otis Brumby/Appen and other papers to form an alliance, a state version of the Associated Press, but deals more with the insights. What is Eric Johnson saying in Savannah or Austin Scott in Tifton. The fact is the paper can either be the newspaper of the capital city (the state) or it can go to hell and join the hip hop tabloid of half crazed marginal j-school students. I think going isolated and cold is the death knell of the paper, You killed yourself with moralistic liberals that tornent us with diatribe that would only make Joe Lowery proud. Instead of striking the balance and picking up the pieces, the AJC has become a old spinster locked up in a cave that refuses to innovate and therefore die a cold cruel death of fate, for unwillingness to push the envelope.
Oh yeah, and there are stores banding together to buy or obtain the ajc in bulk and sending them into the “blacked out” areas because of the anger and disenfranchisement of your readers outside of the fashionable metro areas. Also, I noticed Chattanooga press has also taken over your spaces that you have abandoned. So for your shortsightedness there are people taking advantage and exploiting even if it’s your brethren in the paper business.
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Susie
April 19th, 2009
12:07 pm
I’ve read the blogs coming to you this morning – they are right on it Ms. Wallace – now it’s up to you! The only other thing I would like to add is: the comic section stinks – personally, whoever thought up the latest configuration, I hope they took an “early out” too! BTW Mr. Ruhe, why don’t you ever tell us about Theatrical Outfit productions – they are very good – check ‘em out sometime!
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Janet Hill
April 19th, 2009
12:08 pm
I am still in shock that the AJC will stop having newspapers in Athens-Clarke County. I subscribed to the AJC for more than 20 years, until it stopped delivery to my neighbor just outside of Athens. I then tried to subscribe at work Monday-Friday, but that is not an option, at least as I was told by the subscription department. Shortley therefter it was announced that no AJC’s would be distributed to Athens, which is just 70 miles from ATL and the home to UGA, Georgia’s flagship university. It is ironic that I will be able to buy a New York Times in Athens, but not the AJC. It makes no sense to me.
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CAL
April 19th, 2009
12:09 pm
Your article in today’s paper regarding changes being made was most interesting. While I realize the industry is changing to meet various demands, I would have preferred that the customer service center remain in this area rather than moving it to the Philippines. With Georgia’s unemployment rate among the nation’s highest, was moving customer service to a country on the other side of the world that much more cost effective? And would readers who live in Atlanta and the surrounding area want to call another country regarding delivery in their own neighborhoods? I think not. After having several delivery problems myself and making several calls to the new service center, I am not impressed. I realize the employees are learning and may in fact do a satisfactory job at some point; but hiring Georgia residents who already know this area and who need employment would have been a preferable choice. The AJC should take a cue from one of Delta’s latest decisions and move its customer services back to America. If the AJC truly wants to remain a viable newspaper, it must keep customers happy. In this economy, sending jobs overseas and having less customer service does not make for happy customers.
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MissJ
April 19th, 2009
12:17 pm
As a former AJC employee I can tell the readers their main goal is to make money. Advertising is where their heart is, not on providing the best news coverage. The AJC believes since it is the main source of print news in the area they can publish whatever they would like and readers have no other option so they have to buy the AJC. We see how that’s working. Newspapers are more concerned with winning Pulitzer’s than providing what the readers actually want. They are losing over $1,000,000 per week so please do not believe for one minute they are concerned about readership. They are making the changes to try to draw in more advertisers. These “lay-offs, buy-outs” are eliminations of staff, nothing more, nothing less. They want less people to do the same amount of work with the same amount of pay. So do not be confused as to why the content is crap, rushed and full of grammatical errors. They would rather get less talented folks who will work for hardly nothing to make as much money as they can. After all Cox is a for profit business, interested first in bottom line, customers second.
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ornery
April 19th, 2009
12:20 pm
I want to make one final point. I understand the AJC is a business, and has to make business decisions based on economic trends. However, I also feel that being “The Newspaper of the Capital City” that the paper has a responsibility not just for local coverage but regional and state coverage. The paper has kind of been shirking that responsibility for a long time because of the “fashionableness” and that it didn’t fit the “Liberal Mantra” of I gotta a axe to grind and here’s my avenue.
Because the paper has been “winging it” for so long, it’s credibility factor has been marginalized, therefore that’s a preeminent cause of subscriber shrinkage. For me about the only thing worth reading in the paper is the Fry’s Electronics ads. So now instead of correcting the misguided tilt of the hand, the paper is shrinking into a a creature of it’s former self and now something not much more than the Marietta Daily Journal. a precipice fall I might add. I’m not encouraging the continued $1 million dollars a week losses. I am however suggesting a reinvent of the paper so that it may be something of an honor to read. Not having obscenities hurled due to it’s consistent trashy demeanor. I want newspapers to survive, but I also believe that newspapers have civic and social obligations that has somehow fallen down the cracks of expediency, or to fill some social mantle of GOD help us all what did that crackpot Cynthia Tucker have to say again.
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Barbara
April 19th, 2009
12:31 pm
Thank you, Julia, for your honesty and willingness to speak to your readers today about a subject that many have unfortunately experienced first-hand. It’s hard to see good friends let go. I personally think that the reported stories and writing styles of the AJC are not overly slanted one way or the other, and that they are intact and complete. There are other city newspapers that barely cover their stories, where all of the information is summed up in a catchy title. This is not the case with the AJC. Thank you!
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Big Vern
April 19th, 2009
12:43 pm
Well Julia, I’ll give you an ‘E’ for effort on this but in the vast scheme of things nothing is really going to change at AJC…you all have been for years the liberal ‘mouth of the South and an absolute disgrace to the values of true Southerners.
I stopped my AJC Subscription years ago due to mounting liberal stance of the paper. Though I still go on-line for the Obituaries in the AJC, I try my best NOT to read any of the editorial articles..the utter wackiness of Bookman and Tucker defies the term ‘human logic’. And the really scary part Julia is that you all really do believe all the drivel that you publish.
I’m old enough to remember people waiting by the news-stands in the old Rexall Drug Stores for the paperman to show up with the evening editions…days that are and have been long gone for decades due primarily to the AJC’s liberal left-winged policies.
You call it economic hard times, economic downturn…those of us who remember when the AJC went l left-wing liberal call it what it is stupidity…
As Momma Gump said “Stupid is…as stupid does!”
Good luck on the makeover Julia, you certainly need it.
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HS Teacher
April 19th, 2009
12:49 pm
I’m not sure why I bothered to read these comments because I stopped my subscription 2 years ago. After 30 years, the AJC no longer met my needs and I realized they did not care. I seldom bother to read it on line.
When a product is not useful, it goes away. I see that coming for AJC and there will be few to care. They shut us out years ago.
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DW
April 19th, 2009
1:03 pm
I stopped my subscription because of your liberal views and Cynthia Tucker. I want the news. I do not want the reporters opinion or belief. When you go back to reporting the facts and nothing else I will return.
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Algonquin J. Calhoun
April 19th, 2009
1:03 pm
The right-wing lovers of fascism always point to Cynthia Tucker and Terence Moore as the problem with the paper. The real problem they have with these two is they are African-American and they are ‘uppity’ enough to have opinions that diverge from those held by the fanatic right. Both Cynthia and Terence are great in their jobs and they tell the truth. The people complaining about them are the very same dupes who declare FIX news to be fair and balanced. Willingly accepting lies for truth is something they are willingly complicit in!
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Allen Jansen
April 19th, 2009
1:05 pm
“While I realize the industry is changing to meet various demands, I would have preferred that the customer service center remain in this area rather than moving it to the Philippines.”
Ms. Wallace,
Is this statement true?
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Algonquin J. Calhoun
April 19th, 2009
1:09 pm
NRB
April 19th, 2009
11:10 am
Ugh.
You’re nothing but a bunch of liberals, sweating because the free market has decided it’s time for you to go. I personally cannot wait for you freeloading Democrats to all be given the boot and padlock the doors to the AJC shut forver, where you can finally do what you were meant to do: clean toilets and wash dishes.
Thanks for the good wishes you fascist moron!
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kay
April 19th, 2009
1:10 pm
As a former employee with AJC, it was sad that a lot of southern counties lost circulation such as Upson,Pike,and Lamar. I heard from so many subscribers,especially the elderly that were so upset by this news.
However, AJC was fair with us upon termination. Anyway, I just finished school and look forward to finding a new career in the medical field.
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Stephen
April 19th, 2009
1:14 pm
Ms. Wallace,
As someone who pays attention to the high school recruiting scene nationwide, I am saddened that Michael Carvell will no longer be providing recruiting coverage for the AJC. Literally, there is no one at any paper in the country that does a better job than Michael. His outstanding insight, breaking news, and comprehensive coverage of recruiting will be sorely missed. I totally understand the challenges that newspapers face, but I sincerely hope you reconsider removing Michael’s recruiting content.
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jason
April 19th, 2009
1:18 pm
I stopped reading the paper when the sports coverage began to be shifted so heavily to everything UGA and HS Football. I’m not a fan of GT or UGA, but rather another major school in the METRO area. I know at least one school is getting “more” coverage in the paper just because they advertise, which is really not the way to do business, especially when that additional coverage barely constitutes a blip on the radar.
When you stop sending beat reporters to cover the local teams on road trips – i.e., Knobler the Thrashers and Sekou the Hawks – you start losing a great deal of credibility with your readers. When you ignore a lot of great things that are happening in other local sports – i.e., two Division I college baseball teams that aren’t GT or UGA in 1st and 2nd place in their respective conferences, you ignore me as a reader.
There’s more out there if the AJC cares to look for it. Unfortunately, the impression is that they don’t.
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Ed
April 19th, 2009
1:24 pm
It’s not Print vs. ‘Net, particularly on Sunday mornings. For years I looked forward to sitting on the deck with a cup of coffee reading the Sunday edition, sorting through the ads. The internet can’t replace that lost pleasure.
I quit reading a number of years ago, when the complete lack of balance, even in the choice of comic strips, finally had me reading nothing but the advertising flyers and classifieds.
The free market is indeed speaking. If content is king, balance has to be the queen.
Good luck,
-Ed
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In Support of Mark Slockett
April 19th, 2009
1:33 pm
I was wondering how laying off Mark Slockett, a man who worked as a newsroom clerk and assistant for well over 30 years, helped the paper’s overall bottom line. Mark was only months away from being able to retire with full benefits after his long career of dedication to the only “family” he had left in his life — his AJC family. Mark’s status in the newsroom was not nearly as high-profile or financially rewarding as all of the writers and editors who managed to stay employed through the years and after the buyouts, nor will he ever manage to find a job that will provide him with as much personal reward and satisfaction as his job bringing papers to the newsroom, delivering mail to the staff, and running errands for the M.E.s did.
And how did you reward this man, who always had a friendly smile for everyone he encountered while he did a job that few people would’ve sought to do? You fired him just before he could’ve left the company on his own terms, and with his full pension intact.
Tell me, Ms. Wallace — did the recovery of all Cox News Service would’ve lost to Mr. Slockett really improve the company’s bottom line?
Was it worth it, in retrospect, to treat Mark so shabbily after he had given his employer a lifetime of dedication and hard work?
What a shocking lack of compassion and heart the AJC has shown. Shame on all of you who were involved in the decision to dismiss Mr. Slockett so unceremoniously.
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Susan Cook
April 19th, 2009
1:42 pm
Miss J…it is obvious why you are a “former employee”. Get the chip off your shoulder and get the facts straight before you comment. There are many other things that I would like to say but I doubt if they would be allowed to be posted here.
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SAWB
April 19th, 2009
2:02 pm
No rational person could read the comments on the blogs at the AJC or any other paper and come to the conclusion that conservatives are meaner than liberals. Dana Milbank, of all people, has a story on that matter in the Washington Post asking why the lefties are so angry.
As for those who see all of us who disagree with Cynthia Tucker as racist I would urge you to be careful with your language. It’s an easy epithet to throw and a hard one to take back. People don’t forget being unfairly attacked with that sort of language. We were just treated to MSNBC and CNN using similar language and unfettered rage toward conservatives who disagree with them.
That kind of race baiting is not going to help the AJC or this state.
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Kelly Brown
April 19th, 2009
2:32 pm
Does anyone buy the your statement that you “heard” what AJC readers want? So now you’re going to fix things? According to your liberal, social-engineering agenda, you forgot to add.
Here’s a few tips I’m sure you’ll ignore:
Report the EVENTS. Report what actually happened, not what your ilk thinks SHOULD happen. Identify criminal suspects at large by sex/height/build/ AND RACE.
Just report the news; don’t try to shape it to fit your leftist political bent.
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Marilyn
April 19th, 2009
2:39 pm
I am a dedicated recycling person, and have recently purchased biodegradable doggie bags for walks with my dog. (I found out about them in my AJC!) While I’m grateful my daily newspaper is never wet in the morning, I wonder if there is an affordable way for the AJC to bag the home deliveries in biodegradable plastic bags. I’m willing to pay a little more for my subscription in support of this environmental effort.
On another subject, I often email AJC articles of interest to friends and family who do not live in Atlanta. It is not always easy to find the print edition online or to locate the article on ajc.com. I wonder if others have experienced this as well. Do you plan to make any other changes to ajc.com? If so, a search engine that locates what I’m looking for with one or two clicks would be wonderful.
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Ted Striker
April 19th, 2009
2:59 pm
Some are using this forum to vent political views or other agendas. I’ll try to stay on topic.
1) Layoffs are distasteful and unpleasant, but most reasonable folks understand why they’re necessary. My only criticism is this: You allowed Creative Loafing to do a quicker, better report on your personnel changes than you did. I get that an any employer must be sensitive to handling information related to personnel matters. However you had to know information was going to leak, and you should have been the initial and primary source for that topic. I can’t emphasize that point enough.
2) I’m more than willing to keep an open mind about the future of the AJC. You say you want it to be improved, I believe you. And I believe it can be. I’m glad to hear that you’re using professional freelancers, who — despite some criticism on this forum — shouldn’t be sold short. I wouldn’t be surprised to see improved content in certain areas.
3) I’m a lover of the news. I read the paper first thing in the morning, then throughout the day I check updates online. If I had to choose BETWEEN the two, I’d choose the online because it’s fresher…
4) I wouldn’t mind paying for the AJC online as a subscription as long as it’s content were unique enough to the local (Atlanta & Georgia) scene that it couldn’t be supplanted by other news sources. I don’t need national news from the AJC, at least in the print edition. If the AJC was the only place I got my news, sure, that would be different. But let CNN online cover the nation and world. I want the AJC for what’s happening in my city and state.
5) You’ll get criticism no matter what you do. Some people don’t like improvements, because they don’t like change. Don’t sweat it.
6) Folks criticizing the handling of Mark Slockett — truly a good guy who will be missed at the paper — ignore the fact that he made his own bed by refusing the buyout. I think it was probably heartbreaking to see him have to go. But allowing him to stay on would have established a precedent that could have cost the AJC millions if sued by other employees later on. You did the right thing, not the easy thing.
7) Summary: do a good job, improve the offering, make the AJC something that’s vital and unique from any of the meta-news search sources. That’s not just the best way, it’s the only way.
Good luck to you and everyone there. You still have a heck of a team!
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Lee Raines
April 19th, 2009
3:27 pm
Certainly newspapers are charged with the responsibility of reporting the “good, bad and ugly.” The democratic process is well-served in that manner. However, that process MUST NOT be tainted by political favoritism. Opinionated journalism must be reserved for the
EDITORIAL page (section). Time and again I see news articles prostituted because either the publisher, editor or journalist has a political “axe to grind” and denigrates his (her) profession by outright favoritism. This, in some way, has not served print jourrnalism well. Above all, “call the shots” down the middle. Don’t let one political party or figure “slide by” while “trouncing upon” the other because of your political bias. When done, your profession is not well-served and your readers and country are cheated.
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Julia Wallace, Editor
April 19th, 2009
3:32 pm
Ted… Thanks for your comments. We do have a very strong team committed to doing the journalism that is so critical to this community. Today’s newspaper is filled with examples of that: Tammy Joyner on a family rewriting the American dream; Bob Keefe’s profile of Congressman Tom Price; Bill Rankin on the “crisis” in the death penalty system and Sekou Smith getting us ready for the NBA playoffs. Several people have asked about ajc.com. In the past several months, we have been working to improve the site. We have added google search in the top right corner. It is dramatically better than our previous search. We also are focusing more on news. In the recent changes to the newsroom, we have created a round-the-clock breaking news team so we’re faster and more thorough with the news you want.
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posterchild
April 19th, 2009
3:40 pm
I’m having a hard time seeing how so many people view the AJC as a liberal mouthpiece. Please explain.
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Bill MORROW
April 19th, 2009
3:48 pm
Since I live in Eatonton my home delivery of AJC will cease on or before the new format is born..
I can not understand why the AJC would actually tell loyal readers to go away..
If Putnam County is too far from Atlanta to matter and the cost to service this area is too high simply RAISE your price for home delivery in this and other outlying areas.
A well rounded fair and balanced newspaper is as essential to the FORTH ESTATE as that FORTH ESTATE is to good government..
We all witnessed the recent national elections where most of the FORTH ESTATE sold out to the liberal/progressive mantra of “Change”. Now those who would give this recent history a fair look will see that the nation still does not know what “Change” really means and the FORTH ESTATE seems to have become the propaganda arm of the current national government.
The point is, without a good, healthy and balanced print media we all seem doomed to repeat a failed socialist agenda.
THUS I would pay more to support the AJC since the AJC is a real newspaper and, sadly, so far, the Macon Telegraph is little more than a poor grade of FISH WRAP..
Regardless of whether you at the AJC relent and continue to deliver to Putnam County I wish you the best in this rather uncertain changing world. American LIBERTY needs you and other daily newspapers we can read over coffee with nothing more than a candle for light.
Cordially,
William Morrow
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Jim
April 19th, 2009
4:04 pm
Your readership may claim not to want a tabloid, but most of the stories that appear on the “most popular” list on your webpage would be right at home in the National Enquirer.
After the AJC ended the editorship of Bill Kovach, I thought we were being force fed mediocre newspaper. Now I see that if this community has the mediocre newspaper, it is because we deserve it.
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Noelle
April 19th, 2009
4:04 pm
I’m very amused by some of the previous comments. Many on the far right consider the AJC.com overly liberal in its slant, when the AJC is one of the most moderate and balanced newspapers in the country. Strong voices from conservative, liberal, and moderate perspectives receive prominent play on the editorial and op-ed pages on a regular basis. The truth is, the ultra-conservative consider anyone who’s more moderate than them to be overly liberal. Their idea of “fair and balanced” is Fox News.
I also find it funny that some bemoan the AJC’s focus on local and state issues. To me, that’s the point of a local newspaper. We have plenty of 24-hour national and international news sources available to cover those stories. I want my local newspaper to tell me what’s going on here, not on the other side of the world. As a south Georgia native, I’d rather see the AJC cut back on national and international stories in favor of more coverage of stories from other parts of the state.
My only real complaints about the AJC are the depth of the reporting and the quality of the editing. Far too many articles leave too many questioned unanswered, and far too many contain glaring errors (often clearly caused by over-reliance on spellcheckers). As a professional writer and editor who spent 5 years working in newspaper, I find myself much too often frustrated by poorly reported or edited articles. I’d rather have a smaller, higher-quality newspaper than one that tries to “cover Dixie like the dew” and falls short.
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Bill MORROW
April 19th, 2009
4:15 pm
to NOELLE,
>>The truth is, the ultra-conservative consider anyone who’s more moderate than them to be overly liberal. Their idea of “fair and balanced” is Fox News.<<
you must admit that while Fox News is biased on the conservative side their coverage, i have found, to be much MORE BALANCED than NBC..
(I must admit here that I jusr recently discovered Fox News after having given up on NBC, CBS and ABC as being too much “in the pocket” of the far left liberal democratic elite..
Also, just to be open, my personal politics are conservative with a definite liberal “leaning” like: favor a womans right to choose, favor stem cell research and so forth..
The reality is that there are far more middle of the road people than far right OR far left..
Cordially,
William Morrow
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Larry Smith
April 19th, 2009
4:33 pm
As far as the AJC, why don’t you just close it?
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Greg
April 19th, 2009
4:36 pm
You and the other AJC execs just don’t get it. This is a Republican/Conservative state and the liberal slant to C. Tucker, Jay Bookman, and Mike Luckovich along with so many others at your paper dooms your AJC to failure (going out of business). The editors and so called journalists hate everything conservative and report the news accordingly. I grew up in Atlanta and the paper that I read almost all my life went off the deep left end of the news with Bush hating/bashing. Then, your reporters slobbered all over the O’Bama election like a 16 year old boy with a hot date in the back of a ‘67 Chevy.
You editorials have no problem throwing out the racist label on conservatives as “right wing radicals.” Get used to it, there are more conservatives in Ga than liberals except for the Dekalb, Clayton, S. Fulton areas.
I stopped my subscription to the AJC six years ago when all of the Bush bashing was in style. I still do not get the AJC but occasionally read for sports news for the Braves.
If your content continues its liberal slant then I will get my news from all other sources (WSJ, Marietta paper, Fox news online, etc). Good luck trying to stay in business with Tucker/Bookman/Luckovich. Maybe, someone at the AJC might get a clue from the former subscribers.
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Mike
April 19th, 2009
4:44 pm
“Many on the far right consider the AJC.com overly liberal in its slant, when the AJC is one of the most moderate and balanced newspapers in the country. ”
Says who? You?
One need not be a member of the “far-right” to see the AJC’s absurd bias. I worked for Cox Communications for years and the liberal slant of the AJC was a commonly accepted fact among the staff.
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Arthur E, Trim
April 19th, 2009
5:05 pm
Growing up in the southeastern USA, the AJC was once the voice that was listened to by everyone weather you agreed or not!! For a very long time now it is simply another poorly managed, local, politically correct, daily paper! Close the doors and go away!!
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Eugenia R Stephens
April 19th, 2009
5:06 pm
My husband and I had taken the AJC 44 years before home delivery was stopped January 2009. What good is a new design when you can’t subscribe or buy the AJC? Yes, we are bitter to be losing the AJC; Yes, we tried mail delivery and a trial online. Not satisfactory.
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Julia Wallace
April 19th, 2009
5:12 pm
Greg… If you stopped subscribing six years ago and now only read the paper for the Braves coverage, you have missed quite a bit a change.
The latest is a change we announced Monday on the editorial pages. Cynthia Tucker is moving to Washington to become our national political columnist. We are dividing the editorial page editor job, which Cynthia held, into two jobs. Andre Jackson becomes the Editorial Editor, responsible for writing the institutional editorials. Ken Foskett becomes the Opinion Editor, responsible for putting together pages that reflect a balance of different viewpoints and different topics. Our columnist line-up will be:
Cynthia from Washington
Jay Bookman
Kyle Wingfield, our new conservative columnist, who starts in May, Kyle was most recently an editorial writer for the European edition of the Wall Street Journal.
Also, Jim Wooten will continue writing his “Thinking Right” column in July, after he retires. And Bob Barr will give his Libertarian and unpredictable views once a week.
We also will offer a wide array of syndicated columns from all political viewpoints, as well as regular pro-cons on issues.
Our editorial pages offer a variety of thought-provoking opinions – from all sides of the political spectrum.
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Mike
April 19th, 2009
5:23 pm
Despite the fact that the complaint cited most often in today’s posts is concern about liberal bias, Ms Wallace has refused to address the issue at all. The complete unwillingness of AJC management to even consider the possibility that there might be any truth to this gripe has been a large contributor to their drops in circulation, which are much larger than the industry average.
I canceled my 10 year subscription to the AJC several years ago for one reason: I could not stand the ever increasing bias in both the opinion and news sections. I know many others who have done likewise. If the AJC really wants to win back readers, it needs to address this issue. I don’t care what changes they make to the format, if the AJC continues its recent tradition of favoring political activism over ethical journalism, I’m not buying.
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Sonny Martinez
April 19th, 2009
5:24 pm
The AJC is a Liberal Newspaper and this is very easy to prove. I have been in Atlanta since 1987 and have yet to see the AJC support a Conservative or Republican for either the Georgia Senate seat or the President. The AJC is Liberal-Democrate all the way.
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Sonny Martinez
April 19th, 2009
5:27 pm
Julia,
Please tell me the last Conservative Republican this newspaper supported?
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Suzie
April 19th, 2009
5:32 pm
Here’s hoping all your leftist leaning, illegal immigrant loving “journalists” (i.e., Cynthia Tucker) will be gone.
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Eugenia R Stephens
April 19th, 2009
5:33 pm
Whoa, I didn’t read any of the other blogs BEFORE I wrote the first time. Now, I want to make it clear I read the newspaper to get information and I do not let liberal leaning columns change my opinions. I do critical thinking and if I don’t agree with a columnist
I pass over their diatribes.
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David
April 19th, 2009
5:37 pm
I’ve been a AJC print subscriber for years, but knew that media change would continue to morph the AJC. Many of us recognize you have no choice but to continue to move to new models of providing news. As i write you, I’m sitting at the table, much as I do in the mornings with my coffee. Now I have a pc notebook besides me instead of the printed AJC. But where am I still looking? To the AJC. So keep the great editorials, newscoverage, and political cartoons coming. I’m learning to use your website as a future primary source–and liking it more each day. Good luck as you transition Atlanta journalism in this new world.
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Jim
April 19th, 2009
5:49 pm
Julia, many of your potential readers seem to think the job of a newspaper is to affirm readers in their political beliefs.
And if there is ideological bias in the AJC, it is nothing compared the ideological bias found on the city’s Cox-owned radio station.
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Explainer
April 19th, 2009
5:56 pm
@ Kelly Brown:
I hear this SO much and it’s so tired. There’s this absurd idea out there that newspapers have been pressured into not giving descriptions of minority suspects. The fact is that if a description consists of almost nothing other than the fact that a suspect *is* a minority, it’s not really a description.
One of the first things you learn in journalism school is to write what is relevant in a news story. Saying that a suspect is (for example) a “black male between 18 and 30 years old, 5 foot 8 inches to 6 feet tall, wearing jeans and a black sweatshirt” tells the reader essentially nothing and just serves to further malign an entire group of people. If that’s all the information we have, it could be any one, what, 150,000 people in the area? If someone had seen the car he was driving, a license plate number, heard someone address him by name, something distinctive about him that might help someone pick him out, that’s a different matter. But basically saying “It was some black guy” is pretty pointless. Worse yet is an even more vague description like “white or HIspanic male.” Now you’ve got nearly half the whole metro area in your description.
My understanding is that non-information like that doesn’t contribute to the story and only serves to further malign a large group of people. Also, sometimes police are evasive about details of a suspect’s appearance when they think they’re closing in and don’t want him/her to know it.
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Dave
April 19th, 2009
6:01 pm
A couple of things.
There are a number of parts to a newspaper. Of course the AJC has some leanings, including Mr. Wooten on the right. I read him and often wince; and, I read Tucker and Bookman and wince. I read a lot of opinion and wince. Now and again, I read and resonate. That’s what opinion is.
So why is it that ya’ll won’t read what you don’t agree with? It seems to be limiting.
As to the news, the AJC has been middle of the road, at best, for a long time; but, it’s what we’ve got other than what passes for full local news on TV. (Not to slam WSB radio – it can’t do more more than report what is breaking.)
Print is probably on its way to the morgue and I lament its passing. I miss it, especially on the weekends. I also am annoyed by tonight’s dinner or whatever it’s called at AJC.com and a host of other non-news fluff on the website, especially since they take away from the resources needed to fulfill what the paper says is its primary mission, to report local news. (On this line, it is very frustrating to read an AP story about a news event in Georgia.)
All this said, I will continue to read the paper online (I never click an ad, sorry; and, the pop-overs used to annoy me until I trained my subconscious to look elsewhere, or look for the “X.”)
Ms. Wallace, I still occasionally get a paper to read at lunch. I wish you well in your hunt for revenue. I’d even be willing to pay for content along the line of Steven Brill’s recent proposal, not happy, but willing.
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Julia Wallace, Editor
April 19th, 2009
6:04 pm
A bit of history on the endorsement question: Until 2002, we had two newspapers, the Atlanta Constitution and the Atlanta Journal. The Constitution generally supported Democrats; the Journal generally supported Republicans. Since the Journal stopped publishing and the editorial pages were combined, we have supported a mix of candidates. We have certainly leaned Democratic, but not completely. For example, of the two Republican U.S. senators, we endorsed one (Isakson) in the general election
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TK
April 19th, 2009
9:06 pm
Mr. Wingfield…. I’m going to talk to you as only a true southerner would do. Why don’t you come on over, sit down, drink a glass of tea or a beer, and tell us a little bit about yourself. Now who are your people? Where did you attend church? Where did you go to school? I understand you’ve been away for a while now… you haven’t forgotten the most important sports rivalry in this history of the world have you?
Welcome home. I trust your column will be informative, balanced, and not afraid to tackle the issues. Go Jackets!!!!
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Mike Schinkel
April 19th, 2009
11:09 pm
Dear Mr. Wingfield,
I’m curious if you could tell us in detail what “conservative” means to you?
Also, I wonder what you opinion is of this statement: “People who labels apply to themselves do themselves a disservice by indicating to others that their decisions are based on the ideology of a group rather than their own independent evaluation of each issue?”
Respectfully,
-Mike Schinkel
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Mike Schinkel
April 19th, 2009
11:10 pm
Damn editing typos!
It was supposed to be:
“People who apply labels to themselves do themselves a disservice by indicating to others that their decisions are based on the ideology of a group rather than their own independent evaluation of each issue?”
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Lyrazel
April 25th, 2009
7:51 am
Is celebrity coverage really so necessary on the front page?
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Adittohead
April 25th, 2009
7:59 am
I HAVE HEARD THIS SWAN SONG ONE TOO MANY TIMES. JOURNALISM IS DEAD.
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Mel
April 25th, 2009
9:02 am
Lately, what the AJC doesn’t say has at times spoken louder to me than what it does cover. I think one of the most true tests of the AJCs new management, and of your own watchdog role, is whether we see anything regarding media news, particularly as it applies to the debate on media ownership consolidation, cross-ownership and FCC action on these issues. If I can’t trust the AJC to throw an honest spotlight on itself and its own business, how can I trust what it says on anything else? Thanks and good luck ahead.
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Tex
April 25th, 2009
9:04 am
Hopefully we will see a little less glamorization of the violent and negative hip-hop culture
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Gerald Lewy
April 25th, 2009
9:41 am
Georgia is a red state politically by a wide margin. The AJC is notorious for being far left of center. You haven’t been giving the dogs (your audience) the dog food they want. A swing closer to the center may just help your bottom line. How about circulating to Lumpkin County again. I was not happy over having my home delivery of the AJC canceled. You deliver to Hall County just next door.
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jam
April 25th, 2009
9:55 am
Welcome Shawn
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CG
April 25th, 2009
10:05 am
What steps are you taking to correct the numerous grammatical errors and oversights in editing that appear on your website every day? For example, from a headline story today comes this gem: “Police say Michaels’ BMW hit the Carters’ Mercedes and then both cars cross over to incoming traffic.” The grammatical error notwithstanding (I think the writer meant “crossed”), the paragraph from which this sentence was taken contains two references to Ms. Michael as “Michaels” (not to mention that if her name were actually “Michaels,” the proper possessive would be “Michaels’s’”–perhaps a less well-known rule, but a rule nonetheless) I could probably pull 50 more examples from the site at any given time. It’s hard to take the AJC seriously when its stories read like they are written by fourth graders.
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Christi Tate
April 25th, 2009
10:08 am
Local News – that will give people in the Metro what they cannot get on cable, twitter, etc. Doesn’t have to be expensive. For example: Why not send someone to pull zoning applications and tell the folks whose thinking about moving dirt in their back yards before the bulldozers rumble wakes them to their morning coffee? You and I know from having covered local government that the deal to develop is done by the time there is a meeting held. Is it true you killed the crime beat? Are you kidding me? Do you not realize that all readers, no matter how silk purse they may claim to be, are RUBBERNECKERS. On the same vein, Angelina Jolie sells, but do we have to feed the fat people oreos? (I like analogies). The dailies such as the Gainesville Times, or others out in the burbs cannot “Watch” local government the way the AJC could, but doesn’t any more. There are all sorts of sordid tales of real government corruption, outrageous police action that are growing in numbers because the word is out: The cop (you) is not on the beat. ( I work in a law firm and I am working two cases, one in Fannin and one in Stephens County where incompetence deprived two men of their freedom…a Jonesboro lawyer is handling a case where a policeman ran over a homeless man and not the County is doing every thing they can to get out of compensating the man.) There is so much more out here that shapes our every day lives long before Washington even makes a ripple. Feel good stories about the neato things Atlantans do..where are they? In a recession, those stories sell papers, lure readers. We are southern by God, and we celebrate our rednecks, our folk artists, the people who use hubcaps for landscaping. But where is that coverage? We’re glad when we meet reporters who look like they are indeed real people, southern, with mortgages. Where are those guys? The quirky southerners. Look at some of the cool pieces coming out of Atlanta Magazine, Garden and Gun, Creative Loafing. They’re mining your territory! Don’t you want it back? Look up some of those freelancers and get them to do some of that neat stuff they do to give the living section something that looks like living in a funky south.
But it looks like the AJC doesn’t care. It used to be that if I learned of any gossip relating to a development or crime or corruption, or neato people, I headed for the AJC. Consistently, these days, nothing. I don’t recognize the community portrayed in the pages. It sends a message that you are not part of the community, you are isolated from it. So I think your position and your mission to gather our comments is a glimmer of hope. I want a vital AJC, but I want it to be a real paper again as a citizen, and not so much as a resident…there is a difference. But as a resident, I want a colorful spread of feature stories. More pictures (your photogs are amazing…we need more of it) I want you to be the Fourth Estate again. Believe me: The guys who take our tax money, know you’re not watching. I’d like to know what the plans are for local news.
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Arthur Trim
April 25th, 2009
10:11 am
The AJC as become another media source in the “monkey see, monkey” media circus. The hype, gossip, speculation, smoke & mirrors and very, very little substance! More of the same B.S.!
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TnGelding
April 25th, 2009
10:19 am
Thinking? Or lack thereof?
If you were really thinking you would discontinue punishing yourselves trying to print and deliver a daily newspaper. The cost of delivery alone should be enough to make it a no-brainer. Not to mention the cost to the environment.
The future is now! Be bold and leap into the 21st century!
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ZachsMom
April 25th, 2009
10:32 am
I would just like to be able to BUY THE NEWSPAPER AGAIN where I live. I think that cutting the circulation area was the biggest mistake that has been made so far. We used to read the ads in the Sunday paper and then drive to Gainesville or Buford because we do not have the stores available in Habersham.
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David L. Anders, M.D.
April 25th, 2009
10:49 am
OK, let’s begin with how you will be a better source of journalism:
For years, readers have been subjected to ongoing defensive remarks from editors and writers at AJC claiming there was no bias at AJC. To this day, Ms. Wallace seems to try to deny bias, but then admits that new changes at AJC have “led to fairer coverage — more care in our play of stories as well as more straightforward approaches in headlines and local and wire stories.”
So were you (the AJC) or weren’t you biased in presenting the facts. If you were, that is as close to a fatal journalistic flaw as a news organization can make. For too long defenders of the practice have tried to confuse the argument by injecting the axiom that editorial columns MUST be opinionated. We ALL agree with that. But, PLEASE, keep the opinions on the opinion pages. If the AJC has been guilty of bias otherwise, and many – including Ms. Wallace – appear to feel it has been, a major front page apology and correction is due the readers and former readers of the AJC. For too many years our complaints have fallen on deaf ears, or worse, have been turned back on us in an attempt to characterize our complaints as uninformed, unsophisticated, and unsubstantiated.
The first and most important trait we expect from our journalists is brutal honesty, closely followed by intense intellectual curiosity, unintimidated by surrounding circumstances. When will we see that type of reporting from the AJC, starting with the topic which should be most accessible to its own reporters, which is “What went wrong with the AJC?”? Many readers must be unsatisfied with the official characterization of the circumstances involving the departure of Ms. Tucker and her daily influence at the AJC. The absence of a complete telling of her downgraded role in the paper is just one more reason readers have not to trust the AJC any topic published. If you can’t included the painful truths about the inner workings of your own paper – and certainly there must be more to tell during this unique “perfect storm” of challenges for the print media – then don’t waste your money on focus groups and special telephone lines trying to learn what readers are thinking. We’ve already acquired all the information we need to make an informed decision.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
April 25th, 2009
10:52 am
Thanks for your feedback. I hate that we’ve had to cut home delivery in some areas outside Metro Atlanta. In this economic climate, however, the company has had to make some difficult business decisions. I’m told the circulation folks ran analysis to try to make it work and tested options like raising prices. Unfortunately, it just cost the company too much to continue delivery in outlying areas.
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SpaceyG
April 25th, 2009
10:57 am
Good luck Shawn. Best place to see what we’re up to out here is Twitter. That’s how we keep an eye on you folk, in other words. I advise doing likewise. Don’t talk down to us and you’ll be ok. Not that you would do that, of course.
Will chat more later. Gotta go tighten my corset for the BBQ. I’m sure you can relate.
Cheers,
http://twitter.com/SpaceyG
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LO
April 25th, 2009
10:58 am
A sports section without box scores / game statistics is like a business section without stock market results.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
April 25th, 2009
11:16 am
One commenter asked why we don’t just eliminate the print edition and move entirely to digital publishing. A large number of readers still prefer a print newspaper experience to getting their news online. And there are many others who are happy to get their news online during the week, but still want a Sunday newspaper experience.
The new AJC takes these changes in media consumption habits into account. The daily newpaper, the Sunday newspaper and ajc.com each have some dedicated staff; other journalists in our newsroom contribute to all three.
A breaking news desk works first for ajc.com, getting the latest from all over the metro area (and to the reader who asked, yes, they still cover crime). The daily staff is dedicated to bringing readers a broad sweep of news in a smart, efficient package. And the new Sunday AJC recognizes that on the weekend, many readers want to relax with the newspaper and understand the why behind the week’s headlines.
Readers will see the new design beginning Tuesday. Let us know what you think.
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dontlistentodittoheads
April 25th, 2009
11:19 am
Welcome, Shawn. DO the best job you can and cover local issues. Recognize local blogs and other Atlanta media outlets because they deserve credit. You’re working with much less and you’ve said goodbye to a lot of great journalists, photographers, graphic designers and news researchers, but you still have incredible talent in that newsroom. Nurture them and let them do their jobs. rely on news wire for the fluff and don’t play it up.
And if some readers still can’t seem to grasp that the news pages are separate from the editorial board, then you’ve lost them. And if the editorial board shakeup (I think it was wrong) doesn’t satisfy those readers, then they’re totally clueless. Forget about them. Hang on to your core audience and report, report, report.
Good luck. Right now, ti’s just ajc, creative loafing, atlanta magazine and a handful of blogs covering communities.
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Browncoat
April 25th, 2009
11:47 am
Like others have said, cutting your circulation area is a problem. I live less than an hour from Atlanta, in Spalding County, and I can’t get the AJC, even on Sundays. What the AJC needed to do was find a more cost effective distribution system to get the paper to people wanting to buy the paper (aka PAY YOU MONEY).
I couldn’t care less about the redisign… I CAN”T GET THE AJC. Oh well, I keep my money in my pocket. Brilliant!
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James
April 25th, 2009
11:53 am
Less cencorship. I want to see people speak their minds with out fear of being moderated. Don’t cut out opinions that don’t agree with your own. I’m a little skeptical since your from the South. I think this newspaper needs more of an outsider to do things right. The South is always so out of touch with the rest of the country.
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SteveR
April 25th, 2009
11:58 am
Hewlett Packard (HP) wants their logo back! On top of that it’s a poor, washed out looking facsimile.
The Metro section is handy and the lay out with the drop down menu is far superior to the previous crappy design, but I don’t want to see stories from the last month or two still in with the current stuff. Apparently there aren’t enough writers to find new stories out there even if they aren’t hard hitting headline news. And when you do a local community story your writers almost never do a thorough job. Information on location or times for events are often left out. There should at least be links to bring us to maps, schedules and other pertinent info. You leave the same stories on the web for weeks so apparently there isn’t enough to fill the pages on a daily basis, so why not do the stories more thoroughly.
Headline: Police search for victims stolen blue Ford sedan….and….how about a model, a tag, vicinity it was last seen? Duh. Fire at Kennesaw apartment complex, families left out in the cold….name of complex?….address, general location of complex…Duh (to be fair tv outlets do the same thing, but that doesn’t make it right).
Photos are often left out that should be included but somehow didn’t make the web master’s final draft. National stories with photos seem to be available in other newspapers but are missing in yours. If you can’t afford to send a photographer solicit digital pics from readers. It would make the paper more interactive. However, when you have solicited pics in the past for fluff pieces, you do not offer any assurances that the person submitting it will not be taken advantage of and lose their rights to the photo. A simple…the image will only be used for publication on the paper’s web site and not published or used in any other form without permission. You guys have left it open to use the images we submit in any form you wish. Not fair if you make money off it with a book, etc. If we can’t trust you to do the right thing with their usage we won’t turn over all the great photos that could be shared with the other readers.
The word going forward is “interactive”. You can solicit stories, photos, announcements over the web far easier than sending someone out to cover it in a lot of cases. You have a chance to turn all that hot air from the blogging and twittering to some useful purpose. Like the man said, “there are a million stories in the “Naked City”…Your staff can proofread and tweak them at the office faster and more economically. I’ll bet we have readers who can actually write a story on a local event with more thoroughness and expertise from what I’ve seen from some of your writers. What do you think would happen if there was a section asking for information or stories, photos on various subjects from their local area.
Invest in more internet people who know what they’re doing to keep up so the web site is more timely (like within 30 minutes, not seemingly 2 or 3 hours or more for some of the more current breaking stories). If you’re going to compete, you need to be timely and offer something the other outlets aren’t. Guess how many other sources I can go to to get the same info?
Good luck.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
April 25th, 2009
11:59 am
LO, about those box scores and sports stats: see pages C3, C4, C5 and C6 today.
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David Mc Gill Eldridge III
April 25th, 2009
12:01 pm
What we need is another Lewis Grizzard, who will tell like it is will humor and insight. That sold papers just as my cousin Ralph McGill did with his writtings.
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David Mc Gill Eldridge III
April 25th, 2009
12:04 pm
What we need is another Lewis Grizzard who told it like it was with humor and insight as well as my cousin Ralph McGill who gave a balanced view.
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Steve
April 25th, 2009
12:11 pm
Stop referring to the 9th largest metropolitan area in the U.S. as “The ATL” . . . ATL is an Airport, not a city . . . Saying The ATL is Slang . . . Newspapers should be a model of using correct and proper English . . . When your newspaper, or web-site, uses Slang, I lose a ton of respect for your organization and I have to question your credibility . . .
Also, why do you put so much emphasis on celebrities and their million dollar homes . . . ?
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The Only One
April 25th, 2009
12:18 pm
Do you really want to make this a popular news source? Provide a comments section on every single article written. Allow folks to speak their opinion on each article without bias’ed editing like what happens in the vent sections. You will have a traffic like you’ve never had before.
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Keith
April 25th, 2009
12:31 pm
Gerald hit the nail on the head. Here in Bartow County (Cartersville area) lukewarm Republican John McCain pulled 72% of the vote again Obama. We are part of metro Atlanta and your paper’s content and editorials should reflect the fact that the majority of your readership is conservative.
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Covers
April 25th, 2009
12:41 pm
After you all quit distributing the paper in North Georgia, the Chattanooga Times Free Press came in to fill the gap. Great paper. They truly give BOTH sides on issues. How refreshing after watching the AJC turn into a shell of its former self. I don’t miss the AJC at all.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
April 25th, 2009
12:55 pm
One reader asked about the “Private Quarters” and “Private Quarters Splurge” features, which are visual tours of homes; in the case of “Splurge,” rather lavish homes. Those are extremely popular features. I understand that some readers might not be interested, but at ajc.com the features get quite a bit of traffic. As one reader explained to me, it’s a little bit of a bright spot in rocky economic times.
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Fred
April 25th, 2009
12:56 pm
Just tell the truth without your left wing slant to it.
If I wanted propaganda I would turn on the tv.
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Rosita
April 25th, 2009
1:19 pm
All that you say sounds great. I hope it will translate into action. There are so many typos, malapropisms, misspellings and other careless errors in the online edition — I am no longer able to buy the print edition since you have stopped distribution in my town — are inexcusable lapses of basic journalism. I once emailed Julia Wallace and pointed out several monstrous goofs. I asked her to reply back if she cared. Result — no answer.
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Paula
April 25th, 2009
1:35 pm
I read an article in Creative Loafing about the “downsizing” and tne rebranding of the AJC. Sounds like you’re trying to become the NY Post of the South. I’ve subscribed to the AJC for over 20 years. I will not be renewing my subscription.
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Michael H. Smith
April 25th, 2009
1:53 pm
“Free (fill in the blank with anything)” as in the “Free Press” is an interesting concept. Ah, if only it could be found to exist anywhere in reality. The AJC certainly has not been free from an overtly overly abundant liberal bias over the years.
Many mainstream issues go unreported or they’re buried so far back into back-page obscurities, to at times give them the barest amount of coverage possible that readers should demand of the AJC publishers’ they at least be given a proper public listing in the obituary section, after receiving less than the dignity of a decent funeral.
It was some what uplifting to see some small changes taking place in the editorial section’s opinion page, though, too few hard hitting conservative voices are going to be represented in this so-called “free exchange” of ideas to offer any genuine balance in prospective for the readers to form a public consensus.
The AJC has been slow to face the changes confronting the media information market. Like it or not, convergence, one of the tentacles of globalization so warmly embrace by this paper and called “The Inevitable”, impossible to reject and to be gladly received by all, has the AJC gasping for life. Yet, the AJC finds it hard to gulp the bitter brew they readily have encouraged others to swallow with a smile.
The blogs should continue and will, because news-information has transformed into an elongated cycle, it no longer dies on the printed page when it is newsworthy. It’s life extends now often beyond the news that was made, into the news that is being made by the news (i.e. grassroots movements like the TEA PARTY which no doubt one political party or the other will try to dominate and take charge of to their advantage. However, despite the plays being made by the major political parties and certain media outlets they are overlooking the host of issues that have produced this outcry that is revolting against both political parties and their misbehavior.)
How unfortunate frauds abound on the AJC blogs that attempt to sway opinion by masking their true identity and often make multiple comments under false and fictitious names to appear as though public support exists for something that only one is fomenting. Like any fraud when perpetrated, if allowed to continue it corrupts until all integrity is utterly destroyed. As witnessed in the mortgage industry and on Wall Street frauds, without trustworthiness and real value eventually a collapse takes place.
In time perhaps the AJC can regain a good standing and profitability but you are very correct Ms. or Mrs. McIntosh, the readers are indeed the real news experts who judge daily the trustworthiness and integrity of your reporting with the proper measure from all points of prospective represented.
PS. Welcome back to the South and Georgia.
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Grace Howard
April 25th, 2009
2:12 pm
Why does a newspaper have to be labeled as “Liberal” or Conservative”? Why not just print news and views and let each side take from it what they will instead of attempting to be Fox News print version? Also, where is Cynthia Tucker?
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
April 25th, 2009
2:17 pm
I know some folks are cheering the change in our editorial columnist lineup and others are concerned. (For those who haven’t heard, you can read about it at this link: http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2009/04/14/wallaceed_0414.html)
I’m more concerned when readers believe the news content (as opposed to the opinion content) is slanted or not balanced. As public editor I will look into examples you bring to my attention. So feel free to email me with specific examples whenever you believe we’ve fallen short in that area.
We know that readers want balance in the viewpoints presented, and the redesigned AJC includes new ways to emphasize different points of view in a story, explain how we got a story and offer readers information about the sources we use in stories. And you will see more pro/con viewpoints when appropriate.
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Suzie
April 25th, 2009
2:18 pm
AJC is a joke — always has been and, I suspect, always will be.
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ryan
April 25th, 2009
2:19 pm
I agree with “The Only One” as to the comment area for every article. To be honest it engages your readers and becomes quite addicting.
To be frank, the only way I would read the left leaning dribble coming out of the AJC is to vent, ’scuze me…..post my comments afterward. What fun!!
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George Chidi
April 25th, 2009
2:23 pm
Hey Shawn. Good luck in the new gig. Ready for a couple of hard questions?
I walked into your office from the tiny Rocky Mount Telegram almost four years ago, happy just to be in a big-city newsroom. Our first conversation was about the power of blogs — I recall you being a bit dismissive of the concept at the time. Glorified columns, I recall you called them. Indeed.
Shawn, I left the paper, pre-buyout, without animus. But there are some worthy battles I left unfought. I’m deeply concerned that a diminished reporting staff — and let’s not kid ourselves here, the AJC took a serious hit in boots on the ground — coupled with the paper’s financial weakness, will make some of these battles harder to fight. I question the AJC’s commitment to aggressively pursue open records and open access. I see the paper continuing to make very conservative calculations of cost-benefit tradeoffs when a fight is on the horizon.
Case in point: This paper’s reporters have followed a practice of avoiding requests for e-mail under the Georgia Open Records Act. These kinds of requests are commonplace from most newspapers. But my understanding when I first arrived here was that the paper’s legal arm genuinely believed if requests for e-mail became commonplace, the legislature would act to exclude e-mail from the Act. So the paper has refrained from viewing some legitimate correspondence not because of legal action, but because of the threat of legal action. Will this policy continue?
My second concern is how thinly-spread crime coverage appears to be now. Granted, I’m in the camp of critics who believe crime coverage has generally been over-wrought, sensationalistic and exploitive … anywhere except Atlanta. Plainly, crime in and near the city has been increasing. But the paper has just one reporter covering the police beat for Gwinnett, North Fulton and Cobb counties now. A second reporter covers the city and Dekalb. Two reporters, covering close to 3,000 police officers and related agencies. I know, I know — there’s a staff of generalists to platoon in when something major breaks. But given the increase in crime (at least the perceived increase), and the clear corruption problems exposed by the Neal Street shooting, I fear that resources have been diverted away from examining these public agencies just at the time when that examination would be most valuable to the reading public. Folks like Atlanta Unfiltered are going to continue to scoop the heck out of the AJC if this stands. That may be an acceptable tradeoff, but I’d like you to address it.
Third, the business section of the paper appears to have been completely eviscerated in the last purge. I haven’t seen the market research, naturally, to show if the business writers were pulling their weight in readers or not. But the paper appears to have conceded the field to the Atlanta Business Chronicle and its imitators in Gwinnett, Cobb and elsewhere. I suspect the editors of these papers might disagree with this sentiment, but I fear that these business newspapers tend to be more conciliatory than challenging to the business community. You lost Kevin Duffy, Andy Miller, Mike Pearson and the great Thomas Oliver in the last round. Again, just as interest in business reporting spikes, the AJC backs away. Paul Donsky can’t do everything. Can you explain this decision?
And last, there’s this lingering question of bias. I find it interesting that the paper appears to be shifting to a more conservative posture just as it sheds itself of coverage and circulation in the more conservative parts of metro Atlanta — the outlying suburbs. I recognize the need to challenge the audience. Perhaps that’s part of the plan here. I imagine this is competitive positioning. If I were a potential online competitor to the AJC, I would set up shop just to the right of the paper and clean up in the more advertiser-friendly suburbs where the paper has pulled back. But the effect may be to alienate empty-nester urban news readers — a group growing in financial clout, even now. That’s an interesting trade to make. I do wonder how that will work.
Good luck, Shawn.
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Paula
April 25th, 2009
2:28 pm
How is it that CNN is reporting a shooting at UGA and NADA on the AJC?
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Stu Dio
April 25th, 2009
2:33 pm
RE: Adittohead (and others):
Please nagivate to http://ewathoughts.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html.
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Observer
April 25th, 2009
2:34 pm
Shawn – I think LO’s remark about the lack of box scores and statistics in the sports coverage was referring to the online edition. I, too, find it irritating that I have to go to the ESPN website to get statistical sports coverage of local teams because the AJC doesn’t provide it.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
April 25th, 2009
2:42 pm
Paula, we’re working that story hard right now and hope to have some updates soon. Thanks.
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George Thomas
April 25th, 2009
2:44 pm
When I wrote to Cynthia Tucker to correct an error in her column…..I cited the search engines on the internet as my sources.
She wrote back to say ” she uses ” dead wood sources” as her search engines.
That told me all I needed to know about closed minds at leftist AJC.
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da
April 25th, 2009
3:05 pm
Maybe you can try bringing real journalism back…less of the sensationalistic drivel being spewed from the majority of media outlets these days (including the AJC). We need more n-e-w-s, not some much commentary and not how many apartment fires or banks were robbed last night. (Let the crime blotter be the crime blotter). The paper should report just the facts (not tainted or bias) and let only those who actually have perfected the craft provide creative and interesting news.
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Marge
April 25th, 2009
3:43 pm
To George Chidi: If you think the AJC resembles a conservative media voice, you’re out of your gourd.
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Meme
April 25th, 2009
3:44 pm
One of the great things about a paper use to be that it had different news every day. The problem with the AJC online is that (for example) the same pictures and the same stories have been on the Gwinnett County page for 3 or 4 days.
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Robert
April 25th, 2009
3:48 pm
One gripe about AJC.com: At the end of articles these is a subheading – “More on AJC.com”. Sometimes there are very recent related articles. More often, however, it seems the links are weeks or even months old. It is disconcerting to read an article months old without realizing it, not to mention a waste of time. Why not put the date of the article next to its reference on the main article’s page? That would save a lot of clicks just to land on old “news”.
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Question for You
April 25th, 2009
4:27 pm
As the readers’ representative, what are 4 or 5 of the top concerns that you’ve brought to the attention of editors in the newsroom?
And what was their response?
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Bat Boy
April 25th, 2009
4:54 pm
This is for “dontlistentodittoheads”
You say “And if some readers still can’t seem to grasp that the news pages are separate from the editorial board, then you’ve lost them.”
Your tone is arrogant, condescending pseudo-patience with people who are less bright than you are. Bag it. People are not stupid, no matter what you think. They know the difference between reporting and opinion. Historically, they find bias in both. They don’t like supporting editorial writers with whom they have radically different opinions. Imagine for a moment that Hannity and Gingrich were the editorial board of the AJC. Then I could give you fatuous, condescending dismissals while you canceled your subscription in a huff.
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Maureen Huntington
April 25th, 2009
5:08 pm
I think it was a huge mistake to remove so many counties from your distribution area. It will be very difficult for our areas to keep up with state politics. My area is Pickens County and we depend now on Chattanooga to provide us with a paper. I feel cut off from so many subjects since the AJC is not available. Between Bent tree and Big Canoe, I know you sold a bunch of papers. Please rethink this action.
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Atlantan
April 25th, 2009
5:28 pm
Why so many prom pictures? Why any prom pictures?
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Sierra
April 25th, 2009
5:46 pm
Shawn, I hope you plan to respond to George Chidi’s thoughtful comments
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Legend of Len Barker
April 25th, 2009
5:57 pm
Suggestions for recovering income:
1) Make the readers pay for the online paper. Since the circulation is now down to metro Atlanta, if the rest of the state wants to read the paper, they can only get it online. If someone is already a subscriber, give them a special code to access online stuff free. Sweeten the pot with exclusives that aren’t in the paper.
The AJC was originally a pay enterprise online. The Houston Chronicle and New York Times are considering going back to the model.
2) Enhance your archives. Currently, the AJC’s online archives on the site are on an outdated search engine and use an outdated style. The search engine is quite poor and doesn’t include images or the newspaper page. It also only goes to 1939.
3) Digital photo archives. Getty Images has their stuff available for a price. I think the AJC could scan their vast photo archives, make them searchable, have thumbnail previews, and make a little bit of cash for reprints. Anyone who’s familiar with printing off microfilm knows that a) they aren’t in color and b) generally print in poor quality.
5) Quit trying to be inoffensive. Ralph McGill and Lewis Grizzard worried little about what the readers thought. Grizzard was about entertainment, but had some not so nice sobriquets as a touring book author. McGill wrote what he believed as right. Luckovich is your top editorialist these days. And he doesn’t write.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
April 25th, 2009
7:51 pm
Thanks for all the feedback.
To the reader who asked the four or five top concerns I’ve brought to the editors’ attention, I just want to remind you I’ve only been in the job five days! Check back in a month or two!
Seriously, I imagine they will include these areas:
- Making sure our journalism is accurate and thoroughly reported and reflects a wide range of viewpoints;
- Making sure we make the right decisions about what to cover and what to take a pass on;
- Making sure we correct factual errors, quickly and completely;
- Responding to our readers’ needs and feedback; and
- Continuing to provide aggressive watchdog coverage.
Since those are the priorities of our editors as well, I’m not sure I’ll have to bring them to anyone’s attention. But I”ll appreciate your feedback along the way about how we’re doing.
Just to quickly answer a couple of other readers’ questions and comments:
To the former employee who said we are not aggressive about public records, we’ll just have to disagree. The AJC has taken legal action (and won) many times to protect the public’s access to public records.
As for business coverage, moving weekday business news inside the A section and trimming it was one of those difficult choices we had to make. The business pages are still full of local news every day and we are trying to edit tightly so we can provide national briefs and top news as well as the full local report.
Watch for the new re-designed Sunday business section next week; I think you will enjoy it.
To the commenter who asked about the link “More on ajc.com” at the bottom of online stories, those links are often recent news but at other times our editors link to older stories that might provide background or context to the current story.
And to the commenter who suggested we charge for online content, improve our archives, etc. to improve the bottom line, thanks for the suggestions. I think all newsrooms are watching to see what works and what doesn’t as we try to transition our business model to a digital platform.
Thanks again, everyone, for the feedback and discussion. Catch managing editor Bert Roughton here tomorrow.
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Gwen Margaritondo
April 26th, 2009
7:52 am
Hello,
This question may not be in your “area” but customer service is no help either. I have decided not to renew my subscription because the cost is about double what it would be for a new subscriber. This is not fair to loyal customers. Customer service sent me emails TWICE that said someone would be in touch with me within a couple of days. I would like to renew but only at the best cost available. Or I atleast want someone in management to know why I’m not renewing. Thanks for your attention. Gwen Margaritondo
Here’s the most recent email:
From: AJC Customer Care
To: nckgwn@att.net
Subject: Re: Why I’m not renewing [#10070083]
Date: Thursday, April 16, 2009 9:14:35 AM
Thank you for contacting The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
We apologize for the delay in response. However, we have forwarded your
information to the correct department for discounting the paper. A
representative will contact you within 1-2 business days.
Please feel free to contact our Customer Care Department at 404.522.4141 if you require additional assistance in the future.
Thank you again for your e-mail to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Rodney Moore
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Operations Representative
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Sara Brown
April 26th, 2009
7:55 am
Such a shame that your caring for readers does not extend to Rabun County. We, too, appreciate and enjoy a GOOD paper that presents local,state, national and international news. I suppose to be adaptable is good, but as an advanced senior citizen, a 30 year Yankee implant to Georgia, and a dedicated reader of the AJC (even online)I miss reading the paper and enjoying my coffee at the breakfast table!
Just my comment.
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Chip Folendore
April 26th, 2009
7:59 am
This is first Sunday in 20+ years without a Sunday Paper.
I have to take attitude that the AJC has ceased to exist.
What a terrible thing for a paper which once said it covers Dixie like the due to cover hardly anywhere now.
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Seldon Wright
April 26th, 2009
8:14 am
I’m glad tgo see that some”old line” journalists are doing it better. TARFI theres always room for improvement. Way to go! It woud be too big a commute to get your, I;m in Clarkston Mich! Maybe i can get it once in a while on the net. Just thought I’d give you a friendly ‘thumbs up’ Writing can be such a challenge, even my own poor blog, (here goes the plug) i say this for now @ blogstream. ideas come free, or cheap. Doing it, takes the other definition of ‘work’. Have a good day.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
8:31 am
Sara, Chip:
The toughest thing for me has been the awful fact that we’ve had to reduce the numbers of counties in which we circulate. It’s one thing for people to leave us, it’s another to take the paper away from loyal readers. I have a vacation house in a county that used to get the AJC, and it kills me when I go to the convenience store and no longer see it in the rack. But our business realities wouldn’t let us continue delivering to such a wide area. At one point, we estimated that it was costing us $5 per newspaper to deliver it to some parts of the state. I hate it, but we really didn’t have a choice. Let’s hope for better times.
In the meantime, we do offer an online version of the newspaper that offers something at lease closer to the experience of reading the paper – as close as you can get without the pleasure of the actual paper. Check it out at ajcprint.com. I’d love to know what you think.
Gwen, I’ll see what I can do for you.
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Samuel Adams
April 26th, 2009
8:33 am
We live in rural south Georgia. The paper is no longer delivered on a daily basis down here. Any way your coverage area will be increased?
Since we can only get the paper “ONLINE”, are you going to charge for this service? THANKS AND
LONG LIVE THE AJC
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Carol
April 26th, 2009
8:51 am
I love the AJC, but sadly it is no longer available here in the mountains. Please, as you re-design your online version, remember us up here. I have been reaing the daily newspaper since I was 5 years old, and it is a major disappointment to live out my golden years in an area where no major newspaper is available.
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Rosita
April 26th, 2009
8:53 am
A managing editor who can’t spell the word for a heavy fabric called canvas, and a copy desk that didn’t catch it? Ay-yi-yi
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Jack Sartain
April 26th, 2009
8:57 am
Bert – the changes you portend are good over all. My beef is with the
ON LINE paper. The DeKalb Section is always thin and the pictures and stories stay up forever – to wit the Marine Corps School and its headline. And, the slant to the political left has left me cold. Objectiviy has left the building! AJC paper is losing out to the weekly fare as far as news goes. And, their reporters and editors are really accessible. One more thing – your DeKalb beat guy seems not to gather the facts before he submits his stuff and the editor doesn.t know so misleading and untrue stories get going. I am a native ATlantan and a Grady baby and know what the AJC used to be – BETTER!
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Dave
April 26th, 2009
9:12 am
I moved to Banks County from Phoenix, a culture shock to say the least. The AJC was the closest thing to my Arizona Republic. Now the AJC is gone. The online version is just not the same. Why is it that rural Georgia is always the areas left out while metro areas prosper?
How long will it be before AJC begins to charge for the online version?
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Ena Brooks
April 26th, 2009
9:16 am
A fresh face must equal a fresh content.
What is a blue paper doing in a red state? When is Cynthia Tucker leaving? and Mike Luckovich’s cartoons are a detriment to our society.
Look, I stopped reading your paper when I noticed that at the end of my read I was thouroughly pissed off. The counter to this is the , Wall Street Journal, I read and read and I get my news.
So a fresh face MUST BE followed by a fresh, factual, unopinionated, politically unbiased content. Can you do that? Look at Page A3 today, 3 ways to build a more efficient newspaper, where is the fresh content? Uou think this is just about efficiency?
The most important news this week has been the Interrogation tactics, where is the other side? You think the LA Times is a reliable source rather than a propaganda machine? You are supposed to give us the facts so we can be informed and make up our own minds. Rest my case.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
9:19 am
Rosita: Just blame the managing editor – the copy desk never saw my little essay. It reminds me again of how important it is to be edited – even if you’re an editor. It’s also cool that you can fix it online and not feel miserable that you have printed a quarter million copies with a stupid typo. Please read the newspaper as carefully and email me when we let something by.
To folks losing the printed edition, please take a look at ajcprint.com and give me your thoughts.
Jack: I’m happy to discuss the issue of bias, but it really helps me to discuss a specific case. I’m not sure I agree with you that the newspaper used to be better – I know, I was here. But I will say that my focus at the moment is making Monday’s newspaper as good as I can make it and then moving on to Tuesday.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
9:29 am
Ena: Good morning. I appreciate that you have rested your case, but I must ask, did you read the newspaper’s coverage? Was there something in that coverage that suggested a bias? I’m sorry that you dislike the work of Cynthia and Mike, but many, many readers love them. Our editorial pages carry a variety of opinions in a pretty balanced way. But balanced does mean that you represent opposing views. Our new columnist Kyle Wingfield, who comes from the Wall Street Journal, is likely to keep our readers on the left feeling challenged quite often.
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PhilDavis
April 26th, 2009
9:34 am
Don’t forget the old who, what, when, where, why. “Pulitzer oratory” has become so bad that one routinely has to read to the final paragraphs buried deep within to discover the reason its news.
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Jack Sartain
April 26th, 2009
9:36 am
Bert: Ena has it! Jack
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Rosita
April 26th, 2009
9:38 am
Bert, I really appreciate your responsible attitude toward errors. That’s part of the solution. But I must ask, isn’t involving the copy desk also part? That seems to be a major flaw with the online edition: writers rush their copy to the site without anyone proofing it. It may seem small to non-journalists, but journalists (I’m one, too) know that accuracy is an essential component of reportorial excellence. Good luck
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
9:41 am
Phil: Interesting that you raise this point. It became clear to us as we spoke to readers last year that they really, really wanted is to boil things down and cut to the chase. We heard them and are editing our stories to get as much to the top as possible – particularly with the daily – and to write with as much brevity and clarity as possible. This doesn’t mean that we don’t have greater ambitions for stories that merit it, but it does mean that we are editing just about everything with a view to provide you the most news we can in the time you have for us.
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Jack Sartain
April 26th, 2009
9:42 am
Bert: Your response did not include my impression about the “boney”( i.e. no meat) DeKalb Section – put someone on that!
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Jack Sartain
April 26th, 2009
9:44 am
Bert – howzabout putting some people in the DeKalb Bureau – they seem to come to work once a week measured by what the online section contains. By the way the Marine Corps school stuff is STILL up!.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
9:46 am
Rosita: No one values copy editing more than I. (After allowing a typo in my blog in full view of people who can fire me, I have a fresh appreciation.) Unlike my blog piece, everything that goes in the newspaper is edited by experienced editors. We’ve had a few structural changes that have disrupted the editing process some, but we have not lowered our standards or decided to tolerate errors.
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jekyllover
April 26th, 2009
9:48 am
The AJC has been our newspaper for over 40 years but now that you’re excluding Clarke County from your delivery area we’re switching to the New York Times. We’ll miss you but the times are a-changing and we can change with them. Stay intelligent and don’t be taken in with the majority of our backward politicians in this state of Georgia. Report the facts not the biases except to critique the biases.
Sayonara!
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Jack Sartain
April 26th, 2009
9:49 am
Bert: final note and I’m off to choir – newspapers are drying up, closing down and bankrupting all around the country – why’s that?
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
9:50 am
Jack: My first job at the AJC was covering the DeKalb County Commission and its, uh, colorful chairman, Manuel Maloof. DeKalb is very important to me personally, and it’s key to our strategy of focusing on the core counties. I promise I’ll look at our coverage and do the best I can with the resources we have.
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MSH
April 26th, 2009
10:00 am
I’ve been a faithful reader of the AJC since it was “The Atlanta Journal” and the Constitution was a totally different paper. I actually do enjoy the ability to read the paper on-line, although I miss Sunday afternoons with the paper strewn all over the living room. From my perspective, the most unfortunate result of budget cutbacks at the AJC has been the obvious reduction in editorial review staff. The abundance and pervasiveness of grammatical errors in the writing is quite noticeable and extremely annoying. One has to wonder if the writer is making so many errors in verb tense, what else might he or she be overlooking? The ability to publish on-line gives one the ability to do so quickly, but does not relieve the writer of the responsibility to ensure the text is accurate. If you don’t have the money to hire a proper review board, at least hire people who can construct a simple sentence with the correct verb tense (or know how to use the grammar check button on the computer).
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
10:01 am
Jack: You want me to answer that as you run out the door to choir practice? Why not ask the meaning of life? A lot of factors are hurting newspapers – longterm trends in the way people consume news content, the rapid evolution of the Internet and the implications this has had on all advertising dependent media, etc. But I believe there’s a place in the media landscape for a newspaper – a printed newspaper. I don’t believe the AJC is dying – I do believe the AJC might be in serious peril if we didn’t change. A lot of that change will be evident with the redesign that you will see next week. A lot will be less obvious and has to do more with how we cover the news and invest our reporting and editing. I’m also hoping that readers won’t take us and what we do for granted. We aren’t perfect and we make mistakes, but I can’t imagine what would have happened in metro Atlanta over the 38 years I’ve lived here if someone from the AJC hadn’t been keeping an eye on things.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
10:06 am
MSH: I solicit your help. Please let me know every time you see such a mistake. This will allow us to figure out where we have weaknesses in our systems. Email me at broughton@ajc.com, or call me at 404-526-5681. We owe it to you all – and the language – to correct this.
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MSH
April 26th, 2009
10:27 am
I will be happy to do so. I reailze the English language is a living, constantly evolving entity, otherwise we’d still be speaking Latin. Schoolkids read this paper also, and should have good examples of writing set for them. This one rather jumped out at me this morning. Please let me know if I’m being overly particular: “Police say Michaels’ BMW hit the Carters’ Mercedes and then both cars cross over to incoming traffic. The Carters’ car hit Tracie Johnson’s Volkswagen. Michaels regained control of her BMW and continued on.”
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bubbatech01
April 26th, 2009
10:31 am
i applaud your efforts but this paper is as left as chavez. you try to argue that the coverage isnt biased, but the constant selection of stories against republicans and the amazing lack of stories bad for dems (along with your constant endorsement of dem policital candidates) show your paper’s true intent. plus, the writing is poor. the only decent thing going on right now is bob barr’s column, because he is critical of both the left and the right and plays it straight. we all know that cynthia’s opinion is going to be pro-obama, race card, but bob really puts both parties in their place. move bob out of the opinion pages and into the editorial page and i will consider subscribing to this paper.
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Ena Brooks
April 26th, 2009
10:35 am
Bert: 5 front page aricles, yes I get it. But the A Section is full of articles from the AP, LA Times, NY Times; If you have to rely on these sources for the news, then this is the sad part. These are propaganda machines Bert – clearly – So the AJC has become one of those where the same biased news keeps getting reported.
I have high hopes with the New Public Editor Ms McIntosh. Her bio sounds promising and I hope she will deliver.
and Good Morning to you too; I value freedom of the press in it’s full meaning; not a copy cat of redundant propaganda. I hope I am being very clear to get my point across to you; value your intentions and the love of your job; and my comments are to give you input to the overall problem with the AJC – loosing circulation – the content is very questionable. Respectfully, have a great day.
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bubbatech01
April 26th, 2009
10:37 am
sorry, forgot to give other praise. mark bradely’s blogging during the basketball tournaments was awesome. i was at work and it was like i was there. we asked questions and he answered. even though we all know he is anti-tech, i really appreciate the extra effort he put forth during that time. i look forward to it during the bowl season and maybe nba finals. he did a great job.
maybe that is something that you should consider. whenever we see these stories in the paper, they are stale. journalists put them them and we read them. there is no interaction with the journalist. we only get the surface of what he or she was thinking and often misinterpret the writing. maybe to make the ajc a living paper, you can provide the means in which, online, we can interact with the journalist (obviously, ap stories aside). email is used now, but we dont see the conversation. you can do it where for 2 hours a day, each story will have a blog link in which the person that wrote the story can be asked questions. if people are interested in the story, it will help to drive interaction with the story. plus, you will be able to see the types of stories and manner of interaction in which the readers are most interested. you do this a little bit with the opinion blogs, but that is not news.
just a thought.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
10:44 am
May I call you Bubba? I’m not really arguing about our coverage. I am asking for something more specific. My job is to see what the problem is and address it. Sometimes I feel like a doctor examining a patient who complains of having a pain without telling me exactly when or where it hurts. I also sometimes feel as if I’m hearing from a lot of people who haven’t seriously read the paper lately. That’s fine. I’m thinking of ignoring what I experienced in the 1980s and buying an American car because I think it might be the right thing to do. People and products change. So, here’s my challenge, Bubba, start reading our paper next week and for the next couple of weeks. If after that, you honestly conclude that we are a bunch of semi-literate, leftist propagandists, they you’re only out the cost of a decent bottle of wine. If you decide that we’re better than you thought, then you can make an informed decision about whether to subscribe or not.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
10:56 am
Ena: I appreciate your support for the free press. We do have limited choices in bringing you world and national news. I believe this is a sad reality, but for perhaps different reasons. My experience tells me that you are a bit hasty in dismissing these newsgathering institutions
as propaganda machines. I’d say that in most cases, they are reputable news people trying very hard to get it right. Sometimes, we disagree with their approach and news judgment and often decide against running something they have produced. But this is the exception rather than the rule. I would find it very helpful if you would ignore the source of the story – as much as you can – and get to the details of what they are saying that strikes you as biased. That gives us something to work on and look for. Now, we may not always agree with you on what is and isn’t bias, but it really helps me to be as specific and clear as possible. We also are going after our own content to intentionally provide balance – look at the Sunday paper’s treatment of assessing Obama’s first 100 days. You can always email me at broughton@ajc.com or phone me at 404-526-5681 if you have a concern. I’d love to hear from you.
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null
April 26th, 2009
10:56 am
Why do people insist on whining about certain writers? There are certain writers I don’t care for, but guess what….I DON’T READ THEM. It’s people like you that have ruined America, forcing your way on everyone. Sad.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
10:57 am
Bubba: I like that idea.
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bubbatech01
April 26th, 2009
11:00 am
also, maybe part of the newspaper can be a “follow-up” section in which the original journalist puts down some of the questions and additional informatino or thoughts other readers may find useful or interesting. further, by providing for an interaction capability, us readers can interact with each other. by acting as the forum, the AJC strengthens itself and its brand.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
11:04 am
Bubba:
Cool!
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bubbatech01
April 26th, 2009
11:06 am
bert, by the way, i did not mean to imply anything about illiteracy (i think that was another blogger). i have been reading your online version for quite sometime. i am looking forward to seeing the changes. i started reading the marietta daily journal online because i honestly was tired of only reading about how the right was corrupt (we all know its on both sides) and seeing biased coverage. hopefully, you can change things.
i am really looking forward to teh online interaction, if you start it. i would love to talk to the journalist that wrote the article of interest to me. i would also like to see what other people are asking and commenting about the story. this would be awesome for the race to the governors house.
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Mitchell Gant
April 26th, 2009
11:07 am
It’s laughable to suggest that the AJC editorial page is anything other than stridently left-wing. Having one token conservative on staff (and only one–you even had to go to a writer living in England to find a replacement) says all you need to know about the leftoid tendencies of the AJC.
Here’s the thing, Bert. You could get away with having a paint-by-numbers Leftie editorial slant (and spare us the bit about editorial being seperate from “reporting”–how many people in that building didn’t vote for Obama? I doubt it’s higher than single digits) when you had a monopoly. Your monopoly is gone, and so is every conservative reader who’d had enough of being insulted and belittled by the Tuckers and Luckoviches and Bookmans of the AJC. Those people are the vast majority of your potential customers, and we’re not coming back.
You had your chance, and you blew it.
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bubbatech01
April 26th, 2009
11:09 am
bert, good luck! gotta head off to church. i am excited about the changes and sincerely appreciate you listening to your audience and replying. i also like the fact that you are defending yourself, because that shows to me that you believe in what you are doing and care. maybe in 2 years we can read about how the ajc lead the newspapers into a new age. now that would be cool.
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Andrew Harris
April 26th, 2009
11:15 am
OUR NEW EDITOR: “I appreciate that you have rested your case, but I must ask, did you read the newspaper’s coverage? Was there something in that coverage that suggested a bias?”
THIS IS EXACTLY THE PROBLEM. You can’t even agree that the AJC leans left. If you don’t come on here and admit that is has a leftward bias, then I will see you as another editor who doesn’t get it. When someone takes over a failing business, the first thing they need to do is figure out what the problem is so they can resolve it. If they can’t even figure out WHY it is failing, how will they succeed? Once you can accept that this paper is left leaning and that is the MAJOR change that needs to take place RIGHT NOW, then you will get the support from readers like me…the same readers who have canceled our subscription over the past 5 years.
I am encouraged on some of the other things that you are trying to accomplish, but they aren’t your main problem.
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jojo
April 26th, 2009
11:19 am
Thanks for highlighting the online print edition. Today was the first day I had heard of it and I’ve been reading the ajc online for six years. While I too lament the absence of a paper here in the mountains, I am thankful that ajc.com is still free!! I began my early working days in the same manner as you and will always value the experience of reading an actual newspaper. I don’t really have a complaint or concern, just wanted to say thanks for your posture and for dealing with the harsh realities of today. Keep the newspaper going – it is one of the few things that brings light to places that need it.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
11:26 am
Bubba: I’ll listen to readers like you day and night because you make us better. Please check us out and let me know how we’re doing.
Mitchell: While I’m pleased to give you a laugh, I’m sorry that you believe we’ve blown it. But your comment strikes me as someone who isn’t deeply familiar with our newspaper. I will offer you the same challenge, but it will require that you invest in the product a little. Next week go out and get the paper and then continue reading it through Sunday. (Heck, go out and get the Sunday paper today, it’s a fine sample of our product, if I do say so.) Repeat step one. After that, if you conclude that we are what you believe us to be, then you have risked little and perhaps gained a lot. If I’m wrong and you are basing your opinion on what you experience every day with the AJC, then help me by indentifying where we express bias. Cynthia and Mike don’t really count because they are clearly in the opinion business and we make no bones about that. Are you willing to give us a try, or are you content to just throw rocks?
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
11:33 am
Andrew: I would admit that if I believe it to be true. I believe our news pages – the area I have some influence over – provide balanced, accurate coverage. I believe our editorial pages offer a diversity of clearly marked opinion, some left, some right and much in the very gray area in the middle. The point I’m trying to make is that people often say all these things without really reading the newspaper. Read it, find examples of what you think shows bias and then let’s talk about it. I believe it’s in your interest as well as mine to have a thriving newspaper in metro Atlanta and that well-focused, specific criticism will make it better.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
11:34 am
JoJo: It’s my pleasure to help. Bert
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Cathy Hulbert
April 26th, 2009
11:34 am
Hi, Bert. I’m excited about all of the thought that has gone into this, and relieved that the watchdog role is still taken very seriously. Seeing “State of Play” last night, I was reminded that while newspapers are made up of human beings who themselves wrestle with issues of right and wrong, the urge to investigate and hold leaders accountable must be protected and strengthened in a world full of frivolous distractions. Thank you for holding firm on that! I have never doubted your determination to do so.
Cathy Hulbert
Roswell, GA
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Andrew Harris
April 26th, 2009
11:37 am
No Sir, it’s in my interest to challenge a newspaper that has been an embarrassment to this city. I was looking forward to a new editor who may bring our newspaper where it should be. YOU DON’T HAVE A CHANCE IF YOU DON’T SEE THE BIAS….it’s a shame.
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Piozou
April 26th, 2009
11:42 am
I continue to be mesmerized reading though the statements over the past few days how the Editors and Staff “listened to the public”. Yet, the rumbling of discontentment have been heard for years. I, for one, got tired of paying for the abuse imparted on me as a customer and reader over 3 years ago. So now, you have listened, you have changed the format, the reach of the paper has been reduced, you are adding other view point, all that for the hefty cost of numerous employees who were laid off.
Hence my question… what was the tipping point that made the AJC realize that, after years of steadfastily ignoring its constituency, listening to it had become a novel idea that, perhaps, meant the road to survival?
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Jim Lake
April 26th, 2009
11:44 am
As a subscriner since 1985, with time out for some work in California, I’ve seen many changes in the AJC. My initial sunscription was to the Journal, and then I contiinued with the AJC.
I watched as the AJC swung left with Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman, among others and, over time still occasionally read Ms. Tucker but quickly learned to completely ignore Bookman. There was an occasional conservative opinion offered (Tuesday and Friday) but the “reader;s input” section was, by Ms. Tucker’s choice, always full of liberal, left-wing comments, most commenting favorabily on her editorials. So, it got t where I rarely read the Editorial section. Then, you began sneaking liberal thought into your “News”stories, by choice of content and stated positions by your “reporters.”
Then, you cut the number of columns of information from 7 to 6. Well,…still O.K. but it seemed that the size of print was also decreased. Now, you’re going to a “Reader’s Digest” size paper with only 5 columns! Tour Daily “Comic” section is already so small that I have a hard time reading the little six panel cartoons. You do realize that your average daily reader is not a 16 – 17 year old but people much more “seasoned” who, in many instances, already have a need for some reading magnification, don’t you?
Also, the cartoons are no longer funny, with LIO, Pearls before Swine, Brewster Rocket, Scary Gary, Non Sequitur and others. Several of those are far from funny. They fit in the “weird and Sick” criteria.
The “New” AJC reminds me of Girl Scout Cookies. It’s getting smaller, you get less content for a higher price and it appers to be less satisfying before you even taste it!
I’m going to give it “the Old College Try” for a few days. If it provides any satisfaction, I shall keep my subscription. But, if it turns out the way I think it will, I will cancel my subscription.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
11:45 am
Cathy: I haven’t seen the movie but I hear that it has scenes that would make someone like me blubber in a public place. I have no doubt that someone soon will present us with the idea of an automated newspaper reporter – input the facts and the software would provide a clear, typo-free story. Without doubt, that would reduce the heartache. But newspapers are special, important and vulnerable places because of the people attracted to work for them, and nothing can really replace that.
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Ena Brooks
April 26th, 2009
11:46 am
Bert I just sent you an email with an example with the acticle on A13 about the interrogation tactics. Classic miss labeling of the headline and miss representation to the public; and Yes, I do like the Obama 100 days in office reporting; very fair, thank you. NO I am not hesitant about dismissing the news gathering institutions as propaganda machines as I know that is what they have become; hopefully the people can force them to turn around and work for us rather than Washington DC, George Soros or Moveon.Org to name a few. Thank you.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
11:50 am
Jim:
Remember, a lot of the cuts in size, etc., are in response to the realities of the business and lousy economy, not because we’re eager to cut back. Also, if the paper turns out the way you worry it will, I might cancel my subscription, too.
Bert
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
11:58 am
Piozou: That’s an interesting question. I’m not sure there was a tipping point per se. We have seen the obvious for some time – that readers were moving away from the printed newspaper and that it was becoming increasingly difficult for us to continue as a profit-making business without making some important changes. We decided that it was essential to focus the newspaper on serving readers who are likely to stay with us. It may sound ridiculously simple, but we decided a few years ago to go after people who like newspapers and to redesign our newspaper to appeal to them. Rocket science, right?
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
12:07 pm
All: It’s too pretty a day for us to be stuck in front of these computer screens, so I’m going to go out for a while. I’m heading to the Inman Park festival but will return later to continue. Go ahead and post comments about what we’ve been discussing so far and anything else – so long as it’s related to the newspaper. If you see me at the festival, I’d be happy to continue the conversation. The very pretty yet patient woman with me will be my wife. Her name is Melinda, and she is the newspaper’s toughest critic.
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3.14
April 26th, 2009
12:08 pm
I have serious concerns about the way the publisher has quietly changed the constellation of the editorial board. Gone are Tucker, Bookman, and Downey….replaced with, hmmmm….the publisher. Are there other newspapers that allow the publisher to participate on the editorial board? It seems non-transparent and suspect to me.
P.S. Good luck, Bert. You’re a lot more fun that the other AJC conversation folks!!
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MIkeS
April 26th, 2009
12:27 pm
Bert, You are one brave dude to field all these accusations about “bias”. Most people get their national and world news from sources that agree with their own bias on cable, radio, or the net. They then come to the AJC to find out what is happening in Georgia and are outraged that you are not FOX News or MSNBC -”shocking it is how biased you are! “(YODA quote) . Bias has become a code word for “you don’t report what I want to hear”, regardless of what is news. Stay strong Bert
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Terri Evans
April 26th, 2009
12:29 pm
I must say that I marvel at some of these comments that suggest an AJC left-leaning bias. How can this be said of a newspaper that actually gives Bob Barr a voice? I’d prefer to see his 2nd amendment promotion and his secession support of Texas packed off to, well… Texas.
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Lee Leslie
April 26th, 2009
12:50 pm
Happy to know that your new look will keep opinion, left and right, on the editorial pages so those who want to keep up with the news, but are intolerant of different viewpoints, can just skip those pages.
Personally, I think you’ve done an incredible job minimizing coverage of the poverty, ignorance and inequity that is ubiquitous to our city, state and region. But when I want even less, I can always just toss the AJC aside and switch on your sister Cox radio station for the balance of Neal Boortz.
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ZachsMom
April 26th, 2009
12:53 pm
As another reader who no longer gets the paper in habersham county, i wanted to say that one on the things that i miss the most is the ads that came in the paper. Our family would read the paper on sunday mornings after church and then plan a trip into Gainesville or Buford to go shopping. I hope the businesses realize how much they are losing because of the cut backs.
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ZachsMom
April 26th, 2009
12:57 pm
P.S. Went to go look at ajcprint.com—–thought it was pretty lame and a REALLY POOR SUBSTITUTE for a newspaper.
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Cliff Biggers
April 26th, 2009
1:01 pm
Why do you not offer paid subscribers to the AJC free access to ajcprint.com as well? On those all-too-frequent days when my paper doesn’t arrive or arrives late or arrives wet or is missing sections, it would be most helpful to be able to read the paper online rather than wait for a possible redelivery. This access should be free to all paid newspaper subscribers.
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Chip Folendore
April 26th, 2009
1:01 pm
Online version is poor substitute. I will read articles here and there but no interest in reading whole paper online. You have lost loyal subscriber for good.
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bryan c
April 26th, 2009
1:14 pm
Enter your comments here
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Peaches
April 26th, 2009
1:25 pm
Bert,
In the beginning of the “new way” of the AJC I was very hopeful. I heard the admissions that the AJC had to be more careful about being sure that its stories were not ideologically biased. The next day, the AJC published an article about stem cell use that might as well have been a promo for a pro stem cell position. It was simply advocacy journalism. There was not even the barest aknowledgement of another point of view other than a dismissive wave. My hopes for the AJC evaporated as a realized that the writer was either clueless or dishonest.
Now you ask for a trial. You ask for us to come and see, judge for ourselves. Bert, we will. One and only one more time.
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Editor
April 26th, 2009
1:28 pm
From the on line edition right now…
Napilotano said at a White House news conference Sunday that the emergency declaration is standard operating procedure—one was recently declare for the inauguration and for flooding.
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lost in Athens
April 26th, 2009
1:42 pm
Okay, so my AJC is going to be unavailable to me in printed version for the first time in my 50 years of living. Fine, I’ve been reading the online version as I travel around the world for the last few years, anyway. My question is: Do I need to cancel my subscription out here in Athens, or will it be automatically canceled when delivery stops to this far flung outpost of liberalism in an otherwise conservative state?
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Samuel Sapp
April 26th, 2009
1:47 pm
No more AJC in Macon . I was able to buy a Sunday New York Times . It was $ 5.00 !!
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Reg
April 26th, 2009
1:58 pm
Bert,
This is the best explanation I’ve gotten thus far. We appreciate your honesty.
I’m a big sports fan. In the past year or so, I’ve watched that section shrink and shrink. I’ve watched a lot of your good people — Barnhardt, D’Allesio, Michelle Hiskey — leave. Will the sports section continue to be smaller?
Is sports just no longer a priority, even though UGA is an hour away?
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Keith
April 26th, 2009
2:12 pm
Home delivery will soon be a thing of the past everywhere just like the milkman. I’m guessing three years tops.
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Carter is a Fool
April 26th, 2009
2:16 pm
The editorial board needs to balanced and you have not even admitted that this a problem. You have Thinking Right (now retired) vs. Cynthia (In Charge), and Bookman with the wild leftist cartoons of Toonboy. This does not represent the values of your readers. Well it might now that you do not deliver to the outlying areas.
All I ask for if you have two from the left, you have two from the right. I also ask that you have a cartoonist to balance the leftist lunyluko.
This paper is a sad reflection of the once noble paper that covered Dixie like the Dew.
It is not too late to fix it, but you have to admit there is a problem and look to balance your views instead of leaning left and ignoring the problem. The problems faced by Newspapers are not just fixed by just looking to find balance. Technology and the marketplace are putting outside pressure on this business, but you should not make it worse by ignoring your internal problems and continuing to tick off the readers.
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jen
April 26th, 2009
2:46 pm
Can’ wait until you quit delivering in my community, as the deliverer wakes me up at 5 am with a blaring radio. I have called twice to ask that this stop to no avail. As for the paper, it is another sad victim of the internet and it’s poor quality will not help save it.
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Rex T.
April 26th, 2009
3:06 pm
You publish in a state where Republicans hold the governorship and comfortable majorities in both chambers, yet you haven’t endorsed any but Democrats for president or governor since … Eisenhower?
And then you feign confusion when confronted with your famous liberal bias — while claiming to look for ways to better serve Georgia readers?
Enjoy your coming insolvency.
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Mike
April 26th, 2009
3:20 pm
“There are certain writers I don’t care for, but guess what….I DON’T READ THEM”
Right and if the bulk of the writing is from writers I don’t care for, I DON”T BUY THE PAPER.
The problem is that the AJC is writing for a San Fransisco audience, but they are serving a red state. Frankly, I ended my subscription because I was tired of being demonized for not sharing the narrow views of Tucker, Bookman Luckovich and the rest of the editorial board. You folks refuse to acknowledge the obvious bias of the paper, which is fine, but I don’t have to buy it and I don’t.
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Roger D Smart, PO1, USN, Retired
April 26th, 2009
3:34 pm
My question to any AJC writer/reporter is this: Do you have a military writer on staff? If not, you certainly need one badly. I can’t even give you a story or a report on the tribulations of my agenda. i am requesting you get a military reporter with the military in mind.
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Mark
April 26th, 2009
3:47 pm
Lots and lots of bitter people out there! It’s attitudes like that keeping our country from moving forward. That and big business, big government and wall street having lost all credibility, all trust and all sympathy through selfish, greedy deeds of their own. In the middle of all of that…. God Bless the local newspaper! But, one thing, on the Sunday Jumble, can you print the answer upside down like you do the rest of the week, so I don’t see it when I turn the pages looking for the puzzle!?
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Billy Howard
April 26th, 2009
3:54 pm
I’ve seen this kind of thing before, where the guy at the fair sits above the big tub of water while slackers throw baseballs at a target, hoping to knock him in. Well, you’re still sitting there and you’re not wet. Good work, maybe you should try your hand at mediating that thing in the mid-east, it couldn’t much harder.
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B Unker
April 26th, 2009
4:10 pm
AJC has seen it’s best days. You have taken away the paper from the people that enjoy reading it the most SENIORS. AJC has no respect for people or staff. You have allowed a reckless news staff, a reckless staff of higher ups destroy this company. When I see your building it looks so pitiful. What happen to the joy and pride of the AJC. New reporters, new writers, new staff, new whatever nothing will save the AJC. New York Times is much better than AJC. Your paper only cares about the wealthy people of the south. Go ahead and consider AJC out of business it will happen it’s only a matter of time. This newspaper business is not the same and the so call improvements you are making will not last. Nobody likes the paper you guys product. NOBODY!!!!!!!!!!! Accept and move on. Maybe a new media will come to Atlanta and show AJC what it takes to stay in business. You must be fair to all people.AJC needs to understand fairness to ALL.
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Roger
April 26th, 2009
4:13 pm
I hasve been reading the daily newspaper since I was old enough to sit with my father every morning and talk about one article in each section. I still read the print daily but if the AJC wants to look for the decline in subscriptions it needs to look inward at itself. My paper does not arrive till after 830am which is entirely toooo late for an am delivery and half the time it is nowhere near my door. I live in a building and i assume I am the only one who gets a paper on my floor and the delivery person when the elevator door opens leans out and “chucks” down the hall towards my door. So am am ready to cancel my subscription as well and just pick up a copy when I can…. it is a shame that you have lost focus on the Customer.
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Cathy Hulbert
April 26th, 2009
4:16 pm
Bert,
About the movie: State of Play — yes, it touched the ever-present journalist’s heart in me because there was so much heart in the movie. The characters were dealing with real corruption in politics, the realities of enw ownership and real challenges in shifting from paper to on-line reporting. It was a brilliant snapshot of where we are. And while it is so easy to sit back and criticize journalists, if you haven’t walked a mile in a reporter’s shoes, your insights are limited.
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caroline
April 26th, 2009
4:29 pm
I’m also lost in Athens. I’ve been a reader and subscriber for a couple of decades, and I’m unable to understand this decision to cut us off. The AJC has a printing plant in Gwinnett County, for pete’s sake! Is this just another bad business decision in the wake of so many others? I hope for the AJC’s sake not, although I must say I wonder how the top people there are still employed. Kind of like the banking industry, I guess.
And as for the alleged left bias of the editorial pages, I feel sure that if you did a rigorous, unbiased analysis of the editorial pages over several months or years, you’d find a strong conservative slant. It’s Bob Barr, Charles Krauthammer and Wooten all the time.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
4:32 pm
I’m back from the festival – it was super – let me catch up.
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Matthew Cone
April 26th, 2009
4:37 pm
Bert,
I think it’s admirable how you’re responding to the veiled attacks here by some. We all know it’s a tough economy…some things have to change, whether we all like them or not. That’s just the truth of it.
Anyway, keep up the good work. You’ve still got a supporter in me.
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George Roughton
April 26th, 2009
4:57 pm
Bert,
As long as the AJC has Bookman, Luckovich and Tucker it will continue to die a slow death. I know you have one conservative columnist but frankly- he is just a token so the AJC can pretend to present both sides. Hey, you have a cool last name…but good luck. The AJC is sinking fast.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
4:57 pm
OK. Thanks everyone for the comments. I see the themes are still sort of the same. I’m pleased that a few lefties suggest that instead of being ultra-liberal, we’re actually the tools of the right-wing conspiracy. Are you balanced if you complaints from both sides? Let me say again that we strive to present the spectrum of American political thought – as much of it as you can squeeze in our editorial pages. Whatever your point of view, you should be able to find a challenge or some comfort. I hope everyone at least something to think about. Our news pages, on the other hand, must be free of political agenda. A couple of you have pointed out some legitimate concerns about specific stories, and I will spend some time with those when I’m in the office tomorrow.
And again, I challenge everyone who comes to this conversation with a preconception about the AJC to have the courage to be challenged by actually reading the newspaper for a couple of weeks. If you see evidence of bias or anything else that concerns you, let me know and I’ll take your concerns to heart.
To those who no longer receive the paper, it breaks my heart. But let me say again we didn’t leave your parts of the state by choice. I guess we could continue printing everywhere in Georgia and continue with the same size and staff we had in 1990, but I’m guessing we’d be broke in a matter of weeks. We’re are taking these steps to preserve the newspaper because we believe in what we do. Let’s all hope for better days.
On sports, it’s true we’ve reduced space and have become pretty conservative about how we assign reporters and editors. It isn’t that we don’t care, it’s that we must respond to the realities in front of us. And we’re are listening very closely to sports readers as we proceed. When we can make changes that are within our means, we do. But it would be dishonest of me to suggest that sports readers wouldn’t see the difference. My best advice is to be patient with us as we move through these changes but make it clear to us what you believe you must have in your sports report.
We don’t have a military writer at the moment. As I hope you know, we’ve had some good ones in the past. Let me take that concern on board as we look at our staffing. If you have a specific story you’d like to discuss, give me a shout.
And Billy, if you sit in the target, you get dunked. That comes with joining the carnival.
Those of you with specific service complaints, I will share those with the right folks on Monday. And let me know how it goes. I’m at broughton@ajc.com, 404-526-5681.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
4:59 pm
Nice to hear from you, Uncle George.
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Keith Wishum
April 26th, 2009
5:01 pm
I deeply miss the print edition of the AJC down here in my small town in south Georgia, but I am grateful to at least have the online version. It’s not the same as holding a paper in hand, but it at least keeps my informed. There are certainly aspects of the AJC that I dislike, but I still appreciate the news. And, I have to say, I respect you for being will to post your thoughts here and then take all the pot shots from disgruntled readers. If I were you, I’d go back outside and enjoy the day.
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Keith Wishum
April 26th, 2009
5:02 pm
And obviously, I need some proof-reading, too.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
5:12 pm
Keith: I’ll be back outside shortly. I gave a speech at Georgia Southern a year or so ago, just after we stopped delivering to that part of the state. The people there were wonderful. I went to a place in Statesboro called Snookies, and met the owner, Bruce Yawn, who was very saddened to lose the newspaper. He wasn’t a computer guy and didn’t really know we had an online edition. I told him, and he was cheered a little but I could see he had lost something very important. Losing readers like you and Bruce is hard for me to take. I’m hoping people up here will pay attention to folks who now know what it’s like to be without us. I even had a guy tell me that he missed hating us.
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Wayne
April 26th, 2009
5:17 pm
We all have our opinions on virtually every subject. I appreciate the fact that the subjects are discussed and that sparks us all to be involved.
I agree will Jack about the online news articles. After about a week or so, replace them. The articles about the Weeks have been online for months. Keep them fresh.
What about a section dedicated to helping those readers that have been devastated by the recession? Articles on jobs, job fairs, training opportunities, etc. Along this line, how about more help with seeking the best price for goods, perhaps help locating coupons, free services, etc.
Each month, each municipality in each county has a Council Meeting. How about including those in the Metro sections in the county coverages?
When we read about a subject, it would be nice to be able to read the previous articles on it as well. We have to pay to enter the archives to do this. Could you create a link online, in the article, so the previous articles can be viewed also?
I enjoy reading the AJC every day. It is set as my homepage. Good Luck!
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
5:29 pm
Wayne: These are good ideas. Let me ponder them some more.
Peaches: I meant to say something about your concerns about the way we played the stem cell story. I think you may be right about that one, and I’ve said so in the office. This is a complex story in which people are invested deeply on both sides – as if there are only two sides to the issue. If I remember correctly, we clearly represented the opponents of lifting the restrictions on the front page but the stories that day, taken as whole, could lead one to believe that the newspaper was celebrating the decision. I honestly believe the decision making in this case – including my own – was off key. We tried to make up for it in subsequent editions, but that one gave me pause as well. Thanks for giving us another chance.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 26th, 2009
6:00 pm
Time to go fire up the grill. Please take a look at the redesigned newspaper starting on Tuesday. It is way cool,and I’d love to hear your responses.
Bert
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Sharecropper
April 27th, 2009
7:27 am
This is silly. To pretend you have just sliced bread when this Sunday/daily dissonance has been with us for decades. Every “consultant” has touted it, and most readers accept it. But once again a newspaper editor, sent out by the publisher to joust with critics of the cut-our-way-to-prosperity insanity, resorts to a thumb-sucking rationale that makes almost no sense in the 21st Century. The answer to your woes is simply: print news. Stop slashing reporters and editors while trying to convince us and you that less is better. News is by definition labor intensive. Yet this editor would have us believe that “different” and “smaller” and “cheaper” equates to “better”. It’s okay to lie to us. It is real bad, though, to lie to yourselves. When your goal has been reduced to having the biggest newsroom “in Atlanta” from “Covering Dixie Like the Dew,” then your demise is evident. Too bad. Just stop lying about it.
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ornery
April 27th, 2009
7:30 am
I think the electronic version is worthy, though still waiting for the “paper screen” from MIT. Will this include coupons and other ancillary items such as TV week and coupons though? and will those coupons be accepted by the vendors. If it does, paper may have a chance..
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ornery
April 27th, 2009
7:36 am
I feel like I am listening to folks like the Final Exit/Kervorkian, that make things sound like the end of the world is just going to be ok, and grin and bear it. Rather than innovate, it’s slash and burn. As I stated last week, what needs to happen, what must happen is to get the newspapers to get together and share and bring about information of substance from a local, regional and state purview. If the paper wants to be the Atlanta Daily, then admit it. But stop this happy go nonsense that everything will be ok by cutting staff and personnel. The electronic version you just laid out should have been implemented YEARS AGO. RIP AJC.
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concerned
April 27th, 2009
7:40 am
Please, the changes to the newspaper are being done for financial reasons. Not that there aren’t improvements along the way. Just be honest. The newspaper is losing money and readers understand to remain viable that can’t continue. Just tell us that. If we need you as a watchdog, you need to be truthful when it concerns your motives
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nowayjose
April 27th, 2009
7:45 am
ok, I give up. tell me how circulation goes down nearly 20 percent during the week and readership is up 2 percent. did you hire people from enrons accounting division? shortly, you can sell 100 newspapers and readership will still be up. you advertisers must love the fact that they buy print and they get online. makes me salivate.
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Noroutineanymore
April 27th, 2009
8:30 am
Since you no longer deliver to the area where I live, you have lost mine and many more readers. I spoke to several convenience store employees and they all said it is hurting their walk in business.
I have switched to another newspaper.
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Elizabeth R.
April 27th, 2009
8:31 am
Tell ya what …YOU continue to shamelessly deny that your newspaper is liberally biased in its selection, placement and wording of news stories, and I’LL continue to go elsewhere for my morning read.
Fair enough?
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Mark
April 27th, 2009
8:34 am
I’ve got to agree with Elizabeth. Were it not for the comics pages (and they’ve been slashed to death) I would not read the AJC.
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long time reader
April 27th, 2009
8:39 am
I have subscribed to the AJC for decades – I hate to say how long. However, my weekday news is gathered online. My husband likes to read the physical paper so we continue to subscribe for all 7 days. I do read the editorials but with quite a jaundiced eye due to your overwhelmingly liberal bias. This unabashed bias makes me question everything I read in your paper, so I make sure I read multiple sources to get a more balanced view.
On Sunday, I sort through the paper and pick out the Living Section, the comics and Parade first (used to include Arts & Entertainment for the book section). I do not look at your coupon or ad sections except to try to filter through and find the Parade. I think you hide the Parade in there so I have to at least touch those sections. Somedays I have to go through the stack 3 times to find the Parade. The TV Weekly is a waste of paper for me. I never look at it.
My husband goes right for the front page, @ Issue and sports. We trade sections after we’ve finished our first choices.
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Chip Folendore
April 27th, 2009
8:44 am
I look for certain articles online only.
You have lost me after over 20 years as subscriber.
I do not think online only is a vaible business model and your decision to force out your best writers does not help either.
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Mac
April 27th, 2009
8:54 am
I think newspapers should do away with their editorial pages. Then let’s see if these people are lying or not about their claims they stopped reading because of “liberal bias.”
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News flash
April 27th, 2009
8:57 am
Hey, that Julia Wallace is kind of hot, in a Sarah Plain-esque sort of way. Rowrr.
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Ted Striker
April 27th, 2009
9:12 am
It’s funny how some people complain complain complain about the AJC but they’re still on the site. They’re probably the same folks always complaining about the mail service, the weather, their health, and their neighbors.
I sort the Sunday paper, reading the sports section first. I then return to the front page and read through the section. I read editorials. I stop. Later in the day I the other sections in no particular order.
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not fooled
April 27th, 2009
9:26 am
Don’t think that waving jazz hands in our faces is going to make for the lack of content, the profound brain drain that you allowed to happen, and the gutting of the editorial board.
Asking for our Sunday newspaper routine is insulting after the way the print reader has been dismissed.
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BA
April 27th, 2009
9:42 am
AJC circulation is down nearly 20%, maybe that’s because they have very little original content and an extremely left-wing bias.
THE STAR-LEDGER, NEWARK, N.J. — 287,082 — (-16.82%)
ST. PETERSBURG (FLA.) TIMES — 283,093 — (-10.42%)
THE OREGONIAN, PORTLAND — 268,512 — (-11.76%)
THE ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION — 261,828 — (-19.91%)
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE — 261,253 — (-9.53%)
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Mike
April 27th, 2009
9:47 am
“It’s funny how some people complain complain complain about the AJC but they’re still on the site.”
Yeah, but we are not paying for it. Big difference. Look at the circulation drops relative to other papers and maybe you might start to see that there is a real problem.
The AJC’s local coverage is still useful, but few people are going to pay for a subscription just to read the Metro section.
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BA
April 27th, 2009
10:00 am
Also, the people who continue to actually buy newspapers, they are my parents age…and, to be blunt, that will soon be a dieing demographic.
I would be curious to see the circulation number by age < 40, 41 to 60, and over 60.
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Susan
April 27th, 2009
10:06 am
This newspaper is falling apart. Today the Dear Abby column was cut off midstream, yesterday an obituary for an 8 or 9 year old child listed the child as a 1 year old and in the past few weeks I have caught numerous spelling and grammatical errors. For goodness sakes, in the online version you described someone’s boyfriend as their “bo” instead of “beau.” Ridiculous, meaningless columns such as the “social butterfly” are still being put in the newspaper even though no one reads them except for the people featured that day and hard hitting articles are being cut or even eliminated.
A few suggestions. One, hire someone to proofread your paper. 24/7. Because based on the past few weeks you should be embarrassed. Two, get rid of the fluff columns and let investigative reporters investigate. Three, I personally don’t care much what your conservative or liberal editors think. I am here to read the news, not read what their opinion is about a subject. I would prefer you cut out all editorial articles. Occasionally, let people involved or experts write pro/con articles about subjects.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
April 27th, 2009
10:29 am
Sharecropper and Concerned, we certainly are not trying to sugarcoat the economic challenges we face. No one here likes having to make difficult decisions to reduce staff or cut circulation to outlying counties. As our publisher said in a recent letter to readers, “We can only be a strong, free press — beholden to no one — if we are profitable. Right now, the AJC — and other newspapers across the country — are struggling financially.”
And it’s true that there are some parts of the new design (the narrower width, for instance) that are driven more by finances than by reader demand.
But there are numerous improvements in the new AJC as well, improvements that were driven by reader research. It’s easier to navigate and scan; the pacing is better; the font is more readable and there are lots of new features, especially on Sunday, that readers we’ve tested it with really like.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
April 27th, 2009
10:32 am
Long time reader, I promise we don’t intentionally hide Parade. It’s just that Parade, like the ad inserts, is not printed with the regular news sections of the newspaper; it’s inserted after printing.
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sj
April 27th, 2009
10:36 am
With a print newspaper you are forced to read the story in the format provided. With e newspapers you can select any format. Why is there a question if you have access to the Internet? Maybe a federal bailout is the temporary answer to American print’s last agonizing twitches.
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E Walker
April 27th, 2009
10:40 am
As a “60 something” who lived most of my life in Atlanta, I was always a 7 day a week subscriber until moving just across the state line into NC four years ago. At that point I began to read the AJC online during the week but to always buy that precious Sunday paper. That is, always, until you discontinued Sunday delivery to the northeast part of the state. It’s a funny thing but I would be happy to pay $5 a week to hold that paper in my hands again, but I am not interested in paying to be able to see online what I can no longer hold in my hands, to sit down with in my living room, to read, starting with the front page, in order, all the way through, to place the TV Week on my coffee table and, in the evening, cut out the coupons. I enjoy all the advertising circulars inside, the more the better. I look forward to those seasons when there are more of them, i.e. Mother’s Day, Christmas. I even read the classifieds. We still do a good bit of shopping in Atlanta, so all of the advertising is relevant to we who do not have much access to shopping, maybe even more so. Maybe you could consider a more expensive “exurb” edition to send to the hinterlands. That “dieing demographic” is still relevant (they buy stuff!) and pretty substantial in number.
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Michael
April 27th, 2009
10:54 am
I think one of the big problems in this country is all the labeling everyone does constantly. “Liberal” this, “Right Wing” that. Seems like everyone complaining about the AJC being so liberal just wants to read an opinion that only agrees with their own. Can’t we think for ourselves any longer? And why all the labels? I think it’s time for more independant thinking and less labeling. If you don’t want to read an editorial, don’t. There’s more to the paper than just those pages. I really believe we as a country would get more done if we did away with all the labeling.
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steve lanier
April 27th, 2009
11:00 am
Can we please stop this constant liberal vs. conservative battle. The ‘New York Times’ and ‘Washington Poat’ are liberal papers that I read on a regular basis. Neither paper has this on-going rage from conservatives complaining about the liberal bias of the paper. They just don’t. The AJC, as opposed to good quality reporting, fills space with comments from conservatives complaining about the paper. We know conservatives don’t like Tucker, we know liberals don’t like Wooten.
Let’s move on to a smarter paper. If you want a ‘role’ model, go study the ‘Post’, good in-depth stories worth reading. (I know the ‘Post’s circulation is down, don’t use that as a defense of your minimalist paper.) If you want people to read the paper, sell us a quality paper.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
April 27th, 2009
11:11 am
BA, Most of the circulation decline in the most recent report was because of cuts in distribution. The AJC cut its distribution area from 74 to 49 counties in mid-2008, and to 27 counties this winter.
I know that seems counter-intuitive to deliberately cut readers during difficult financial times, but delivering to those outlying areas costs more than we can make for those subscriptions.
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Bankruptcy
April 27th, 2009
11:12 am
I enjoyed Michaels comment about the “country” labeling everyone. It’s the media that does the labeling and the AJC was particularly good at criticizing the “bad conservatives”. The AJC lost sight of the big picture. Although they are a news agency, they need to make money. Unfortunately for them, they swung so far left that they alienated and lost many conservative customers, you know, the rich ones that have the money to buy their paper. Forget the editorials which I never read anyway because they were so biased, the way they report the news and what they decided to report on is biased too. So it has nothing to do with being an independant thinker. When I read the news I want to read the facts, not some liberal reporters interpretation of the facts. If I wanted BS, I’d watch Kieth Olberman and Rachel Madow. And since the AJC does not provide unbiased reporting, I am not, and will never be a customer. I’ll continue reading my local newspaper which reports the facts.
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BA
April 27th, 2009
11:13 am
Yes, the dieing demographic does purchase quite a bit, they have the highest disposible income of any age group. But, as younger people age and older people pass away, there will be fewer and fewer people who get hard copies of the newspaper.
It’s not a business model that has the brighest future
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Ward
April 27th, 2009
11:20 am
The editorial pages are just the visible part of the AJC’s problem. If a reader has a viewpoint, be it left or right, that reader will have questions about any issue or story that they read. As a conservative, the AJC has consistently ignored or doesn’t even consider the questions that are raised in my mind (for example; has all this spending to eliminate homelessness actually eliminated any homelessness or just built a new bureaucracy?). The content in the stories, the questions asked, the issues raised, even the placement and length of the stories betrays a deep-seated liberal culture at the AJC.
The NYT and the WaPo reflect their regions and readership. The AJC doesn’t.
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Mort Merkel
April 27th, 2009
11:20 am
Bankruptcy, the fact you are here means you are a customer. The fact you take your own biases and cast them onto objective news stories just demonstrates on the more clearly it is your brain that is bankrupt. This newspaper reports the fact, the slant comes from your interpretation.
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Fitzgerald
April 27th, 2009
11:30 am
When you completely remove Cynthia Tucker from any connection to the AJC, your paper has improved. Additionally, remove all fluff from this newspaper and report the news……good, bad, and indifferent. Having neutral slant on the news will go a long way for the AJC to survive.
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Paulie
April 27th, 2009
11:35 am
I have been a reader of the Atlanta newspapers for decades; both the Constitution and the Journal at first, now just the AJC. To say the the AJC has declined in virtually every category is to put it mildly. My wife and I recently canceled our subscription, because I just couldn’t take it anymore. Going from 3 sections on Sunday into 1 (Arts & Living, Travel, and the Style section) while claiming there is no loss of coverage or readability—puleeeeeeeeeeze. Meanwhile, the quality declines. Even if you have spellcheck, and use it, it helps to first be able to spell. Every time I pick up the paper, there are errors, sometimes egregious ones. You want to save money??–stop printing the Saturday paper, it’s been a waste of pulp for decades. Stop printing the TV section, it’s what? 4 pages long now? Seriously consider publishing only several times a week, and, as a reader above suggested, stop lying to yourselves and trying to lie to us that everything is just as good as it always was. Nobody really blames you, it’s the economy, stupid. But to continue gutting a once very fine paper while passing it off as still a fine paper borders on sacrilege, in my opinion. I’ll always honor Mr. Grady and his paper. I’ll always remember reading the daily paper with my father over breakfast, before the rest of the family got up. But I’m glad Daddy’s gone, so he wouldn’t be having to read this with his poached eggs. The smell from the remains of the carcass of a once noble publication is now the only thing “that covers Dixie like the Dew.”
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Paulie
April 27th, 2009
11:36 am
By the way, the some of the writers above, it would be “dying demographic.”
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Paulie
April 27th, 2009
11:37 am
“to some of the writers above…”
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timmy
April 27th, 2009
12:06 pm
I “USE TO” look forward to reading the paper for at least 1-2 hours on Sunday mornings, over a cup of coffee, eggs and grits. But I cancelled my subscription about a year ago when the AJC stopped making Gwinnett section….sorry you guys are going backwards
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
April 27th, 2009
12:13 pm
Ward, I appreciate your comments. It’s that kind of specific feedback (the story idea on the homeless funding) that helps us respond to readers. We recently covered, for instance, cuts in city support for a homeless shelter at Peachtree and Pine and the city’s contention it was not getting results. That’s not exactly the story you mentioned, but I hope it demonstrates that we are interested in covering issues like that completely and showing more than one side of the story.
As much as practical, I’d ask that other readers who complain of liberal bias on our news pages give specific examples. I’m not asking that in order to pick an argument, but to have specific, actionable information I can share with our editors.
Now as far as complaints about some of our opinion columnists leaning left, I don’t need any further explanation on that; readers are pretty clear and specific about what they don’t like.
I’m not sure all readers here have heard of recent changes in our editorial lineup. You can read more here. http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2009/04/14/wallaceed_0414.html
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concerned
April 27th, 2009
12:24 pm
Shawn,
The cuts in circulation have been going on for a few years now. To say readership is up even in total is not honest. I will stick by what nowayjose said about Enron accountants.
Also, your prior publisher put you in this mess, granted, the economy stinks, but, his consultants, his hires, and his lack of leadership was the main reason.
As far as the changes to the paper, I am sure they will be fine. But, getting readers to give their opinion is a bit contrived…like betting on a sports team after the final score is posted. You had an outcome in mind, increase bottom line performance, and to me, that makes sense. Just tell us. I would guess that if these economic hardships hadn’t hit, the changes to the newspaper would be a lot different.
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BBuck5
April 27th, 2009
12:28 pm
I am thoroughly disappointed at not having the AJC to read because delivery does not come to the Athens area. My wife and I looked forward to our Sunday mornings reading the newspaper and discussing articles and exchanging sections over a cup odf coffee. Coupons, crossword, puzzles, advertising and news, I miss them all. Can’t you at least compromise and send us papers on Sunday. Some person that lacks knowledge about what consumers wants is making a major error. Online is fine but sometimes you just wanna step away from the computer.
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Danolator
April 27th, 2009
12:34 pm
A couple years ago, I changed my daily subscription to weekends only. Like many of you, I did enjoy the coffee and paper routine on weekend mornings. As I grew increasingly impatient with the bias slant on all issues political and racial, I decided to cancel completely. Recently, I picked the Urinal and Constipation on my Kindle. Don’t know if it is the lack of photos (especially that Racist – Tucker) or what, but I find myself reading more of the AJC than ever before. Report only objective news, do not support politicians or politically touchy issues, and you just might come out of this alright.
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Ted Striker
April 27th, 2009
12:52 pm
I still say it’s amazing how many folks find so much wrong with the AJC and here they still are….
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
April 27th, 2009
1:46 pm
To the readers who ask how readership can be up while subscriptions are down, it’s not any tricky accounting. It’s just that we are referring to combined print and online readership. So you folks, here, are counted as readers even if you didn’t see a print edition today.
Hope that helps explain.
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Ted Striker
April 27th, 2009
1:58 pm
I’d say that clears it up nicely, Shawn. Keep up the good work. Some of us who hold your paper in our hands and visit your site don’t mind admitting we do it because we want to.
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Chaz
April 27th, 2009
2:54 pm
Tucker, Bookman and Downey demoted…. now if you’d just send Luckovich and his ratty scrawlings on his way, the AJC just might be readable again. For as long as it lasts.
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aldafan
April 27th, 2009
5:30 pm
Ok, I’m older but at 54, not THAT old. BUt I still love a printed newspaper. I almost never look at the online site. I want it in my hands! It gets me through my three times a week dialysis session. On Sunday, I take out the ads that don’t interest me, then I go to church. And I leisurely read almost every word of the paper for the next day or two. Alas, not taking me as long to read as it once did.
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Jon
April 27th, 2009
6:20 pm
Want a specific factual error in the paper?
Friday, April 24, page B1, “Allow car washes, councilman urges” — para 7 “…That’s because Lake Lanier…remains at 9 feet below full…”
Friday, April 24, Page B2, “Corps declines request to raise Lanier by reducing water releases” — last para “Winter rains raised Lanier far more. Since late December, the lake has risen 13 feet and stands about 7 feet below full…”
Well, one of these two stories is factually wrong. (I believe the first one is wrong.)
Also, the AP stylebook says you should spell out whole numbers less than ten.
I see stuff like this fairly frequently, but when I’ve reported similar to insideajc@ajc.com, I never see a correction, so I’ve kind of given up.
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Meme
April 28th, 2009
7:02 am
I would love to comment on the new paper. However, it hasn’t been delivered yet. It is always there when I leave for work at 6. I take it with me. This morning, I waited until 6:15 and no paper. I guess the new look is invisible.
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Dave Pailthorpe
April 28th, 2009
7:03 am
Your new newspaper format is horrid. It reminds me of the “Weekly Reader” I used to receive in grammar school. The print is small and very light. I will give it some time and try to get used to it. My first opinion is that it is just awful.
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Tim
April 28th, 2009
7:04 am
The changes to the print version really don’t make a difference to me. The print version is only used to for the bottom of my daughter’s lizard cage.
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Jon
April 28th, 2009
7:12 am
Baseball standings so tiny that I need my glasses to read them and a sports section that qualifies as tiny too (all of 3-and-a-half pages) simply hastens my decision to ditch the AJC in favor of USA Today.
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Brent
April 28th, 2009
7:14 am
The new design is too hard to read! It is way too compact. Some pages have 6 columns & are barely legible. Older people read the newspaper, but won’t be able to read this fine print!
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Tim Taylor
April 28th, 2009
7:21 am
I also would love to comment on your paper but after being a subscriber for 20 years you no longer deliver to the Toccoa/NE GA area. You people have no idea how you have alienated so many people with your selfish decision. The AJC is not just (well it wasnt) a Atlanta newspaper, it WAS a state icon that everyone could take pride in and enjoy but you took that from us.
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Robert Bolton
April 28th, 2009
7:26 am
I’ve been a subscriber since 89′, sorry folks, I know you are struggling, but, it is my opinion that you have finally put the last nail in the coffin lid. It looks like a failed USA Today. Font size too small. What’s with the faded colors and subdued sub-headlines? I hope you didn’t pay someone for this new layout. It is really terrible. Do something fast. I equate the new AJC look to that fiasco of Couric replacing Schieffer at CBS News.
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Mark Lefkow
April 28th, 2009
7:28 am
The new design is terrible. It looks like a comic book!
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John
April 28th, 2009
7:32 am
Hate the new format, looks like a cheap USA Today. Faded front page is a jumbled mess of columns. This may finally be the end of our 20 year subscription for home delivery because it is no longer worth it.
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ralph
April 28th, 2009
7:32 am
I’m a native Atlantan and longtime subscriber, but this is it for me. A gimmicky and cartoonish remake isn’t the way to get more people to subscribe. Perhaps instead you should have tried hiring some writers/reporters who have knowledge about what they’re writing about.
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MiltonMan
April 28th, 2009
7:33 am
The AJC has lost almost 20% of subscriptions in the last 6 months. The trend shall continue.
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Alex Bender
April 28th, 2009
7:35 am
OMG, it really sucks! If this were April the 1st I would think it was an April fools joke on us. More change we could have done without.
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Chris Becker
April 28th, 2009
7:38 am
Not good. I don’t want to be a naysayer, and will give it a few days to get used to, but the new paper feels like the local community paper we already get. Not serious news, just fluff and funnies. Disappointing given how much you have put into the change.
The real problem of note is how the AJC editors have failed to figure out what has caused the decline in readership/subscriptions; that would be the total lean to the left of the reporting, editorials, etc. while the subscribers are much more moderate. Just take a look at which media are seeing increases in viewership/readership and you should have learned: Fox News, WSJ, and other moderate to right leaning organizations are catering to the people who can afford to buy your paper. I was recently asked at my son’s soccer game if I was the only one who still subscribed to “that rag”, when I brought your crossword page to the field. I think that’s close to true. Everyone got so sick of the unbalanced support during the last election that they can’t bring themselves to give the AJC any respect. I even pledged to stop subscribing, but gave it a 6 month extension because I’m an avid reader. But with the changed paper, I guess this is a final run for me as well.
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D
April 28th, 2009
7:40 am
I have a great idea – bring back what worked !!!!! The AJC from not that long ago . I have been reading for 32 years and am thoroughly disgusted with the so called ” new and improved “.You lost me.
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Buck Henry
April 28th, 2009
7:42 am
No matter what you do to the columns or font sizes, the AJC is still a piece of junk liberal rag. Until that changes, your readership will continue to drop. You are serving a tiny dot of blue constituents (ISP Atlanta) surrounded by a sea of red constituents (the rest of the state). Get a clue, formatting is not your problem!
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Tim M
April 28th, 2009
7:42 am
Terrible colors — especially the Sports section. C’mon, is kiwi green really a sports color? And the sports stats are so small I need a magnifying glass to read them! Overall, I am very disappointed in the changes. The paper size is too narrow, the “new” font looks cheap and frivolous. For a major daily, I expect a little more serious tone and appearance. I know this is a cost-cutting move, but if I wanted to read the USA Today I’d go down the street and steal one from the Marriott Courtyard!
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Chip Folendore
April 28th, 2009
7:44 am
I would love to tell you what it looks like. However, you decided to stop delivery to Athens so we do not know what it look like.
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Nancy Dempsey
April 28th, 2009
7:44 am
I first went to the editorial pages and noticed a welcomed change, one that indicates that you really did listen to all the feedback from subscribers during the last few weeks : NO Lukovitch and Jim Wooten in Cynthia’s old spot. THANK YOU !
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Rex T.
April 28th, 2009
7:46 am
Fine. But exactly when will your liberal bias in the selection, wording and page placement of news stories be addressed? You remain starkly at odds politically with too much of your potential paying market here in metro Atlanta.
Is any amount of furniture rearrangement likely to compensate for that?
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Lowell
April 28th, 2009
7:49 am
Reading for the first time this morning, I find the new layout confusing. It’s difficult to scan the paper to find articles I want to read. The font used in the Vent and the Obituaries is. The old format of using bold font for the first few words of each Vent made it easy to move from one posting to the next. That’s no longer available and it is hard to scan from one posting to another.
It is difficult to visually separate the obituary listings on a county basis. I’m interested in one or two counties and it’s hard to find them in the list.
So far, this new layout isn’t an improvement for me. Maybe it’s a matter of getting used to it, but im not sure that’s the only reason for finding it difficult to read.
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Leonard A. Meyer
April 28th, 2009
7:50 am
The new AJC is awful. The new print is so small that it is very difficult to read, espcially in the business news section. And why have you discontinued printing the PGA and LPGA tournament results in he Sunday edition. For years you have provided the final scores and winnings of both tours and that information is not available anywhere else. I have been a subscriber for over 65 years and miss the old format and news. Muste you use such small print for he view and financial statsitics?
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Leslie
April 28th, 2009
7:53 am
I’m sad to see so many great newspapers like the SF Chronicle, Seattle PI and others come to their end. I know the AJC is trying to stay afloat, but I’m not sure this redesign is the answer. The reason I don’t subscribe is that many stories are poorly written, burried leads, and often opinionated. (I’m not saying liberal/conservative, just opinionated.) The number of AP stories seems to be growing while in-depth Atlanta stories are shrinking. Business stories seem to be left to the Atlanta Business Chronicle and in-depth features left to Atlanta Magazine. My suggestion, which is born out somewhat by others who study media, is to increase the depth and bredth of local coverage, leave the national news to AP/Reuters. May I also suggest a kid’s page, similar to the Washington Post’s Kid’s World. May I also suggest that the writers be trained/retrained on how to write a news story. Some of the writing is just awful.
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Charles Edwards
April 28th, 2009
7:54 am
I was very, very sad to see the new edition of my beloved Atlanta Journal-Constitution Newspaper.
I understand that these are tough economic times for newspapers but I feel that the AJC could and can do better.
Sunday newspaper had a front page story that said it would continue on Page 10 but was instead it was on Page 5. This is not up to Atlanta readers standards. Even a downsized paper need proofreading and quality control.
I understand that you are shifting your focus to the Internet but there are millions and millions of websites and newspapers on the Internet.
Getting readers to visit and stay on your site with all the other web options available is optimistic. You cannot flip thru the pages of a website and get the same type of intimacy you get with a paper.
I believe that the “Fourth Estate” and the AJC are giving up much, much to quick. America is a country of newspaper readers. Atlanta needs a fresh vibrant newspaper with Atlanta coverage rather than a lot of stories that could have been written weeks ago.
I would also like for the AJC to consider the “blockbuster” idea of lowering the price of the paper to .25 cents on a daily basis. I would much rather have 100,000 people buying the paper with a gross of $25,000 than having 25,000 / 30,000 people buying it at .75 cents. You get the paper in more people hand and attract more advertisers.
When you go in the local convenience store you always see a stack of unsold AJC Newspapers. I suspect that advertisers see this as well.
As a former AJC employee with nearly 10 years of service in the Circulation Sales Department I pray and hope that the AJC will survive and flourish.
GOOD LUCK !!!
Charles Douglas Edwards
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Bill Robinson
April 28th, 2009
7:56 am
I understand that first and foremost you are running a business so you have to find a way to make ends meet. Having said that, is turning the AJC into a second or third class newspaper for a city that strives to be first class really a good idea? Sometimes something isn’t really better than nothing.
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Julia Wallace, Editor
April 28th, 2009
7:57 am
Good morning all. Is the font hard to read? Our testing found otherwise. We selected a font that was specifically developed for “older” eyes. It is more condensed, and makes for faster and easier reading. Our previous front had a lot of white space that slowed down the reading process. If you have other newspapers nearby, take a look and compare. I have three others on my kitchen counter and think ours is the easiest to read. It may take a bit of adjustment, though, because of the smaller paper size and smaller use of photos. Is our design version of USA Today? In developing the design, we took the best ideas from elsewhere and merged into what seemed right for Atlanta. We heard over and over from readers how much they like the organization and color-coding of USA Today. You see that reflected in the design. We also heard about how much people wanted a lot of information, without wasted white space and large photos. They like the newsiness and density of the Wall Street Journal. You see that reflected as well.
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David McKay
April 28th, 2009
7:58 am
Well, Today’s the day for the new “Look”. What a surprise! This morning I woke up to find a copy of USA Today in my driveway! Is this April 1st? Funny!
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long time reader
April 28th, 2009
7:59 am
I’m really wondering what the purpose of these changes are? The paper is harder to read, the additional color seems to make it more expensive to print. So in times of declining readership and decreasing revenue this seems counterintuitive. I’m not sure at all how this is going to help keep your newspaper alive.
I may get used to it, but I doubt it. This is pushing me further away from the print edition and more to my on-line sources for news. My husband is a big fan of the print edition and he found the new format harder to read and harder to focus on the stories.
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John
April 28th, 2009
8:04 am
Are you kidding?? Very disappointed in the redesign..type is extremely small, paper is tiny, logo is blah..
If the redesign is so great why does it change back to the original design over the weekends… AJC will lose a significant number of daily readers due to the change..
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long time reader
April 28th, 2009
8:05 am
I didn’t see Julia’s explanation before I posted. One of the things I said to my husband this morning is that it looked like you were trying to look like a cross between USA Today and the WSJ. I’m not a big fan of USA Today – too much fluff. I like the WSJ, but I put up with their multiple columns and crowded look because of the content. For the WSJ this look is their trademark – you recognize it immediately. It’s not necessarily the best format, but it’s immediately identifiable as their brand and the articles are top notch.
This isn’t true for the AJC – it’s not your brand, it’s more difficult to read and the content isn’t worth it. Cosmetic changes aren’t going to keep your readers – you need good, reliable, unbiased reporting that we’ll turn to even if the paper isn’t full of color or gimmicks.
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David McKay
April 28th, 2009
8:05 am
Is this a joke? This morning there was a copy of USA Today in my driveway, no AJC! Is this the “New Look” Maybe you guys should have introduced the new paper on April 1st!
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Patrick Noonan
April 28th, 2009
8:11 am
Tragic. A once-great paper surrenders, and is forced to walk the streets of Atlanta dressed as a free weekly.
I am appalled as well as saddened, because I now realize it’s over for the AJC. And I know it’s over between me and the AJC – it’s not even worth the less than 5 minutes required to read it. I will miss it.
In journalism schools across the country, the AJC will be held up as a case study of how print is dying.
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Seven of Nine
April 28th, 2009
8:11 am
Well, since it’s no longer sold in my area, who knows? Good luck with it. Everyone knows redesigns foisted upon readers all at once creates upset. The correct way to do it is a little at a time and don’t make a scene about it. Then people digest it and don’t even notice they’re taking medicine.
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Mark
April 28th, 2009
8:12 am
The paper has been going downhill for a year. I can’t judge your newest debacle because today’s delivery did not happen, also something which is becoming more common. When do you retire?
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Larry
April 28th, 2009
8:16 am
It just “feels” thin, and cheap. When you hold the WSJ or even the old AJC, the width of the paper gave it gravitas. The new paper feels thin and cheap.
The fonts are hard to read. Even with “young” eyes.
The colors are cheesy.
The layout is crowded. Yes, the WSJ uses it . This is not the WSJ.
I understand the business model is changing, and that paper costs money. But honestly, this change is “new coke.” Sadly, I enjoy reading papers so much that I will continue my subscription. But just like when I drank “new coke,” I won’t enjoy it as much as I did in the past.
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Mugglemikki
April 28th, 2009
8:17 am
I personally love the new design. It’s crisper and I find it easier to read and find the articles I want to read. And I love the font. Don’t mind most of the people on this post. We all now that Georgians don’t welcome change well.
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Hele
April 28th, 2009
8:18 am
Forget the color and use the money you save to make the black print bolder. I am a print-oriented person but you have made the AJC so difficult to read that I am not sure it will continue to be worth the struggle.
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Don Lawson
April 28th, 2009
8:19 am
TERRIBLE !!! This new format is the worse makeover I have ever seen. Looks like a comic book, too cluttered, too buzy, too confusing to get through. I couyld read the old AJC without having to put on my reading glasses. The new type is too small, too close together and looks like a local bulletin. If you don’t change, I will cancel my subscription.
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CJOE
April 28th, 2009
8:19 am
The font style used for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and section headings look amateurish and give that feel to the paper. I don’t think the date on the front page needs to be quite so big. Overall look reminds me of USA Today. I applaud the AJC for doing everything they can to survive. It is tough times for the newspaper industry.
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Dick Florin
April 28th, 2009
8:20 am
On Page 2 and the Fast Read, why not make the topic bars the same color as the section (such as Sports/Section C Turf color)?
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I did not renew my subscription
April 28th, 2009
8:20 am
After 45 years of reading the local paper daily, I called it quits last month with the AJC. I felt I was aiding and abetting a socialistic agenda by sending money to the AJC. I am a die hard capitalist, and the socialism this country is adopting is scary. The AJC and many other local papers are partly responsible for not uncovering or revealing the truth about some of the candidates on the ballot.When was the last time, if ever, did the AJC endorse a presidential candidate that was not a Democrat?
I will get my news from the Wall St Journal, and get my sports from online sources. I truly miss my daily reading routine, but the AJC dug it’s own grave.
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John
April 28th, 2009
8:21 am
Are you kidding me??? Very disappointed in the changes…The redesign is absolutely awful and full of cheap gimmicks.. font is tiny and hard to read for a middle age adult, paper is compact, cheapen the look. If the “new look” is so great why is the AJC going back to the original version on weekend editions when readership is much higher.. been a loyal long time daily reader.. no longer.. please change back to what gave you longevity or your organization risks losing a significant number of daily readers..
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Voice of Reason #1
April 28th, 2009
8:21 am
I don’t get the hard copy during the week; only on the weekends. But just don’t get rid of Mike Luckovich–he is awesome. His cartoons are spot-on!!!!
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Lex Williams
April 28th, 2009
8:24 am
Kyle I wish you well, but I’m afraid your the ‘lipstick’ on the ‘Pig’.
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Still looking for a thumbs up
April 28th, 2009
8:25 am
When I logged in there were 32 comments posted. I’m still looking for a single positive one.
Looks like somebody may have goofed. I sure hope not.
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coladawg
April 28th, 2009
8:28 am
Mugglemikki, Georgians aren’t welcoming this design change; only Atlantans are.
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Avid Intown Reader
April 28th, 2009
8:32 am
I agree with the consensus. I understand Julia Wallace’s defensiveness. But I think she’s made a mistake. I think the colors, EVERYWHERE, instead of for special emphasis, makes the page confusing. What’s wrong with a traditional newspaper look? Is “modern” always better? Look at buildings designed in the 1960’s. Modern. Easily identifiable. Horrible for the most part.
Indeed, it is so thin, it looks like a small town weekly version of USA today, or perhaps an advertising flyer.
When Coca Cola introduced New Coke, it was the marketing flub of the late 20th century. Get a clue. Admit your mistake. Put it back. Seriously, folks, you have some fine writers on your staff. You need to figure out a way to honor the newspaper tradition, keep your focus, and still stay viable. I don’t believe this is it.
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S. Kurt Jocoy
April 28th, 2009
8:32 am
Very poor copy of USA Today.
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Mugglemikki
April 28th, 2009
8:32 am
I know that coladawg. Most Atlantans know that the world isn’t static and nothing stays the same forever. I think most people on here just want to complain about something.
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William
April 28th, 2009
8:32 am
We hate it. Seriously considering cancelling subscription. With what I get from the AJC I could make due with the neighborhood weeklies. Also rec’d a price increase a couple of months ago seems like we are paying more for less. If there were options open I think you would lose many readers.
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Robert Holihan
April 28th, 2009
8:32 am
The print might be easy for someone younger than 40 to read, but for those of us whose vision isn’t what it used to be, the change in font is not a helpful one — not by a long shot. At 41, I am not at the point of needing reading glasses just yet, but I can tell you that this morning, I nearly squinted through the first two sections, whereas last week, I had no trouble reading the stories at all. Did you study only young people while doing research for the redesign?
Additionally, I am very disappointed in the similarities of the “new AJC” to USA Today…if I wanted to read tidbits and snippets of stories, I would subscribe to USA Today, not my “local” paper. The most horrible part, though, which has been mentioned previously, is the sports scores — this is where I literally got up from my table and used a magnifying glass to see last night’s Braves score. Why should I have to do this?
The colors are also off-putting. Since when was it all right to fashion a newspaper after the colors on a Trivial Pursuit board? Oh, right — when USA Today did it.
It just seems as though you are trying to attract the lowest-common denominator of reader…the ones who gravitate toward bright colors and funky type. I didn’t think the redesign could possibly be as bad as what passes for acceptability on ajc.com, but management seems to have outdone itself with this terrible print offering.
I long for the days when my “newspaper” didn’t look like the flashing lights of a small-town carnival. Send in the clowns — don’t bother…they’re here.
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Dr.R
April 28th, 2009
8:32 am
Your sans-serif face is a bit too hard to read, and I’m not quite that elderly yet. The vent, for instance, is a bit of a strain. I understand the constraints you were under with the new paper size and re-designs are never easy. Hang in there; readers eventually will adjust.
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Pat
April 28th, 2009
8:34 am
Sad, very sad. I know that you’re trying desperately to stay in business, but this latest change appears to confirm that the AJC is in it’s death throes.
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Phil
April 28th, 2009
8:35 am
Absolutely Horrible!
The new font is Too Small.
Both my wife and I have too much difficulty reading it.
Perhaps your extensive study relative to font style and size should have included some real live testing with some of your local senior citizen customers rather than rely on someone else’s data.
If the font size is not changed soon we will be forced to cancel our subscription.
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Albert W Holland
April 28th, 2009
8:39 am
This change just about puts the headstone on your publication. First you up your subscription, then make the print so small we older people have to get a glass to read it. Then you make your cartoons so small they aren’t funny anymore, and the sports page has gone to hell in a hand basket. I give you less than six months, and you’ll be out of business. I know the people in South Georgia are ready for your demise. I’m considering USA today as a paper of choice…
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CAR
April 28th, 2009
8:40 am
As a longtime newspaperman, I’m more disturbed by the changes than I could have imagined. Worse, I hear the editorial board is being reshaped toward a more conservative view. Ralph McGill is turning over in his grave.
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Marty
April 28th, 2009
8:40 am
It’s terrible. It’s so “rinky Dinky” You have five columns with
4 to five words on each line. I pre-paid my subscription in Jan.
and I’d like to have 7/12’s of my money back.
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Dr.R
April 28th, 2009
8:40 am
Just another short thought: Many folks here are comparing the paper unfavorably to USA Today. Do y’all realize that USAT is the only major paper in the country that has GAINED readership in recent years? Whatever they’re doing, it works. Maybe that’s why it has been copied so often.
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Ned
April 28th, 2009
8:43 am
As I used to enjoy the AJC I always wished it was USA Today. My dreams have come true. Do you really think font, color, and page layout were your paper’s biggest problems? I am not sure you have a realistic idea who your customers are today – and more importantly who they will be in the future. You seem to have produced a paper designed to appeal to a generation that doesn’t – and likely won’t ever – READ the newspaper (at least in print). Terrible job.
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Neil Monroe
April 28th, 2009
8:43 am
I’ll be honest, the paper made me – a bona fide newspaper junkie – a little sad today. Not that the design isn’t great, because it is. It’s doing the most with the evaporating resources available. I like the concept and execution, and I’m confident it will get even better. It is fresher, brighter, more readable. I was somewhat shocked, however, that the Atlanta Hawks playoff game coverage wasn’t in my paper this morning, and the game was on the East Coast.
The tinge of sadness comes from just seeing what print journalism has become. There were only 3 1/2 pages of classifieds; the paid obits may be creating more revenue now. Display ads are almost nonexistent; there were less than 2 pages of ads in a 12-page ‘A’ section. The Living section had only the two pages of movie listings. I know, it’s only Tuesday, traditionally a light advertising day. But in reality, this is a trend that is accelerating.
My sadness comes from the fear that this new approach simply isn’t enough. I’ve read the AJC since 1956; I subscribed to both papers until the Journal died. I remember the Blue Streak…
Best of luck to the whole staff.
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Scott
April 28th, 2009
8:44 am
Look – it’s a positive comment!
Much better in print than the description looked like – I was afraid it was going to be even narrower.
It looks much more “texty” – the new font has clearly let you eliminate white space while preserving the readability.
Glad to see that you’re still including box scores in the sports section – I was afraid that would go away.
Hopefully when the economy improves, the amount of content can increase again – it seems pitiful that it’s so thin, but it’s probably just the Macy’s inserts that are missing.
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Andy G
April 28th, 2009
8:45 am
This is truly sad. In order to survive due to reduced advertising revenue, the AJC has to shrink both the size and quality of the publication.
Your readers are understanding of your plight – in order to save money given the economy and the lack of demand for advertising in print medium, this needed to be done. However, in my view, there has been a negative impact to the newspaper. It’s so light, I don’t even think I would hear it hit my driveway anymore.
At the end of the day, your readers will need to judge for themselves, but please be honest with us – the change is about business realities, not a new and improved format.
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Ruth
April 28th, 2009
8:47 am
Pathetic. The AJC is obviously dying…let it go with dignity. The makeover is horrible. While the AJC is sick it amazes me that print space is given to The Vent, Peach Buzz and other such trivial garbage at the expense of news. This latest example delivered today has made up my mind not to subscribe any longer.
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Cindy
April 28th, 2009
8:47 am
It’s very hard to read. I had a copy of an old AJC and compared it to today’s paper — there is no comparison in the readability. I finally gave up and went to an online newspaper. I’m worried even more now about the print version of the paper — I believe we need the newspaper to survive! But your core readership, I’m guessing, has eyesight like mine. Did this “award-winning” design team have your market group actually READ the paper or did the market group only comment on the cosmetics?
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Robert Brown
April 28th, 2009
8:48 am
How bad can you make it? You have succeeded in making the AJC print version the worst I have seen. The print is so small I can’t read most of the paper. For many years I have enjoyed reading my paper over breakfast, not now. I guess the TV will have to come on sooner in the morning. At least USA Today uses a font size large enough to read. I will stay until I see the Sunday edition and if it is not improved then goodbye AJC!
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allen981
April 28th, 2009
8:49 am
So CAR is afraid the paper is becoming more conservative. Let’s hope CAR is right. Have you seen cable rating lately? Fox, the fair and balanced network liberals love to hate, has double the ratings of any other cable news group. Clearly, the people who are working, who are paying taxes, who are creating the wealth Obama is giving away, support a more conservative approach. These people are also the ones who buy newspapers and support advertisers.
Ralph McGill was first and foremost a businessman. He’d do what he had to do, including kiss George Bush on the mouth if necessary.
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C.P. Dotson
April 28th, 2009
8:50 am
Enter your comments here
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Marion G. Webb
April 28th, 2009
8:53 am
What a shame. The fonts are now too small, and the ink quality is subdued. I see where AJC had consultants for this new look; I hope you haven’t paid them yet. You have carried economy too far.
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S. Hurley
April 28th, 2009
8:53 am
It still SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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John Withers
April 28th, 2009
8:57 am
The new and improved AJC is a joke isn’t it? I mean, you must be kidding!!! I was born at night but not LAST NIGHT. If this is better than what we got 50 years ago from what was then two newspapers for a nickel each, then I am a monkey’s uncle. You must believe we are all idiots if you think the new format is going to drive circulation upward. Your liberal bias was bad enough and the only good that I can see will come from the new and improved AJC is that fewer people will read! You have delivered something you call new and improved that is hardly big enough to use as a fish wrapper. Count me as a former subscriber. With these kinds of continued improvements, you will be out of business soon and we will all be better off. My money can be spent much more wisely, and I plan to do just that. Please cancel my subscription!
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yalanda
April 28th, 2009
9:01 am
a picture of the new print edition in the post would have helped find the paper at the newsstand
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David Marshall
April 28th, 2009
9:01 am
It’s amazing sometimes how people at the “top” just don’t get it. We canceled our subscription after they raised rates for “less” paper. It was frequently delivered late or not at all. I feel bad for the AJC the struggles most print media have gone through, but bad is bad. Chrysler and GM have the same issues – people at the top just don’t get it.
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Walt in Marietta
April 28th, 2009
9:06 am
Why put another nail in your coffin?
Hard to read!
Bland format!
Front page was terrible…no highlights, just a lot of little and dull print. And it’s self inflicted.
I may go online for news that I used to go to AJC for!
I hate to see this loss happen to Atlanta on top of so many other reversals.
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Debbie
April 28th, 2009
9:06 am
Atrocious! Your paper was already going downhill with numerous grammatical and typographical errors and erratic headline fonts. Now it’s a scimpy rag with columns pressed together and stacked on the front page so that you can’t even follow a single story to its conclusion. My husband has been pushing to drop it, and I’ve resisted. No longer. Farewell!
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Susan Hudson
April 28th, 2009
9:07 am
Both my husband and I are avid newspaper readers. We have had a subscription to the AJC for 10 years and before that thru parents, etc, another 60 years. My father is probably rolling in his grave because of how you’ve butchered his beloved paper. I, too am appalled. I absolutely hate what you’ve done to the paper!
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allen981
April 28th, 2009
9:07 am
Based on the consistently horrific tone of these comments, I’m saying a little prayer for Julia and the AJC staff. I know they poured their heart and soul into this, and this is not the reaction they expected.
Give it time, folks. It’s a work in progress.
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Samuel Sapp
April 28th, 2009
9:13 am
It looks like it’s not in Macon .
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Golden Hand
April 28th, 2009
9:14 am
It really does not look good. The reversed fonts on the pastel backgrounds are weak-looking and hard to read. The long vertical columns are also a dreadful way to organize breefs. Seems to have a lot of color for color’s sake on it. I give it a D; it rates better than an F only because it’s so hard to shave more than an inch off the width of the page without making hideous compromises.
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Stacy
April 28th, 2009
9:14 am
I think all the content, font and formatting changes are fine, but I don’t like the new masthead. Looks cheap/generic. Like the recent Tropicana package redesign that bombed. Nevertheless, I appreciate your efforts to keep the AJC alive in this economy – we need you, AJC!
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atlanta30309
April 28th, 2009
9:15 am
Just got the new paper–looks great. And reads great. I let my subscription lapse a year or so ago, but count me back in. My favorite paper is the Financial Times Weekend edition, but this may give it a run for its money. Kudos–and continued good luck.
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atlanta30309
April 28th, 2009
9:15 am
Enter your comments here
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Andrew
April 28th, 2009
9:17 am
Y’all hired the New Coke guy, didn’t you?
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Johnin St. Mtn.
April 28th, 2009
9:19 am
Lousy look. And it isn’t even original — it’s just a rehash of USA Today’s “McNews” format — short/no-depth reporting and cluttered pages. There’s also an over-reliance on wire service stories and pickups from other publications, which is evidence of the bloodletting that’s been going on in the AJC’s editorial staff. The cost cutting hasn’t been restricted to just the paper either. I just cancelled my Sunday subscription because the AJC’s circulation department wouldn’t deliver it (and, typically, there are no human beings taking calls from subscribers on Sunday anymore…it’s all voice mail and e-mail). AJC, your days are numbered.
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Crystal
April 28th, 2009
9:21 am
It would be great if you’d put a PDF copy of the new front page on your Web site. We can no longer get the AJC up here. I’d love to see it.
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Dennis
April 28th, 2009
9:22 am
I think the look is fine. Of course I was not unhappy with the old look. The test will be your efforts and successes in shaping the content.
Balance, real balance, not balance as determined by a Committed Progressive Democrat or Liberal will be difficult. For example: Last week in your OpEd Section you had “Two Views”. One view, the “Yes” view, was clearly on subject and argued the Progressive point well. The Opposing view, the “No” position, that you selected was not on point at all. You may want us to conclude that the Conservative view is therefore less convincing. But the fact is that you chose a poorly written, possibly even edited, column; then presented it as the “No” position.
Also is it possible that you could have written the original question such that the “Yes” position was Conservative and the “No” position was the Progressive?
Balance is hard work. Can you recognize balance? Can you deliver balance? Past experience says no. Time will tell.
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Nancy
April 28th, 2009
9:22 am
Will your newspaper come in the LARGE print edition like Reader’s digest and other publications. I can’t read the paper now – even with my glasses on. Very irritating.
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dgroy
April 28th, 2009
9:22 am
Sweetheart, I think what everyone is saying is…..”you have a lousy newspaper and no amount of cosmetic changes will help.” Your newspaper is too liberal, your sports pages are absolutely awful and I can’t even find the words to describe your awful coverage of high school sports. Please fire everybody and start over and next time try to be relevant. Political correctness has killed your once great newspaper.
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Andie
April 28th, 2009
9:24 am
Pathetic!
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Peachtree
April 28th, 2009
9:30 am
Absolutely unreadable! (Not that there’s anything left to read, anyway.) USA Today in a bad font.
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Phil cochran
April 28th, 2009
9:30 am
The new print edition is patheic..Goodbye AJC print edition!!
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BDS
April 28th, 2009
9:30 am
The new format is a big improvement. BUT continuing front page stories in back pages with completely different, unrelated headlines is confusing and maddening.
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Shel Miller
April 28th, 2009
9:30 am
Re: Page 3, Denser Design Gets In More News – “pack in the most content without wearing out your eyes”. Yes – you’re trying to put 10 gallons of syrup into a 5 gallon bucket! Younger readers with good eyesight are getting the news from the internet. Older readers and the aged will have great difficulty. I understand cutting costs, but there must be a better way.
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allen981
April 28th, 2009
9:31 am
Anyone remember the Atlanta Times? No, of course not, most of you are carpetbagging Yankees who can’t tell collards from turnip greens.
To enlighten you, it was a competing daily paper many years back that died a fairly rapid death due to the Cox family’s domination of the Atlanta news market (AJC, WSB).
Maybe now it’s time for a new, fresh, approach built from a foundation of balanced online and print excellence.
If someone will front me $20 million, I’m willing to give it a go.
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Chris Becker
April 28th, 2009
9:32 am
Enter your comments here
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Dennis
April 28th, 2009
9:32 am
I am 65 and have a 3′ diameter magnifying glass on my desk to help me read dificult text. I did not need the glass to read today’s paper.
The font is fine with me.
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Grumpy
April 28th, 2009
9:32 am
Way to difficult to read now. The vent is a different font and many of the vents are not even sperated with spaces. Hate the fonts throughout. Columns are too hard to read. I’m the only one that has received a paper in my sub-division today, and that’s because I called to have it delivered after I still had not received it by 8 am.
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Donald R. Runnion
April 28th, 2009
9:34 am
I do not care for the new design at all. The articles are too crowded together…and the constant columns….YUK!
Why bother with different sections?, The daily paper is so small now, you can just combine it all together. It’s just a crappy look. I MISS THE “OLD” LOOK!
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Brad Nelson
April 28th, 2009
9:35 am
WOW WOW WOW. What an absolute joke. I know that Ms. Wallace must try to put the best face on the new AJC and defend the design changes, but really, this is shockingly pathetic. Do the publishers REALLY believe that THIS is going to save the AJC, a once great newspaper, the voice of the South that “Covered Dixie Like the Dew”??? Jagged-edge columns, poor organization, terrible graphics, and probably THE ugliest flag/nameplate of any large daily newspaper in the nation. No offense to Lacava or any of the designers at AJC, but this must be the most ill-conceived redesign I’ve seen, and I’ve been watching alot of them across the country. Do you people NOT look at other front pages on NEWSEUM.COM???? Hang today’s edition on a wall inside the AJC newsroom under a sign that asks, “Would YOU buy this newspaper?” That would be an embarrassing assessment. Look, I’m only 30, but I used to LOVE to buy the AJC, because it was a NEWSPAPER, just a classic, well-put-together broadsheet. Every newspaper in the country is ruining itself because they (and you) just don’t get it. You just CANNOT figure this out, and yet the answer was so easy. Expect to join the NYT for a 20% decline next quarter. The saddest part of this is that you will stick with this design out of stubbornness and unwillingness to admit a mistake. Until the last dog dies. And this dog is on its last leg. This is a sad, sad day for the AJC. Again, WOW.
WOW, WOW, WOW.
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Top Tier Law Firm
April 28th, 2009
9:35 am
The new look is cheap. The classic appeal of the old format was one in which people could recognize and relate. People traveling into Atlanta will now pick up this amateur looking newspaper and make a judgment on our city. It has no “international-city” appeal; it looks very “small town” and is not indicative of the image this city aspires to promote. This new look is not refined and has no character. It looks like a poorly executed attempt at a USA Today knock off. Raise the price if you must, but do not wash away all semblance of pride and sophistication. You have successfully alienated your longtime readers. Internet is always changing and technology keeps everyone on their toes, but the fact remains; there is just something so comforting about the consistency of the paper. Why change something so historic? Lady Editor, you are right, print is a powerful medium; please re-assess this unrecognizable medium make-under.
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long time reader
April 28th, 2009
9:36 am
Here’s a suggestion that may keep your current readers and draw new readers to the paper. There is already a USA Today (and, as noted, a successful one) – don’t try to fill a void that isn’t there. Instead, do more indepth local stories with writers that present balanced view points. Give us something we can’t get elsewhere. When I see so many stories in the AJC coming from the newswires, I wonder where our writers are. I can get wire stories anywhere. What I can’t get are the local issues covered in an unbiased way and the Atlanta stories that won’t get covered elsewhere. That’s what I’d pay for – not the same stories I can find elsewhere in a colorized format.
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Born on Peachtree
April 28th, 2009
9:36 am
My fourth-grade daughter, who’s been reading the AJC since she was 4, said it this morning: “This looks unprofessional and weird.”
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willie
April 28th, 2009
9:36 am
I wanted to like it, but some parts are very difficult to read. I have very good eyesight, and often found myself having to put my eyes very close to the paper to read things like the baseball boxscores and “On the Air” sections of the sports section. Also, “the rest of the week” section of the weather uses a very small font. I can’t begin to imagine how people without very good eyesight will be able to read this comfortably. On the positive side, I do like the extra color.
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Chris
April 28th, 2009
9:37 am
Julia,
Hopefully you’ll read all of these. 2, maybe 3 positives out of 90 or so?? And while your response is fine, defending the research on fonts etc., you fail to acknowledge, discuss or even defend the content of the paper and the editorial makeup. If you want to sell a product, you have to design and produce what the user wants. Why do you and the staff, and I assume the owners of the paper ignore this?
Also, I trust you will try to get the Cox’s and Kennedy’s to read all of the comments. But then, that might cost a few their jobs.
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offkey
April 28th, 2009
9:37 am
Embarrassing!!! For a city the size of Atlanta to have a daily newspaper that looks like something I’d pick up in Panama City. Total cheese.
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Thomas P.
April 28th, 2009
9:38 am
I am a 20 year subscriber who hates to pile on this morning. I truly want the ajc to survive for the long run but you have just hastened your own demise with this trashy new look. Simply stated, my reaction this morning is that I despise the new look. It kind of reminds me of 1985 when another favorite Atlanta icon proudly rolled out New Coke. There is nothing about it that I view as an improvement. When I first picked it up and inspected it, my initial reaction was that this was some kind of cruel joke. Several people have given voice to my exact reaction — this is a poor cross between the old Weekly Reader and USA Today, neither of which I cared for. The format is so uninviting; I don’t even want to read it. It is hard to read, too small (both the size of the paper and the print), lacking in content, and makes ineffective and annoying use of color. Your sales staff should sign up for training from whomever sold you on this “new look” because they can surely sell anything.
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Bill Sweeney
April 28th, 2009
9:39 am
Usually can read most parts without my glasses. Now need them all the time and a magnifying glass for the stock listings and the sports ratings. Bought a Marietta Daily Journal, the first in years. HELLO MDJ.
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Breathe
April 28th, 2009
9:39 am
Julia, like I stated when the “new” online version was released, it is not good practice to ask users how they feel on the FIRST day of change. There are psychological things change does to the mind, and you’re receiving a lot of the effects of this by way of feedback.
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Nancy
April 28th, 2009
9:42 am
THE “NEW LOOK” IS HORRIBLE. I CANNOT READ THE SMALL PRINT. WHEN MY BILL BECOMES DUE, I AM OUT OF HERE. I WILL NOT PAY FOR A PAPER I CANNOT READ!!! SO AFTER 35 YEARS, IT’S GOOD BYE. NANCY
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JJH Reader since 1996
April 28th, 2009
9:43 am
What a disaster ! As you are aware, your revenues have been falling as well as your subscriptions. Clearly, the vision you have laid out for your paper continues to propel you down that slope again. I have gotten so tired of your editorials, and your sports section especially Terrance Moore tries to provoke editorial comments to drive readership. Sorry, but the inverse is happening. Like so many others, I enjoy USA Today as I can read it and the format is quick and easy. You have missed the ball so much on this new format. Why doesn’t AJC just go out and buy USA Today, and deliver it instead.
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Sandra Missroon
April 28th, 2009
9:44 am
The print is too small and light, especially the Vent == one vent ran into the other!
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B. Krinsky
April 28th, 2009
9:45 am
I guess i can get used to the format. I want to know where Luckovich(sp?) is. My only other comment is that with the ‘new’ policy of being un biased you are bringing commentators that are totally biased….
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Mike Michaud
April 28th, 2009
9:45 am
It’s the content, not the format.
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Steve
April 28th, 2009
9:46 am
This looks terrible, is difficult to read, and overall seems to be a bad high school journalism effort. Very hard for me to believe professional journalists looked at this and thought it was a good idea. Your Sunday TV section, which I used to keep for reference during the week, is now a joke. You have lost so many of your good writers (Thomas Oliver, Terence Moore etc.) that you would appear to be little more than a clipping service. Horrible moves, that i wish you would reconsider. New Coke appears a brilliant decision compared to this one.
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Cribbster
April 28th, 2009
9:49 am
Wow. I was going to criticize the redesign and call it strangely atavistic. (It looks like a poor man’s Baltimore Sun. Funny thing is poor men actually read The Sun, so…) But the response on this thing is so universally negative, anything I’d say would be redundant.
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Norcross Reader
April 28th, 2009
9:50 am
Overall, not a pleasing look. The dense type is too hard to read. (I’m sure your graphic designers struggled with this — they all know the benefit of “white space” in design). The extra color is nice, but the weather page seemed “faded” compared to the intense colors in the old design. And what’s with the super large mast head. Gee, we all know what paper we’re reading — you could have allocated some of the mast head space to news! Sure, you are saving on newsprint, but you may end up losing readers who find the new look not worth the effort to read.
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Melissa's Mom
April 28th, 2009
9:50 am
I like it overall. It has a nice clean, crisp look and I like the bolder headlines. My only change would be to make it was a little shorter and wider. But then I suppose then it would resemble Creative Loafing.
Now all you have to work on is the liberal slant. You have a good start with Cynthia Tucker gone. I would also put Charles Krauthammer and Thomas Oliver on the front page. They make more sense than all of the other editors put together.
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GM
April 28th, 2009
9:52 am
The comparisons to USA Today are accurate. If USA Today has grown in subscriptions lately, it’s probably only because other papers have gone out of business and it’s become the only economical choice in those areas. I don’t know of anyone who considers USA Today a serious or respectable newspaper. It’s a quick, light read when you’re on the road and it’s free. If that’s your business model goal, then you may succeed.
I don’t mind the section design so much, but the front page design does make the paper look cheap and less serious. To call it “Modern Classic” is just simply a misnomer. It’s more “Post-Modern” or “Eighties” design – which implies a certain cheapness and superficiality, to which everyone is reacting.
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Jones
April 28th, 2009
9:54 am
I just threw up. I am waiting for talking head from the AJC to respond so that I can throw up some more.
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Mugglemikki
April 28th, 2009
9:55 am
There must be a lot of legally blind people in Georgia if ya’ll are having
so many problems reading this font! You guys don’t driver do you? Tell me where so I can keep out of your way!
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Richard
April 28th, 2009
9:56 am
From a life long, 50 year plus reader — the masthead is a great disappointment.
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Doug
April 28th, 2009
9:56 am
Wow. Tons of great designers right here in Atlanta and AJC hires a Montreal firm to output this garbage. It’s a mess of an attempt to make a newspaper look and read like a Web site. You can’t click a newspaper, folks and you can’t base quality design on what focus groups like.
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Neutral Reader
April 28th, 2009
9:58 am
Message to Ms. Wallace: You said Publico was customized for AJC. Which weights/styles are you referring to? All the fonts look like the original release to me. I recently considered using this font for a project and was quite surprised at how tightly spaced the text version is. It feels like the display version, with sturdier serifs. It needs to be set with looser tracking, but that would ruin the kerning, obviously. A pity you didn’t have Schwartz redo the spacing. I also think the leading between lines is too tight. A bit more space would making reading more comfortable.
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Jawajedi
April 28th, 2009
9:59 am
Change the masthead to ITP Today. To take a cue from Serpent-Head, “It’s the content, stupid.”
I remain appalled that Condi Rice’s visit to ATL for Boys & Girls Club national headquarters warranted only a two-column pix w/slugline on the lower right of Metro page 1. The 100 or so well written comments here speaks to the caliber of readership you have, or perhaps, had.
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Toccoa Reader
April 28th, 2009
10:04 am
Not everyone in Georgia is red/conservative! Ralph McGill is turning in his grave!
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John
April 28th, 2009
10:05 am
I actually like the look of the new daily AJC–and I have been reading it every day since I first moved to Georgia more than 40 years ago. However, you need to do whatever it takes to restore the AJC to communities like Bremen and Athens and Griffin that you are denying the right to read your newspaper. I know they can read news on line but it is not a newspaper they can hold in their hands, share with one another on the couch and clip articles from for memories. Guitting circulation was the biggest mistake the AJC ever made. I just hope those of us in places like Rome won’t be your next victims.
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Bill Gropp
April 28th, 2009
10:06 am
The paper looks snappier but even with my new prescription lens I find it harder to read. The problem, for me, is that the rows are too close together. I compared to Monday’s AJC which has a wider row spread and could read much easier. If the demographics of your readers are tilted to seniors, I am probably not alone in my opinion. Younger folks should be OK.
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Jawajedi
April 28th, 2009
10:07 am
Mugglemikki: Your ill attempts at snarkiness betray your immaturity. Do you “play the dozens” at family visitation at the funeral home? You’re lucky this crowd is too polite to flame and critique your keyboarding (lack of) skill.
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b6542
April 28th, 2009
10:10 am
Ranks right up there with “New” Coke………….Hope n Change……
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Browncoat
April 28th, 2009
10:10 am
I would love to comment on the look, but you no longer deliver here in Spalding County, less than an hour’s drive from Atlanta. Based upon these comments though, RIP AJC
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Shawn A.
April 28th, 2009
10:12 am
You will rationalize keeping this design by saying, “Well, it just takes people a while to get used to change” or “Well, we focus grouped it, got hundreds–no, thousands–of opinions, and this is what they told us.” This is a joke. Newspaper focus groups always tell you what they think you want to hear, or what they think they are expected to say. “We want better organization, we want to read the news fast, we want a fresh look so we will feel like we are actually reading the internet, blah, blah, blah.” And you people listen to that hogwash!?! Look at the great AJ/AC/AJC designs from the late 90’s, for example. Now those were some great looking newspapers that made you want to buy them when you saw them on the rack. This design wouldn’t inspire me to spend a nickel on it. Too bad, you could’ve saved yourself, but instead you just stepped closer to your grave. If I was in charge over at the AJC, I would scrap this “college campus newspaper gone awry” design TOMORROW and do an on-the-fly, overnight Hail Mary, and beg the readers for forgiveness. Of course that will never happen, because it seems the leadership at the AJC seems intent on driving this paper right into the ground. And you actually PAID a consultant for this redesign????
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who is accountable?
April 28th, 2009
10:15 am
Yes, the circulation of most newspapers has declined in recent years – but the AJC has lost more readers than almost any other paper. Who is responsible and accountable for this subpar performance?
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Mugglemikki
April 28th, 2009
10:16 am
Jawajedi, just continue to watch your Fox News broadcast and prepare for your next
anti-tax tea party, OK?
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Ponceinletbon
April 28th, 2009
10:18 am
Since you stopped delivering to Athens I have no idea what it looks like. Why not publish a picture online so those of us who have been cut-off can have a look. I have been a reader from back when the Journal and Constitution were seperate papers. You certainly no longer “covers Dixie like the dew.”
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Raine
April 28th, 2009
10:18 am
Apparently, your testing failed, based upon the majority of comments here on this blog. While I appreciate that you, Ms. Wallace seem to brush off the very people who care about this newspaper — the actual Readers, and defend instead, your testing and your focus groups.
That is, in an of itself, a sad statement about the approach of this new editorial board. If I wanted “newsiness” I can watch the Daily Show. I don’t want NEWSY, I want NEWS.
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Eric
April 28th, 2009
10:18 am
New format is fine except the masthead. I think it would look a lot better in black and in a different font. It’s clunky and cartoonish.
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PTC Reader
April 28th, 2009
10:24 am
My head is still hurting from my attempt to read the AJC’s new format. The font is so light and so tiny it is virtually impossible to read without a magnifying glass. I found the colors to be annoying and not even remotely close to a true representation of the real world. I understand the need to cut back in order to survive, however, you have shrunk the paper and its content to the point where we as consumers now need to decide whether the AJC in its new format is really worth the price of a subscription.
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Bill Deck
April 28th, 2009
10:24 am
Busy, crowded, awful – and the content continues to drift off into drivel.
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Newspaper enthusiast
April 28th, 2009
10:26 am
Hey folks … the masthead is on page 2 and highlights management, delivery and advertising information. The flag, or nameplate, is the banner at the top of page 1. I agree … the new flag is quite a change – I think I would have gone with The AJC, saving space and developing the brand around “The AJC.” Fonts are a funny thing – you drop the point size to allow for more ’story’ and people complain. You increase the point size and folks complain that the stories don’t have enough meat. Both fonts are fine, it’s the size that may be an issue —maybe a little adjustment on the size of the sans serif Boomer font is needed.
I encourage readers to look at content, not just the packaging … we’ll get used to the new style and color. I remember being shocked when the NYTimes added full color – now it’s expected. Good luck to the AJC staff — please continue your focus on content — we’ll all get used to the new look.
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Charles
April 28th, 2009
10:29 am
Looks aren’t everything. If the content doesn’t change I don’t think you will make it.
The print is too small for older folks.
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Larry Serfari
April 28th, 2009
10:30 am
Looks good, but same liberal BS content.
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Bob
April 28th, 2009
10:31 am
I find it hard to believe a high-priced consultant made these type and color choices. The nameplate is clunky, the heads look like blown up body type and the body type needs multiple adjustments. Many of my design students could have served you better. For free.
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James J. David
April 28th, 2009
10:34 am
First of all, I am not impressed with the looks on the weather page. It doesn’t look very professional. Secondly, I always look to see what the weather will be in Pittsburgh, Pa. because that’s where my 88 year-old mother lives. Now you neither show it on the map or include it in the list of U.S.cities. This is very disappointing.
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Nadine
April 28th, 2009
10:35 am
Doesn’t look like a “real” newspaper!
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Disappointed
April 28th, 2009
10:35 am
I’m disappointed in the new format. It looks too much like a small town local paper that carries the “cat up a tree” kind of stories. The look betrays the quality of the content. You have fine writers and lots to write about, but that doesn’t matter if someone is too embarrassed to be seen in public reading it. On a positive note, I do like your web site and visit it frequently. Despite being a boomer who still loves the tactile activity of reading a “real” newspaper, I’m afraid this new format has me longing for the digital version. I can’t tell you how sad it makes me to see one of America’s great cities be without a kick-ass daily newspaper.
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E. P. Heard
April 28th, 2009
10:35 am
I would love to tell you what I think, if you delivered the paper to Spalding County.
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Julia
April 28th, 2009
10:39 am
You said that thousands of readers guided you to the product we hold today and that an “award-winning design firm” was hired to come up with the new format. My opinion is that AJC needs to ask the firm for a refund. It is absolutely horrible, everything all squished together and extremely difficult to read. My boss said when our subscription runs out, he will most likely cancel.
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Buckhead Reader
April 28th, 2009
10:40 am
I wish I can say I am a Reader in Buckead but I can NOT read the paper!
Font is too small and too light. Stories have NO content!
I was a 40 + year subsrciber: when the subsription runs out, I am gone!
USA Today, here I come !!
(One good thing : at leastTerence Moore is gone, maybe we will get double lucky and he will stay off channel 2 as well!)
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Milo Ippolito
April 28th, 2009
10:41 am
I like it.
For a person with bad eyes, the new font makes a world of difference.
The smaller pages are easier to turn.
The verticle briefs columns are more reader friendly.
The Business Section will likely draw more readers as part of Section A.
However, soy ink and recycled paper do not eliminate delivery trucks.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
April 28th, 2009
10:42 am
Newspaper enthusiast, interesting you suggested that the nameplate might have used AJC. That’s what we will do on Sunday. We tested it with readers and they preferred to have the full name during the week and the AJC brand on Sunday, which they said was an appropriate time for a more relaxed look.
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Ty
April 28th, 2009
10:43 am
A single spaced 8.5×11 sheet of paper could also be called “modern classic”. Your new format is uninviting and unreadable. Stop writing “guides” on how to read this paper and simply publish what worked for decades. I’ll give it a chance, but not for long. Ms. Wallace writes it may take a bit of adjustment; my adjustment may be to unsubscribe.
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Elizabeth Griffin
April 28th, 2009
10:45 am
As a former, 32+ year, employee of the newspaper I am going to make a few comments. I learned to read with the Atlanta Newspaper. And I did read many papers over the years, pasted them up and created ads for it.
Don’t try to change your look. Make the paper familier. The type should be legible for old tired eyes. If one cannot see — one won’t read. Use a font that is legible and readable.
I have not seen the new look. But really? Lime green for the sports section?
Oh yeah. It seems you have let all the good people with many years of ink flowing through their blood, you let the life of the paper go. And kept many of the people that consider the AJC “just a job”
Have you thought about this??
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Kat
April 28th, 2009
10:46 am
Since you asked, the answer is “cheap and flimsy”.
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Deanna
April 28th, 2009
10:49 am
It’s incredibly hard visually to find a story after the jump. There’s just too much text that’s not broken into any kind of sections for the eye. I’ve redesigned web sites in the past, so I know how critical people can be of anything different. I try to be very careful not to fall into that trap. But I’m disappointed with your redesign. It looks like a low rate college newspaper. I love you guys and want you to stay in business, but this isn’t going to help.
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suwanee reader
April 28th, 2009
10:49 am
The paper looks like a small town newspaper, certainly not something that should serve 5 million people.
Times are tough, but it would appear that the AJC hasn’t figured out how to retain print subscriptions.
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Mike Reed
April 28th, 2009
10:50 am
We are 7 day a week subscribers and enjoy the AJC. The new format is fine, however; the ink comes off on your fingers and you have to wash your hands after reading the paper. This was not a problem with the prior paper.
Thank you,
Mike Reed
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Diana
April 28th, 2009
10:52 am
Sad, sad, sad. We moved to Atlanta from a city with a fine, respected newspaper, The Washington Post, but have subscribed to the AJC since then because we both like a print edition. But in recent months, the AJC has been losing relevance daily. The Social Butterfly is a perfect example–who really cares about a bunch of wealthy socialites going to parties? (Well, I guess they do — hope they’re buying enough advertising to make it worth your while.) It’s a throwback to the 50’s. It has NO relevance to my life, but at least you had Luckovich, who gave the paper some national credibility, and decent comics. Now Luckovich is gone along with most of the comics I want to read. Everything else is available elsewhere, better. The paper has been getting slimmer and slimmer and the content less relevant. Today’s paper was an embarrassment–unreadable, flimsy, cheesy. USA Today (McNews) is looking pretty good in comparison. The lady who’s using it for her lizard’s cage won’t have enough for even one decent cagelining but at least it will be in the appropriate place. I will read the Post online–I certainly won’t go to the AJC for anything but the store coupons. What’s the point? If I have to go online for news, I may as well read a better paper. Sorry. RIP.
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M Brett
April 28th, 2009
10:52 am
My 85 year old Grandmother doesn’t do anything until she reads (and sometimes re-reads) the AJC. She was very disppointed this morning with the smaller format claiming that it was much harder to read.
I completely understand the change but do see the difficulty for my Grandmother.
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Longtime AJC Reader
April 28th, 2009
10:53 am
Let me count the ways this redesign is terrible:
1. It’s ugly. It’s a jumble of overlapping headlines, uninteresting photographs and garish colors.
2. It’s dense. There’s only one, tiny picture above the fold on the front page. My eye doesn’t know where to look, except away.
3. It’s retro in the worst possible way, like something from the pre-computer 1980s.
4. The colors on the inside sections are atrocious. Lime? Teal? Wine red?
5. The flag is dopey. The font of “The Atlanta Journal-Constitution” looks like the font for a small-community news pamphlet or a child’s art project.
6. It’s small, 32 pages, including comics and ads.
Times are tough, AJC, but have some dignity. This is a Frankenmonster of stitched together bad ideas.
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Shawn A
April 28th, 2009
10:55 am
Deanna, I agree with you. The reason we are all so upset is that we love the AJC and we WANT the paper to succeed. But this, well, this is the death knell. Likely, the circulation losses will accelerate, and within 18-24 months, the AJC will not be viable. People vote with their dollars, and when you put out a bad product, you lose. Look for web-only by early 2011.
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B-
April 28th, 2009
10:59 am
I do not like it AT ALL. The print appears to be smaller and the lines closer together. It is not attractive and if I saw it in a news stand I would not be inclined to purchase it.
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J
April 28th, 2009
10:59 am
Can you justify letting all your arts critics take a bailout? I can’t believe that freelancers will do a better, more thorough job of covering the symphony and art in Atlanta.
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My eyes are burning
April 28th, 2009
10:59 am
Good God …. do you get a MAGNIFYING GLASS to read the new look paper ???
Who on God’s green earth thought that small of print was a good idea ?
Awful. I’m putting a Bake Ham in for the AJC print version. Prayers sent.
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Tony
April 28th, 2009
11:00 am
If you’re trying to emulate a successful newspaper, USA Today isn’t it.
I would have chosen instead the more credible look of The New York Times, which does a masterful job of conveying it’s look in a consistent way for both print and online versions.
No matter whether you’re reading print or online versions, you know without question it’s the New York Times.
The AJC is a big city paper. It should look like one!
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Edw3rd
April 28th, 2009
11:00 am
C’mon Julia, just listen to what folks are saying and thank them for their feedback. Reflect on it, go to a local Starbucks or Waffle House and actually talk with some people – then respond. Your admonishments and focus-grouped-blather continue the arrogant tradition of Cynthia, and we’re all a bit tired of it.
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Jeff
April 28th, 2009
11:00 am
I think in this economy, it was quite prudent to have high school newspapers editors consult for free on this one. Hopefully, the actual journalism will remain more professional.
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Noah T. W. Givens
April 28th, 2009
11:01 am
A NEWSpaper should be just that – NEWS! News of today and Here. National interests that affect EVERYBODY Should be on the front page with leader paragraphs only And Important State then local items in the the first section….
And
Like the oath required of All Other Official Witnesses to any event – The Truth; the WHOLE Truth; and nothing but the Truth. The AJC has neglected these concepts for decades. Why should I buy strictly propaganda that I cannot regard as truthful? (Yes, I know the that meaning of ‘propaganda’ has nothing to do with truth).
For example…
Who have the Italians hired to protect their civilian fleets?
Why is voter fraud only prosecuted where there are paper ballots?
What do ALL Terrorists have in common?
What is the truth about ‘profiling’?
The TRUTH folks is NOT in the AJC.
The ONLY reason I would even buy the weekend edition was for the tv supplement. Even though there were errors it was a simple to follow and cheaper than $4 TV Guide. Now you don’t even have that! What you do have only covers to 22:30 hrs.
Good luck in you new look….. but like the saying goes – “Looks are only skin deep”.
You gonna have to start telling the whole truth and for a loooooooonnnngggg time before anyone will rely upon you again.
Noah 8-?
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George
April 28th, 2009
11:05 am
I along with many others can’t comment on the “new look” since we no longer are able to read the print version in Athens and many other communties. But as a former (not by choice)30 plus year subscriber/reader of the AJC, It sounds like from what I am reading, that might be a blessing. Thanks for the memories!
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john g
April 28th, 2009
11:05 am
After reading so many other comments that I agree with, I do not know what to say, except horrific and terrible. Too much extreme makeover all at once with what appears less content. I was recently thinking of cancelling my weekday subscription and this surely has helped me with that decision.
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Shirley Hammett
April 28th, 2009
11:07 am
RE: AJC issued 4/28/09: Columns under heading “Welcome to your new AJC”, the print is dark and easy to read, but under the “Redesign FAQS” column the print is lighter and therefore HARDER for me to read! Why do you switch from dark to light print (makes no sense)! You did the same thing on Page B2 (upper part of page is dark print but the Vent is LIGHT print and harder for me to read. Get rid of the LIGHT print! I am 62 years old. Since the AJC is so much smaller (fewer total pages) I certainly hope your subscription prices are going to decrease accordingly! Another thing I like in the AJC TV Schedule is that you color the movie information that is listed throughout the Schedule. This helps greatly when I’m looking for a movie only; I can quickly skip through every else and only check out movies. Great idea!
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Kitty Jacobs
April 28th, 2009
11:10 am
I was anxiouslky awaiting delvery of my todays’s paper to see the new look…I=’m sorry to tell you that you did not give thought to the older subscribers….I’m soon going to be 78…I think I started subscribing to the paper around 1956, and trust me, my eyes were much better then. I pride myself on the fact that I had implants in 1998 and continued to read both papers and magazines without a problem. The “new AJC is not acceptable in my book….the print is entirely too small! I realize you’re suffering with the economy too and you’re cutting back on areas I love the most…..I re-newed my subscription in Jan. (?) but will honestly think long and hard about what I’ll do next year…. I had to share my disappointment with you!
Kitty Jacobs
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Terry
April 28th, 2009
11:10 am
Not good. But it’s probably your plan to do away with the print edition entirely during the week anyway. With the redesign, people will no longer buy it or subscribe to it, which will help you be able to say you were forced to stop the print edition. I’m so sorry this has happened to papers throughout the country. Sad days for journalists.
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RNB
April 28th, 2009
11:16 am
Nice re-arrangement of the deck chairs on the Titanic.
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The Eighth
April 28th, 2009
11:16 am
Who cares what it looks like. If Luckovich is actually gone, the respect and class of the newspaper just rose about 1000% and improved beyond what any consultants, focus groups or marketing firms could do. Excellent job.
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William Randolph Hearst
April 28th, 2009
11:19 am
Julia Wallace is to journalism what Sarah Palin is to astrophysics.
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Jim Irvin
April 28th, 2009
11:23 am
Whiff!! Phew!!! And that with a nod to knowledge that change is hard to accept.
If you are trying to hold on to your older readers (who else reads newspapers anymore?), this won’t do it. I have read newspapers avidly since WWII in several cities. Now that I am retired, nothing I like more than to have a second or third cup and read the paper. Finished it this AM before the first cup was gone.
You have heard enough about the size, appearance, type, and the like from the 100+ who commented before me. Consider this an echo for most of the criticisms. Add this one – color ads or pics bleed through the cheap newsprint and make the text on the other side harder to read.
My principal dislike for the new version is not format, although I find it unpleasant for reading. I am not pressed for time so much that I want my news in “sound bites”. If there is something of interest, I want more than one or two column inches. A casual perusal of your first new edition goes something like this: Front Section – 12 news stories – rest sound bites and ads; Business – one page of stories and one of sound bites; Sports – 3 pages of sports coverage, five pages of car ads.
My biggest heartburn with the AJC, however, is the invoice I received last week. I pay quarterly for my subscription. The rate was increased over the previous quarter by 55%!! No advance warning – not even a note inside the invoice envelope with any sort of explanation. Your timing is impeccable.
I dislike getting my news seated at my computer, but internet here I come!
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Lee
April 28th, 2009
11:23 am
Upon entering my driveway from my morning run, my first thought was, “Is this a joke?” All the way down the sidewalks of my neighborhood I kept repeating the same phrase. I’m a native Atlantan. We received the Constitution and the Journal (my mom loves newspapers). My dad reading the paper to me as a baby led to my fascination with words and news. I’ve grown up with the paper. As a writing instructor with a penchant for AP style, I overlooked those glaring errors and used those mistakes as teaching and coaching moments for my college students. I’m so glad I ended my journalism class yesterday because the tragedy that is this new design would be the focus of our discussion. I thought I would be in the minority about how awful the paper looks. I’m so glad to see that others are echoing my sentiments. I realize there will be those who are happy with the new direction, etc., but as one writer wrote, this is the nail in the coffin. It seems as if this paper is now designed for those who need pretty pictures and colors to help them understand the content because the big words were hard. Here’s a word those folks should be able to understand: Yuck.
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Laura
April 28th, 2009
11:24 am
I am impressed with the investment that you are making in your future AJC! I like the color and I look forward to seeing the new Sunday paper. I am surprised to hear everyone complain that the paper is hard to read considering people seem so willing to read off a Blackberry or laptop screen.
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TRL
April 28th, 2009
11:26 am
Brad Nelson writes: “Jagged-edge columns, poor organization, terrible graphics, and probably THE ugliest flag/nameplate of any large daily newspaper . . .”
The reason for the “terrible graphics” is because they laid off their entire art department! Way to go, AJC.
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Mitch
April 28th, 2009
11:27 am
Its hard to hide the truth when a newspaper is circling the drain. Changes in font and color don’t mask the minimal content and reduced circulation due to severe budget cuts.
Hopefully a conservative paper will rise from these ashes to take the role as Georgia’s paper of record and we can finally be done with this dance.
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Erin
April 28th, 2009
11:28 am
This new format is MUCH harder to read and WAAAAAAYYYYYY too vertical.
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Catherine Sprinkle
April 28th, 2009
11:29 am
The new format looks cheap, and the smaller size feels skimpy. Newspapers are supposed to look dignified, signifying the importance of the news. I read alot of news online, but when I pick up a newspaper (I’m a seven-day subscriber to AJC) I want it to be a traditional experience. Call me old-fashioned, I guess I am.
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Ken
April 28th, 2009
11:36 am
It wasn’t the recent reduction/combination of several sections in the Sunday paper recently that helped me know that my decision to stop the daily AJC was wise. It was the obligitory Coca Cola story on the front page. As a life-long daily newspaper reader (and a freelance journalist for several newspapers not including the AJC) my growing frustration with the paper has been content–or more correctly lack of content. While the AJC has eliminated excellent, informative sections such as Atlanta and the World, the Sunday features section (can’t remember the name), the religion section and now has combined Sunday sections with less and less of interest to read, the paper no longe provides the reader with a broad spectrum of what is happening in the world. With the elimination of international reporters, regional and state reporters and now the reduction of the daily newspaper to an anemic headline service, the problem isn’t so much the jarring design as the lack of usable content and the absence or credible news judgement.
While the Associate Press moves around 1,000 stories a day, the AJC ignores most of them while providing the daily obsessive coverage of Coca Cola, Delta Airlines, upscale housing developments and rap stars. Unless the word Atlanta is in a story from a news service the AJC ignores it. Instead, each day we are fed the same old stories about the same old subjects without giving us any understanding of the broader world that we need to know what is going on.
That’s why I gave up on the AJC daily and subscribed to USA Today as well as the (now weekly) Christian Science Monitor and Guardian Weekly. I get the weekend Atlanta papers only because USA Today doesn’t publish on Saturday or Sunday.
I have little sympathy for the declining circulation numbers of the AJC. Fewer people are reading it because there is less to read, there is no depth and the newspaper itself has decided to focus only on Atlanta and ignore the rest of the world and leave much of the state without a metropolitan daily newspaper.
Oh, by the way, tf you think this design is bad, you ought to see the new Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. That design makes the new AJC look like the New York Times!!!.
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Jerry Williams
April 28th, 2009
11:36 am
have been a loyal reader and yearly subscriber for years hope my subscription is up soon
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 28th, 2009
11:40 am
Most of the comments are about the font and design, so let me linger with these for a while. The look of my newspaper took me aback this morning as well. I’ve been a reader for more than 30 years and have become familiar with each version of the newspaper we’ve produced over the years, but it’s hard to adapt. This kind of feedback is important, and believe me, we’re listening. But I’d ask for a little forbearance. I was at my dentist’s office this morning – to say he’s an avid reader is an understatement – and the office was buzzing over the larger type. So, people react differently, and we have to take that into account. The best analogy I can make about the type after being with it for a while is that it’s kind of like getting a new prescription with your glasses. You should wear them a few days before concluding they aren’t working. Our experts tell me that the font isn’t small and that it’s “optically bigger.” We’ll get something more detailed from them later. On a few other points, we never really looked deeply at USA Today as we prepared prototypes, but our paper is indeed using color to help navigate the paper. There isn’t less content than you would find in recent Tuesday newspapers. The paper is designed to carry more news content – not infinitely much like the Internet – but all that we can fit in the space our business allows. In some ways, Tuesday wasn’t an ideal to launch the new design. But the newspaper will grow during the week and be pretty impressive by Sunday. On the color selection, we spent a fair amount of time on this, and these colors worked well with the readers we tested. The color on the sports section was just about the best we could do while avoiding colors used by local sports teams. I suspect UGA fans would be displeased if we used gold, and Tech fans would be unkind if we went with red. What’s a newspaper to do? It would also be helpful if you would point out some specific aspects of the redesigned newspaper that bug you. It’s hard to respond to “It’s USA Today,” or “I can’t read it.” Anything more specific helps. It’s interesting to me that we’re not hearing much about the stories themselves – the content is what really matters, isn’t it? This newspaper is important to us all – certainly, it is to those of you responding with passion – and we are listening. I’m assuming you want us to succeed.
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michael murphy
April 28th, 2009
11:40 am
It’s like a small town paper. I’m 60 and the print is just a blur it’s hard to focus on one artical.The sports has forgoten the rest of the nation especially during collage football season. They say size doesn’t matter but your circulation just got one smaller.
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Susan
April 28th, 2009
11:42 am
I had to struggle to read the faded and compact print in the new version of the paper this morning — and the red ink is simply impossible. One of the small pleasures of retirement is to have time to read the paper while I eat breakfast, but I simply couldn’t see it today. (Yes, my eye prescription is current.)
I will try to adjust to the changes, but …
Please reconsider the choices regarding visibility.
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John
April 28th, 2009
11:43 am
It seems every newspaper is playing follow the leader on this style, but I still prefer the traditional layout from years past.
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stranded in the classic city
April 28th, 2009
11:47 am
some of us do not know what the new paper looks like because we can’t get it in Athens anymore!
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JJ
April 28th, 2009
11:47 am
If Atlanta is the capital of the South, it deserves a newspaper of the same status. The new AJC looks like it came out of Jackson, Miss or Baton Rouge, LA — not a city that is supposed to be the standard-bearer of our entire region! Disappointing.
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JJ
April 28th, 2009
11:49 am
Bert — to your follow up post, we’re not commenting on the stoires because nothing is new. Today’s paper looks like a style change. The AJC was already struggling for enough content to fill its pages after previously abandoned in-depth, national or international reporting. Neighborhood papers now do a better job covering what matter to local readers than the AJC.
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Richard
April 28th, 2009
11:51 am
For those who subscribe to a newspaper as a means of rapid access to adverts and wire service copy, the new format is brilliant. For those who want more Fox-news like editorials, the editorial changes are refreshing. The rest of us are sick of heart about the changes to a great paper, and wondering why we should continue to subscribe.
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Patti
April 28th, 2009
11:52 am
Do not like it AT ALL. It is about the size of the local newspapers that are thrown in our driveway for free. Print is really small – I am not a senior and I even find it too small. Very “cluttered” pages. Have been a subscriber for many, many years but when our subscription runs out, will not renew if paper stays this way.
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Mike S
April 28th, 2009
11:53 am
This is a sad, sad day for me as I grew up reading the AJC. I have been a subsciber since 1971, and I am sitting here now pondering whether I should let my current subscription expire or just ask for a refund right now. This morning’s edition took me about 15 minutes to read. The only people this new version could possibly appeal to are the people who now read your paper for free on their computer. Also, what is going on with no sports reports for events happening after 7:00 P.M.? What are you going to do this fall when UGA has a night game? This has the look and feel of a cheap knockoff of USA Today. There was absolutely no depth to any of the few stories that weren’t taken from the wire services. Please, please swallow your pride and give me back my newspaper.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 28th, 2009
11:54 am
Ken: Thanks. This is thoughtful feedback. Here’s the problem we have: We could have continued producing the newspaper we produced years ago – including Atlanta and the World, Horizon, etc. – but that would mean that we would be out of business in a few weeks. I’m not sure that’s a strategy that does anyone a lot of good. Our business simply won’t support a newspaper of that size. So, we’ve tried to adjust to match our resources. Sadly, this is a business, and it must make a profit. This isn’t easy, and it isn’t satisfying to anyone. But we must be able to sustain the newspaper. We believe there will be a place for a printed newspaper in the media landscape for a long time, but it can’t be the same newspaper. We aren’t “circling the drain,” as one blogger put it, but we would be if we didn’t change. Having said that, I believe we can produce a newspaper that provides unrivaled local coverage and a smart daily news report that includes world and national news. We retain a big newsroom – the biggest in town – and have beefed up our capacity to produce watchdog and investigative reporting. That will pay dividends to our community. I’m not sure I understand or agree with your complaints about the way we cover Coke or other business institutions. If you have seen a story on our front page in recent months that you believe didn’t merit the play it deserves, then let’s discuss it. I also urge you and everyone else to ease up on some of these tired old complaints and take a fresh look.
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Mick
April 28th, 2009
11:55 am
Sorry, but the new look is just dreadful. I know it’s supposed to be “modern classic,” but it’s neither.
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Will Alford
April 28th, 2009
11:56 am
Thank you all for your comments, especially those who’ve offered constructive criticism even while acknowledging the hard work that went into this. We feel like we’ve just given birth down here. And Sunday is still ahead!
I just want to jump in and give you some more information about the typography. Even though we’ve tested and retested all aspects of the typography with reader focus groups, I expect we’ll still need to polish out a few rough spots in these early days out of the gate. So your feedback is welcome! Please be as specific as possible (give page numbers, sections, etc., so we can take a look ourselves here). Believe me, we’re sitting here poring over all the feedback and taking all the comments to heart. We wouldn’t have made all this effort to engage readers and then stopped listening today.
I’ve included links below to give you more information about our font choices. I feel really good about Publico, the primary font used for text, headlines and nameplates. We licensed the commercial version for both Publico and Boomer and had each company add or tweak some of the individual characters and letterforms to suit our needs.
The new body text is visually bigger than the body text we used before, but yes, it’s set tighter. This redesign was first about supporting the news and presenting a newspaper that feels serious and newsy. Boomer (get it?), our sans serif was designed originally for AARP and is in wide use now around the country in newspapers and magazines.
http://www.christianschwartz.com/publico.shtml
http://www.fontbureau.com/fonts/BoomerSans
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PERCY
April 28th, 2009
11:56 am
What a complete disaster! I cannot even read this mess. Further, if you think I am going to renew my subscription, your dreaming!
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Beverly
April 28th, 2009
11:57 am
Hate it. I had to get my glasses to even read the blue masthead. What’s that about?. I think you should go back to what worked.
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Donna
April 28th, 2009
11:58 am
Tacky. More and more changes, smaller print, difficult reading and somebody forgot to put the living section in our new paper this morning. What color is that section supposed to be? Go find yourself a paper from say pre-2000 or even more recent than that, even pre-2007, and you’ll find yourself a paper worth reading. Every year the subscription price goes up, every month (lately) we’re getting less and less for our bucks.
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Tim O'Neil
April 28th, 2009
11:58 am
It looks like someone ate a box of crayons and a copy of the Thrifty Nickel and vomitted it on the floor.
Nice job, Foolia.
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PERCY
April 28th, 2009
11:59 am
Thats the problem with the AJC, they refuse to listen to the people who pay for the paper!
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MiltonMan
April 28th, 2009
12:00 pm
Dr. R is wrong. USAT is not the only newspaper that is growing; The WSJ is also growing in numbers. Get your facts straight “Dr”.
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@Edw3rd
April 28th, 2009
12:01 pm
AJC Staff – here’s a good example of how to attack these problems. http://snipr.com/gx3zl
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
April 28th, 2009
12:04 pm
Some readers asked about Mike Lukovich. He had a day off yesterday. His cartoon returns tomorrow. In addition, we will be using more syndicated cartoonists, so if you have favorites from other publications, let us know who you like.
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Charlie Threeway
April 28th, 2009
12:10 pm
Whoa! Not much I can post that hasn’t been said here already. I liken the “redesign” as the final kicks and twitches of a downed and dying deer after being struck by a hunter’s arrow in the right shoulder blade. Besides, none of the reporters I’ve come to know and trust over the years are there anymore. So it’s pointless to even pick up a daily print edition.
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Ross
April 28th, 2009
12:11 pm
I am impressed with the changes. Media needs to evolve, to satify the core readers and attract the new.
I’m sure that much research went into this redesign to satisfy the needs of the core and the new.
The newspaper is a staple with me along with ajc.com. My concern is editorial content and if readers are more engaged, that will satisfy advertisers, which ensures the existance of the paper.
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Sam
April 28th, 2009
12:12 pm
New design is horrible, looks like a weekly published in someone’s garage…totally lacks the credibility, quality and the appearance of what is supposed to be a major market newspaper. Good luck with the “hip” new AJC, you’re going to need it.
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Paul
April 28th, 2009
12:12 pm
Where is Julia? Per her comments in today’s paper, Julia shared the following “vistors to ajc.com/conversations will hear from our design leaders, watchdogs editors and others who make decisions about what goes into the paper.. we want to hear from our readers… we’ll answer your questions and listen to your feedack”
With all the negative comments listed you would think we would have been provided additional feedback from the AJC staff on their decision to completely “revamp” the newspaper causing it to lose touch with its daily readers… did your group REALLY think this decision out!!!
I have to believe everyone within AJC has their eyes peeled to these comments and now are hanging their heads..
All of the readers would really like to see a comment posted from Mike Joesph ( President and GM of the AJC), Doug Franklin the Publisher, Robert Eickhoff Circulation, etc…
…step to the plate Senior Level contacts within the AJC.. you are the ones who made these decisions to drastically change todays edition..
If you don’t response quickly you will continue to lose your daily subscribers.
Anyone else feel the same way? Let’s hear from the AJC Senior Management on this debacle..
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Steve
April 28th, 2009
12:12 pm
You asked how we liked the look, and then complain about the answers you get, when they are unrelentingly negative. So Bert, here are some comments about the content – there is very little to comment on. You have lost your art and music critics, your sports columnist, and your business columnist, all of whom were multiple award winners. Now, you print stories that are either a brief recap of events, with no analysis, or involve no investigative work whatsoever. This is not journalism, it is a clipping service, and I expected and wanted more. Getting defensive about poor selections is not going to weather this storm, and I recommend you learn from the New Coke experience – they too attempted to defend their decision in the face of criticism by emphasizing how many focus groups, marketing surveys et. were involved. At the end of the day it did not matter. People did not like their new product, and were not going to buy it. They changed back. Consider going thou and doing likewise.
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Browncoat
April 28th, 2009
12:12 pm
Hey, Shawn, Will and Bert, how about actually listening to what people are saying, rather than defend your mistakes. Your Focus Groups let you down, and you are driving away more customers (after dumping a who;e bunch of us through decreased circulation. The AJC is in a death spiral, and your changes are only facilitating the demise by driving away loyal readers. Sad.
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DJL
April 28th, 2009
12:13 pm
Some insight for AJC publishers — Maybe I am one of the rare ones, but I cancelled my AJC subscription long ago and replaced it with the New York Times. NYT costs me more than $50/month, but every day I find something new and insightful that challenges my thinking. The content is bigger — MUCH BIGGER — than Atlanta’s parochial interests. There may not be many premium print readers left, but I think I’m the print subscriber your losing — the ones your advertisers love. I can only image that losing more readers with six-figure incomes with broad, global views and instead catering to a more narrowly focused audience will ultimately will lead to the end of the AJC in print. I always loved the AJC but somewhere along the way you fell out of love with your readers. That’s why I now cheat on Atlanta with the New York Times.
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Jan
April 28th, 2009
12:13 pm
The new AJC is horrible! The only change I don’t mind is the narrower width. I hate the mixed fonts, the choppy layout and the pastel colors that distract from the type. It looks garish, cheap and difficult to read. It’s bad enought that you have omitted many features but to present what you do have in this format is baffeling! If this is the future of printed newspapers, no wonder they are failing.
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Steve
April 28th, 2009
12:14 pm
Bert, if you will give us some content, we will comment on it, but there is a disturbing lack thereof. You guys asked for comments, and then can’t stand the heat. Get out of the kitchen.
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Mike
April 28th, 2009
12:14 pm
The print – font is too small. Tougher to read. I hope you fix this.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 28th, 2009
12:17 pm
B., may I call you B? Mike Luckovich is upstairs in his office, working on a cartoon, one hopes. Commentators are by their natures biased. That’s why we run them on the opinion pages. If all goes to plan, we will have commentators with varied viewpoints that should expose us all to opinions we dislike. The goal is to strike a balance. Let us know if you believe we fail.
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Joe
April 28th, 2009
12:18 pm
It’s one thing to continue cost cutting changes to the paper to survive but calling them improvements is an insult to our intelligence.
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just wondering
April 28th, 2009
12:19 pm
An hour after the second call, the paper was finally delivered. I am not impressed.
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bubbatech02
April 28th, 2009
12:19 pm
I also agree that the new paper looks a little cheap (Bert, i am taking you up on your challenge to give it a week). But, i guess i can get used to it. What is worrisome is that it seemed like the focus was on the look rather than the content. One of the most widely read “publications” is the drudge report. that is as basic and unflashy as you can get, but people read it because the focus is the content. reading the stories today, they seemed a little shallow, as some other posters have mentioned.
i dont know, maybe i was a little taken aback by the look, but i hope not.
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Jodi
April 28th, 2009
12:21 pm
Is there a screen shot of what it looks like? I only get the paper on some Sundays when I need coupons. Thx
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Springs
April 28th, 2009
12:22 pm
This is SO EMBARASSING. I cannot believe this is our Atlanta newspaper. Surely you will not continue to charge for this – it reminds me of the Weekly Reader from fifth grade.
Also – can anyone over 50 be expected to SEE the words?
This is NOT an improvement – it is trash.
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Bob
April 28th, 2009
12:22 pm
Man, People are letting the AJC have it. I like the narrower format and the colors. Other than that It’s garbage. I’m in the process of getting my manager to cancel our subscription.
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Lea
April 28th, 2009
12:23 pm
Hate it. I saw it on my circulation desk at work and thought it was a circular or a low rent copy of USA Today. Change it back. Now.
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SH
April 28th, 2009
12:24 pm
Julia, I’m sorry, I can’t agree with your assessment. The font IS very hard to read. Maybe if it was made darker it would help. I’m a 48-year old male who does not need glasses. I’ve subscribed to the AJC since 1994 when I moved to the ATL. So I’ve seen some AJC changes over the years and this one definately is the most radical and the worst, in my opinoin. Too much crammed in too tight columns and then chopped off to where I have to hunt for the rest on another page. And did you try to read the Baseball standings and scores in the Sports Section? Please. That is magnifyingly small. It’s sad to see these decisions and the inevitable demise of this paper. RIP…
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Richard Blaine
April 28th, 2009
12:24 pm
New look. Yeah. That’ll pull you out of insolvency. Good thinking, that. Well done!
(ROTFLMFAO!!!!!!)
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Gene Suttle
April 28th, 2009
12:24 pm
The vagaries of the newspaper business are not the biggest problem for the AJC. As one of the ancients (50), I enjoy a newspaper immensely Unfortunately, there hasn’t been one printed in this city for decades. It is an embarrassment to live in a city with far and away the worst major daily in the country.
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Ernest
April 28th, 2009
12:25 pm
I’ve been a subscriber to the AJC since the late 70’s, starting with the Atlanta Journal. When I got my paper this morning, I’ll admit it did not initially impress me. It reminded me of a ‘poor man’s USA Today’. The colors did not seem crisp and did not appeal to me. I plan to review it side by side with the paper on Monday (4/27) and hopefully I can provide more insightful feedback later regarding the look.
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verge
April 28th, 2009
12:26 pm
Its pretty sad– a once great paper with a powerful progressive regional even national voice reduced to something resembling a small town paper with AP wire stories, feel good local features and little else– ATL does have plenty of folks that would actually appreciate local perspective on national events– yes, even movies… Where has the Arts and Cultural coverage gone for the 9th biggest metro city in the US?…
A once courageous editorial staff reduced to pandering to a perceived audience devised by some second-rate focus group ad men… Sad indeed…
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Gary Hodel
April 28th, 2009
12:27 pm
I like your sports page. Fortunately for you it is the only game in town which is why I still keep my subscription. The rest of the paper is the same old drivel in a new format. The BEST news of the new format is the elimination of one irritating race baiter in the form of Terence Moore. Good job!
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Sally
April 28th, 2009
12:28 pm
I like the design. But I liked it better when the Guardian did the exact same thing years ago.
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Brad Nelson
April 28th, 2009
12:28 pm
Jodi: Here’s a screenshot of the disaster…
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/hr.asp?fpVname=GA_AJC&ref_pge=lst
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Dr Joe
April 28th, 2009
12:29 pm
I am disappointed in the new AJC. I have been a 7-day subscriber since the ’60s, but this looks like the nail in the coffin as regards continuing as a subscriber. After reading the new edition in a leisurely 5 minutes (I used to take 30 mins or so, as I enjoyed the articles), I saw this section’s comments. Shawn McIntosh said his test group of readers liked the new format; he should have asked us.
I also subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, so I placed the two papers side by side. The AJC is narrower by 1″. The Publico print of the AJC is larger than the WJC print, and may have a little denser ink. Both have 5 columns across. Nevertheless, I love the WSJ, and can’t stand the new version of the AJC. The condensed sports section is too brief.
The business section is virtually non-existant. I think the Atlanta Journal-Constitution will not be publishing after the end of this year.
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Steve
April 28th, 2009
12:30 pm
Did you guys really take away his screen shot? Now that is cowardly.
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SteveR
April 28th, 2009
12:33 pm
I’m sure the new design is to save money by saving on paper, but my idea has been to have a “local” insert in the USA Today paper. Keep their format, use your writers to fill that section. Have it printed together, save a ton. Don’t dismiss it too quickly. You may not have a choice at this rate.
Have not found a “front page” link on the web site to see the new look. Strange when you’re making such a big deal about it. Typical.
HP still wants their logo back. Like the new print edition design, you stole ideas from someone else and made it worse.
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Hoke Wilcox
April 28th, 2009
12:34 pm
OK, given the current climate of the newspaper industry, I am just glad I still have my paper in the morning! It took me a couple of hours to really take it all in but now I like it. Change is not always bad, I think they made a thoughtful decision and great care went into it. Count me as a happy (and loyal) subscriber!
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Browncoat
April 28th, 2009
12:37 pm
Thanks Brad for the screenshot. WOW, now I have visual evidence regarding the scope of this disaster. What a mess. I can’t believe that y’all actually thought this would work. WOW!
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 28th, 2009
12:38 pm
Steve:
I’m not complaining about the answers, I’m asking people to be helpful enough to be specific.
I never expected to be praised for taking something as important as the AJC and changing it. I expected people to react this way. In fact, the newspaperman in me kind of enjoys the really smart, snarky comments. It’d be a lot more fun to be on the other side of this discussion. People love this newspaper. I love this newspaper. We all care and that’s why we’re here. On the art and music writers, we had to determine what we absolutely must do as a newspaper to maintain our core reason to exist. We decided it was local news as well as watchdog and investigative journalism plus a heavy focus on producing a quality Sunday newspaper. We didn’t walk away from arts, music and theater coverage, but we have had to find other ways. We retained Cathy Fox, Pierre Ruhe and Wendell Brock on a contract basis to continue providing a substantial amount of the content we know our readers love. We will be looking for other ways to provide this kind of content, and I hope you will stick with us to see some of our exciting ideas come to fruition. We have lost and gained columnists over the years and that process will continue. Without doubt, most of our stories in the daily newspaper are shorter than they used to be – that was true long before today. People have 15-20 minutes for the daily, so we have tried to take that into account. Yet, we still provide depth, particularly on Sunday. A few Sundays ago, we ran a story that ran 120 inches. It was a brilliant piece and it represents the best kind of work a newspaper can do. We’re not moving away from having aspirations of great journalism, but you will need to stick with us to see what I mean. We have added to our watchdog and investigative capacity and have focused some of our best reporters on stories that matter to metro Atlanta.
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Longtime AJC Reader
April 28th, 2009
12:39 pm
Bert, you asked for specific suggestions.
Sadly, the problem is too big for that. It’s a systemic problem. It started when the AJC allowed reader surveys and focus groups to dictate the appearance of the newspaper. This approach created an incoherent, disorganized, hodge-podge of styles. People wanted different things. Their requests were incompatible. The AJC tried to please everyone. It ended up pleasing very few people.
So go back to the drawing board. Create a unified, easy-to-read, aesthetically pleasing newspaper. All great news sources have clear visual identities, whether it’s the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal, the New Yorker or Time. The AJC does not. It did not before this redesign, but it certainly does not now.
So here’s my suggestion: Quit trying to please everyone. Create one identity that is smart, clean and accessible. Get rid of the Franken-paper.
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PERCY
April 28th, 2009
12:40 pm
1. Large print Advertisers will leave for good.
2. You cannot advertise your car for sale 7 days a week. WHY?
3. Instead of alienating everyone, hire someone to listen to what people and advertisers want.
4. Stop blaming the economy, the AJC is responsible for there own demise!
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former ATL, now in NYC
April 28th, 2009
12:42 pm
I enjoyed reading the comments about my former hometown newspaer. Twenty years ago, I was in journalism class when we went through AJC section by section. The professor talked about layout, print design, advertising spacing and continuity. He mentioned the importance of someone like Mike Lukovitch to establishing a newspaper’s prominence on a national stage. After reading most of the comments from current and former readers, as well as, feedback from the current AJC board, it seems they removed most of the positive aspects that made the paper a valuable teaching tool in Journalism 101. I am confident reader’s preferences have not changed in 20 years that marketing research would lead to a semmingly poorer product, right?
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Ernest
April 28th, 2009
12:43 pm
I posted my comment then read others. Interesting this blog is set in a ‘recent post first’ format, unlike this others.
Most comments seem to dislike the new format. Has the AJC considered an objective way to measure feedback of the format? I’m not saying the points raised are not valid but unless there are ‘counter points’ to consider, you may cause those that do not participate in electronic commentaries to be upset also.
I’ll agree with one of the comments I saw earlier. Ensure the content strikes a balance that will appeal to your audience, regardless of their political leanings. The AJC should keep an internal ’scorecard’, reflecting how they see the articles. One could be provided online to measure the AJCs perception with that of the reading community (realizing this could be ‘gamed’ also).
I also think the idea of possibly lowering the price of the daily paper albeit for a short period of time. This could possibly help by putting the paper into the hands of more readers thus having an impact on advertising sales.
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Tom
April 28th, 2009
12:44 pm
What happened to the “Weekly TV” that use to be included in the Sunday paper. There was no TV Guide in my copy of the Sunday paper. The last revision to the TV guide that only appeared for a couple weeks was really easy to read and well formatted. The TV guide that is included in the daily paper only covers TV times from 8:00pm ti 12:00.
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Mac
April 28th, 2009
12:48 pm
Mark Davis is an excellent writer. Hope to read more from that guy.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 28th, 2009
12:49 pm
Longtime: Let me address one point. With this design, we have deliberately not tried to be all things to all readers. We focused on people who actually like newspapers, and accepted that a lot of people will never become regular newspaper readers. We wanted to rely on more than our instincts in deciding how to proceed, so we used research, which involved a lot of readers. People told us they want a newsy newspaper – hence the packed front page and focus on hard news. This newspaper is designed to be smart, clean and accessible. But it is different.
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Nancy
April 28th, 2009
12:51 pm
Overall, I like the new look. However, I agree that the font is too small. The political cartoon on the @issue page is so small I can’t even read the text. The box scores in the sports section also have me squinting. I LOVE a print newspaper and wish the AJC lotsa luck down the road.
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SteveR
April 28th, 2009
12:51 pm
Thanks Brad Nelson for the link to the front page on “another site”. I have one better for everyone.
Same site, but the front pages of 758 other newspapers. Everyone gets to look at how other newspapers design their pages as a comparison to ours.
http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/default.asp?page=3
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bubbatech02
April 28th, 2009
12:54 pm
Bert, another thing, there really is nothing community driven, as your staff has been reduced because of money problems. why not give the public a chance to write for you. example, i am a non-employee of the AJC. i write about a story in my community and submit it to the ajc. if the ajc likes it, it gets published and they pay the person for their work. it has to be cheaper than having people on staff that do nothing other than just copy AP stories into the print edition. you can edit for content and grammer. the journalists in this paper just dont seem to be in touch with the community and, from the lack of actual investigative reporting, dont really seem to care. as long as they get their story in before the deadline, thats all they care about.
just think, you write about a murder, and then one day later you get an article from someone that lives next door that tells the whole story, what it was like on the scene, who the cops interviewed, what the victim’s family was like, etc. instead of reporting second or third hand accounts, you may actually get firsthand accounts.
yes, i agree that firsthand accounts can be skewed, but you are experienced journalists. i am sure that, when you want to, you can remove bias and inflammatory comments from a story.
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jch
April 28th, 2009
12:54 pm
I really, really, really miss the banner. I’d trade the color comics for the old banner.
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Lawrie
April 28th, 2009
1:00 pm
As a member of the reader panel, I have voiced my opinion many times over the past couple of years that the AJC is committing slow suicide by doing away with the very reasons that people (used to) read the paper. The redesign has made matters worse. Reaction in my household this morning: “Eeeww…it’s tiny! These aren’t newspaper colors! There’s nothing to read in the Living section anymore. I can’t believe another longtime staffer is taking a buy-out! Now it’s harder to read -too much type in too small a space. Give me the “Wall Street Journal” so I’ll have something to read at lunch. I’ll check the headlines on Yahoo. Did you see the latest Food section? It was a total of 4 pages! Of course, that beats Sports, which is 3 today.”
I’m sorry, but by gutting editorial and encouraging longtime and respected staffers to head out to pasture, you have made this newspaper practically irrelevant. My father was a career employee for the Detroit Free Press; I worked for the AJC; my sister works for the Journal Register. All are sadly facing extinction as they eliminate the very elements that made the publications essential to people’s lives. I would never have thought that newspapers would become dinosaurs in my lifetime, and I am sad that my teenager, who has always loved reading the paper, will likely not have the option to do so as an adult.
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Jon Arge
April 28th, 2009
1:00 pm
While you lay off hundreds of workers here in Atlanta I’m sorry you thought you had to outsource design positions to Canada. It’s even worse that you so casually mention this fact like you’re doing so to bring us some wonderful new product.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 28th, 2009
1:01 pm
Bubba: We’re talking about an idea not crazy far from what you describe. Let’s continue that discussion.
Also, I’m seeing a lot of people using links to see the paper. That’s cheating, and it makes me wonder just what kind of newspaper readers you really are. Go out and actually buy one at lunchtime and THEN comment. Besides, we need the 75 cents.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 28th, 2009
1:05 pm
Lawrie: I’m interested. What do you see as the reasons people read and have read the newspaper? And the Wall Street Journal, fine newspaper that it is, will tell you little about what’s going on in metro Atlanta. Setting aside the design, what do you see as missing from this newspaper?
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Kathy Sivid
April 28th, 2009
1:06 pm
The redesign is a diasaster. The font is too small to read, the pages are too crowded, and there is no semblenance of “importance.” Everything on the front page appears to be of equal importance. If this doesn’t change, and soon, you’ll lose me as a subscriber. What a disappointment. A design closer to the USA Today would have been an improvement, but this looks like an amateur newspaper, not a major city daily.
I showed it to every one in our office today, and not a single person liked it.
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AJC’s redesign blues | Atlanta Unsheltered
April 28th, 2009
1:11 pm
[...] far at least, the reaction of readers on a post about the print edition’s changes by Editor Julia Wallace seems pretty harsh. In [...]
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Cheryl
April 28th, 2009
1:12 pm
I am part of the focus group that has worked hard on helping the ajc make the many changes they have made over the past year or so.
Some things we could give opinions on, others we were asked to rate, rank. Believe me, lots of times the AJC heard nothing but grumbles about what they had done. But overall, we were trying to help them become a newspaper that can stay afloat in this economy, that might draw younger readers to increase reader base, and that we, as mostly older readers would be okay with.
I have to agree that the font is very small, and I’m sure many people in the focus group will have something to say about that.
All I can say is give it a chance. Change is hard. We all like what we are used to. It does look different than yesterdays, and even though my input may have helped in some small way, I need to give it a chance myself. This time next week, if I still don’t like it, I will have a list of what is wrong. But I plan on giving it a chance.
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PERCY
April 28th, 2009
1:12 pm
The over 40 crowd just left the building, we cannot read the new AJC! Looks like the group your trying to appeal to are 1st graders. Just one problem, they have no money! Are you trying to go out of business?
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Janet Crabb
April 28th, 2009
1:12 pm
HATE the new design. It’s awful, doesn’t look sophisticated or cosmopolitan, the way a city like Atlanta should present itself. Type is dated looking and hard to read. Maybe you should have hired a local design firm to redesign it instead of going to Canada. I’m a graphic designer and I’ve seen better work by far in student competitions. Not only did the design firm disappoint, but the editors and others who gave direction and approved it apparently have no taste either.
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Jim K.
April 28th, 2009
1:13 pm
My first reaction to the new paper is that it has a small town cheesy look compared to papers of the past. In short, I don’t like the appearance at all.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 28th, 2009
1:14 pm
Jon:
We engaged Lacava Inc. a long before the recent staffing reductions and the two aren’t really related. Lucie Lacava provided deep, special skills that we needed to redesign the paper. We looked, but there are few firms on earth with Lacava’s experience and expertise.
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Beverly
April 28th, 2009
1:16 pm
Now it’s full circle for conservativism, via the Re8blican Party. A party that’s been marginalized to mostly the South now has its own newspaper organ, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It is depressing. Southern conservativism doesn’t represent me nor most of the people I know. I’m done reading the AJC.
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Laura DeMars
April 28th, 2009
1:18 pm
Well I tried to be optimistic but my only thought is if I wanted to read USA Today then I would subscribe to that paper. I have hung onto my subscription because I am a print person but found the format difficult to read – couldn’t figure out where the “eyecatchers” were so maybe I would read the whole section. Feel sorry for those who pay for obits as now that family member is at the bottom of the Metro section. I’ll see where I am at when it’s time to renew – I have gotten and enjoyed my paper for a long time and have accepted changes with the comics, the other sections disappearing, and the TV guide almost disappearing because you can’t find it but the resemblance to USA Today is a bit much.
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Todd S
April 28th, 2009
1:19 pm
The internet. The economy. Change or die. I understand.
I also understand that the very nature of a forum such as this will draw out the negative. People do not clamor to say that “all is good.”
Still, I am sorry to say that i really do not like the redesign. The paper seems to have lost all personality. It feels utterly generic. The lack of hierarchy is a challenge. Without large images to draw my eye, it feels like a wall of text. The kerning makes the whole page feel overly crowded.
I am sad for the challenges you face as a company and industry. I wish you the best of luck. And i hope you are able to find a better solution than the one you are offering all of us today.
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Jon
April 28th, 2009
1:21 pm
I’ll be the contrarian here. I like the new design for the paper. Comparing the three papers delivered to my house today (AJC, NYT, GDP), the font size in the AJC appears to be larger than the other two. Given the size of the news hole that the AJC currently has to deal with and that much of the format was rolled out prior to the redesign (e.g. community page, business in A section, etc). I think you did a fairly good job of packaging what was left. Your readers might want to compare last Tuesday’s paper with today’s — see how the same amount of news plays in both versions.
If there is an issue, it’s with the jumped stories, and the headlines used. For example, Page A1 Delta story says “Airlines continued on page A4″. Then, the A4 head says “Output pressures stock prices”, then “Airlines continued from A1″. Since the A4 head doesn’t mention airlines, it was hard to pick up that it was the continuation of the story, especially given the difference in point size between the head and the subhead.
I noticed that today’s paper finally picked up on the story of the mother killed in the Snellville parking lot is a brief item in the community section. The brief was credited to the AP. Yet, the lead story in today’s online AJC is a staff-written piece with much more detail.
Finally a comment on this blog — why are the comments ‘backwards’ — e.g. with the latest on the top of the page. That means I have to read from bottom to top to follow the conversation, and it’s much harder to refresh the page to see what had been added since I last visited.
Don’t get shell-shocked from all the negativity.
Another comment, unrelated to
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Mark
April 28th, 2009
1:21 pm
OK, I will give my subscription one more week. I normally read the paper without glasses. But I had trouble doing that with today’s paper. I did not like the over emphasis on columns. The color at the top of the pages only seemed to accentuate the washed out look of the rest of the print. Even the colors seem washed out. I found it harder to find where stories were continued inside, as if those headings were more blended into the rest of the text instead of standing out.
It’s been said that some of General Motors problems are because their cars were designed by committees instead of stylists and engineers who were passionate about their jobs. I think the same “committee” design problem may apply here.
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Jean
April 28th, 2009
1:22 pm
When I first saw the paper this morning, my immediate thought was it looked like a small-town neighborhood newspaper — bland and full of “filler news.” But I determined to keep an open mind. Now, I have read today’s paper and, for comparison, yesterday’s paper right after it. The difference in “reading discomfort” from the new design is striking. Although your comments on the new design said you wouldn’t “wear out our eyes,” that is exactly the feeling I get from reading the new format. The letters in each word are all crammed together, making it very tiring to read an article. I seriously thought I would get a headache from the eye strain. I appreciate what you think you are trying to do. But, from a long-time subscriber, you have more work ahead of you to make this a success.
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Meme
April 28th, 2009
1:24 pm
Looked at the screen shot and it didn’t look too bad. The paper wasn’t delivered by the time I left this morning so I haven’t see in in person. My husband says that the paper is very small and difficult to read. He also complained about the ink getting on his hands. I hope that whatever new format you go to, it works. I love having paper in my hands to read.
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Earl Picard
April 28th, 2009
1:24 pm
The problem is less about design than it is about the quality of the news reporting, its scope and breadth. The paper is getting lighter and lighter in its coverage with less in depth coverage and more focus on celebrity news, entertainment and trivia. it is becoming a quicker and quicker read and one can come away from reading the paper without much in the way or hard news. No design will address the obvious commitment to superficiality and puff. Goodbye AJC.
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old newspaper guy
April 28th, 2009
1:25 pm
My first repsonse to today’s new look was WTF?
I studied newspaper layout and design in the late 70s at UGA, so yes, I’m dated….however; this new style that was suggested by a Montreal design firm looks more like an explosion of fonts and a sea of grey type. There’s so much eye-clutter on some of the pages that one doesn’t know where to start.
It is understandable that due to the downtown in print popularity that sigfinicant changes had to be made to cut costs but I fear that beginning today you lost many more readers.
Some of us who live outside the magical distribution area have learned to live without the Sunday AJC fairly easily and my bet is that there will be many others thoughout our city who will not be inclined to renew their subscription or continue to purchase single copies.
Regrets!
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Downtowner
April 28th, 2009
1:26 pm
I have been a 7-day-a-week subscriber to your newspaper since first moving to Atlanta in 1984, first to the Atlanta Constitution and then to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I’ve read the comments here about this latest refashioning, and agree with the negative ones. And I don’t at all care for your incline toward the conservative viewpoint lately. BUT I know that the AJC is making a desperate attempt to stay solvent so they can stay in business as a print newspaper. So please do whatever it takes to keep on printin’. I will subscribe till you fold ’cause I want to read the local news in newspaper form, not via the computer.
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Nancy
April 28th, 2009
1:29 pm
Maybe this will turn out like “New Coke”….you will realize that the original didn’t need changes and return the paper to its unique AJC look.
I understand the need for economizing with the content and departure of columnists/reporters, etc. But why change the look? The new look is a jumbled mess. The columns are crammed together, nothing stands out, and it has no personality. The font is not the problem…that is easy to adjust to. However, the crammed look is not appealing & doesn’t entice me to scan headlines & read further.
I have no doubt that the AJC spent a pretty penny on the “expert” design team as well as new equipment to produce the new look. Too bad….your money was not well spent.
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Lawrie
April 28th, 2009
1:30 pm
This is what’s missing: In-depth coverage of local business, politics, arts; in-depth coverage of national and international news; in-depth coverage of sports; longtime columnists with respected and divergent points of view. Look at your paper 10 years ago, or at the WSJ, and you’ll see what “in-depth” means. Two or three articles that go beyond the front page do not classify as “broad coverage” of local issues. One or even a few paragraphs does not classify as “in-depth” reporting. AP feeds cannot capture or reflect local character. Sure, I can get through today’s paper fast, but I can get breaking news on the internet. I want to be fully informed, entertained, and educated by the daily paper, and that’s not happening any more.
I hate to say it, but one day we are probably going to cancel our subscription because we will come to the conclusion that what we’re getting at the foot of our driveway is not worth the money. My father would roll over in his grave, and it will break my heart. I realize advertising is down and competition is up, but with all your cutbacks, you are throwing out the baby with the bath water. I’d like to know what your current profit margin is. Far too many papers try to preserve unrealistic margins and end up self-destructing in their efforts to stay afloat.
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DrJ
April 28th, 2009
1:34 pm
The AJC just got shrunk, and we are mad as hell, etc.
Not only shrunk in size, but it content. In a newspaper, I like to read a well developed story, not a thumbnail clip. You have given up on the Business section, and I really miss the behind-the-scenes Sport Section stories, which are not there due to space limitations.
As far as the font size, your Publico is the same or maybe larger than the font in the Wall Street Journal, but your comment about “tightness” might be the difference. Mainly, it’s a matter of expectation: when I open my WSJ I expect small font, and I expected larger font in the AJC. The new soy-based ink washed out of my clothes easily. Your Sunday political cartoonists are pretty good, so stick with them.
My bottom line: not enough meaty articles, too much thumbnail.
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SHS
April 28th, 2009
1:35 pm
Possibly I should not even be commenting because — after agonizing for months — I finally canceled my subscription to the AJC. The final straw was monthly increases in the subscription price, which was automatically debited from my credit card, with no previous notification about the increase.
And, by the way, when I called to cancel, I was connected to a chirpy, cheerful young man who expressed not the slightest concern that I was canceling and cheerily asked, at the end of my call, if there was anything else he could do for me. Too bizarre!
Previously, I had been growing more and more unhappy with the AJC’s rubber-stamping of the DeKalb County School System’s highly questionable actions — with no attempt to follow up or investigate, even after documentation was handed to an AJC employee described as an education reporter. Unfortunately, this person was not among the AJC employees who were recently let go. That alone speaks volumes about the AJC’s future as a serious newspaper “serving” a major metropolitan area.
I wrote to the AJC weeks ago about these experiences and my concerns. I am still waiting for a reply.
I have seen the “new” AJC. What a come-down! and I say that as both an avid newspaper reader and a subscriber of more than 50 years, as well as a graduate of the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications. If I had not already canceled my AJC subscription, I would now.
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MacArthur O. Means
April 28th, 2009
1:38 pm
Bert, I cheated and used the newseum link, because it would take me two hours driving to actually buy the paper. Looks pretty good to me. And who knew the Times-News in North Carolina was nearly 20 years ahead of the curve with all ragged right. Oh wait, maybe Lavaca did that redesign, too.
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Roscoe
April 28th, 2009
1:39 pm
Two points, one minor, the other not.
First, work on your colors, particularly the yellows. With the grayer, recycled newsprint and the blue/gray background on some columns they’re coming out a mustard color. The sun should be sunny yellow, not an almost spicy brown mustard color.
Second, let the sports guys stay up past 9:00 p.m. For the last several months it has been clear you’re “going to bed” earlier and earlier. It’s getting unusual to get any sports score for a game that lasted until 9:30 or 10 on the east coast, much less a score from any game west of Atlanta. If you must run shorter hours, at least run day after summaries – even a line score. You’re circulating in fewer and fewer counties – there must be some wiggle room (you could even make the sports section section D and insert it last.)
And, just because I can’t count and just thought of it, try covering more of the local teams. The Gwinnett Braves should get more than an AP afterthought. Hire some high school or college kid to cover them and run 6 inches or so an all of their games. Do the same for other “minor” sports in the region and see how much stronger your sports pages will be.
The redesign is what it is – and it’s way too soon to make much of a judgment. But, you can put lipstick on a pig and it’s still a pig. Good, solid coverage of local issues, decent coverage and analysis of national and international,and a clear editorial point-of-view (don’t try to be all things to all people) will keep the AJC alive until we figure out a non-print way to deliver the information in a timely and useful fashion.
And, one more thing – make the tiny effort to actually have the stories in the print paper correspond at least loosely with what’s on the web site. There’s nothing more annoying than going to the website to reread a story and discover the only way to find it is to scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the print edition link hidden away in the agate type.
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RNB
April 28th, 2009
1:43 pm
Suggestions for alternate editorial cartoonists? Michael Ramirez. He would be a contrast to Luckovich in that 1) he can actually draw, and 2) is usually clever and often funny, whatever your politics. Luckovich is just vulgar and insulting.
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Susan Scarbrough
April 28th, 2009
1:46 pm
Well, hell. I love the way it looks.
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Anon
April 28th, 2009
1:47 pm
I would like to mention that while there are many negative responses here, there are many more people out there enjoying the new paper rather than commenting negatively here. That is a big problem with the internet in general. The disgruntled are more vocal than the happy.
Anyway, I think the choice in new typefaces was a great one. Boomer and Publico are wonderful and feel very fresh. Their setting may however be a little smaller than it should be.
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Denise Simpson
April 28th, 2009
1:53 pm
I think the new look is awful. The paper is not eye appealing!
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JML
April 28th, 2009
1:53 pm
We recently cancelled our subscription after 30 years, the main reason is the far to liberal slant of the AJC. The new “LOOK” of the AJC just confirms that we made the right decision. We are just lucky to have the Marietta Daily Journal and the Wall Street Journal as an option to the printed news. Recently read that the AJC had a 20% drop in circulation in the past 6 months. Last one out the door PLEASE TURN OUT THE LIGHTS.
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jeffrey melnick
April 28th, 2009
1:56 pm
The worst redesign of a newspaper I have every witnessed . Yes, I agree the paper looks cheap. Ugly colors. Even worse, the paper is very hard on the eyes. Sorry AJC you just lost a loyal reader.
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Newspaper enthusiast
April 28th, 2009
1:58 pm
Here’s a nice blog that illustrates before and after screen shots of the sections using the same stories …. I don’t understand all the fuss. Take a look. Compared side by side, I think it looks better and allows for more content. http://www.visualeditors.com/apple/2009/04/atlanta-journal-constitution-launches-redesign-tuesday/
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PERCY
April 28th, 2009
2:02 pm
I chuckle at the few positive comments, they must be the remaining AJC employees trying to keep their jobs. It top management that just does not get it. Cox had better get someone qualified to save the AJC!
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THM
April 28th, 2009
2:02 pm
Aren’t you afraid that your obvious use of 2nd and 3rd graders to design and prepare the weather page will run afoul of child labor laws? It truly is an abysmal waste of ink and paper and basically insults the 4th grade mentality of your readership.
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Mike
April 28th, 2009
2:02 pm
Get all the McNews in the McNewspaper…
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 28th, 2009
2:04 pm
We’ve gathered a lot of great suggestions – as well as pure, unadulterated complaints – about the redesign. Both are important, and both now are part of our discussion. I do want to reiterate a couple of points. We’re not trying to shrink the newspaper or reduce content because we’ve somehow lost our minds. We are trying hard to provide you the best newspaper we can with the staff and paper we can afford. Because we believe in the special purpose of a newspaper, we are committed to making the AJC a success. I’ve been here 28 years, as a reporter, columnist and editor, and I have no intention of seeing it die on my watch. But, the quickest and surest way to kill the AJC is to ignore the business realities that bedevil us and continue on our merry way. Part of our assumption is that newspaper readers are informed and understand the real world in which we operate and that readers want us to survive. We know change is hard, but we believe this redesign as well as a refocused newsroom will help. The most important work we have to do is journalism, to produce the content that transcends any design or platform. We have a lot of challenges, but I want to assure you that we won’t lose sight of that. Now, I must excuse myself for a while and worry about Wednesday’s newspaper, but don’t stop the conversation on my account.
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Barbara Scott
April 28th, 2009
2:08 pm
I agree with Nancy 1:29PM. If it isn’t broken, why fix it. I find nothing to like in the new AJC format.
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Paul Acocella
April 28th, 2009
2:16 pm
The look of the inside pages is very nice. I like the font you are using for body type. But the front page is –sorry to say this– terrible. Way too top heavy…why take up two decks with the banner And why do you have all these butting heads? The front page had absolutely no over-the-fold appeal. Of the four sections today, only sports had good over-the-fold appeal. Maybe today was just a bade day for the front page, but I thought it was realy, really dreadful. The saving grace was the appearance of those inside pages. Use of color photos is nice, but I think your spot color use in headlines etc. was a bit overdone. Remind your makeup people that less is often more. Having said all that, best of luck to all. It is painful seeing newspapers endure the challenges they have been facing.
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Joseph
April 28th, 2009
2:19 pm
I like that the new design is born out of a fundamental emphasis on making the newspaper for newspaper readers. That’s a really intuitive move and one that, I think, will pay off.
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Alan Berman
April 28th, 2009
2:25 pm
I cannot say when the last time I started the day without a neewspaper, and since 1990, the AJC has been on my driveway. That will soon end.
I feel the font is hard to read, the sports box scores and standings are way too small. I have mentioned before since you eliminated the business section, that the least you could do is put the closing results on the front page, but the lottery results are obviously more important to the readership. And, Terry Moore is gone in a cost cutting.
It will be very hard to start the day without the paper, but I may have to do it…the new AJC just looks and reads like fishwrapper a day too early.
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Jed
April 28th, 2009
2:30 pm
The new format is poorly conceived and flawed in its design. Who are you trying to appeal to with these changes? Your print readers skew upward in age, yet you reduce the font size and “complement” those changes with a garrish color scheme. The new AJC looks like a high school paper or at best a small town rag.
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Lisa T.
April 28th, 2009
2:32 pm
I love reading print newspapers, and although so far I’m not crazy about the new AJC, I want to like it, I really do. So I’m giving myself time to get used to it. Content-wise, I don’t see that much has changed; I can always go online to get more in-depth coverage. But a couple of notes about the design: the denseness of the text does make it appear grayer and smaller – not good for this baby-boomer’s eyes, even with reading glasses. (And I would guess we’re much more your targeted audience than the younger demographics.) Also, when you look at the first page of each section, there’s just too much going on: it’s a confusion of color, typesize, shading, borders, and text. The eye just doesn’t know where to look first. This is particularly true of 1-A, and a little less true of page 1-D. Maybe it was more a matter of content just for today, but it seemed easier to skim the paper and spend less time with it rather than sorting through the muddle, and I’m not sure that’s the point. My 2 cents worth; I’ll reserve the full nickel’s worth until things shake out a bit.
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Carol Benton
April 28th, 2009
2:33 pm
I can’t imagine not having a paper delivered in the morning, but I’m going to find out. I found the paper this morning very hard to read without focus. Quite frankly, it looks like a cheap, local paper that goes directly into my recycle bin. If you stay with this format, you can count me out.
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PERCY
April 28th, 2009
2:39 pm
Hey Bert, you might want to give circulation a call and ask them how many people have cancelled their subscription. The staff is so overwhelmed they are begging for readers not to cancel.
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Lynn
April 28th, 2009
2:46 pm
I’m too embarrassed to show it to anyone. Looks like a supermarket tabloid. The Kohl’s insert was bigger than the page size !
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Avid Intown Reader
April 28th, 2009
2:49 pm
It’s really sad that, as Julia Wallace said, you have “invested millions” in this new design. It’s also too bad that someone has convinced her that white paper is “wasted space.” Look at your own web pages. The negative space has always been a most important part of presenting the active space in any kind of design.
By the way, it is also more important for a newspaper to have a “voice” than to try to appeal to every single person. The people who hate your point of view are not going to love you just because you change your outfit.
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Lynn
April 28th, 2009
2:51 pm
Bert, you stated ‘We are trying hard to provide you the best newspaper we can with the staff and paper we can afford’. Well you obviously got what you paid for. And I don’t mean that in a nice way.
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concerned
April 28th, 2009
2:53 pm
Enter your comments here
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mike
April 28th, 2009
2:53 pm
The font is hard to read, too small and crammed together. The paper is visually unappealing. Content is lacking, like reading a quick over view with very little depth. You actually get much more detail watching the local news on TV, which is not the way it used to be. I have been a subscriber since the late 70’s, not sure I will continue much longer. Really isn’t worth the price of a subscription anymore, with the contued shrinking of content. Extremely disappointed.
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Rob Donald
April 28th, 2009
2:53 pm
Consider me old fashioned … but I look to newspapers for in depth coverage and objective analysis of the news. And sometimes the occasional investigative report. If I just want a snapshot of today’s news then I already have several options available.
I understand your need to become relative and finanically viable. But use of focus groups and reader feedback often results in self fulfiling “findings”.
Changes in look and feel are not important to me, but changes in how the news is gathered and reported is. Those changes will only hasten the ultimate demise of the AJC because your core customer (like me) will have litthe reason to stay and potential new customers you will find little reason to subscribe.
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Pat
April 28th, 2009
2:54 pm
After being taken to the woodshed by the overwhelming majority of respondents, I hope that you do something in response to the dissatisfaction that has been heaped upon you. Atlanta really does need a quality newspaper, I believe that you feel the same. However, this iteration isn’t it.
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Jim P
April 28th, 2009
2:54 pm
This morning I was distressed that my ajc was not delivered, and in it’s place was this cheap tabloid looking piece of garbage. Then I noticed the the title pages in the new hedious looking colors and realized this is no joke. All I can say are my first impressions are “cheap, cheap, and CHEAP!” The print looks cheap, the font looks cheap, the colors are awful. Since when is the sun on the weather lime green? This new look is not just distasteful, it’s truely awful. I can’t imagine the millions wasted on consultants and marketing geniuses to come up with this. Did anyone think to ask Coca-Cola about New Coke? Whatever shortcomnings existed in the content itself (and trust me, there are many), no one will even notice now because they can’t get pass the cringe reaction as this rag heads straight to the recycle bin. I’ve been considering cancelling my subscrition for some time, due to lack of good content. However, I have kept it because I do enjoy reading a paper in the morning, and at least the old version was pleasing to the eye and looked professionally produced. The product now looks like a middle school class project. I guess I should be thankful as this makes my decision to cancel an easy one – a no brainer.
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SReynolds
April 28th, 2009
2:55 pm
The AJC overcharged for classified ads for so long, a monopoly cash cow that helped fund a bloated organization, that having competition from Craigslist, among other things, has caused it to actually make desperate changes to stay afloat. Unfortunately we don’t have another Atlanta paper to make for a competitive environment so we’re stuck with hoping they make the needed changes on their own volition. Whether we like the new design is only part of the big picture. We really do need a “good” local newspaper that provides investigative stories that make us think someone is looking out for us.
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Browncoat
April 28th, 2009
2:57 pm
Hey Bert, cute comment about people buying the paper instead of “cheating” by clicking on the link and keeping 75 cents out of the AJC coffers. I would do that, BUT YOU STOPPED CIRCULATING THE PAPER IN SPALDING COUNTY, LESS THAN ONE HOUR DRIVE FROM DOWNTOWN. Sell the paper here, and I would try it out. However, the redesign still stinks.
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old newspaper guy
April 28th, 2009
2:58 pm
Things are not looking good at the AJC…literaly and figuratively.
The design is tough on the eyes, is difficult to know where to begin to try to concentrate. Pages are far too copy heavy and it appears that concern for above the fold importance have gone with the wind..and the subscribers.
Sad, just sad..and to think a professional design firm contributed to this!
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jake
April 28th, 2009
3:04 pm
it looks like a goddamn highschool news letter change it back or im changeing to the usa today
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Jake V.
April 28th, 2009
3:09 pm
Just awful. Cheap. “More newsy, sophisticated”??? Sorry, it looks like something out of the 70’s. Like a small town circular trying to imitate USA Today. Or produced by the renown stylists at MARTA.
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MacArthur O. Means
April 28th, 2009
3:12 pm
The Chattanooga paper laid off 15 newsroom employees today … and their circulation is up!
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Paul Acocella
April 28th, 2009
3:16 pm
I have to say that while I have some significant issues with the new look, I am really appalled at the crass, rude, and downright cruel comments from many people here. I can’t recall seeing so many cheap shots in one place at one time. Advice to the editors: go home, have a drink or two and have faith that the sun will still rise in the morning.
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Lisa T.
April 28th, 2009
3:27 pm
I agree with Paul about the nature of today’s comments. However, I think most of us generally understand that newspapers today are having to adjust to the tightening market and economic conditions; many just don’t like the particular path chosen by the AJC. To me the passionate responses are a sign that a lot of readers really care about their newspaper and are feeling let down by it.
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Newspaper enthusiast
April 28th, 2009
3:27 pm
Yeah … I have got to agree with Paul. Many of the posts here border on outrageous and, for the most part, are not particularly constructive. AJC staff … chins up and put the pencil to paper, so to speak.
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Debbie
April 28th, 2009
3:33 pm
I get the Sunday paper and I am not happy with it at all. The comics are all mashed together and so small you can’t even read them. The TV paper isn’t even worth looking at. The font is too small and doesn’t fit anywhere. I really liked the other TV insert. It had a whole lot more information and was easier to read. I get the paper for the coupons but maybe I need to start using the Internet for them and cancel my subscription. It would save me money in these economic times.
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Jason
April 28th, 2009
3:38 pm
The look of the paper has finally caught up with the content of the paper. Crap. My college newspaper looks better.
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PERCY
April 28th, 2009
3:40 pm
Donald Trumps says, YOUR FIRED!
Go, get out of here!
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Charlie
April 28th, 2009
3:40 pm
I think Nancy’s “New Coke” comparison from a couple of hours ago is spot on. The question is whether AJC management can swallow its pride and undo this awful mistake.
Also on the mark was Longtime AJC Reader’s comments about reader surveys and focus groups (and I write this as somebody who conducts and uses a great deal of market research). It’s as though AJC management dumped all the research data into a blender and used the result as a substitute for decision-making.
The good news in all of this is that people obviously care about what you’ve done. If they didn’t care, they wouldn’t be bothering to provide all this feedback. On some level we all understand that newspapers play a unique role in our community, and I think a lot of us feel like we’ve been watching the AJC die a slow and painful death for some time now.
The talent drain over the past couple of years has been awful to watch, and I fear the AJC may already have passed its tipping point.
Bert Roughton asked for suggestions. Here are mine. Fire the research company (and the design firm) and rely on experienced journalists to decide what’s important and what’s not. Report the news. Raise hell. Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. And find a clear editorial voice.
That may not be enough, but at least you’ll go down fighting.
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Andy Miller
April 28th, 2009
3:42 pm
Unfortunately, my initial response is not too good. It looks like a poor man’s USA Today. I’m really sorry to read about the problems the AJC has been having that forced such cutbacks. I’ve been a marketing executive for Fortune 500 companies for over 35 years, so I look at problems such as yours from a marketing perspective. I’ve been a subscriber to the AJC for over 25 years, so I’ve seen the changes in format and management. Granted my observations of the AJC’s problems have been from a distance and are, at best, superficial, however that hasn’t prevented me from offering opinions in the past. For lack of a better way to describe it, it would seem to me that your target audience for the paper is the 100,000 or so people who live in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood. You seem to ignore the 2 million or so people north of the perimeter. You may not realize you are doing this, but I think you are. I continue to read articles writen by your local opinion writers that belittle the things that are important to those of us who live in the “northern donut,” as you refer to us. It’s no wonder that I’m one of the few people on my block who still subscribes. Incidentally, I just got my subscription renewal and you doubled the rates. I need to carefully weigh the costs against the benefits. Right now, you don’t look so good.
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Jeff
April 28th, 2009
4:03 pm
Where’s the Beef? As the lady in the Wendy’s commercial used to say. I used to be able to kill an hour reading the Sports page, now I am lucky if it takes me 10 minutes. If I only want the scores and short game recaps I can get that on any website. I would like to some some depth. Give me some articles. Let me know more, not less. The metro section takes me about 5 minutes. There is just no reason for me to read most of the very short blurbs. I would rather read a longer story about an interesting topic than the very few highlights of many topics. I like to read newspapers to get some depth to stories not the quick hit, that is reserved for TV news which only has 30 minutes.
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Diane
April 28th, 2009
4:04 pm
My renewal is coming up and I was thinking of canceling my paper. It seems to get smaller and smaller every week. After seeing todays paper I don’t have to think, I know that I will not pay for the paper again.
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wj
April 28th, 2009
4:05 pm
While I generally applaud efforts to improve products, in this case the effort is tantamount to dressing up a decayed and fundamentally flawed product.
I suggest the editors and others at the AJC focus on improving content, not just on visual packaging. Your content is extraordinarily biased – it boringly and predictably follows a predetermined “spin” agenda. Moreover, using the term extraordinarily in terms of biased and agenda-oriented writing is intended to underscore the damning nature of the comment.
The AJC editorials have become the equivalent of a sophomoric blog for liberalism.
Nice try but I judge the makeover as a distant miss. Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, and you didn’t even get the chairs in an attractive arrangement at that!
WJ
Atlanta
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Lanny Asamoto
April 28th, 2009
4:07 pm
I have subscribed to the AJC for over 30 years. We are extremely disappointed in the new look of the paper. It looks like something that would be published from a small town newspaper, except for the coloring. The print is so small you can hardly read it. It’s not very enjoyable reading the paper anymore, it’s more of an effort. It’s hard to find and read articles. Heaven forbid that I have to look for anything in your want ad section. I no longer think it’s worth paying the annual price to subscribe to your newspaper.
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Jose
April 28th, 2009
4:09 pm
Good Lord there’s a heap load of whining on this message board. Surely some of these complaints will never be resolved unless the paper goes back to this (the ideal layout for the whining, one week from the obituaries demographic): http://www.springfieldlibrary.org/gutenberg/images/gutenbibl1.jpg
On the upside, from a purely aesthetic view, I think the new layout is very crisp, clean and easy to read. It’s a daily, so we all should be aware of the fact that the front page will always look different on a day to day basis. I think there probably wasn’t enough use of photography to contrast the page but it’s a great start to get a feel for the new layout. Good Stuff.
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Bill Deck
April 28th, 2009
4:10 pm
In one of Bert Roughton’s earlier responses to a reader’s comments he stated that “we focused on people who actually like newspapers”. I know that the AJC is in a down-word spiral (not a bad way of describing a shrinking publication) and hard choices have had to be made, but to make such a statement about what has been influencing the direction of the paper is disingenuous at best. The new format only exacerbates the problem. It is a big mistake – both unattractive and unpleasant to read.
But it’s the direction of the content that is really going to do things in. Ralph McGill would role over in his grave if he knew how the integrity of the paper is being decimated. To contend that the paper needs to have more “balanced reporting” is giving in to pressures that will destroy any chance of survival. Good reporting can show the good side of what is going on, but oftentimes it is hard edged, in depth and challenging. Certainly, it needs to be objective. With the exception of some of the editorial page comments – many written by other sources – and Mike Lucovich’s brilliant editorial cartoons, the paper is pretty devoid of any serious content. (I’ll also tip my hat to some of the writers on the sports page, a section of the paper I’ve always been drawn to.)
For all of those who are thinking of letting their current subscription expire and are grieving about the potential loss of reading meaty content in the print media, may I make a suggestion. Please consider changing your subscription to the New York Times. As an earlier commenter (DJL) said about the NYT, “every day I find something new and insightful that challenges my thinking”. It will cost you about $2 a day for a 7 day subscription, and you can pick it up outside your door just like with the AJC. The satisfaction in reading such a paper is very rewarding and you won’t have to give up your lifelong love affair with reading the newspaper.
I’ve been subscribing to both the NYT and the AJC for several months and, aside from the sports page and Mike Luckovich, there is no comparison between the two. The way things are going it won’t be long before I’m down to one newspaper – the one really worth reading, the one really worth trying to save.
I’ll even bet that Mr. Roughton reads the NYT.
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Avid Reader
April 28th, 2009
4:11 pm
How about making the content more readable and do this quickly? It’s such a basic concept…typeface should not be so heavy and text (line spacing) is too crammed. It’s actually painful to read. I enjoyed reading the paper before today! Also, the baseball standings are ridiculously minute. Please do a makeover.
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Martin Guldner
April 28th, 2009
4:11 pm
I laughed when I saw the AJC’s new design this morning. I looks more like a high school newspaper or a hick town newspaper format. Atlanta is a big city want a be. The transportation system stinks and the city of Atlanta will never be a Chicago or a New York. I always said that Atlanta needs to fix its Transportation and water issues to be a city on par with Chicago or a New York. Now it has a third problem it’s newspaper makes Atlanta look like a hick town!
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Jose
April 28th, 2009
4:18 pm
Also the leading might be a bit tight for the older readers as from what you are reading on the complaints. The type isn’t smaller than the previous version but the tighter leading is making the readers feel it’s smaller. And try using 6 columns at this width a bit more sparingly, there seems to be space for only 4-5 words before you need to move on to the next line.
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Jose
April 28th, 2009
4:24 pm
Martin Guldner, I’m not sure if you’ve had the opportunity to see any publications outside of Georgia, this is the direction many international newspapers are currently taking. This isn’t a small town design by a long shot.
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James E. Prideaux
April 28th, 2009
4:24 pm
Miss Julie, don’t you worry your pretty little head about all those unkind comments. My stars, chile, you’ve got a cute little newspaper.
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karen powers
April 28th, 2009
4:25 pm
More difficult to read. Too USA Today-ish. Who cares about colored mastheads, anyway? What about content?
Much ado about nothing.
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Adam
April 28th, 2009
4:29 pm
We have been thinking about canceling our subscription for several months and this may just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. The new layout may just take some getting used to but time will tell. One thing I noticed this morning in the new look was on the weather page. I always look at the 5 day forecast to see what you think is coming. It used to be pretty easy to read. Now there is a big cloud or sun or graphic with tiny text for the day and even tinier text for the projected high and low temperatures. Please assume that your readers can actually read and would like to see more text and do not need a big picture. Please place the day above the graphic in larger font and include the temperatures in larger font. These changes would make it easier to read, which is what I think you have claimed to be one of your goals. And thank you for getting rid of the picture of the day on that page that had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the page.
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Keith
April 28th, 2009
4:30 pm
After being a 7-day subscriber for 29 years, this last renewal was probably my last. Forget colors and new mastheads… there is NO CONTENT! It took me exactly 3 minutes and 42 seconds to scan thru the entire paper hoping I would find something I hadn’t already read online somewhere. I hear Taps playing.
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FinanceBuzz
April 28th, 2009
4:31 pm
This newspaper needs to figure out two things. First, Atlanta is in a conservative state and, as such, most of us do not want a newspaper that is a liberal mouthpiece. Second, not every person in this state is fan of or even cares about UGA. Cover them, yes, but not at the cost of ignoring Georgia Tech so you can cover every time Mark Richt or Vince Dooley sneezes. Until this paper figures those two things out, I can assure you I will continue to not buy your paper. The only thing you will get from me is some pageviews.
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Brian Foster
April 28th, 2009
4:32 pm
Most of these complaints sound like Facebook users whining every time Mark Zuckerberg make a change to the layout. And after they get used to it and begin to like it, they complain when it is tweaked again. Please something constructive. Try running a newspaper in an industry that is falling fast. AJC is attempting to save something that you obviously love. I personally like the new design. Its not as bold as I hoped it would be (look to what is being done in Eastern Europe), but it is a step in the right direction, in form, aesthetics and economy. I like the new color scheme in regards to the different sections, and the borders between the the columns within an article. Overall, its a step in the right direction, considering the direction that a lot of papers are going nowadays. Please, be creative and innovative in this changing market.
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Wendy Harris
April 28th, 2009
4:36 pm
I do not like it. It is hard to read and the type is too small. The colors are bland and do not add – it distracts. The colors need to be bolder. I think that I will just get my news online from hereon. The AJC is not worthe the money anymore. I don’t enjoy reading it anymore. It is too stagnant and biased.
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AJC Fan
April 28th, 2009
4:38 pm
As an avid reader of the AJC since the early 1990s when I moved to Atlanta, here’s my solution for one of the problems of the redesign. The eye naturally moves across the page when reading. The multiple columns force the eye to move down and makes the paper feel scrunched. Have some stories, such as the lead and the “below the fold” span 3-4 columns across, while other stories are confined to the vertical columns. This would help to break up the cluttered feel to the front page. The font could stand to be a bit darker too, if possible. For instance, the Vent was very difficult to read for some reason. Anyway, this is my 2Cents.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 28th, 2009
4:42 pm
Bill: OK. I was trying work on Wednesday’s newspaper, but I must respond. I do read The New York Times; I read a lot of publications. I obsess over C-Span. I can’t help it – it’s my personality disorder. But, I’m not sure where you have gotten the impression from this redesign and focus on balance that we have diluted our commitment to journalism. Without any question, we will continue in the traditions of great newspapers when it comes to tough-minded work that challenges people and institutions in positions of authority. We have added watchdog reporters and are deeply committed to the kind of reporting you describe. To be balanced does not me being namby pamby. It means to make an accounting of the stakeholders in an issue and give a breadth of viewpoints in the work. In reality, it means good basic reporting and editing. It doesn’t mean that we will shy away from writing tough pieces or holding people accountable. Our reporters are smart, courageous and the match of anyone out there. My only request of you is to read us, particularly Sunday when we have the space and audience to be at our best. We’ve just gone through a substantial change here – I’ve had this particular job a week or so. But I believe we’re going to surprise folks.
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rondell
April 28th, 2009
4:45 pm
Page A3: “Order of sections will be consistent. You’ll never have to guess from day to day what section will be where in the paper.”
Well since the AJC has been reduced to just four sections, that should be easy.
Also, it looks to me like the font size has been reduced in the few stock quotes that remain in the business section. Am I wrong?
Plus, with all the economic turmoil today, the AJC can only devote three pages to business news?
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Longtime AJC Reader
April 28th, 2009
4:46 pm
Wow, a week on the job. I feel for you, Bert. I know you guys are doing your best to save an important Atlanta institution. In spite of our almost unanimous opposition to the redesign, I know most people on this blog are pulling for the paper — and the reporters and editors personally.
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SR
April 28th, 2009
4:51 pm
Case in point. Look at the homepage on the web site. Headline: “Jeep that matched suspect’s seen near dirt trail”…yet when you click on it, there’s nothing in the story about sighting the vehicle at all. Typical web content from AJC.
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chuck weaver
April 28th, 2009
4:51 pm
looks like a cheap tabloid.unprofessional
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Erika
April 28th, 2009
4:53 pm
The new layout is OK but for the first time I had to put on reading glasses to read the paper. I’m sure my vision hasn’t changed all that much since yesterday…. The new size and colors make it seem like a children’s publication — small and puny. We are getting so much less now, for the same or higher price. That model just isn’t going to bring salvation to the AJC….
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steve lanier
April 28th, 2009
4:57 pm
You no doubt paid Lucie Lacava a large fee for the redesigned format.
You could have saved a lot of money by buying a copy of ‘The Washington Post’ and saying (repeat after me), “this is what a newspaper is suppose to be”. We are not asking for a ‘cutting edge’ newspaper, we are asking for a quality newspaper and you guys just don’t get it. Admit your mistake and start over. Didn’t you try the USA Today format back in the 1980’s, how did that turn out?
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Hans Nein
April 28th, 2009
4:58 pm
I have been subscribing to your paper for about 12 years. Even though I never liked some of your liberal writings I found some interesting writings, but this new format, especially the small gray writing and crammed format turns me off. I am seriously debating whether to cancel my subscription.
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Jane Blankers
April 28th, 2009
5:03 pm
Are you kidding!! where are my magnifying glasses.I know a majority of your subscribers are of my generation(65+ ) We have been a subscriber for 29 yrs. but not for much longer. You have gone the way of the phone book which only our generation uses also. I guess it’s on to the free internet with our children (35 + )
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Andy Miller
April 28th, 2009
5:06 pm
Several people have commented on your goal of “balanced reporting.” “Balanced reporting,” as far as I’m concerned is a cop-out. It’s a philosophy straight out of Journalism 101. I’m not concerned so much with “balance” as I am with “truth” and “facts.” I daresay I’m older than most folks on this blog, but I remember when reporters used to dig until they had the facts and the facts were reported. The “facts” were also used as the basis for editorial opinion. Now, everyone seems to be satisfied with merely presenting “both sides of the issue.” Generally, one side is supported by the facts and the other side is lying through their teeth. A good reporter knows which is which. In my opinion, so-called “balance” is the cheap and easy way out. It’s not journalism in my book.
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The Eighth
April 28th, 2009
5:06 pm
Lucko is still there? Oh well, we can always hope. Can I offer to throw some funds into a buy out for him?
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AlphaJack
April 28th, 2009
5:10 pm
I’ve been a loyal defender of the AJC since 1991 and it pains my heart (and my eyes) to try to read today’s edition. Watching you manipulate the editorial stance to be a more “red-state” friendly publication is the intellectual equivalent of water boarding. Put us out of our misery and end it!
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ToSteveLanier
April 28th, 2009
5:11 pm
Brace yourself, Steve. All things change, even though the AJC hadn’t since 1999. The Washington Post is next: http://tr.im/jXn5
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Kathleen Gruenhgen
April 28th, 2009
5:12 pm
So the new look will be without hyperlinks to read the continuation of articles?
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Jim P
April 28th, 2009
5:12 pm
I posted my earlier comments without reading any of the others. Now that I have read many of my fellow readers comments, it appears the disgust is near unanimous. I am compelled to make one other point. The reason the “new look” appears so cheap and unprofessional is because it is. This is a bare bones cost cutting initiative, plain and simple. You insult your readers intelligence by spinning these changes under the flimsy guise of giving the readers what they want. The only focus group you apparently consulted were a room full of accountants tasked with deep production cost cuts. I’m sure your cost per paper is down significantly, but in a few short weeks your cost per subscriber will have gone through the roof as your readers bail out in droves. Is another cost cutting idea – do away with your news stands as most of them won’t be needed anymore.
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Brad Nelson
April 28th, 2009
5:30 pm
I just keep saying it to myself…WOW WOW WOW. What an absolute joke. I know that Ms. Wallace and all the editors must try to put the best face on the new AJC and defend the design changes, but really, this is shockingly pathetic. Do the publishers REALLY believe that THIS is going to save the AJC, a once great newspaper, the voice of the South that “Covered Dixie Like the Dew”??? Jagged-edge columns, poor organization, terrible graphics, and probably THE ugliest flag/nameplate of any large daily newspaper in the nation. No offense to Lacava or any of the designers at AJC, but this must be the most ill-conceived redesign I’ve seen, and I’ve been watching alot of them across the country. Do you people NOT look at other front pages on NEWSEUM.COM???? Hang today’s edition on a wall inside the AJC newsroom under a sign that asks, “Would YOU buy this newspaper?” That would be an embarrassing assessment. Look, I’m only 30, but I used to LOVE to buy the AJC, because it was a NEWSPAPER, just a classic, well-put-together broadsheet. Every newspaper in the country is ruining itself because they (and you) just don’t get it. You just CANNOT figure this out, and yet the answer was so easy. Expect to join the NYT for a 20% decline next quarter. The saddest part of this is that you will stick with this design out of stubbornness and unwillingness to admit a mistake. Until the last dog dies. And this dog is on its last leg. This is a sad, sad day for the AJC. Again, WOW.
WOW, WOW, WOW.
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Susan McDaniel
April 28th, 2009
5:34 pm
I am a long-time subscriber but will probably not renew my subscription. The print is too small and and the line spacing is too narrow. I wear reading glasses anyway, and I had to get a magnifying glass to see the baseball standings this morning. Instead of enjoying reading the paper, I now find it a strain on my eyes. For older readers like myself, the effort is too great. I doubt that the AJC will exist in a print format for much longer.
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Isabelle Moss
April 28th, 2009
5:35 pm
Enter your comments here
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Meme
April 28th, 2009
5:38 pm
We are all entitled to our opinions. If the people at the AJC didn’t want to know what we thought, they would not have asked. Get over it.
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Jeff
April 28th, 2009
6:15 pm
My only problem really was the font of “The Atlanta Journal Constitution”. I would have liked to have seen it in all black and maybe a font closer to Times New Roman. The curves on the new characters for this title seemed a little too casual for me. Stay classy, ajc.
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ChrisC
April 28th, 2009
6:18 pm
I admit to being part of the problem–I quit as a subscriber years ago and read rely mostly on the web for timely news. However, I still would buy 2-3 papers a week when I could sneak away for a nice lunch by myself and enjoy the paper. Nothing was better than taking the time to enjoy a few moments with the paper–something you could feel, touch and fold.
The new format really looks like an excelent High School or small town publication. It’s pathetic. I’ll still grab SOMETHING to read even if it has to be a USA Today or other national publication. I undertsnad if the numbers just don’t work and a newspaper is no longer a viable business but the current product you offer now is not part of the solution. Just give up now and focus on trying to have a decent web page.
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Jose
April 28th, 2009
6:20 pm
lol nothing classier than Times New Roman … *sigh, tapping my heels 3 times, I wish this wasn’t Georgia …
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Betty Tribble
April 28th, 2009
6:42 pm
I am afraid you will be the ones to read this paper.
I refuse to pay for something this poorly designed. We have a free
paper in Cherokee County that puts this to shame.
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Alex Bender
April 28th, 2009
6:49 pm
I can not believe what you just wrote. You just don’t get it…please go back and READ the 331 blogs, You guys blew it and it looks like you are still not ready to see or admit the mess you made with this change.
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Betty Tribble
April 28th, 2009
6:58 pm
This is about the poorest excuse for a newspaper I have ever seen.
Cherokee County has a FREE paper that puts this to shame.
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Jan - anne
April 28th, 2009
6:59 pm
I really feel that the design of this liberal paper is the least of its problems.
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O Evans
April 28th, 2009
7:01 pm
We now have a city tabloid!! Looks like a tabloid, reads like a tabloid… it is a tabloid.
Maybe the city of Sandy Springs could produce a real “news”paper that is real.
As native Atlantans and always a subscriber because we believed. We now believe we need to relinquish our subscriptions. Maybe I’ll just read the tabloid headlines in the grocery store line.
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mike
April 28th, 2009
7:02 pm
What a gigantic step backwards you’ve reinvented a smaller “grey-lady”. I may grow used to it, but at first blush the changes are not pleasing I can’t believe you placed a mock up of this very retro shopper sized paper before a focas group of current readers.
Having got that all off my chest, I will acknowledge that you gotta do what you gotta do, to save money. But these changes are VERY extreme. Good luck.
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Soon To Be A Former Subscriber
April 28th, 2009
7:05 pm
If killing the print edition of the AJC is the intent with this redesign, mission accomplished.
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Kevin
April 28th, 2009
7:08 pm
FACT: I’ve never bought the newspaper because I thought it looked (or didn’t look) pretty. It’s still the same copy and uninteresting, predictable stories that I read online the day before.
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Rachael
April 28th, 2009
7:08 pm
Well I was trying to decide whether to renew my subscription and the redesign made my decision for me: I will absolutely not pay for such garbage. Its a disappointment to see such poor quality. Theres a reason that newspapers should not be set up 5 columns across (such as the front page of Tuesdays paper); its much too crowded. It looks like an amateur high school newspaper and thats unacceptable. Whats wrong with classic?
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Marc
April 28th, 2009
7:08 pm
Since this is the newest thread, I thought I would comment here. This is a sentence used by the Managing Editor in a comment on the previous thread.
“To be balanced does not me being namby pamby.”
I am not making this up! If they ‘correct’ it without clear notification, they have lost all integrity.
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Mr. Touchdown
April 28th, 2009
7:24 pm
People, take two aspirin and call me in the morning. The new AJC pages are the same length as before and about one inch narrower. All the main stuff that was there before is still there.
The main problem is that Mike Luckovich still gets a free unopposed shot which is pure and simple unbalanced journalism.
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Horace Greeley
April 28th, 2009
7:27 pm
Fire Cynthia Tucker, Jay Bookman and the other flower children, and I’ll start subscribing again !
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Russell Slider
April 28th, 2009
7:35 pm
You write that it is “not unexpected” that you would receive more negative feedback than positive, and I would agree but not for the reason you suggest. It is not change, itself, that readers dislike; it is this particular change that the majority of readers object to; that is the real reason the negative outweighs the positive. You seek specifics so here are several:
1. The design looks like a bad knock off of USA Today. Your designers should keep their eyes on their own paper…literally.
2. The change in size and design make reading more difficult; there is too much on the page.
3. The paper quality feels different…cheaper and more flimsy.
The reality is you cannot do a wrong thing well enough to make it right; and this new look, clearly, is a wrong thing. It is time to rethink and not a time to try to justify and to explain away a bad decision and an unpopular change.
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concerned
April 28th, 2009
7:40 pm
sorry, if the 2 year effort on this redesign is accurate, you needn’t have taken so long. the layout on the section fronts is difficult to follow. the weather page is worse than before, the sports standings are poor, the colors unnecessary etc etc. I understand the newsprint savings from the web reduction and won’t throw a brick your way for that. As far as folks hurling insults at your writers, phooey on them. I don’t want to agree with everything I read. If I did, I could write myself and always agree. A number of your columnists piss me off from time to time and they also get me to think about another side of an issue. That’s one of the reasons I like reading a newspaper.
I am disappointed in the short shriff that weekday’s appear to be getting. I enjoy the newspaper all 7 days, why make me unhappy 6 out of 7? You may need to add a paper-weight to the bag during the week…very light indeed.
as far as reader feedback/input on this redesign, you might have been better off asking a different group. These folks did you no favors.
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jdawg
April 28th, 2009
7:46 pm
I really have just marked off the print edition…because when I travel around I cannot purchase outside Metro…so you have done well in limiting access….internet will just have to do…jdawg
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Ian Latham
April 28th, 2009
7:46 pm
Congratulations, the paper is totally unreadable. I was a typographer for over 30 years. The narrow column measure, extremely large x-height of the typeface, its globular letter shape, lack of any stress in the letterform, and the flush left setting combine to make reading impossible. Too many globular letters, too few words per line, and an unjustified setting make scanning impossible. The overall effect is disorienting. Readers won’t sit still for this.
And isn’t there something fundamentally wrong with blind headlines that take two subheads to decipher?
Time for Plan B.
Go to Plan B.
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lt. dad
April 28th, 2009
7:48 pm
wow. only 8 comments in response to the editor’s defense. maybe no one cares. ajc has successfully dumbed itself down. clearly your goal was to imitate usa today.—specifically, complaints are: complete mimicing of usa today; ultra left reporting, w/ cynthia tucker at the helm (out of step, not constructive, blahblah blah, our time w/ obama, etc) why do you set such a low bar? do you simply think you reflect metro atlanta? why not provide some leadership and TAKE people where they should go? 25 yr subscriber, very sad. this and shirley franklin’s complete abdication at the end to me signal a glacial decline in the atlanta that we have all tried to build over the last two decades. yeah yeah i know, recession, etc, but that doesnt excuse not at all trying to take the high road. thought you all were better than this.
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Patricia Gregg
April 28th, 2009
7:51 pm
AJC, I can sum up my opinion on the redesign (and wish for the future) by simply citing another venerable Atlanta institution’s foray into fixing what wasn’t broken. Remember New Coke!
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Paul
April 28th, 2009
7:52 pm
What is most disappointing is the employees within the AJC believe their customers are intellectually challenged and are unable to decipher the fact we are being played. With all the money that was at stake with new equipment, paper, and soy ink wouldn’t it have been more prudent to be totally honest with your loyal daily readers and state the business and economic environment requires these types of drastic change to survive? Instead you are taking the approach to insult your loyal readers by attempting to “hard sell” them a product that they are advising has little to no value… complete disconnect
By making the changes your cost per paper will only go down if you maintain subscribers. Based on the 331 blogs earlier today my guess is you will lose 40% of your daily subscribers which will drive your cost per subscriber much higher.. most organizations choose to maintain current customer and grow the business…
Do the right thing by admitting your mistake and quickly find ways to satisfy your loyal readers
Specific feedback — You could solve a majority of the complaints by going back to the original size of the paper and making the font readable to anyone 40 + years of age….
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Allan Brown
April 28th, 2009
8:04 pm
I just returned from a 4 month vacation and restarted by AJC subscription. I thought it was a joke when the first (redesigned) issue arrived today. Narrow columns with little spacing between news items (with small, blurry captions) make the paper virtually unreadable. You have to SEARCH for each and every item that you may want to read. Paper is flimsey, print is small and blurry and it reminds me of a crowded USA Today with no headlines. How anyone could stand up and justify this “change” as something better gives credance to legalizing the sale of Medical marijuana! Loved the old paper. Junk the new version and start over or I’m outta here.
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A. Mess
April 28th, 2009
8:10 pm
I have purchased your paper for 67 years. I can not read this paper. We have a county paper that I also subscribe to and it is excellent. When my subscription runs out on your paper, I will not renew. It is such a shame. Henry Grady is turning over in his grave today.
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stew
April 28th, 2009
8:16 pm
It looks like it is printed on very cheep paper, washed out colors and gives you a headache trying to read the small type. Would prefer it in tabloid form like the NY Post. The ink and colors along with the paper quality must improve.
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sarah g.
April 28th, 2009
8:28 pm
To everyone who says the AJC is doing it for financial reasons – of course they are. If any company out there was losing 20% of their customers for a specific product (in this case the paper version of the AJC)you would try to make changes to the product to attract more buyers – there may be some initial missteps with customers who liked the old version but in order to thrive and survive the AJC has to take some chances. Thanks Julia for taking a chance to ensure that Atlanta still has a viable newspaper. I hope that readers provide constructive feedback that you can use to improve. It’s always easier to tear down than build new.
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clifton grant
April 28th, 2009
8:34 pm
Ralph McGill’s columns changed my teenaged mind about race; Paul
Hemphill’s columns made the cry; Grizzard’s columns made me laugh
out loud; Celestine Sibley’s columns warmed my heart; Bert Roughton’s
series on the GDOT-Gwinnett County connection had everybody in my
industry talking; Jane Hansen’s articles were responsible for my
becoming a Court Appointed Special Advocate (for children). Having
known what the paper WAS, I am pained by what it’s become and, now, it’s
ugly and difficult to read, to boot. Count me among your former
readers.
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David of Marietta
April 28th, 2009
8:37 pm
The goal of redesigning a product is to improve the product. Can anyone at the AJC honestly think the new design of the paper is an improvement? It is horrible and makes the paper almost unreadable. You have truly taken the joy out of reading the paper. I am a newspaper junky, but I am going to have to give up the home delivery, and just read the AJC online where at least it is readable.
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Donna Murphy
April 28th, 2009
8:39 pm
Would love to comment but Athens, GA was ditched from AJC delivery routes effective 2 days ago. We subscribed since the first day we moved here, 16 years ago. I guess not getting the paper is the lesser of the two evils; getting it and hating it. Oh well!
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marvin williams
April 28th, 2009
8:43 pm
Part of my daily routine and responsibility had been reading the Atlanta Journal Constitution. I have been here since 1978 while periodically commuting between Atlanta, Chicago, and Brooklyn. It is sad that I must stop this routine because the new physical format seems to disregard consideration for readers that protect their healthy eyesight. I understand that the editors are faced with financial pressures and a changing population. Younger readers may enjoy viewing colors and having a paper that can easily be carried in their purses or back pockets.
The former design was easy to read and you could cover and sort through informative articles faster. In it’s current format, it is insanely impossible. I have continually resisted getting my local news from the Internet, for the reason that it is not possible to get in-depth reporting of news events in a fast and efficient format. I hate to say how unfortunately inconsiderate or naive of the editorial staff to disregard readers concern for maintaining their healthy eyesight.
Fortunately the New York Times is available here in Atlanta and I will be able to get my daily world, political, and science news from that periodical. I wish it weren’t true or that the AJC would redesign it’s format or revert to the old.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution, regardless of the presence of John Wooten’s misinformation, was a premier newspaper publication. I grew up in Washington, D.C., and I visit Washington, D.C. occasionally; and I knew that I was fortunate to be living near Atlanta reading a news publication that was considered above the leading newspaper publications. Part my of assessment was based on content, excellent world news coverage, sufficient if not superb coverage of our U.S. Congress and Presidential news, and the informative content found regarding health and sciences. The other part would be whether the paper could present the information in a physical format that was easily viewed. In simple terms, do I need a magnifying glass and ruler to digest the articles.
I did not complain at all when the AJC reduced the number pages within each section and combined sections. Even though the paper was thinner, we were still getting exceptional news coverage. My wife asked me to stop purchasing the AJC because of it’s increased daily price, 75 cents, and it’s reduced size. However, I was able to convince her the articles may be fewer, none the less, the news that was printed in the thinner editions were exceptional. She was persuaded by my observations.
If the AJC is trying to increase it’s readership and reduce operating expenses; focus on content and the type of advertisement and consumer product coupons that will draw on more readership. The paper should not have to lean politically left or right or start wearing clothes that are too tight.
I had no intention of writing such a long comment. Well, when you are losing a loved one, you just take the time to let that loved one know that their past contributions were not ignored and appreciated deeply.
Well, it’s time for me to go to Kroger and purchase a copy of the New York Times and contact the New York Times subscription department and see if I can get a good deal.
Farewell old friend … maybe you will find your way back.
It will be nice to discontinue my future subscription; be it the New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, or the Washington Post; once I’ve noticed a change in the AJC’s current physical format that allows a reader to consume it’s information in an easily viewed font size, with your eyes traveling from left to right, and with the occasional splashes of color photographs. My guess would be that the primary designer of this new format, grew up on the Internet and very rarely reads books.
Maybe the AJC staff will consider how important selling the idea to potential advertisers that in these current economic times by publishing smartly selected coupons, their businesses would benefit from the new traffic of potential cost cutting customers that are looking for deals and savings. No matter how small the deal, a deal is a deal.
The businesses that survive are not the businesses that just cut costs. The businesses that do well in this economy will cut costs and increase traffic.
Good luck. I’m out. Thanks for all you’ve done.
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Scott Byrnes
April 28th, 2009
8:59 pm
Until the editorial content is fair and balanced, all the layout changes you make will not make a difference.
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Roger
April 28th, 2009
9:10 pm
Some good feedback…I think..
I’ve subscribed to NYT, WSJ and othe regional papers in GA and AJC for 10 years now. Actually, I like your changes. Worldclass? Keep finetuning what you got going. You have to adapt and change with the times…you have to.
THis morning when I picked up the paper in my driveway I was shocked by the size..but did not get time to read until now. It almost feels like I am surfing a website, in fact, size of paper is same as my laptop folded. Stories are easy to follow. The font is sharp and I have bad vision.
A negative? THe main mast does not seem to go with the rest of the paper. Make it black or similar to other sections.
I like overall size. It is easier to maneuver which helps since I tend to read it in bed. As an engineer I focus on practicality and I get it with this design. Looks good too.
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Anne Teddlie
April 28th, 2009
9:12 pm
Overall I guess it is okay. As with the loss of so many good writers/critics (and of the bookclub column on Sundays) we will get used to it.
I do have four specific comments:
– on the weather page, the weather for today is huge, and the weather for the rest of the week needs a magnifying glass
– the type of the Vent is so light
– I occasionally read the AJC live on the air for the Georgia Radio Reading Service. One of our services is to read the Deaths/Funerals. The mice type here is nearly unreadable for me, let alone a person with vision difficulties
– it seems impossible that there is not a single item of note for DeKalb County in the Community News.
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cynthia
April 28th, 2009
9:14 pm
I understand the need to cut costs. I could get accustomed to what appears to be fainter ink. The font is readable. I am not concerned with the narrower page (it is wider than the Arizona Republic). But all the redesign in the world will not mask the fact that the paper is becoming more right-leaning; a ploy that I believe is undertaken at this time of visual change to minimize the effect of the philosophical change.
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CC
April 28th, 2009
9:16 pm
So I like the look of the paper. The font is a tad small for my 43 year old eyes, and I’m assuming it will continue to get smaller as I age. The thing that really irritated me was that the paper was so skinny width wise and content wise and still cost 75 cents. I know USA Today is 75 cents, but it has lots more heft to it. Good Luck.
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Chris
April 28th, 2009
9:21 pm
Julia, I ALSO can’t believe what you wrote. Negative comments were not unexpected??! I’m sure the expert surveys you commissioned said to expect __% of negative feedback, but not 95% negative (if not more). I’ll ask again; why can’t you acknowledge that you blew it. Admit it. We’ll think so much more of you professionally if you and staff take responsibility for the next 10-25% decline in subscriptions that you are clearly going to see over the next two subscription cycles. And don’t blame it on the economy, or the internet, etc. It’s content!
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Lynn T.Ziglar
April 28th, 2009
9:23 pm
Was astonished when I saw the Tuesday newspaper reflecting new format and changes. When my subscription runs out , if this is the now and future AJC, my husband and I agree we will subscribe to something else. This is awful. We have been subscribers for 11 years.
Lynn and Dick Ziglar
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Elaine DerGarabedian
April 28th, 2009
9:35 pm
When the powers that be dropped the slogan “covers Dixie like the dew”…that was the beginning of the END.
The AJC is now a cheap,sleazy,poor imitation of USA Today.
If going back can not be done…then shut it down.
We can read our small city or county newspapers and get a far superior paper. Aren’t you ashamed to even put your names on it?
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KindleMan
April 28th, 2009
9:36 pm
don’t like the print format? Buy a Kindle and get a subscription to the AJC. Better than physical paper and you can use whatever font size you want and not have to weed thru the ads. I just can’t figure a way to drop Cynthia Tucker’s column from view or it would be perfect.
In fact, maybe the AJC should subsidize a Kindle with a years subscription and drop print all together.
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Katharine Ruse
April 28th, 2009
9:37 pm
I am writing this constructively, I hope. I subscribe to both the AJC and the Gwinnett Daily Post. I enjoy reading the papers in the morning before I go to school. It is relaxing and gives me articles to bring to school for my fourth and fifth grade classes. I realize the financial concerns newspapers face these days, but I have to admit that I was more than a bit shocked by your debut redesign issue. I found it very difficult to read; unattractive and the pictures were very poor. The larger ones were blurry and the front page had one so small it may as well have been left off. No one really cares about whether you have colors on your section headlines. I took both newspapers to school today and let my fifth graders read the papers. When they finished, I asked them which paper they would buy and they all said Gwinnett Post. When I asked them why, they said the pictures were better, the articles were easier to read. They said the AJC had the print too small and close together and they said the Post looked better. I am sorry, I have to agree. The two papers are the same size, but the look of the other is very much more appealing. As for subscription advice, a lot of teachers say they quit taking the AJC when you stopped having our Gwinnett section. Younger people would buy the paper if it held pictures and articles about high school sports. People want to see their own kid in print. For all you have removed, you should have reinstated the county sections. It was a great loss. Your new size is fine. The lay-out is atrocious. It is the ugliest paper I have ever seen. Even the banner is hideous. Get today’s Post and lay the two papers side by side and see the difference.
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Eric
April 28th, 2009
9:40 pm
I’m bit surprised at all of the negative comments about the redesign. When I first saw the newspaper, I thought there would be less content, a money-saving move. But after reading it, I have nothing but good things to say. I like it, and I have been reading the AJC seven days a week for decades. The focus seems to be on news, not fluff. And I found the layout to be easily readable. I was shocked at the editorial page actually being balanced, for the first time that I can remember. The liberal tilt to the editorial page and the front page editorials, biased story placement, etc., have been my biggest problems with the newspaper. It seems that someone has finally gotten it.
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chris
April 28th, 2009
9:43 pm
Carl Johnson must be a plant ….. with the phony positive comment.
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jcs 77
April 28th, 2009
9:50 pm
This June will be 52 years of subscribing to the Journal and then the AJC. In August, I’m outa here. It’s just not worth $170 a year.
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Sam Snelling
April 28th, 2009
10:04 pm
I delivered the Journal and Constitution both in the early 1940s as a boy growing up in Decatur. It has been a number of years since I lived in the Atlanta area, but I read the AJC faithfully on the internet. In my opinion, it is not the newspaper format that is bothersome nowadays -it is the content. Look around the state, and even the country if necessary, and try to find some more Ralph McGills and Celestine Sibleys. If successful, your problems will be solved.
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GG
April 28th, 2009
10:07 pm
Wish I could give you an opinion but you stopped delivering to Columbus.
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Contessa
April 28th, 2009
10:14 pm
I have to agree with the others who say that the AJC now looks like USA Today (aka newspaper-lite). I could not care less about all the added color on the pages and can only wonder how much extra all the color is adding to the daily cost. The pictures? Very poor quality, blurry and hard to see. I’d rather have one nice clear photo on a page instead of a bunch of small, indistinct ones. The new type? Very hard to read, all the letters seem squashed together and the really thin typeface used (for example) in today’s “Tuesday Fast Read” and “Redesign FAQs” is even harder to read. I could barely read “The Vent” at all it was so thin and light, sort of watery grey, not even black at all!! I know space is at a premium, so I won’t even mention that now one needs to use a magnifying glass to read most of the comics. Oops, I just did…Oh, and again, I do not particulary see the need for the weekday comics to be in color. I understand the need for change and that the AJC has to evolve in today’s economy, but reading the paper today was not anywhere near the pleasurable experience it has been in the past.
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bwhit
April 28th, 2009
10:31 pm
liked it a little drab like the mix of articles is the size smaller enjoyed reading it today
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Jane Tolleson
April 28th, 2009
10:32 pm
Two reasons I subscribe to the paper both found in the metro section: the vent and the obits. I do not like the new font size. The vent has been reduced which is not a good thing and is too hard to read. same for the obits. Too hard to read and the printface looks lighter.
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Randy
April 28th, 2009
10:33 pm
The various colors used were good to highlight different sections. More interesting news at the beginning of the paper. Enjoyed reading it today.
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Ross
April 28th, 2009
10:35 pm
Check the date on Carl’s review Chris!
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Henry Grady
April 28th, 2009
10:37 pm
What has become of a once great newspaper ? ! ? !
Try representing the people of Georgia and not the inside of the perimeter !
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Jon Ritt
April 28th, 2009
10:43 pm
I’ve lived “off and on” (more “on”) in Atlanta for the past 30+ years. Whenever I returned, the first things I did were to connect water, gas, electric, and subscribe to the AJC for home delivery.
I discontinued my subscription, very unhappily, a few months ago. Then, I re-subscribed … I truly believe in the importance of a vital city newspaper. Like everyone, I know the tough economic times all businesses, especially newspapers, are going through.
Then, I got today’s “new” AJC. Tossed on my lawn, a morning ritual (I was once a “paperboy” 50+ years ago in Illinois). I walked out my porch, down the steps, smelling the sweet Spring morning, picked up the AJC, and brought it inside to share as a friend with coffee and eggs.
What a terrible, sad disappointment it was and is. My friend, companion, conversationalist was shrunk, diminished even more. It was illegible. The type to small to read. Most articles simply “rip and read” unedited press releases.
You may be more “environmentally friendly” by occupying a smaller and smaller “carbon footprint,” cutting fewer trees, using soy ink, etc.
But you’re not editing, working, using, enjoying, exploiting your new smaller format. You’ve just taken the same Reuters, AP, corporate press releases and shrunk them. Two pages of comics are shrunk to one where they’re now illegible.
Has anyone ever spoken to and communicated with your “feeds” that content must be shortened so it remains readable? Your business and stock pages (never a strength of the AJC except for ties with GSU and Tech economics) are totally illegible.
The AJC is much more legible, readable on-line … but except for few local events, restaurant reviews is same or lesser content than other on-line sources. You’ve lost your “specialness.”
What’s in the printed paper that’s delivered to my home that’s different, special, LEGIBLE (your typeface and font “trade-offs” don’t work … go see the movie, “Helvetica” to get a grasp), and wanted.
Make the print edition “special” not 90+% the same as on-line. I and others are paying $170 a year for our print edition … on-line is free. Make the print edition special, make it unique, make it legible, design it well.
Why the heck did you turn to a Montreal based firm (Lacava … I thought they designed bathroom sinks and toilets) to redesign the AJC? As much as I love Quebec, they don’t know about “covering Dixie like the dew.”
Please make the print AJC something special again, something I want to have eggs and coffee with, a smart and independent word (that’s legible!)
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Anthony Dye
April 28th, 2009
10:47 pm
I’ve been a loyal subscriber for over 15 years and at times I don’t feel complete without reading the AJC every day. Sadly, today I notified the paper that I’ll not be renewing. The type is extremely small and the quality of the paper has steadily declined. I really struggled to read the baseball box scores. My eyes began to hurt. I know the economy is terrible, but the cost cutting drove me over the edge. I want my old AJC back…until then, I’m on strike….
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Ernest
April 28th, 2009
10:53 pm
I’m extremely curious of the feedback/suggestions you received from focus groups and businesses. There has been a LOT of thoughful feedback provided, mostly against the new format. I’d be interested to hear from those recommending the change along with their rationale behind it.
At the end of the day, it will be the content that will determine whether I renew my subsciption. It was interesting that the Community News section did not have anything for DeKalb County.
Someone earlier made the suggestion that the AJC consider using ‘citizen reporters’ to help provide local content that might appeal to a broader audience. While we look to our community newspapers for that type of information, it could prove to be a means to help connect communities together through the major newspaper.
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bob motley
April 28th, 2009
11:12 pm
I have been a subscriber for 40 years. I will give you my opinion. Cancel my subscription. As hard as you try to convince us this is a newspaer it isn’t a newspaper. It’s a pamphlet. I will get my news on line for free. You have destroyed the people like me who enjoy being a regular reader by being a one sided propaganda organ with people like Mike lukovich, Cynthia Tucker and Jay Booker. We understand you and Ms. Cox has every right to publish her newspaper but we don’t have to pay for being offended. Cancel my 40 year subscription. This new edition is a joke considering what I enjoyed until I was abused and neglected by a political agenda that has killed any idea of news. You created your own demise with us regulars. Sorry but that is how I feel after a lifetime of enjoyment and abuse by your newspaper. Let me repeat……Cancel my 40 year subscription. I will read real news not propaganda.
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CCR
April 28th, 2009
11:13 pm
As I write, there are 346 comments posted here. I counted, and it appears that about 14 of those comments are complaints about the AJC’s liberal bias. Which means that 4 percent of your commenters are concerned about a slant toward the left in your coverage.
I won’t jump to the conclusion that this means 96 percent don’t share that concern, but I do think one thing is clear: You’ve gutted a newspaper that used to be the soul of the South, and you’ve done it on the altar of pleasing a vocal, but small minority who complain about which way your coverage leans.
This isn’t about the design, as many readers have pointed out; it’s about the content. This is a newspaper whose editors, brave journalists such as Ralph McGill, had a history of pointing out those junctures at which our region had to rise above its biases. The newspaper, when it needed to, challenged its readers, the citizens of this region, to consider new ways of thinking.
I understand that your business must make a profit. The times are hard for everyone, and for newspapers in particular. But it seems that, over the past years, you’ve cut your most talented journalists and columnists. It’s their absence, not this design, that drives us away. I’ll get used to the new look. Most of your subscribers will. But I hope the paper’s top editors realize that the design wasn’t causing subscriptions to fall. Nor can you attribute the losses wholly to general trends in media consumption. It was your willingness to cut your best writers and reporters first. You should have viewed them as your most treasured assets, not as the most expendable.
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s wells
April 28th, 2009
11:14 pm
I am really disappointed with the redesign, but perhaps more with the loss of content. I feel like there has been a real compromise in coverage in recent months and a further loss of readability with today’s makeover. I have long been a newspaper reader and choose to acquire my news in this way for what i perceive to be a greater depth of coverage. I’m afraid that the AJC is moving away from real reporting into a succession of small bites which I can easily find online. The current incarnation does not compare with the really fine newspapers still around. It’s a sad loss.
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Zach
April 28th, 2009
11:25 pm
I always thought the ajc was a good-looking paper when compared to many other American cities’. I wouldn’t call this new look “good looking” by any means, but if the content is improved and more sophisticated, then I think I’m going to like it once I get used to it. I like the idea of gearing it towards traditional newspaper readers instead of trying to attract non- readers.
One thing I would fix right away though is the main mast. How about a traditional script in black??? The new blue font just doesn’t look sophisticated at all. Actually it looks like a website, and that does not appeal to this “traditional” newspaper reader. Not a big fan of the color-coded sections either.
Thanks for taking our feedback.
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Tim
April 28th, 2009
11:26 pm
When I saw the paper today, I was like this is a little late for an April fools joke. The size isn’t the issue. The layout and design is the issue. The main page was a jumble and not very easy on the eye. The best page in the whole paper was A2. It looks The stories are hard to pick out, the layout looks like you having different people do each page separately. The main page today, the tiny photo looks like an after thought. The headers on each section looks like something created by a High School paper 20 minutes before deadline.
I don’t know what focus group you used, but I think you cut a lot of what made people read the paper. The Vent, the Metro section, TV Week. The one thing that I noticed is hard to read are the movie listings and I have to say one thing about that, thank goodness for Fandango.
I think you need to go back and hire some layout professionals to redo this, so its easier to follow and easier on the eye. I”m just sayin’
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Scoop
April 28th, 2009
11:31 pm
My comment to my husband this morning while we were reading the “new” AJC was, gosh, looks like an old USA Today. That’s not a good thing. Intersting to see that a few others noticed the same thing. From now on, we will rely on the Wall Street Journal and our local county newspaper. Good-bye AJC. We’re tired of the old liberal slant, Luckovich and Tucker have insulted us for the last time, and the USA Today type format doesn’t even begin to interest us. There are so many other news outlets to choose from.
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Ethel Sugarman
April 28th, 2009
11:45 pm
I like how the photo accompanying Julia Wallace’s patronizing drivel has changed throughout the day to reflect various airbrushed glamour shots and hairstyles.
A perfect reflection of the new AJC: mask the lack of substance with superficiality. Which describes Julia with pinpoint accuracy.
She’s the Sarah Palin of journalism.
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Kay Wall
April 28th, 2009
11:54 pm
The change in the AJC is pitiful! If you had been willing to have a fair and balanced paper, it would not be necessary to make such desperate and destructive changes. Over half of your would be readers are politically center or right of center. We are sick to death of your far left propaganda. Unless you become a politically balanced paper, you WILL continue to lose.
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Jimmy Espy
April 29th, 2009
1:02 am
Reminds me of the Hindenberg crashing.
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PERCY
April 29th, 2009
1:14 am
Call 800-933-9771 to cancel, we did!
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Always Here
April 29th, 2009
2:57 am
I will not leave the AJC even though I grumble at this failed attempt to attract more people. Despite the fact that the new look is off putting I think what the AJC provides is invaluable. I put the old paper next to the new paper today and it is obvious to the untrained eye that the old paper is more classy and professional looking.
It would be a mistake for the AJC brass to think that all these negative comments are from a vocal minority. Really, this is your audience speaking AJC. The best move, no matter how hard it is to do, is to cut your losses and bring the old paper back.
To prolong this just to save face could hurt the paper’s circulation even more.
A concerned reader.
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freedom fighter
April 29th, 2009
4:02 am
ms wallace and gang have wrecked the wonderful legacy of ralph mcgill, lewis grizzard et al. this paper is so poorly written and edited, and does nothing to tackle the huge problems with transportation, sprawl, race and education that atlanta experiences. you need a decent metro columnist, not some idiot shill who writes more dittohead drivel for the wsjournal. as a lifelong republican, you have no obligation to repeat the bias of the limbaugh crowd. george w bush was a big government conservative, and he put the country in such dire straits that anyone would be hard pressed to reverse course. if gore had been president, america would have had an eight year head start on green tech, which is the country’s best chance. to add a “conservative” voice from another peabrain uga graduate is so much pablum. bob barr’s column is well thought. why not get newt gingrich or someone with some fresh ideas about why the GOP is in such a mess, not some kid who has no life experience except living in the liberal la-la land of Europe.
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William Slate
April 29th, 2009
4:24 am
Although I prefer the previous format, I understand the need for change, and can live with it. I do, very much, regret that the AJC had discontinued their coverage of NCAA baseball. This is especially hard to understand in a year in which our state boasts two top ten teams. This relegates your sports coverage to that of a second rate publication.
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mark
April 29th, 2009
4:50 am
This is as ill conceived as the ATL promotion.
Is it not possible to prvide Atlanta with a quality product and no gimmicks?
I agree with the pamphlet analogy in these comments…I enjoy reading the pamphlets in my doctor’s and dentist’s office more than this crap you call a newspaper…even with this new layout.
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Peter Tinkham
April 29th, 2009
5:08 am
Same old style of editorials! Photos poor (color) … the over all layout looks like the editor’s hair style! It’ll be RIP within 12 months!
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Michael
April 29th, 2009
6:22 am
I didnt see the papers change becuase you stopped delivering any where in my whole county !
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Roscoe
April 29th, 2009
7:44 am
Ok, day two and I can pretty much deal with the redesign, except:
1 Color – washed out, pictures out of register. You’re using paper that is gray. The contrast is tough. Your yellows look muddy and mustardy, banners look like stuff an ink-jet printer running out of ink produces.
2. Consider improving the leading and kerning – the type is tight and, as others have mentioned, hard to read – especially the serifed font.
3. Editorial comment – please, please, please let your sports department stay up late. If we’re lucky we get a Braves or Hawks score from a game that ends after 10:00 p.m. Forget it for any other team. Make sports section D, wait for the midnight AP sports wire, drop the scores and summaries in, print that puppy and insert it last. What are you going to do when college football starts in the fall? Run the stories Monday instead of Sunday?
4. Another editorial comment: The Gwinnett Braves deserve some coverage. At least pay some high school or college kid to write six inches for every game. Run it prominently. Do the same for other teams besides the Braves, Hawks, Thrashers, Falcons, Dogs and Yellow Jackets.
5. Yet another editorial comment: Please have the decency to have the print paper stories run on the website prominently. It’s very frustrating to see a headline in print, then go to the website to check the story and not be able to find it because print and web folks at the AJC can’t/won’t/don’t bother to talk to each other and the print story is relegated to the Print Edition link buried in tiny type at the bottom the web page – and then half the time it’s not there anyway.
Finally – it’s time for Cox to start talking with Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and all the other tech folks. Print isn’t going to survive – the model isn’t making a lot of financial sense. Find an electronic delivery system/device that is easily portable (less than a pound), has a long (5 hours +) battery life, is incredibly rugged (can survive being dropped and having stuff spilled on it), can have content pushed to it wirelessly, and is affordable. Think Kindle at about quarter to a third of the current price. Give it away with a year’s subscription.
Good luck -
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Long-time subscriber
April 29th, 2009
8:00 am
I understand the need for change in the newspaper industry given the growth of the internet, reduction of advertising dollars, and the weak economy. I regularly check ajc.com and the ajc.com mobile during the day, but I was thankful that the AJC was not going online only like some city newspapers have done. In reading that the AJC was going to make some changes, I was actually excited . . . until I got the product in my hands yesterday. The good: smaller size is easier to handle, quick-view of headlines to allow scanning, more color. The bad: sans serif fonts are very thin and small (even for a 43 year-old), Weather page is difficult to follow (e.g., no state outlines?), color seems to be added just for color’s sake.
Thinking about cancelling my subscription and just reading the online version everyday. (Thanks for listening.)
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Long-time subscriber
April 29th, 2009
8:03 am
I understand the need for change in the newspaper industry given the growth of the internet, reduction of advertising dollars, and the weak economy. I regularly check ajc.com and the ajc.com mobile during the day, but I was thankful that the AJC was not going online only like some city newspapers have done. In reading that the AJC was going to make some changes, I was actually excited . . . until I got the product in my hands yesterday. The good: smaller size is easier to handle, quick-view of headlines to allow scanning, more color. The bad: sans serif fonts are very thin and small (even for a 43 year-old), Weather page is difficult to follow (e.g., no state outlines?), color seems to be added just for color’s sake.
Thinking about cancelling my subscription and just reading the online version everyday. (Thanks for listening.)
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uhoh
April 29th, 2009
8:06 am
day two, the in brief columns are in a tough position at least for this reader. weather page still bad…why list temp in atlanta and the same at the airport, even I can figure that one out. sports standings still bad.
you sure are setting some high expectations for sunday. I believe you may be setting yourself up to fail. do you want to be a sunday only newspaper?
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Atlanta twin
April 29th, 2009
8:09 am
I know everyone needs a new look. But certain looks are not good ones. The new look for the Ajc is not a good choice. The words are too small and the coloring of the pictures doesn’t catch the people eye. The new look makes the paper boring and unapproachable. You wants something that is going to jump right at you and this look doesn’t do that.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 29th, 2009
8:13 am
Good morning, all.
Thanks Roscoe for the useful feedback. Although I disagree with your view the printed newspaper is doomed, your comments give us something specific at which to look. To the contrary, I think there is a bright future for the newspaper if we can get the business equation right and maintain a high journalistic standard.
I hope everyone will take a look at the Wednesday newspaper, which has been tweaked some. I like it better, and I’m a longtime reader who had some issues with Tuesday’s debut edition.
The feedback has been interesting. It’s important to us, so please keep it coming. On Tuesday, a lot came from people who hadn’t bothered to look at the newspaper but nevertheless took the time to remind us that they hate the AJC. That’s fine, and some of your comments were a hoot. But we’ve decided not to worry much about people who hate us.
Another thread came from folks who no longer see the newspaper because we reduced the delivery footprint. Each one kills me. This was a hard decision for us and accounted for much of the recent circulation decline. But it no longer made business sense for us to deliver to such a large area. In some cases, it was costing us $5 to deliver a copy of the newspaper. You do the math. Yet, we lost a lot of very loyal readers and that’s tough. Let’s all hope for better times.
And we heard from a lot of readers who expressed sincere concern about what we had done to their newspaper. These are the folks to whom we are listening quite closely. We are making adjustments as we go to address the concerns that we can.
Obviously we can’t abandon the new design or reverse course on decisions we’ve made on the basis of a day’s worth of blog postings. This design was guided every step of the way by readers who were very clear with what they wanted from a newspaper. Be patient, keep reading and commenting and let’s see where this takes us.
I have one question: A lot of you are throwing the USA Today bomb at us. I’m not sure what that means to you? Some folks love USA Today, others hate it. It would be helpful to understand more precisely what you mean when you say that.
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Bonnie K.
April 29th, 2009
8:19 am
My eyes are bleeding from this “New” AJC. Why did you have to change the old design. I saw the new version at my parents house and all three of us hated it. Booooooooooooooo….
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livininatl
April 29th, 2009
8:23 am
The new design looks very much like USA Today and I don’t read USA Today even when it is free and waiting outside my door when I travel…thinking hard about switching from 7days to weekends…ugh!
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Andy Miller
April 29th, 2009
8:30 am
Wow! The negative comments are absolutely amazing! Lots about the new format, but a few about the liberal bias and lack of attention to the huge market north of the perimeter. Bert, you need to be careful that the liberal bias stays solely on the editorial page and doesn’t creep into the news sections. One example: Last month you ran an article about Karen Handel’s announcement of her candidacy for governor. She got around 6 column inches. A few days later, you ran an article about Roy Barnes just THINKING about a run for governor. Barnes’ THOUGHTS got half a page. It’s way too early for me to support a candidate for governor, but bias like this is hard to ignore. The sad part is the writers and editors probably don’t even realize they’re biased. That makes the AJC really scary.
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Matt G. Leger
April 29th, 2009
8:38 am
As a full-week subscriber for six years now, I have enjoyed reading the AJC every day. After one day of the new design, I can tell you one thing that needs fixing right off the bat: The weather forecast box is one of the first things I look for when your paper hits my door. I want to see what weather and temperatures will be like today, so that I can dress and plan my day accordingly.
You need to put the weather box back on top, above the fold, and make it stand out like it used to. This is a key service for most of your readers to start their day.
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PJ
April 29th, 2009
8:40 am
“…we’ve decided not to worry much about people who hate us.”
Of course. Why bother to find out why and make changes that might actually result in increased readership? That’s just foolish.
THIS is why the business model is struggling, not digital competition. WSJ provides proof that print media is still viable… if you’re actually willing to be responsive to your customers.
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PGore
April 29th, 2009
8:46 am
I would like to have you reconsider the success of this new design, and its appeal to your longtime print readers.
Over-40-eyes can’t read the new print as well. The color and size make it look wimpy. Unfortunately it now has the look and feel of the neighborhood free advertizers you pick up at the door of the pizza joint.
Black headlines and section headings are a must. I went through each page, and was not interested in reading any of the articles. Even the vent had no appeal. The font is too weak for my over-40-eyes. Or something. I feel like an old friend has died.
Can you poll your readership to see the number or percentage of readers who would rather go back to the old design (or something similar to it without the needless color), BUT AT AN INCREASED PRICE. In my opinion, to receive home delivery of last week’s version is worth at least a dollar a day, which would be $30/month and not $18/month.
I asked my husband what he thought the paper costs us per month. I said “Here is the paper. They have a staff of hardworking people. They research the news, write the articles, typeset or format it, print it, deliver it to our door on time every morning. What do you think it costs? Do you think they can do this for a dollar a day?” His reply? “Oh no, it is worth a lot more than that.” He was shocked that it was coming to us at not $40 or $50 a month, but at a mere $18 a month.
Let’s see how many of our readers would rather pay $30+ a month for the old version vs. the current rate for this color advertizer.
And now for a little story. A couple of months ago I went to the grocery store for Tropicana orange juice. I couldn’t find it. They had redesigned the package to something without the old logo. I had to ask the produce manager where it was. I did not like the design because I did not recognize it. I went home, ran the new design by my family. My teenage daughter said that whoever redesigned the packaging should be fired. I wrote to them and explained to them that the look of the packaging was important, and that people wanted the look of the packaging that they were used to. The old logo and design had a lot of consumer loyalty. Apparently a lot of people complained. Earlier this month I received a letter that they had decided to go back to the old logo and package design. The change was not worth the ill will of the consumer.
I think there is a lesson in that.
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Clark Kent
April 29th, 2009
9:01 am
Let Cynthia Tucker & Jay Bookman get their old jobs back at Pravda, and start catering to all Georgians, not the inner perimeter crowd ! Its news and balanced journalism that sells copy, not pretty colors and socialist gibberish.
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Tim S
April 29th, 2009
9:03 am
I agree with many of the comments. I noticed that the paper has become thinner which means to me that I’m getting less for my money (it’s the same scam that cereal companies have perpetuated on the buying public; do you ever find a 16 oz box of cereal any more). I thought I had picked up a copy of USA Today where the ink catridges were runnng low. The paper font and script size is visually annoying and difficult to follow. I’ve been a subscriber for over 25 years but I tire of just reading about inside the perimeter and the left leaning rants of Cynthia Tucker and her colleagues.
Ya’ll need to do a better job. The older reader will have difficulty reading the paper with its new lay out,and, personally I will not go to the “net to get my news from the AJC.
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E R Oberholtzer
April 29th, 2009
9:06 am
“Welcome” indeeed? The ink is too, too light in most articles, making them difficult to read comfortably. I noticed, Julia Wallace, your column on A3 Tuesday was in readable, dark ink. If only the valuable news content columns were as easy to read! The print in most of the grayed columns is so light and hard to read, why bother? The paper is so thin, ads and content on one page can be seen through the page and add to the difficulty of reading an article on the other side of the page. My experience is not totally negative – I like the short, quick-read articles……but it looks crowded. There are so many articles to a page, I am reminded why I do not subscribe to the Wall Street Journal. However, at least the WSJ ink is dark.
Two “new AJC” papers later, I put it down within 15 minutes, my eyes too tired from trying to read the morning news to continue. I turned on the TV. As a formerly avid AJC subscriber and reader, I am considering canceling my subscription. You need to fix it quick!
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M. Tootle
April 29th, 2009
9:07 am
So far, I don’t like the redesigned AJC. It appears much busier due to the decreased paper size and there seem to be less pictures. The worst thing is the tiny, tiny font size of the stock tables, sports standings, weather information, etc. We baby boomers already have enough trouble seeing and this incredibly small type has taken away some of the pleasure of reviewing info in the AJC. Please reconsider some of the font sizes!!
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Edna Jennings
April 29th, 2009
9:08 am
What were you thinking? If I wanted USA Today I would get it. Page One was such a jumble I didn’t want to read it. If the blue/green/red banners are costing more than black, save the money. . At least move the jumbled up blue/gray center strip over to the left. You don’t look like a serious presenter of the news with the little snippets here and there. I read for information and depth on the issues not a quick surface skim. For surface coverage, I can get that on TV
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Jenny
April 29th, 2009
9:17 am
The print is too small. And the weather forcast for the week is almost impossible to read.
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Roscoe
April 29th, 2009
9:19 am
Bert, if you can make reporting with a reasonable amount of journalistic excellence, writing, printing and delivering a newspaper to my front door by 5:30 a.m. throughout a metropolitan area for $20 or so a month a profitable business more power to you. I’ve been eagerly picking up a morning paper for longer than 40 years and don’t look forward to having to find and pick up and load my “newspaper reading device” every morning instead. But with the cost of paper, ink, gas and printing and delivery personnel, as well as editors and reporters and ad sales folks, etc. inexorably going up it’s going to be difficult.
The USA Today comments should be pretty clear – your new look is similar to theirs. Big, trying to be bright colors, ads on the front page and first page of sections, shorter stories with sidebars trying to fill in some details. Decent national and international coverage with lots of AP filler, weak local.
Once upon a time there were several reporters covering just transportation issues – now it seems like there’s only Ariel Hart trying to cover overlapping meetings and issues at GDOT, GRTA, MARTA, SRTA, General Assembly, Clean Air Campaign, TMA, C-TRAN, CCT, GCT and all the others weighing in on the issues. And it stretches into other areas as well – like the sports section getting smaller and smaller and not covering anything that happens after 10 pm. Same with the lottery reporting – a minor but very revealing issue about the value the Coxopoly is placing on the print paper – the last lottery drawing of the day is at 11 pm and you only report the drawings up to 6 pm in the print paper. New happens in the evening – and it’s not unreasonable to expect that if it’s on the 11:00 news that it would be in the morning print paper.
The redesign isn’t earth-shattering. Yes, it looks like USA Today and if that is good or bad is mostly a matter of personal taste. You’ll fix the typography and the color, well, color on your paper stock is always going to be an issue – ask the Detroit News who tried it on similarly colored paper stock starting in 1976 and is still having problems with it – when they can print a paper anymore.
And, again, more power to you if you can make a printed paper profitable without significantly increasing the purchase price.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 29th, 2009
9:25 am
All:
It really would be helpful for you all to be more specific about the USA Today complaints. I also still urge you to take a harder look on the content side of our newspaper. We carried many more hard news stories on our front page than USA Today, so I’m not sure that we can be accused of being light – the complaint usually lodged against USA Today. Compare yesterday’s editions and you’ll see what I mean. This design does nothing to reduce content, even if it makes the paper easier to scan.
Andy: On the Karen Handel/Roy Barnes story. The story on Handel was about her announcement – which is the exact way we present all announcement stories. Each candidate will get a much deeper look by the newspaper, probably on Sunday. We profiled Barnes – and Sam Olens, as well – because they were getting a lot of attention behind the scenes and seemed to be interested to write about in the pre-announcement period. And you your bigger point, we work pretty hard at keeping our news sections in check for bias, of any kind. We’re not perfect and make mistakes, but the principle is very important to us. Having said that, I’m always eager to hear about specific cases when they believe our news pages contain bias.
Alex: I read each and every posting. Surely you wouldn’t expect us to throw out everything we’ve done on the basis of these blog postings. Wouldn’t that be a bit hasty? We are mining them for smart suggestions and are considering seriously the ones that raise legitimate concerns.
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Brad Nelson
April 29th, 2009
9:29 am
“And it’s certainly not unexpected that our request for feedback would draw far more negative comments than positive. We don’t expect to hear as much from folks who like the changes or approve of the newspaper; those who are satisfied are often less vocal.”
ARROGANCE.
Did you ever even consider that maybe YOU put out a bad, ugly product??? Oh no, no way, it’s we, the readers, who are wrong, not you. Why, that newspaper is gorgeous, because Julia’s big-dollar designer told us it is, and we are just idiots who couldn’t recognize quality if it bit us in the a**.
ARROGANCE.
You want a specific, start with America’s newly-crowned Queen of the ugly flag/nameplate competition. It is pathetic. You cannot screw with a brand this way. It is no longer the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, it is now something unrecognizeable. The ajc/sunday flag actually looks good, I’ll give you that. But that weekday flag is among the most hideous I’ve seen of any newspaper in the country. It’s cheap, childish, doesn’t match the rest of the paper, and is unbefitting a major daily. There, Julia, that’s my specific, among the hundred that I (and we) have.
Like I said, the AJC leadership will ride this pony into the sunset because they will refuse to change out of stubbornness, an unwillingness to admit a mistake, and more than just a little stupidity. And that is the height of arrogance.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 29th, 2009
9:30 am
Roscoe: This kind of posting is useful. I’ve got to run to meetings – the Thursday and Sunday papers beckon – but will pick up the discussion later.
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Ernest
April 29th, 2009
9:31 am
Bert said:
>>I have one question: A lot of you are throwing the USA Today bomb at us. I’m not sure what that means to you? Some folks love USA Today, others hate it. It would be helpful to understand more precisely what you mean when you say that.<<
Perhaps I’m simply more of a traditionalists but I liked to old format of the AJC. It had a ‘professional’ look at feel. That’s why I made the comment regarding the new format looking like a USA Today ‘lite’.
I also like the USA Today however it was defined by its layout with colors. If it went to a format like to AJC once was, I’m sure its loyal readers would complain also. Again, I believe this falls along the lines of tradition.
FWIW, I also don’t like the designated hitter in baseball either.
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PGore
April 29th, 2009
9:37 am
Take the blue/gray column off the front page and section pages.
Take the ads off the bottom of the front page and section pages.
Make the masthead black. Make the date on the front page smaller and black, not white. Get rid of Living and Sports “summary” on top of front page.
Remove the cutesy rows of vertical lines and chevrons
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Annoying, isn’t it?
Put the big pictures back in the middle of the front page, not down on the lower right side.
Headings like Q & A and the Vent need to be bolder font and not this different font. Get rid of the GRAY fonts on the editorial page. Are you running out of black ink?
I miss the black and white comics. The color ones are not as interesting.
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firecynthia
April 29th, 2009
9:45 am
the content was a little better today, but I am still not liking the look. to be honest, as long as I can read it and the content is there, i really dont care if its written in crayons. but, i still do not like the fact that tucker is still here. I know she is in the opinion pages, but its still part of the newspaper. I like reading opposing viewpoints, but she is nothing but a race baiting, bigoted, Obama-excusing, anti-white (I am not white, btw) writer. when she goes on national TV (as she did recently), she is an embarrasment to this city and to this paper.
I hate that any of my money paying for the paper is going to her. Move her out and make bookman the lefty. Even though I dont agree with much of what he says, at least he tries to back his opinion up and leaves himself open to criticism.
take cynthias latest article about mexico and her need for gun control. even though weeks before the 90% data was completely dispelled (where 90% of the guns come from the US), she STILL USED THAT DATA. She doesnt care where she gets her information, doesnt care that it is right or wrong, as long as she can spout it off, she will use it.
To have her on staff is the real embarrassment. Again, ditch her, bring bookman up and things will get better.
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Marion G. Webb
April 29th, 2009
9:50 am
I came to Marietta, GA in June 1966; and one of the first friends I had was the Atlanta Constitution. I remember Ralph McGill and his battles with critics and detractors; he always landed on his feet–just like his newspaper.
Others came along after Mr. McGill’s passing; and although each successor made changes, it was mainly journalistic philosophy. Now, we the readers need help with going back to a high quality of readability like we had before April 28. April 28: a day of journalistic infamy.
I am already transitioning to the your online version, beginning with The Vent. Now, if I can only find Judge Parker online.
Our newspaper has landed on its feet many times before. May it do so again–by favoring the many readers who have kept it upright for all these many years.
Thank you for your consideration.
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Ted
April 29th, 2009
9:56 am
I am not so concerned about the appearance of the AJC, but the lack of relative content. You have cut the reporter staff too thin. The Sports pages were once very informative. Not now. The AJC is a very liberal newspaper in the conservative South. I have been a subscriber for many years, but do not enjoy reading the daily paper at all. I do read the USA Today for sports. I would think the management of the AJC would try to cover the news that is more of interest to the majority of potential subscribers. Most younger couples in our area do not subscribe to the AJC. A shame that a large metro area like Atlanta has a less than superior newspaper. Take a look at the Charleston, SC, newspaper for some suggestions.
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Jared Shope
April 29th, 2009
9:56 am
I also have found the new font harder to read. Not sure why.
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Just wondering
April 29th, 2009
9:59 am
Brad, I totally agree with your comment. They are letting us know that even though they invited up to comment, if it is a complaint, they are going to ignore it. Thanks, AJC.
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m molloy
April 29th, 2009
10:20 am
I find the new format much harder to read. The font may be the same size, but is much harder on the eyes to process. Also, move the “Todays News” bar back to the left side. Get rid of the silly IIIIIIIIIII lines at teh top that are being used to fill blank space, and move the front page weather forecast for the day back to the top. Also, on the back of the B section, the “rest of the week” forecast has a font so small my 28 year old eyes can barely see it, yet alone the senior citizens who I’m sure look at that every morning. I understand trying to save on production costs, but this seems like an unnecessary reformatting in order to appeal to the “non-news” crowd who has no attention span. Afte trying to read this garbage the last two mornings, my attention spanning is waning as well! Get it right or lose a long time subscriber here!
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martin rink
April 29th, 2009
10:21 am
Ms. Wallace.
short and sweet.
1- New version is not visually inviting. It looks very cluttered. IE. todays cover story. swine flu main story and sub story / related story the Delta inpact. Cluttered. Chunky.
2- Bad Idea. The ‘In Brief ‘ bar in the middle of each section. It belongs on the left most side. NOT MIDDLE. Adds to level of clutter.
3- Weather. I agree with Ann. the week ahead temperatures are not readable. The font is mice type. Come on; the puffy cloud is almost a 1/2 inch tall.
HOW SMART DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO THINK OF THE FACT THAT THE MAJORITY OF YOUR READERS ARE OVER 40.??
4- Can we have a conservative editorial cartoonist once in a while? Please? Lubkovich or what ever his name is so passe. So tired. How about a Ramirez once in a while for balance>? And not the 1 inch by one inch unreadable one in the corner.
5- font. Not the most readable.
6- you overpaid your special consultant from Motreal. even if it was $1000.
Overall grade D minus. A STEP BACKWARD. (See above)
PS. Sports guy. there is a hockey championship going on. AND ATLANTA has a pro team. So, there might be folks interested in it. OK>? BAck off on the 3-4 pages of basketball and high school sport and give us, i dont know, HALF PAGE ON HOCKEY. OK?
Been a 10 year subcriber. Just about had enough.
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Carl Wilson
April 29th, 2009
10:22 am
It looks like your major cost savings will be in the ink costs. Headlines are supposed to be attention grabbing. Gray is not!
The typeface is too thin in spite of what you say. There is entirely too much white space. When you impose a gray background over your typeface it almost disappears.
The additional color on some pages is practically worthless. It does nothing to add to the paper.
The weather page is flat out ugly. Again there is far too much white space surrounding the faint typeface. I never did understand why you dropped the previous days rainfall when reporting the other cities weather. Since we have been in a drought condition for the past many years that was a way to see how other areas were doing. How do you differentiate the various hues of red from one another on the temperature map?
Please reassure us that Cynthia Tucker will be leaving soon. Her unbalanced and mean spirited writing will not be missed and will go a long way toward balancing your left leaning editorial page.
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martin rink
April 29th, 2009
10:35 am
BTW
Ms. Tucker and ( insert the name of your favorite lefty)
Stop Distorting the news. Please. Recent example.
US Guns go into Mexico.
I drive into mexico (by car) 6-8 times a year. Mexico has none, ZERO customs controls on car coming into Mexico.
Oh – yes. when you hit the border. you stop at a unmanned toll booth. Push a button on a random number generator connected to a Go – no go light. If you get the no -go light, you have to pull over for secondary inspection. This consists of a customs officer opening your trunk. looking at your suitcases for – say – 3 seconds – and proptly closing the trunk.
In my most recent 60 crossings in to mexico. I ve gotten the no go light once.
So, if i had guns in the trunk?????…..
And this is an american problem??
I could almost puke at your level of intellectual dishosnesty.
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Marjorie Economopoulos
April 29th, 2009
10:39 am
Why is everyone so negative? The new format is fine. I like the narrower page. One suggestion, bring back the graphs on the financial page. The DOW and Nasdaq. I’d be happy with only graphs. The other detail is online. Just need highlights in the morning.
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Fidel Castro
April 29th, 2009
10:49 am
I love the new format ! Continue the wonderful editorials by comrades Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman. Their support of El Presidente Obama and his agenda of change will seduce the ignorant masses and make our two countries friends and allies once again.
Viva, Che ! Viva, Revolution ! Viva, change ! Healthcare for all !
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Andrea
April 29th, 2009
11:02 am
Why change the weather format? I liked the way I could glance at the old format and see the week’s hi’s and low’s. Now that information is squished down at the bottom of each day and I really have to look close to read it.
I couldn’t even bear to take the paper out of the plastic today. Between the new look and the acquiescence to those who believe the AJC should be a print version of FOX news, I just don’t see the need any more.
From reading various comments here and elsewhere, I’m beginning to wonder if Hannity, Boortz or Limbaugh (or all 3) have targeted Cynthia Tucker. I mean obviously she’d never be someone a conservative would agree with, but why so much vitriol against her now?
Looks like my print paper will be the weekend editions of NY Times from now on. Thank God I can get most of my news from NPR on my morning and evening commutes.
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Steve
April 29th, 2009
11:13 am
Not a fan of the new layout . . . It’s too jumbled … Not enough seperation between stories … I found myself reading two stories at once. Not because I couldn’t differenciant between them, but because I the stories are so close together … Frustrating . . .
.
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Cancel My Print Subscription
April 29th, 2009
11:20 am
Are you consciously TRYING to kill the print edition of the paper?
I’m your BASE, for Pete’s sake, a daily print newspaper reader, and I cannot READ the “redesigned” AJC. Who in the world was in the focus group?! Your “new” newspaper–crammed, cluttered, on dishwater stock, no white space and illegible– looks like a parody or a joke and makes “ATL” a laughing stock. I have resisted going online because I still love to read a daily paper. Count me, and the revenue I represent, cancelled. Won’t be back until it looks like a newspaper.
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Jeff
April 29th, 2009
11:33 am
The truth is, It is all about content. If the paper had any substance people would read it no matter the layout, font size or colors. I can paint my kitchen any color I want, it won’t change the fact that the appliances are outdated. Give us substance with good, interesting articles that we won’t get anywhere else and you won’t have any problem attacting subscribers.
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newspaper lover
April 29th, 2009
11:49 am
As a former employee and a lover of the printed word, I have only one question for you: What were you thinking?
The new colors and layout are insulting. It is as if you are trying to trick a child into buying a bad-tasting treat. “This candy still tastes really bad, but, hey, we put it in a bright, new, shiny wrapper!”
You say you want constructive and pointed criticism? Here goes…
1. Look at the corrections. When I worked for the AJC, a correction rarely ran. You just did not make mistakes, and woe to you if you did. Now, routinely, there are two, three, even four corrections a day. This represents a sloppy product, and people won’t buy it any more than they will pay for a machine that is poorly constructed and routinely breaks down.
2. Offer the type of coverage we want. I refuse to believe that I am the only person who wants to sit down, pull out a paper, and read in-depth news coverage. I can scan the headlines online or watch the first five minutes of the evening news if I want a sound bite. I read the paper for in-depth coverage, and the AJC has completely stopped providing this. Bring back the deeper coverage of breaking news, multi-part series looking at major issues, etc. To sell a product, you must offer something that no one else is offering. That is where the newspaper comes in, because a paper is now the only place you can get news offered in a way that is intelligent and insightful and well-dissected.
3. Stop talking down to me and other readers. The powers-to-be at Cox better rein Julia Wallace in or get a new “voice” for the AJC. Her comments make me cringe. Newspaper readers tend to be well-educated, professional people, and I don’t imagine any of them appreciate the condescending and nasty tone she takes. Contrition and kindness go a long way, and people are usually willing to overlook a multitude of sin when a person says, “We goofed. We’re sorry. Give us a chance to make it right.”
4. Stop hitting us over the head with this “balanced, unbiased” stuff. Reading your editorial page is now about as exciting as watching paint dry. People did not stop reading the AJC because Cynthia Tucker was liberal or because an editorial cartoon rubbed them the wrong way. People love to disagree, and probably more people read the paper just to see what editorial content would irritate them each morning. Put some bit back into the editorial staff, and stop turning out bland, vanilla op-ed pieces.
5. Cover my neighborhood. I don’t need to read countless AP stories about drivel from across the country. I want to know what is going on in my backyard and how it will impact my life. Case in point–one round of recent storms rated only a stand-alone picture and short cutline. This is the kind of story that the paper can take and run with. You can follow a family as they deal with rebuilding. Talk about how the loss of trees will change the flavor of a neighborhood. Write about how residents are mourning the loss of a favorite hangout that was demolished. I could care less about what society matron is throwing a party, but I would love to read about interesting people in our city. I read the WSJ for national news. Give me more coverage about local people and issues.
I have ranted and raved too much, but I dearly love the AJC. For years, I was so proud to see my byline in your paper. We put out such a good, solid product, and I feel we put out a newspaper this whole state appreciated and enjoyed. Please, please, please work hard to restore the paper to its former position. I can promise if you listen to your faithful readers, they will reward you with readership and loyality.
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Helyn
April 29th, 2009
11:50 am
I was shocked when I opened my paper yesterday! I hate the changes – in fact there are so many changes that I can’t list them all here. The Atlanta paper (which I have subscribed to for over 30 years) now looks & feels like a cheap newsletter or USA Today imitation. Why is that loyal longtime subscribers were not asked for their input? What group of people is it that you are trying to appeal to? Personally I would think you would want to please your longtime customers rather than the ones that you are trying to lure away from the internet. I have found that this was true already when it have had to play what I call the “newspaper game” at renewal time. I have to threaten to cancel before I get the $100 less “new customer” rate. Guess what? It’s renewal time again. I’m going to have to think long & hard about it this time. I’m not sure what I’ll do without my paper, but I may have to learn. Shame on you AJC!!!
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Andrea S.
April 29th, 2009
12:19 pm
Me and you both, Beverly.
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Kat
April 29th, 2009
12:32 pm
Julia, your second paragraph could have just read, “We can’t admit we made a mistake, we spent too much money designing this monstrosity, so at this point we have to blame the readers for not ‘getting’ our vision.”
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Long-time Subscriber
April 29th, 2009
12:38 pm
I am not impressed with the new format. The page layout and print look like they belong in a third grade social studies textbook. Just where did you find the focus group who helped determine the redesign?
I understand the need to shrink the paper to save money. I don’t really have a problem with the size, but why did you redesign the masthead? That’s what signifies it’s the AJC from other papers.
Surely you could have found an Atlanta-based or U.S. based company that could have handled the design work instead of sending the work out of the country.
My parents subscribed to the AJC when I was a kid and I’ve continued that tradition since I’ve been out of my own for many years. If I have any say in the matter, we will be switching our home delivery to the Marietta Daily Journal when renewal time comes around.
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Ernest
April 29th, 2009
12:50 pm
I noticed the most recent blog comments now go to the bottom. At least that is consistent with the rest of the paper….
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 29th, 2009
12:55 pm
Marc: Yes, I had a typo yesterday. How kind of you to notice. Sadly, no one is editing me on the blog, and I’m human. Shocking, I know. I do stand by the point – being balanced doesn’t mean being namby pamby.
Roscoe: I owed you some answers:
1. On the paper/color quality: This is heavily recycled paper, which never has the weight of brand new paper. We want to be good citizens, but I’m not sure we’re crazy about it either.
2. We are looking at the fonts pretty intensely. We made some changes today – take a look at the box on the far right of Page One today and compare to the type in a box in a similar location Tuesday.
3. We have some serious issues with deadlines for our earlier edition, which sometimes doesn’t have all the scores we’d like to have. This is a topic we discuss daily. Our late edition generally does provide scores for local teams.
4. I agree on the Gwinnett Braves and we’re working on it.
5. Is there a particular story you sought but couldn’t find on the website? I can track down what happened.
And we are thinking about life after print and smart changes we can make during the next 100 years while we still have a printed newspaper.
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L.H. Hiers
April 29th, 2009
1:09 pm
I was skeptical at first but I actually like the changes. Very readable and concise.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 29th, 2009
1:17 pm
I see a thread in the postings that suggest frustration over the fact that we didn’t revert back to the former design after receiving our mandate yesterday from the blog. And some suggested we aren’t listening. This is silly. We’re reading the postings carefully and looking for serious suggestions on ways to improve the design. We haven’t, however, decided to abandon ship because people are expressing concerns about what we’re up to. Once again, we didn’t just wake up Monday and decide to remake the paper on a whim, we’ve spent a lot of time, money and research on this and you will forgive us if we’d like to stick to our guns for a while.
A couple of other responses:
To the newspaper lover: We run more corrections because we are much more aggressive about addressing errors than we used to be. As you probably know, I’ve been here a long time and remember the deep reluctance we all had about admitting an error in public. The fact that we used to run fewer corrections in no way suggests we used to be more accurate. I know, I was here.
I’m not sure why you believe we’ve given up on depth. Read the newspaper this coming Sunday and then come back to argue that we are no more than sound bites. How many stories jumped off Page One today? Do you remember the days when we weren’t allowed to jump ANY stories off the front page? I do. Are those the halcyon days of which you speak? I’ve been here 28 years and I never recall having so many reporters – even in this smaller staff – dedicated to writing watchdog/investigative stories and cover-quality enterprise pieces. It is true we have become more selective about when we allow reporters to write 80-inch stories, but I’m not convinced that we didn’t need more focus and discipline in those old days. You raise a lot of good issues and please continue to raise them, but I invite you to read us carefully over the next few weeks before you form a longer-lasting opinion. We will listen to faithful readers; we must.
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Just wondering
April 29th, 2009
1:27 pm
“I read each and every posting. Surely you wouldn’t expect us to throw out everything we’ve done on the basis of these blog postings.” No, we do not expect you to throw out everything. We are just expressing what we like and don’t like. Isn’t that what you wanted when you started the blog yesterday?
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Jack Reacher
April 29th, 2009
1:47 pm
The AJC squandered whatever credibility it may have had long ago. Mizz Wallace admits to a perception among SOME readers that the paper has a liberal bias, but never goes so far as to actually entertain the fact that the perception is the reality, no, no mea culpa from her. And Mr. Roughton appears to suffer from a fortress mentality.
I go to the Huffington Post every day, and I am seldom annoyed by it. The difference between the Huffington Post and the AJC? The Huffington Post is unabashedly liberal, they celebrate it, they do not deny it. The AJC, on the other hand, has been trying for years to convince us that it has no bias, that it is objective and that it reports the news straight up, no slant, no filter. Fish can’t see the water syndrome.
I have no problem with the editorial pages containing opinion, except for the beyond the pale cartoons. Cynthia Tucker, for instance, she is intelligent, can be thought provoking, and can write, even though I seldom agree with her. (I have not read Bookman in years, he is not worth further comment.) Why do you continue to print editorial cartoons that are mean, vicious and in poor taste?
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 29th, 2009
2:06 pm
Just Wondering:
Yes, we want feedback, and comments that are specific and constructive are great. Even some of the snarky ones contain important messages for us. But we never said this was a referendum. Certainly, we must listen to readers – including the hundreds we listened to as we redesigned the newspaper. We must listen beyond the blog, and it’s interesting to me that readers generally seem willing to give it a try.
I’ve never seen a newspaper listen as deeply and sincerely to its readers. When I’ve described what we’ve done to folks at other newspapers, they’ve been surprised at how much reader input went into the design. But in the end, we must decide what to do with what we hear from readers. And we’ll be accountable for that.
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Roscoe
April 29th, 2009
2:36 pm
Bert,
The last one and I’ll shut up and give you enough time to digest all of these comments, decide if and how to adjust, and move forward.
In today’s print edition, below the fold is a story headlined ‘09 to be zoo’s year of rebuilding. Go to the Metro page of the website at http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/index.html?cxntlid=nav_mtr_mtr I go to the metro page because it’s a metro story in the print paper. Not there. Well, maybe it’s on the home page. Nope. Click on the print edition link – finally there it is. This is at 2:30 – that may change later because the web pages are dynamic – which is a good thing.
Bert, if it’s important enough to be on the front of a section page in the print paper it’s important enough to stay on the corresponding web page in a prominent position all day. Granted, this isn’t the most important story that ran today. But until you go all electronic, all the time, people are going to expect to be able to find the same story that ran in that day’s paper – or at least an updated version of it – in the corresponding place on the web page.
Off my soapbox. You want to make me really happy? Run twice as many comics – or more.
I understand about the paper, its color and the quality of printing you can get from it. Just have the color guys keep working on it and remind the designers that the background on this new stuff isn’t even close to white.
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Just Wondering
April 29th, 2009
2:53 pm
Nor did I say it was a referendum. Thank you for answering my question.
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Sue
April 29th, 2009
3:24 pm
I agree…lots of complaints and justifiably so! My weekly neighborhood paper is more readable than this. I’ve always said that the Food Section was the poorest I’ve seen and now with the change I fear it will be even worse. Yes it’s hard to read!!!! You say the font is just different not smaller….well trust me….get with the program as I would be the majority of the readers are bifocal wearers and having difficulty adjusting to this new type. While we’re on it….making the comics in color was just plain stupid…no one needs them in color…I’d rather have you spend the money on improving the readibility factor! The local weather area is a joke…it’s so faded looking it looks like you forgot to finish it.
You don’t like the comments…well too bad…you asked for feedback…I would bet that there will be alot of folks cancelling their subscriptions if things don’t improve.
Honestly, the AJC now looks like my home town paper – for a town of about 100,000 people….not what I’d expect from a big town newspaper.
Right now the paper is only good for lining a litter box, use as a piddle pad or smacking the bigwigs of the AJC upside the head!
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HSThompson
April 29th, 2009
3:37 pm
I’m not qualified to provide feedback laden with typography-specific jargon nor can I provide much insight on issues of design and layout. But as a subscriber to the AJC for 20+ years and as a regular reader of the big national dailies and as an intelligent, computer-literate, adult business professional, I can provide my qualitative opinion of the redesigned AJC: I don’t like it. I don’t enjoy reading it. The pages are hard for me to look at. Crammed, overloaded, confusing. I now have great difficulty scanning to find articles I want to read. It’s sad to see what’s happened to the AJC. My routine is reading the AJC with breakfast before leaving for work. So far, since the change, this has not been an enjoyable experience. I suspect that when subscription renewal comes around, I won’t renew. And that will be a sad day at my house
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Tom
April 29th, 2009
4:39 pm
Enter your comments here
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Tom
April 29th, 2009
4:51 pm
I am a native of this area and have been reading the Journal for a very long time. I also have been retired for over 20 years and have had my AJC to read with breakfast although lately I have had to keep my magnifing glass handy but now it is required. The new format and print may be easier for someone younger but not for us older readers. I guess I will have to depend more on TV news since the NEW AJC will not be able to keep me up to date. I wonder where you got the people that participated in your survey but it must not have included those of us who are 7 day subscribers and in my age bracket.
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Newspaper enthusiast
April 29th, 2009
4:58 pm
You know, there have been lots of references to the AJC now looking like a hometown paper. I don’t think that’s all bad. I take the New York Times on weekends, but I also receive a nice potpourri of hometown weeklies via the mail. County newspapers are destined to survive the economy, complemented I’m sure by digital media — folks want cut out the school photos and stick on the fridge or share the paper with friends at the local diner over a cup of coffee. If we’re talking content, hometown is good. If we’re talking layout and design, Georgia’s weeklies are among the best in the nation. And, the AJC is taking a lead in listening to its readers.
There are layout decisions that debuted on Tuesday that I don’t like, but overall a genuine effort to make this city’s hometown paper a better product.
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Susan King
April 29th, 2009
5:23 pm
You say that you “talked” to thousands of readers, and “they” guided you to the new product we have now in the New AJC? I find that hard to believe!!!! What I see now looks as if it was done by nonprofessionals!! Smaller, light print with everything jammed together, blurry pictures, flimsy paper quality, unattractive throughout,…….the list goes on!! Whoever is the main person responsible for these changes should be ashamed!! It’s like that person or persons who decided to do this was/ were on some kind of drug when they decided to go along with this!!!! Why spend all that money on colored comics every day….or colors everywhere! It’s so unnecessary in a good newspaper! It’s a shame you “spent millions in press upgrades, MORE color, and a MORE newsy, sophisticated look”!!! You failed to accomplish what you wanted to achieve!!!! What a waste of money!!! Your market research failed miserably!! It’s really embarrassing to see the AJC turned into what it is now.
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Danielle
April 29th, 2009
5:49 pm
I dont’t like AJC newspaper anymore. It’s just to confusing. It’s hurting my eyes.
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Business 101
April 29th, 2009
6:10 pm
Bert,
The AJC is in the business of selling advertising but you don’t know how to sell your newspaper. As a business owner the first rule is not to offend your customer. You have done that and now many of us (subscribers) do not read your paper which means not enough of us(business customers) want to buy your advertising since no one reads your paper. You have set in motion a downwarded spiral by publishing editorials that offend a large group of your subscribers/readers. No business can survive that kind of bad service. Here is a novel idea….the AJC would have no editorial content in the paper. Just cover the news and entertain your customers. Give them what they want and get out of the opinion business. You will always lose cutomers by disagreeing with them. You are in business and it requires giving value for other people’s money. Political statements get you nothing except lost revenue since people will always disagree. Editorials are for you not us. Like I said I am in business and so are you first and foremost.
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Lynn T.Ziglar
April 29th, 2009
6:30 pm
Do you need subscribers or are you on the planet alone? 2nd day dawned and we are as dissatisfied as we were on Monday. What a strange thing to do to the newspaper.
Wall St. Journal is one that made changes for the better not worse. Who advised you so miserably?
Lynn T.Ziglar, subscriber not to renew
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Curious
April 29th, 2009
7:03 pm
I wonder how many of these “Marietta Daily Journal” , “Gwinnett Daily Post” and Cherokee references are actually made by employees of those aforementioned companies.
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Laurie
April 29th, 2009
7:15 pm
Well, after deleting most of the readable content, to add insult to someone who has actually been READING the entire former AJC for 15 years, now its down to 1/3 of its original content and it looks like a cross between the News-For-Kids and USA Today. So, in researching who you have writing- no one. I actually get all of the content for free– begs the question, why am I trashing up my driveway for money??? Although this stuff makes great garden mulch but is it really worth the prices?? Can’t wait for you to call to renew my subscription. Change is not always for the best.
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Sal
April 29th, 2009
7:44 pm
Without even saying how I feel about the new paper, I’m not sure what the commenters here expect. For the AJC to go back to their old design? To take a poll of readers? From what I’ve read above, they did that for two years. Let’s say they take a poll again … what’s the threshold for going back? 20% of all readers complain? 5%? With a couple hundred posts, I’m sure that’s still an insignificant number in a city as large as Atlanta.
Some people have brought up redesigns and changes on Facebook. After what was viewed as “massive outcry” about their changes and Terms of Service, they put it to a vote. After all the complaining and all the outrage and all the negativity, less than 0.3% even voted — hardly a representation of the 200 million users.
The editors say they spoke with thousands of readers, that sounds like a bigger voice to me. My neighbor was in a focus group several months ago for the paper. From what she told me and from what I’ve read here, the newspaper isn’t trying to win over people who’ve hated the AJC for years. My neighbors and some friends like the new look. Some don’t. But it’s the news that matters, right? I, for one, won’t ever give up my subscription by choice and look forward to seeing the paper in my front yard each morning, right next to the Wall Street Journal. I want to be able to find the stories I want to read and then be able to read them. I’ve been able to do both so far. I do think the printing has been a little light and harder to read in spots, but I’ve noticed that before.
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Gene
April 29th, 2009
8:15 pm
This so called new design is without doubt the most horrible and worthless piece of crap I have ever seen. What effing idiot made this stupid decision. I’ve lived in numerous cities throught the world and this is the worst looking newspaper with the most worthless content I’ve ever seen.
You dumbos have no clue what the people want and you surely don’t care. It’s all about the bottom line, isn’t it. You might as well get ready to close your doors for good, because it’s coming soon. The AJC will be history very shortly.
Well I really don’t care anymore because my subscription expires next week and I will NEVER subscrible to this liberal piece of trash again. I know there will be thousands just like me who will also cancel this joke you call a newspaper.
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PERCY
April 29th, 2009
8:40 pm
Hey Tom I am with you. Its the older crowd that has been the most loyal 7 day subscribers. As our group decides not to renew and cancel subscriptions one wonders where the AJC expects revenue from. Advertisers are all but gone.
Its amazing too see the editor has her head in the sand and babbles about change, This is not change its suicide, I cannot read this mess!
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Richard Owens
April 29th, 2009
9:23 pm
STOP THE PRESSES — I have chilled from yesterday’s negative response, I only commented on the masthead — but I think you have done remarkably well to create what you needed to do. I am strongly conservative, and our house still cares to get the paper so we can keep up with our town, and as Maynard told us years ago, Atlanta your town, Atlanta my town, Atlanta good town.
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Ian Latham
April 29th, 2009
9:48 pm
The USAToday thing.
Most people think USAToday is a generic, national newspaper for business travelers who read it in hotels, in airports, and on airplanes. That’s the USAToday we all know.
As a newspaper, it happens to be a very strong visual brand.
For whatever reason, your designers created an adaptation of that design model. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with the AJC. It was focused on a new narrow format, flimsy paper, and the need to pack significant editorial volume into a smaller space. Contemporary newspaper designers know that’s what USAToday perfected.
Which is fine.
But your readers aren’t expecting to pick up a generic, national newspaper in their driveways.
Yes, they want a paper they can enjoy and continue to subscribe to. But they don’t want USAToday. If they wanted USAToday, they’d buy it. You transformed AJC into an ersatz USAToday.
Isn’t that what readers are telling you?
If you truly wanted to to re-build the visual brand of your paper, wouldn’t you first remember who you are, how you should be, and how you should behave? Given the expectations people have? After all, the New York Times completed a dramatic redesign of the paper, not so long ago, to accommodate similar goals, including a narrower format. Yet the paper still looks and feels like The New York Times.
Wall Street Journal accomplished an even more radical re-design; yet still looks like The Wall Street Journal. In fact, even better.
But nothing about AJC remains, except the name, and perhaps the editorial page layouts, which came out best in all of this. Why? Because you didn’t change them much.
Moving forward you want your readers to ‘be specific’. But your readers can’t be specific and tell you what troubles them — they don’t have the experience or the language to do that. Apparently you don’t, either. But they can tell you what they know and what they feel. And they did.
What you did is take their paper away from them, and in return, give them what looks alarmingly like a generic national rag. What is astonishing, is that these are the people who are most loyal to you.
Of course, this is only partly about newspaper design; it’s more about the management of a visual brand.
Publication designers say, people get over change. Don’t worry about it. Give them time. But I work in a different world. Brands are stronger than page layouts.
There’s only one authentic way to re-design the AJC: You must decide-define-identify-understand-and-accept the enduring DNA of AJC — reaching back into its heritage if you have to — and then re-purpose what you discover for a new world. This is a world where readership is declining, pages are narrowing, and online competitors are stealing news out from under from you.
There is probably a fabulous, exciting newspaper ready to be re-invented in there somewhere. You have to find it.
You can be pretty sure that aping an aging airport newspaper that has nothing to do with Atlanta isn’t the way to go about it.
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Ken Leebow
April 29th, 2009
10:00 pm
I recommend that you take Marc Andreseen’s advice to newspapers: “Kill it.”
You and all the newspapers are dying a slow death and candidly, it’s sad to watch.
Go online exclusively, take the revenue hit and hope for the best. The good old days are over.
I’ll be waiting for your announcement that the print edition will not be printed any more.
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Elaine DerGarabedian
April 29th, 2009
10:40 pm
I would love to hear comments on this fiasco from our old friend Lewis Grizzard. Maybe “put these people on the next Delta flight out!!!”
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Tag
April 29th, 2009
10:47 pm
Unlike many other posters, I welcomed the change. I even looked forward to it. I really like the smaller paper size and I find the new format great for scanning for articles. This format does a good job separating articles.
I do have a few complaints. The close spacing of the text makes it hard for my eyes to keep on the right line. I have to constantly refocus to stay on track. This makes my eyes tired. Also, the light color backgrounds make the text appear very faded (not enough contrast). Finally, the tables of data (sports scores, stock prices, etc) are literally impossible to read without magnification (and I have 20/15 vision).
Just for the record, I agree with the multitude of posters that the content of the paper is way off balance, but that isn’t related to the new format so I won’t go into that.
I do understand the amount of effort it took to plan this change and how hard it to separate the useful feedback from the whining. I appreciate and applaud the efforts of the AJC staff to continuously improve the paper.
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Elaine DerGarabedian
April 29th, 2009
10:51 pm
Wonder what our old friend Lewis Grizzard would say about this fiasco?
Put all those AJC people on the next Delta flight out of Georgia?
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Glenn Phillips
April 30th, 2009
12:05 am
I’m a longtime fan and supporter of the AJC, and no one wants to see the paper stay in business more than myself. With that in mind, I’m writing about the new, denser font that you’ve started using. Simply put, it’s unreadable and is only going to lead to a further drop in subscriptions. Older readers are not going to continue paying for a paper they can’t read, and the denser type is not going to motivate younger readers to buy the paper any more than a more readable font would.
With the economy faltering and dropping readership, you can’t afford any mistakes, and this new font is a mistake that’s not going to be solved by changing the weight and inking. It’s my hope that you realize this sooner rather than later and change to a less dense font before your readership drops further. The AJC is much too important to our community to do otherwise.
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Mark
April 30th, 2009
8:16 am
I think Wednesday’s paper was slightly better than Tuesdays in that the front page did not seem so dependent on everything being in only one column. But the font still sucks. If the goal is to provide the same content on less paper (hence the denser font) why waste so much real estate on Luckovich’s cartoon? It’s HUGE compared to the rest of the paper which seems so small and cramped.
I do see signs someone is listening (the Vent bold type and the changed sort order on the blogs). I can’t comment on Thurday’s changes as the paper had not shown up when I left this AM.
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Bert Roughton, managing editor
April 30th, 2009
8:23 am
Ian: Thanks for the thought-provoking posting. It kept me up last night. You struck a nerve with the DNA reference. I’ll come back to that. The reason we probe on the USA Today complaint is that it tends to be a thoughtless perjorative. It is, in a way, a generic complaint. It usually means one of two things – either we’ve used color in a way that suggests USA Today or we’re moving to become a light, breezy and inconsequential newspaper. We intend the color to aid navigation – a much bigger issue with the Sunday newspaper to be sure. I’m not much worried if people just don’t like the additional color. I’m not nuts about it myself, but we didn’t redesign the newspaper for me. I must say that it’s flatly untrue that our design was derived from USA Today. It evolved on its own from early visions we had – most of them much more radical. Readers – hundreds of them – guided us to this design, leading us to a place we hadn’t expected to go. Because the design takes so much of its underlying principle from what readers told us, I believe it will speak to readers and they will embrace it. The narrower format was actually a coincidence – a business decision made as we prepared the new design. What I do worry about is the suggestion within the USA Today complaint that we have somehow lost our journalistic compass or our sense of Atlanta. The worry about our DNA is lodged somewhere in that concern. We have no intention of delivering a generic newspaper to the end of our readers’ driveways. We intend to present them a locally focused newspaper that understands that readers of a big metro want world and national news as well. I take your point that we must retain and remember who we are as we move into this next chapter of this great newspaper’s story. I hope the DNA of the AJC that existed when Margaret Mitchell was a reporter can exist in this newspaper. I think it does. It continues in our stories and photography. That’s where what’s best about The Atlanta Journal-Constitution still lives. It’s untrue that nothing but the nameplate remains, the editors, reporters and photographers are still here. I’m still here. But your thoughtful posting reminded me of the importance of remembering who we are – a newsroom committed to metro Atlanta, a newsroom that can produce work that transcends any design or platform In the end, the design works only if it serves our journalism. If this design succeeds at that, then I believe our DNA will be preserved, passed on and perhaps improved.
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30-year reader
April 30th, 2009
8:54 am
I hope you are listening hard to the complaints about the bodytype font. It is awful. Reading even the best-written story is like wading through mud.
The only downside of going back to the old one or something similar is you might lose a little word count with a less-dense font. But if no one can wade through this muck — and my 51-year-old eyes cannot, even with glasses — what good is it? I’m sure your writers would rather have 500 words readably published than 600 that are unreadable.
Otherwise my only complaint is the washed out colors and crappy paper, which negate the whole idea of a more thoughtful, high-quality news package. It looks like the press is low on ink or something. And while I understand wanting to be “green” and all with the triple-recycled paper, I really and truly do not think that’s your top priority at this juncture.
My 2 cents. Good luck
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30-year reader
April 30th, 2009
9:05 am
Let me add that I do like the section front brief columns. Unlilke some folks I also like the big day/date banner. Whenever I forget what the date is I refer to the paper on the kitchen table, and now I can see it!
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Ian Mason
April 30th, 2009
9:17 am
This is one of the worst re-designs I’ve ever seen. Specifically the front page looks like the a 1970’s version of the Atlanta Business Chronicle. We may enjoy different typefaces online but please don’t assume those translate to print. Please bring back the old AJC.
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L.H. Hiers
April 30th, 2009
9:46 am
I think everyone needs to give the folks at the AJC a break. It is NOT easy publishing a newspaper and I for one would rather see some changes and not see our paper go away. A little patience would be nice.
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dot3
April 30th, 2009
10:27 am
I’m sorry to disappoint if you were reading these posts and expecting another complaint, because this isn’t one. All I see all over this blog (mostly) is a bunch of stubborn, frustrated, and confused readers that act as if their entire world just turned upside down with this redesign. They talk as if USA Today invented color, colors need to kick you in the face to be effective, and text can’t be read unless its on poster board paper. Give me a break. I know you’ve had you’re paper a certain way for awhile, but times are tough, and, yeah, AJC spend a bit of money to save a lot of money and also to gain new and keep old readers. Are you going to fault them for trying to survive in a world where the writing is on the wall that their days are numbered? Everything is online, but I still believe in print. However print definitely isn’t going to survive unless there are steps of drastic changes. This is the first one for them. Yeah, they may have lost a bit of DNA in the process, but that can be remedied. The point is they’ve finally summoned the gall to invest in new printing techniques that will at least have a chance at fighting the competitive information market.
Look at the front page. Don’t look at what’s different about it. Just look at the information. Yep, its all there, much more organized, you actually know what day it is now, and there is a much better consistency in story sections with the little >>>> all over the place. You see a >>>>> ? Look right below, there’s your headline. There are similar changes throughout that both speed up and clarify information intake. You may think these are unimportant changes, but I think if you’ll give the newspaper more than a couple days before jumping on the bandwagon of complainers, you’ll find once you get a bit adjusted to the new visual cues, all the content (which is should be what we really care about) is still there and much easier to navigate. As far as the font goes, same deal. Its more condensed, faster reading font. If you can’t read it, its probably time for another eye exam because your likely wasting additional time elsewhere on the road where you miss your turns because you can’t read street signs. Again, with a bit of time and practice and possibly healthy vision, you too can read this font comfortably.
I’m sorry about the hard truth, but there it is. The readers of the this newspaper who like it the old way are not going to be able to support this paper staying in business. Bottom line. Guess who the AJC is losing to the internet. Not those 40yr+ people, but everyone below that, and I know its hard to teach an old dog new tricks, in fact, its nearly impossible. So I give the AJC credit for responding to the writing on the wall that if they don’t respond with new strategies this paper will die along with every other city paper in the US and world for that matter. They are taking the first much needed stepping in attracting new readers, and, hopefully, keeping old ones (no pun intended). I think if you give it some time and don’t automatically assume change is bad, you will actually be able to appreciate this paper for what it has always intended to convey: content.
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MGuy
April 30th, 2009
10:33 am
After 47 years of being an avid reader of the AJC, and enjoying it every morning with my coffee, I no longer look forward to that pleasure. The “new” look is crowded, the print is dim and tiny, and the paper is extremely hard to read. Please admit yo ur mistakes, and go back to the old format! Listen to your faithful readers and return “our” paper to us as it was before. We do not need any further complexities to unbalance our lives.
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Jason
April 30th, 2009
10:35 am
Bert — thank you for taking the time to read everyone’s opinions. It means a lot to know that at least you guys are listening and working with the readers. I am a 28 year reader of the AJC and have to say that while the redesign was a bit tough the first day, it is growing on me rapidly.
My biggest complaint is to clean up the main mast of the paper — it looks very amateur-ish — make us look like a top flight city and make the “Atlanta Journal & Constitution” much more stately and big league-ish……it is the first thing people see when they pick up the paper or walk by it, and the current version spells unsophisticated all over it. Also — along the top bar at the top of A1, why not have the days forecast (high/low temp) pollen count, and any other pertinent info for the day (may Braves score from previous night, lottery numbers) right up at the top and then a nice clean “AJC” headline below that and then this thing will really grab readers attention in a more positive way.
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Brian Shively
April 30th, 2009
12:11 pm
As a graphic designer, I can appreciate all the hard work that has gone into re-designing the AJC. My two cents: when a story jumps to a new page, the header looks the same as if for a new article. Before, it was easier to tell at a glance what stories on the page were new, or if they were continuing from somewhere else. Now all the headlines look similar. Maybe a lighter/thinner font for jump articles?
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former subscriber
April 30th, 2009
12:45 pm
You can tinker with the graphics and colors all you want. Perhaps you should have hired an interior decorator instead of some PR firm, before making purely cosmetic changes. When I see the names of Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman off the AJC payroll, I will consider resubscribing. It is the news content and the way it is presented that sells copy. I am degreed as are most of my friends and colleagues. The primary complaint I hear about the AJC is the blatant left-leaning, race-based political slant injected into nearly every story. Its more than perception. In case you have not noticed, Georgia is a “red state”. From a marketing standpoint, perhaps you should start considering the political and social perspectives of others. I’ve resided in metro Atlanta since 1987. I’d like to know what is going on in the rest of my state, as well as the suburban communities. This news source fails me. It seems to be focused on the inner perimeter. I’ve often wandered what percentage of your subscribers reside within the boundaries of I-285. If that is your target market, that is fine. Your own obituary will be forthcoming as a result.
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John
April 30th, 2009
12:45 pm
In redesigning the sports page, you apparently have all but forgotten that high school sports exist. Are a few sentences about a lacrosse player and an AP story about postponements of games in Texas the best you can do when it is playoff time for spring sports in Georgia?
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Tired Eyes
April 30th, 2009
12:53 pm
As a subscriber of 20+ years I am sad to see this day come. Not only can I read the reverse from one side of the sheet but the colors are so light that they blend together and make this one of the most difficult papers to read that I have ever seen. I am not a fan of the smaller size either. My subscription is expiring and I guess that in the future my news will have to come from the internet or television much to my dismay.
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conservative reader
April 30th, 2009
1:24 pm
your decision today to run a Thomas Sowell column is a great start.. I know you’ve run his columns in the past, but not frequently enough. Most conservatives I know ascribe more to his views than to the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, etc.
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PERCY
April 30th, 2009
1:43 pm
We paid for our subscription thats why we shared our opinion. Your clearly in the minority, but if you like the new kiddie format, good for you.
BTW, no one wants the paper to go away, we just want one that can be read without a magnifying glass.
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Former Subscriberl
April 30th, 2009
1:52 pm
Who in the world redesigned your liberal rag. It had to be some retard from the ghetto or outer space. No sane person would have deliberately printed such tripe.
At one time many years ago I enjoyed the AJC but no more. If you people would wake up and realize who it is that buys your rag you would make changes to get these people back. The first thing you should do is fire that racist Cynthia Tucker, fire that sissy no brains Bookman and in particular fire that wimp, Lucovich who is allowed to attack our former president and our militay people any way he wants to. When Lucovich is gone you will see numerous former subscribers back reading the AJC including me.
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whaler888
April 30th, 2009
2:27 pm
The anger that some people rant about toward editorial comment never ceases to amaze. I do not understand how someone that preaches American values such as free speech only wants to read exactly their own views and not even permit the other side. Anyway that is really for another day.
What is on most people minds is the design, font, spacing etc. I can not believe anyone thinks the design has comfortable “readibility” I find the content still there but what good does it do if I have to struggle to see the words on the page. What good does content do if the colors are so muted that they appear unfinished and “cheap”. What good does content do if I have a headache from the effort associated with the font and density. What good does content do when I couldn’t see the editorial carton without a magnifying glass. What good does content do when the major league standings were so small that it was too much effort to actually read. What good does highlighting excerpts from articles in color when it barely shows on the page.
The paper needs to present information physically clear and bold enough to be comfortable. Get less dense, get more ink on the page becasue only then will we be able to be comfortable enough to judge the effort you are making with content.
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whaler888
April 30th, 2009
2:30 pm
The anger that some people rant about toward editorial comment never ceases to amaze. I do not understand how someone that preaches American values such as free speech only wants to read exactly their own views and not even permit the other side. Anyway that is really for another day.
What is on most people minds is the design, font, spacing etc. I can not believe anyone thinks the design has comfortable “readibility” I find the content still there but what good does it do if I have to struggle to see the words on the page. What good does content do if the colors are so muted that they appear unfinished and “cheap”. What good does content do if I have a headache from the effort associated with the font and density. What good does content do when I couldn’t see the editorial carton without a magnifying glass. What good does content do when the major league standings were so small that it was too much effort to actually read. What good does highlighting excerpts from articles in color when it barely shows on the page.
The paper needs to present information physically clear and bold enough to be comfortable. Get less dense, get more ink on the page becasue only then will we be able to be comfortable enough to judge the effort you are making with content.
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Rodney Lynch
April 30th, 2009
2:40 pm
Never mind all of the negative flack. As a journalism grad, I know quality when I see it in print. Sure, there may be a tweek here and there at first, but the overall result is awesome. The font, and definitely the color puts new life into the paper. This is something it needs. There is a loss in readership, and in this economy, eye-catching tactics are needed. The AJC is being left behind in comparison with some of the nation’s papers. With all of the ‘interesting’ comments about USA Today, people must remember how effective USA Today has been, and still is. The old style was dull, and lost people. There was never a reason to pick up the paper unless there was a national crisis we wanted to read about. It was boring. I’m conservative in some ways, but too much of a hold on something, actually causes you to lose it. I’ll keep on reading as long as you move along with the times. Time to put away the horse and buggy. There is a new era in Journalism.
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Rodney Lynch
April 30th, 2009
2:46 pm
Never mind all of the negative flack. As a journalism grad, I know quality when I see it in print. Sure, there may be a tweek here and there at first, but the overall result is awesome. The font, and definitely the color puts new life into the paper. This is something it needs. There is a loss in readership, and in this economy, eye-catching tactics are needed. The AJC is being left behind in comparison with some of the nation’s papers. With all of the ‘interesting’ comments about USA Today, people must remember how effective USA Today has been, and still is. The old style was dull, and lost people. There was never a reason to pick up the paper unless there was a national crisis we wanted to read about. It was boring. I’m conservative in some ways, but too much of a hold on something, actually causes you to lose it. I’ll keep on reading as long as you move along with the times. Time to put away the horse and buggy. There is a new era in Journalism.
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News Junkie
April 30th, 2009
3:02 pm
Nobody cares about pretty colors ! Take off the rose-colored glasses ! Put the celebrity culture nonsense in the lifestyle section, not the front page ! As for editorial content, show some balance ! A token conservative columnist is not going to sell newspapers.
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Cindy
April 30th, 2009
3:07 pm
I wish you still had direct links to the end of an article (ex. See page A 12) It’s too much trouble to have to keep flipping to finish each article. A hot link like you used to have is MUCH EASIER. Please reconsider.
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Alex Bender
April 30th, 2009
3:40 pm
OK, readability seems a little better today, I hope it’s not just me caving, BUT, You ask for suggestions here are more of mine:
• Take the sports off of the front page
• Go back to B&W comics
• Lose the color splashes
• Don’t try to be the USA Today
• Justify the text
• Reduce the number of columns by one across the page to ease the eye jump and smooth readably. I feel all scrunched up when I read it the way it is now. Loosen it up somehow.
• Lose Glen Burns, too much space devoted to weather
• List S&P 500 daily (+-) beside Dow Ind and NASDAQ
• Don’t try to portray you are going to be fair and balanced when you are so definitely a liberal/progressive organ, leave fair and balanced to FOX, you can’t pull it off
• Drop the pro and con liberal/conservative pieces, just stick to your bias and let us filter out the real news from the wire news you print
• Keep in mind that there are folks that live outside 285 that, mediocre or bad, do depend on the AJC as their daily morning read
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Morton Levine
April 30th, 2009
3:51 pm
PLEASE, PLEASE change the font or what it takes so that I can once again read the AJC. I travel a great deal and have read newspapers from most major cities in the U.S. and I have always said the AJC was the best, particularly the sports section. I am unable to read the paper today. You either made the print smaller or did something that now makes the paper so dificuly to read, it’s just not worth the effort.Please do something. You are leaving me, I am not leaving you. But unless something is done, I am finished reading my favorite newspaper. Don’t do that to me. Thanks for listening
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Zach Nilsen
April 30th, 2009
4:27 pm
1. Why publish a photo of some bloke on the weather page? I bet he only reads the teleprompter… Maybe he is a boyfriend of someone in power at the AJC? Who cares?
2. Those empty clouds – all weather today looks identical for the whole week.
3. New picture of Jay Bookman with hairstyle a la John Edwards? Is this also something that the consultants advised?
The bottom line – get back the money you spent on the consultants – sue them and get it back. They and this Julia Wallace – their mouthpiece in the blog will cause that subscriptions will drop faster than in 2008.
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Katherine
April 30th, 2009
4:52 pm
The sudoku needs a little more space around it, especially on the right hand side. As the week progresses and the sudoku gets harder, I need that space to mark in. The new reduced-size paper makes this much more difficult than last weeks version.
Please, please, please do NOT break a word between pages. It may take a fraction more space, but it is so hard to follow the stories when I have to flip back and forth to see what the beginning of the word was.
My family’s personal opinion – ditch the color on the daily comics – they are easier to read in black and white. Even my kids like the black and white better.
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Tim
April 30th, 2009
5:14 pm
I sent this e-mail on Tuesday:
“I picked up the paper this morning, and I thought this must be some kind of cruel joke. How could the paper be narrowed AGAIN? My community newspaper is wider than this. The width of the newspaper was decreased a short time ago. Now you’ve decreased it even more?!! This is simply unacceptable. Atlanta is an international city that hosted the Olympics, and has the world’s busiest airport. And yet, our daily newspaper looks like something out of a small town in Mississippi. Every national and world article is from the Associated Press, and there is no “State News” section. How can a capital city newspaper not inform us about the news that is happening around the state? We don’t have a clue what is going on around Georgia. An international city’s newspaper should give more than just local news.
This new font style makes the words look like they are too close together. Why make a change if it’s not for the better? With all the major corporations headquartered in this city, we don’t even have a Business section anymore. I just don’t understand the rationale for these types of changes. By making the paper smaller, thinner, narrower and letting go dozens of quality reporters, do you think this will make more people subscribe to the paper? I’m not buying the media excuse that more people are reading the news on the internet. When people click on ajc.com, they’ re probably reading the blogs and Sports section. How many of those people are reading real news? How can you raise the price of the AJC and then gut it like this?”
Now, I’m sitting hear looking at these posts from these knuckledragging right-wingers. AJC, if you keep taking advice from conservative readers, you will destroy this paper. They don’t care about the paper, they just want their misguided beliefs reinforced. A few may care, but the majority of them want to sabotage the AJC. Look at how they constantly whine about Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman. I mean, it’s the Opinion Page for Christsakes. Do you hear progressives complaining about Bob Barr? Or Jim Wooten? We simply ignore Wooten, we know he’s a professional propagandist. I don’t care about them being on the editorial page, I expect to see different viewpoints on an OPINION PAGE.
The AJC needs to go back to the previous design, increase the content, and increase the width of the paper. Certainly, you don’t think people will continue subscribing to a paper this narrow and thin. I realize these are tough times for the industry, but you have to do better than this.
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carylon brown
April 30th, 2009
7:37 pm
I have been a subscriber for a long time and I am quite disappointed in the paper now. The print compared to an earlier edition is too close which makes it very difficult to read. I am a senior and I will not strain my eyes trying to read the crowded print, squeezed columns, and small print in areas. I will not renew my subscription and will read the paper on line instead. You cut and cut the quality. You should have sent a magnifying glass with each subscription. Reading the paper was a morning ritual with my cup of coffee. No more straining my eyes.
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Scott
April 30th, 2009
8:07 pm
Bert,
Coming from a 10+ daily loyal reader, forget about all of the complaints relating to content of the newspaper — these folks should have been complaining prior to Tuesday’s change in format — as far as I can tell the content found within the AJC was the same on Monday as it was Tues – Thurs.
Seems as if a majority of the readers concerns relate to the size of paper, font spacing, and poor (yellow and thin) paper quality.
AJC could consider the following:
1. Replacing the 100% recycled paper with a partial recycled whiter higher quality paper that will offer greater contrast and enhanced picture resolution — not 100% green yet still using soy ink and partial recycled paper.
2. If your research group is completely sold on the font — keep the current font — just improve spacing between letters.
3. Enlarge the size of the paper — Enhances the feasibility of spacing the font without disrupting the overall format which the focus groups states works well.
This way everyone wins — every morning the reader receives a readable newspaper with vivid contrast — AJC is able to continue selling the new edgy format, still keep the claim of using soy ink, continue using the current colors, and with the increase space can address a majority of minor cosmetic changes loyal readers have been sharing in the blogs the past few days (i.e weather, Baseball Standings, Stocks prices, etc).
I understanding there would be an added cost per reader to make the above changes yet believe the increase would be made up in renewals of your traditional readers ( 40 + plus ) and the potential new younger clients that the AJC is attempting to capture that currently absorb their news through the internet.
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Subscriber
April 30th, 2009
8:08 pm
With the new design you threw out any heritage your brand enjoyed and replaced it with a very generic look. My wife’s reaction was the AJC now looks like a free weekly.
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Jack
April 30th, 2009
8:19 pm
As we know, it is very difficult to edit every inch of the newspaper. You do an excellent job of editing. Naturally, the more editors you have the fewer mistakes that occur. So, I am offering a little editing info. On the Weather page, you have Key West listed under both the SOUTHEAST and the U.S.. In previous editions Kansas City was listed under the U.S..
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Media Man
April 30th, 2009
8:54 pm
Liberal rags are going the way of liberal talk shows. Get right, or get left !
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Inquiring Mind
April 30th, 2009
8:55 pm
Shawn,
Gotta boyfriend?
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Pam Frey
April 30th, 2009
9:08 pm
I could not believe how short the Food section was today. What happened to the beer and wine reviews? I have taken a daily newspaper my entire life. The reasons for taking a local paper are to keep up with local politics, find good restaurants, the Vent, comics, the obituaries, and the comics. Why did newspapers ever allow online access for free? If you have a good paper people will read it. My 20 year olds read it every day so it is not just for old people.
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Mary Myers
April 30th, 2009
9:13 pm
As longtime subscribers to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, we have reacted without comment to the cutbacks of recent months, though it was hard to accept them. But what you have offered up this week as the “New AJC” is “the most unkindest cut of all.” The redesign is the most uninviting thing I have ever seen in print. It’s scary to think that you invested millions in this change and that you call the result ” a sophisticated look.” The print is so small, crowded, and difficult to read that I just gave up trying. If, as you say, you are trying to increase the satisfaction of your regular readers, this is not the way.
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Barbara Reynolds
April 30th, 2009
9:54 pm
I have subscribed for years but I too am rethinking that. I understand you have to cut costs. I also understand change as I work in the software industry. However, your change is not for the better. The paper is harder to read and it is definitely harder to find things. You have slimed the product way down but my cost went up when my subscription was renewed which is another reason I am thinking about dropping my subscription. Why pay more for less? I am very disappointed in this new product.
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Vic Bond
April 30th, 2009
9:59 pm
No longer an easy read, everything cramped. If this is progress,and the future, I’ll take the past.
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Cindy Oldham
April 30th, 2009
10:19 pm
My first impression on seeing the “new, improved” newspaper style was “this looks like one of those cheap freebie publications you pick up from paper boxes outside of businesses.” The font in places such as the vent is very difficult to read. I have excellent vision (just got new glasses) so there’s nothing wrong with my eyesight! I usually like to see changes but feel that the recent round of changes have cheapened the quality of the newspaper, not improved it.
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deleted
April 30th, 2009
11:23 pm
It’s intersting how the AJC/conversation gets updated by deleting posts the previous night that are critical of your editorial policies. I have kept co[pies and you are not fooling anyone. You say you are listening but in fact you delete the voices you don’t want to hear. You want to discuss fonts, ink, etc. and many of your readers want to discuss your views of offensive editorial content by Luckovich, Bookman and Tucker.
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tksajeev
May 1st, 2009
2:16 am
I am working as visual editor of kerala kaumudi publishing from kerala,india.I have gone through your newspapers new design in the net.You have said its modern classic design.Can you explain on it? while go through some of the pages I had got a feeling that you have given 50:50 priority to story and visuals .Is it so? Is it the new trend?
tksajeev
http://www.newspaperdesign.ning.com
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Glenn Phillips
May 1st, 2009
4:08 am
The type on today’s front page is aired out a bit and we think it improves the readability. Take a look and let us know if you agree.
——————————————————–
I wish I could say it solved the problem, but it doesn’t. There’s just not enough space between the words and everything runs together — I find myself skipping over articles that I want to read because of it. You’re encouraging an internet sort of reading experience where the reader is prone to skim headlines and skip the articles, and, ultimately, that’s just going to lead to readers canceling their subscriptions and skimming their headlines on the internet.
Simply put, here’s my advice for keeping the paper in business:
1. Go back to the old font or one that’s just as easy to read.
2. Ignore the completely out of place comments concerning editorial content (you didn’t redesign the editorial content). Anyone whose going to quit buying the paper for that reason already has, and they’re not coming back. They’re bitching for the same reason they always do: They get off on it — road rage is all the rage.
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Lowell
May 1st, 2009
7:30 am
Thanks for bolding the county names in the Obituaries and also the first few words of each Vent.
I still have a little trouble locating a particular county in the the Obituaries. I think it’s because the spacing between the county name and the first listing in that county is too small. Or, since you’re listing the county on its own line, maybe a bit larger font would help?
I don’t yet find the color coding of each section name (Metro,Sports, etc.) particularly helpful. I don’t look for a colored background to identify the section name (Ex:green for Sports)- I still read the section name. Maybe I’ll eventually remember the color associated with each section, but since I read the paper section by section, the color coding isn’t particularly helpful to me.
Overall, I’m getting used to the new format and I’m having less difficulty in finding articles that interest me and in finding where they continue on another page.
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John Cork
May 1st, 2009
7:42 am
The new design looks cheap and small town. It looks more like an effort to cut cost than to present a big city newspaper. Keep the OLD format and fire some of the NEW staff. I’ll stick with the Jackson County Paper.
Regards,
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Shawn
May 1st, 2009
9:18 am
To “Deleted” who said we delete comments overnight, that’s simply not true. If you made a posting and can’t find it later, email me directly at insideajc@ajc.com and I will check and see if perhaps you posted to another blog or something.
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mike denis
May 1st, 2009
10:18 am
The changes to the AJC are pretty much a plus, with the exception of the print. I can not read the new print that you have choosen to use, nor most of the people that I mention it too. The print is one big blur. As a subscriber and reader of the AJC for many many years, I have enjoyed reading the AJC, but if there are not a change to the print so it is readable I will have no other choic than to cancel my subscription. I hope you can make the change so that I can read the print so I can continue to purchase the AJC
Thanks
Mike
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steve lanier
May 1st, 2009
10:42 am
Years ago Mike King wrote a defensive article in which he said “don’t compare us to ‘USA Today’ and ‘The Wall Street Journal’, we are a local paper”. Yes, you are a local paper. Other than a crime story, when was the last time the paper had a story about the goings-on in Athens, Augusta, Columbus, Macon and Savannah?
Let’s just cut to the bottom line. We don’t like the resign. You guys have bet your professional resumes on the resign and you’re not going to admit your wrong. For the money spent, you could have retained any number of reporters who could travel to the hinderlands and write stories. Thursday’s ‘NYT’ had an article about Rodney Cook’s arch.
Thursday’s ‘WPO’ had an article about the Supreme Court upholding the conviction of the bank robber in Rome (GA), whose gun accidentially dischared during the attempted hold-up.
In closing, back to Mike King. What paper do you want us to compare to the new ‘AJC’. Please tell us, then we will know the quality standard you are aiming to achieve.
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Deborah Cross
May 1st, 2009
10:48 am
The AJC now looks like USA Today! Everything is jumbled. When reading an article it is difficult to find the remaining article on the next page. I have to really search for what I am looking for. I read most of the paper every morning, now it takes longer because there seems to be no consistency whatsoever. The page carrying the remainder of articles I’ve started should be much easier to find, and in some sort of order.
I also don’t care for the new font, the colors, or the headers! I subscribe daily, and have for years. I hope with all the complaints you will be making future changes!
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Brian
May 1st, 2009
11:49 am
I appreciate the need for reducing the size, but the pages are too visually crowded. The sans-serif type in the shaded boxes is very hard to read. The arrow-shaped horizontal rules are unnecessary; you’ve already got the shaded box rules and/or the thinner (and preferable) single-line rules. Readers need white space between elements to differentiate them. The pastel colors, and especially the puffy front-page banner font, detract from the dignity of what should be a serious newspaper. I think you took informality a bit too far.
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rondell
May 1st, 2009
11:58 am
Friday’s AJC had sections B & C inserted AFTER D & E. So much for Tuesday’s claim that the “order of sections will be consistent.”
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Brian B
May 1st, 2009
2:53 pm
Disappointed. That was my reaction (after the initial shock) to the wholesale changes on Tuesday. For the past 15 years, I have started my crazy day by stealing a few minutes in the morning with a cup of coffee and the AJC which was my way of relaxing. This week I found myself unable to do that as reading the paper is no longer an enjoyable or relaxing experience.
My eyes are constantly looking – even longing – for something to catch them without success. The lack of contrast – from the gray paper and pastel colors to the bold typeface so close to the standard – restricts the flow of the page and forces me to literally search for something of interest. Bring back the bold, brilliant colors and clean lines and compartments of yesterday.
I understand the need for change in this environment but this has all the makings of New Coke – that is, if the editors are smart enough to listen to their constituency. Otherwise, it may have the makings of Cerberus Capital – that prescient group of individuals that purchased DaimlerChrysler a couple of years ago.
I’d also suggest to the editors not to get defensive about all of the feedback. We’re certainly glad to know that you are listening and taking the constructive criticism seriously but keep in mind that people are passionate in their opinions because they are passionate about the paper and want to maintain that passion.
And please put aside the tired argument that so much “research” went into these changes. I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts that had you gathered a large sample of long-time readers in a room and produced Tuesday’s edition there would have been the same outrage you are hearing in this blog. At least that could have played out outside of the public domain.
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Doug
May 1st, 2009
4:38 pm
I’ve been thinking about your redesign since Tuesday and I’ve finally found the right word: rinky-dink.
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Kevin
May 1st, 2009
4:43 pm
yawnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn
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Reality
May 1st, 2009
8:03 pm
Yeah, its been the design and colors that has been scaring away readers all these years !
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Glenn Phillips
May 2nd, 2009
12:05 am
After all of the legitimate complaints about how dense the type is, you’ve responded by reducing your paragraph indents to one word. Whoever is in charge of making these decisions about the font is either blind or has super vision. In any case, the rest of us are left with a great paper that is now impossible to read.
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Glenn Phillips
May 2nd, 2009
12:07 am
Correction on my last post: you’ve responded by reducing your paragraph indents to one “letter.”
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Kathy Giannini
May 2nd, 2009
8:07 am
I guess my comments are like the rest, the print is too small and too compact. I would imagine that in this time of electronic everything, the majority of the people subscribing to a print copy of the newspaper are middle agers and up. In our home we get our news in many forms, I subscribe to the paper for a few things, local news, the daily puzzles, the food section and coupons.
So, what happened to the food section this week? I couldn’t believe it was so small, with so little information. What a shame, I looked forward to all the information this section held and have a folder full of clipped information and recipies.
Also,I would like to address the blocks on the Sunday large Sudoku. For years I have been complaining to myself about the size. The daily Sudoku is large enough, and then the Sunday puzzle is so small I can hardly write the number in. After ten or fifteen minutes, my eyes tear like crazy and I just have to stop. It would be my dream to finish the puzzle. Would you consider making it as large as the daily puzzle?
I know no one likes change, but I feel I have the opportunity now to let you know what I think. Perhaps there are more people who want the same thing.
One more thing, you made the paper narrower, that’s fine, but could you make it shorter, more like a magazine. You see, besides being visually impaired (reading glasses only), I am vertically challenged (short), so a magazine format would be ideal.
Do you sell a large print newspaper?
Thanks for listening.
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sports fan
May 2nd, 2009
8:59 am
i don’t feel that wednesday nite sports should be reported on the friday edition. the area of delivery has shrunk to a size now that at least you can go to press later, and still get the paper delivered in time the next am and report at least the local sporting events.
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Dr.R
May 2nd, 2009
10:48 am
I don’t want to pile on, ‘cuz Lord knows this has been hard on y’all. I just wonder how you test a font like the sans serif for weeks or months ahead of time, only to find out when you print it that folks can’t read it. I suggest testing older readers next time and not just the 20-somethings in your newsroom who have good eyes. Because as we know, older folks are much more loyal and regular readers of the paper. I’m only middle aged and my eyes are only somewhat weak but I had a lot of trouble with it. I do appreciate you bumping up the font a bit to make it easier. Hang in there; Atlanta needs its newspaper so don’t give up the fight.
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Thomas
May 2nd, 2009
11:20 am
No mention that you intend to become a balanced newspaper instead of the spokesman for all things “liberal”. I will check with a newstand purchase once in a while before I re-subscribe.
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Chuck Lana
May 2nd, 2009
11:22 am
So far, so good!
The new AJC look is visually striking. Great job on making this venerable publication look like it was birthed in the 21st century. Now, what are the chances you continue the migration from newsprint to electronic version by a redesign of AJC.com to look like the paper?
After all, by most experts’ estimation, the newspaper industry will have to migrate to paid web versions in the next five years or face oblivion. Young readers haven’t taken up the habit of grabbing the ol’ fishwrap with a cup of joe in the morning: they would much rather click on their bookmark in their browser while sipping a tall mocha latte at their favorite coffee emporium, or at work.
You’ve already made the transition in your blogs (like Peach Buzz), take the next step and ad the rest.
If you lead in the push to 70% Web, 30% print revenue, you might just get to see the AJC banner in 2100… Here’s hoping y’all do.
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Dr. Chuck
May 2nd, 2009
12:09 pm
There is a complete online version of the paper @ ajcprint.com and costs $5 per month. Not bad at all.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
May 2nd, 2009
12:32 pm
Dr. Chuck, I like the e-print edition myself so I’m glad you are recommending it. Just want to note it does’t include the Sunday comics or ad inserts; only stuff we print on site.
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BJ
May 2nd, 2009
12:41 pm
I still love print newspapers though I constantly use website news sites all the time, for work and personal interest. I was shocked when I saw the new AJC print edition. To me it feels like going back in time, largely because of colors and layout, and like moving to a tabloid newspaper such as USA Today. Neither of these are positive points. It will be interesting tomorrow when I get the first Sunday edition. I’m sure I won’t cancel my subscription, but at this point I have to say the new format definitely doesn’t win me over. Like most changes, I guess I’ll get used to it. Sigh!
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
May 2nd, 2009
12:57 pm
BJ, I’m not expecting this to make you like the new AJC design any better, but it’s got some pretty strong differences from USA TODAY. USA TODAY uses big visuals and not that many stories on the front and is a much looser design. The AJC new design has high word-to-visual ratio, high story count, and is pretty dense in design, in some ways similar to the Wall Street Journal.
I know folks see similarities to USA TODAY because of the color navigation (colored section headers) but the design philosophies are very different.
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BJ
May 2nd, 2009
1:20 pm
Shawn, thank god you’re going the “high word-to-visual” route. Too many “news” options (print, web-based, TV, …) only feed us “snippets” of information, barely skimming the surface of what is happening. And some TV news has even done away with snippets in favor of
“news” that is just endless freakouts and arguments, ie Headline News’ Nancy Grace. Some of us still have enough attention spans to want to dig deeper into what’s going on in the world. I hope the print AJC continues to give its readers some depth. I know your business, especially the print side of it, is undergoing massive changes due to lower ad sales and lower circulations. Overall your readers want you to succeed even though we may whine a lot about how you have to get there.
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Lynn Moore
May 2nd, 2009
1:57 pm
I love the new format and the narrower paper. Easier to fold and read when traveling. I like the font although it could be a little darker. Keep up the good work.
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Keith
May 2nd, 2009
2:01 pm
There are lots of little things that keep disappearing after each “improvement” such as the daily Celebrity Birthdays and the Genealogy column that used to appear on Sunday. These are the types of things that round out a paper. The hard news is old and has already been read online by the time the paper hits. Tthe little things used to make subscribing worthwhile.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
May 2nd, 2009
2:38 pm
Keith, I think you just correctly identified one of the challenges of modern newspapering. When nearly everyone read a paper, and it was the only “mass medium,” it was easy to have something for just about everyone. Some people loved the bridge column, others turned each day to celebrity birthdays, and some couldn’t get out of bed without Dear Abby. As readers and advertisers moved to the Internet, most newspapers had to get smaller. And start choosing what to leave in and what to take out.
Any newpaper company making bad choices about what to keep and especially what to take out can cause even more readers to leave. So newspaper edtiors need to know what thier readers like best and be sure to choose wisely.
We’ve discovered that most of our 7-day readers are not reading the news online, and they really want and need to get the day’s news in the weekday newspapers. That doesn’t mean there aren’t still a lot of “little things” to round out the daily paper, but news is the main mission.
On weekends, we have two kinds of readers, those who read mostly a newspaper for their news all week, and those who read online during weekdays but still want the experience of a Sunday paper. That’s why you will find our new Sunday edition loaded up with those kinds of “little things” that can make reading a newspaper such a pleasure. In additon to the old standards, we’ve added some new destination features. When you pick up the paper tomorrow be sure to check out Page 2 of Metro, Business and Sports and check out the “Milestones” feature in Sunday Living and Arts.
Good reading and I hope you find the “little things” still make a big difference.
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Newspaper enthusiast
May 2nd, 2009
3:39 pm
Thought the Sunday paper looked good … wish I could buy a copy without all of the ad inserts … don’t read ‘em, hate to fill up the landfill.
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Tim
May 2nd, 2009
4:27 pm
“So why make the page narrower? It was one of the difficult decisions that we’ve made, including eliminating delivery in some counties, and cutting staff and sections, in response to an extremely challenging economic situation. We’ve used a lot of reader research to decide what we needed to keep and what we could let go in order to reduce costs and continue to bring you a daily newspaper.”
–Well, the difficult decision was a horrible one. It’s a shame that people around Georgia cannot read the capital city newspaper. I don’t know who these readers are you claim to have consulted. I could understand the staff and section cutback if the newspaper was all that Cox owned. But Cox Enterprises owns cable systems, radio stations, television stations, Autotrader.com, digital telephone, high-speed internet, and on and on. With Cox Enterprises profiting from all these other sources, it is unacceptable to gut the only daily Atlanta newspaper like this. It’s just sheer greed.
They have ended the @Issue section on Sunday, AccessAtlanta, Movies and More, CityLife, Thursday Homefinder, Atlanta and the World, Horizon, and Home & Garden. They discontinued the stand alone Arts, Travel, Business, and Better Health sections. The Food Section, Sunday AJC Homes, and AJC Jobs are all super thin now. That’s all I can remember, I know there’s more.
All options should have been exhausted before narrowing the newspaper AGAIN. A daily paper this narrow can’t even be respected, it’s almost a sick joke. The other day the Front Page (A) section was only eight pages, with the Business section included. Who are these mythical readers who claim to want a “less comprehensive” paper during the week? Why would someone want to pay 75 cents and get a smaller paper? Do you really think people are going to “get used” to this new design? Seriously? I desperately want to see the paper survive, but with these types of cuts I can’t envision people continuing to renew their subscriptions.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
May 2nd, 2009
5:20 pm
Tim, I understand your frustration with cuts in content. We don’t like them either.
Just for background, here’s an exerpt from a letter our publisher, Doug Franklin, wrote to readers in February:
“We can only be a strong, free press — beholden to no one — if we are profitable. Right now, the AJC — and other newspapers across the country — are struggling financially.
For years, the AJC was sustained by classified and retail advertising. This revenue allowed us to deliver the newspaper to you 365 days a year at a very reasonable price. But as people turned to the Internet, classified listings declined. Our retail advertisers have been forced by current significant economic challenges to reduce their ad spending.
This is our challenge. We know you depend on us more than ever. The latest data from the research firm Scarborough shows that about 2 million people in Atlanta read the AJC every week. We provide more in-depth local news and information than any other source. We also know you continue to rely on us for the best shopping information from our advertisers. In these tough economic times, you want to spend your money wisely, and our advertisers help you do so.
So … how do we face these financial challenges? It won’t be easy. Just like you, we have to live within our limited means.
No business can lose money for long, and we are working day and night to turn this around. We are making difficult decisions: we have cut staff, frozen pay, reduced our circulation area and taken a sharp pencil to all our business costs.
We’re listening to you more than ever. In the past year we heard from thousands of readers — through surveys, focus groups and other feedback channels — who have guided the changes we’ve made so far. We know that we’re at our best when we act on what we learn from our readers.
We can’t do everything we want or everything you want.”
As for whether people will continue to subscribe, I certainly hope so. The newspaper remains an incredible value. For 7-day subscribers, it arrives every day on the driveway at a cost of about 60 cents. You can’t even get a cup of coffee for 60 cents these days, and you certainly can’t get a cup delivered each morning.
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rondell
May 2nd, 2009
5:54 pm
Eager with anticipation, I picked up the early Sunday AJC which is distributed on Saturday. What a disappointment! What in the world did you do to the Sports section? Eight pages only and full of adds:
Page C1 – large banner ad at bottom for upcoming Hawks game
Page C2 – full page car ad
Page C3 – half page tires ad
Page C4 – 7/8ths of the page is ads
Page C5 – 3/4ths of the page is ads
Page C6 – half page of ads
Page C7 – full page ad
Page C8 – full page ad
What’s going on? Did all the sports writers call in sick with swine flu or something? Looks like the AJC used an extremely high ads-to-content ratio in this section. Anyone looking for a “relaxing experience” reading Sunday’s Sports is going to be sorely disappointed.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
May 2nd, 2009
6:31 pm
Rondell, the early edition has less news because it’s put together Friday night, roughly the same time as the Saturday edition and there’s little news at that point that hasn’t already been in the Saturday newspaper. Folks who buy it usually want an early jump on coupons or to read feature content rather than news content.
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Newspaper enthusiast
May 2nd, 2009
9:39 pm
In reviewing the comments from Shawn, I’m not really seeing the role of an ombudsman…
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Tom
May 3rd, 2009
12:33 am
I agree with BJ: the new look seems to mimic USA Today, only the writing in AJC has deteriorated to the point where it is about as bad as USA Today. My wife and I were just discussing what we should do and we will probably start getting the New York Times delivered and cancel the AJC. The NYTimes has many in-depth articles on many relevant topics. This isn’t about a liberal paper vs. a conservative paper. It is all about what is a GOOD newspaper with good journalism, true investigative journalism, detailed stories, AND a wide range of editorial opinion. I’m sorry to say it, but AJC just doesn’t come close.
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Hal Boyd
May 3rd, 2009
8:20 am
8:15 and still no paper. It has been late everyday this week. Not a good start for a new product intro. I remain hopeful and cautiously optimistic though….
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your target audience
May 3rd, 2009
9:11 am
I’m one of those readers in your ’sweet spot’. I’m over 40 and have subscribed to newspapers in every city I’ve lived in. Your redesign is hideous. The flow of the paper is fouled up. Today, for example, you’ll get to page A8, which starts your “Nation” section. A9 is more Nation, then A10 is story continuations from A1, then a nice 2 page ad, then, on A14, if you can find it, you’ll see “Nation in brief”, then ads and more continuations from A1, then, finally on A19, more “Nation”. This kind of “flow” is evident in the weekday papers too, which drives me nuts. I expect to see the “…in brief” content at the beginning of the section to give me a quick overview of what’s inside.
The color choices for the various sections are quite ugly and don’t make me feel “relaxed” or “invited” to read.
Please make the paper look like one from a major city and not like a neighborhood newsletter designed by an unskilled volunteer. People like me won’t bother looking at the “content” if the paper looks amateurish.
I have enjoyed the AJC for many years and want to see it last for many years to come, but please startup a new “redesign” effort ASAP!
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whaler888
May 3rd, 2009
9:43 am
I’d comment on the new Sunday paper but it is now 9:40 and it still has not been delivered.
Just a comment from the weekly edition regarding a headlines that are whiteouts within a color block. Very amatuerish in my opinion, maybe if the letters had a black ink border or some depth and definition to make it really standout would add a “finished” and professional look.
Anyway if I ever get my Sunday paper I let you know what I think.
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Charles Gay, Sunday Editor
May 3rd, 2009
9:58 am
Target Audience, we can refine the “flow” issue you address. To a degree we’re constrained by advertising configurations … and I should point out that today we have the full-page guide to the new AJC on A3 which won’t be there in the future. A3 will be available for news and that should help make the flow a bit more pleasing.
This kind of specific feedback is helpful, so thanks for submitting it.
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Rosita
May 3rd, 2009
10:11 am
“More in-depth STORES” [sic]? If I were the editor I’d quit trumpeting about improvements until I was able to hire someone who could read and write.
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George Gardner
May 3rd, 2009
10:32 am
Paper didn’t arrive this morning so I called Customer Service(?) at 8:14.
Was on hold until 8:58…….44 minutes
Is this the type of service we should come to expect?
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HS Teacher
May 3rd, 2009
10:32 am
I’m about 4,500 miles away from home this week. Otherwise I would not bother to read the excuses for AJC. After subscribing for 31 years, I stopped. Not much to read on Sunday or any other day of the week. I wondered how my life would be without AJC, but realized the last 5-6 months I didn’t really have it due to all the changes.
For 20 years, I received AJC through News for Kids program once per week in my classroom. In all those years only one student in my class subscribed to AJC. I used to think that was sad–until I stopped it in my own home and realized it was not necessary in my life. Scary thought.
I’ve bought the Sunday paper twice this year for $1 at a roadside vendor. I read most everything in less than 3 hours. It used to be 5-6 hours of information. I don’t have TV by choice and you no longer meet my needs. Seems there are thousands who feel the same way. What happened AJC? You dictate what you want us to know instead of giving what we want. So, I voted with my feet.
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bubbatech01
May 3rd, 2009
10:42 am
to the managing editor: okay, i gave it a week, as you suggested. i dont like the style, but am getting used to it. my big deal is still the writing. its like the writers at the AJC on staff really dont seem to care. they give the most shallow and surfaced of accounts. i mean, this is their city. they should report more than some national outlet. its really bad. has everyone that was good left? I am sorry, i wanted to give you a chance, but you really didnt change anything other than the look in my opinion.
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Charles Gay, Sunday Editor
May 3rd, 2009
10:43 am
HS Teacher, when you get home I’d ask you to give us another try. The new Sunday paper is the product of more than a year of conversations we’ve had with lots of readers from all over the Atlanta area and we’re trying hard to closely align the news content with reader interests. Spend a couple of bucks one Sunday and see what you think.
And I hear what you’re saying about not spending as much time with the paper, but 3 hours of information/entertainment for $2 is really not a bad value these days.
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Red, White & Blue
May 3rd, 2009
10:49 am
There is so much liberal slobber that by the time I get it all wiped off, the paper is not legible. Perhaps I’m having trouble with flow due to the writers’ abilities these days ~ typos and grammatical errors galore! As a reader since 1976, with intermittent moves across the country and much travel globally, I must admit it really is not well thought out. Keep working, I believe it can happen.
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sanman
May 3rd, 2009
10:52 am
Mr. Gay: Do you really come home from church and go through the Arts and Leisure sections? Really now. Anyway, the first Sunday section is well done. You should be proud. You sound like an intelligent young man. Probably cut your teeth with some other fine journalists who have since departed. The Sunday paper is good, and I was prepared to be critical. Well done CTG.
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Charles Gay, Sunday Editor
May 3rd, 2009
10:56 am
Hey Red, have you checked out Kyle Wingfield, our new conservative columnist on today’s opinion page? It’s his debut column and it’s pretty interesting. Kyle is a Dalton native but he’s spent the past few years writing from Europe for the Wall Street Journal, so he has a unique perspective on the path the U.S. is taking under the Obama administration. Check it out if you haven’t already. One columnist is just one columnist, but I think you’d have to call it a step in the “right” direction. (Sorry.)
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Charles Gay, Sunday Editor
May 3rd, 2009
11:01 am
Sanman, have we met somewhere? I’ll have you know I used to be a season ticket holder to the Atlanta Opera and had tix for Friday night but couldn’t make it due to a lingering cough. Opera patrons tend to not appreciate that.
Thanks for the positive feedback.
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Scott
May 3rd, 2009
11:02 am
It’s the only printed choice we have and it has grown completely intolerable and almost unreadable since the beginning of the Obama presidential campaign. Think there is a correlation?
Cynthia “Mckinney” Tucker can be singularly credited for it’s decline and she is rewarded with an assignment in Washington DC. Good riddance, she is the most intellectually dishonest new person this city has ever seen.
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Charles Gay, Sunday Editor
May 3rd, 2009
11:12 am
Folks, I’m off to First Methodist off the Square in May-retta. If you’re heading that way I’ll be the guy sporting a green bowtie and damp hair. Be back online about 12:30, but y’all keep the comments coming.
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sportsfan
May 3rd, 2009
11:13 am
The How Do You Like Me Now column in sports is a really fun idea. But so far, almost every one of them has been someone I, a lifelong AJC readers, couldn’t care less about. And don’t ask me for suggestions. It’s not what I get paid for. Tell your sports staff that in order for people to want an update on someone, they have to have once been someone we cared about.
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Sharecropper
May 3rd, 2009
11:18 am
Wow. You are “listening” and as a result you will have bigger type. Bolder type. That is impressive. You have discovered “watchdog” journalism on the way through the jail house door? Goodness.A narrower page because the readers will prefer it? Did you ask? Bulletin: A narrower page MEANS LESS NEWS!. Reminds me of my days as an editor when the m.e. of the Las Vegas Sun said he used to run a showgirl — as undressed as possible — on the front page every day, with the lead headline in red. He got complaints. The big guys sat down and made changes.
They made the lead headline blue.
Next for the fast-disappearing AJC, blue headlines.
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Patrick
May 3rd, 2009
11:20 am
Charles Gay, I think you hit the nail on the head without realizing it: for you, the paper is A and Sports. For me, it’s Business. For other readers, it’s probably something else.
But you still print just ONE paper and ask everyone to take it or leave it. The redesign is the same. Take it or leave it. That’s just hard to accept when there are plenty of online options that don’t ask readers to settle for anything.
Another problem is distribution. On a typical daily basis, I am never in a place where the paper is sold. Never see vending machines for it. Don’t smoke so no need to go to a store for that. For fuel, pay-at-the-pump means no need to go inside for that either. And grocery stores don’t seem to ever have papers any more. Even if I wanted to read the whole thing (and I usually do when I get one), it’s hard to buy what one never sees.
Home delivery? Not an option for me. My lovely neighbors steal every copy and your subscription sales department is currently asking customers to commit to EZ-Pay for months in advance when those customers are not certain they’ll have a job. Once again, a take it or leave it way of doing something.
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Marion G. Webb
May 3rd, 2009
11:47 am
Good Morning. Some change from April 28; but in the words of Richard Dawson from the old Family Feud show, “Not There!” The Vent became easier to read, and the ink may be somewhat darker; but the box scores and the standings in the Sports Section are still too small and “busy-looking.” “Busy” probably describes the readability in general, because one has to “read through” a point of interest before that item can be read easily.
I have already started my transition to the online version, and I can handle that. Just tell me why I cannot find the Judge Parker comic strip online; it’s the only one I read.
My current subscription deadline is May 13, and I will give every consideration to the tweaks and reworks by that time.
I can go back to 1966 when I first knew The Atlanta Continue and Mr. Ralph McGill. There were bumps in the road then, but he and his newspaper always landed on their feet. I’m still hoping for a smoother landing.
Watch over us, Mr. McGill.
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Marion G. Webb
May 3rd, 2009
11:49 am
Make that The Atlanta “Constitution,” not “Continue.” Dadgum proofreader.
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James
May 3rd, 2009
11:57 am
Julia,
How about doing some of that good journalism that one sees in the Wall Street Journal. Good move sending Ms. Tucker to Washington, she should feel more at home.
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Ms Decatur
May 3rd, 2009
12:02 pm
I don’t like the lay out of the paper. I looks very cheap…to busy.
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Scott
May 3rd, 2009
12:07 pm
Re: Investigative stories not being authored or reported by the AJC or any Media
This Obama Administration is a target rich environment for watchdog stories and none of it seems to be getting pursued.
1) The CIA Debacle: Juxtaposing the Valerie Plame kerfuffle with the recent outrageous “cherry-picked” disclosure of the CIA Interrogation docs. Align this with the CIA’s often leaking like a sieve during Bush’s eight years. CIA gets payback and our country is not safer because of it.
2) Unchecked Executive Power: The incredibly non-constitutional powers given to the Treasury Department, the FED thusly expanding the power of the Executive Office of the President which was one of the call to battle cry’s of the Democrat Party and the Big Media for the last 7 years against Bush.
3) The EPA: recent designation of greenhouse gas as toxic and harmful to the environment to lend support to the Global Warming oops Climate Change oops “Whatever new talking point is” that the environmentalists whackos come up with to scare monger the people and drive politicians to non-sensical legislation to TAX 100% of the people. Al Gore lies to Congress on April 28th about his business connections to global warming totally discrediting his testimony. Alternative Opinion testimony blocked by Henry Waxman after the witness Lord Monckton flies over here from Europe.
4) Nancy Pelosi: third in line to the Presidential throne and she is caught red handed being notified of interrogation methods as far back as 2002 then lying about it all in April 2009. This should be a 10-part expose leading to her ouster from the leadership of the house. Throw in the Jane Harman chapter, the Dianne Feinstein debacle and this reveals a California Politician based corruption of the Democrat Party unseen in history this story will SPIKE your readership big time.
5) George Soros: This person is a convicted felon ineligible to vote in most states in the USA and he controls the Democrat Party with his billions. Juicy Juicy Story. This foreigner is manipulating national politics openly and without watchdogs of the press interest at all. Openly brags about earning $1 billion dollars during the economic meltdown since Sept 08.
Incredible juicy stories with lots of accurate content that will BOOST sagging AJC subscriber ship. Go against the liberal progressive conventions and AJC popularity will SOAR.
The AJC has an opportunity to make Georgians proud where are you on this AJC?
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C. Allen
May 3rd, 2009
12:32 pm
I think the vast majority of people who read your paper take these changes in stride and don’t want to lose a daily, much less Sunday, paper. Critics can be found everywhere; there’s a natural tendency for some, even many, people to want to speak back to their newspaper as loudly or louder than the newspaper speaks to them.
I disagree with some comments here that the writing in the ‘new’ paper is lower quality. I find this can be easily refuted by the facts, too numerous to go into here, but facts that can be demonstrated by the many examples I see everyday in your articles. I will take the time, though, to give some examples of the most important aspect, to me, of a good news story. And that’s how the beginning paragraph transitions from the headline to the essentials of the story. For instance, in today’s ajcMetro section, every story on the front page made this connection. Example 1: Story: Secrecy shrouds Cobb’s parkland plan. “Cobb County officials won’t disclose locations of 277 properties they are eyeing for parkland, and a county committee says it will meet behind closed doors to decide which ones should be purchased with taxpayer money.” Now, tell me this doesn’t make the instant connection to the headline and set up the rest of the story. I like articles that begin with the crux of the matter. Articles that start out in the clouds somewhere are not as likely to grab my interest in reading the paper, which is to get information and news.
Example 2: Story: Medical mistakes unhappy reality. “A surgical team at Northside Hospital was supposed to remove one of the patient’s breasts – but performed a double mastectomy because of a mistake, state records show.” Example 3: Protecting and serving homeless. “A cop who encounters a homeless man can ignore him. Or he can simply tell him to move on.” What better set-up could you get than these two examples?
Bottom line, your writing’s fine, even exceptional in many cases.
I read two in-depth articles today, the one on Zinkhan, which provided information I had not heard or read before, and the one on schools and the need many high school graduates have for remedial courses as college freshmen.
I also read Kyle Wingfield and disagree that there are few choices in European economies or that they get ripped off. I lived in Germany for 5 years in the ’80s and this is just not the case. Bring it on, Kyle!
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Charles Gay
May 3rd, 2009
12:45 pm
I’m back. Mr. Webb and Ms. Decatur: I’m no expert on fonts but I can tell you we’re paying close attention to readability. I think today’s Sunday paper benefited from the feedback we got from readers earlier in the week and we have made improvements. The baseball standings in the Sports section are on our radar and we’re working on that.
Scott: Those may very well be great stories but the AJC isn’t in a position to investigate them and it’s got nothing to do with our politics. We made a strategic decision some time ago that our staff needed to focus on local and state news – something readers can’t get in depth from other sources. Now that our staff is smaller, it’s even more imperative that we focus our resources on our local communities. In addition, the type of investigations you’re talking about need to be undertaken by reporters who cover Washington, not reporters in Atlanta. Happily, the NYT, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Washington Times, and others are positioned to look into those types of stories. If they produce them, we will publish them.
Now, if you or anyone else has a tip about something fishy going on in local or state government, that’s our job and I’d like to hear about it.
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Mr Attitude
May 3rd, 2009
12:51 pm
I am one to give new products a chance, so I will do so with the new design of the AJC.
One thing that is really disgusting is how the top brass of AJC is tripping over themselves trying to appease the conservative base in Atlanta. I have never seen such kowtowing in my life!!! For example, look how quickly the editor pointed out the reader about the new conservative editor. But has he yet to defend the writingS of Cynthia Tucker? It’s like he is distancing himself from one of the most esteemed writers at AJC. Ms. Tucker has even been referred to as “Cynthia McKinney” and once again, no comments from the editor. There is an old saying that goes “You can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time. But you can’t please all of the people all of the time.”
Don’t forget AJC, those “liberals” you are trying to distance yourselves from spend money just like the conservatives you are out the red carpet. How about just giving Atlanta a top rated paper instead of trying to please a certain segment of Atlanta.
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dizzied by the new format
May 3rd, 2009
12:58 pm
I am from the norhteast, consider the NYT the standard in most respects (though I don’t always like its politics), can deal with some color and pizzaz, but have considered ending my subscribption based on the new lay out. It makes me dizzy, and it’s hard for me to see where the news is. The single biggest issue is the highly distracting grey verticle bar down the middle of each first page. It completely disrupts any logic to the page. I noticed the Sunday version is without this grey bar, and I am fine with its look. Please get rid of that grey bar in the daily as well. Honestly, it gives me a headache when combined with all the new color blocs. Uch.
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Charles Gay, Sunday Editor
May 3rd, 2009
1:05 pm
Mr. Attitude, I appreciate your comment. We have taken some flak from the left for moving right and from the right for still trending too far left. What we’re trying to do is bring more balance to the political discourse in our pages. Our goal is to present points of view from all sides so readers can make their own, informed decisions about the issues of the day. I’m sure everybody will let us know how we do.
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dave
May 3rd, 2009
1:16 pm
How did you post an, “I’m leaving for church, etc.” at 11:12 a.m. and drive/park/walk there and get there in time to be a part of the service? Seriously, I want to know how to pull that off and if “First Methodist off the square in May-retta” is the key, I’ll start coming there. Have the pastor contact me.
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Charles Gay, Sunday Editor
May 3rd, 2009
1:21 pm
The service we attend starts at 11:15, and we live right off the Marietta Square, less than 1/2 mile away. If only my daily commute were such a breeze!
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Michael H. Smith
May 3rd, 2009
1:33 pm
A belated comment to the public editor: I hope we will never always agree entirely. That would probably mean I’ve got to change immediately and for a conservative, even for a progressive populist conservative that would be like having to re-build Rome within a day.
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Waiting for AJC's Obituary
May 3rd, 2009
1:48 pm
I’ve lived in other major media centers and the AJC is the worst paper I’ve ever read, or attempted to read. Editorials aside, there seems to be a race angle to most stories. I’m wondering what percentage of readership cares about such things. Just report the damn news without the obvious slants. How about some conservative or middle of the road perspectives? I can tolerate Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman by avoiding their socialist diatribes.
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Dave
May 3rd, 2009
1:54 pm
Thanks for the specifics, Charles. I didn’t know how I was gonna explain to the family about the new trek to “May-retta” from Johns Creek . . .
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Michael H. Smith
May 3rd, 2009
1:58 pm
Thanks for the new conservative editorial voice AJC. (You need a few more.)
Margaret Thatcher’s dictum still holds true: “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”.
Thanks for the keeper Kyle. Now when is our President and the Democrats going to run-out of China’s money and we have to begin covering our own debts through the hidden tax of inflation?
I’ve also noticed the Republicans are now concerned about spending and job loss. Where were these guys Kyle, eight compassionate Bush years ago when we conservatives were screaming at them to stop their job destroying, taxing, borrowing and spending ways?
Just two wings on the same bird.
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Dr.R
May 3rd, 2009
2:15 pm
I think Pearls Before Swine today is not only dead-on accurate, it’s one of the funniest strips I’ve seen in a long time.
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Sue12345
May 3rd, 2009
2:48 pm
I have been an AJC subscriber for 10 years. My subscription is about to run out and the AJC has been calling me twice a day for the past two weeks to urge me to subscribe again (when I see the caller id says AJC, I don’t pick up). I have been horrified by the typos, spelling errors and general errors in the paper for the past couple of months. I waited until I got today’s “new” Sunday paper before making up my mind. You lost me AJC. A couple of suggestions to keep readers who have not made up their minds yet. 1. Hire proof readers for the online and print version. 2. Get rid of silly columns like “Social Butterfly” that no one reads (except the people pictured in the column) and have more in depth local stories.
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Charles Gay, Sunday Editor
May 3rd, 2009
2:55 pm
Sue, I’m sorry to hear you’re dropping us. I’ll just tell you and everybody else that we’re aware that typos have been a problem lately. I think a lot of it is attributable to the change in fonts and other operating system issues, but that’s no excuse. We brought in additional proofreaders last week and they caught a lot of errors but evidently not everything. We will work harder at it.
Gang, I have grass that needs cutting (all this rain!) so I’m going to attend to that and come back later in the afternoon. Keep posting comments; I’m reading every one and other editors are too.
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Trent
May 3rd, 2009
3:00 pm
All in all, Mr. Gay, I think Sunday is better. Question, though: What happened to Gimme Five, which used to be in sports? I used to like the daily lists. I even had a suggestion make it into print as an idea. Why not revive it?
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linda
May 3rd, 2009
3:21 pm
The new look for the paper is really awful. This is the worst change in Atlanta since “new coke”. It looks weak, out of focus and dull. Please rethink and bring back “classic AJC”
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Simon
May 3rd, 2009
3:30 pm
So Tim…let me get this straight. You demand that the people who make the AJC confirm to your requirements even if they lose money because in your opinion, they can afford it. Where I come from that is just theft. You want to steal their money for your use.
I would much rather that the AJC keep changing until they find a model and structure that makes money. That would mean that the people in Atlanta find enough value in the paper to pay more than what it costs to produce it. If the AJC had been following that approach for the last decade, they would be in much better shape today…and we would all have a better paper too.
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Jon
May 3rd, 2009
3:32 pm
Sunday paper looks good. It appeared to have more, longer stories than previously, especially in metro. I hope Mark Davis is a Sunday keeper — he’s a good writer, and has been in the paper too seldom.
Confused by the picture of food on the left-hand page between two stories. Didn’t make sense.
Enjoyed the article on Korean entrepreneurship in Gwinnett. I can’t find it on AJC.COM, though.
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Betty Delk
May 3rd, 2009
3:46 pm
I could care less about comics in color, but I do care that some features such as the vent and the obituaries are so small and dim that one can hardly read them. It seems you have “cut enough corners” without reducing the amount of ink. Also, the Sunday Homefinder is just a joke anymore. In today’s issue there wasn’t even an article written about the property. And what happened to the Home Search and Vacation Homes features? We have been loyal customers for many, many years but are seriously considering not renewing when this subscription expires.
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Stephanie Haggerty
May 3rd, 2009
4:11 pm
We all appreciate your Herculean task in revamping our paper. We want the AJC alive and well, but we also need to be able to read it. It is not easy in its current form, and I often can’t find what I want or where I’m going. Especially in need of fixing is the “continued on A10″ at the bottom of such articles. It is almost impossible to read. Please make the type bolder. You have skipped a line between the article so it is already set off. But I thank you for your efforts. I’m sure we will get used to the new format with practice.
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Charles Gay, Sunday Editor
May 3rd, 2009
4:15 pm
Back again.
Trent, thanks for the positive feedback. We felt Gimme Five had run its course after a couple of years and ended it a while back. Maybe it was because we were running it every day. If other readers like it too, there’s nothing to say we couldn’t just do it on Sundays.
Jon, Mark Davis is indeed a great writer and I’m happy to say he’s on our Sunday staff. It’s worth pointing out that we’ve created a staff of 32 reporters, editors and photographers who work exclusively on the Sunday paper to ensure that it’s strong every week. Other reporters from the rest of the AJC newsroom also contribute stories from their beats, but in past years the Sunday paper was an afterthought for many – even most – busy staffers. Our Sunday group works all week, and in some cases for several weeks, on stories we know will land in the Sunday paper and we think it makes the Sunday AJC a smarter, more comprehensive, and better thought-out read. You’ll of course be the ultimate judge.
That’s a long way of saying yes, you’ll be seeing Mark’s byline on most Sundays.
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Charles Gay, Sunday Editor
May 3rd, 2009
5:07 pm
Folks, it’s after 5 p.m. and I’m signing off for the day. This blog should be active for a while longer so I’ll check for additional comments late tonight or in the morning. Thanks for the constructive criticism, which we do take seriously and helps us make adjustments. If you have a concern, an idea, a question, or anything else to say about the Sunday AJC you’re welcome to email me at cgay@ajc.com.
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Steve
May 3rd, 2009
5:16 pm
It would seem what you are telling us is that we will get a paper whose quality we have come to expect, but only once a week. Take the rest of it because we tell you we talked to a really big bunch of people and they liked it so you should too. The fonts and readability seems to be better than Tuesday (could hardly be worse, but it at least keeps us thinking you are listening). However the content and quality of writers your readers are so ardently calling for seems to be an unreal expectation, and you guys can’t seem to quite figure out how to tell us that. Maybe you should go to a Sunday only paper, and put out a product we can all be proud of.
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J.Richardson
May 3rd, 2009
5:32 pm
I like the format, font, and graphics. Just needs more contrast for readability.
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roy smith
May 3rd, 2009
7:31 pm
Today’s Sunday paper was depressing. A poor imitation of USA Today, or perhaps a neighborhood amateur paper. You guys are surely joking. It is sad to read your artificially upbeat comments about the current state, i.e. demise, of a once proud paper. I doubt if this poor excuse for a paper will be around even another year. Sorry, but its true. People who know how to read will be leaving in droves. Colorizing a bad product does not change the content.
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roy smith
May 3rd, 2009
7:34 pm
i take it partially back, pearls before wine was excellent today as usual (read it and take heed).
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Norman Hulme
May 3rd, 2009
7:41 pm
First off, I do like the overall redesign of the paper. As a long-time daily subscriber (16+ years), you’ve done a great job in a difficult time for all news organizations.
My only complaint is the new masthead for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. If I bring the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, (and many other great newspapers) to mind… it’s that they all have a strong visual identity. The NY Times uses it’s famed masthead as a graphical icon for delivery trucks, paper boxes, online, direct-mail, and a wide variety of other applications. These mastheads all date back to the individual paper’s origins. Certainly over time they’ve been modified, tweaked and streamlined… but they still serve as the historical visual anchor for the publications.
I’m sad to say that the redesigned masthead looks like USA Today-Lite. I could remove “Atlanta”, and replace it with “Anchorage” or “Albuquerque” without much problem. When I first moved to Atlanta from New York, you had both a strong masthead along with the quote “Covers Dixie Like The Dew”. I thought this was perfect!
As a new resident of the Capital of the South, I wanted a paper that was the obvious voice of my neighborhood, my community and the region. You continue to do that very well… it’s just that I believe you’ve lost any visual connection to your long history. A loss indeed.
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Mark
May 4th, 2009
7:15 am
Can’t say the Sunday paper changed my mind from what I thought during the week. The colors, I can take them or leave them. The new font isn’t good. Some of the adjustments have been good, there’s less long column stories than Tuesday. But the Sunday paper is small compared tot he past years and coupled with how extremely!!! thin the weekday papers are, especially with so much content moved to Sunday, I feel like I’m not getting what I should for my money.
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Ernest
May 4th, 2009
9:30 am
I can definitely see you’ve applied some of the feedback to the paper. In the 5/4 AJC, I visually noticed a difference in some of the font sets and colors. I like the change in color for the Sports section however I believe the Living section should have a more contrasting color. Side by side, initially they both are similar. FWIW, I do like the darker color used for the Sports this week over the initial copy from last week.
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Lee Daniel
May 4th, 2009
11:18 am
The new paper design is terrible. who wants a “European daily” looking paper. The content is scant as well. The WSJ is going to be the only decent paper left and it is getting to “modern” looking. If I wanted People magazine or US magazine I would have bought it.
I am seriously considering canceling my 7 day subscription.
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Dave
May 4th, 2009
2:05 pm
I understand the economic difficulty that you are facing due to decreased circulation. I don’t believe that you will be able to retain readers with your new format. It is much more difficult to read. The box scores are unreadable because of the small font as are many of the Sunday comics. The pages are all far too busy.
I have been a subscriber for 21 years but will not be renewing my subscription. I will not pay more for a product with less content and readability
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Tair
May 5th, 2009
10:50 am
A radio advertisement this morning mentioned a coupon to try the new Sunday paper but I don’t see that available.
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Rick Siddons
May 5th, 2009
4:18 pm
R.I.P. Atlanta Journal Constitution. You were once a great paper, even with the ridiculous liberal slant in reporting and editorial. I predict there will be no printed AJC within a year. You haven’t figured a thing out. It’s sad.
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Lisa M
May 6th, 2009
1:55 pm
Where is the coupon to try the “new” Sunday paper? Just a prank?
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Sandee
May 6th, 2009
1:57 pm
I heard on the radio that there would be a coupon to try the “new” Sunday AJC. Where can I find that?
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Mark
May 7th, 2009
6:54 am
The web address is:
http://media.ajc.com/unplugsunday/
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Hector Fernandez L'Hoeste
May 8th, 2009
9:41 am
Your new design looks like a re-fried version of USA Today. If you want to save costs on paper, you need to consider tabloid. Look at Newsday, for example.
In the future, little printed press will survive. My students—a bunch of millennials—certainly lack the habit of reading printed newspapers. You’re romanticizing a medium that, for economic and ecological reasons, is bound to disappear in its printed form.The sooner you adjust to this reality, the better.
In addition, you have failed to adapt to shifts in Atlanta’s population. Despite all the cosmetic changes, you’re still writing for a public that no longer exists: an eminently Southern population, educated in a conventional way at homegrown institutions. Wake up and smell the coffee. The power of the Sun Belt comes from elsewhere, and it involves a multiplicity of reading habits and tastes. It’s impractical to imagine your audience as a homogeneous whole. I arrived to ATL ten years ago, bought the AJC for five years, and then stopped. Your paper never spoke to me—nor to many other imports to the ATL metro area. The day your staff reflects ATL’s population, you’ll have a better chance—in the meantime, you’re still caught in a time warp and have failed to evolve fast enough.
In sum, unless you embrace even more drastic change, my guess is you will continue to suffer as a cultural product without a solid customer base.
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Longtime AJC Reader
May 8th, 2009
5:01 pm
Shawn, a clarification: Is your job to represent the AJC or represent the readers? That’s an honest question. I know that public editors at papers like the NYT are expected to criticize their own newspaper when they disagree with its decisions. Does the AJC allow you to criticize it? If so, why have you been so supportive of this redesign when the overwhelming majority of online responses have been negative? Do you actually like this redesign? Please explain. Thanks.
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Darryl Brooks
May 11th, 2009
9:07 pm
Note two things on the coupon. First, it’s for $1, not a free paper. Second, If you print it to a color printer, it will use up a dollar’s worth of ink. You don’t get to see or format the coupon. You hit print and it produces a full page four color coupon.
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Bob
May 12th, 2009
8:56 am
I wonder how you go about picking which obituaries get “featured” guestbooks?
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John
May 12th, 2009
9:21 am
I’ve been OK with most of the changes to the daily AJC. However, I do miss what I call the scores page in the sports section. I realize the MLB and NBA scores and standings are still there. However, I want the one page where I can see such things as golf tournament scores, college scores, high school scores, sports transactions, etc. at a glance. I know all of this stuff is online and I am an avid Internet fan. However, I may have to go to a lot of different sites and pages online to get this information. This quick sports read is an important part of a morning newspaper that you have taken away from readers.
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kbg
May 12th, 2009
9:28 am
I’m still hanging on to the Atlanta Journal habit … and don’t read the morning paper til the end of my day. It’s really “old” news by the time I get to it … so I’m not looking at headlines — I get that online during the day as it happens (ajc.com and others). Probably most of what I’m reading is not really time sensitive, just general interest. Really bugging me in the last several months, and getting progressively worse: typos! — I spot several each day (need a proofreader? I’m looking for a job!)
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MJ
May 12th, 2009
9:40 am
I understand that you had to make difficult personnel reductions, but please pay closer attention to the editing. As KBG said, stories are riddled with typos and just plain mistakes. (Example: “Then catch the train or brave traffic into work.” Should be: “Then catch the train or brave traffic IN TO work.” Shawn, did you read this carefully before posting? All that “While our Sunday paper xxx, the daily paper xxx” is a bit overwrought.)
Headlines don’t match the stories and Associated Press updates to local stories read like rough cut-and-paste jobs. The corrections read like a short story. Take the time to make sure loyal readers get a GOOD read. It really is frustrating.
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Mark Waligore, Daily Editor
May 12th, 2009
9:45 am
Hi, KBG,
I’m sorry to hear that you’re spotting so many typos in the newspaper (and I hope I haven’t made any in this post). As you can imagine, we’re bothered when we make mistakes, and we’re working harder to try to catch more errors before they reach your doorstep. For instance, we just put a pretty rigorous proof-reading process in place at nights. Given all of the changes we’ve made to the paper over the last few weeks, coupled with the fact that we’re constantly making tweaks on the fly to respond to issues that have come with the redesign, errors are still sneaking in. That’s not meant to be an excuse, but rather, an explanation. We’re working on it, I promise. And you should begin seeing some improvement.
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D
May 12th, 2009
9:46 am
What has happened to My Style in the on line version? I miss seeing our local trendsetters.
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Mark Waligore, Daily Editor
May 12th, 2009
9:49 am
Hi, MJ,
I’m intrigued by your comment that “headlines don’t match the stories and Associated Press updates to local stories read like rough cut-and-paste jobs.” Can you be more specific or cite a particular instance? I’d like to know more about that.
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Mark Waligore, Daily Editor
May 12th, 2009
9:50 am
Hi, D,
I’m not sure about “My Style,” but I’m checking with our online folks. I hope to have an answer for you shortly.
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David Powell
May 12th, 2009
9:56 am
I really like the new tv guide, but someone needs to get the folds right. It is set up for a perfect 1/8 fold, but everything is off so it will not do right…
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The Winter Soldier
May 12th, 2009
9:56 am
How about making the “Sunday Paper” a day of rest from all the America-hating, Christian-persecuting, Caucasian-bashing, left-wing, Obama Kiss-Up fest and have at least a noticeable degree of objectivity.
Also, in case you jokers at the AJC didn’t know (and you apparently do NOT by your lacking coverage), Atlanta now has a NHL Hockey Team that is celebrating its 10th Anniversary here. How about at least a weekly update on it?
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Mark Waligore, Daily Editor
May 12th, 2009
10:01 am
Hi, John,
Thanks for posting your comment about the Sports section. I agree that the score board feature added a lot to the section, and I’m sorry that you’re now going to different sites to find this information. I can tell you why we did what we did, but I think the more important piece of information to relay is that we’re working on restoring that feature. I hope to have something firmer in the next several days. You’re not the first person to mention this, and given all of the feedback we received, it’s something we’re trying to figure out. As a sports fan, I miss it, too.
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Mark Waligore, Daily Editor
May 12th, 2009
10:05 am
Hi, D.
I just chatted with my friends in ajc.com, and they tell me that for some reason, the updating of that particular feature slipped through the cracks. We hope to have some new material posted online soon — perhaps as early as next week. Thanks again for letting me know.
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Larry
May 12th, 2009
10:15 am
If there were more content, I would be pleased to spend more time with the paper. It takes less than 15 minutes to read now, frequently because there is so much less content. AP feeds and wire reports do not make content. I can, and do, get that from CNN or the other talking heads. Putting effort back in to local content might help me spend more than 15 minutes with the paper. More time with the paper would of course increase the number of ads I see.
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J
May 12th, 2009
10:29 am
(Larry just beat me to the punch, but here it is anyway – more local coverage please!)
Local sports & local government news are the only reason for a daily paper. You’re mostly good on the local sports, but I’m starving for local (Atlanta) government coverage. The big three for Atlanta should be crime, traffic, and education – I want to read something I didn’t already know everyday about one, if not all, of these.
We get the police blotter, but rarely do we get anything from the mayor/police chief (unless the citizens stage rallies – see ATAC). Regarding the press conference announcing the arrest of the Standard murder suspect – thanks for verbatim report, but there a huge stories to report. Report about the gangs and what APD are doing about them. Report about how our severely underfunded/understaffed criminal justice system took four months to piece the evidence together (and perhaps how many crimes this kid committed in the meantime).
Regarding education, the new small schools initiative is a huge deal. Perhaps struggling schools may benefit, but most of us believe the good schools that we are counting on are going to be hurt by this. Please dig a bit deeper and help us hold APS accountable for such a massive change.
I believe the AJC must do more on local coverage to become the citizen’s advocate – otherwise, it’s not very useful to me.
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Mark Waligore
May 12th, 2009
10:30 am
Hi, Larry,
Thanks for the post, though I’m going to have to quibble just a bit. Look at today’s paper. On the front page, there’s our story on Republican gubernatorial candidate John Oxendine saying he’ll return $120,000 in questionable campaign contributions — less than a day after we first reported on them. We have a story on a computerized phone scam (and who among us hasn’t been slammed with these pesky warranty calls?) Did you read April Hunt’s story on the changes along Buford Highway in Doraville? I haven’t even mentioned our on-going coverage of the “water wars,” or Jeff Schultz’s column on the Hawks, or David O’Brien’s insight and insider information in his “Braves notes” feature. Yes, space is limited. And yes, folks don’t have as much time to spend with the daily paper as they do with the Sunday paper. But I’d have to say there’s a lot of news in the daily paper — and quite a bit of unique local content that you simply can’t find anywhere else. I do appreciate the comment, and I’d like to ask one last question: Any specific thoughts on local stories we ought to be covering?
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Mark Waligore
May 12th, 2009
10:32 am
I’m running off to a meeting to plan tomorrow’s paper, but I’ll be back shortly.
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Springs
May 12th, 2009
10:53 am
Mark – glad to see you guys are still taking comments on the new version of the newspaper. The print is so small, I cannot read it. The columns are so close together, you cannot just sit and soak the paper in like a newspaper is supposed to be read. Most of the stories are nothing more than Associated Press articles. Your slant towards the liberals remains puzzling if you want the folks advertisers are interested in subscribing. Everyone I have talked to about the new newspaper is embarassed. Atlanta is a major city. The AJC looks like a high school project. If you don’t change, you will be out of business by the end of the year, and that is a shame.
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Chad Straka
May 12th, 2009
10:55 am
Here’s my issue. The AJC has been reasonably honest about the dire straits it’s in and the severe cuts in resources. OK, readers know this and still want a newspaper that covers the community well. But how does it make sense that with the limited remaining resources you’re spending them on all this redesign stuff and having all these high-level managers address the public when the one thing you have to sell us is news?!?!? How does this redesign get us readers more news about the community? How is you, Mark, spending your high-level manager hours getting more local news in the paper? All of the constructive comments on this site have focused on that. Let me tell you something, if you just printed a black-and-white, six-column sheet with 3×1-inch woodcuts (say, like the WSJ of five or six years ago — the highest circ paper in the land), YOU COULD HAVE MORE SPACE FOR LOCAL NEWS!!! And guess what: More people would get the paper. That is what you’re trying to sell us. Some of the reporting expressed in photos and charts is interesting, but please ask yourself the marginal-cost/benefit of having another reporter being able to cover story/beat or another artist/photog/designer being able to create an image based upon a reporter’s work. It’s this sort of fundemental business analysis that seems so foreign to newspaper managers (because they operated as monopolists for so long, I suppose).
Newspapers have been playing the re-design game for what, like, 40 years now? When has it ever made a bottom-line difference? Never; not once. At most, it serves the purpose to distract readers from the diminisishing size and content (we’re not that stupid, by the way). I think the cliche “moving the deck chairs on the Titanic” will soon be replaced by “Redesigning the Newspaper” as emblematic of an ultimately doomed enterprise.
I will forgo a further point of what will be necessary for the AJC to compete in the online world, as that is another topic. But the lack of managerial focus on the fundemental news-delivery function of the existing newspaper does not bode well for the future.
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chris
May 12th, 2009
10:56 am
The AJC lost its value and relevance for me as a subscription when it became common for the hired staff to aggressively hype their personal political agenda. They should set up a personal blog site for such hype rather than hijack the media.
I refer to the AJC.com on occasion, but it is still disconcerting that the trivial and trashy take up the most prominent space on the AJC homepage. The hyped political agenda still occurs, but it is not on my (subscription) dime any longer, and I am free to skip it. The note-worthy news is relegated to the lower half of the page or the tabs while top-billing space is devoted to has-been celebrities and their self-destructive antics.
I am glad to see that the AJC.com significantly improved the Search Engine. Finally, it is a useful tool.
RECOMMENDATIONS for AJC.com:
(1.) Clean up the AJC content, return to serious reporting. Chose to target a well-read audience
(2.) Report DAILY on health, technology, business, political, and financial news.
(3.) Update Articles and News more often.
(4.) Revive the lost skill of Investigative Reporting
(5.) Do Not Denigrate Your Brand by Competing with The National Inquirer. Celebrities have a marvelous platform on Twitter, MySpace, blogs, etc. Let that demographic gleefully text their little thumbs off about Britney Spears and XL-Obnoxious.
Thank you.
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MJ
May 12th, 2009
11:01 am
Thank you for taking comments. Older print edition are locked in the archive, so it’s hard to pull them. I have tried. It’s also hard to search for old stories from the home page. I have to use Google.
From today’s story about the UGA professor on the home page: “Fullington said Zinkhan dug a 15- to 18-inch deep hole, pulled a pallet full of dirt and debris on top of him and then fired a single shot to his head with .38 handgun. A gray Puma sports bag containing clothes and .22 handgun were found with him.”
Shouldn’t it be “with A .38-CALIBER handgun. … and A .22-CALIBER handgun”? I know these are “quibbles” but the little things make a big difference.
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Charlie
May 12th, 2009
11:13 am
Mark, my newspaper habits have changed over the years, yes, partly because of the Internet. I used to subscibe to the AJC and the New York Times 7 days a week, then just on Sundays, then just the AJC, then just the NYT on Sunday. Now, I don’t subscribe to any print newspaper. I spend the first part of my day in front of the PC reading several newspaper sites, first the AJC, a little of the NYT, and then onto CNN & Fox.
I’d like to tell you the Internet was the sole driver of this change, but unfortunately an equal consideration was the lack of content in the AJC on Sundays. For some reason, and I am unable to be very precise here, I just feel that there could be substantially more specialty and other content. An example that appeals to me personally is technology. It is now handled in two columns of largely commentary on the same topics over and over again by the same writer. Now, I don’t like it when people begin with “Now here’s how they do it in New York…”, but that newspaper has significant content and an overall broader scope in my opinion.
If I were designing a Sunday newspaper, I think I would get the NYT, along with the Chicago Tribune, perhaps the Miami Herald and maybe the Los Angeles Times and whatever the San Francisco paper is called, and look critically at them to see what combination of parts would be most appealing to Atlanta & Georgia readers.
Doing such a thing would offer more than can be obtained on any website, since the “shelf life” of such a newspaper would be longer than the first touch, i.e. pick up the paper in the morning, deal with it in whatever timeframe is appropriate to you, then out it goes. Elements of this newly designed newspaper would include glossy magazine sections, multi-advertiser coupon inserts for the week, printed on a heavier stock, perforated, a monthly Special Report on some topic that would be an insert, and of course nationally syndicated columnists and writers. And the local news of the week is covered as appropriate, put to bed in two stages, one for stories that can be reported on by Friday and the other to be in a later edition printed for home delivery and covering news through Saturday mid-day.
There would be two by-products of this…creation of jobs at the AJC and significantly increased advertising opportunities for local and national advertisers. The former is because of the increased requirements for writing and content and research staff and the latter because not only could the AJC offer “regular” advertising, i.e. ROP, but also advertising in the special sections that people would retain after Sunday to read later on in the week. At least I think this is how it would play out. Never designed a newspaper before.
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Bob used-to-be-at-AJC
May 12th, 2009
11:16 am
Hi Bob,
You asked about the “featured” obituaries. I was waiting for Mark or one of the writers to respond, but here is my understanding. The featured obituaries must be timely and of general interest to the public. The person does not have to be famous or widely know, but their life and accomplishments should be noteworthy. Either the funeral home or an individual can notify one of the obit writers about someone of interest. The writer will confirm the situation with the funeral home and then find family and friends to interview. Typically a picture is needed that shows the person doing a hobby or some other activity related in the obituary.
Again, the story needs to be timely with regard to the funeral or memorial service.
I hope this is an adequate answer. If not, maybe a more complete answer will be forthcoming.
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Mark Waligore
May 12th, 2009
11:27 am
Hi, J,
I’m now back from my meeting, and I wanted to respond to your post. You wrote that you’re starving for local government coverage. I’ll stipulate that we could always do more, but I feel as if we’ve really hit our stride in providing readers more meaningful coverage of their local governments. I would point to David Bennett’s work on the DeKalb County tax assessors or Eric Stirgus’ coverage of the Atlanta public schools budget. In looking at our Metro section today, you’ll see that we reported on new police officers in Sandy Springs, an upcoming hearing on alcohol restrictions before the DeKalb County Commission, city workers moving into new office space in Woodstock, and a happy-ending story between Gwinnett County and Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful. I would also point to Take to Task, which runs inside our Metro section at least twice a week. Talk about holding public officials accountable! So far, we’ve gotten hundreds of pesky neighborhood problems fixed. I’d also hold up our Government Scorecard and Weekahead features, which run on Mondays. Of course, not everything we write is a long story, nor does it need to be. But in looking closely at the paper, I feel pretty good with where we’re heading (and remember, I stipulated earlier that we could always do more). If you have some specific story ideas you’d like to suggest, please let me know.
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carl m aven
May 12th, 2009
11:52 am
Good People ;
We are in bad economic times being nourished by the Keynesian financial stimuli that your paper endorses .That is your right ,but. a grev.ious error that will haunt all of us in the future.
Having said that,it places you in the position of having to support that philosophy and the recipients thereof.
My friends ..that is not your market …..the entitlement takers do not provide jobs..do not take the corporate risks…do not pay the brunt of the taxes in this country.
Truly Yours;
Carl M Aven
770-992-2092
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Mark Waligore, Daily Editor
May 12th, 2009
12:07 pm
MJ,
Those typos you pointed out in on our online story have been fixed. Thanks!
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C South
May 12th, 2009
12:22 pm
Please add Lacrosse scores in the boxscore section of Sports!!
Dump the local columns on Saturday and bring back a real editorial page – it’s one of my favorite sections of any paper and not having it on Saturdays ticks me off.
The AP is a biased source of right-wing malarky. Please disassociate yourselves from those yahoos.
It’d be nice to see some meatier reporting on local and state issues. Most of what you print seems to be straight from the PR junk the governments pump out on a daily basis.
Finally, add some more women to the sports page.
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Mark J.
May 12th, 2009
12:35 pm
Why can’t the AJC provide a more complete TV guide? If not 24 hours, at least bring back a complete daytime list. I’m interested in daytime programming as well as what come on television after 6:00 PM. I understand most cable/satellite providers provide a program list but for me it has always been quicker to look at the TV guide.
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ChrisC
May 12th, 2009
1:47 pm
1. I use the AJC primarily for local news. I’m interested in whats going on in the area not just Atlanta. I know the “A” in AJC is for Atlanta but you are the primary paper for the entire metro area. Please cover all of the local counties better.
2. The new format has some readability issues. I admit that i wear bifocals but I simply can’t read some of the text because of the small fonts and the way the different colors bleed into the paper. I’ve actually given up on the comics entirely.
3. I prefer to have the local business news easy to find. When it is buried in the A section I tended to not go digging for it.
4. Delivery has gotten terrible again. It is consistently late (i.e., after I’ve left for work).
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Roger
May 12th, 2009
1:54 pm
I do not read the paper. I am too busy in the morning just trying to get to work. I do read the online http://www.ajc.com though at work. I enjoy it. As a whitewater enthusiast I am more interested in how much precipitation will fall and where than the actual weather. I am also interested in topics that involve bicycle commuting, green space, and etc.
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Tyree
May 12th, 2009
2:41 pm
I have a sunday only subscription to the AJC. When it expires soon, I will not renew for another year. Because the new format is awkward in size and difficult to read. Leisure reading a sunday AJC on sunday is gone.
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Mark Waligore, Daily Editor
May 12th, 2009
4:00 pm
Bob,
I’m sorry that I didn’t respond to your post sooner. Because it involved online “guestbooks,” I once again needed to chat with my friends at ajc.com. But first, let me talk about obituaries in general. On my desk, I keep a copy of “The Last Word: The New York Times Book of Obituaries and Farewells.” I refer to the book often, and it’s reminded me that the obituaries can sometimes be the best-written stories in the newspaper. What makes a worthwhile obituary? It’s simple: stories of ordinary folks who enrich the tale of life without shaking the earth. For the most part, that is standard we follow in the printed newspaper. Consider, for instance, today’s staff-written obituary on Joseph Kyle Orr, the local investor who ran the “Pot O’ Gold.” Or Monday’s staff-written obituary on Harold Elphingstone, the former Delta pilot who had many passions in life — mainly his love of birds and his love of flying. I’ve read that the best-written obituaries celebrate life — not death, and in the book I mentioned earlier, the obituaries of are referred to as “stimulants to sweet memories of better times.” As for the online guestbook, we promote that when the person is particularly well-known, such as Coretta Scott King, or when that person’s death has tugged at a community’s heart strings, such as John Henderson, the beloved bartender who was killed during a robbery at a Grant Park tavern.
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Jane
May 12th, 2009
4:26 pm
Things started going downhill when you removed the “Dixie” from Sunday Living section, and “Covers Dixie Like the Dew” tag line.
Please don’t mess with the obits or the vent. They are the only reason I subscribe.
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Mlee
May 12th, 2009
6:02 pm
I have been a loyal reader of AJC for many years. It has dismayed me to see AJC writers replaced by syndicated writers, such as Roger Moore, or AP wires. I like to read a paper and the content is not meaty enough these days for my habits. I swore that I would stick by the paper if the Food Guide remained the same. Alas, imagine my dismay when I opened Thursday’s paper last week to see very little in print and several features appeared eliminated or clearly shortened. I just sent in a subscription request to WSJ….and may drop AJC, just picking up my Sunday paper at the grocery for the coupons, etc. The AJC is no longer written for readers…what a shame.
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Odd Thomas
May 12th, 2009
11:35 pm
Boy, the Editors writing in your blog section have thin skin.
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Shawn McIntosh
May 12th, 2009
11:53 pm
Odd Thomas, why do you say that? I am curious to know more about your reaction.
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Mark
May 13th, 2009
8:17 am
All the emphasis on Sunday leaves the week day paper looking like a has been. So many things got moved to Sunday, like the Buyer’s Edge Saturday section for one example. I can’t believe I’m paying for such a thin paper during the week.
It almost seems like you’ve screwed over the week day subscribers to please the Sunday crowd. I don’t like the narrower format as I can’t read it without glasses. I don’t see a 7 day a week subscription as a good value, though I haven’t cancelled yet. Heck, the food section was only four pages long last week and two of those pages were a Kroger’s and an Ingles ad. There’s just nothing left.
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Debra King
May 13th, 2009
9:17 pm
I am a long-time (over 20 years) weekends-only subscriber. I have resisted the online edition, favoring the feel of the paper in my hands. My family has always known better than to bother me until I read the Sunday paper, and most Sundays the Living section was held as a afternoon treat. Well, no more. I was optimistic about the new format – change is good, right? Not in this case. For the second week now the ad papers well outweigh the newspaper. Where’s my AJC? Now I can quickly thumb through what’s left of my dear Sunday paper in just a few minutes. Every section is a mere shadow of its former self. The look of the banner is awful, the font is hard to read, and the articles are shallow. I actually saw a typo in the long-planned first new version. So much for careful planning and attention to detail. I can’t help but see this as the beginning of the end.
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Kathy Giannini
May 14th, 2009
10:23 am
No pun intended, but you have really cut the meat out of the Food Section. One page does not a section make.
So, so sad!
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Debra King
May 15th, 2009
9:42 pm
Last year I won a AJC contest for long-time subscribers and got 2 free tickets to the Braves game. We had a wonderful time watching the game from the AJC box with yummy snacks, drinks, hats, t-shirts and nice gift bags. I felt like a valued customer. What I remember most is the young woman from AJC subscriber services who wanted to hear from all the winners about how much we love our newspapers. The message of the day was that AJC was concerned about the decline in subscribers in favor of the online edition. Well, I’m no longer feeling the love – the new paper doesn’t deliver any bang for the buck. maybe the online edition won’t be so bad after all.
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Clendon
May 16th, 2009
8:52 am
@Mark – The AJC wont be printing a weekday paper much longer. My friend works in the newsroom and says all the editors and reporters admit that the weekday papers are boring and useless.
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Darry Brooks
May 17th, 2009
10:30 am
Another comment on the coupon that has been advertised so heavily. Guess what? Kroger doesn’t know anything about so good luck using it.
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BF
May 17th, 2009
10:36 am
I waited several weeks before deciding to add my two-cents’ worth of commentary about the new newspaper format. I’ve had enough, and will not be renewing my subscription. What I can’t fathom is that the AJC boasted that it spent over a million dollars to look like this. If this had done in any other line of commerce, I would think it would be labeled financial mismanagement. I must agree in part with Chris’ comments (May 12th). The AJC has indeed “lost all its value and relevance” for me. It looks like a USA Today wannabee, with the type set smaller and more difficult to read, and adopting all those full-color trashy trendy cutesy over-sized banners/captions to disguise the fact that AJC is printing a great deal less. I’m not getting my money’s worth. Chris also did a very good job on addressing AJC’s editorial policy of sensationalistic reactionary rhetoric. And the editor’s idea of what is worthy of being carried as news is certainly not mine. The AJC does indeed need to get back to the basics and better reporting.
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conservative reader
May 18th, 2009
2:40 pm
thank you, thank you for running Thomas Sowell’s and George Will’s columns yesterday…. I simply do not understand how any logical person could argue against their views.
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Jonathan
May 18th, 2009
10:21 pm
Mark –
Do you all seriously track the origin of your online audience and harass them like this? This is over the top.
http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/62538
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Serene
May 23rd, 2009
3:01 pm
It followed the link from Jonathan above and found the whole process of AJC reporters spying on blog posters and trying to silence them chilling. Let’s have the reporters and the editors who tried to suppress speech on AJC.com come out of the shadows and take responsibility for their actions.
The AJC would never accept “we explained our policy” as a substitute for accountability and we the readers should not either.
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J Reacher
May 23rd, 2009
8:18 pm
Ah, but don’t you find it comforting when our ’superiors’, those arrogant elitists who always know what’s best for us turn out to be petty mortals?
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Notable Ideas
May 25th, 2009
11:58 am
Atlanta is quite a comfortable place to call home, but it is a little on the dull side. So it’s probably difficult to have a paper that is more interesting than the city it serves. You probably can’t be too innovative with the content, or the freedom-fries crowd will want to boycott you for being “too dang liberal.”
So you’re in a bit of a pickle really. The paper is comfortably dull. Unfortunately that isn’t going to appeal to many people that have lived outside of the southeast for any significant period of time but are now living here.
Maybe you should put the AJC out only three or four times a week. Maybe you should have a Spanish version widely available. Put a Korean section in the Sunday paper, possibly. Do you have an AJC video channel? If not, do that. Pair up with some reporters from another city and cover each others beat for a couple of weeks. Maybe we’ll all realize we don’t have it so bad, or maybe we’ll get some new ideas. Maybe you should turn some of your reporters into blogging referees. Put a reporter in an isolation tank for a week, with air holes of course, and see what kind of article they write. What are their observations?
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
May 30th, 2009
11:25 pm
Jonathan, don’t know if you saw my comment at the bottom of the article you linked to; it might have been added after you posted the link.
And Serene, the AJC does not try to silence blog posters; comments are removed only if readers alert us to a concern or something objectionable like obscenity slips through. If you read the article, you will see the author was actually making the case that the AJC should pre-screen comments.
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Maggie
May 31st, 2009
10:55 am
Atlanta needs to speed up creation of decent mass transit in order to continue to attract corporations and businesses that will create jobs and provide the economic engine for our economy. Every major US city outside of Atlanta – Washington DC, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, even Savannah! – has extensive mass transit systems. MARTA is very user-friendly, so far as it goes, but that’s the problem, it doesn’t go far enough. MARTA needs to be expanded so that users can access the entire city. I always use MARTA for the airport, but there is no way I could actually commute to work in a reasonable period of time – in fact, it’s faster for me to walk the 2.7 miles to work than use MARTA. Also, raising the fare will actually reduce income to the system, in my opinion. I lived in NYC at the point when discounted fare cards were introduced for the first time under the Giulliani administration. A lot of nay-sayers forecast a bankrupt system. Instead, system-wide income increased dramatically, and, the system got safer! The system got safer because of an increase in ridership during off-hours, and the increase in income came from more people riding because the system was safer – a positively-skewed cycle! If MARTA could get me to work in less than 30 minutes I would ride daily – and so would most of my coworkers. Oh, I do economics research for a living… .
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E
May 31st, 2009
11:12 am
I’m a native metro Atlanta, who was raised in Gwinnett and told that MARTA and most mass-transit were only useful to criminals. I hate to admit it but after living in the DC metro area and spending time in New York, I came to the conclusion that mass transit works, but MARTA just sucks. The METRO back in DC was great…. I could take the Yellow line from my home in Alexandria, VA all the way right to my job. I had a car but it was so much faster to take a metro system that was clean, fast, safe, and economical. Whenever I would come back home to Atlanta I would look and MARTA and see a rail line that didn’t really go anywhere, trains were few and far between, dirty, old, and just not pleasant to ride on. Make MARTA like the METRO back in DC and I would ride it. Oh, for people who freak out about MARTA bringing crime, the yellow line I rode on went to South East DC (Super High Crime Area), yet none of the criminals came over to Alexandria (across the river) on it, go figure.
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Andre Jackson, Editorial Editor
May 31st, 2009
11:31 am
Hi There;
Thanks for kicking off this discussion. I’d wondered what topic would be discussed first. Transit’s a worthy one. I’ve lived in 5 cities, 3 of which had some form of rapid transit, and I’ve navigated systems in D.C. and NYC and elsewhere.
Mass transit’s a worthy topic for community discussion and we at the AJC want to be part of the drive toward a solution, so to speak. The issue might be a little moribund at the moment, since gasoline’s no longer selling for 3 cents an ounce in the ATL area.
The big question will be, as always, what’s the most-efficient use of scarce resources: a lane of asphalt or a line of steel rail, light or heavy. We might do well to restrain a bit our automatic assumptions when thinking about the answer IMHO.
And, yes, factors such as our population density, travel patterns, farebox recovery and the like should be part of the calculus. Building a train to nowhere would make no sense, financial or otherwise.
By comparison, my old hometown of St. Louis launched a light-rail system to much community derision and sneers in 1993. The joke was it would merely serve to haul criminals (and minorities) to the airport. Well, ridership rapidly exceeded expectations pretty quickly and the system’s been expanded twice.
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Adittohead
May 31st, 2009
11:31 am
Even with its newly hired “token” consertative writer, the Atlanta-Obama-Journal is still a very left-wing newspaper, on par with the dismal, failing New York Times
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Andre Jackson, Editorial Editor
May 31st, 2009
11:53 am
Hi:
Thanks for writing. Moreso than any other newspaper where I’ve worked in my 25 years in journalism, the AJC’s taken the most steps to achieve balance on its opinion pages. Our hiring of a new conservative columnist is proof of that, especially in a time when newspapers across the land are hiring few people. We’ve tried hard to present a balance and variety of opinions, both red and blue. We’ve also taken steps recently to label our opinion pages as, just that, opinion.
Our intent is to provide a respectful forum where diverging opinions co-exist.
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Josh
May 31st, 2009
11:59 am
I don’t know that Marta is the answer. We have too many business centers now. Many of us don’t work downtown or even within the perimeter but we’re all fighting traffic. I think we should get more aggressive about giving incentives to individuals and businesses for car pooling, considering location when hiring and for telecommuting etc. We need to think outside the box of roads roads roads.
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The AJC panders yet again
May 31st, 2009
12:09 pm
Given the stories the AJC doesn’t cover, and the slant on the stories they do cover, not to mention the cowardice of the AJC editorial board to take on certain entities in Atlanta, the AJC is the last organization to lead this discussion with any credibility.
Nice try on the AJC’s part to position itself as though it actually has some relevance in the day to day lives of metro Atlantans. But there’s a reason, many reasons in fact, that even among major newspapers, the AJC’s drop in subscription numbers has stood out as a testament to its failure to serve the readers, and society at large.
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Hullaballew
May 31st, 2009
12:29 pm
A better Atlanta will only come to fruition:
1) When we put leadership in place that operates with a decent level of COMPETENCE.
2) When we rid these streets of the riff-raff and crime that plagues the community.
3) When we put a police force in place that is NOT corrupt from top to bottom and actually cares about protecting and serving the community. Fat chance of that, and I could elaborate in depth on why that will never happen.
3) A real mass transit system goes without saying.
4) End the ever present racism, bigotry, and classism (from all directions) that still permeates throughout the metro area and manifests itself in public policy, law enforcement/(in)justice, development and everything else. Yes, I SAID it! It will also never happen by the way.
All key things if Atlanta is to truly become a great city that is for all, by all and benefits all who may come, or are here already. We can split hairs later.
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Andrew M L
May 31st, 2009
12:29 pm
As a recent college graduate relocating to DC and having lived in SW Atlanta for over a decade, I am sick and tired of the MARTA debate. We all know the reason that Marta does not go anywhere. People continue to complain, about service being slow, about dialpidated cars, and long wait times, yet MARTAs revenues are down $50M+ for the year. The STATE LEGISLATURE has FAILED TO ADEQUATELY ADDRESS THIS ISSUE. Back in the ’80s, when MARTA had the opportunity to expand, various communities from Fayetteville/PTC all the way North to Alpharetta, mounted SERIOUS RALLIES and PROTESTS because they DID NOT WANT MARTA in their community. The end RESULT, MARTA (when compared to other major cities NYC, DC, CHICAGO, etc) does not really go anywhere. Ridership is down significantly because it is such a hassle. I personally love MARTA, when I was taking classes at Georgia State, it was the best way to get class every morning, yet and still there are some serious obstacles to MARTA’s success and much of it is because of the stigma associated with MARTA and the lack of effective partnerships between law-makers at all levels in Georgia. In short, public transportation is not a priority for the Governor, our senators, and other elected officials who could actually make a difference on this issue. Such are the facts, that if Atlanta does not get its transportation (rail -light/heavy, and interstate HWY’s, traffic grids/patterns) we will LOSE our ground as the major metropolis of the South to Charlotte or hell, even Birmingham.
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J Reacher
May 31st, 2009
12:41 pm
Okay, I’ll play.
How can anyone argue against making Atlanta a better place? Hmmmm. Nevertheless . . .
Amyone who thought the AJC finally ‘got it’ and was poised to become a real ‘newspaper’ should be disabused of that notion by Saturday’s piece by Julia Wallace and Andre Jackson. No, the AJC cannot and will not shed its do-gooder persona. Julia, who was famously going to eliminate bias in the paper, penned a mission statement that is nothing short of a liberal manifesto, and Andre assured us that, once again, the AJC will be ‘full of it’. Presenting the news is not enough, nope, we’ve got a responsibility to reshape society, to change the world, to right wrongs, and to fight injustice wherever we find it, to boldly go . . . .
If you prefer less government, less governmental inteference, lower taxes, more control over how taxes are spent, and more freedom in general, take a hike. Oh, BTW, you are all unsophisticated, intellectually challenged, greedy, narrow minded bigots. . . .
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Keith
May 31st, 2009
12:44 pm
Well first, we need to get rid of the “black leadership.” Atlanta has gone downhill since it went from a mostly white to a mostly black city. That is not a surprise of course. The thugs have destroyed Buckhead, Atlantic Station, and are now invading Virginia Highlands. I can’t believe that there are literally murders and violent crimes DAILY here, caused by the thugs 99% of the time. Other major cities don’t have nearly as much crime, because they are not all black cities. I will never understand why thugs have to ruin everything.
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Andre Jackson, Editorial Editor
May 31st, 2009
1:32 pm
Finally, the kettle reaches a rolling boil. That’s what Democracy and free debate are about!
Again, I’d humbly make the distinction between our news pages and what we now label plainly as “Opinion” pages. On our opinion pages, you’ll find the likes of Thomas Sowell and new guy Kyle Wingfield all the way on across the wide aisle to Cynthia Tucker and Thomas Friedman.
I’d add in a 3rd variable — our Sunday editorial page. There, Atlanta Forward is a new effort by the AJC Editorial Board to discuss — not dictate — ideas and issues intended to move Atlanta Forward. We want input from many corners on this critical subject.
The intent here’s to discuss a sort of business model, if you will, to brainstorm ways to make the Atlanta metro region — not just the city of Atlanta — a more competitive environment in which to draw industry, jobs and tax revenue.
And, yes, growing our region will require tough choices made with an awareness of the ancient principle of economic scarcity — how best can we use our resources?
Growing business and the jobs the private sector creates has to be a key part of that conversation. Business development is a big part of what’s put us on the map as a region.
And, yes, maintaining a reasonable quality of life on things like air, water, schools and taxes factors into all this, too.
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Jon
May 31st, 2009
1:39 pm
Some of the comments above reflect the issue I immediately thought of when I heard about this project. The question is, “What is Atlanta.” Do you mean the city, the core counties, or the entire region as defined by the ARC (some of which the AJC no longer covers)?
The news staff seems to have limited its coverage OTP, except for little blurbettes. Does the editorial staff intend to go into surrounding counties to determine what they are doing to move themselves forward…and by extension the entire metro area? For example the largest economic development effort in Georgia (except for state government itself) is happening in Gwinnett.
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Carter is a Fool
May 31st, 2009
1:47 pm
Balance, right. Ha. Ha. You still run only the cartoons of the Bush Hating Luckovich without any balance. His poison pen goes unchecked. When is Cythnia (we are all racists) leaving? There is no balance. It would probably be way too much to ask to balance the poison drawings of Luckovich with someone like The Cartoons of Two-Time Pulitzer Prize Winner Michael Ramirez.
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The AJC panders yet again
May 31st, 2009
1:56 pm
Sorry Andre, but drawing a distinction between the news pages and the opinion pages doesn’t cut it, when the mindset and mandates of the editoral board handcuff reporters and their supposedly objective reporting in the news pages.
There are way too many instances where the AJC reporters have introduced a story, and left vital aspects of the story uncovered, when coincidentally covering those aspects would clash with the AJC editorial board’s agenda in commenting on the story.
There are also far too many stories that are introduced, that literally beg for a follow up, yet no follow up is forthcoming, and when reporters are called on it, they can offer no legitimate reason for not following it up and, if you catch them in a candid moment, will let on that higher ups killed the story.
In essence, you want us to draw a distinction between the editorial board and the news reporting, when it’s obviously that looking how too many stories are covered, or not followed up on, the AJC itself doesn’t make the distinction.
This bias, this willingness to let political agenda hamstring objective reporting does not go unnoticed. Look at your subscription numbers if you don’t believe it.
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serene
May 31st, 2009
2:15 pm
You laid out some good discussion areas to include for a conversation about advancing Atlanta.
You might include having a tax system that both provides for consistent funding for the services we need from our governments and that is low enough to foster economic growth and prosperity.
Any discussion of the things we want from the government must also include the sacrifices we are prepared to make to pay for those things. Else we become like California who votes for services they are unwilling to fund…a definition of immaturity.
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Andre Jackson, Editorial Editor
May 31st, 2009
2:24 pm
OK. I’m gonna wade into the debate again, realizing we may end up in agree-to-disagree territory, which in America, isn’t always a bad place.
I’ve worked at 5 newspapers, including this one. Their editorial boards ranged from scarlet red to deepest blue. At all of them, I’ve seen journalists work hard to keep a bright-line distinction between the opinion and editorial pages and the news reporting operations.
I came to Atlanta a year ago as an editorial writer, having been a business editor for a decade. I was allowed by my bosses to take a pro-capitalism view on many issues, such as oil speculation. The logic of the argument was what carried the day. To provide balance and fairness, we certainly printed opposite views as well.
We’re quite serious about working toward achieving balance and fairness, as well as transparency in our reporting.
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Josh
May 31st, 2009
2:27 pm
We will continue to buy the Sunday AJC to get coupons. Other than that, we don’t bother to waste our time looking through it. I guess there are some who still read it for the sports. Other than that, the number of readers you don’t have would astound you.
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The AJC panders yet again
May 31st, 2009
2:57 pm
Andre, I think you’re trying to obfuscate the issue, by portraying it as a red state, blue state debate, and pointing out the opinion pages have views that reflect both.
The issue isn’t the opinion pages. The issue is how the agenda of those who shape the opinion pages obviously manifests itself in the angles reporters take, or more importantly omit, to shape supposedly objective reporting to fit the needs of the editorial board.
One could take the time to lay out a specific case in regard to one long running story in the AJC, but one would have to be convinced the editorial editor is really up to the challenge of discussing an issue that strikes at the credibility of the paper.
It’s pretty easy to respond to those who hand you a rebuttal on a silver platter with a knee jerk response about the liberal editorial board.
Not quite so easy to respond to those who refused to be boxed into a simplistic paradigm such as red state/blue state and will instead call you to task when your paper has failed in its duty as a member of the Fourth Estate, now is it?
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LeTwan Anthony
May 31st, 2009
3:06 pm
A couple questions for you . . . where are Jim Wooten and Maria Saporta? Are there any journalists left there? I subscribed for 33 years but grew so disillusioned with the inferior news product and liberal bias that I cancelled my subscription. I once spent about $60,000 a month advertising in the AJC. That was another time and a paper of a different quality. The product is no longer a newspaper Ralph McGill would appreciate – probably not Reg Murphy or Bill Kovach, either. The new look is reminiscent of a good comics insert. Good luck with the new job and Have a Nice Day!
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Andre Jackson, Editorial Editor
May 31st, 2009
3:09 pm
Pretty quiet in this digital village at the moment. Gonna venture out to lay in provisions for ever-hungry children. Will check back in a bit. Thanks to all who weighed in; we appreciate your comments and your support of the AJC.
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The AJC panders yet again
May 31st, 2009
3:19 pm
Kind of ironic Andre, that as soon as you were directly challenged to defend the integrity of your paper, by someone who obviously didn’t fall off the red state/blue state turnip truck yesterday, you decide to take a powder and go feed the children.
I guess we’ll have to update the Harry Truman saying for purposes of this blog: If you can’t stand the heat, go to the kitchen! LOL
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Atlanta Unfiltered
May 31st, 2009
3:27 pm
I know this will be hard to believe for some, but nothing could be farther from the truth than the notion that the editorial board controls news coverage at the AJC. I worked there as reporter and editor for 28 years, until last summer, overseeing coverage of most of the most controversial topics in our news pages. A member of the editorial board called me exactly once, to make a suggestion for an angle for an investigative news package that was about to see print. It was a suggestion only. I said no, that would that make a point that would in fact be misleading. That was the end of it. There was no pressure for me to do anything to follow up on that suggestion.
I also cannot recall ever having a story killed for any sort of political reason. Some were held for more reporting, some were held for rewriting for clarity. Some were killed because an editor (sometimes me) did not think the story was worth the time and effort that would be required. When editors or reporters disagreed with one another, in my experience, all parties involved had an opportunity to make their case.
The AJC may well have problems, as the shrinking revenue and news staff will attest. But editorial bias bleeding over into the news coverage is not one of them.
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LeTwan Anthony
May 31st, 2009
4:00 pm
I do love a good pie. I hope you buy those children a pie – or better yet, cook them a pie. Now, I can’t speak for the newsroom but I can speak with authority as a reader . . . and the paper continues to disappoint. Maybe a few splashes of color can stem the tide but I suspect not. It seems those that subscribed don’t now choose to do so . . . and those that are targeted perhaps do not read the paper. That is quite a dillemma. It is good that you get a fresh start, Andre, to save “The South’s Standard Newspaper” that no longer “Covers Dixie Like the Dew”. We’ll check back with you in six months and see how you’ve done.
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Bob Herndon
May 31st, 2009
4:25 pm
Hi Andre, Bob Herndon here. President of the Atlanta BBQ Club. http://www.atlbbqclub.com. We are trying to make Atlanta a Better city by having a cook-off at Turner Field. Are you familiar with the Memphis in May cook-off. It brings $40 million of tourism and econ. impact to that city. The BBQ battle in Washington D.C. brings. 350,000 people to the city. BBQ is a Southern Food and we are the Capitol of the South and we do not have a BBQ contest in the city.
If you have any contacts with the Vistor’s bureau or convention people that I could get I would greatly appreciate it. We have it all lined up and just need to get the word out.
Thanks for all you do. Sincerely, Bob Herndon
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The AJC panders yet again
May 31st, 2009
4:28 pm
Ok Atlanta Unfiltered, since Andre doesn’t apparently want to come out and play, perhaps you can vouch for the AJC in his stead.
Let me give you one specific example. Clayton County losing accreditation.
First off I would venture to guess that the AJC has done more major stories on Clayton County schools in the last two years than every other school system combined. Is it fair, Atlanta Unfiltered, to say, at the very least, the story was given major scrutiny by the AJC?
Now it’s no secret the AJC editorial board has a real dislike for one of the teacher organizations in Clayton. My purpose here is not to defend them, so I won’t name them, nor will I quibble with the AJC editorial board’s opinion, since after all, it’s an opinion.
My issue is somebody’s opinion, be it the editorial board’s or someone else at the AJC definitely colored the objective reporting of the story.
I say this because of all the stories done about the accreditation scandal, not a single story focused on SACS. Is it just coincidence Atlanta Unfiltered, that the organization most critical of SACS is one that is not in favor with the AJC editorial board? And is it just coincidence that, in the dozens of stories devoted to the issue, not a single one took a critical look at anything SACS did?
Is it just coincidence that if SACS was looked at with a critical eye, it might possibly lend credence to the concerns of an organization in regard to SACS, an orgaization that the AJC editorial board so adamantly opposes?
For example, if SACS has accredited every single school system in its domain for decades, no matter how much political infighting there was in the system, no matter how many scandals the system had, no matter how horrible the academic performance was, doesn’t it strike you as odd that no one at the AJC never did a story on SACS itself?
Shouldn’t readers, and taxpaying citizens have a right to know just what SACS does, and if they had any personal connections or friendships with anyone in Clayton past or present if, as a for profit agency that makes its money off of taxpayers, it appears to be nothing more than a rubber stamp agency?
Wouldn’t you think that might be worth at least one story, given that the AJC covered every other conceiveable angle possible with this story with literally dozens of stories?
Not one story as to how SACS operates Atlanta Unfiltered? Not one story that would question its purpose, when every school system for decades has been given the SACS rubber stamp approval, regardless of how awful its performance truly is?
And you really want us to believe that there is absolutely nothing to the fact that the organization most critical of SACS, is an organization despised by the editorial board, and that it is just pure, total, complete coincidence that the AJC reporters, in all of the dozens of stories they wrote on Clayton Schools and accreditation, never once cast a critical eye towards SACS?
You would have us believe instead that AJC reporters looked fully into SACS, and didn’t find a single personal relation or political connection worth reporting, and instead concluded that SACS is so immune to politics, so above reproach in each and every thing that they do, that the readers don’t need to know anything about how SACS conducts business, even if as taxpayers, they support this for profit agency?
You really, really want us to believe that higher ups at the AJC don’t dictate or influence what reporters write, or angles they pursue, but instead you would rather have us believe that the Clayton County reporters are so inept, so incompetent, that it never even occured to them to look into the organization that caused so much havoc when they took accreditation away?
It seems you either have unyielding respect for the AJC editorial board, or complete contempt for the AJC reporters on the Clayton beat.
Perhaps there is a shade of gray I have missed in my concluding statement. Enlighten us, Atlanta Unfiltered.
And Andre, assuming your children now have the needed sustanence, please feel free to join in as well.
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Andre Jackson, Editorial Editor
May 31st, 2009
5:03 pm
I’m back.
I’ll admit that i’m no expert on Clayton County schools, but I will say that IMHO the story was worth pursuing journalistically, given that the district faced multiple challenges, among them its very accreditation.
As I noted in today’s editorial, if this nation’s going to compete, all our kids need a shot at a good education, end of story.
I moved to Georgia from a district in another state that had similar challenges to Clayton County. What that meant was, basically, parents there who could afford no other choices sent their kids to public schools. Those who were connected often got their kids into magnets or into the interdistrict transer program. Those who could afford it also often sent their kids to private or parochial schools.
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Andre Jackson, Editorial Editor
May 31st, 2009
5:10 pm
In looking at the time, I wanted to wrap up by thanking all who jumped in here today.
We appreciate your comments, and opinions. We also appreciate your support of us.
Oh, to answer the earlier question, Jim Wooten’s still with us for a little while yet, before he heads off to a well-earned retirement. Kyle Wingfield’s working hard to represent conservative views for us.
Maria Saporta left us some months back.
Thanks to all; have a good evening.
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Dusty
May 31st, 2009
5:12 pm
Dear Mr. Jackson,
I feel a bit sad about Atlanta. What I would like is long gone. I wish Atlanta were a great Southern city in which people liked to visit and live and work.
But it is better known as the city with mayors going to jail, airport concessions run by the families of mayors, dubious police protection, prolific aggressive street vendors amd beggars, discriminatory hiring practices, ancient and broken water lines, inadequte transportation and a liberal beehive in the midst of a conservative state. Atlanta even managed to diminish the Olympics in more ways than one.
The liberal AJC has waited too long to act as a neutral observer. I can remember cringing as I watched Cynthia Tucker on Lehrer News Hour as a Georgia editor presenting a liberal facade. There was no representation of Georgia politics but only Atlanta’s far left AJC.
Luckovich hated President Bush as much as our enemies hated Bush. This cartoonist did not try to hide it but reveled in ugly repeat after repeat. The AJC sank with him as he even insulted American troops … ex.(our soldiers being roasted on a spit). Pulitzer prizes to AJC became the epitome of blind liberal achievements and little else.
Atlanta arose like the archetypical Phoenix. Now it seems like a burnt ol’ bird that cannot rise above prejudice, incompetence and dishonesty.
Do tell us why you came to Atlanta, Mr. Jackson, when Georgia is pictured so often by liberal news media as the ignorant bumpkin of the USA. I shall look forward with hope for fair and open minds at the AJC as prompted by Editor Andre Jackson.
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serene
May 31st, 2009
5:38 pm
Andre,
One question for you on the editorial page. Why is it that the AJC consistently refers to Kyle as the Conservative writer when Bookman is not described as the liberal writer. I don’t wish to impute motives, but it seems that the AJC seems to want a warning label on one of the writers but not the other. Instead of my distant guess…why does the AJC consistently put a label on one of its editorial writers?
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StevenCee
May 31st, 2009
5:49 pm
Well, looks like Andre never did “check back”, so those who left comments or direct questions will remain “response-less”. I know the dialogue was a little slow, maybe setting the time for evening, and not during daylight of a beautiful Sunday, might have made more sense, in that respect…
As for the future of the Atlanta metro region (& therefore the state), I for one, am not very optimistic. The legislature is far more willing to continue it’s childish & self-destructive game of our own Georgia-style “Civil War”, pitting Atlanta against “everyone else”, as if it will continue being the goose laying golden eggs no matter how unlivable & uninviting the region becomes.
As for transportation, I’ve seen nothing but talk, talk, talk, for the last 25 years, with the legislature’s abject failure to address it in any way this year pushing any action further & further into the future. No major city in America attempts to run it’s mass transit with zero funding from the state, well, none but Atlanta, where the state stubbornly believes it must be able to operate self-sufficiently, or MARTA be damned.
But I think Andre actually gave away the problem in one of his comments. When he said,
“Growing business and the jobs the private sector creates has to be a key part of that conversation. Business development is a big part of what’s put us on the map as a region.
And, yes, maintaining a reasonable quality of life on things like air, water, schools and taxes factors into all this, too.”
Atlanta has operated on that very paradigm, develop, grow, expand, make money now, & worry about consequences later, for decades. Whatever budgetary shortfalls may arise, the thinking is that it will simply be covered by “yet more people & businesses relocating here”. However, with every year seeing more & more cars, & traffic becoming more & more unbearable, one needn’t be a rocket scientist to see the cost of buying land & building either mass transit or roads rising every more rapidly. So, here we are in 2009, about 30 years after we should’ve had a transit plan on the drawing board, and in the meantime, executed it; instead we still sit on square one (& gridlocked), with not even a viable plan having been agreed upon, funded, or begun! Not good…..
Unfortunately, having the focus, as Andre stated quite accurately, on business & development, with “quality of life” being a secondary afterthought, has totally screwed this city & region. While other cities did pay attention to how its residents & visitors will get around, have parks for recreation, good schools, a lively & progressive arts community, clean air, access to healthcare, & adequate police & fire protection, Atlanta has slowly slid in the opposite direction. Have all those who made theirs, while the getting was good, killed the goose that has been laying these golden eggs for so long?
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LeTwan Anthony
May 31st, 2009
5:57 pm
serene, that is a wonderful observation! One might ask if Andre will have a label, too. Conservative? Liberal? Please tell me it won’t be “Fair and Balanced” . . . that one’s taken. That the paper had to advertise for a conservative voice rather than find one among the ranks may speak more eloquently than this humble observer. This is another facade much like the one that suggested there were once two newspapers in town. Yeah, right. Well, the AJC product is tumbling down the cliff. Maybe Andre will be able to apply a bit of lipstick to the pig and make things better.
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Atlanta Unfiltered
May 31st, 2009
6:11 pm
First off, I must reject any notion that AJC reporters covering Clayton County deserve “complete contempt.” Megan Matteucci, who covered Clayton County until recently, is one of the best and hardest-working reporters at the paper. She did a great job on the accreditation story.
I don’t recall any investigative stories on SACS. That could well mean that it’s not a story. I see nothing in your post that would indicate otherwise. I do sense that you have an ax to grind with SACS.
But even if there were, the AJC’s failure to publish one is no indicator of sinister intent. There are far more investigative stories out there than there are reporters to do them. News organizations must make choices about what to cover. It’s always been hard for reporters to break away from their beats long enough to report an investigative story properly. It’s become even tougher as reporters have had to file for the Web site as well as the print edition, and as their beats have expanded.
Yes, I do want you to believe that higher ups at the AJC rarely dictate or influence what reporters write, or angles they pursue. They may suggest a story, but there’s little or no consequence if the story isn’t done. In fact, top editors at the AJC choose to exert very little influence on what specific stories are covered. AJC’s big cheeses have shaped the newsroom by deciding what beats will be covered and by whom. After that, most news-gathering decisions are made by overworked and stressed-out reporters and mid-level managers.
I wish the top editors had MORE influence, if that would mean the newspaper would pursue important news stories more aggressively. But the AJC has spent so much time reinventing itself in recent years, and bailing water, that the attention of those editors has been devoted to other decisions.
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LeTwan Anthony
May 31st, 2009
6:31 pm
The AJC is a pretty fair small town paper – only, this is not a small town. There’s nothing on the plate. Lots of fluff, though. We can learn all about hip-hop and barbecue but very little about the real news stories of the day. Andre, you have quite a task ahead of you trying to convince your readers that the AJC offers a balance because you trumpet one conservative voice you hired off the street.
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Dave Marcus
May 31st, 2009
6:36 pm
Edward Abbey once said “Growth for the sake of growth is the philosophy of the cancer cell.” It is sad that you make the assumption that Atlanta needs to grow.
How is it that your own vision does not include a stable Atlanta but one where the quality of life is improving? Your first point for consideration is “Do we have the right pieces in place for future economic growth?”. I ask, “Why do we need future economic growth? When will it stop? What makes growth intrinsically good?. Other points are related to quality of life but you address it directly only in terms of fueling economic growth: “Do we have the quality of life that brings newcomers to an area…?”
I don’t want Atlanta to grow. During the 90s, it is said that we clearcut 30 acres a day, every day, to make room for growth. Our traffic and sprawl have become among the worst in the country. Our air quality suffers, and our lives suffer from over-long commutes.
I challenge you to ask the important questions first, and the most important is how we can improve the quality of life for our citizens without the drawbacks that growth by necessity brings.
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joe biden senior
May 31st, 2009
6:58 pm
Hey AJC, why no story on Obama’s trip to NYC for dinner and a play (at our expense)? Seems to me he could have incurred a “cheaper” date by attending a play in DC?
Didn’t he just recently speak out about Corporate CEO’s holding meetings at resort locations (or something to that effect).
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Carter is a Fool
May 31st, 2009
7:28 pm
They never answer questions about balancing the Cartoon Boy’s poisoned pen scribbles. Notice that he avoided that question as they all do. He also did not comment about Cynthia and when we will be shed of her calling everyone racists. New person, same mindset = same result. Still headed over the cliff. Not even a metro Atlanta paper as it does not even cover my county and never has. I am missing the fact that we don’t have a good newspaper. We buy it on Sunday for the grocery coupons and read the ball scores online.
If it goes away, something will take its place and maybe will actually look at the region demographics and listen to the readers.
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The AJC panders yet again
May 31st, 2009
7:43 pm
First of all, this isn’t about SACS, the Clayton schools, or any of the teacher organizations. There’s more than enough blame to go around when it comes to Clayton’s problems on that front.
This is about the AJC and its coverage, and just as importantly, the coverage it omits.
Many, many, stories could have been used to show this. Stories about Coca-Cola and other corporate or government icons come readily to mind, stories the AJC often has to be shamed into running by having the Sunday Paper or Creative Loafing break them first.
But the reason that Clayton story was picked is that it’s such a shining example, in that it is an ongoing story, covered in such detail, that you can’t use the handy excuse that the newspaper has only a limited amount of space to cover stories.
So, Atlanta Unfiltered, just to clarify, you don’t see anything that would warrant, in the dozens of stories written about Clayton County and accreditation, any reason at all to write a story about the accreditation organization that was central to the woes of the Clayton County School System?
It’s of absolutely no news value at all to look into the organization that has rubber stamped virtually every school system in its domain for decades, no matter how horrible the school system’s perfomance, when it suddenly decides that Clayton County schools are the one, the only school in the entire southeastern United States that needs it accreditaion pulled?
It’s of no value to the readers of the AJC to ask how a for profit organization, which makes its money off of taxpayers, conducts business?
It’s of no value to readers to know if there were any political or personal connections that might have lead SACS to take the almost unprecendented step of taking accreditation?
Maybe you don’t have contempt for the editorial board, or for the Clayton County beat reporters, but you obviously have contempt for the readers if you think they are so ignorant that they would take at face value a claim that political considerations don’t seep in from the higher ups at the AJC and influence how reporters cover stories.
And, given the decline in subscriptions, even compared to other major newspapers, it appears the contempt is a two way street, despite the hackneyed attempts of this blog to address it.
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The AJC panders yet again
May 31st, 2009
8:06 pm
Andre,
No one is asking you to be an expert on all that has happened with the Clayton Schools. In fact Clayton schools isn’t the issue. Any number of stories could have been picked; the Clayton one stands out because it is so long and ongoing, a pattern emerges as to what the AJC covers, and more importantly, what it omits, and how it coincides with the AJC’s editorial agenda.
No one argues the the story didn’t deserved to be covered, and covered indeed it was with literally dozens of stories.
But shouldn’t have at least one of those stories looked into SACS, the central player in the story, and how it conducts business, given that it had virtually rubber stamped ever other school system, regardless of how horribly it performed, for literally decades?
I realize this puts you in a very difficult position, having to defend that which is virtually indefensible, but they have put your name on the letterhead and called you the point man for questions and comments on this blog.
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Atlanta Unfiltered
May 31st, 2009
8:29 pm
My point is I know a bit more about the AJC newsroom, after working there for 28 years, than you do. I know for a fact the editorial board does not control the news stories. You know, apparently as a matter of faith, that they do. If you have evidence of stories suppressed by the AJC, name them.
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larry
May 31st, 2009
8:40 pm
There was a reason Lester Maddox walked the streets of Atlanta with an axe handle.Go back to his era as Mayor of Atlanta and look at the out of wedlock birth rate,murder,robbery,rape,buglary….any crime or social statistic you want.That speaks the truth.
Anybody of any color with any brains, knows that Atlanta is like Detroit,New Orleans,Washington DC when it comes to baring it’s soul to the people who live in this sespool.You want to be liberal ? Now you the results !
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larry
May 31st, 2009
9:03 pm
Here’s another idea for a better Atlanta.Let’s make Mexico a deal where we will send them 10 people who won’t work,wine all the time, and we’ll take 1 mexican in return.
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Will Campbell
May 31st, 2009
11:57 pm
Not to beat a dead donkey with the fish-wrapper here but sorry Andre, balance cannot be achieved with a singular Conservative voice within the ever deeper cellar existence of the Left Wing AJC.
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Mark
June 1st, 2009
10:23 am
Two thoughts:
I moved out of Atlanta city proper in 2001, don’t work in the city proper and rarely go downtown for entertainment any more. All I can say is good radiance. It’s a crime filled and graffiti covered mess. How embarrassing it must be to see what visitors to Atlanta are faced with. I honestly though Shirley would take Atlanta up a notch or two. Sadly, it’s been brought down instead.
All the AJC noise over a single “conservative” columnist (and some guests) while the other columnists are not labeled does tell volumes (as another post pointed out). kinda makes Kyles sound more like a token columnist or a curiosity. (No offense intended towards Kyle).
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serene
June 2nd, 2009
8:23 pm
Shawn,
I went to the link and re read the story and your comments at the bottom. When the AJC looks up the IP address of commenters on the blog and then tries to publicly identify them because it might be “newsworthy” in their sovereign opinion, I think that is trying to silence people from writing freely.
Let’s have the editors and the reporters in this matter step out of the shadows and into the public light so we can judge their actions for ourselves.
Had someone in government followed a similar approach you would never allow the matter to end with “we reviewed our policy”. I would like to see the AJC come clean and explain the whole affair with names and reasons publically explained.
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Tone Lane
June 5th, 2009
10:57 am
The 2009 election for both Mayor and City Council is an enormous on-going story for our city and it’s residents. Why not have a weekly page on recent quotes, shifts in positions, philosophies, etc on our candidates? I live in Pittsburgh, Atlanta. I would love to take a reporter up and down my streets and show them what neglect and lack of leadership does to a community. This in itself is mind-boggling – ZERO CODE ENFORCEMENT and a decay in process. Let’s start hitting home on reality and aggressively holding public officials accountable for sitting on their hollow promises. I have taken the energy and time to begin a blog for this election. http://voteatlanta2009.blogspot.com/. I hope the AJC begins to cover this election in greater importance.
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Jim
June 7th, 2009
10:01 am
Ken, credit where credit is due. This is a comment not so much about the opinion pages as about the paper as a whole. Some years ago, I emailed one of your colleague to complain about the content of my Sunday paper. What set me off, though I may recall this incorrectly, was a picture that ran on the front page, above the fold: Britney Spears. My comment at that time was that there was so little news in the paper, and most of that from wire services. Well, what a change. I am very favorably impressed by the newspaper I found at the end of my driveway this morning. The reporting on graduation rates in Georgia, on the financial incentives offered NCR, on vaccination rates among Georgia schoolchildren, on anticipated pollution problems at abandoned building sites in the metro area — these and other first-rate stories in today’s AJC offer some vindication of the managing editor’s decisions over the past many months. So, from one recently skeptical reader, thank you and sincere congratulations. I hope to continue seeing such hard-nosed reporting on news stories, and, yes, a vigorous but civil conversation on the pages you will be editing.
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Ken Foskett, Opinion Editor
June 7th, 2009
10:30 am
Jim, thanks very much for the comment. The AJC has gone through some tough times of late, as I’m sure you’ve followed. But one upside is that it’s forced us to get back to basics, and focus on things that matter. (As I write this, I’m also hoping Britney Spears doesn’t make a fool of herself somewhere, and end up on the front page tomorrow.)
Let us know when we come up short.
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Neil Murray
June 7th, 2009
11:32 am
A few weeks ago I sent an email to letters@ajc.com noting a contradiction between the AJC’s stated 150-word limit on letters and the actual length of published letters, which sometimes exceeds 200 and even 250 words. My email was neither answered nor published. Although I have noticed some decline in the number of overlong letters, the AJC is still not enforcing its policy uniformly. Why don’t you either follow your own rule or change it?
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Jay
June 7th, 2009
11:32 am
When I came to Atlanta from NJ by way of Boston, in 1983, I was impressed to find two newspapers. Each with its own political viewpoint.
I have paid for home delivery of the “morning” paper ever since. Two things motivate me to read the paper every day, Doonesbury and the feeling of ignorance if I don’t.
Oftentimes I converse with someone who only heard the headline and not “the rest of the story”. I delight in furnishing the details that usually change the person’s perspective on the particular issue.
In the past few years the AJC has forced me to go to the internet for more of what I never lacked before. The Car Talk column, synopses of movies on TV, some favorite cartoons, the wood working column ( by Jack Warner) , architecture reviews ( by Catherine Fox) and informative business reporting ( by Maria Saporta). The AJC has also disposed of some things I will never get on the internet. Such as movie reviews by someone in Atlanta, the @Issue section with quotes that summarized the week’s news.
I do not look forward to getting all of my news from the internet. The local content will be gone. No longer will I know what is happening in my own county of DeKalb.
Who will gather the news that is presented on the internet? Has anyone looked that far into the future? Too many papers are either for sale or in Bankruptcy.
And, I believe, the quality of reporting is already suffering in the print editions. Cut backs are too close to the bone.
I do not envy your position. I hope that you succeed in your pursuit of righting the ship. I know that if you fail, Atlanta will be left with no one to exercise the Freedom of Information Act to inform the populace of the shenanigans behind closed doors throughout the State of Georgia.
As it is now, I foresee the AJC morphing into “McNews”…a USA Today for the masses in the south. And goodbye to the Dayton Daily News, Palm Beach Post, AJC, et al. Please succeed, do not let that happen.
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Where the AJC falls short
June 7th, 2009
11:54 am
If you want to know where the AJC falls short Mr. Foskett, read your own letters to the editor and the various blog postings on education. If there is one common concern among teachers, it’s that their hands are tied in matters of discipline, and that school systems often sweep these incidents under the rug.
Not only do teachers have that concern, but other citizens as well, as indicated by the number of print and online comments from parents who have withdrawn their kids from the public schools for that very reason.
Yet other than a few throwaways lines from Jim Wooten in his blog, your editorial board has never, once, written a full editorial endorsing the position that teachers must be given more authority, and more support from the school systems, in matters of discipline.
If I’m wrong, then please show us the editorial, written by one of your editors, that fully devotes itself to endorsing that position.
If I’m not wrong, then please explain why they haven’t, and how you expect them to have any credibility on education issues with their readers, with such a huge, gaping hole in their coverage?
Please don’t avoid the issue Mr. Foskett, by pointing out letters or column on the subject by readers or outside columnists.
Please address the issue directly Mr. Foskett, and tell us why your editorial board has never written a column, specifically devoted to, and endorsing the position, that teachers must be given more authority and more support from the public schools in regard to discipline.
You asked, in your 10:30am post, to let you know where the AJC has come up short. And it’s been done, and done in a civil manner. Now are you ready to live up to your end of the bargain and address this on this blog?
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Where the AJC falls short
June 7th, 2009
11:56 am
Enter your comments here
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Ken Foskett, Opinion Editor
June 7th, 2009
12:08 pm
Neil, you are correct that some letters run longer than 150 words, which is primarily due to the fact that most letter writers do not follow the limit. If I set the limit higher, then the letters would be that much longer.
We’ve recently moved the letters to the first Opinion page in a space that will force letters to be closer to the 150 word limit.
There is one other area where I make allowances for longer letters. Occasionally, the subject of a news article will write that the AJC story did not adequately reflect their position, or left out some important details. In those instances, I will allow a longer letter to address those concerns.
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DannyX
June 7th, 2009
12:14 pm
Why does the AJC spend so much time apologizing to people complaining about the so-called liberal content of this paper/website? Most of the people that do the complaining seem to only want their views reflected here.
Second, where has the local coverage gone? Dekalb County opinion and news coverage is almost non existent. Funny how the people complaining most about your liberal slant are getting excellent coverage. Gwinnett County for example has specific blogs and its own opinion columnist covering that county. Dekalb County has nothing, why is that?
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Ken Foskett, Opinion Editor
June 7th, 2009
12:17 pm
Jay, I share your concerns about erosion of content, though some of the material your cite is still available in print. Catherine Fox, for example, regularly provides visual arts criticism to the AJC, even though she retired this year (see her nice review of the Monet exhibit in Friday’s Go Guide).
The decline in content is entirely driven by economics at this point. The AJC, and every other American newspaper, aren’t making the money they used to, and that has forced cut backs.
I’ll also say, however, that the AJC has gotten much more serious about listening to readers such as yourself, and tuning the newspaper to give readers more of what they want. Your comments will be read by every senior editor here, and I promise you they’ll be noted.
I appreciate you’re hanging with us. Like you, I can’t really imagine what life would be without a morning newspaper.
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Ken Foskett, Opinion Editor
June 7th, 2009
12:21 pm
Regarding more control for teachers in the classroom. This is an excellent idea for the editorial board to consider, and I’ll forward this comment to Andre Jackson, the AJC’s Editorial Editor.
On Monday, we devote a page to education topics. We’ve had a feature from teachers on why they teach and why they quit. I’ve noticed that many of the teachers who left teaching cite inability to enforce discipline in the classroom as the reason.
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Carter is a Fool
June 7th, 2009
12:28 pm
I agree with Where AJC Falls Short. It is in most cases a blame the teacher world. It happened recently to me. Student cut class and did not take the final exam. Parent called and chewed me out for recording a 0 for the exam.
The above was not about discipline, but it touches on the lack of respect for what we do and the very limited support and tools available to us. We are always wrong in our decisions regarding disciplining someone’s little angel when the little angel is disrupting the learning in our room.
It is not just the parents that fail to value what we do. Politicians do so as well. Our Governor recently slapped many of us across the face with his decision to create his own master teacher program when he did not like the National Program supported by Governor Barnes — National Board Certification. The legislature in their fine wisdom sort of agreed to dishonor their word as to salary incentives and rolled this back to 10 percent of what a new teacher makes. Even the “wonderful” politicians thought that they rolled this back to 10 percent bonus based on the teacher’s salary the year the teacher earned the certification. Instead it was rolled back to 10% of a new teacher’s salary.
Education is slipping in Georgia because there is no longer a partnership between parents and teachers. It is no longer assumed that the adult (teacher) is correct. Teachers are not always correct, but the assumption now by a parent is whatever Suzie told them happened and thus the teacher is wrong, at fault. I am not sure how to fix this as it is cultural and climate change that has pulled down learning and discipline in our schools.
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Carter is a Fool
June 7th, 2009
12:32 pm
It will be nice to see someone balance Cartoon Boy’s poisoned pen scribbles as to hating all things conservative. I hope this will not be just another failed promise by the AJC. When does Cynthia (we are all racists) leave town?
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Where the AJC falls short
June 7th, 2009
12:39 pm
Mr. Foskett,
Thank you for responding. Passing the idea along to Andre Jackson is good, but it doesn’t address the issue. The issue is, there is no way you should have to pass this idea along!
After 9/11, did you have to pass along to the editorial board that they should discuss Osama bin Laden? I doubt it.
Yet the editorial board ducking this issue, damages their credibility as much as refusing to discuss Osama bin Laden would damage their credibility to talk about 9/11.
Can you please address why they haven’t addressed it, because it is not hyperbole to say that other than a few blurbs from Wooten, the editorial board has never once taken a stand on supporting teachers in that regard.
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Where the AJC falls short
June 7th, 2009
12:42 pm
Carter is a Fool,
Perhaps you can correct me if I’m wrong. Have you ever read an editorial in this paper, outside of a few blurbs from Wooten, where the editorial board endorses giving teachers more authority and support on discipline issues?
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Ken Foskett, Opinion Editor
June 7th, 2009
1:09 pm
I did a quick check back to 2000, and I cannot find an editorial on this topic. I honestly have no idea why not. It’s a good topic. In terms of how the editorial process works, once a board member elected to write an editorial on this topic it would be up to them how they came down on it. Part of it would be identifying the specific policies or actions that a school district could take, and recommending changes. Again, this would require some understanding of the current situation and how it could be improved.
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gwinnett reader
June 7th, 2009
1:18 pm
It is disturbing that you are an “editor” of a major US newspaper, and do not use proper grammar.
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Political Man
June 7th, 2009
1:31 pm
The most important characteristic of any opinion piece appearing in the AJC is that it should be intelligent, thoughtful, reasonable, factual, etc. Just because someone has an “opinion” does not make it worthy. Furthermore, regarding conservative, liberal balance. Most of your so-called conservatives have not a clue about what it means to be a conservative. Most of themn are free-market libertarians, surely one of the more socially destructive forces to ever come along. As far as liberals. Since the AJC dropped Molly Ivins (now deceased), I don’t think a leftist-liberal has appeared in your pages. Sadly, some of the writings of your pseudo conservatives fail the coherence test. I wonder what Eugene Patterson and Reg Murphy would think of their offerings?
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Where the AJC falls short
June 7th, 2009
1:47 pm
Mr. Foskett,
Thank you for addressing the issue directly, and acknowledging that it has not been covered.
Thank you also for your honesty in not making excuses for why it hasn’t been covered, for it is indeed a huge, gaping hole in the editorial board’s portfolio.
To understand the enormity of it, imagine your editorial board writing numerous editorials about Michael Vick the last several years, and not a single one mentioning dogfighting. You wouldn’t think your editorial board was writing openly and honestly in regard to Michael Vick if that were the case now would you?
And frankly, because of that gaping hole, many readers think the AJC has yet to engage in an open and honest dialogue about education issues.
Since the older members of the AJC board, save Wooten who is now leaving, seem completely unwilling to address this, I’m not sure passing along a suggestion to address it will actually do any good.
Perhaps you can focus your influence on your new guy, Kyle. Hopefully he still has an open enough mind to address what obviously, except to the AJC editorial board, is one of the biggest challenges facing education today.
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Ken Foskett, Opinion Editor
June 7th, 2009
5:08 pm
Thanks to everyone who wrote in. I’m available by email Monday through Friday at kfoskett@ajc.com.
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Will Jones
June 7th, 2009
6:14 pm
When the “balance” one is trying to achieve is between the Truth and a Lie an opinion editor, by half-measure does Truth no good.
Anita Hill was obviously telling the truth on Clarence Thomas, and he lying, and by his voting with the illegal majority opinion, as enunciated by Justice Breyer’s ‘Bush v. Gore’ dissent, Thomas proves that evil has gained advantage by relying on gentle, good Americans’ misplaced sense of fair-play.
Just because evil dresses itself “civilly” does not make outrage on the part of patriotic Americans any less appropriate.
Bush and Cheney committed 9/11. Any with a question about this established fact need merely read a scholar of proven integrity, Emeritus Professor, and PhD, David Ray Griffin’s “The New Pearl Harbor,” a free download, in its entirety on Google Scholar, patriotically donated after the profitable sale of millions of copies to some portion of the majority of Americans who know for a moral absolute that Bush and Cheney committed 9/11. This erudite book proves in scholarship and irrefutable reason and logic that they committed the crime.
It was this short work which was issued to a great Georgian, Max Cleland, before he resigned from the 9/11 Commission cover-up.
Like Thomas Paine’s best-seller “Common Sense,” and the sale of papers published by John Peter Zenger, the AJC can prosper anew by simply being a purveyor of truth to the People.
Traitors and their apologists, and others committing Misprision of Treason, can argue as civilly as they wish, but the editorial staff of a fine newspaper like Atlanta’s biggest and best, has an obligation to the Creed and to Journalism to Righteousness and the Truth.
There shall be no profit in protecting the false elite against the sovereign People, which make America exceptional. “Annuit Coeptis” shall make it profitable to the AJC to do good for America by promulgating and protecting the Truth.
The AJC should put itself on the right side of history, in service to the Creed and the People, by promoting to its readers that electing Max Cleland as Governor of Georgia is the right path for all Georgians and Americans. Like Georgia’s Hugh Thompson who singlehandedly stopped the Massacre at MyLai, Governor Max Cleland can help President Obama bring to justice the traitors of 9/11 – “sine qua non” in restoration of American Justice and Righteousness.
Lead the way AJC. Let Truth guide your vision that rot not be your ruin.
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Carter is a Fool
June 7th, 2009
6:54 pm
Mr. Will Jones,
You are really confused after drinking the spiked Kool-Aid. I know that you also believe that Cynthia McKinney was a conservative who did a great job in Washington instead of a kook race baiting clown.
You have the right to your opinion and the right to voice it, but that does not make it the truth. None of what you wrote is the truth.
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Carter is a Fool
June 7th, 2009
7:01 pm
Where the AJC Falls Short,
Never have I read anything in the paper about supporting teachers having the tools to maintain discipline in the classroom in order to teach. I have had one class this year with two students who disrupted the learning daily. Upon contacting one parent, I was informed to deal with it as it was not acceptable. In other words, it is your problem not mine. The other parent talked about the student needing extra attention. All the while this student talked about his mother as being so stupid to his friends. It is not uncommon for parents to ask the teacher in a conference the question — “What should I do to discipline Sammy?”
Parents need to help support the learning environment and support teachers unless shown that the teacher is incorrect. I know of no teacher who wakes up thinking that today is will be great fun to hassle some student. Unfortunately most parents want to be their child’s best friend and not their child’s parent.
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Will Jones - Atlanta
June 7th, 2009
7:55 pm
Here’s the link to the book which proves Bush and Cheney committed 9/11: http://www.angelfire.com/biz/hankramey/The%20New%20Pearl%20Harbor.pdf
Only traitors and ignorant philistines will fail to read this sedulous proof of Bush’s and Cheney’s treason, by a scholar of known, proven integrity…unlike the anonymous detractor/fascists who take exception to the proven truth of their “Fifth Column” of Rome’s Anti-Christ, as identified by America’s Founder, Thomas Jefferson.
It is no coincidence that only the Roman Catholics on the Supreme Court voted in the unconstitutional ‘Bush v. Gore’ (Viz. Breyer dissent) to make Hitler banker’s closet-queen draft-dodging grandson our president to commit 9/11 as a “Reichstag Fire Redux,” nor that his father and his grandfather’s protege, Richard Nixon, could not accurately identify their respective locations upon hearing of John Kennedy’s assassination, which sent 58,000 of us to die for the pope in Vietnam.
As to Cynthia McKinney: she only provided an inoculation to Bush’s treason: a little of the truth to protect the Big Lie. She and Michael Moore are virulent Roman Catholics, and they know whose “side” they’re on: not the American People’s or G-d’s. Had they had Truth and Righteousness in them, they’d have called it like it was, knowable at the time: Bush and Cheney committed 9/11.
The book given as a patriotic donation by its author and publisher, is incontrovertible.
Any who read it know the Truth. Those who claim Bush and Cheney didn’t do 9/11 are traitors, dupes, or transparent morons.
The AJC must lead the way, as Atlanta, and Georgia, is the future of America.
Cleland for Governor!
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Carter is a Fool
June 7th, 2009
8:33 pm
Man never landed on the moon. The Holocaust is a lie. Shall I list a few more way out there. Gore lost. Get over it. Bush did not cause 911. Get that straight. Cleland is a nice man who promised to vote for the belief’s of Georgians and then did not — the voters fired him. Simple, plain truth.
Oh well, after your last long missive there is no sense in wasting anymore time debating this with the owner of a closed mind.
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Will Jones
June 7th, 2009
9:20 pm
Who’s the one who refuses to read a book? Afraid you actually might learn something prejudicial to your worldly faith in a sectarian faction whose multi-generational treason is documented for the other eighty percent of us?
The Beast shall be cast into the Pit by the American People…many philistines, hypocrites, liars and traitors will be sent along for the ride to Hades.
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Lindsey Thattassery
June 9th, 2009
1:00 pm
Does anyone know where to find cheaper tickets for Jay-Z concert at Chastain Park July 12th? This is the first time we’re visiting Chastain Park and the tickets I saw online were for $86 and they were lawn seats! This may be “normal” since the concert is in a few weeks and Jay-Z is performing! Anyway just thought some people can give me a few ideas! Thanks!
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Carol Stroud
June 11th, 2009
7:39 pm
I would like to know why the AJC has not posted “events” that are happening in the Fayette County area lately. The Fayette County Master Gardeners had a garden tour on May 2 and were counting on a bit of publicity. When I say a bit, it’s because I submitted a big article, a small article, pictures, calendar information, and just a sentence. I submitted all this so the AJC would have a variety of lengths to choose from according to what they could publish. I submitted to 10 Days Out, the Big List, the AJC on-line special events, I e-mailed H&G@AJC.com, I called the news tip hot line to find out what to do to have our event published, I followed her directions by typing everything all over again onto an e-mail letter itself rather than having attachments, I e-mailed again asking for publicity, and we got NO PUBLICITY AT ALL. The AJC is delivered in Fayette County. Other county garden tour and similar events were publicized. On April 23 on page D2 under “Social Butterfly”, garden tours were listed. Why was Fayette County’s not listed? I would like to have an explanation, please.
Also, what was the reasoning to take away Erica Glasener’s and Martha Tates’s articles on Thursdays? I so looked forward to their articles.
I hope that Fayette County Events will not be neglected in the future.
Sincerely,
Carol Stroud
Fayette County Master Gardener
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party pooper
June 12th, 2009
6:44 am
will jones is insane
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M Smith
June 12th, 2009
12:21 pm
Try stubhub.com
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GEORGE CARDELL
June 13th, 2009
10:40 am
MY PAPER WAS NOT DELIVERED THIS MORNING..CAN I GET ANOTHER ONE
3150 WOODWALK DRIVE
ATLANTA 30339
TEL 770 953 3199
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Sounds of silence
June 14th, 2009
1:25 pm
What happened to the AJC Conversation Starter blog today? What happened to the editors trying to show how responsive they were to the readers?
Were the questions too tough for the editors to handle?
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jaipitiampind
June 15th, 2009
10:59 am
Дизайн у Вас интересный, я вот тоже для блога искал – стала прикручивать, а все посты куда то делись. Эээх… буду писать заново
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steve lanier
June 15th, 2009
4:55 pm
It seems to me the AJC uses the thought process that the readers are too busy Monday-Saturday (and Sunday) to read anything of depth as a defense for a minimalist paper. “If our readers were not so busy, we would print more.” We have heard this excuse for years now and we see it coming in every response from the editors.
If your logic were correct, the ‘NYT’ and the “WPO’ would be minimalist papers. Or do the residents of NYC and DC have more time to read a detailed story printed in good to great newspapers.
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Tim
June 16th, 2009
6:12 pm
I agree, Steve. It is amazing that now, all of a sudden people “just don’t have enough time” to read newspapers during the week. Since when? It’s not as if the economy is booming and everyone is busy. The unemployment rate is sky-high. If people aren’t reading, it’s not because they don’t have the time.
I was down in Macon a couple of weeks ago. I picked up the Macon Telegraph and brought it back to Atlanta. I took the front page of the AJC and put it on top of the front page of the Macon Telegraph. It was hard to believe, because the Telegraph was protruding out! The smaller-city newspapers now have a larger width than the AJC. It’s unreal how narrow the paper is. It looks so pathetic in the newspaper bins around the city.
With the economy in turmoil, we no longer have a stand-alone Business Section. Corporate corruption will only worsen with less reporting and fewer watchdogs. And the Living Section is so thin and paltry it can be read in 3 minutes. They need to put some wire articles in the Living Section since they have AJC reporters writing so few. It is inexcusable for a section to be that small.
I never understood why the AJC doesn’t have a section titled “State News”. They give us a little National and World news, and then leave us clueless as to what is going on around Georgia. So I’ve been glad to see that recently they have included some articles from around the state in the Metro Section. We need more, though. That might be one of the reasons there is a disconnect between Metro Atlanta and the rest of the state. If you only read the AJC, then you are totally ignorant about the happenings around Georgia. I should not have to look on the internet to get an idea as to what is going on in Athens, Columbus, Savannah, Macon, Augusta, and other cities.
We need a comprehensive paper, this talk about people being short on time is just an excuse to further gut the AJC. There are plenty of us who want solid reporting throughout the week!
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Donald
June 20th, 2009
10:50 am
This is no longer a big time newspaper. The content is shallow and lacking. Also, who is editing and spell checking the stories? Each and every edition is rife with mis-spellings and sytax errors. The spelling especially is at the level of a high school paper.
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Donald
June 20th, 2009
10:51 am
I also find it comical that you can’t get a copy of the paper in Spalding County.
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Mike
June 21st, 2009
9:34 am
Pathetic. This once-great Southern newspaper has wasted away — like a dying cancer patient on life-support. It’s not much more than a useless tabloid anymore. Paper has kept shrinking in small increments — they think nobody notices — there is less and less in it. Really who is going to pay to read this thing anymore? Certainly not me. They really just need to put this newspaper out of its misery and be done with it!
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Mike
June 21st, 2009
9:36 am
Pathetic. This once-great Southern newspaper has wasted away — like a dying cancer patient on life-support. It’s not much more than a useless tabloid anymore. Paper has kept shrinking in small increments — they think nobody notices — there is less and less in it. Really who is going to pay to read this thing anymore? Certainly not me. They really just need to put this newspaper out of its misery and be done with it! It’s really time to pull the plug. RIP AJC.
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Where the AJC falls short
June 21st, 2009
11:55 am
Why is the AJC not printing a comment because it’s a duplicate comment? Of course it’s a duplicate comment! If you printed it the first or second time it was posted, a poster wouldn’t have to duplicate it.
And why is there no new Conversation Starter blog for June, 21? Did the questions get too tough for the AJC editors to answer?
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David Bledsoe
June 22nd, 2009
11:54 am
http://www.prweb.com/releases/junior/civitan/prweb2557504.htm.
The next generation of leaders is an important part of the future of any city. 300 teenage volunteer leaders from across North America will be attending the annual Junior Civitan International Convention at the DoubleTree Hotel Atlanta Northwest, June 25-28. Every year these community service leaders, who represent approximately 12,000 outstanding middle school and high school student volunteers in the United States and Canada, come together to share their experiences, participate in training, and celebrate their organization’s tremendous impact.
Sincerely,
David Bledsoe, NMC
Civitan International
800-CIVITAN
david@civitan.org
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Qdetzgho
June 22nd, 2009
3:22 pm
1XTKKN comment4 ,
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AJC,LOL
June 24th, 2009
9:05 am
This commy rag of a newspaper really isnt worth using as a substitute for toilet paper. I so look forward to the day that AJC files for bankruptcy. You guys cater to the democrats/socialist who only spend they money on cheap licka and ho’s, hence, your fate of bankruptcy.
Decent and respectful citizens dont swallow and refuse to feed at the AJC garbage scowl.
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David
June 27th, 2009
10:55 pm
What happened to the upcoming DVD section?
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zippey
June 29th, 2009
2:25 pm
thank you for the information, and thanks for putting it in a shorter format. no one these days has time to sit down and read anything
please read my blog http://www.saveyourmoneysaveyourfamily.blogspot.com
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Vaphpasesse
June 30th, 2009
1:23 pm
А как на вашу рсс-ленту подписаться? что то не пойму
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Dr. Alan G. Phillips
July 1st, 2009
4:05 pm
ATTN: KYLE WINGFIELD
AJC
Dear Kyle:
Glad you are on board at the AJC, I wish you the best.
Just FYI, I recently gave a short speech (two parts), conservative, stating my pride in America. It is entitled “A reaffirmation of American Greatness,” You’ll find it on my Blog at http://www.NationalDirection.Blogspot.com
Sorry it comes from an oldtimer who some feel is about a Bazillion years old. Mary Beth my wife looks great, much younger, and we have just celebrated our 48th wedding anniversary–Never had any interest in going to Argentina, she’s the best!.
I would welcome any comments you might have on improving the little speech.
Best to you,
Alan
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LT5000
July 2nd, 2009
3:29 pm
The AJC has lost all credibility as a newspaper. Especially as long as they let that clown Badie have a column.
When was the last time an AJC reporter broke a real story? Never.
LT5000
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Troglodyke
July 3rd, 2009
2:33 pm
What happened to the “Woman to Woman” blog?
Now, I was not a W2W follower in the strict sense, but I did check it at least once or twice a week. I am well aware that blogs tend to get corrupted by attention-seekers (this one, apparently, is no exception) who 1.) stray from the topic as soon as they arrive; 2) flame those they do not agree with, and 3) act like general horse’s rear ends.
Is that why the W2W was shut down? Or did the women just run out of topics?
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Troglodyke
July 3rd, 2009
2:40 pm
As for the paper, I am a 7-day subscriber and loyal reader for my entire life. I am 43 and an Atlanta native, and though the paper does slant liberal, this doesn’t bother me too much, generally. I consider myself a slightly left-leaning Libertarian.
I enjoy the AJC, and sincerely hope it can remain solvent. It does sometimes seem tame as newspapers go, but that’s not always bad. There are very few spelling and grammatical errors in it, which I appreciate, and content on a number of issues I am concerned about.
Even though Cynthia Tucker was a bit too left-leaning for me occasionally, I will miss her. I rarely agreed with Wooten, but I’ll miss him, too. (I thought his homage to Tucker was beautifully written and heartfelt.) The new “conservative” columnist is not a bad writer, and is not as strident as many on the right, so I look forward to agreeing with him some, too. I enjoy Luckovich, but it’s true: he needs to take Obama to task for SOMETHING soon, or I’ll have to grudgingly agree with those on the right who slam him for being too liberal.
In general, keep up the good work. The layout change is growing on me, and I understand the hard times newspapers are facing.
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Dave
July 4th, 2009
4:42 pm
How is it that 5,000 people show up in Cobb County for the tea party and the AJC is silent about it? AJC had no problem at all crowing about the Gwinnett Tea Party being canceled, but when a tea party actually happens, you can hear crickets. Everyone knows that the AJC has always been in favor of higher taxes for working people, but this WAS an actual news story, not Beyonce tripping on a dog turd on Peachtree street.
Your hypocrisy is showing more and more!
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Thank you Stephanie
July 4th, 2009
8:42 pm
Thank you Stephanie Ramage, for exposing AJC editor Julia Wallace for what she truly is in the latest edition of the Sunday Paper. Not that it’s likely she has the nerve to answer your questions. As you can see by what has happened on this Conversation Starter blog, when the questions get past the cupcake stage, the standard operating procedure is to cut and run.
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serene
July 5th, 2009
10:02 am
From the July 5 AJC.
Michelle Obama brings her superstar glamour to Moscow this weekend as she accompanies her husband on his summit with the Russian president.
Really? Really?
I personally like Ms. Obama but this fawning coverage is just over the top. When did the AJC stop being a newspaper?
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A very silent public editor it appears
July 5th, 2009
10:35 pm
The Sunday Paper has brough up some very legitimate questions about the
AJC’s coverage of the Atlanta Police Dept.
Even though they were directed to Julia Wallace, Ms. McIntosh is on here claiming to address reader’s concerns.
Are you willing to address the concerns like a true, objective newspaper ombudsman would, or are you in reality just a glorifed PR flak?
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billy bob from cobb
July 6th, 2009
4:10 pm
Lets be honest, the ajc is dieing because it sucks.I have done ads with them for the last ten years and spent well over 2 million dollars in that time. This year I moved my ad money to the radio because I do not feel like the Ga population shares the same views as the ajc. If I wanted the Obama news I can always go to cnn. They call themselves the black news.
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Pompano
July 7th, 2009
7:31 pm
I think it’s hilarious when Ken claims “to know Atlantans”. Every Opinion page writer on his staff is a flaming liberal except for Kyle – the only reason they kept Wooten on board for so long is because he’s senile. However, the majority of people that actually PAY to read the AJC are over-whelmingly Conservative. So much for tailoring the content for the people that actually support your organization.
Sorry but you guys don’t have a clue as to who actually pays your bills. The only thing the AJC seems to do well these days is to put a racial slant on every news article.
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Troglodyke
July 8th, 2009
9:50 am
//However, the majority of people that actually PAY to read the AJC are over-whelmingly Conservative. //
Really? How do you know this?
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serene
July 8th, 2009
9:59 am
The AP is reports:
A federal jury has seen video of a former Louisiana congressman accepting a suitcase filled with $100,000 in cash outside a northern Virginia hotel.
Will we see this story in the AJC. No chance. Wrong party
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Bat boy
July 9th, 2009
1:16 pm
Why do the conservative cartoonists deserve the label “conservative” when you won’t label Luckvoch? At least liberal?
It goes to your mindset that offends many of us as readers. Represesnting a conservative perspective is somehow out of the mainstream. Of course we know that it’s the AJC that’s out of step with its market.
Pissing it’s readers off…one day at a time.
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Levi S.
July 9th, 2009
11:18 pm
Did I miss something? Is Cynthia leaving as well? If so, I will miss her, though I did not always agree with my Auburn Tigress.
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Levi S.
July 9th, 2009
11:30 pm
Bert, I remember when you used to cover Clayton County School Board meetngs in the old days. You’ve come a long way. All new reporters ought to start off with a Clayco assignment.
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tim
July 12th, 2009
10:36 am
omg i hope there really isn’t any flight attendents that actually wear a size 28
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Bat boy
July 16th, 2009
2:38 pm
Well it’s been some months since the AJC launched the “new AJC” with a slimmer format and a supposed new perspective on balance and fairness. How are they doing?
From my perspective…no change. Its still the same elitist, we know best liberal journalism. Stories about democrat corruption are deep sixed. Republican corruption stories are highlighted. The talk about being sensitive to being fair is talk. No more time for talk. No more time for conservatives to give the new AJC a chance. It’s time to leave, time to stop the subscription, time to take the AJC our of my internet reading list. Time to look to a source for news that is more interested in the truth.
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Turd Ferguson
July 16th, 2009
3:14 pm
The AJC makes a great fanny wiping paper plus it costs less.
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Sluggo
July 19th, 2009
4:43 pm
I thought Cynthia McKinney and her race baiting ways were leaving.
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Ken Bailey
July 22nd, 2009
11:53 am
Today I read an article that stated that white males in Georgia were more impacted by unemployment in the current economic downturn than any other group, but no information was given on the percentage breakdown of those other groups. Just over two weeks ago an article sourced from the Georgia Dept of Labor indicated that unemployment for white males in Georgia had reached 8.4 percent while unemployment for black males exceeded 16 percent. Which article is correct?
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Rev Council
July 24th, 2009
7:06 am
Praying that Governor Perdue and his Water Committee be successful with the H2O supply issues for the community….
“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye and buy,…without money and without price.” (Isaiah 55:1)
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Batboy
August 7th, 2009
8:01 pm
Notice too that even on the blog listing that the conservatives need a label. Cynthia Tucker and Jay Bookman must be ashamed of the liberal label.
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Al
August 13th, 2009
10:42 am
Ken, I congratulate you and AJC for increasing coverage on educational issues. Our schools are in real trouble now and there are several reasons for this. As a DeKalb Teacher for over 20 years I have observed many changes in our society that seriously affect education. Our superintendent, Crawford Lewis, observed at our meeting last Thursday that the educational system we have today was put in place over 200 years ago, and has really changed little since. Fixing education today will require much more than the discipline of children. Lack of discipline is a problem and teachers do need more authority to manage behavior problems. However, a more fundamental truth here is that the behavior problems we encounter in school are just a symptom of more serious problems. In fact, harsh discipline very often makes the problem much worse. Key issues include the following: 1)The structure of education is wrong: Classes sizes and length of class periods are often not appropriate for effective learning; and teachers cannot engage students in learning subject matter effectively when content volume is overwhelming. Teachers have NO latitude to respond to student curiosity or time to permit students to develop content proficiency. 2)At enormous cost and damage to the educational process, our tests (which are used to determine school success or failure) are measuring the wrong things. Educating our children should not be a process of forcefeeding them large quantities of facts so that they can regurgitate them on the next exam, and then, with sufficient review, deposit the right answers again for the standard exams now required. When a student graduates from High School, I believe (and I think most folks believe) that he/she should be prepared to enter our society and have the knowledge and skills necessary to become a good citizen. The CRCT’s, Graduation Tests, and other standardized exams don’t address that. What we actually measure with these tests is a students ability to retain a set of facts (or practiced math skills)long enough to put a check mark in the correct box on a piece of paper. Students today who graduate from HS (many with A or B averages)often cannot write coherently and have difficulty understanding and communicating with adults. Many of our best and brightest have an unreasonable fear of failure. Most have very limited ability to take initiative, and need to be told, not just what needs to be done in general terms, but a detailed step-by-step set of instructions to accomplish a task. Most kids today, if pressed, will tell you that they are bored with education and that it is not relevant for them. I think that we have, in part, arrived at this sorry state of affairs in education by being led astray in measuring the wrong variables and overresponding to the results.
Please remember that there is no more critical need in our society that to properly educate our children so that they can continue to make our civilization work. Yet our society does not want to address this issue in any comprehensive way.
I would like to challenge AJC to dig deeper into the issue of education than just to air the frustrations of various stakeholders and rehash the same old tired proposals that offer a “quick fix”. This is not a band-aid problem.
One very disturbing proposal that is gaining bureaucratic support in the Federal Government is the idea of incentive pay for teachers. This concept sounds like a really good way to reward effective teachers. In an ideal world it might work pretty well. However, most public schools are not close to that ideal. The working environment has become very difficult for a classroom teacher to function effectively on his/her own. Sharing of everything, including classrooms, copy machines, lab equipment and storage areas, is usually a necessity. Each teacher and each class of students have their own special requirements and needs. To teach effectively in this environment, teachers depend heavily on each other. Very often, the adminstrator is unaware or dimly aware of these circumstances. Effective teachers are those who learn to cooperate with each other and their colleagues to an unusual degree. A pay incentive program that would fairly reward individual classroom teachers will be extremely difficult to develop. If it is unfair or even perceived as unfair, it will undermine the efforts of those other teachers who did’t receive the pay and destroy their incentive to help each other. Competition between teachers for supplies, use of equipment, or seeking favor with administrators to get the additional pay, is more likely to destroy a public school than to improve it. The only thing I can think of that should receive consideration for incentive pay is academic extra-curricular organizations, competetions, etc. Athletic coaches are given extra pay but, at least in most public schools, academic coaches (for things like Science Olympiad, Academic Bowl, Science Fair, Debate, or language clubs) are not. Yet these teachers get no pay incentive. There would be a great improvement in teacher participation in after school academics with a little incentive pay. Also, AJC could help by providing a greatly expanded media coverage of these academic events. Recognition of student efforts would sharpen competetion and motivate more students to participate.
In any event, I am very glad to see the emphasis that AJC is putting on educational issues and look forward to more serious, constructive debate in your public forum.
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Barb Lucas
August 14th, 2009
10:01 am
Actually, no blog, just a question. I read where the staff of the Governor’s Office plan to take furlough days, just as teachers and prosecutors are. I have not heard where the legislative staff is planning on taking furlough days. And, while I am at it, how many staff members are there per legislator?
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Charles Leal
August 15th, 2009
2:00 pm
Why did cancel Bill Husted the techno buddy? He is the only one I pay any attention to
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KD
August 20th, 2009
2:33 pm
I agree that Bill Husted’s column was a vestige from the greater days of the newspaper. Makes no sense whatsoever. What is left?
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Robert Curtis
August 20th, 2009
4:25 pm
I’m taken back by a story on convicted sex offenders illegally obtaining gov’t housing. I mean we put these laws in place that a sex offender can’t live 2000 feet from any place children gather(churches, schools, bus stops and etc.) Note: These people have done there time and have been in therapy, probation and registration. The real likelihood of them re-offending is rare and if they do it usually something like not registering on time or an offense not sex related. To top that most 90% of offenses don’t involve children and most sex offenses are committed by non-sex offenders(no history and first timers). These men and women must live somewhere. Leave these law biting citizens a lone. They have done their time and paid for their crimes. Remember how the supreme court said the registration requirement is not punitive? Yah right!! Society, articles like this, HUD, My-Space and other organizations make it punitive!
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John Haselden
August 24th, 2009
7:46 am
Julia, You should not believe your own words. I think most people don’t even think the paper is worth commenting on. So don’t think the happy readers aren’t commenting. The AJC has become the worst paper I have ever read. I’ve been a sub. for 26 years. National content and the front page is terrible, sports coverage outside of Atlanta is almost nonexistent. For example, I missed the end of the golf match yesterday and today there were only about 50 words?! NASCAR was a list of who won and the print for scores could hardly be read. I will not renew and I hate that, but this paper is not worth reading.
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Bill
August 25th, 2009
4:49 pm
Obama and Congress is quick to throw the first punch at healthcare and insurance reform. However, has anyone noticed that they are not addressing one of the primary reasons for the rise in healthcare costs? This has to do with tort reform. Because lawyers are the first to get rich on malpractice cases, there is no incentive to address this issue. Until we can get some semblemce of sanity into this area, malpractice insurance for the medical profession and the healthcare practice will continue to rish astronomically. Why hasn’t this issue been addressed?
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PoliticalMan
August 26th, 2009
1:37 pm
Tort reform is the bogeyman of health care reform. Law suits are our regulatory system. Where is doctor and hospital regulation up front? There are hundreds of thousands of negligent acts by health providers every year. The average person must have recourse. In any event lawsuits and insurance premiums for malpractice constitute only a samll percentage of the health care budget.
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sk
August 27th, 2009
9:27 pm
I didn’t realize the AJC had canceled Bill Husted until I read what Charles and KD wrote. Where can we find archives of his column? Why would you cancel such a great column?
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Roy Skinner
August 27th, 2009
10:51 pm
Atlanta needs a regional newspaper, so its sad that the AJC is adamant about staying a tool of the democratic party. Fox news isn’t in lack of financial supporters in the form of advertisers because it actually has people who use it for news on a national level. The AJC management continues to limit its usefulness in this day and age for local news in a major American metropolitan era by its continued biased coverage of liberal/conservative causes. I am sorry to hear of the weakening of the AJC staff because of its support for blind faith in unfair coverage. It would be better if the owners and those who recognize that the AJC as a center of Atlanta entity could fill a vital place if it didn’t keep limiting its usefullness by its editorial board liberal fanaticism while winkingly pretending to be a fair news gatherer for Atlanta.
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Patnap
August 28th, 2009
10:41 am
While CNN was talking about bi-partisanship in honor of Kennedy, I received a phone call from Tom Price, Rep. Cong. asking me to come to a meeting to defeat Obama’s health care plan. How is that for bi-partisanship. They could not even wait for his burrial to enlist support for their cause.
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Wanda
August 31st, 2009
4:19 pm
Enter your comments here
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Shawn McIntosh
September 1st, 2009
5:16 pm
Thanks for asking about Technobuddy.
For the time being, we are offering Bill Husted’s column in our Sunday print edition only.
The editors are continually evaluating the types of news and information the AJC offers in print and/or online, and so your feedback is appreciated.
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SamB
September 2nd, 2009
5:41 pm
Why do transplants to Atlanta keep refering to the “New South”? Even after living here for twenty years, they still insist on calling it the “New South”, implying that there was once an “Old South”.
There never was an “Old South”.
The South has always been new. It remains largely un-explored, un-noticed, un-developed…..and therefore…….”new”. Nearly 50% of Georgia’s population lives within 30 miles of Five Points, and Georgia is the largest state east of the Mississippi. Most of these folks are terrified of travelling outside “The Perimeter”…..why dont they just break down and call it by its complete name…”The Defensive Perimeter”.
“Dont go outside the Perimeter…..there’s RedNecks out there.”
Sounds like they’re still talking about “RedSkins”, with all the same condecension we used to dump on the Native Americans.
Its the 21st Century Already!
When is Georgia gonna get its stuff in one sack?
1) Build the Fall Line Parkway, interstate from Augusta to Macon to Columbus.
2) Time to encourage Rural Development, stop hogging all the wealth in Atlanta. The Bucket-heads oughta be ashamed of their short-sitedness. All that wealth and virtually no re-investment in anything “outside the perimeter”.
3) Every other city has TWO airports. Atlanta….one. Its about time to develop Peachtree-Dekalb as that 2nd airport. Its the obvious choice. But I guess the Druid Hills Country Club doesnt want the final approach disturbing its members on the 13th hole.
4) MARTA is its own worst enemy. Stop conspiring to extend lines into the suburbs. If MARTA would just come up with a flat “ride all day on one fare” scheme, they’d make plenty of money. Of course, they’d also have to actually “maintain” the equipment, and go through the motions of designing bus routes to mesh with the Rail lines. That may be asking too much.
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vote4change
September 3rd, 2009
2:22 pm
My favorite latest (safe) headlines, CAU student shot! and exactly why is this a shocker when we have instructors at this school spreading hate, seperation, narrowmindedness, and racism with memos to politicians?
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Patnap
September 4th, 2009
11:07 am
Where do the Republicans come off making a decision on health care reform for me. I refer you to the article in Sec. B pg. 1 where they want to amend the state constitution to prohibit Washington from enforcing health care. Talk about socialism. Since when do republicans make decisions for all. What if I want healt care reform…what right do you have to prevent me from getting it? Where is the democracy here. This demonstration yesterday on the Capital steps shows everyone that some of us want this plan and you (Republicans) have no right to try to prevent this from happening. If you want to see demonstrations…just try this. You would rather continue to see people lose their homes due to the high cost of health care (which is the leading cause of foreclosures) than pass a health care bill? Amazing.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
September 5th, 2009
10:58 am
Roy,
Have you checked out the lineup of opinion columnists lately? We’ve been getting good feedback for what many readers consider a more balnced mix.
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Michael
September 5th, 2009
12:28 pm
Washingtonpost.com does this for its neighborhoods. http://tinyurl.com/l9qp8e. You may have to register to see it.
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Jennifer
September 5th, 2009
6:14 pm
Mr. McIntosh,
I applaud the effort by the AJC to compile arrest incident reports by community. I would encourage you to also collect the arrest incident reports and juvenile complaints (redacted of course) filed by each of the local school districts school resource officers (SRO’s)–most operations which are independent police organizations set up and run by the school districts. These SRO’s have full police powers, including detaining & arresting. Our organization, The Gwinnett Parent Coalition to Dismantle the School to Prison Pipeline has been doing a two year pilot reviewing that information for our community. We do it at a great financial cost to ourselves and get nothing in return – except a more informed citizenry. We are required by the district to do the open records requests to get the data because the district refuses to publish any data associated with their operations. If parents were aware of the incidents and arrests in their own schools, much less communities – they might try to get involved in supporting solutions. Hiding this data just ignores the issues, isolates from the public any questionable arrest/incident actions by the school systems, and eliminates the community from the table. Good luck on your work and please consider the SRO data from the school districts. It is a crime, so to speak, that the data is kept from the public.
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Where the AJC falls short
September 5th, 2009
9:51 pm
The AJC would have a lot more credibility in saying that they are helping readers arm themselves with information about the latest crime reports in their area, if they would seriously look into allegations that crimes aren’t being reported accurately, and Pennington’s New Orleans police dept had a history of doing the same thing.
Stephanie Ramage of The Sunday Paper has not only looked into this, but she had some pointed criticisms of the AJC’s coverage as well, criticisms that the AJC has refused to address.
Why won’t Julia Wallace respond to the questions Ramage asked of her concerning the AJC’s coverage of the police?
And if the AJC won’t hold itself accountable for its own performance, what on Earth makes the AJC think that educated readers on the issue are going to trust anything the AJC says about the police dept.?
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Andisheh Nouraee
September 5th, 2009
10:30 pm
http://blogs.ajc.com/ajc/2009/09/05/connecting-communities-with-crime-information/#comment-2500
Well said, Stephanie.
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T. Broughton
September 5th, 2009
11:03 pm
I have two questions:
First, I’d really like to know why the Atlanta Police Dept is putting so much effort into covering up the crime statistics?
Secound, Why is it Chief Pennington never reacts unless their is an outcry from the communities? Everyone knows gangs have been in Atlanta for years now. Why did it take him this long to beef up the Gang Task Force?
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MrLiberty
September 6th, 2009
9:56 am
If americans and their government really want to see crime diminish, they would immediately end the failed War on Drugs. While other countries like Mexico and Argentina are taking intelligent steps to reduce the problems by decriminalizing personal use of every drug (mexico) and marijuana (argentina), our government just keeps right on with the same failed policies.
Let’s face it. You can sieze a house or a car to auction off and buy new Dodge Chargers or nifty radio equipment thanks to the unconsitutional civil asset forfeiture laws that accompany the War on Drugs. Just see if that ever happens with a real crime suspect. The same goes for the non-crime of prostitution, with “Johns” losing their cars.
Solving real crimes takes real police work. It takes more than violating peoples rights and setting up sting operations. It actually involves risk. Police these days don’t want to be bothered by such trivial matters as stopping property crimes or actually catching previously convicted rapists that kidnap and imprison 14 year olds in their back yards for 18 years. Just set up a checkpoint and write tickets to pay your salary. Much easier.
Everyone calls for more police, and every day we read of another police involved crime against a citizen. If the police we had today were freed from their parental roles of trying to control personal non-violent choices of the public and actually we able to do real police work, there might be less REAL CRIME.
Further, the War on Drugs only serves to drive up prices and draw in more unscrupuless types. A legal and regulated market would drive down prices, thus vastly reducing the property crimes that fund these purchases, and would put every low-life (except for the pharmaceutical companies) out of business. With no sales territories to control or fight over, gang activity would be reduced as well.
No utopia, but a common sense approach whose time has more than come.
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Michael
September 6th, 2009
10:09 am
Actually MrLiberty, adjusting for inflation, marijuana prices have risen since the 1970’s but the price of a kilo of cocaine has dramatically dropped off. The pallets of money made from cocaine, its investment in police and government operations here and overseas, have opened up distribution routes — it’s like a business. Therefore you can truthfully say the war against cocaine is a loss.
This analysis, however, will just cause government types to demand more fancy Dodge Chargers, expensive surveillance equipment, helicopters and other toys of the war on drugs. I wonder if Lockheed Martin and Boeing use the “war” to supplement their bottom lines when they aren’t selling weapons systems to the US and others.
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TI
September 6th, 2009
10:09 am
Young black males.
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Jason
September 6th, 2009
10:11 am
Funny things about people with conspiracy theories: the less actual evidence they have, the more they become convinced there is a conspiracy. You may laugh at the birthers but even they have more evidence than the APD is hiding dead bodies and not reporting crimes conspiracy.
If Matt Dempsey is actually a data guru then he’ll know that what he is not statistically valid. I can’t blame Stephany for her errors, she’s gotten The Sunday Paper on the radar of the yuppie crowd and now will beat this drum for as many advertising dollars as she can.
To paraphrase the milk commercial: Got Proof?
No? Why not? Oh yeah, it’s a grand conspiracy. The less actual proof you have, the more it proves your conspiracy (eye roll). Enjoy your descent into insanity.
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RBraswell
September 6th, 2009
11:49 am
Go here, http://www.atlantapd.org/ucr/2009/06-2009.pdf, for the APD report to the FBI for June, 2009. It is extinsive and will take some time to load. Decide for yourself, your personal knowledge and this report.
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Travis
September 6th, 2009
3:53 pm
This effort is very encouraging. There is a site: http://atlanta.everyblock.com/crime/ that has some good ideas too. A great feature to add is one of allowing you to put in an address and find all crimes in a certain radius. This would be so helpful in the NPU work.
I’m betting that there are significant number of us in the development community in Atlanta that if we could find a way to harness some of those resources to compliment what the AJC is attempting to do that we could really make a difference.
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Where the AJC falls short
September 6th, 2009
11:17 pm
Jason, that you have to totally misrepresent the position of those who call into question just how accurately the APD is reporting crimes, and why the AJC hasn’t delved into that aspect of the issue more deeply, shows the inherent weakness of your position.
I don’t recall Stephanie Ramage accusing, at any point, the APD of hiding dead bodies; I recall her offering compelling evidence that reclassifying crimes happened in New Orleans under Pennington’s watch, and the resistance she has documented in getting accurate information about Atlanta’s crime stats hardly indicates that she is descending into insanity.
It shows instead that she has asked questions that both the APD and AJC are obviously uncomfortable with considering that the “public” editor of the AJC won’t even address them on her very own blog.
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Ma
September 7th, 2009
11:46 am
Jason,
If you believe everything in black and white,signed off by an official God help you. You have already descended into insanity.
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L.Braun
September 7th, 2009
12:02 pm
From Mr. Liberty
“Everyone calls for more police, and every day we read of another police involved crime against a citizen. If the police we had today were freed from their parental roles of trying to control personal non-violent choices of the public and actually we able to do real police work, there might be less REAL CRIME”.
Mr Liberty, The problem has never been the citizen’s and community. Take a closer look at the Media. Pay attention to the Vultures, Worms and Cop-Hater-Reporters like the ones on Fox5. They are the ones that will not allow you to do your job. If they heard you farted while on duty they’d report it.
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Peaches
September 7th, 2009
7:55 pm
You do have a better mix of opinion columnists.
Interesting though that the AJC would not cover Van Jones until he resigned. I have never been as concerned about the editorial mix of the AJC as I am about the hard news reporting.
We still have heard nothing about the paid pro Obamacare demostrators even when evidence of the payments is plentiful. Lot’s of ignorant speculation about astroturf for those who are opposed to Obamacare but not a word about the bought and paid for attendees of town halls. Your credibility progress has lapsed.
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Bill
September 8th, 2009
2:02 am
The APD already compiles and publishes crime data overlayed on a google map.
http://www.atlantapd.org/index.asp?nav=map
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Andrew L.
September 8th, 2009
8:51 am
The Cancelling of Bill Husted’s daily Column was another blow to the read ability/utility of the the paper. It is no secret the readership of the AJC is primarily older “Boomers”. These folks, while not the target group for the “New AJC” are still folk that the Paper has a duty to service.
As bewildering as new technologies are to older folk Mr. Husted’s high quality Internet/hardware/whereto…. Columns were a so much appreciated font of clear concise easily understood information as to make them as near to indispensible.
One has to question the wisdom of the people who would make such a decision?
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Bert Roughton, AJC managing editor
September 8th, 2009
3:43 pm
I’m coming to this conversation a bit late, and I’m sorry. If anyone has credible allegations that suggest the Atlanta police are being dishonest in how they report crime, I’d be happy to hear them and dedicate the resources to do the necessary reporting. To date, we haven’t seen clear evidence of that in our reporting, but, being human, we may be missing something. It is undeniable that the Atlanta police have fudged numbers before – I know this because I read the stories I helped edit for the AJC. At the moment, we are reporting pretty deeply on the issue of crime in Atlanta, with the next substantial installment coming this coming Sunday. I know that folks like to portray the AJC as some insular and unresponsive institution, but I’m always curious about such charges when no has bothered to phone or email me.
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Patrick O'Donohue
September 8th, 2009
10:36 pm
Twice in a week the ATL loses two promising young woman to collateral damage from gun slinging youths filled with anger and a sense of machismo from brandishing a firearm. What a worthless way to go for young ladies from families whose lives seemed so promising; would they be make their parents proud, become mothers, successful professionals? We’ll never know, how sad society has become when this happens, most of us shrug and think, that’s the way the world is these days….
It doesn’t have to be but people are too scared to stand up for what is right and that is even the sadder part of the story.
Someone knows something about the shooter of these two murders and needs to look inside to do the right thing. Or have they become so jaded and resigned to a sad life that they think it is not worth it. No doubt these murderers may resort to retaliation for someone coming forward to serve justice. That is why it takes courage and the help of a police department that can prosecute and protect.
Is there such a thing in Atlanta anymore or have we all become so apathetic to such human tragedy to promising youth that we simply dismiss their lives as a casualty of the war that goes on seemingly weekly amongst our community.
Do the right thing witness, the murdered young ladies, Jasmine and Fantasia, will bless you!
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Where the AJC falls short
September 8th, 2009
10:40 pm
Mr. Roughton, perhaps you should send some reporters to Kirkwood. The Sunday Paper did and found the following
“The AJC, rather than speaking out, prefers to merely print out the APD’s own numbers and condescendingly imply, by using the word “perceive,” that those who are worried about crime are victims of paranoid delusion.
They are not.
According to recent postings on its neighborhood Web site, citizens in the Kirkwood area say they have reported break-ins only to have the police discourage them from filing reports. “These are not isolated incidents, and four independent occurrences indicate to me a larger problem at hand. I truly think this is a systemic problem from the top down, namely [Mayor Shirley] Franklin/Pennington, and not a bottom up problem from the officer level,” one resident observed.”
When you consider, according to The Sunday Paper, New Orleans’ documented past when it comes to doctoring police records under Pennington, it appears The Sunday Paper is making a valid point when it says the AJC is content to trust the numbers the APD provides, while disparaging those who would question them, despite the anecdotal evidence in Atlanta, and the documented evidence in New Orleans.
While “no one has bothered to phone or email you” they have bothered to post their concerns on this blog, so could you address the charges that the AJC is not finding the evidence that The Sunday Paper is at a fraction of the AJC’s resources, and more importantly the implication that the AJC isn’t finding the evidence because it simply doesn’t want to?
Also to your point that you are reporting deeply, what goes does it do for your data guru Dempsey to break down the data, if readers aren’t even sure if the data being broken down is accurate or honest to begin with?
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cp
September 12th, 2009
11:38 pm
Hey, did anything happen in Washington today? I guess not. Surely it would have been covered by AJC.com, right?
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Stephanie Ramage
September 14th, 2009
10:08 pm
Well, the things I miss by not being a regular reader of the AJC! Someone sent me the link today and I must say I got kind of misty eyed. THANK YOU, “Where the AJC Falls Short.” Wow. I didn’t even know that anybody had my back. It always seems like no one does. I’m truly humbled. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And actually, Mr. Roughton, feel free to call me or email me if you’d like to talk. I answer my own phone. — Best, Stephanie Ramage
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Tom Califano
September 17th, 2009
10:39 am
Mr. Foskett,
I read the AJC (Thursday, Sept 17) article from guest columnist Ed Hooper regarding the Medal of Honor. It opened with the byline regarding the upcoming presentation of the Medal to the parents of Staff Sgt. Jared Monti. After reading the article I took notice of the artwork that was included with the opinion article. It was an image of a black soldier with the American flag in the background.
What was the thought process used in deciding the picture for the article? Why would you not use a picture of the actual Medal of Honor?
Why would you not use a picture of Staff Sgt. Monti?
Why was a picture of a non descript soldier used instead?
Tom Califano
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Jonus Pendergrass
September 18th, 2009
6:13 pm
Enter your comments here
The AJC is going out of business because they fail to understand the obvious. Print news is old news before it leaves the printing press. Unless you have something in depth, insider fed, shockingly cutting edge, and reporters that doubt everything they hear and see, willing to make their editor have their attorneys on speed dial, this newspaper will fade into oblivion like all the rest.
The Sunday Paper reminds me of the old Creative Loafing investigative reporting. I couldn’t wait to see a new one and read the story promotions. Stephanie Ramage has built the trust of police officers for information sources which is critical to investigative reporting. Her “insiders” can’t wait to help her with her stories because these stories need to be told to shape positive changes for the future of these departments and their respective cities. APD is hugely notorious for their retaliation against officers who go outside the family and will fire them knowing they will eventually get their job and pay back, but oh, the sweet suffering the officers and their families endure at the pleasure of Chief Pennington.
Don’t expect anything worth reading from the AJC this Sunday. They are frightened little journalists that spend more time rewriting AP feed and working on their resumes than asking the tough, probing questions. And their editors are too historically spineless to print a great story if they had one. Keep your eyes pealed for The Sunday Paper and editor Stephanie Ramage if you want an interesting read.
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not really
September 19th, 2009
1:32 pm
interesting but not informative.
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Where the AJC falls short
September 19th, 2009
10:12 pm
Stephanie Ramage, that really is you! And you’re quite welcome! And is there any doubt, as you allude to in your latest blog entry, that the ongoing embarrassment of being repeatedly exposed by The Sunday Paper caused them to finally take some action? Can you imagine the AJC’s coverage if there was no Sunday Paper? I can. Probably something like:
After interviewing Chief Pennington about the shooting, he reassured us the victim’s severed artery was not caused by a gunshot wound, it was caused by a ‘perception’ of a gunshot wound, most likely due to stereotypical thinking on the victim’s part. And in fact the victim, who died at the hospital, did not deny Pennington’s assessment, thus we have no evidence to believe Pennington is wrong in asserting a crime did not occur.
Heck, what more proof do you need of that than this blog, the self proclaimed “Conversation Starter”? It ought to be called the “Conversation Finisher” because when the questions start coming, the AJC staffers start going.
The best example of that might be when Andre Jackson started getting some real questions about the AJC editorial board’s coverage of education issues, he begged off this “Conversation Starter” blog, saying he had to go fed his kids. That might be the first recorded case ever of someone who, when they couldn’t stand the heat, actually went TO the kitchen.
Hopefully Stephanie, you can one day put the same pressure on the AJC in regard to education issues, as you have on crime issues.
Keep up the good work in the meantime, but I do have to call you on one issue. You never did print Julia Wallace’s immediate response your questions.
Since Bert Roughton assures us all the AJC isn’t some insular and unresponsive institution, we can assume you got an immediate response right?
No doubt Roughton got a response from the mayor’s office, letting him know in no uncertain terms that THEY are the preeminent insular and unresponsive institution in Atlanta!
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Georgia Daaawg
September 21st, 2009
8:41 am
There’s one important part of the equation left out – the court system. Many of these offenders have arrest histories of multiple felonies but are still out on the street. The police can lock people up, but they can’t keep them in jail…how about an expose on the criminal history of these high profile offenders and why they are out on the streets? I’d really be interested in seeing that article. it seems the heat always comes down on the police, but not the courts who let offenders out while they have two or three armed robbery charges.
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dewstarpath
September 21st, 2009
8:44 am
- Crime in Atlanta is a very real problem. The number of
unsolved crimes is mounting, and the prison population,
now in excess of 50,000 (the most of any state in the
union) is rising. The primary contributor is the city’s
attitude towards anything that isn’t the product of liberal
arts or social science. Those fields do not provide enough
of a tax base for infrastructural investment or crimefighting
solutions. A rearrangement of priorities is not only in order,
it is long overdue.
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concerned
September 21st, 2009
8:47 am
The court systems are jacked up! There are people with SEVERE attitudes running our court systems; they don’t care and that is evident. If people were more severely punished maybe crime owuld go down. But instead lets lock up the WRONG people and do nothing about it while others are running “free on bond” – our judicial system sucks. The police can only do so much; punish the criminals more severely the first timeto eliminate a second offense.
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Manipulation
September 21st, 2009
8:48 am
Violent crime appears not to have risen on paper, because it isn’t reported on paper.
The types of crime are manipulated.
There was a violent home invasion at my neighbors’. The home was attacked by young black teens, attempting to come in at many different sites – windows, doors, etc. They were under attack, literally.
However, since the teens were scared off before the windows and doors were technically bashed in, it was brushed off and categorized as a simple act of vandalism in the paperwork.
Then, we’re told that crime isn’t up.
It is, just not in the paperwork.
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alanjudd
September 21st, 2009
8:48 am
Georgia Daaawg: Good idea on the court system. I was struck by the fact that when police made an arrest in the case of the Kirkwood resident who was shot while mowing his lawn, the 19-year-old suspect was already in jail in DeKalb County on a probation violation. Clearly, there is a lot of recidivism, and it’s an issue worth looking into.
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Keith
September 21st, 2009
8:50 am
Crime will continue to grow, as long as young adults, teens, can not find jobs in Atlanta, Ga. The victims and a major cause of crime in Atlanta will be from the African American community. Young black males are not likely to find jobs in this economy and as victims of not being able to get (hired), they need to survive.
Robbing a person has become a lot easier and more profitable then trying to sell a nickel bag of weed. My only concerns is that crime was more (one on one ) act of violence- but it seems to have grown into a group of unorganized set of young adults, which make the crime more violent as we are now witnessing.
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sonia
September 21st, 2009
8:55 am
I went by canby lane the weekend and saw the park and reviwed the area. I had a dream concerning the area and what is happening to the community, I cant rememeber if I was asking GOD what is going on or just putting a letter in everyone’s mail box, but anyway, here is the letter …. Dear neighbor what has happened to our community, some people stay here because they can’t afford to leave because they have been here so long there house is paid for. But what has really happened to the DeKalb county/sw DeKalb area. When we grow up here we were taught value and discipline. Kids now have no discipline and respect for themselves and for other people lives. You can walk around the neighborhood and see for your self a change of crime as well as people not keeping the grass up, the garage, everything looks really bad. You have to take back your community, people use to know other people kids, but it seems like these days you can’t say anything to our youth because you’re afraid they will curse you out, or worse kill you. You felt privilege to live in DeKalb county back in the late 70 and 80 because you knew it was a change happening. You see so many black church’s in our community on TV like, Eddie long, creflo dollar, Rev Jerry black, Dewey Smith, Jr., but what is really going on, when you have so many black church’s in the area coming on TV and crime is still going on and our youth thinks its more important to rap or kill or car jack you, breaking into homes, stealing air conditioning units, hanging out on the street corners instead of going to school working, going to college. They say that prayer changes things. Its time for a change I believe that the lord is sure to come back soon because he is tired of all this mess that is going on. Especially in our black area. We are killing ourselves. The white people said they don’t have to worry about doing that to us because we are doing it to ourselves. There use to be 2 parents in the house hold but now its only 1 with the women working its hard to keep hold of your kids, but you have got to keep them in church , because if you don’t teach them the world will.. I don’t see anything wrong with section 8, but when a person comes from the project and has not had a home, why don’t they feel like they have to keep the grass up, from the end side of the home to the outside. I see kids wondering the streets really late at night. The outside exterior of the home looks like it’s about the fall. We are like the children of Israel wondering around in the desert, we are lost going to here and from. There is a strong hold in our community and we have to take it back before it’s too late.
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too many signature bonds
September 21st, 2009
8:56 am
the court systems are a huge part of the problem…. i am shocked how many repeat offenders of street crimes are released on a “signature bond” …basically they sign their name and promise to come back to court and walk out….below is the legal definition.
“A signature bond, or recognizance bond, is a promissory that is signed by the individual who was arrested in order to be released on bond. Though no monetary transaction takes place when the promissory is signed, a signature bond contends that the arrested individual will pay an agreed upon amount if he fails to appear in court on the given date and time.”"
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dewstarpath
September 21st, 2009
9:03 am
- Several of the posters on this forum seem to think that
the only definition of crime in Atlanta is the victimization
of black females by black males. I’ve lived in this city 25
years. Victims and perpetrators run the gamut of gender
and race. This sort of judgemental bias is inappropriate in
that it interferes with acknowledgement of the root of the
problem. Easy access to high-powered firearms, rollback
of federal firearm laws, entrenchment of an impoverished
underclass, lack of educational priorities, prejudicial
attitudes about which race or gender should be the most
educated, geographical isolationism, even the integration
of church and state in civic affairs could all be contributing
factors as to why there seems to be an intractable crime
problem in “the city too busy to hate”.
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alanjudd
September 21st, 2009
9:03 am
Manipulation: We weren’t able to get into it in the article, but there is a perception that crime statistics are in some way manipulated. In the situation involving your neighbors, it technically wasn’t a violent crime, or even a burglary. But I’m sure they felt as if they had been victimized in a way that “vandalism” wouldn’t capture.
Whether the numbers are intentionally tamped down, I don’t know. If anyone has specific information about it, please let me know.
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D
September 21st, 2009
9:03 am
Take a lesson from Texas , TRY ‘EM AND FRY ‘EM !!!
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R.B.
September 21st, 2009
9:04 am
I find it really hard to believe only 40% of the Atlanta Police Dept are assigned to routine patrol. No wonder Atlanta has a problem. It appears as new Officers are recruited, the Senior Officers are assigned to a desk assignments.
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Georgia Daaawg
September 21st, 2009
9:04 am
Alan, I also believe one of the individuals recently arrested for a home invasion in Fulton County, where a female was shot in the face and her infant was beaten, was out on bond for committing a murder during an armed robbery (Wimes was his name). Wonder what judge set that bond and how much it was set for?
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James Anderson
September 21st, 2009
9:11 am
The Atlanta Police Department is awful. I was shocked when my house was broken into in Zone 1. An sloppy looking officer named Officer Brand showed up and initially tried to tell me there was no reason to file a report. I told him it would be required if I was going to file an insurance claim. Relectantly he told me there were more important crimes in the area that he could be working on. The officer then wrote a report that was a paragraph long, but contained no puncuation except the period at the end of the last sentetnce. 50% of the words were misspelled and it was hardly readable. This was embarrasing that this person actually made it onto the force. What kind od people are they hiring?
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alanjudd
September 21st, 2009
9:11 am
Re. the courts and bond for repeat offenders: My understanding is that other AJC reporters currently are looking into that issue in Fulton County and plan to publish an article soon.
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sad brotha
September 21st, 2009
9:13 am
This article could have been written twenty years ago… just change the names and delete the portions about the projects and furloughs.Get a real chief and not the political hacks for Pennington (read-current Deputy Chiefs). APD was, is, and always will be a joke. The affirmative “inaction” embraced by the department has been around too long. Mediocrity rules the department and the better officers leave in droves… leaving a joke of officers in their place. We are also paying for the “Girl Power” of Beverly Harvard which did the department no good. They are a joke and a southern black version of the Keystone Cops.
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Sam Mitchell
September 21st, 2009
9:14 am
One major problem is that the Fulton County Courts dead docket over half of the cases that they could prosecute. Also, the judges are too lenienet on young offenders. This is destorying our city.
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Pierce Randall
September 21st, 2009
9:14 am
This article is so bad. It’s just illogical–crime, statistically, is down, and we have tons of police on the streets per capita, but because people “feel” unsafe, and because crime is pretty high, that must the mayor and the police do not know what they’re talking about when they say crime is lower. Except crime is lower! If you start with 100 of some type of crime, and you have 90 the next year, even if the average is 50, you’ve still lowered crime. While many arguments about high crime in Atlanta may be fair, by no means is the neutral, unbiased facts leaning towards skeptism of the mayor’s claim that crime, statistically, has not risen. This article is overly hostile to the city administration, probably to kowtow to populist–or, alternately, white or yuppie or even suburban fears–about crime in Atlanta.
I think a good argument that crime might be on the rise is that the statistics lag a year behind. There’s good reason to believe that an Atlanta in 2009 with 10% unemployment is experiencing worse crime than it did in 2008, when unemployment was much lower.
The home break-in argument is wrong, too. A previous poster mentions some case where a crime was not reported as a break-in because the perpetrators did not, in fact, break in. First, this is anecdotal, a quality that often seems to take the place of statistical in the crime debate in Atlanta. Second, there’s no reason to believe that the police department has changed its crime reporting policies, or that criminals are particularly less likely to succeed today than they have been in the past at breaking into houses. Therefore, we have every reason to believe that a reduction of break-ins report would still reflect, overall, a reduction.
I’m not saying crime is getting better or worse, or even that the mayoral administration has done a particularly good or bad job at handling it. I’m just skpetical of anti-crime populism. If you want to substitute feelings for statistical inference, or good arguments, about the crime problem, because you want to feel unsafe, well, that’s your business. But I choose not to feel irrationally unsafe.
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Big Papi
September 21st, 2009
9:17 am
Enter your comments here Young black males are running wild in the streets. They have embraced the the thug, gansta mentality which black radio tacitly supports. Whites fear black crime the most but black people suffer the most from it! The young lady assaulted by the white knuckle-dragger in Morrow was an outrage but in that same time period countless others were victims of black on black crime. Where is the outrage? Where are the preachers and the “activists”? I don’t fear the white man, I fear these young, out of control black thugs……….Ask Vernon Forest.
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Tyree
September 21st, 2009
9:25 am
An amateur boxer gunned down in southwest Atlanta defending his vehicle. A Midtown resident beaten to death in her luxury hi-rise. A Kirkwood resident gunned down in his front yard. A bartender in Grant Park brutally shot after accommodating his robbers every demand. A 19 year old shot to death in the parking lot of a Midtown gas station. All in the last year. When do we take back our city?
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alanjudd
September 21st, 2009
9:26 am
Pierce Randall: I would disagree that the article was hostile to the city administration, but I appreciate your observation.
Criminologists say crime rates often go down when fewer police officers are on the streets — that officers come across crimes in progress, or are flagged down by citizens who wouldn’t otherwise report criminal activity.
In any event, no one has suggested there is a reason to feel irrationally unsafe. But the fact remains that Atlanta’s crime rate is one of the highest in the nation; statistically, at least, places like New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles are much safer.
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Georgia Daaawg
September 21st, 2009
9:26 am
Another thought: Do we really want Atlanta, a major city in the South, not to have “special” units? What Major city doesn’t have a vice or swat or narcotics or fugitve or canine or helicopter unit? Patrol Officers who answer 911 calls are reactive in assignment, as the article points out, unless a beat officer happens to be at exactly the right place at the right time a crime is going to occur.
Specialized units are proactive in nature, seeking out the groups who commit most of the crimes (like organized gangs) and trying to build cases against them to shut them down.
More Officers on 911 are needed, but to pull them from specialized units is counterproductive, you’ll wind up with a police force thats completely reactive.
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alanjudd
September 21st, 2009
9:30 am
Georgia Daaawg: I don’t think anyone thinks the special units are inherently problematic. Sgt. Scott Kreher, head of the Atlanta police union, made the point that regular patrol beats need to be filled before the special units: “In a perfect world, we’d love to have them all.”
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VL
September 21st, 2009
9:32 am
I remember back when the police really patrol the streets, I have not seen a patrol car on my street since 2005, that is why the criminals feel nobody is watching them…but if you speed or stop sign they are sitting watching that kind of crime…just MY thoughts only…
carry on mayor franklin-you make me soooooo proud…duh
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Georgia Daaawg
September 21st, 2009
9:34 am
One day when I went down town on personal business, I pulled into a street parking lot and a gentleman told me it was 10 dollars to pay. After paying him and as I was walking out of the lot I realized it was the type of lot where you insert money into a metal structure. In essence a was hustled for 10 dollars. I went back to find the gentleman, but he was gone.
I didn’t call the police. But how many people would? Is a detective going to investigate? Is a 10 dollar scam a big deal in a major city.
But how many people would call the police over this? And is it worth reporting?
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Don Lively
September 21st, 2009
9:38 am
It is time that we stop protecting the young criminals – Start publishing names, parents names and city – Might just be that some parents will be so embrassed that they will take control of these young people – Start publishing names of judges that continually grant bail bonds or promissary notes for “REPEAT” offenders.
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jj
September 21st, 2009
9:40 am
After living in atlanta 35+years, I left mainly because of the crime. Even if you move to the suburbs, the crime reports are all over the tv and news so you can’t even watch that. Then you think you are safe by watching a g rated program like oprah until they run news promos like “baby found in drainstorm…story at 5″ I don’t miss atlanta one bit.
And before you ask, I am here only reading about the floods my relatives told me about.
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Bibay
September 21st, 2009
9:41 am
Don Lively- not a bad idea about publishing names. In Pennsylvania, I have seen billboards on the interstate with pictures and information on criminals.
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Catherine
September 21st, 2009
9:42 am
It’s my sense that the peer-to-peer crime (drug dealers shooting other drug dealers, etc) has been usurped by stranger-stranger, or more random crime, hence the conflict between the city reporting a lower crime rate and citizens feeling that crime is rising. Any truth to me theory?
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Greg
September 21st, 2009
9:44 am
Atlanta does not provide even basic police services. How many times have I attended an event in Atlanta (such as the fireworks at Centennial Olympic Park on the Fourth of July) and sat in a parking lot an hour afterward because the police group together on the street corners just watching people sit in the traffic instead of providing traffic control to keep things moving. Although I work in midtown, I think twice about coming to Atlanta for anything other than work.
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alanjudd
September 21st, 2009
9:45 am
Don Lively and Bibay: Any thoughts on whether to publish names of juveniles? The thinking historically has been that by protecting the identity of young offenders, it gives them a chance to reform and enter adulthood with what appears to be a clean record. Of course, it’s an open question as to how much “reform” takes place, and the juvenile justice system was designed in a different era.
I’d be interested in hearing any ideas on reporting on young criminals or anything else about how the AJC covers, or should cover, crime.
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Steve Grayton
September 21st, 2009
9:45 am
I thought the point below was very interesting in your article.
“Criminologists say a high crime rate is inevitable in Atlanta, where widespread poverty and an influx of commuters, conventioneers and tourists create an atmosphere conducive to illicit activity.”
That being said, isn’t unfair to compare Atlanta to other cities that don’t have comparable socio-demographics? I think you could have done a better job explaining that side of crime in Atlanta.
Overall, I thought it was a good article.
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Catherine
September 21st, 2009
9:47 am
Well Greg, I have to say that whenever I get stuck in a traffic jam at an unexpected time I usually say “oh, there must be a cop up there directing traffic”. Atlanta has the worst traffic cops I have ever seen. I lived in a much smaller mid-west town for most of my life and they had better traffic cops than Atlanta. So, maybe you should count your blessings.
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alanjudd
September 21st, 2009
9:48 am
Catherine: That’s a great question. I don’t believe the police keep statistics on that sort of thing, except for homicides. But it would be an interesting idea to research.
This may or may not speak to the question: Despite what seemed like a huge wave of crime around the Georgia Tech campus in the past few months, the number of reported robberies actually declined. It may be that because more of the victims happened to be Tech students, it seemed like a crime wave.
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Tyree
September 21st, 2009
9:51 am
I forgot to mention the 19 year old Spellman freshman killed by a stray bullet just a few days ago. I just posted the fatalities that I can recall. What a shame we have to live in fear.
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Bibay
September 21st, 2009
9:54 am
alanjudd – it appears that juveniles are commiting what would be considered “adult crimes”. If they are constantly commiting crimes, I would not be opposed to it.
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alanjudd
September 21st, 2009
9:55 am
Steve Grayton: One of the leading thinkers on how comparing crime rates between cities is Robert Friedmann, a criminal justice professor at Ga. State. His research suggests that some cities — San Francisco, for example — have more violent crime than would be expected, while Atlanta and others with similar demographics actually have less than would be expected.
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The Thin Guy
September 21st, 2009
9:56 am
Crime exists when people have no moral compass and they can get away with it. Some armed robbers are making their get away in SUVs so economics has little to do with it. The solution is to flood the streets with police. Where do you get the money. Sell assets. If The City of Atlanta sold the airport and Grant Park they’d have more than enough money to solve these problems. It would have the added benefit of placing these facilities in the hands of organizations capable of planning a two car funeral.
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Catherine
September 21st, 2009
9:56 am
Alan,
I hate to say it but I think that we are much more outraged by random or stranger-to-stranger crime than we are by peer-to-peer crime. Some parts of town are “expected” to have higher crime but when those areas expand to include “my neighborhood” and the victim of that crime is “my friend” then we are more likely to be concerned. It’s really sad, because if we recognized and were concerned about crime in other neighborhoods besides our own, we might have a better chance of fighting it before it spreads.
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Amy in the ATL
September 21st, 2009
10:02 am
I thank the AJC for their in-depth analysis. Pretty interesting reporting. One thing I think that may explain the disconnect between the crime rate and perception of crime is that it seems to me the victims have changed. In the mid-90s, a disproportionate amount of the city’s crime took place in housing projects. Now that those projects are gone, that crime has been reduced. However, we are seeing more break-ins, carjackings and muggings of our middle class citizens, and largely middle class neighborhoods like Ormewood Park, Kirkwood, East Atlanta, Grant Park and Midtown are seeing a huge surge in break-ins, usually by armed men. I have lived in Grant Park since 1996, and we’ve never dealt with that many break-ins or muggings….until this year. And my friends in Kirkwood are afraid to take a walk around their neighborhood after their neighbor was shot while mowing his yard.
Until the mayor, city council and the police department stop trying to make excuses and start recognizing that law-abiding, tax paying citizens are being targeted and start doing something to protect us, the citizenry won’t feel safe. We need police on the beats, patrolling these neighborhoods. It won’t stop every crime, but I do think it would help prevent some crimes from happening.
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Georgia Daaawg
September 21st, 2009
10:05 am
Alan, you mnetion Atlanta Police has a 9.2 attrition rate, almost double that of other dept’s. What has your research shown to be the major factors behind such a high rate?
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Charles
September 21st, 2009
10:06 am
Money to prosecute the criminals is a problem, too. Why do APD officeres use the most expensive car wash to have their cars washed? It amounts to $15,000 a WEEK. (1000 cars for $15 each). or $60k a month. HOw many officers could be hired for $60k a month?
Use prisoners or use people doing community service to keep the cars clean.
ALso…until the black community instills an element of spirituality and self respect in their kids….this hideous rampage of murder and crime will continue!
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Mr. Howell Mill
September 21st, 2009
10:08 am
Why is Zone 2 (Buckhead, Midtown) the only zone without any police blackouts??????? Crime is no wear near as bad in Zone 2 as it is even in nearby Zone 1, but yet Zone 1 has blackouts daily…. I guess the police care more about protecting old Buckhead blue hairs from getting their purses snatched than they do about real crime like drug dealers, and murderers.
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Regularjoe
September 21st, 2009
10:09 am
I believe the court system is the main problem. People need to pay for crime and that doesn’t have to always be jail. You get caught stealing, pay back double what you stole, or go to jail. Break in someone’s home pay restitution and fine, or go to jail. Causing trouble at school, pick up trash on the side of the road, or go to jail. Times have changed but the ineffective ways to fix it have not changed.
To pay for some of the cost of the police and the courts, how about white collar criminal? They seem to steal the most and pay the least. Your outraged “citizen” get so mad about an illegal alien, but is muted about the person hiring them.
On the police and judges, give them a pension similar to the military, so the old and tired leave. That would keep fresh offices and judges in the system.
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hbshep
September 21st, 2009
10:11 am
I refuse to live in fear!!! That’s just what the devil wants. No, No…….
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alanjudd
September 21st, 2009
10:12 am
Catherine, Amy: One (perhaps one of many) things the crime statistics don’t reflect is the subtle shift in the identity of crime victims. In the case of Grant Park, crime generally is down in the police department’s Zone 3, which includes that neighborhood. But people who haven’t had to live with crime in the past suddenly are dealing with it daily.
Perceptions are important. The death of John Henderson, who was shot to death at the Standard last January, was tragic. But three other people were murdered within a couple of miles of the Standard in January alone. All of us — and I include the news media — tend to react more strongly when the victim is someone we know, or might know, or, in other words, could have been one of us.
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nich
September 21st, 2009
10:22 am
The courts are a very big problem, especially with regard to minors. A lot of the offenders are young. Evidentially, there is a 12-step program (you get 12 strikes before you are out) that applies to all minors, per Zone 3 DA. So if a 16 year old boy walks into my home, slays my husband and robs us, is that strike 7? Also, I joined a group called “Project Turnaround” as a council member. (volunteer PO, basically.) This was a program to help these participants/offenders get back on track monitored by the DA’s office. Most every offender was recomended by the council members to be exempted from the program/put back in jail, for repeat offenses. Nothing was done. My participant, for example, never went to the classes, continued to sale drugs and was shot in during a drug deal gone bad. Why was he not thrown out of the program and into jail? The DA’s office eventually just walked away from the program, but the kicker…NONE, NADA, 0% of the participants were put into jail. They basically were given “get out of jail free cards!” They are roaming the streets worse off today, because they dont believe they will ever receive concequences. Sadly, all evidence supports that theory.
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Amy in the ATL
September 21st, 2009
10:22 am
Hi Alan, you make a good point, and I don’t mean to imply that we should be more concerned with protecting innocent citizens in our own neighborhoods than we are in other neighborhoods. Rather, I would prefer that we keep the middle class neighborhoods safe and work hard on improving conditions in some of the less affluent neighborhoods which have traditionally had a higher crime rate. And for the city’s leadership, they should be very concerned about keeping the middle class neighborhoods safe, since the city can ill afford to lose more of its tax base right now. And I know far too many people who have put their homes up for sale because of crime.
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Mechanicsville
September 21st, 2009
10:24 am
A LOT OF PEOPLE think bringing more jobs to a community is going to fix the crime problem, but why would a criminal choose to work for $7.50hr when her could make $100hr dealing or stealing from his neighbors.
It’s not a race problem, it’s a poverty problem and the moment they start teaching these kids in good schools with caring professionals with caring parents then change will come.
Another factor is the AHA tearing down all the projects and moving the criminals all over the city. Crime used to be isolated and easier to contain or simply not care about when it was in one area.
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KiknUSquareNdanuts
September 21st, 2009
10:25 am
I must first say that I am REALLY suprised that this thread hasn’t turned into an all out race war yet. Let’s see if we can keep it up.
Shirley Franklin and Richard Pennington are the absolute WORST. Is anyone really surprised that we would bring in a clown from of all places New Orleans (one of the most violent cities in the country and overrun by crime), and expect this fool to make Atlanta into anything different??! In addition to that, cops are CORRUPT in Atlanta. One night about midnight, I was heading home from work and driving down Joseph Lowery just south of Bankhead. I noticed a police officer on a darkened sidestreet standing just inside his squad car door exchanging cash with someone!
What in the h3ll business does any cop have exchanging cash with someone while in uniform on duty standing outside their squad car???Either he was:
1) Buying drugs -or-
2) Being paid off to look the other way on all the drug dealing and prosititution taking place in the area.
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Mechvillian
September 21st, 2009
10:29 am
DON’T tell me that crime is down in ZONE 3!
Mechanicsville has seen 133 crimes in 2 months!
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John
September 21st, 2009
10:29 am
Why can’t we implement some form of painful punishment like the caning done in Singapore? Locking up some worthless lowlife in a place where he gets 3 meals and medical care is better conditions than he probably has at home. Where is the disincentive to do more crime? MAKE IT HURT REAL BAD !!!
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alanjudd
September 21st, 2009
10:30 am
Amy: One of the statistics I found interesting showed that Atlanta has a large gap between residents who earn a lot of money and those who are relatively poor — which, of course, means that the city has a relatively small middle class. And when crime affects the middle-class neighborhoods, the natural reaction is to try to get out.
Nich: It sounds as if the juvenile justice system merits a deeper look. Your experience must have been very frustrating.
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Frederico
September 21st, 2009
10:32 am
If more people defended themselves and their property instead of filing a worthless police report maybe it would put a dent in crime. A dead criminal doesn’t commit any more crimes.
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nich
September 21st, 2009
10:33 am
One more thing…whatever happened to chain gang? With economy tanking and no money for road “grooming,” why cant we put these criminals to work? Seems a no brainer to me. Even some of these neighborhoods that need to be cleaned up, they could easily be put to work picking up trash etc. This would also help to rehabilitate them. Let them work off their crimes, and start earning their keep in society.
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Amy in the ATL
September 21st, 2009
10:39 am
Alan, I did find that statistic on the income disparity intown to be very enlightening. But what is also somewhat puzzling to me is that the income differential hasn’t necessarily changed all that much since I moved to Atlanta in 1996. So why are certain crimes spiking now? The easy answer is the economy, but a lot of the kids doing the crimes have probably never held a job, like the 15 year old who carjacked my in-laws one Saturday night in January. There is also increased speculation that some of the criminals are more organized (i.e. gangs) than they have been in the past, but I haven’t seen any statistical evidence to support this.
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911 Rehaul
September 21st, 2009
10:39 am
Will you also be doing an article on the 911 system?
A friend of mine was the victim of a home invasion and stabbed with a screwdriver several years ago in Zone 3. She waited 8hrs for police to respond and the attacker has never been caught.
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Stone
September 21st, 2009
10:39 am
Enter your comments here I too refuse to live in fear, so after 11 years living in Atl I moved to Johns Creek. The police department is well funded and visible, crime reports are available to those who want to know and they are signing HOAs up for the PACT program of police and community togetherness to preempt crime. In the Atl the mayor and commissioners are too worried about taking a tough stand on crime so as not to offend the black voting base, which unfortunately is the main victim of crime. We don’t have that problem in JC and we don’t have the murders and rapes that Atl has either. It’s past time for the black community to put down their race rhetoric and come out against these thugs, on the radio and on the streets.
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Affirmative Inaction
September 21st, 2009
10:40 am
I want to know more about the hiring practices of the APD?
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Regularjoe
September 21st, 2009
10:42 am
I would like to see more of that nich. If a person had a choice of working off the crime instead of jail, many would chose work and that would be more of a payback for the offense.
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nich
September 21st, 2009
10:49 am
I am happy to see that so many recognize and care about the problem with the youth of Atlanta. I just wanted to add one more tid bit. Why is it that if a criminal has a tatoo, a crazy hair style, etc., that sort of information is inadmisable for line ups, court, etc.? For example, my husband and I were robbed, we live in Grant Park. A neighbor saw one of the guys, a 17 year old boy. He had a very large star tatoo stamped dead center of his forhead and a mohawk. When shown a line up, the star tat, and the mohawk had been photoshoped out. It was inadmisable in court. Why? We had the guy, and nonthing could be done. He went on robbing several others in the many areas surround Grant Park and was eventually caught, but 6 months later….just free.
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alanjudd
September 21st, 2009
10:51 am
911 Rehaul: We are now analyzing a database of calls to Atlanta’s 911 center and may be producing some articles in the next few weeks.
Amy: The best explanation I’ve heard has to do with the demolition of the public housing projects. It’s not that the people who lived there were committing crimes, or that they have moved to other neighborhoods and committed crimes. Instead, the projects attracted a large criminal element; there were plenty of easy victims (the women, children and elderly people who lived there), and they were gathering places for selling drugs and other illicit commodities. Thomas D. Boston, a professor of economics at Georgia Tech, has done a lot of fascinating research on this topic. Much of his work is available here.
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Catherine
September 21st, 2009
10:53 am
I think the focus on punishment (caning, chain gangs, etc) does little to prevent crime. It may help repeat offenders, but we have learned that the prospect of severe punishment does little to stop first time offenders – because they don’t think they are going to get caught.
I’m all for completed sentences, cleaning up neighborhoods, etc. But, the criminal justice/punishment is really a separate issue to me from crime prevention. Shouldn’t our goal be to have emptier and emptier jails and fuller and fuller schools and training programs?
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Grant Parker
September 21st, 2009
10:59 am
We who live in Atlanta all have crime stories. Mine is, I fear, typical: Returning from vacation, I discovered my house had been broken into — dressers tossed, closets rifled, that sort of thing. The thieves took little of value, but of coursemy wife and I called the cops.
An officer came, walked around, and took our report. He gave us a case number, plus a number to call to contact a detective. My wife called several times, leaving a message, and never got a return call. She finally reached the detective, a surly voice on the other end of the line, who promised to be in touch.
We’ve been waiting two years to hear from the detective. Think she’s going to call?
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Sally
September 21st, 2009
10:59 am
Locking up everyone for longer terms sounds nice and I do agree that a lot of these people have it better in jail that on the street. We can not continue the cost of all these incarcerations. We are going broke. Something else needs to be done.
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Amy in the ATL
September 21st, 2009
11:02 am
Catherine and Nich, you both make good points on being concerned with our youth and crime prevention. Our juvenile system is screwed up, and I know it’s quite frustrating for a lot of the police officers who end up arresting the same kids over and over. Nich, I live in Grant Park, too, and one of the craziest things I’ve heard of was over the summer when a certain well-known juvenile delinquent was arrested after stealing a car, and cop had to drive him home! That same cop then drove over to Carla Smith’s house to beg her to help reform the system. I’ve heard from numerous cops that they just arrest the same kids over and over…not the best use of their limited resources.
And I do like the idea of putting “reformable” criminals in a work program….give them some useful stuff to do like picking up trash or park maintenance and maybe it will give them a bit better outlook on life.
But I also agree that more needs to be done to prevent kids from choosing a life of crime. I don’t have any easy answers, but I would love to see community leaders, church clergy and others with influence band together to help convince these kids that getting through high school and picking up marketable skills is better for them in the long run.
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nich
September 21st, 2009
11:05 am
Catherine, I agree. But we should rehabilitate as well. Alot of crime is carried out by repeat offenders. To follow up with what you stated as far as prevention. The atlanta school system is really bad. I have a few kids that I have worked with and spoken to in Grant Park and they will all tell you: “you are beat up if you dont join a gang.” “My teacher’s boyfriend is in a gang, and she said I can get paid if I join,” for example. The fact that we have teachers encouraging and recruiting kids to join gangs is a very big deal! You have empty schools becasue these kids and are out “hustling.” These gang leaders are repeat offenders. The kids that specifically told me the 2 quoted statements, are between the ages of 7-11.
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alanjudd
September 21st, 2009
11:06 am
Grant: It would be interesting to know whether the detective was just overworked, or uninterested. In other words, is the problem systemic or individual?
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Dan
September 21st, 2009
11:07 am
My home was broken into and I lost little because the alarm scared him away. I had surveillance cameras outside the house and gave the APD almost 30 minutes of video of this guy trying to find a way into my house. His face was clearly visible in the video. The cops never did catch him and whenever I tried to contact the detective for an update on what was being done, he would not return my calls. The APD is about worthless except for parading in front of the TV cameras for a photo opportunity with Shirley Franklin and catching speeders on the highway as a revenue generating tool. This is the worst city I’ve ever lived in.
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Vick Supporter
September 21st, 2009
11:08 am
Yes, I am a black man and I am TOTALLY f-in tired of this crime. The police need to be PAID so they will WANT to their jobs!!! I wouldn’t want to go mess around with criminals either if I wasn’t getting paid anything..
Crime comes from all races, not just Blacks, but it is sad for me to see the state that some of my fellow young black men are in. With that happening, people group all black men together and that’s not right or fair. Everyone needs to get armed and protective themselves…its really sad that this has to be done, but what else can we do? If they come in my place, they’re getting shot. No questions asked
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SWAtl
September 21st, 2009
11:08 am
Enter your comments here
I have to agree with Greg and Catherine regarding the Atlanta Police traffic control. I’ve been stuck in traffic after leaving events at the Fox Theater and sporting events from the Dome and Phillips Arena while the police stand around talking or pretend to direct traffic.
I don’t care what Mayor Franklin or the police chief have to say about crime being down, they’re wrong. They are not being beseiged by home and business break-ins/invasions, carjackings, family members being robbed at gunpoint or murdered, but the citizens in this city are. You can quote all the stats that you want, but the reality is crime is up!!
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Pierce Randall
September 21st, 2009
11:12 am
Alan Judd, you say, “I would disagree that the article was hostile to the city administration.” Perhaps you mean “overly” or “unjustifiably”–certainly, that any hostility exists is non-controversial: the headline of the article is “City leaders fiddle as crime fears flare.”
All I’m saying is that this is an illogical construction:
“Even the achievements Pennington and Franklin cited for the cameras lose their luster under closer examination:
Atlanta’s rate of reported crime has dropped sharply over the past decade — but still ranks among the highest in the nation.”
Yes, crime is bad. But the purpose of the press conference is that it is being addressed, and it’s not getting worse. Now, maybe that’s true or not true, but if a “sharp drop” in crime rates has occurred during the administration and the police chief, it does not follow then, of the press conference, that “The moment’s irony represented a triumph of the status quo over promises of change. More important, it embodied the dysfunction that plagues Atlanta’s police department — a dysfunction that has turned crime into the city’s most intractable civic dilemma.”
A neutral presentation of facts might be,
-The crime rate is down, but it’s still really high.
-The police chief and the mayor have tried to reassure citizens about the crime rate.
-Here are some things the city is not doing that it should.
Essentially, that’s in the article, except it seems to state out-of-hand that the mayor’s and police chief’s assurances are false. That’s overstating the case made by the findings of the article, I believe, to appear provocative while appealing to lowest-common-denominator fears of residents–or, if you look at the way the AJC has shifted its marketing practices, likely suburbanites it doesn’t apply to anyway.
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alanjudd
September 21st, 2009
11:23 am
Pierce Randall: Thanks for the critique. I’m not the one to speak to either the headline or the AJC’s marketing strategy. As for the story, I think it was fair to all sides. But that — like whether it was neutral — is a judgment call, obviously.
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Voice of Reason
September 21st, 2009
11:25 am
VL makes an interesting observation. The muggers, rapists and murderers seem to operate carte blanche without much fear of being caught, whereas the red light runners, rolling stop sign violators, speeders, etc are stopped and ticketed. Why? Because of revenue generation. Stopping violent offenders is not cost effective for a terribly inefficiently run major metropolitan city like Atlanta. They’d rather ticket and collect fines from the suburbanites, which further inflames them and essentially kills a revenue stream when the suburbanites decide not to visit the downtown area in the future.
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Amy in the ATL
September 21st, 2009
11:26 am
Alan, one other thing I’d love to see the AJC cover is how Atlanta’s arrest rate compares with other metro police department. My friends in Decatur have experienced many of the same issues we’ve seen in Atlanta, yet it seems that whenever I read about a mugging, robbery or carjakcing in Decatur, it’s followed by info on an arrest, and that doesn’t seem to be the case in Atlanta. Is that just my perception, or is there any truth to that?
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Regularjoe
September 21st, 2009
11:26 am
Catherine, people who commit crimes should be punished. How to keep them from crime is a separate issue. We should try to punish criminals in a way that benefits the victims or society. For some that is jail or prison, but for many we could use different methods.
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alanjudd
September 21st, 2009
11:32 am
Amy: That’s a good idea. Police departments have to track arrests for the FBI, so there ought to be some information available. My friends who live in Decatur frequently praise the responsiveness of their police department. So it could be that Decatur’s police do an especially good job. Regardless, it’s worth looking into.
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AtlChaz
September 21st, 2009
11:38 am
I agree with many posters blaming the court systems…2 weeks ago, myself and 3 other neighbors caught and apprehended a burglar breaking into cars in our parking deck. We successfully subdued the thief until APD arrived (shockingly in 2 minutes after placing the 911 call!). This same person confessed to the officer that he broke into cars in our community just one week prior! The officer knew the perp (a homeless man) and told us he has been arrested over 30 times for theft violations, but the courts release him due to witnesses not showing up to court or not enough evidence to keep them locked up.
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BPJ
September 21st, 2009
11:45 am
A couple of points which have not been raised:
First, statistical comparisons between the city of Atlanta and other US cities are almost always misleading, whether the subject is crime, poverty, or parkland. No other big city represents as small a proportion of its metropolitan region as Atlanta (source: the report on city parks by the Trust for Public Land and the Urban Land Institute). A journalist reporting on crime and other trends in Atlanta should know this, and always take it into account. So comparisons to NYC, LA, or Chicago don’t really tell us whether the APD is effective. (Also, Atlanta has an unusually high number of people come into the city (either as commuters or visitors) relative to the population of full-time residents. Therefore, statistics on a “per resident” basis can mislead.)
It’s clear that the rate of violent crime is down since 1990. One obvious reason is that, during that time period, Atlanta’s population increased by about 25% (from 400,000 to over 500,000). The overall education and income levels in the city increased relative to the surrounding suburbs (that’s from a national study reported in this paper). So of course violent crime per resident is down. One reason the perception is different is that the media (especially TV “journalists”) treats certain crimes differently, depending largely on the victim.
Second, the problem in the APD, reported in Sunday’s article for the 500th time, is that they keep losing experienced officers as they add new ones. One cause of this, according to many news reports, is the pay and benefits package does not compete with some other jurisdictions, especially after a certain level of experience.
A few years ago the city council raised pension benefits, partly in an effort to stem the loss of officers. It turns out that sustaining that level of pensions will require tax increases, major budget cuts, or both. We have had both in the past year: a large number of city employees have been laid off, and the council recently voted (barely) to raise taxes to end the furloughs.
It seems to me that if we are going to insists on a larger, and better, police force (I think we should), then we are going to have to accept an ongoing higher level of taxation to support that. There is a libertarian fantasy that, no, we can find plenty of waste to fund more police, but I suspect that’s wishful thinking. The hopeful news is that, as we climb out of this recession, sales tax receipts will increase, and that should help us with the city budget.
The article was correct to point out that numbers alone will not increase safety; better leadership and tactics are required. My one complaint was the headline, which was more appropriate to an editorial than to reporting.
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CK
September 21st, 2009
11:47 am
I know this isn’t a Fulton County issue, but I’m curious to know what’s going on in the feeder counties with the transplant of residents from the public housing projects. Sure, crime in those areas where the residents lived has gone down. But those people have to live somewhere. In areas like Clayton County, have those seven types of crime increased?
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alanjudd
September 21st, 2009
11:49 am
BPJ: You raise some good points. On the police pension issue, look for the second installment of our Atlanta Project on Sunday; it deals with that matter in detail.
On the headline: I’ll pass along your comment to the people who are responsible for headlines.
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J.M.
September 21st, 2009
11:51 am
“The police need to be PAID so they will WANT to their jobs!!!”
This is BS. Atlanta police are compensated quite handsomely: $40K/year to START with no degree requirement. This excludes the work they get on the side, as well as the various comps they receive. If they don’t want to do their job as a cop, they can go find another $50K job with their high school diploma or associates degree. Good luck.
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alanjudd
September 21st, 2009
11:55 am
CK: Serious crime, at least in terms of raw numbers, has been trending upward in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties for several years. I haven’t had time yet to determine whether the rate of crime — the number of reports per 100,000 residents — has increased as well.
It appears the majority of the former residents of Atlanta Housing Authority projects moved elsewhere in the city (as documented in the research I cited earlier by Thomas D. Boston at Georgia Tech). But some people — notably, Eldrin Bell, the Clayton County commission chairman — have suggested that transplanted residents are responsible for some of the increases in crimes.
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Mr. Smith
September 21st, 2009
11:58 am
Are you willing to put your life on the line EVERYDAY for a 40-k a year job? Are you willing to put up with hostility and abuse these officers take from the public for that amount of money? Me thinks not.
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Susan
September 21st, 2009
11:58 am
Why are we expecting progress against the criminals in Atlanta when Squirrely Shirley can’t even control crime in her own family. Her son in law is doing life for drug sales and her daughter is a convicted felon for money laundering. In my opinion, she tried to play a game of chicken with furloughing the police and firefighters in order to force the city council to pass the tax increase that they were right to deny. I think that allowed the criminal element to gain an upper hand, not that they had that far to go in the first place. Now attempts to catch up are too little and too late. Privatizing the airport which could have put major dollars on the city’s bottom was squashed by Shirley and Delta. Boondoggles like streetcars on an already overcrowded Peachtree St. seemed to preoccupy Franklin’s administration instead of fixing the problems that threaten it’s existence. Even recently, with all the crime that pervades the city, APD expends valuable resources raiding a gay bar and violating the rights of 60 citizens and the only thing they have to show for it is a few employee arrests, I think for dancers in underwear without a permit and numerous civil rights and illegal search and seizure lawsuits yet to be filed.
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ClemsonDude
September 21st, 2009
11:59 am
The city police department will send several officers and a paddy wagon to gay bar to stop some sort of mild sexual “activity” but we got people being robbed and harmed around Georgia Tech campus that does NOT have the attention of the ATL police department. Something is VERY wrong here. We need new leadership now! It’s time to clean house at city hall!!!!!!!!!!
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dewstarpath
September 21st, 2009
12:00 pm
- This same posting can be found on the “Connecting
Communities with Crime Information” forum:
- Several of the posters on this forum seem to think that
the only definition of crime in Atlanta is the victimization
of black females by black males. I’ve lived in this city 25
years. Victims and perpetrators run the gamut of gender
and race. This sort of judgemental bias is inappropriate in
that it interferes with acknowledgement of the root of the
problem. Easy access to high-powered firearms, rollback
of federal firearm laws, entrenchment of an impoverished
underclass, lack of educational priorities, prejudicial
attitudes about which race or gender should be the most
educated, geographical isolationism, even the integration
of churchand state in civic affairs could all be contributing
factors as to why there seems to be an intractable crime
problem in “the city too busy to hate”.
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Matt
September 21st, 2009
12:03 pm
Thousands of dollars and manpower spend on a sting operation to harass patrons of a gay bar?! Do they not have better beats to patrol? They waste more time and money on these “commando” sting operations and the only thing that results from them I have seen is lawsuits on the City which the taxpayers are accountable for. APD = faulty policy, lying cops and no action to solve the real issues of crime in our City.
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alanjudd
September 21st, 2009
12:08 pm
It’s time to wrap this up for now, although all of you are welcome to continue posting. I’ll try to check in late this afternoon.
One factual correction: Mayor Franklin’s daughter, Kai, was not convicted of money laundering. She pleaded guilty in a federal court in South Carolina in 2007 to illegally structuring a financial transaction and received no jail time.
Thanks to everyone for commenting today. If you have additional thoughts, feel free to email me at ajudd@ajc.com.
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J.M.
September 21st, 2009
12:10 pm
“Are you willing to put your life on the line EVERYDAY for a 40-k a year job? Are you willing to put up with hostility and abuse these officers take from the public for that amount of money? Me thinks not.”
If I didn’t have a BA and MBA and wanted to support my family, yes.
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Susan
September 21st, 2009
12:21 pm
Shirley’s daughter not convicted of money laundering? That was how I heard it described. I retract that inaccuracy then but the fact remains that she was aiding her dealer husband to “process” his profits.
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sonia
September 21st, 2009
12:25 pm
I think that everything starts at home….Someone is not tranining these kids, throwing babies in the sewer. Letting them run rapid, where is the father in the house hold. oh most of them are in jail, in the hospital have kids everywhere and dont care about there seed. No I believe that everything starts at home, can you blame it if white people dont want to live around us. we kill each other. I think that crime is everywhere you cant run from it, but for the most part, dekalb county, atlanta, college park mostly black people and a lot of our youth, young black men are committing these crimes. They are not educated and they dont have a strong black role model in the house hold.
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Kevin
September 21st, 2009
12:35 pm
I’ve lived in the city for four years and I can state unequivocally that crime is worse. I don’t care about statistics– they can be manipulated to project whatever the administration wants to project. As with many other posters, I, too, am ready to quit the city and move out. I pay an enormous amount of property tax, and see very, very little for it in return– other than a bloated city hall that, by any account, has too many employees based on peer cities.
The CORE issue here is the court system. The system is a revolving door. Until the courts start doling out some sentences with TEETH, nothing is going to change. Get these cancers off the street, and keep them off the street.
AJC- that’s the real story here. Yes, we need more officers, but the court/sentencing issue is the backbone of the problem. Ask your in-town friends and colleagues. This is a common opinion among city residents.
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Chris
September 21st, 2009
12:39 pm
Crime is directly linked to unemployment and education. Cities where there is a high dropout and unemployment rate have more crime.
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Mr. Smith
September 21st, 2009
12:51 pm
The AJC’s own article reported 2/26/2009 states the APD has the second fewest number of police officers per 100,000 residents compared to eleven other large cities in the country. The article continues to state that 1,100 additional officers are needed in the next 5 years to reach average staffing levels. That said, why does the APD have such a deficiency if the pay is more than adequate?
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DAG
September 21st, 2009
12:55 pm
yeah yeah, we know not all crime is committed by black men. BUT, i live in grant park and all the crime that i have ever seen, has been done by young, black men! we call the police now, no matter what, when we see some young, black guys looking like they are up to no good. we are taking our neighborhood away from the thugs that don’t even live in gp. we love our hood and we will protect it.
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Ed
September 21st, 2009
2:51 pm
Sonia
Point well taken. Now go back to school and learn to write.
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SFMom
September 21st, 2009
4:58 pm
Crime is up and I’m tired of it. Let’s get some real leadership in
Atlanta!
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APD supporter
September 21st, 2009
8:26 pm
Its not one single officer that dont try and do what people need or want but people want to get mad at the officer because things dont go our way, APD is just the city punching bag no one looks at what they go through. granted Atlanta needs a new mayor ECT. On that James anderson comment I can personally tell you i know that is a lie. the only was to slow crime down is the citizens of atlanta help the police in their investagation instead of being and unknown witness thank you
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Not Surprised
September 21st, 2009
8:42 pm
Underfunded police department(s)
Lack of accountability to report crimes correctly (they never are)
Lack of parental involvement
Young black youth…
Why am I not shocked?
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The Real Perception Problem is the Perception of the Courts @ Crime Victims Media Report
September 22nd, 2009
10:30 am
[...] comments thread in response to this article in the Atlanta Journal Constitution contain a lot more insight than the [...]
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Where the AJC falls short
September 22nd, 2009
11:26 pm
The AJC wants us to believe it’s not a public relations shill for the business interests of this city, and then immediately after running a story on crime, it gives Shirley Franklin editorial space to highlight her accomplishments?
Audacity, meet chutzpah.
And is Shirley really at such a level of denial she wants us to think of the gospel song with the words, “Lord, let my work speak for me”?
What, she couldn’t get Dallas Austin or some other Brand Atlanta cohort to write a ditty called “At least I wasn’t Bill Campbell”?
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Not So Funny: Project Turn Around @ Crime Victims Media Report
September 23rd, 2009
2:26 pm
[...] D.A. said about the Project. The comment appeared in an interesting Atlanta Journal Constitution discussion about crime: I joined a group called “Project Turnaround” as a council member. (volunteer PO, [...]
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Ed Hadley
September 25th, 2009
9:23 am
Bill Husted’s column is usually a must read for me. Although most of us use commputers all the time, most of us are not that knowledgeable and he frequently answers the questions many of us had. I am very sorry to see you are cutting back on his column. I was wondering why I could not find it, until I ran across this discussion.
I have subscribed to the AJC for 7 years. Before that, I have subscribed to good newspapers in Charlotte, Baltimore, New York/New Jersey. Although their politics were out of line with Georgia, I thought the AJC was a good newspaper otherwise. The changeover in my opinion has made it a second rate paper that takes me about 15 minutes to peruse.
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Jay
September 26th, 2009
3:23 am
The APD spends to much time directing trafic at local fast food restaurants and worring about parking tickets. When will people wake up? I’ve been here for 5 years and can’t wait to get out. The politics here are unreal. I feel sorry for the honest working person cause you probally get ticketed by some corrupt cop or shot in the backof the head like the best athlete this town had cause the PD was on traffic patrol.
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Sgt. Scott Kreher, National Vice President IBPO
September 28th, 2009
8:21 am
Cameron, an important piece of your story is missing. The City was responsible for the administration of our pensions for years. After several City employees were arrested and convicted for stealing from the pensions the Police Pension Board (with the help of the SSPBA) took action and sued the City to take control over our pension. The City lost and we took over the administration of our pensions through third party administrators. It was discovered that some of those arrested and convicted took millions of dollars yet the City refused to go after those individuals and recover those funds. Mismanagement of our pensions for years by the City (under CFO Rick Anderson) is one of THE major factors in their underfunding. While the improvements made in 2001 and 2005 are also a factor, the City refuses to accept responsible for their mismanagement. Not until the Federal Government stepped in and forced the City to manage the funds appropriately (GASB45) and the hiring of a competent CFO in Jim Glass, has their mismanagement come back to haunt them. If you compare police pensions across the country, ours is competitive. By not funding the annual “steps” (no other police department has frozen them), not funding a Career Ladder (as recommended by the Bain Report), and police officers taking home less pay each year on top of furloughs, the pension is the only benefit that our officers can depend on and help with the double digit attrition rate (APD is 10% and the national average is 4-5%). Pensions have been relied upon by the City to supplement loss of wages and career advancement for years. Make sure you don’t allow the City to shun their responsibilities.
Sgt. Scott Kreher
National Vice President, IBPO
President, IBPO Local 623
17 year veteran of APD
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Lou Arcangeli
September 28th, 2009
8:32 am
Mr. McWhirter,
I was surprised to see the statement by Mayor Franklin “Franklin told the AJC she left it to the City Council to take the lead”, was accepted as a fact and was not challenged.
It was Mayor Franklin who formed the Pension Technical Advisory Committee, and then she systematically disregarded the committee’s principal recommendations.
Had a mayor made bad decisions because of misinformation I would be less critical. Mayor Franklin formed the committee and sought the advice of competent professionals, proceeded to ignore the committee’s recommendations and proposed best practices, and in doing so Mayor Franklin deliberately created this financial problem.
To now allow her to say that “she left it to the City Council” is clearly a failure on her part to be intellectually honest on Mayor Franklin’s role in the mismanagement and failure to take the lead on this and many other issues.
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cmcwhirter
September 28th, 2009
8:36 am
Sgt. Kreher,
Thanks for your comment and your insight. The mismanagement of the pensions, the underfunding of the pensions and the use of pension increases granted in lieu of pay raises have all contributed to the problem Atlanta is now currently in. City Council granted the pension increases in part to slow attrition. For the reasons you list, and many others, it hasn’t worked.
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cmcwhirter
September 28th, 2009
8:45 am
In reporting this story, I found myself calling back and forth between the Council and the administration on basic issues, for example, what exactly the city paid each year into the pension funds. The City Council’s Select Committee on Pensions appears to be making an earnest effort to find possible solutions, and Mayor Franklin’s staff now, as they are soon to leave office, have focused on the problem as well. But there is little communication betwen the two groups. Both have had little or no discussion with the pension boards or the unions. There is no doubt that when Franklin leaves office, this problem will be far from resolved.
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corruption fighter
September 28th, 2009
9:14 am
THIS IS WHY I LEFT CITY OF ATLANTA AND CORRUPT FULTON COUNTY YEARS AGO TO LIVE IN SUBURBS.
I DONT WANT MY TAXES TO BE WASTED ON THESE COMMUNISTS/ SOCIALIST WELFARE CITY REGIME.
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Steve Grayton
September 28th, 2009
9:40 am
Lou Arcangeli has a bone to pick with Franklin because she passed him over for the chief job in favor of Pennington. Anything he says is slanted because of it. He served on the pension board for years and years and has as much to do with the problems as anybody else.
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songbird
September 28th, 2009
9:46 am
I was given a ticket yesterday by APD for failing to stop completely before I made a right turn at a quiet neighborhood intersection. I was approaching the intersection slowly enough to stop but saw no other cars or pedestrians, so I went ahead and turned without making a complete stop.
If this is the best APD can do to keep Atlanta safe, then they are truly pathetic. My guess is this officer was behind on his tickets and it’s near the end of the month. I would go fight this but I’m out of town on the court date.
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Lou Arcangeli
September 28th, 2009
9:53 am
Mayor Shirley Franklins Pension Benefit Increase of 2005:
Thanks to this article it is now obvious that Mayor Franklin and former CFO Janice Davis have done irreparable harm to Atlanta by their irresponsible actions and failures of leadership. The financial impact of Mayor Franklin’s Plan is actually worse than stated in Mr. McWhirter’s article, given the additional cost of future retiree health insurance.
One completely outrageous component of Mayor Franklin’s Pension Benefit Increase of 2005 was the adoption of a ten year pension. At that time I served as an elected Police Officers’ Pension Fund Trustee, and I joined with Sgt. Scott Kreher of the IBPO (the Police Union) in opposing this ill-conceived proposal.
While hard to believe, as a result of Mayor Franklin’s Pension Benefit Increase Plan of 2005, City of Atlanta employees can obtain lifelong pension and health benefits after only ten years of employment. [Note: While the Pension Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC) had recommended 10 year vesting, vesting is different than a defined benefit pension, and the pension committee was opposed to a ten year pension.] Fortunately several mayoral candidates have recognized this gross failure and have committed to correct it as soon as possible.
We now know that Mayor Franklin’s early retirement plan was not in the interest of citizens, not in the interest of the Atlanta Police Department, it has contributed to attrition, and it will increase future health care costs. Mayor Shirley Franklin’s decisions have proven to have significant long term negative financial impact on Atlanta. I have to ask: Is this “Best in Class”? Is this “effective and efficient”?
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Taxpayer
September 28th, 2009
10:05 am
Interesting that people would be offended by the obscene amount of money the city is paying toward pensions to retain employees. Look at state government, where employees hired before the mid 1980’s receive 90 percent of their pay upon full retirement. These employees also receive cost of living increases that are twice that of current “working” state employees AND social security. Yet, nobody screams about this gravy train. Go figure.
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Lou Arcangeli
September 28th, 2009
10:06 am
Note: Lisa Borders was not Council President in 2001.
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Time For 401ks
September 28th, 2009
10:27 am
It is way past time for the City of Atlanta (and other cities) to replace these absurdly generous pension plans with 401k plans. Hopefully, the economic recession will serve as an impetus for such action.
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Jim Daws
September 28th, 2009
10:39 am
Camron,
You mis-report the facts in several respects. First and formost, only about 10% of the increase in the pension liabililty is attributable to the 2001 and 2005 improvements. The vast majority of the increase is due to the city not payining their contributions into the funds for decades which resulted in lost compound investment intrest. The rest is due to poor market performance during this economic downturn, which will improve with the economy. This is not my opinion, but that of the Firefighter’s Pension Fund acturial and I have informed you of that on several occasions, but you refuse to do your due diligence and report this.
In this economy, pensions nationally, both private and public, are taking a beating. To continue to report that the pension liabilities are due to the improvements is just dishonest.
Concerning my quote that the pensions are a damn good deal for the city, you might have reported the hundreds of millions of dollars the city has saved from not paying into Social Security over the decades and tried to do a cost-benefit analysis of those savings vs. retirement benefit. You would find that the city got a better benefit for its retirement investment.
The reason the Pension Task Force recommended the mulitplyer increase, is because salaries are so low in Atlanta compared to the cost of living that employees cannot afford to save anything toward retirement and were being consigned to poverty in retirement.
I can tell you this, firefighters, police officers and general employees don’t work for the city for the salaries. The only thing keeping any competent public safety or other employee with the city is the pension.
The narrative that you and Jim Wooten continue to follow is just not accurate or complete.
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cmcwhirter
September 28th, 2009
10:54 am
In truth, the economic downturn has not hit the city pensions as badly as other investment funds. The liability gap that we reported Sunday comes from before the financial crisis of last fall. The pension increases certainly added to the bottom line liability in a substantial way. Daws takes that as somehow being critical of firefighters or city workers. It’s not. All people involved argue that city employees, especially public safety workers, deserve a decent retirement. The fact that the city has never been a contributor to Social Security is a major factor. However, the issue is not what benefits the city chooses to provide to its workers – it is how will it pay for those benefits? Paying more than $100 million annually out of a general fund for a city the size of Atlanta is not sustainable.
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J.M.
September 28th, 2009
11:15 am
Not sure why City employees get a pension, not sure why they get guaranteed pay raises. Both practices promote a culture of indifference, as evidenced by the mediocre service Atlanta residents receive across the board.
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Roberto
October 4th, 2009
4:11 am
cool blog
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D.L.
October 5th, 2009
7:39 am
thanks
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RJ Morris
October 5th, 2009
8:01 am
Thank you for a great article that puts water increases in perspective as relates to taxes. It would seem the higher taxes are nothing to worry about compared to higher water bills.
I do have a question about your estimate of only a $1200 a year for the average user though-
If it is definitive that a Stormwater Utility will be built in the next few years, how much more would that add to the current increase of 200% already?
For example, if you have a $100 a month bill now, that means you will have a $300 a month bill in 2012 (based upon a 200% increase). Furthermore, if the “Stormwater Utility” costs are added, (based upon a ratio of past increases relating to the billions already spent), that would mean the same increases would give that $100 a month customer a $500 a month bill if they build the utility?
However your beginning paragraph says it will only go up $1200 a year for the average consumer, in a decade? That number seems incredibly low. Please explain further?
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D.L.
October 5th, 2009
8:16 am
Well, the math works like this: if you have a $100 bill today, you had a $50 bill in 2003, and you’ll have a $150 in 2012 — a
200 percent increase or triple. That’s $100 a month in increases over a decade, or $1200 a year for the average user.
The storm water utility is extra. It’s cost will be defined by how much of the problem Atlanta tries to fix and how
high it sets the fee.
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skullcap
October 5th, 2009
8:30 am
Sobering: the stench of ATL’s sewerage. There is one source of federal funding that I’m not sure has ever been truly explored: transportation. “What? Huh?” you say. “How does transportation figure in our monumental water and sewer infrastructure problem? ” Glad you asked. Where do you think all of September’s stormwater runoff came from? How did it get to the pipes that carry it away for treatment at ratepayer expense?
I’ve previously offered the notion to my City Councilwoman, but not sure the idea’s caught fire. Federal transportation funds can be used to address stormwater runoff generated from federally-funded roads and highways. This is nothing new, but is a purpose for which transportation funds are rarely, expressly appropriated. Rather, they are rolled-in to the cost of transportation projects. However, federal rules allow retrofits that address environmental quality to qualify as “transportation projects”.
Put another way, not just rate-payers, but millions of drivers who regularly enjoy the use of our highways, typically free from standing/pooled runoff, are also enjoying the benefits of Atlanta’s sewer system, without having to pay the cost shouldered by those of us within the city limits. This is not the same as in suburban areas, where stormwater is summarily straight-piped into streams and rivers, without the expensive cost of being treated for heavy metals and other common roadway pollutants.
It’s time ALL users of Atlanta’s infrastructure participate in paying for the overhaul, not just the folks brushing their teeth in the City of Atlanta.
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RJ Morris
October 5th, 2009
8:49 am
Got you on the math. Basically Stormwater Utility costs are a big unknown and cannot be predicted yet. But even if only one billion is the cost (1/4 of the current 4 billion cost), that would add at least 50% more to your bill in the next decade, from 2003, based upon the same ratios.
To another point though, in your article you state “No increases have been scheduled beyond 2012, but the new mayor and City Council will have to enact them to cover the city’s debt payments.”
If this is definite, how much will the debt payments alone add to your bill after 2012? Another 10%, 20%, more?
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Mark Eisen
October 5th, 2009
8:51 am
Enter your comments here Assuming there’s not much an average person can do about the infrastructure costs, they can attack their own expenses. Despite the fact that less water usage actually drives rates up because the City’s revenue stream must be maintained, if the average homeowner concentrated on two items only, toilets and showerheads, they could dramatically lower their bills. The AJC could help by showing the before/after cost savings on the chart as if these items had been installed at the beginning of the time period, rather than now. The AJC could help by showing that other cities have toilet programs that, rather than give $50 rebates to anyone, actually give the toilets away to lower income residents, who are less able to afford a water saving toilet at any cost or with any rebate. And that other cities have showerhead exchange programs. Showers use the second most amount of water in the home, yet everyone’s being told to use a 2.5 gallon per minute showerhead, which like 1.6 gallon per flush toilets, is the 1992 standard, rather outdated for Atlanta’s situtation now, while a 1.25 gallon per minute showerhead can give a great shower and save an enormous amount of water. Neither the toilet giveaway nor showerhead exchange programs are part of the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Conservation District’s programs. The AJC could help by waking them up.
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D.L.
October 5th, 2009
9:09 am
You are right about the rates.
We saw during the drought what conservation does — it costs you more. Why?
Because Atlanta’s borrowed more than $3 billion so far and those loans have to be
paid back to the tune of more than $150 million a year. The city is required to keep the cash flowing
or it goes into default.
RJ — I’ve never tried to break out the portion of the rates tied directly to maintenance vs. debt. I’m
sure someone on watershed can do that.
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brian
October 5th, 2009
10:05 am
The problem is the bonds, but also terrible management by Rob Hunter at the DWM. They are the most arrogant and difficult group to work with, and that’s saying a lot with the City of Atlanta. I have had running problems with DWM for almost a year, and you always get treated with an absurd level of high handed arrogance and disrespect (who pays these people? Oh, yes, I do, but still get treated like garbage). The best view of how Mr Hunter runs his group is exemplified by the recent PwC audit of ‘his’ (and I say ‘his’ because he thinks that way) department. They had over 70 problem areas identified ranging from the way they run billing to managing their finances. Instead of spending his department’s limited resources to address these areas, he produced a massive document rebutting virtually all of the audit findings. In essence “nah forget this stuff everyone complains about, we are going to ignore any real feedback and try to fix things around here. I know best”. In the real world, companies and employees do not have the luxury to ignore feedback… This department is poorly managed and it is exemplified by our bills. I live alone, take 3 minute showers, and do the ‘if it’s yellow let it mellow’ and my bill was still $100 last month.
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D.L.
October 5th, 2009
10:11 am
You certainly aren’t alone with those complaints. Everyone at city hall hears them, regularly.
Rob is proud of the department’s ability to deliver on the consent decrees. So, he
tends to defend it pretty vigorously.
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JW
October 5th, 2009
10:16 am
Enter your comments here
This was interesting article, though I wonder what’s the logic behind running it only in the print edition and not on the ajc website. Since Judge Magnuson’s ruling made ‘water’ the key issue facing Atlanta right now, why restrict access to the piece?
Essentially what the article is saying is that water, a commodity made increasingly scarce by population growth in the metro area, is just going to get more expensive. And if it’s increasingly expensive, what’s the sense of treating every drop of it to the level where we can drink it? That’s obviously a tiny fraction of the 6,000 gallons an average household use a month.
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D.L.
October 5th, 2009
10:31 am
There are jurisdictions experimenting with reuse systems, Fulton County included.
They treat the waste water to a minimal, safe level and then resell it to golf courses
and other large irrigators. Someday expect a separate system for your home as well.
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John
October 5th, 2009
10:42 am
Rob Hunter and the entire water department are bufoons. They all need to be terminated as quickly as possible. I sure hope that the next mayor takes that task as priority #1.
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D.L.
October 5th, 2009
11:03 am
Depending on who wins in November, you might not have to wait
for Rob and crew to be fired. Some of the top leadership will fly out
the door if the right or wrong candidate wins.
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Troy Jones
October 5th, 2009
11:31 am
David,
I live in Fulton County, but not the City of Atlanta. What did your research reveal regarding the nature of shared services such as water/treatment? Do the City of Atlanta and Fulton County share water/sewer treatment facilities. It would not seem to make sense to secure water from two different sources. I know Fulton County has separate sewer treatment sites as the county is larger than the City of Atlanta. How, if at all, do they overlap?
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D.L.
October 5th, 2009
11:42 am
There is a joint water plant in north Fulton. It’s owned by the Atlanta Fulton Water
Resources Commission. Operated privately.
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D.L.
October 5th, 2009
12:05 pm
Technically, my time here is over. Thanks for the comments. But I’ll be checking in for a while.
Hope the story Sunday was helpful.
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chris
October 5th, 2009
12:27 pm
The city of Atlanta can bet if they keep going up on there water rates they will see a mass exodus from the city that have already seen people leaving.They also will see more city’s leaving like Sandy Springs did. Unfortunately the city of Atlanta has no one to blame but themselves for the situation they are in. The city of Atlanta seem to find more ways to waste money and each month there seem to be something in the news about how there bloated government did this. From useless spending like the recreational authority (who voted themselves raises) to the cellphone incidents to the trips officials made at the taxpayer expense and finally the years of the Atlanta government pushing the sewer repairs off for years and yet the city was fined by the feds everyday which again cost the government and taxpayers billions. This is the same city who cant seem to collect on there outstanding water bills. The city will have a hard time luring anyone to the city let alone businesses.
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D.L.
October 5th, 2009
1:47 pm
Good point.
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brian
October 5th, 2009
9:15 pm
Ironically enough, I got home tonight to a certified letter from DWM in my mailbox (had signed a release last week to the postman). It was a notification of a settlement I had agreed to with DWM – BACK IN JANUARY. I already had this credit processed, but for some silly reason, DWM wasted $3.42 on a certified letter 10 months later. More incompetence. And Mr Hunter wonders why he gets criticized, he cannot even keep up with simple customer communication.
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Jeff
October 8th, 2009
9:28 pm
Anybody who will call a grown man or woman they don’t no shorty is disrespectful and suspect. That term is a sudle form of disrespect.Atlanta has lost the respect they once had for one another. Also the black middle class must reach out to the large Black lower class in Atlanta. The City always have a Black Mayor and you would think that lower income Blacks would be given more city services and help to rise above there situation.But thats not the case. If you ignore the poor they will kill you in the streets and in your homes.They want your attention. They need you. But you to busy at the supper club with your smug friends.We all must serve in one way or another.Pay now or pay later. You still will have to pay.
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esuggs
October 9th, 2009
7:19 pm
good job D.L.
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John
October 12th, 2009
7:59 am
Doing something about the crime problem involves more than setting up speed traps and seat belt violations. Unless you are a high profile murder victim the police are statisticians and record keepers whose real function is that of being a revenue generating tool. It is left up to the citizens to figure out who perpetuated their crime against them via their own camera systems, etc. Police response times that I have encountered are measured in hours, not minutes and I have NEVER seen a police patrol thru my neighborhood. I have no problem with vigilante justice and I believe that it would have a more detering effect than the slap on the hand that the criminals know they will receive if they are caught for B&E or auto theft. If some young burglar had both his arms broke he would think about where he went wrong every time his mommy had to wipe his azz for him for the next couple months.
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What?!
October 12th, 2009
8:11 am
I work downtown on Forsyth and catch the bus at 5 Points and sometimes MLK & Forsyth. Panhandling in that area remains a problem. In the evenings I dread going to the bus stop. Just last Thursday 2 panhandlers accosted me within a span of 15 minutes just after 5 p.m. Not one of us waiting around for our buses gave money and one of the panhandler’s reacted violently by jumping up and down yelling and making disparaging remarks about women who wouldn’t give him money. Keep in mind this was right beside the Police Station there. Panhandling is still prevalent and the ones doing it are frightening.
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Tom
October 12th, 2009
8:16 am
Doesn’t affect my quality of life here in Marietta because I don’t have to go downtown for work, and choose not to go downtown for entertainment…because of the bums. Why would I go somewhere that I don’t feel safe, much less bring my wife an children??
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Longtime Intown Resident
October 12th, 2009
8:23 am
Nice try, Ernie but the last bus has left downtown. Even your employers at the AJC have pulled up stakes and left the ghastly litter and loiterers on Marietta Street. THERE IS NO DOWNTOWN ATLANTA BUSINESS DISTRICT. All that’s left in downtown now are bureaucrats. Have you seen the gauntlet that federal workers have to run to reach the Sam Nunn building? The Alabama Street exit from 5 Points Station is an embarrassment. How about the windswept ugliness of the Russell building. Atlanta’s “downtown” is not there anymore. The banks, the lawyers, the department stores, etc have all jumped to Midtown or Buckhead. Your story could have been written in 1979, 1989, 1999 or this year. It’s too late, you missed the funeral. Sign the guestbook?
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mugglemikki
October 12th, 2009
8:23 am
I work downtown and I have to go through Woodruff Park to get to my bus stop. The number of homeless people that hang out there day in and day out is staggering. I would not feel safe walking through the park alone. On average, I get stopped about 5 times just walking to the bus stop. Something needs to be done. I vacationed in Charleston, SC last year and I didn’t see ONE homeless person…not a ONE. How is that possible?
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Bill
October 12th, 2009
8:24 am
Don’t feel safe downtown.won’t go there unless i have to.
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esuggs
October 12th, 2009
8:25 am
Thanks.
What? and Tom for being the first two to post. Your comments were very interesting, particularly What?!’s comments about how panhandlers treat women. That has remained a common complaint that women are perhaps the most vulnerable or intimidated by aggressive panhandlers. For example, while I have been panhandled a million times, no one has ever yelled at me for refusing them.
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marcus
October 12th, 2009
8:27 am
Atlanta is the dumping grounds for the homeless, for cities all up and down the eastern part of the U.S. They are given one way tickets on Greyhound to 232 Forsyth St. Once here, they are spoiled by the generous churches, lack laws, and numerous loitering spots. I don’t know the solutions, but I would start by address their addictions issues and truly give mental health treatment to the ones the need it. I worked downtown for over five years with the city pd and would never bring my family downtown. I personally will shop, eat, and go to events outside of downtown.
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esuggs
October 12th, 2009
8:31 am
Longtime Intown Resident, I guess you have a bit of a point. But while there have been businesses closing downtown, the expansion of GSU has been one contributing factor to keeping Downtown alive. And look at all of the people who own condos Downtown. There are still a lot of stakeholders downtown. And as you know, it is also the tourist hub. All of the major convention hotels are downtown, as is the sports complex, the convention center and the growing entertainment and museum complex with the aquarium and World of Coke
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bubba
October 12th, 2009
8:35 am
Rudy Guiliani is the only guy who has ever figured it out. I lived in NY in the 80’s under Dinkins, and it was awful- graffiti everywhere, homeless on every corner, aggressive panhandling. Guiliani comes in- complete change. a lot of people hate him for it because they think he turned the cops into goons and abused the homeless. But- if you are going to want your downtown area to be a tourist mecca, you cannot let the homeless take over. We were just in California and LA/ Santa Barbara/ SF all have big problems they seem to be ignoring. The ugly truth is no matter how much you want to help get people adequately sheltered, when you go on vacation or business, you do NOT want to have to deal with it.
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Regularjoe
October 12th, 2009
8:38 am
Recently I went back to Georgia State to complete my degree. I walked a lot going from class to class downtown, like all students. We had a crazy mixture of students (many who looked like bums), street people, business people and tourists. With few exceptions, I remember few issues.
At the time, and things could have changed, some people (other than cops) that kept an eye on the area. They seemed to have a calming affect on everyone.
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You can have it!
October 12th, 2009
8:38 am
I work in midtown near the Fox and you can’t go for a walk hardly anymore without getting harassed or almost forced to stop to listen to some sob story from someone needing money. Everyday on my walk home back to my condo was hit up for money as well. Finally had enough around here and moved OTP.
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scary folks for females
October 12th, 2009
8:41 am
I work at GWCC part time and usually drive east on fulton st and turn left at pryor. last saturday am, I had an extra mc-muffin and when a guy approach my car at the light, I tossed the sack to him with the still unwrapped food. I noticed the dude seemed to wave over the top of my car and I turned to my right and several men seemed to materialize in the woods on the corner headed to my car – time to go and not try that again ..
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esuggs
October 12th, 2009
8:43 am
Rudy Giuliani’s philosophy was that he wanted to dispel the notion that encourage the impression that the homeless “have the right to live on the street the homeless had “the right to live on the street.” Here is a a quote from 2007 that he gave the San Francisco Chronicle when he was a presidential candidate: “The correct, loving, caring social policy is to engage, not ignore … to discourage, not encourage. We would tell them, you can’t live on the street; you’re not allowed to. If you need help finding something, we’re here to help … the one thing we’re not going to allow is just to live on the street. That isn’t a good right. It’s not good for them. It’s not good for the city … it means they are crying out for help, and it should not be ignored.”
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What?!
October 12th, 2009
8:47 am
Ernie, I have worked downtown for many years. I cannot count the number of times panhandlers have made negative comments toward me for being a woman and not giving. And because I’m not allowed to take pepper gas into the building where I work, I’m at a loss as to what I can do to protect myself if the panhandlers decide to do more than get vocal because I didn’t give. Its also my understanding that one of the main reasons the federal agencies have remained downtown is to help keep it alive. If that is true, its not a good omen.
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Keith
October 12th, 2009
8:50 am
I disagree with Longtime Intown Resident that “the last bus has left downtown.” I don’t disagree that businesses have left over the last 10, 20, 30 years for various reasons, but a lot of businesses have moved in over that time – Cousins Properties, Winter Construction, Cooper Carry, Southern Company, Cushman & Wakefield, McRae Communications, Ernst & Young, Atlanta Magazine, etc., etc… Other companies have expanded downtown like Deloitte. These are all private sector jobs, not city, state or federal workers.
Add to that the millions invested in the aquarium, World of Coke, future college football HOF and many, many new restaurants and hotels – Legal Seafood, BLT Steak, Mellow Mushroom, Stats, Dantanna’s, Taco Mac, and on and on. I hardly think downtown is dead.
I agree the panhandling is an issue, and I think it is a lot worse in the Five Points area and points south of there.
Also, bubba brings up a good point. The WORST panhandling I have ever witnessed was in California and also Portland and Seattle, for that matter. I don’t know what it is, but L.A., Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Portland and Seattle all have huge camps of homeless and panhandlers hanging out in their parks.
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esuggs
October 12th, 2009
8:53 am
Sorry about that. I guess the best thing to do in this situation is what you have been doing – maintaining control of your personal space and being confident and aggressive in how you deal with and react to panhandlers
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RandyBogartGA
October 12th, 2009
9:01 am
These people are doing nothing different than what the government of Atlanta and our federal government are doing. The only difference is how they collect it, they beg and the government steals. If you don’t pay they put you in jail. Can one person anywhere show me in the constitution where it says the government has the right to take the money I earn to pay for illegal immigrants health care or for anybody’s health care for that matter. Where does it say I have to pay for their trips abroad?
If you people stopped long enough to realize how much you are being tax you would throw Democrats, Republicans and all the others out of office. They tax your paycheck, the tax EVERY SINGLE THING YOU BUY!!!! That is double taxation no matter how you look at it. They tax the bills you pay….house payment, electric payments, car payments….they even tax your insurance payments …….where does it stop?????
As for your beggars downtown……..don’t call them the disenfranchised…give your visitors a can of mace with the money you steal from us and then let them use them. Maybe that will help.
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Gee Whiz
October 12th, 2009
9:03 am
Ernie … Nice treatment of an important subject with a couple of critical omissions … Your story didn’t include the scores of homeless advocates who basically herd these tired and poor men and women into downtown and Woodruff Park to consolidate their base of power and influence. They tell people who’ve just arrived from the Rust Belt, “Stay down front where people can see you … Don’t let them ignore you and one day they’ll give ‘us’ what we need.” Let’s interview and air the comments of these “advocates” who want Atlanta to be the homelss capitol of America because it serves their fundraising agenda. They’re not hard to find, Ernie. Start around the churches in downtown that let people sleep on their steps but not in their santuaries. Talk to the people serving meals and listen to what they’re preaching.
Second omission was no surprise: Police Chief Richard Pennington, who is more noted for not being interviewed. Even the zone major in the downtown area can’t answer the issues that Pennington is paid to answer.
Third issue: ATL’s City Council needs to answer the question that many taxpaying Atlantans ask: Do we want to continue to be ground zero for the nation’s homeless problem? Should the resources of this city go most to the paying shareholders? And, Council needs to answer soon … The winter of our discontentment soon cometh.
Keep reporting, Mr. Suggs, and we’ll stay tuned.
By the way, I bought two papers on Sunday.
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esuggs
October 12th, 2009
9:04 am
Keith, Love you post. And you are right, places like Denver and Seattle have serious homeless problems and larger homeless populations than Atlanta
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Andy
October 12th, 2009
9:08 am
Downtown is no longer a shopping or retail district. we seem to be accepting that and finding alternative uses. What concerns me is that if the panhandling problem is not solved, people will relocate. I think that’s happening now. The first level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is Security. If people are not secure, they will relocate. That goes for workers, homeowners, tourists and conventions. It was interesting to read the mayoral candidates comments on this problem. The only one who had a specific proposal was Kasim Reed, who wants to add 750 police officers. I don’t know how he intends to do that, but I wish him luck if he’s elected. The others only gave vague comments.
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esuggs
October 12th, 2009
9:23 am
Hey Gee,
Nice post. But it might be a little hard to get a homeless advocate to admit or acknowledge that they are profiting – either financially or politically – by keeping the homeless homeless and visible. Also, some of the homeless that I have spoken with feel “safe,” sleeping on the steps of the church. Safer sleeping outside than in some of the shelters. I think that some of the downtown churches and faith community does a good job in providing that comfort and feeding the homeless and poor. You would amazed at the diversity in race, gender and age that I would see in line every morning. And not all of those in line are panhandlers. Imagine how bad the situation would be without the churches. Also, the city councilman, whose district includes downtown, did not return any of my calls for this story. Go figure
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rsquaredatlanta
October 12th, 2009
10:06 am
Ernie, Thank for giving this issue its due. The statistics in the chart from the National Alliance to End Homelessness point to what I have been saying for years. Atlanta’s problem is not a homeless problem it is a VAGRANCY problem. Subtracting persons in families from the total reveals 5622 singles, and only EXTREMELY rarely female. Combine that with the highest chronically “homeless” number and you see how the problem in Atlanta is different. If we all stop using pc terms (in your case “beggars”) and treat our VAGRANCY problem, all including the truly homeless will be better served. If you are interested I will share my plan.
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Chris
October 12th, 2009
10:09 am
That’s why it’s nice to live in the burbs! Don’t have to deal with those thugs! That and the crime!
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BPJ
October 12th, 2009
10:11 am
I’ve seen enough of these online discussions to know that eventually you will get: (a) the “let them die” libertarians ranting that it’s not their responsibility, and (b) the well-intentioned people who give spare change to panhandlers because it makes them (the donors) feel good. At least, that’s the debate we usually get. Pointless.
Maybe this time could be different. Let’s focus on what is the best way to help poor people. I say it’s not handling quarters to stumbling drunks downtown. Instead, give DOLLARS to organizations that really help people, such as the Atlanta Union Mission, the Salvation Army, the Atlanta Community Food Bank, and the well-run shelters.
Giving change to panhandlers is the dumbest solution I’ve ever heard of. Many of them are con men who are not “homeless”. I recall in fall 2005 seeing guys who had been panhandling downtown for years suddenly start identifying themselves as “Katrina refugees”! Second, many of the panhandlers, who ask for money “for food” are really seeking money for drugs or alcohol (there are a number of free breakfasts, lunches, and dinners in Downtown and Midtown – that’s worthy of a news story in itself).
There are well-run organizations that truly help people who need it, and they deserve our support. I donate as generously as I can to these groups. They can also use the gift of our time, as volunteers. This can be a rewarding experience, and also is an opportunity to appraise for yourself which groups are effective.
Some people offer the excuse that they don’t know how much of their contribution goes to help the poor. That’s an increasingly untenable excuse nowadays, with such online resources as Charity Navigator. The better groups use less that 10% of donations for administration and fundraising. Exercise a little initiative and find out for yourself. And think about it: the amount of “waste” that goes on when you give to panhandlers is a lot more than 10%.
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ugaaccountant
October 12th, 2009
10:15 am
Solution: Illegal immigrants are deported AGGRESSIVELY throughout all of our society. That will open up jobs the homeless can perform. The key though, will be that minimum wage will not be required just as it is not required for the millions of illegal immigrants who work outside of the law. By letting these people at least earn some money, they will be able to work their way through the shelter system and into permanent housing. It won’t occur overnight, but did any of us get where we were overnight?
I realize no democrat will ever vote against minimum wage, but the whole underground economy that has sprung up has proven that in a capitalist society not everyone is worth the $6 an hour.
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esuggs
October 12th, 2009
10:18 am
rsquaredatlanta. I would love to see your plan. You can email me directly at esuggs@ajc.com
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esuggs
October 12th, 2009
10:25 am
BPJ, you hit it. There is a difference between panhandlers and the homeless. I would say that a large percentage of the 7,000 homeless in Atlanta are not panhandlers. And a lot of the panhandlers are not homeless. One of the latest city campaign’s is to encourage people not to give money to panhandlers. If you work or live downtown, you might have seen the yellow “Giving Meters,” which are retrofitted parking meters. Instead of giving your money to a panhandler, the city is encouraging people to drop their change into the meters. But, of the 16 meters in place right now, the TOTAL average is $5 a day. That is not gonna help too many people. So while it might be fine to drop a quarter into the meter instead of giving it to a beggar on your way to lunch, the best way to perhaps help is indeed to give money directly to an agency or well-run shelter. FYI. The city takes that daily five bucks and donates it to those organizations
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CT
October 12th, 2009
10:27 am
“…in a capitalist society not everyone is worth the $6 an hour.”
Case in point, UGA-grad accountants.
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esuggs
October 12th, 2009
10:30 am
ugaaccountant. Let me get this straight. You are saying that the solution to the problem is to 1.) deport all illegal aliens. And 2.) make all the homeless people work for less than minimum wage?
How do you expect anyone to work themselves out of the shelter system without making minimum wage. You have people making minimum wage now who are barely surviving. Who are barely paying their bills and feeding their families. You probably have people in minimum wage who are homeless or out on the streets panhandling.
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ugaaccountant
October 12th, 2009
10:42 am
I’m sure the shelters would be able to adapt quite quickly to a model where they provided food and shelter in exchange for a percentage of their income. I believe in personal responsibility, a hand up not a hand out. If these people want to eat, and everyone does, they should be doing something to earn that priveledge. But right now, it is very hard for them to do so, given that we have so many illegal aliens doing the jobs that require little in the way of skill or training, for very little money.
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Crys
October 12th, 2009
10:45 am
I ride the East/West MARTA train twice a week and I am entertained by the panhandlers on the train. Last week was a lady selling slices of cakes for the homeless, 2 guys with decorated shoe boxes collecting money to bury his wife and child, a guy selling socks and cigarettes and when I got to 5 Points station there were at least 8 police officers standing around and chatting.
Homelessness is a big problem here in the city and the recession is really not helping the low-income families to stay housed and homeless prevention agencies have tighter budget restrictions.
A lot of the people that are hanging around in the parks and on the streets of downtown Atlanta are ex-convicts that have been released from jail with no where to go and no resources so their only option is to beg for money!
Arresting pan handlers and handing out fines of $1,000 + + is not the answer, it is a waste of tax payers money and these fines can not be paid by the individuals.
Homeless Prevention Agencies should receive more state funding to provide outreach to these individuals, evaluate their situations and build a case management plan to help them get back in to society.
Georgia’s mental health services play a crucial role in helping to end homelessness.
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Fred
October 12th, 2009
11:15 am
I fail to see the correlation between homelessness and illegal aliens. Granted, illegals work for an artificially lower wage at times but I have a hard time believing it contributes to anyone being homeless. The main culprits I think would be addiction and mental illness. Conquering these problems with city and state agencies would do more to help than deporting illegals.
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esuggs
October 12th, 2009
11:20 am
Thanks Fred for bringing that up. Every homeless person I spoke with, claims that their problems are the result of drug and alcohol abuse and/or mental illness. I am sure that there are other factors in other people that I didn’t speak with, but substance abuse and mental illness are key. I don’t get the illegal alien connection either. If someone can provide some stats or figures I am sure we would all be curious to see them
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jatlanta
October 12th, 2009
11:27 am
Ernie, where and when is the debate on homelessness this Tuesday, and is it open to the public?
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esuggs
October 12th, 2009
11:42 am
Homelessness as a political issue will be front and center on Tuesday when the major candidates for Atlanta mayor meet for a candidate’s forum at the North Avenue Presbyterian Church. The 3:30 p.m. program will be sponsored by the Homeless Action Group, who organized the forum “to learn the candidates” positions on services and housing for homeless individuals and families in Atlanta.?
The Homeless Action Group is made up of directors and staff of agencies as well as Atlanta city officials who work to prevent homelessness and to address the needs of homeless and at-risk families and individuals.
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ugaaccountant
October 12th, 2009
11:56 am
To me, homelessness because of crippling addiction or mental illness is a different societal problem than the one i’m speaking to. This is a part of the larger question of universal healthcare, what should be included, and how in the world does it get paid for.
The panhandlers I see in buckhead usually have signs saying looking for work, lost my job, or other such things. They look fit for work, but I haven’t done the research you have. Those people are the ones who were able to find work before that no longer can.
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What?!
October 12th, 2009
12:47 pm
I think Fred hit the nail on the head. In my years working downtown the bulk of the problem seems to be addiction and mental illness. Too many times my coworkers talk about having been approached for “money to buy food” only to have the panhandler refuse when my coworkers offer buy the person lunch instead of handing over the cash. I’ve also heard of folks offering to hire some of these folks for manual labor in some of the construction only to have them refuse. Too many don’t want the hand up – they want the hand out unfortunately.
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bubba
October 12th, 2009
12:52 pm
Fred is right. Homelessness/panhandling and illegal immmigrants are not the same issue. illegals come here to work- no work and they go home or move on to some other location. as someone else stated, most of the homeless have addiction/ abuse issues. i think the point about panhandlers not necessarily being homeless is a very valid point also.
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ernie
October 12th, 2009
1:28 pm
This has been great. I have to go off to another assignment, but I encourage everyone to keep up the discussion. I got a feeling that we are going to be talking about this for many years to come.
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MidtownResident
October 12th, 2009
1:49 pm
Where will the Atlanta mayoral forum on homelessness be held? It was referenced in the article, but I’m unable to find it listed on the HAG website. Thank you!
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esuggs
October 12th, 2009
6:38 pm
Here is the info on the HAG debate again
Homelessness as a political issue will be front and center on Tuesday when the major candidates for Atlanta mayor meet for a candidate’s forum at the North Avenue Presbyterian Church. The 3:30 p.m. program will be sponsored by the Homeless Action Group, who organized the forum “to learn the candidates” positions on services and housing for homeless individuals and families in Atlanta.?
The Homeless Action Group is made up of directors and staff of agencies as well as Atlanta city officials who work to prevent homelessness and to address the needs of homeless and at-risk families and individuals.
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Gee Whiz
October 13th, 2009
9:24 am
In the gray and ashen faces of grizzled men on the street,
you can see that life has beat them as they stumble in retreat.
And you can care if they’re crazy, but that doesn’t make em sane
You can see that it’s a problem, but no solution is as plain.
So when they stagger past you and blankly stare away
realize it wasn’t tender mercy that made they go astray.
You can explain away the pathos that shook them to their core
but nothing you or anybody can do will will make them like before.
They won’t be wielding shovels nor fixing up your yard
They’re only good at telling how life has been so hard.
So we walk on past and quickly, glad we dont’ have to run
And shake our heads and wonder if anything can be done.
- Gee Whiz, penned October 13, 2009
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Gee Whiz
October 13th, 2009
9:45 am
they = “them go astray” …… Wish I had edited that a little better …. some blogs are more forgiving, they let you fix after posting … LOL!
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Corey
October 19th, 2009
8:03 am
The media distorts reality in the Atlanta region. Whenever someone sneezes in city governemnt it makes the news. Suburban governments get away with a lot because the media does not find covering them interesting. Thus the perception of a city falling apart – the worst place on earth. This is simply not the case. Day after day we tune in to the local media salavating to find out what happened Atlanta City Government. Shortcomings in government at the state level never garner nearly the interest as misdeeds in city government. Suburban governments make the news only when their constituents protest a tax hike proposal. Pay attention, people. Pay close attention. Even the AJC constantly blogs about Atlanta’s woes while ignoring problems facing other local governments. When one concentrates on the problems of others to the point of ignoring their own problems it only provides the delusion that all is well with me and mine. It’s the others who are screwed up. We’re perfect. I’m not saying Atlanta can’t stand improvements, but stop with the constant hype already. Have a nice day.
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Mutts R Stupid
October 19th, 2009
8:39 am
The city does nothing for those of us who commute from the suburbs into the city for work. The on and off ramps to the interstates are blocked by malfunctioning traffic lights, developers are allowed to block travel lanes, construction workers are allowed by a corrupt police force to park illegally, thus blocking more travel lanes. Low level city flunkies expect and receive kickbacks from developers for special favors that impose major costs on commuters. I long ago urged my employer to move out of the city of atlanta, and I certainly oppose with a vengeance any expansion of the worthless city into Cobb county, ever. Let the people stupid enough to live and do business in atlanta pay for treating their own s h it.
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carlton johnson
October 19th, 2009
9:02 am
How is Macon doing? Do they need money? Columbus, Augusta, Ringgold? I don’t understand why the stste, suffering from double digit tax monthly tax declines doesn’t just write a check to every city. After all, if I don’t pay taxes, or if I pay a lot, the bill may not come due for a while. Then we can ask the federal government to write Georgia a check, and when they run dry…oops!
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Sally
October 19th, 2009
9:14 am
If people have such a problem with Atlanta, the LEAVE!!! We don’t need people full of criticisms, but rather people with solutions. Atlanta has brought a lot of prosperity to the state of GA. No other city in GA could have brought the Olympics here. I think a lot of it is jealousy and racially motivated. If the state would support MARTA it could expand more into the suburbs and that would alleviate some of the transporation problems. If the state and the public don’t start supporting Atlanta more, yes it will fail and Ga without Atlanta would be no good. Most companies and people are only interested in relocating here because of the appeal of Atlanta or being near Atlanta, not Marietta, not Snellville, not Decatur, not Riverdale, not Alpharetta, etc.
And I lived in south Ga for 15 years. There is nothing outside of the Atlanta area but a bunch of trees and farms. I love my hometown, but I’m sorry those areas are dead and dried up because no one is interested in living in areas like that. And for those from those areas who hate Atlanta you’re just jealous, plain and simple.
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booger
October 19th, 2009
9:23 am
You bemoan the fact that the metro area pays 51% of the state revenues, but recieves only 37% back. This seems to indicate you believe in proportionality. If this is so, I assume you also believe Buckhead shoud get the same as they pay into the city, or North Fulton should recieve the same as they they put in. Also, I have a large house. I pay much more in taxes than a lot of people, but I get no better service. My children are grown, yet I have to pay school taxes.
If you believe in proportionality, then you would have to concede all things I said, or your story makes no sense.
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booger
October 19th, 2009
9:26 am
Sally, I believe you’ll find the northern suburbs are the draw for new industry and business, not Atlanta.
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Margaret Newkirk
October 19th, 2009
9:29 am
Sally, any ideas on what Atlanta itself could do change attitudes? Or do you think the attitudes are fixed? I find it interesting that the city seems to tick off some of its closest neighbors — commuters — with relatively small but chronically annoying failures like blinking traffic lights and lanes closed during rush hour for private developers’ construction work. Both seem fixable . . . would those kind of small things change attitudes?
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Ben
October 19th, 2009
9:29 am
The State should sneer, and the rest of the country as well – Atlanta’s government is clearly corrupt and disfuntional. The city certainly doesn’t deserve a pat on the back. Snicker away; maybe somebody will get the message.
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Margaret Newkirk
October 19th, 2009
9:38 am
Booger,the percentage paid in versus percentage received was not really meant as a bemoaning. It was a reality check for the belief in the rest of the state that metro Atlanta is a state resource hog. The metro area should be paying more taxes and it does.
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A Realist
October 19th, 2009
9:38 am
Some of you have no clue. Even businesses that are located in the suburbs what an Atlanta mailing address. Why??? Because it has more clout domestically and internationally. So it is to all of our advantage if the City of Atlanta succeeds and not just the suburbs.
However, until the bozos (the elected officials) that keep getting elected year after year are removed from office (both city and state) the same critical issues will remain and not get resolved. The work force needed (the quantities of educated and/or skilled employees) do not live in the rural counties of Georgia no matter how much anyone wants to bash the City of Atlanta. GET REAL!!!!!
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A Realist
October 19th, 2009
9:39 am
Correction: A Realist
October 19th, 2009
9:38 am
Some of you have no clue. Even businesses that are located in the suburbs WANT an Atlanta mailing address. Why??? Because it has more clout domestically and internationally. So it is to all of our advantage if the City of Atlanta succeeds and not just the suburbs.
However, until the bozos (the elected officials) that keep getting elected year after year are removed from office (both city and state) the same critical issues will remain and not get resolved. The work force needed (the quantities of educated and/or skilled employees) do not live in the rural counties of Georgia no matter how much anyone wants to bash the City of Atlanta. GET REAL!!!!!
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Atlanta
October 19th, 2009
9:44 am
The City of Atlanta has brough MUCH revenue to the State of Georgia! In fact it has brought in more money than MOST cities! The State of Georgia NEED to give the City of Atlanta much more money than it has been giving the City.
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#1 Foxy Lady
October 19th, 2009
9:50 am
A Solution – not another whine!
This issue could be easily settled by a no-holds-barred cage match between an Atlanta Thug and a Toothless Georgia Redneck.
We need to stop complaining and get this matter resolved with a fight!!!
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Mutts R Stupid
October 19th, 2009
9:51 am
booger – I live in Cobb, and at age 62 I am exempt from the school tax. Those of U in Fulton and Dekalb still have to pay the school tax after age 62, until the day U die, or sell.
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Brad Steel
October 19th, 2009
9:55 am
Without metro-Atlanta Georgia is worse that Mississippi.
With an Atlanta session from the state, Georgia could finally be #1 in coveted categories like prevention of rickets and obesity.
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Dano
October 19th, 2009
9:59 am
Margaret, this was not a story … it was COMMENTARY! Should have been filed under “Editorial!” The opinions and interpretations outnumbered the facts in the story!
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booger
October 19th, 2009
10:07 am
Margaret Newkirk,
It seemed to me the theme of your entire article was the state of Georgia should be giving more resources to the city and sharing more of the city’s burden. This is why I choose the word “bemoan” and after rereading your article, I’ll stick to what I posted.
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Henry Grady
October 19th, 2009
10:29 am
Meanwhile, from the Irony Dept.: the AJC has announced plans to leave the city.
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CHANGE no one can believe in
October 19th, 2009
10:31 am
I think people will see how fed up Atlanta really is when we elect the first white mayor in 30 years.
Mary Norwood will not win because she’s the most qualified, she’s going to win because she’ll shake things up and put an end to the corruption.
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Margaret Newkirk
October 19th, 2009
10:35 am
The metro 10 — the 10 counties called metro Atlanta by the ARC — give more than they get in Georgia. No such figures were available for Atlanta itself. The state doesn’t break things down that way.
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Bob
October 19th, 2009
10:37 am
I doubt Atlanta gets any more or less per capita than most other parts of the state. The only way to give more to Atlanta is too increase state taxes during a recession. If Atlanta needs more money it is time to increase Atlanta’s taxes. The problems the city has with sewage, water, etc. are nothing new. Most utilities take care of those problems a little bit each and every year and don’t wait for an emergency.
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BobDog
October 19th, 2009
10:41 am
This was an excellent article.
I grew up in South Georgia and have lived in the Atlanta metro for 10 years. Atlanta is an island of race and Democrats in a metro area and state dominated by Republicans and whites. Atlanta has been marred for many years by corruption that has contributed to the recent division.
Out in the rural areas, there is disdain for “Atlanta”, which includes the whole metro area. Country versus city. The influx of outsiders into the Atlanta area. Almost an inferiority complex by some.
I am not a fan of Perdue, but he was right to lobby the rest of the state to help with the water issue. We might think that Atlanta’s opposition on water is just from Florida and Alabama, but it is just as much from South Georgia.
In the end, Atlanta drives Georgia’s economy and national image. The entire metro benefits when the City of Atlanta does well. The entire state benefits when Metro Atlanta does well.
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Margaret Newkirk
October 19th, 2009
10:56 am
Thank you
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Keith
October 19th, 2009
10:59 am
What people need to realize is that Atlanta is the brand, warts and all. All of those who say that industries are looking in Atlanta’s northern suburbs more so than in the city may be right; however, if there was no Atlanta, there would be no Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Roswell, Alpharetta, Perimeter Center, Cumberland/Galleria. Whether a company looking to locate here decides to move to downtown or Perimeter, they come because of Atlanta.
Take Atlanta away, you do not have the suburbs that surround Atlanta. Take away Atlanta, the rest of the state essentially becomes Mississippi (and yeah, I know, that’s a tired argument, but it’s true). Without Atlanta, you do not have a metro area in this state over 500,000 people. Big corporations that create jobs move to large cities; they do not relocate to Macon or Valdosta.
All of those who complain about mistimed traffic signals and lane closures have a real myopic view of things. After living in New York and spending a lot of time on business in other cities like Boston, Chicago and San Francisco, I can tell you arguments over bad signals and closed lanes hold no merit – they all have the same problems.
If the City of Atlanta were to die, the suburbs would lose their luster. Companies would not continue to relocate here, regardless of city versus suburb. How many companies do you hear about moving to the Detroit suburbs(?) – some of which are very nice, but they are in the shadow of the “Detroit” brand.
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M. Carr
October 19th, 2009
11:32 am
I don’t think people realize that if City of Atlanta falls then the suburbs and the rest of the state will fall with it. Instead of insulting the City because of its problems why not help it? It will benefit all of us in the long run. So silly…
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free
October 19th, 2009
12:01 pm
thank you keith, nothing more needs to be said. very well put.
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Stephen
October 19th, 2009
12:03 pm
Wake up people!!!
I don’t live within the Atlanta city limits either –but THIS IS OUR CAPITOL CITY. It reflects the entire state.
As pointed out in the article, other states provide specific assistance to their capitols? YOU NAY SAYERS: HAVE YOU BEEN TO ANY OTHER STATE CAPITOLS??? Georgia is a great state and our capitol city needs serious work to compete! Do you honestly think Georgia will thrive with Atlanta in ruins??
Come on people! You are worse than Sherman was for the city!
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Allen
October 19th, 2009
12:03 pm
That state resources go to a region full of transplants also “galls people. People think, ‘Why in the world are you down here and getting all of our stuff?’ ”
A 2009 Georgia State study found that metro Atlanta gives more than it gets: The 10 metro counties contribute 51 percent of the state’s tax revenues and get 37 percent of its spending.
In other words Goober, it’s the transplants who are giving YOU stuff
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SA
October 19th, 2009
12:12 pm
Every county outside the metro should secede and let Atlanta be its own state if you hate us so much. We can keep our tax revenue in the area and you can have your beloved rural GA. Good luck with that.
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Eddie Moody
October 19th, 2009
12:15 pm
If Alanta would quit ramming themselves down the throats of the rest of Georgia Like how they took away the state flag it would be a much better place to live an work.
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Shirley Franklin
October 19th, 2009
12:24 pm
As I read Sunday’s cover story “ Georgia Often Sneers as Atlanta Struggles”, I was struck by the omission of the history of Atlanta’s contributions to the state of Georgia.
It was Atlanta leaders including the mayors and the city council who fashioned a plan and executed it that today makes Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport the world’s busiest passenger airport and the economic engine of the state and neighboring states. The $20 billion economic impact of the airport contributes mightily to the economic vitality of the the city’s suburbs and exburbs as over 50,000 people are employed in the private businesses it fuels.
It was Atlanta leaders who wrestled with the questions of race, Jim Crow and discrimination in the 1960’s giving rise to the national and then international view that the city and by association its suburbs, exurbs and the state were “safe” places to invest because this community aspired to a present and future of reconciliation and progress.
It was Atlanta leaders who joined with their neighbors, Fulton and DeKalb counties to lead the southeast region in recognizing the importance of transit and advocated for a local tax to preserve clean air, to improve job access and to connect communities some 35 years ago which was well before the state and regional leaders thought transit was essential to a healthy economy.
It was Atlanta leaders who campaigned with the Olympic Nine to bring the Centennial Olympic Games to Georgia and by doing so cemented the international image of metro Atlanta as an international megalopolis. These are just a few examples of the capital city’s leadership in the state.
Throughout our history, it was Atlanta’s mayors, city Council, civic and business leaders who were less concerned about who in the state benefitted from its efforts but rather it was their visionary leadership that contributed to the health and well-being of the entire state.
What a shame Margaret Newkirk and her editors either don’t know Georgia history or don’t care enough to tell the whole story.
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dewstarpath
October 19th, 2009
12:32 pm
- I agree with Brad Steel, Keith, and Stephen.
The quote about Atlanta being removed from Georgia would
make the state poorer than Mississippi probably came from
former Mayor and UN Ambasssador Andrew Young. In any
case, there is no city within a 100-mile radius of the ATL
(with the exception of Chattanooga, maybe) that could provide
a similar base of talent, infrastructure, and progressive
potential.
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Atlanta - it's whatever you want it to be....
October 19th, 2009
12:46 pm
The Census defines the Atlanta-MSA as a 28-county area (up from the prior 24-county definition that, at its time, was also a new definition) that goes all the way to the Alabama line. The ARC defines it as a 10-county area. A 12-county area has been bandied about by many business groups. A letter addressed to an “Atlanta” will go to an address within the Sandy Springs city limit. A strict definition of “Atlanta” would limited you to the area inside the city limits. There is very poor consistency to defining Atlanta and developing cooperation for “Atlanta.”
As can be derived from the Ms. Newkirk’s post below, you can define “Atlanta” to accommodate your agenda and probably has a legitimate third party to verify your definition.
The metro 10 — the 10 counties called metro Atlanta by the ARC — give more than they get in Georgia. No such figures were available for Atlanta itself. The state doesn’t break things down that way.
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Sally
October 19th, 2009
12:57 pm
Margaret, personally, I think some of the attitudes are fixed because their is a lot of jealousy behind them. There is nothing left in my hometown, the major factories there went out of business over a decade ago. The farming industry is not what it used to be and many people had to abandon the farming industry or continue to live in areas where the economy is impoverished. While Atlanta is suffering an economic downturn now, many cities in rural ga have been suffering a downturn for even longer. I do believe some of the jealousy is because many Atlantans, are not born and bred Georgians. We tend to look somewhat negatively upon northerners, some of it is in jest, but some of it is real.
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RBraswell
October 19th, 2009
1:11 pm
Atlanta is what it is. Talking about it one way or another doesn’t change a thing. The people that choose not to live in Atlanta won’t, those that do will. If you choose to live in Atlanta, you must accept that which accompanies your choice. However, Atalnta does not in any way represent Georgia as a whole. If that were true, the entire state would be over run with street gangs, robbery crews, dope importers/dealers and other sectors of organized crime. Atlanta is crumbling from within, not from outside influences.
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Jane
October 19th, 2009
1:52 pm
I am an Atlanta resident and I am disgusted with this city. It has been exposed as the site of one corrupt or incompetent department and administration after another in never ending succession. The recent show down with police and fire protection being withheld in order to force the acceptance of a tax increase is just icing on the putrid cake. I will be leaving this cesspool in a few years whether property values recover or not.
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Fred
October 19th, 2009
1:55 pm
I’ve never had kids and never will, why am I forced to pay for the education of everybody’s spawn? You parasites are quick to dig into the feed bag of socialized education but scream bloody murder about socialized health care.
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Corey
October 19th, 2009
1:57 pm
RBraswell, take off your blinders the ills that plague Atlanta also plague the rest of Georgia. The only difference is the local media is the grand cheerleader spouting Atlanta’s woes.
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Corey
October 19th, 2009
1:59 pm
Jane, over the past seven years or so how many indictments have been handed down by the courts regarding Atlanta’s leaders?
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Enoch Powell
October 19th, 2009
1:59 pm
Most. if not ALL of Atlanta’s problems stem from the antics and socio-economic legacy of now well over a generation of frequently corrupt black Democrats, practising shameless cronyism over contracts, senior City of Atlanta appointments, Hartsfield airport contracts and the usual snouts deep in the racial spoils trough. This mayoral race has even seen blacks openly trying to foment black solidarity against fellow blacks who aint “down with a black mayor – any black mayor”. Until Atlanta gets way beyond behaving and seen to be behaving like so many other racial spoils fiefdoms, with the next generation of blacks demanding their turn at the city’s trough – regardless of competence or honesty – then the City of Atlanta will continue to splutter (being polite) economically. The city isn’t too busy to hate – its too busy rewarding black cronyism, passing the buck anyway they can for systematic failure and of course blaming whitey (directly and indirectly) at every possible opportunity. Rather than directly and energetically addressing endemic black yoof crime, aggressive homeless beggars on the street, drug dealing and other violent street crime. No one really trusts and respects the APD, they sure aren’t exactly a competent police force. Until folks both feel and perceive the crime, the cronyism and the often astonishing incompetence is a thing of the past Atlanta will deservedly struggle with improving its ability to warrant better treatment from the state of GA and better PR, nationally and regionally.
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TRUTH
October 19th, 2009
2:03 pm
The Metro Atlanta area, as I’ve read, consists of 26 counties. 26!!! In this mixture, you have 26 county governments, 26 County Sheriff Departments, However many city police, a slew of municipal governments, etc., etc. After living in Atlanta since ‘97, I am STILL amazed at how disjointed this metro is. First move would be to bring all of these goverments/police/fire/beauracracies under one tent. It’s all Atlanta. Second, bring all the differing tax bases under one tent. A $1B investment in Atlanta, beats a small portion going to each county that is further diced to each municipality. It’s crazy. Us transplants see the way the city and region is governed currently and it is country. (Not nationally, but Good OL’ BOY POLITICKING). The entire region suffers from this Billy Bob approach to government. The Governor, who’s mansion sits in Fulton County (Atlanta), and the State House that sits inside Atlanta, chooses not to show any support for the very town where he resides. I get that. He’s from South Georgia. But for an entire state to look down it’s nose at the city that puts this state on the map, economically, culturally (o.k. maybe not so much), but offers more than say, Dublin, clearly signifies a divide based on economics, education, race, and ethnicity. And the yahoos at the dome play into that. Unify the region, put in place folks who can do the job. Eliminate the infighting at both the state and county level and let’s get Atlanta into the progressive light. This is an area of millions of people who deserve better. The joke is there is Atlanta and the rest of Georgia. True. But the politicians here seem more caught up in holding power of their respective districts, while holding the Metro region hostage.
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Surely U Jest
October 19th, 2009
2:13 pm
Mayor Franklin brought this pox on the city with her arrogance. She may have got a moment’s satisfaction refusing to shake Governor Perdue’s hand those many moons ago, but the price of this snub was born by the citizenry for her entire term in office. Franklin goes out of office as she went in, leading a city in financial chaos.
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peaches
October 19th, 2009
2:16 pm
Positioning this conversation as a win/lose between the suburbs and the city or the rural areas and the metro is a mistake. That kind of thinking will keep us in the gridlock we face today.
Atlanta needs to deal with the reality of its incompetent governance and the both condescending and racist attitudes that have characterized its communication to the rest of the state. Demanding an entitlement is not a winning strategy for the city or Fulton County. To play with the rest of the state, Atlanta will have to give up some autonomy and some dominance. Atlanta needs the suburbs and the rest of the state.
At the same time, the suburbs and the rest of the state need Atlanta. No one from Ohio moves to Kennesaw, however nice it might be to live there. The surrounding counties cannot profit in the long term at Atlanta’s expense. While there might be short term votes in casting Atlanta as the bad guy, it’s bad for the economy and for the fabric of the state. Frankly, it’s just wrong. the State is going to have to provide Atlanta some financial help for defined priorities. Cooperation is the key for all of us to prosper together.
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peaches
October 19th, 2009
2:23 pm
On this article, you did a good job of discussing the ways that surrounding counties have attacked Atlanta and how politicians have profited from those attacks. It is certainly true that Atlanta’s incompetence, crime and political differences have been open season from many in Georgia.
What you missed was Atlanta’s condescension toward the rest of the state. Reading your article its like Atlanta has mistakes of competence but not of fundamental attitude. This is hardly the case. Atlanta has kept its distance, poured it’s incompetence into the sewers that dump into the Chattahoochee and then downstream. There is ridicule out of Atlanta and a demand that the poorer parts of the state and the richer parts of the state subsidize the jobs programs, the politics and the corruption of the City.
You de-emphasized the damage that the attitudes and communication in Atlanta have done to the relationship with the rest of the state. Not that the rest of the state is without blame… but you did a pretty good job of that.
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Bob
October 19th, 2009
2:34 pm
I don’t think the entire state looks down at Atlanta. In fact, it seems to be just the opposite. But taking care of Atlanta’s sewage and other problems is an Atlanta problem, just as it is a local problem in Augusta, Brunswick, Columbus, Dalton, Jonesboro, Macon, Marietta, Savannah, Valdosta, or any other community. If the state is going to take care of these problems for the city of Atlanta it is going to be one heck of a tax increase. It would only be fair to reimburse communities who have been doing the right thing all along.
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Karina
October 19th, 2009
5:45 pm
Let Atlanta go down a cesspool and take the rest of the state with it. Then everyone will be happy!
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RED
October 19th, 2009
5:56 pm
I love atlanta! I feel really sorry for those of you who are complaining. I have lived here since 97 when I moved to Grant Park. I can tell you first hand that this city is WAY safer than it was during the late 90’s and early 2000. As for Mutts ARE… comment if you take any large city ie Washington DC, Boston, or New York all land owning residence pay school taxes whether they like it or not. For those of you who are going to “leave” I have heard this time and time again. Please leave because if you are not part of the solution you are the problem.
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pdanwht
October 20th, 2009
1:08 pm
If the thugs get in trouble more than three times.they should be treated just like you would treat a dog or cat,casterate them they will com down,
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PhillDoc
October 21st, 2009
12:29 pm
Great post as for me. I’d like to read something more concerning this matter.
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Fan
October 21st, 2009
2:39 pm
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N.Matthews
October 25th, 2009
9:22 pm
I too am upset at the loss of Bill Husteds columns. It isn’t even reprinted on the AJC website anymore. His columns and advice are/were one of the BEST parts of the entire AJC. He actually helped so many people, as opposed to most of your non-news articles. I have a suggestion—to save money, why not cut back—–WAAAAY BACK on the racist-bigoted articles spewed from the computer of your Pulitizer Prize winning editor? Those articles only stir up anger & hatred among people. rather than promote good and harmony. Bill’s articles were down to earth, helpful and in today’s stress filled world, a very welcome break PLUS doing what could be called “a good deed” for others. I shared his articles with a cousin who lives UP in the Sierra Nevada Mtns. of California. Frankly there is nothing else in the AJC I would consider sharing with others. You Editors need to rethink what a Newspaper is supposed to be. Changing fonts, ink and size just doesn’t do the job, reporting facts & truth honestly & fairly would do it, for me, anyway.
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JIM THARPE
October 26th, 2009
8:38 am
Bill: These comments coming in from John Sherman, who heads the Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation:
In comparing Atlanta to Charlotte, there are three steps that Charlotte has taken and which Atlanta has ignored:
Privatization of city services: Garbage Collection, Fleet Management & Maintenance, Information Systems, Recreational Facilities, Non-Sworn Police, Road Maintenance and Water. The Charlotte city employees actually compete in bidding with the private sector. The bottom line savings has been 38% of the 2005 budget. Although this was recommended in the Atlanta Turnaround Plan (page 53) of 2002, not a single major city service in Atlanta has been privatized or outsourced.
Performance-Based Metrics: Charlotte has developed performance-based metrics to weed out the under-performing employees and to extend additional pay to those surpassing the performance-based metrics. Too many of Atlanta’s employees are under-performing as indicated in the Atlanta Turnaround Plan on page 27.
Independent Professional Oversight: On major projects, Charlotte employs or accept professional volunteers to oversee such projects. A perfect example of the need of independent, professional oversight is the Atlanta Water & Sewer Infrastructure, i.e., in 2007, the cost was $3.2 billion, in 2008 the cost escalated to $4.1 billion, reflecting the need for independent, professional oversight.
John S. Sherman
President
Fulton County Taxpayers Foundation
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btorpy
October 26th, 2009
8:47 am
Ibrahim Maslamani, the head of Atlanta’s permitting dept., said he used the prospect of privatization as a spur to get employees to improve their customer service.
Has it worked? It’s hard to tell how well the permitting dept functions until the place is swarming with people who want to build in the city again.
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Voice of Reason #1
October 26th, 2009
8:50 am
It can be turned around with a change in leadership across the board, and the image of the city. CLEAN HOUSE. Atlanta needs a new face. I have told many out-of-state friends that Atlanta is in a downward trend; it is not what it used to be. Over the past 15 years (especially the past 10), the basics of city structure have declined. There’s high crime–you can’t walk the streeets or use an ATM in comfort. Previously nice, safe areas are now filled with crime (Lenox area/Buckhead). Buckhead became Buckhood. Part of it is specific to Atlanta, part of it is national culture–everything is going to hades these days. I would not send my kids to any college in metro Atlanta–none of them. And schools in the AUC? HA! Such wonderful history there, now nowhere near the same, nor will it be for a long time if ever again. Sadly…avoid that area like the plague (or H1N1). GSU/ GT-area? Only slightly better.
The Black politicians seem to only focus on the Black history of the city; there’s more to Atlanta than that. Martin is dead; even his kids aren’t acting right with each other. And since Atlanta became a gathering place and residential conclave for the new generation of hip-hoppers and Black “music,” the trashy RHOA [cough, etc.], it has only destroyed the city’s image, not built it up. This celeb culture here is filled with a bunch of thugs and sloppy-dressing folk that the Atlanta politicians only promote. It’s pathetic to see them adopt and embrace this ilk just because of their “fame”. It reflects poorly on the city.
Suburban folk have always put the city of Atlanta down, but they need to realize there wouldn’t have BEEN any expanse of the suburbs WITHOUT the wonderful development of Atlanta in the late 1980’s early 1990s. To that, there is no dispute. But since that time, city leaders have failed the city.
Even though I do NOT want to hear that twang for the next four years, I am really hoping needs-a-burger Mary Norwood wins, if for no other reason than we need a definitie 180 degree turn…and yep, she would be that! LOL. Clean house. Get out and vote, people. Make it happen. Don’t let this mess drag on any longer.
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BPJ
October 26th, 2009
9:32 am
Actually, I think the city is better off than it was 15 years ago. The population has increased by around 100,000. More importantly, in 1990 the city population was less educated and less well off than the suburbs; now the situation is reversed. (A very carefully done national study established this; it’s a national trend, and Atlanta was #1 in regards to this change.) The long-neglected sewers have been fixed (on time and under budget, as the federal judge recently noted).
Although it took longer than it should have, Atlanta now has a excellent CFO, Jim Glass, who in the past year and a half has gotten the city’s finances in order. One can now track the flow of funds coming in and out; someone should tell Ms. Norwood.
There have been major steps forward in the arts, such as the High’s expansion. The park system is growing. And walking around Midtown is definitely safer than 15 years ago. The violent crime rate is clearly down, although there is more to do in public safety. It is frustrating that the APD has not grown to keep up with the population increase. All 3 major candidates pledge to increase the number of police significantly.
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Corey
October 26th, 2009
9:34 am
Too many trifling citizens populate the city of Atlanta, until that perceptions changes Atlanta will continually be bypassed by cooporations looking to relocate to this region. Too many young people who have no clue about proper conduct in public, a subculture that celebrates chaos and ignorance. A following of the young who are trying too hard to erase civil from civilization. Too many people who are convinced that its better to beg than work. Too many people who have succeeded by exploiting race and keeping their followers focused on it to the degree that they do not move forward for constantly looking back. I could go on, but I would need an Egyptian scroll. I’m going to say something that I have been waiting to say for too long, and I don’t have to worry about being politically correct. Young black people, we can learn a lot from people who look like us but immigrated here from conditions that were absolutely horrendous. However, their behavior in public is civil. Their demeanor is humbling. They speak English better than we do but with an accent. Their kids normally excel in school if they do no become too distracted by misbehaving American blacks. A young man from East Africa indicated that his parents all but disowned him because he fathered a child by and American black girl and fears that the child will be immersed in a culture of low expectations and low standards. This individual relayed to me the absolute disdain his father has for black Americans and sees us as spoiled individuals with childlkie mentalities who have to be protected from ourselves – a group who scoffs at opportunity. A group that has not realized that entertainers and sports figures do not make decisions that affect policy nor our lives, but we lend credence to people like Kanye West even when they make the most shallow statement that borders on dumbness. Until we reverse the seventy per cent single female headed households and the abyssmal high school graduation rates of our youth and begin to to shun the poison we call hip hop we will continually mill around like people who do no have a clue.
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JIM THARPE
October 26th, 2009
9:37 am
Mindspring founder Charles Brewer and Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus both made very big points in our Sunday story about quality of life issues — crime and panhandling — having a negative impact on the city. Anybody have any thoughts about that? Any thoughts about possible solutions?
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Nat Turner
October 26th, 2009
9:47 am
Fix traffic and those darn potholes on all of the “Peach” streets. Sonny Purdoo and the State Assembly have done absolutely nothing to solve the traffic issues for Atlanta. The outlying metro counties have failed at fixing the traffic problems as well. As the article in today’s AJC says, companys’ are setting up shop in the suburbs an avoiding the city. Hmmm I wonder why. They look at Atlanta and say “Let’s have a closer look”, then look at the traffic and the potholes going to million dollar condos and say no thank you. I don’t blame them
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John S. Sherman
October 26th, 2009
9:48 am
Enter your comments here
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BPJ
October 26th, 2009
9:49 am
Let’s start by recognizing that panhandling and homelessness are mostly separate issues: most homeless people do not panhandle, and most panhandlers are not homeless.
Homelessness needs to be addressed by compassionate policies that help people in need, ranging from affordable housing to adequate care for people with mental disorders.
Panhandling needs to be addressed by relentless pressure by the police and Downtown Ambassadors. It doesn’t matter whether someone arrested for aggressive panhandling gets let out the next day – just keep on these obnoxious con men day after day, until panhandling in Atlanta just isn’t worth the hassle.
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John S. Sherman
October 26th, 2009
9:58 am
Enter your comments here
In addition to the three points mentioned above, there is a FOURTH which is most important for the turnaround of Atlanta: much higher professionalism in management positions, including Department Heads. Recent audits of the Finance Department, the Fleet Management Department and the Watershed Management Department reflect a sad lack of professionalism. In addition, the AJC has reported city employees using city credit cards for personal useage, although not a single employee has been fired. The AJC has also reported city employees using city vehicles for personal use; here, too, there has been no accountability. Department Heads should be responsible for their department and the Department Heads of Finance, Fleet Management, Water, etc. should be replaced with individuals of higher professionalism. Finally, the Chief of Staff should be carefully chosen with a strong background in Public Administration.
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YY
October 26th, 2009
10:12 am
Heck just read the headlines on the AJC. Shootings, shootings, and more shootings over night.
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btorpy
October 26th, 2009
10:40 am
I admit, the stories of shootings and pictures of broken glass on sidewalks sometimes makes it seem like Gotham City.
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shirley franklin
October 26th, 2009
10:51 am
The incoming Atlanta mayor should take the first 60 days to review the city’s work of the last 50 years. I suggest he/she start with Hartfield who championed the airport and Lake Lanier taking special heed of the reasons every major corporation including Home Depot have cited. The city provides municipal services and has led the state by investing political capital, the full faith and credit of the city to build essential airport and water infrastructure and now has pledged support for the Beltline and economic development using tax credits and incentives. There is nothing Mr Sherman has added to the discussion other than propose the City of Buckhead.
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AeroNautica0909
October 26th, 2009
11:22 am
The city needs to lower its tax rates and improve the quality of life in the city. That’s how it will attract jobs and businesses.
As a college student living in the suburbs but has a dream to live in Downtown, I can see that Atlanta has great challenges. First off, the city needs to do something about its perception as a crime-ridden city. The elected officials of the city need to be much more responsive. Instead of waiting for a string of robberies or other crimes, the officials need to jump on it right after one happens instead of letting things fester and it becomes an immense catastrophe.
Secondly, the politics and waste in the city’s finances need to stop. Perhaps there’s a ton of back-scratching and under-handed deals. Perhaps there needs to be a mayor who has not been an insider to it all so they can do a more objective evaluation of what needs to be cut and what needs to be kept. A sunset law should be instituted to get rid of programs that are not useful out of the budget. City employees that are rude, under performing or otherwise not living up to their duty should be let go after the first reprimand- and if it is egregious enough, they should be fired instantly.
I also believe that the city officials need to work closely with the school board and get people in lower income neighborhoods educated. All of these robberies and property crime is done by people who have less than those who are perceived to have more. Having such a massive differential between the rich and the poor in the city needs to be dealt with. The city needs a plan to help the less educated and the lower income people get better educated and get better paying jobs so they won’t have to steal from everyone else. That would help in solving the quality of life issue and would create jobs for everyone.
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AeroNautica0909
October 26th, 2009
11:28 am
The city can also be more flexible on zoning restrictions and be generous on incentives. As I mentioned in my previous post, the school board need to be more proactive on raising education levels in the city (and graduation rates that produce quality graduates, not graduating students because they want them out of the schools.) There’s many things the city can do- but I’m questioning if any of the candidates will really tackle all of these issues appropriately. I’d prefer an outsider to take City Hall- an outsider would be better for a critical evaluation of the current state of the city than anyone who has been involved in the city government for years.
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Fred
October 26th, 2009
11:55 am
@ Aeronautica0909. + 1. Well written.
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AeroNautica0909
October 26th, 2009
12:14 pm
Voice of Reason has a point by saying that Atlanta needs a clean house. Yes it does. However, as I’ve stated in my posts, a true clean house requires that someone not involved in city government politics for years to come in and clean house. It will also take someone who has enough backbone to stand up against the establishment and push things through.
At this point in time, Atlanta needs a mayor that has backbone. Given the structure of the city government (strong mayor-weak council), the mayor’s office needs to be held by someone who is assertive and will not tip-toe around the powers that be. The mayor’s office needs to be held by someone who will hold to what they said on the campaign trail. The mayor’s office needs to be held by someone who truly cares about the city and not by someone who wants to be paid well. The mayor’s office needs to be held by someone who is truly committed to the usage of the taxpayer’s money efficiently and effectively.
Whether or not any of these candidates fit this profile, I do not know. But we’ll see what the next mayor does and whether or not they actually deserve to be in that office once they’re in. Let’s see how long it takes before they fall into the typical back-scratching system that politics has become.
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AeroNautica0909
October 26th, 2009
12:28 pm
Thanks Fred for the comments.
I also want to make two more points. Atlanta also needs to work with Fulton County on a variety of different issues to attract jobs and businesses, such as taxation. People that live in Atlanta, as well as the businesses, have to pay Fulton County taxes as well as City of Atlanta taxes. Both need to work together to lower both of the rates. This would make the city more affordable for business and for people alike.
On the quality of life- I’ve heard that one Fulton County Commissioner posed the idea of putting criminals to work. Even though this idea failed to pass the county commission, Atlanta should consider doing this. Perhaps some of these people committing crimes believe they’ll have an easier life in jail since they get clothes, food, and shelter. Instead, these people should be put to work of filling potholes, cleaning parks and empty lots, fixing up buildings- whatever the city needs done. Since city taxpayers are paying for them to be in jail, put them to work. Doing this will show anyone who wants or is thinking about committing a crime in the city to think twice. This can reduce crime and create a better quality of life for law-abiding citizens within the City of Atlanta which can translate into more businesses and jobs.
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roy smith
October 31st, 2009
12:52 pm
In my opinion the AJC goes further than any paper I have ever seen to provide opinions from all parts of the political spectrum. However I do not agree this is a good idea. A writer should be chosen for his/her ability to cover a story intelligently, objectively and accurately, rather than his/her political bias, or ability to rouse or anger a certain group. Today, with Neal Boortz’s inclusion as an “opinion” writer, suggesting traffic cameras carry sniper rifles, the AJC has finally lost me. This kind of thing is not worth reading or paying for, indeed it is offensive. It is sad to see the paper stoop to this. I still look back in wonder at the days of Bill Kovach, brief as they were, when the AJC was a fine paper. After 25 years, I will not renew my subscription.
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Doug Willix
November 2nd, 2009
7:46 pm
Enter your comments here
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Carolelynne
November 4th, 2009
3:13 am
It might be too late to comment, but I take exception to the comments of just about everyone here. Reform needs to start in the state assembly, which treats Atlanta as if it contained deadly poison while pandering to the rural counties that by any reasoning cannot be called engines of growth. The assembly needs to get on public transit 10 years ago. The new “engines of growth” are going to be working out of their homes and the local java bar and they won’t be doing it from the suburbs. People want intown neighborhoods where they really do work, shop and play and they aren’t going to waste their time behind the wheel of a car stuck in a traffic jam. Connect the neighborhoods with transit and people will invest in the infrastructure of housing and shopping. Older people will move in when their driving becomes impaired, but their enjoyment of life is still sharp.
John Sherman suggests it’s all about reducing taxes through privatization. He can even give us the numbers on how much of the budget was cut through this all-purpose plan. But I wonder, are the services effective and are the customers happy with the new providers? This is the part that’s usually left out of the conversation. When the government offers good, effective services, most people don’t mind paying a little more in taxes for them. Just ask the residents of Decatur.
With more people on the streets, crime will go down. With better city services, the panhandling problem is automatically reduced. But none of this will happen if the same old yahoos in state government do the same stupid things that have not worked in the recent past and are not working now.
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Pompano
November 4th, 2009
9:54 am
Why it it that this piece of crap newspaper never passes on an opportunity to race bait here in Atlanta? Nice headline today on “Racial bias in suspensions” but no facts in the article to substantiate. Just an opportunity to give some people who want to holler discrimination their 15 minutes of fame – what a pathetic organization.
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Pompano
November 4th, 2009
3:46 pm
Whoops… someone filed a lawsuit somewhere alleging racial bias. Another front-page story for the AJC.
100’s of lawsuits were filed today – but leave it to the AJC to always advertise the race-card.
When did Al Sharpton become the editor of the AJC?
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Fred Ajax
November 4th, 2009
4:43 pm
What you have done in cancelling Bill Husted is more stupidity; I continually am having to re evaluate keeping my subscription! Why don’t you get rid of a real idiot like Cynthia Tucker? Can we still submit questions to Hulsted, and how?
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Zadig
November 4th, 2009
7:51 pm
Atlanta is not addressing its problems, and business people know this. We have no plan for public transit, we abandoned the Marta train plan with no alternative. We are about to run out of water, and all the city does is chant privatization, which means handing someone a boondoggle. The building department is so bogged down that permits take forever, even with their new fully automated system.
Why do we have so many homeless on the street? There is nothing else they can do. The wages of menial jobs are so low that there is no place they can rent. The mentally challenged, the traumatized war veterans on the street, there is no other place for them to go. Why are they not sweeping the streets? Why are there no industrial jobs that inadequate minds can do? One writer suggests arresting them all. It would be cheaper to provide a work program. Certainly the city needs its streets swept.
We are simply not doing anything about making ourselves presentable to business.
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Doug Willix
November 5th, 2009
9:05 pm
Ken…shouldn’t your first sentence read “…whom I wrote a book about?”
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Dawna Godfrey
November 6th, 2009
1:00 pm
The first thing Atlanta can do to improve the relationship to the state is stop bringing up racial divides, as today’s AJC headlines call Mayoral elections Black vs White….that is the most damaging and irresponsible headlines I have ever seen! Atlanta is divided by economic lines not racial lines! Let’s grow up and become a mature city..putting forth everyone’s ideal to make our capitol city a good example and not name calling and false statements that cause dissension and hatred between citizens.! Put racism or bigotry to rest and just vote for the best candidate!
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Doug Willix
November 6th, 2009
1:53 pm
Why is that when the city of Atlanta does a nationwide search for a Chief of Police they can never find any qualified white candidates?
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Doug Willix
November 6th, 2009
1:59 pm
Jeff,
Your spelling and grammar are atrocious. I’ll bet you are a product of the Atlanta Public Schools, huh?
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Lisa T
November 9th, 2009
10:49 am
I am so upset about Bill Husted’s column! He’s my go to person for all things technology related. I’m a little lost without his advice. PLEASE BRING TECHNOBUDDY BACK!!!
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Cox-ick!
November 15th, 2009
1:04 pm
You idiots at Cox/AJC have no feel for Atlanta. You have blown out so many good reporters your paper mirrors nothing of life here present or past. Jim Axel dies 30 hours ago and not a mention from you blowhards. 34 years on Atlanta television covering our lives for decades and you clowns are too busy with Souper Jenny recipes or a rapper getting tossed out of a posh hotel. This is a cool city with almost 5 million people. Your paper deserves it’s fate. I laugh when I walk past your machines charging a dollar. Congrats clown team.
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Topstar
November 16th, 2009
10:41 am
You better NOT cancel John Kessler! Even tho he doesn’t know that Dukes mayo is better than Hellmanns.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
November 19th, 2009
4:13 pm
We have not cancelled Bill Husted; he appears on Sundays in the Living and Arts section.
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Doug Willix
November 20th, 2009
8:35 pm
Hey Lou,
I was an asst. Fulton County public defender for 20 years. I got appointed to represent a guy who didn’t like you.
In all the years I had been doing that work his was my first case that had something written in the blank on the arrest report in the place for a nickname. On his it said “$40.” He told me that he got that nickname when he was doing time up at Alto and he got charged with taking $40 out of the purse of a lady who worked there and it stayed with him when he got back on the streets. He said all you cops called him that.
I asked him if that bothered him. He said only when he ran into you because you would say to him “$40, today I’m marking you down to $39.99.”
The reason the city has trouble paying pensions is there are too many over-paid city employees with titles like “Assistant counsel to the assistant counsel in charge of assistant counsels.” And all these folks make over $100,000 a year. If these folks got fired there would be fewer big pensions to pay down the road, there would be money to give present police officers pay raises, have money to higher new, quality officers, and balance the city budget and have a huge chunk of change left over.
But what do I know I’m just a smart-ass white boy who thinks you should be Police Chief, Lou.
Oh, and Lou, tell JJ I said “Hey.”
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toots
November 21st, 2009
1:42 pm
Atlanta has been going down hill since blacks have takes over we need in my opinion get Mrs Norwood in there to straighten every thing out and ree needs to quit benning a racist,and bad mouth. How many times have the sewerage been fixed, but not fixed. Most of the black embezzel the tax payer money in Atlanta and that is why its in such bad shape. If we don’t get someone in there to change the way Atlanta is .Atlants will be bankrupt by 2011.They say whites r racists ,hugh, think again .Reed is the most racist of many Blacks. Its time to get Atlanta back the it was when whites was running it and my dear this is my opinion and frankly the truth.Mayor Franklin needs to go and empty her pockets with the rest of the racists.
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toots
November 21st, 2009
2:12 pm
THANK YOU CHANGE THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I BELIEVE ATLANTA NEEDS DO IT RIGHT VOTE WHITE AND DO IT RIGHT, GET ATLANTA BACK TO WHERE WE CAN GO AND BE PROUD, INSTEAD OF WORRYING ABOUT GETTING STABBED IN THE BACK
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E.Brown
November 28th, 2009
11:03 am
First let me say that Mrs. Obama looked beautiful at the state dinner, she is a very attractive women. Then I read that her dress took three weeks to make by 40 people in India. With unemployment so high in this country, it would have been nice if 40 Americans had three weeks of work to make her dress.
If even the President and First Lady don’t support U.S. workers, we are in more trouble than I thought.
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Anti-Radical
November 29th, 2009
8:40 am
In reading other comments regarding “black politicians”, etc, I once again smell the pervasive stench of ancient Republican Dixiecrat ideology that often infests postings on AJC blogs. I am not black, and I do not particularly agree with all of the Democrat party line, but I do recognize the double-speak and partisanship that defines the essence of Republican views, especially as regards race-relations, and jobs.
Today we see that Dubai, which the previous administration tried its’ damndest to obstinately engage in trade relations with (remember the Dubai ports debacle?), is in deep financial trouble yet Dubai doggedly refuses to allow us to purchase any of it’s assets (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091129/ap_on_bi_ge/ml_dubai_meltdown). We are not allowed to engage in free trade relations with this anti-American society that the Bush/Cheney administration was so intent on shoving down our throats.
In light of this, and many other instances of Republican incompetence, as regards the economy and jobs retention/creation, I have abandoned the supposedly ‘conservative’ Republican Party in favor of Democratic views. I am not entirely in favor of the social agenda of the Democrats, but I have had to admit to myself that the Republicans favor lining the pockets of their wealthy benefactors regardless of how that impacts the good of our nation. Simply put, Democrats have proven themselves to be better stewards of our economic future.
Having lived through a multitude of Republican administrations now, many of which I voted for, I have come to the belief that Republicans invariably run the economy into the dirt so that they can make us dependent upon their stewardship, and that working people across the board, will fear the loss of whatever jobs they may retain, and accept whatever wages and loss of benefits that are thrust upon them.
My suggestion then as to “What Can Atlanta Do to Attract Jobs and Business?” is to vote out all Republican legislators and to allow the Democrats a shot at cleaning up the many economic messes that Republicans have embroiled us in.
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Stronglywinter
December 6th, 2009
5:36 pm
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RJ Morris
December 7th, 2009
9:04 am
FANTASTIC ARTICLE DAVE!!!
Here are my 2 cents and will then just shut up.
My advice on appealling, (been doing this for 15 years)
1. Do not respect the BOE Board of Equalization’s opinion at your appeal. Just show up to that hearing so you can appeal to the next level, superior court.
2. Once the BOE sends you their decision letter, then follow the steps to appeal to Superior Court. This will cost $82.50 but is well worth it.
3. The Judge will assign a FREE arbitration hearing BEFORE you go to court. This arbitrator is usually fairly intelligent and unbaised. (In my last appeal, the arbitrator got the assessor to take down the BOE decision of $280,000 to $180,000)
4. Last resort: If you are still not satisfied, then go to court. You can represent yourself, or you can hire an attorney. Do not be scared. If you have solid evidence your property should get at least a 15% reduction, then THE TAX ASSESSOR HAS TO PAY YOUR LEGAL BILLS BY LAW.
In closing, the most important thing to take away from this is DO NOT SETTLE FOR THE BOE DECISION.
Thanks and once again, GREAT STORY!!!
RJ Morris
(no relation to Patricia Weaver)
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D.L. Bennett
December 7th, 2009
9:08 am
Can’t really explain Patricia. Otherwise, an arbitrator can make sense in many cases — even
if you want to use arbitration to avoid court. There’s two kinds now, binding (which no one uses) and non-binding (which
is new).
RJ. Have you heard back on any of your appeals?
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RJ Morris
December 7th, 2009
9:21 am
The Fulton Tax Assessor is about 18 months behind on appeals… I have been told my appeals I filed at the first of 2009, will be heard in fall of 2010.
Of course, until they still are making me pay 85% of the taxes, even though I will really only owe 30% of the taxes eventually. Bottom line they will have about 50k of my money tied up for the next 6-8 months.
Here’s a real kicker, even if I am successful with 2009 appeals, the decision will probably not take effect until after 2010 bills, so I will have to pay 85% of the 2010 taxes as well, another 50k extra. Can you believe it?
fyi- On appeals, the arbitration the Superior Court Judge assigns is free.
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D.L. Bennett
December 7th, 2009
9:45 am
Good point on the arbitration because the new system requires you to pay up front for an appraisal.
Just look ahead on your appeals, think how many new returns Fulton could get for 2010. The county got about 30,000
this year — that could easily double in 2010. You could be fighting those cases in 2012 or 2013.
And, you’d still be in court on these.
The system’s going to wear you down.
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Alfonzo S. Tangerine
December 7th, 2009
9:50 am
“It’s going to be extremely difficult to match sales prices,” McDaniel said. “You will be severely depleting your [tax] digest.”
Because, you know, God forbid government should ever have to make do with less money. Then they might have to lay off a bureaucrat or two from their comfortable existence. That’s the real bottom line here.
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D.L. Bennett
December 7th, 2009
9:56 am
Coming in 2010, it’s going to be particularly ugly. Expect to see lots of layoffs.
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30329
December 7th, 2009
1:10 pm
DL, I looked at my zip code’s data (30329) from the interactive map and it’s not clear how you got some of the results. You say the Previous Median Value is $254,900 and that the 2009 Median Value is $274,800 but that the Median Value Change is $0 (with a percent change of 0%). (According to my calulator that’s a difference of $19,900.) Yet you show a Total Value Change of $9,332,085. (?)
Where does the Change Requested (-20%) come from?
Where does the Sales Value % Change (30.68%) come from?
How is the Point Gap (-30.68) computed? (In this case it’s the negative of the Sales Value % Change above.)
Thanks.
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gb1205
December 7th, 2009
1:55 pm
Live in a 35 home, identically built Cobb neighborhood. We PAID 420K for the house in January 2008; last year, the house was tax-assessed at 470K even though the last sales in our neighborhood (After we bought our house) were 366, 385, and 390 with two more currently for sale at 366 and 380; however, the county refused to lower my assessment from 470K. Thieves, they are simply thieves!
The legal definition is LARCENY – –noun, plural -nies. Law.
the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods of another from his or her possession with intent to convert them to the taker’s own use.
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J Cleavenger
December 8th, 2009
11:31 am
Besides paying taxes on more than properties are worth we are going to have to pay a lot more because the governor did not sign the Homestead exemption this year. I would think this will be a huge windfall for the counties. Are there any figures on what this will amount to.
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Katharine C. Otto, MD
December 9th, 2009
4:05 pm
President Obama and Congress are practicing medicine. The entire health care industry is skewed toward what government and insurance will pay for. As long as American taxpayers are willing to pay absentee bosses micromanage their lives, they deserve what they get. Insurance and government collect money for doing nothing, then make it as hard as possible for individuals to collect on their investments.
Dr. Obama and Congress are guilty of medical malpractice and should be personally accountable for their decisions. We expect no less from doctors.
KC Otto
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Clayton Farnham
December 10th, 2009
4:33 pm
Why is it no longer possible to find all of Meredith Ford Goldman’s reviews in one place, as they had been for a long time? Recently, with Mr. Kessler’s “overview” series, Ms. Goldman seems to have been shoved aside. It should be easy to keep Ms. G’s fine work accessable on ajc.com. Kessler’s opinions are worthwhile and nice to have, but don’t substitute for the quality of a real review. As a reader, I feel that we’re being deprived of one of the AJC’s best assets.
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electrician
December 12th, 2009
6:51 am
a growing population of homeless are startin to assemble under the sprig street/techwood viaduct,the trsh is beggininrg to pile up there,and it has become an operating place for these people,this has happened before,apd needs to flush them out before its too late.
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Gun Super Store Advertising: Alarms and Police Can’t Protect You | Vic Shoup
December 23rd, 2009
1:03 pm
[...] last year and that police might take up to an hour to respond to your 911 call. According to the Atlanta Journal Constitiution, even though over all crime is on the decline for our area it is still high compared to similar [...]
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R W Murphy
January 4th, 2010
2:55 pm
Whoops, Bill Husted got his pink slip and AJC lost another subscriber.
But I do thank AJC for all the memories in the paper. Braves Win!
Katrina! April 30, 1990 editon. Obituraries! Regular size paper.
The Princes Elizabeth and Prince Charles wedding 1948. Back then
there were two: Atlanta Journal (evening) and the other Atlanta Constitution (morning.)
On Sunday there were both in the mornings.
So long AJC, You have been a good friend and did a good job.
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Vincent L. Jones
February 10th, 2010
12:58 pm
Enter your comments here
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Larry D Bennett
February 11th, 2010
7:28 am
I’m amazed at the action taken against the firefighters in Dekalb county who were involved in the tragic death of a person. It was an obvious mistake, and a lot of confusion involved. It’s horrible that a loss of life was involved, and my heart breaks for the family! However, these men risk their lives daily, and should not shoulder the blame for this sad incident. I spent 33 years as an Atlanta Firefighter and served as Captain for 23 of those years. It’s easy to point fingers and monday morning quarterback, but the Chief of the department should be ashamed not to step up and defend these firefighters. I say they should be reinstated immediately. Larry D Bennett AFD retired
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Mel
February 13th, 2010
9:35 am
What you got with the Senate healthcare bill was written largely by Liz Fowler, top aide to Senator Max Baucus. She can into that congressional staff job directly from being the director of public policy at Wellpoint, the nation’s largest health insurer. Her predecessor in the Baucus staff position was Michelle Easton, who left to go to work for the lobbying firm of Tarplin, Downs, & Young representing guess who??? WELLPOINT. The reason the Senate bill and other efforts in Congress have turned into such monstrosities is that they are industry-written, as are most bills now. Until we stop the revolving lobbyist-congress staff door, nothing coming out of Congress will work for US. The healthcare industry now has over 6 lobbyists for each member of congress and over 500 of them are former congressional staffers. None of them are working for US. They are handing our reps already written bills and greasing their way to passage with tons of campaign cash. Fix the money or fix nothing.
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Tyler Jordan
February 14th, 2010
11:25 pm
Must I say well put to begin with. This is a very interesting paper but also entertaining. The way its employees express there different opinions baffles me. Its hard to seem that there could be no bias ism in the fields of journalism. For the average journalist most comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
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robert coleman
February 22nd, 2010
11:00 am
intersting goings on in the metro area concerning tax monies and joblessness and failure to accumulate money to run local governments. i was told the rest. i eat in every day is going to have to close. the inspector came by and found four pages of violations, (previous month, there were none), and the fines are going to double each week if not addressed. given two weeks, not enough time in a 25 year old building that was not designed for a resturant, they are leaving and giving up.
the cops are on the streets like pepper, the cameras have been re upped at the intersections that
used to be too costly to operate, they, the local govt’s are reducing services, raising taxes or at least proposing such, no one is working, not paying taxes anymore and the locals are going nuts to get into your and my pockets.
i will miss my resturant, but the folks who work there will miss it more.
7 jobs lost, gone, cause some fat lady had an attitude or her boss told her to find more violations and get more fine money in the coffiers.
shame
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Russ Holbrooke
February 26th, 2010
7:08 am
Hey AJC, when are you going to go green and stop littering my yard with your trashy Evening Edge flyers with nothing but ads? I don’t want it, I don’t need it and every time I get it reminds me how insensitive you are to your customer’s needs or desires.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
February 26th, 2010
1:50 pm
Mr. Holbrooke, if you contact me directly at the public editor mailbox at insideajc@ajc.com, I can make arrangements to have this delivery stopped.
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John Haeger
March 13th, 2010
9:02 am
Sunshine laws only go so far if one lacks the pulpit from which to publish. As an example, take DeKalb County’s Alimony and Support Unit. After obtaining Open Records disclosures that showed that, for over 10 years, a series of Chief Judges of the Stone Mountain Circuit had supervised Unlicensed Practitioners employed by the county and allowed by trial judges to practice in DeKalb Superior Courts, the AJC declined to consider publish.
I believe the facts of this Unlicensed Practice system remain unknown to the public. Was the political correctness of child support considered justification for suppressing disclosure ? For whatever reason, declining to publish had the effect of protecting County and State officers (several of whom are still in Georgia government) who abetted this criminal activity. Or did the participation of a Supreme Court Justice, now our Chief Justice, in establishing this system play a part in the AJC decision to suppress ?
Justice Brandeis reportedly said that “sunlight is the best disinfectant.” In this instance, sunlight has yet to be shone on these participants and their activities.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
March 14th, 2010
6:01 pm
Mr. Haeger, I’m unaware of the situation you are referring to. But there are lots of reasons reporters don’t get to stories, and they have nothing to do with political correctness. Most often it’s because they are busy with a better story.
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Marlee Grover
March 15th, 2010
7:22 am
I give credit to Barbara J. in my bible study class for this. When she was a young girl her dad had his children take an apptitude test so that they could realize careers best suited for them. If our kids could take this very important test in middle school or before their freshman year of high school, then maybe we would have more successful kids once they leave high school, happier kids that actually use what they’ve been taught, and be tested in the fields that they have actually learned. Our kids are different and one size fits all does not apply here. Our kids’ success should be everyones’ concern because they don’t get a “do over”, they only have this one chance.
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Ezra
March 15th, 2010
1:58 pm
With recent reporting of school’s superintendants and principles outlandish decisions tagged along with political correctness, I do support the Georgia Open Records Act.
The fury saw at the Texas book war justifies my concern. Schools must educate our kids and not indoctrinate our future resouce into some vile ideology. Our forefaters saw the importance of a church not controlling the government or the governed. If we look further we can see this applies also to ideology not presently considered a religion. However its affect goes far beyond the intentions of most religions. Only through an open process can interested parties investigate why decisions were made or casted out. This means keeps in check those who would willingly defile our children or system of government.
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Stuart
March 15th, 2010
2:56 pm
Transparency Laws may WORK, but most Obama Supporters do not.
Did you all get your welfare checks on time this month?
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td
March 15th, 2010
3:04 pm
Any and all work of the government should be in the brightest light as possible and totally open to the public. These backroom deals should be outlawed. Any and all negotiations between members of the legislature, all boards and officials in the executive and judicial branch should be open to the public. Any and all meeting the branches have with lobbyist should be recorded and open to the public. This would be true sunshine.
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Garry Owen
March 15th, 2010
4:01 pm
Someone should educate Pelosi, Reid, and Obama about open records acts and transparency!
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BeScared
March 15th, 2010
4:02 pm
Stuart
You had to be the one to STINK UP THE PLACE. Crawl back under that rock in the trailer park and put down that meth pipe.
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Shawn McIntosh, AJC Public Editor
March 15th, 2010
4:13 pm
Lets try to