Changes to newspaper were necessary

I have a great job.

I was never more certain of that fact than when, earlier this month, my wife and I traveled back to Berkeley, Calif., for our 20-year law school reunion.

She works in Columbus as a lawyer. That made sense to everyone.

I work here as the editor of your local newspaper. That made sense to no one.

But here's what they don't get: editing a local newspaper -- even in a time of tough competition from the Internet and in the face of an unforgiving economic downturn -- is a public trust.

You get that. That's why more than 150 of you wrote to us, many expressing concern that your newspaper is shrinking, and therefore our community -- with its great civic pride and justifiably high aspirations -- has taken a step backward. I understand and respect that view.

I don't like reducing the size of the newspaper which has been entrusted to me after 180 years. The choices facing us were difficult, but our Monday/Tuesday cuts were one front-and-back page each day. The actual number of local stories on Page 1 and Local on Monday through Sunday is typically eight or nine. That's about the number we've published each day since September 2004 when I took over as editor.

Also, take a look at your papers from the prior several months for Monday and Tuesday. They average 28 pages. This week we printed 26, or 13 pages front-and-back, rather than 14.

We realize having all the news in two sections on Monday and Tuesday is troubling to many readers, and I have resisted the urge for years to go in this direction because (despite the compelling financial case for doing so) I understood many readers would not like it. But we've said openly that the Monday-Tuesday two-section approach was a necessary evil.

That said, we've heard you and are making adjustments where possible based on your feedback. Many of you told us you enjoyed the Today in History and celebrity birthdays. Starting today, we are reinstating the daily celebrity birthdays feature, and adding back a large portion of the Today in History items on A2.

Also, we are working hard to adjust the weather page to the liking of more of our readers. And while we will undoubtedly not be able to please everyone, we believe we can make some adjustments based on your preferences. If this issue is of great importance to you, contact Jerry Morehouse at 706-320-4422 or jmorehouse@ledger-

enquirer.com by Friday, May 2.

As to editorial pages, many of you have asked about the lineup of columnists for the week. The best news we have to report is that Sunday Voices remains intact, as you see in today's paper. You can continue to enjoy regular columnists George Will, Joe Galloway and Jim Evans in this section. They will be joined by Walter Williams and Froma Harrop. Other columnists have found new homes: Bill O'Reilly will run Monday, and Bill Shipp and Mark Shields will run Saturday.

Also, many of you asked about health inspections. We will be reinstating this feature, which disappeared largely because the state of Georgia changed its reporting system. We hope to have someone trained and a system up-and-running to once again bring you health inspection reports by early summer.

As seven-day-a-week readers of the newspaper have learned, we didn't just take things away. In addition to front-loading news and information into page 1, 2 and 3, we also added a standalone Business section on Friday featuring small business, along with a roundup of our best content offerings on Ledger-Enquirer.com.

We will continue to run a bold, larger-than-standard index on Page 1 to help you find your way around the new format.

Eight out of 10 folks in this community read our paper at least once weekly. We trust them to understand where our country and our local economy stands at present. We believe that when the economy turns, so will all businesses, local and national -- including this one.

Thank you for your continued loyalty to the newspaper, which at the end of the day is a private business managing perhaps the most difficult economy of my adult life. But it is a business with robust growth prospects. In fact, 12 percent more people read our Sunday paper now than in the fall of 2005, and 9 percent more read it daily. And of the 31 newspapers in our company, the Ledger-Enquirer is No. 1 in Sunday home delivery circulation growth.

My mother always told me that nothing worth doing came easy. So I thank you once again, for making this the toughest job I've ever loved.

– Ben Holden