READER Q & A
Question: I read something in another paper that said newspapers are sometimes guilty of using a tragic story from another state just to fill up space. Does that really happen?

Answer:

That is a very good, relevant question in light of the national tragedy that took place this week.

If you picked up a copy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution or the Gainesville Times within the past few days, you probably saw a lot of coverage devoted to the massacre at Virginia Tech.

Was the Times or AJC "using a tragic story from another state just to fill up space?" Certainly not. They, like basically every other major newspaper in the country, were devoting coverage to a significant news story.

In the same way, many local newspapers (Sentinel newspapers included) provide coverage of major news stories from neighboring towns or counties from time to time. Readers usually appreciate that, and accept it as something newspapers do. I like to think of it as simply presenting "real news," or being a "real newspaper." I find it catchy.

There will always be some healthy debate about which issues deserve coverage, which stories deserve to be on the front page, and other questions along those lines. But so long as publications are conscious of that, and stay focused on the quality of their own work, that will always be evident in the product they put out.

We make that a top priority, because whenever a newspaper gets away from that philosophy, it just ends up being a sloppy mess.