Advisory board connects newspaper to community

Last week the Frontiersman newsroom staff and publisher Kari Sleight met with the newspaper's readers' advisory board. This was our second meeting with the 2003 board, and it was one of the most productive encounters to date.

The purpose of the readers' advisory board is to provide a cross-section of people from our community to represent the Frontiersman's general readership. We meet quarterly with the board to gauge how well the newspaper is serving the community, and to identify areas of strength and places where we can improve. The 2002 board was very engaged, and that group helped us make some critical changes and upgrades. The 2003 incarnation of the board is also a dynamic group with an honest, no-nonsense approach.

During this meeting the Frontiersman staff shared some news about our ongoing efforts to bring home delivery to the entire core area. We plan to have all core area routes up and running by the end of August, and our new circulation manager Dwight Szpak and his circulation team have been working hard to ensure that happens. The board members all felt home delivery is a marked improvement, especially where the Sunday edition is concerned.

One board member commented that some of the questions for the Sunday Snapshot feature were not very interesting. We do try to use a mix of serious and lighter questions, and we also welcome suggested questions from the community. Please let us know what you think of Snapshot, and how we can best keep it interesting for our readers.

Another member suggested we increase our coverage of local arts, and also that we could do a better job covering a wider spectrum of local sports. We are looking at ways to increase our arts and entertainment coverage presently, and encourage involved people in the community to help us stay on top of all the sports that take place here. We have only one full-time sports writer, so we welcome all submissions about local sports. We make every effort to print sports submissions as soon as space permits -- please include contact information in case we have any questions.

Board members also feel the length of our articles is about right, but some said they wished the page one stories would jump to the back page instead of to page four.

For the most part, the board was complimentary, especially noting that the Frontiersman presents a fair and balanced perspective on our news coverage, and several board members commented on the balance we attempt to maintain in our editorials.

In general it was a very lively, positive meeting, and we appreciate the time and effort these dedicated people contribute to help us stay in touch with our community.