Readers' Advisory Board helps keep Frontiersman on track

Frontiersman editorial staff

On Tuesday, members of the Frontiersman staff met with the Frontiersman Readers' Advisory Board to discuss the newspaper's performance, areas of concern and plans for the future.

The board consists of a wide range of people from the community, selected to represent a cross-section of priorities, views and perspectives in the Valley. Each member serves for one year, and the board meets quarterly.

In the past, the board has assisted the newspaper in making decisions about content, design and has also provided valuable feedback about the quality of writing, important subjects that were not sufficiently covered and about our home delivery service.

Some of the topics that came to the table on Tuesday included a comment that some of the articles in Frontiersman do not go far enough in depth, and that questions sometimes still remain at the conclusion of those articles. It was also mentioned that increased sports coverage would be desirable, though some board members said they don't read the sports section at all. There seemed to be a general consensus that Frontiersman editorials are interesting, fair and balanced, and that the Opinion page is a popular section, overall. At least two of the members said they'd like to see some national columnists, at least in the Sunday edition.

Most board members seem to feel that the overall balance between hard news, features and opinion is good. However there was some disagreement about the level of detail presented in some stories -- namely crime stories involving violence. One member felt that Frontiersman belabors gory details at times, to the detriment of the articles, but another member suggested that the detail was an important, though disturbing, facet of the articles, helping to drive home the point.

Overall, the meeting was productive, and feedback from the advisory board always helps the Frontiersman remain on course in terms of providing the right kind of news for our readers. There are currently two openings on the board, so if you are interested in taking part in the process, please contact Managing Editor Frank Ameduri at 352-2268 or at frank.ameduri@frontiersman.com. The board meets quarterly for lunch on the first Tuesday of each quarter. We'd like to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to current and past board members, all of whom have made important contributions to the success of our newspaper.