As The Fresno Bee works its way through the economic downturn, we've had to make some changes in the print version of the newspaper to meet market conditions. Executive Editor Betsy Lumbye announced The Bee's plans in this letter that ran in Sunday's paper. Some of our readers are concerned about how these changes will affect the opinion pages and access to their favorite columnists and other features.
While we are reducing the number of opinion pages that we run each week, we are committed to publishing timely and provocative commentary. That means ensuring that our most popular features remain in the print version. So here's how the opinion pages will look when all the changes are rolled out:
-- The Tuesday and Wednesday pages will be reduced from two pages to one, making the opinions we offer on those days similar to the one page that we offer readers on Mondays. You'll get an editorial, an op/ed piece, letters to the editor and the Doonesbury cartoon on that page.
-- The Sunday Vision section will be eliminated to save newsprint and two opinion pages will run on Sundays beginning April 6. This Sunday's Vision section will be the last one, and will include farmer David Mas Masumoto's monthly column, along with Doug Hansen's illustration. The Masumoto column will continue to run monthly under the new format.
-- We will have two opinion pages each day Thursdays through Sundays.
-- The opinion pages will run in the Local and & State section every day. That's the B section.
-- We will continue to run Victor Davis Hanson's column and my column on Sundays. In addition, the philosophical range of columnists that you've seen in The Bee will remain throughout the week. Some of your favorites, as judged by your previous comments, are Ruben Navarrette Jr., Kathleen Parker, Thomas Friedman, Paul Krugman, Cal Thomas, Leonard Pitts, Jonah Goldberg and Maureen Dowd and they will continue. We'll also consider the best columnists each day from the newswire. We'll put them in print and online on fresnobee.com.
-- We will continue to run our popular Valley Voices features from readers on Saturdays.
-- Letters to the editor will run every day, and we are constantly looking for ways to add more letters to our lineup. This is one of the best-read features in the paper, and we thank you for your participation. Newspaper opinion pages were interactive with readers through letters to the editor long before interactive was cool.
-- We will continue to have hard-hitting editorials to tell you where The Bee's editorial board stands on issues, and we invite you to agree or disagree with our opinions. You have never been shy about offering your opinions and we appreciate the exchange of ideas.
As always, I want to hear from you on suggestions you have for the opinion pages. You can comment on this blog posting, or send an email directly to me at jboren@fresnobee.com.
The can of coffee I buy is still designed for three pounds...but alas! Did Ms. Lumbye just announce the new Bee format, or did she do the amputations? I could live happily ever after without the David Hanson column, but a number of beehivers to the right might disagree. In Kindergarten, my daughter won first price in a Yo Yo contest, but I found out that she had been the only entry in her category. Like The Fresno Bee being the only game in town as far as daily newspapers go. I hate to be had over a barrel. Or am I ? In closing, I could cite a considerable list of great Fresno Bee guys (over the years), but at present, Mr. Boren is the most accessible and the most helpful. Thanks!
I'm not familiar with David Hanson, but I love Victor Davis Hanson's column. Glad to see that Letters to the Editor are still a priority, though the discussions they provoke online are often more informative and interesting than the letters themselves.
It is sad....just very sad. This is not a temporary move, even when advertising dollars become more plentiful.
The "extreme makeover" is nearly complete.
Do whatever you need to do to keep the Bee alive. You keep writing and publishing, we'll keep reading.
I understand having to make cuts and changes due to the economy but I like familiarity not change. I go to the stores where I know where things are and stop if going if they change it so I hope I don't lose interest. I still get the paper even though I don't read it much because my eyes are making it harder rto read.
A Bee subscriber til I die!
Mr. Der Manouel; having seen your photo image, and judging your age therefrom, I think the Fresno Bee shall die first if they keep chintzing on it. The readers shall accept only so much of it...except you of course hahaha! Have a long and good life!
Mrs. Lawson
"Common_sense" Thank You! My mistake! Of course it is Victor Davis Hanson. But I still don't like his socio/political commentary....by what ever name. hahaha!
The Comics have been in black and white for the last few days.
I can live with the lack of color but the black and white images look bad , faces are tinted grey for example.
Will this continue?
Regards,
Jack Coleman
When they changed the obits awhile back they made it much harder to scan and see if there is anyone you know. I liked the opinion pages better in the Local section too because I mostly only read that and Life.
A bad paper is better than no paper which is what we will have if "Duh Bee" buzzes off.Kudos to "The Carriers".Ours is a real trooper who has to deal with snow,bad roads and who knows what else.Tip them well and often and I let him know I appreciate the effort...when I can catch him at 4-4:30 am.
For many years I told my Fresno State classes that the entire script of the CBS Evening News could be printed on the front page of the NY Times with a third of that page left blank. That told them how important it was to have a source, the newspaper, that could provide in depth coverage of issues.
The Bee, often criticized for being too "liberal", is one of the best at providing balanced reporting and, under editorial page editor Jim Boren, has become far more centrist (something both far left and far right dislike).
Keep it up.
I am curious as to what impact the publishing of newspapers online have had to the newspaper industry. Logic suggests that if people can get the news online that a certain segment would prefer that and stop their subscriptions. Has there been any correlation noticed with the rise of internet newspapers to the decline in subscriptions?
We quit the Bee after having to deal with repeated accounting errors. I spent too much time repeatedly proving that my account had been paid. Our final bill was for $14.00. I actually paid it twice just to make the issue go away. I still get notices every so often that say that I owe that $14.00. I've stopped responding. We now buy our paper at the corner store.
If however, I were to go back to a subscription, I would pick the paper version every time. There is something peaceful about sitting on the porch swing reading the paper.
"There is something peaceful about sitting on the porch swing reading the paper." Yeah! It does not need to be plugged in and to be booted up. To my chagrin, I must go to he computer to read foreign newspapers because Barnes and and Noble no longer has them. But not having to get out of my security Mother Hubbard counts for something...hahaha!
Bingo, Kim!!
Newspapers have been been eating themselves alive by driving readers to their websites. Print is toast.
Same with television. Why watch a "newscast" when the information is available hours before online? A sidebar story is that on-air newscasters are flaunting their biases on their blogs, so the perception is becoming quite real.
I agree it is quite real that the decline of newspapers is the result of the evolution of our society and technology, of course. What I am unsure of is the rational I’m hearing these days that the trend must be reversed. Newspapers have historically been THE way to transmit information. When radio became available to the masses the trend shifted and newspapers importance waned a bit. Television came along and both newspapers and radio had to give up more market share to make room. The internet comes and we are seeing the results; all four must share the market and newspapers have lost their lead. I don’t necessarily think this trend should be stopped. The bill floating around Congress that wishes to give newspapers non-exempt tax status is not a good idea. For one thing it limits what they are allowed to print. In addition, the free market should decide if newspapers or any business survives. It takes away the need or push for adaptation and innovative new ideas. Throughout history newspapers have gone out of business and were replaced by new newspapers. Sometimes the new was better. This “maintain the status quo at all costs” mentality is leading us to mediocrity. If society wants newspapers, some will survive. If not then their time is at an end. The bill is another form of bailout. I would extend this thinking to business in general; the “bail outs” have gotten out of hand. Yes people will lose their jobs but they will find others as new business and industries replace the old. Newspapers will find a way to survive; if they don’t then their time is over. I for one hope not. What do you think?
Dear Editor, stop being so chamber-of-commerce-friendly, let them advertise in the other paper if they get disgruntled. Investigative journalism sells papers, you can't have it both ways, there exists a kind of self-censorship and restraint, and frankly a selective amnesia, (how else can you explain Vic Hansen, completely discredited, found to be tragically wrong on every important issue, but still shows up, his column rountinly included as he remains utterly recalcitrant,) it's not characteristic of good journalism when every issue merits "both sides of the story" treatment, that is a late twentieth century american TV model that only served to render completely unprepared a population of ill informed, but over-opinionated chuckleheads.
In the midst of the breakdown of the global economy, reading the Bee only further confuses, and confounds the issue, which I believe is; who caused this, and how will they be punished? And speaking of Justice,...
If the Bee was the only source of news one would be surprised to know that the Iraqi invasion just celebrated it's 6th anniversery. Remember, "6 hours, 6 days, I doubt 6 months,?" that quote, from Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld, in the form of a headline, would've sold out that day's paper.
If the current model is not working, try muck-raking, it's dirty work, but it sells papers.
"Oh-Oh"...just who is "The Wizard" who has discredited Victor Davis Hanson and found him tragically wrong on every issue? Anybody of substance and intelligence?