Posted on: Sunday, July 18, 2004
AFTER DEADLINE
Full July 4th Declaration just won't fit
| • | Variety of issues on board's agenda |
By Anne Harpham
Advertiser Senior Editor
A few readers complained that it was wrong to shorten the document, and that it should have run in its entirety.
Editorial Page Editor Jerry Burris explains: "As a matter of tradition, we print excerpts from the Declaration of Independence every July 4. It is well worth re-reading.
"For space reasons, we cannot print the entire Declaration in the editorial column. We have edited it down to those portions we believe have the greatest lasting rhetorical and historical impact.
"The full declaration contains detailed lists of grievances that are somewhat less relevant to today's readers."
Actually, the editorial section ran more of the Declaration this year than in some previous years.
Special sections
Election season is upon us, and by late afternoon Tuesday we will know who all the candidates are in each race. Those candidates will spend the next several weeks getting their message to voters.
The Advertiser's election sections, published before the primary and general elections, have been a source of information for voters for many years. The Advertiser will continue this tradition. Look for our special sections before the Sept. 18 primary election and Nov. 2 general election Nov. 2. Under the direction of assistant city editor Andy Yamaguchi, the sections will analyze races and provide information on candidates.
News services Every so often, readers ask about our practice of inserting local information into stories provided by one of our news services.
It is a standard journalistic practice to combine stories, and editors are committed to providing readers with full information about story sources. Any story that is a compilation of more than one report from news services, or has local information inserted by one of our reporters, should state where we got the information.
We are fortunate in subscribing to a number of excellent wire services, and for some major stories, each may highlight a different, important angle. Readers benefit when editors take time to combine the most important ones into a single roundup. In such cases, the byline says "Advertiser news services" and credits the contributing newspapers or wire services at the end of the story.
When just a paragraph or two is used from another source, we keep the original byline and credit the source of the added material either at the end of the story or within it. (For example, in an Associated Press story, we might introduce a brief insert by saying, "Meanwhile yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reported that ...")
Last week, a reader questioned our handling of material inserted into a Washington Post story on a U.S. House vote on a proposed change to the Patriot Act. The story was from the Washington Post, with the exception of one paragraph that told readers how Hawai'i Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Ed Case voted. That information was provided to us by The Associated Press and should have been attributed.
We take this issue seriously, and wire editor Chris Neil was quick to thank the alert reader for the catch.
With several news services to choose from, we feel we can provide a more comprehensive account, in some cases, if we can draw on more than one to tell a story.
But it is a judgment call whether it is better to merge the stories or to run the additional information as a separate story.
Editors discuss this issue regularly, are open to feedback, and make every effort not only to be transparent in terms of attribution, but to present the information clearly for readers.
Senior editor Anne Harpham is The Advertiser's reader representative. Reach her at 525-8033 or aharpham@honoluluadvertiser.com.
Variety of issues on board's agenda
Those who participated in the most recent group were:
• Jacque Flores, a hairdresser who works in Kaimuki. • Raybern Freitas, a frequent traveler and gardener who recently retired after 45 years with The Advertiser as a printer and graphic artist. • Bob Hampton, a kama'aina small-business man and Roosevelt High School graduate who now runs his own company, Waikiki Beach Activities Ltd. • Doug Kiyomi Mashino, a marketing specialist for a local credit union who recently returned home after spending six years in New York, Boston and Germany.
• Cloudia Weiss Charters, a UH graduate who recently worked as a health educator for the Life Foundation and is now finishing up her first novel.
Two weeks ago today, on the Fourth of July, we ran a shortened version of the Declaration of Independence, as we have done for many years.
Everything from tourism to transit, from environmental issues to the changing (and perhaps disappearing) "local" lifestyle was part of the discussion with the most recent group of Advertiser Community Editorial Board members.
