SOUTHINGTON - As part of its efforts to meet with and hear from readers, the editors of the Tribune Chronicle headed northwest to Southington on Wednesday in this month's tour stop for the Meet the Editors series.
Area residents gathered at the township hall for the event, which is part of the newspaper's 200th anniversary celebration.
Editor Frank Robinson said the informal gatherings not only allow residents to address their comments, questions and concerns directly to the the editors, but the editors also get to meet the readers.
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Joyce and Gary Everitt of Farmington, foreground, and Terry Cole of Nelson, background, enjoy hearing Tribune humor columnist and assistant metro editor Burton Cole share how he comes up with the ideas for his weekly ‘‘Burt’s Eye View.’’ Cole and other Tribune editors and staff spoke about day-to-day activities at the newspaper.
Tribune Chronicle / Bob Coupland
''This gives us the opportunity to meet all of you,'' Robinson said.
Editors answered questions on a variety of topics, including how headlines for news stories are decided, how many reporters work at the paper, what determines which stories are placed on the website, and if comics will be printed in color on weekdays.
Publisher Charles Jarvis said the headlines have to fit within a certain amount of space with limited typeface and font specifications and yet give the reader an idea what the story is about.
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The next Meet the Editors will be held at 11 a.m. June 9 under a tent at Courthouse Square Park in downtown Warren during the Tribune Chronicle's Founder's Day, which will mark the 200th anniversary of newspaper publishing.
''Writing headlines is not easy, especially when you are on deadline,'' Jarvis said. He noted that Tom Anderson, a copy editor, has been honored with awards for several years for his headline writing skills.
Jarvis said all newspapers are working with fewer staff members than years ago. The Tribune Chronicle newsroom has 32 staff members who work a variety of duties from writing and editing stories, taking photos and designing the newspaper pages.
He said not all stories in the newspaper are placed on the online edition. The online version generally carries just the local stories from front page of each section and the obituaries.
''You will not get the complete newspaper online,'' he said.
Jarvis said the online edition is read more often during the week while more people read the actual newspaper instead of the website on the weekends.
General Manager Len Blose said that an average 16,800 unique visitors a day clicked onto the Tribune's website during April.
Jarvis said comics will likely remain black and white six days a week since it is more expensive to print in color than just black ink. The Sunday comic section remains in color.
''It's hard to put a paper out that will satisfy everyone but we feel we put out a paper that people want to read,'' Jarvis said.
Jarvis said in addition to printing the Tribune, the newspaper printing presses also are hired out to print The Buckeye Review, the Star Beacon from Ashtabula and Youngstown State University's student newspaper Jambar. Also, local routes for Cleveland's Plain Dealer are delivered by the Tribune carriers.
Also Wednesday, editors shared how they come up with ideas for their columns and stories, how stories are planned for the Tribune Cooks section, and what's new, including interviewing local chefs on what meals they prepare for themselves at home and new gardening stories.