'Where Are All the Editors?' p.

By: M.L. Stein

Newspapers are advised to involve their editors in telecommunications systems or be left behind by competitors
MARK MATHES, EXECUTIVE editor of the Ocala (Fla.) Star-Banner, looked around the enormous room filled with attendees at an interactive media conference and asked: "Where are all the editors?"
Mathes, a panelist at the Newspapers & Telecommunications Opportunities gathering in San Francisco was referring to the fact that the overwhelming number of newspaper representatives were from classified, marketing or promotion.
"It's scary," Mathes commented. "Some of the people best equipped to target messages are not on board."
The reason, he continued, is that "They haven't been invited into the tent. Newspeople think it's [audiotex] a private club for marketing and advertising. Reporters think of it as extra work."
Mathes advised newspapers to bring editors into the telecommunications systems or "be left behind." He suggested that papers set clear guidelines on the distinction between news and advertising in terms of audiotex.
This idea worked at the Star-Banner during Florida's massive hurricane, Mathes recalled.
The paper, he said, quickly set up a weather hot line to help people reconnect with their families and provided regular updates during the next few days.
The system drew thousands of callers, according to Mathes. At the same time, he continued, the Miami Herald and other Florida papers were offering a similar service.
Mathes noted that the Star-Banner, a New York Times Co. daily, volunteered to be an audiotex test paper for the 31-newspaper group in 1990.
This year the company is installing its twentieth on-site voice system, Mathes reported.
The Times group's regional editors, he pointed out, have come up with tips on personalizing the newspapers through bulletin boards.
Editors can also contribute to audiotex with fax polls, letters to the editor, various opinion forums and breaking news stories, Mathes contended.
Looking further ahead, he said that newspapers can become still more personalized by having syndicates furnish actual voice recordings of Dear Abby and other top-ranked columnists.
Even stocks can be made more personal, Mathes argued. At the Star-Banner, he said, three-fourths of a page normally devoted to stocks was reallocated to local business and sports news. The paper then published an investor's guide to spur interest in its stock-quote hot line. The 64-page guide, which is available on request, has conversion tables to find the dialing numbers for all publicly held stocks, Mathes said.
Advertising for the hot line was sold to financial houses.
"On our road to personalizing the newspaper, we're finding in Ocala that audiotex can not only make money but save newsprint," Mathes said.
Another of the few editors present agreed that the editorial department is an important element in a viable audiotex system.
John Triplett, assistant managing editor for Voice Information Services at the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, called the newsroom a "key player" in putting local information on the system. "Locally generated information and ideas can lead to the highest call counts," he said.
Triplett, whose paper began Inside Line last July and took 6,000 calls the first day, said that one way to get the newsroom involved is to look for problems that can be solved for it.
"Find out who is burdened with more telephone calls than they can handle and look for a way to to put the information on voice," he recommended. "Show reporters ways the system can help them gather information and sources for stories on many different topics."
At the same time, however, the person heading the audiotex project should hold individual meetings with every department to explain the system and why the newspaper is launching it, Triplett said. This is especially important for classified, circulation, advertising and accounting, he added.
Even with all this, a newspaper can expect problems, the speaker warned. He said some users have difficulty using a Touch-Tone phone.
"In the beginning you will hear 'the system's not working' a bunch of times when it is just fine," Triplett said. "You will have to give many instructions on how to use the telephone to get clear codes."
Since neither the switchboard nor the newsroom will like fielding complaints, the solution is to set up a four-digit code for gripes, questions or problems so they go into the system, Triplett said.
"Don't make someone think you're adding to their workload," he said.
The American-Statesman's Voice Information Services includes several types of fax services and a full-color monthly magazine for tourists.
The March 15-17 conference was sponsored by the Kelsey Group and Editor & Publisher.