OWH: Tell us how we're doing

Not long ago, when I picked up my newsroom office phone early one morning, a surprised caller on the other end said, “Oh, sorry. I was hoping to get voice mail.”

She had called with sharp criticism for our front page that morning. But we ended up in friendly conversation. She discovered our views were more alike than she would have known if she had simply left a message.

I share this as a way to invite you to a friendly conversation about The World-Herald newsroom.

On most Sundays, beginning today, we will use this space to respond to questions and complaints about what we do and how we do it. We'll also tell you more about how we produce this grand enterprise, which ranks second among U.S. newspapers in its share of daily readers.

My e-mail and phone number are at the end of this article and on Page 2A every day. I encourage you to use either when you have questions or concerns.

We will devote this space to airing some of the more frequent, thoughtful and interesting among them. We'll try to explain our actions while examining whether we could have served you better.

Our goal is selfish. We think that the more you know about us and the care we put into preparing your newspaper, the more likely you are to keep counting on us as your main source of news and information.

No area broadcast station combined with its Internet site comes anywhere close to the audience of The World-Herald and Omaha.com. We intend to keep earning your trust for decades to come.

First, let me introduce myself. I am a St. Louis native who came to The World-Herald in 1990, one of three refugees who migrated here after a newspaper there shut down. The others, incidentally, are still here, too: reporter John Keenan and columnist Tom Shatel.

Perhaps, like many non-natives, I came skeptical but quickly fell for the region and its people.

My first assignment was reporting on Omaha City Hall when P.J. Morgan was mayor. As an editor, I've been most closely involved in coverage of government and education news and our investigative reports.

As executive editor since January 2008, I am responsible for all of the content in The World-Herald and on Omaha.com. Nearly all of the actual work is done by others — a team of 150 full-time and 30 part-time professional journalists who staff the newsroom seven days a week and nearly 24 hours a day. But I set the overall direction.

Now to the biggest complaint we received last week.

Friday we heard from about a dozen folks angry with our morning coverage of the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas.

They were outraged that it focused on statements by suspected shooter Nidal Malik Hasan to relatives that he had felt harassed for being Muslim. The headline in our Iowa and Nebraska editions — “Muslim held in shootings was taunted”— was scorned by readers who thought we made Hasan sound like the victim.

I can see the readers' point. Many of us have been taunted about something. That's certainly no justification for such a heinous crime. There is no justification.

I was happy our headline was changed for our local Sunrise edition to “Suspect wanted out of the Army.”

But I also know our editors did not say Hasan was a victim and certainly did not intend to imply he was a victim.

When terrible stories like this unfold, we try to focus more attention on the actual victims. But reports from Texas were providing almost nothing about the 13 dead and around 30 injured.

So we offered readers the most complete account available of the man behind the worst massacre ever on a U.S. military base.

As we have learned more Friday and Saturday about the actual victims, you have seen much more extensive coverage of the lives lost.

Our choices for Friday morning were meant to inform you, not make excuses for Hasan. I regret that our choices left some of you with the wrong impression.

Contact the executive editor: 444-1277, mike.reilly@owh.com

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