Lapses, mysteries, and Opus

Oops

Most readers may not have noticed nor cared that the Page 1 story last Monday about the Back Bay man accused of identity theft gave the man's home address. But reader Rhonda Rudner did -- in part because she lives in the same apartment building.

"It's a little embarrassing," she said. "Why not just say Back Bay? Or just the street? Why not use a little discretion?" Plus, she argued, the accused -- a polite fellow who is nice to her puppy when they pass in the hallway -- has not been found guilty, so why say where he lives? Not even the Herald or local TV stations did so, she said.

Good point. The Globe's own policy states: "Do not specify the street address of a private individual unless the particular location is essential to the story."

So was the address here essential to the story? Not in my opinion, and not in the opinion of Metro editor Carolyn Ryan. It "was a deviation from Globe style," she says, "and we should not have done it."

Unfortunate juxtaposition

There was nothing wrong with the Business & Money section feature story on Shakers Original American Vodka. And there was nothing wrong with the full page ad for the same vodka. But it's unfortunate both ran the same day, just a page apart.

To some readers, it looked like the feature (an optional wire story of no particular urgency) was published as a big thank-you to the advertiser. "Someone places a full page ad, and you give them another ad two pages later that is an article! It should say advertisement on it," grumbled one reader.

His view is understandable. Rarely in newspapers do you see an ad and a feature story on the same product running so close together. It automatically fuels readers' suspicions that ads drive news choices. Having talked to the staffers who assembled the Nov. 2 section in question, I believe the pairing was purely coincidental, but abetted by shortcomings in Globe production technology.

In the old days, the layout of the Globe was drawn on paper, with the ads more clearly labeled. Layout editors could, with relative ease, avoid pairing ads and related stories.

But today the page layouts are drawn on a computer screen, and ads appear simply as a block of color, or with the advertiser identified by numerical code or hard-to-decipher shorthand. The copy desk editor who chose the Shakers vodka feature had no idea the nearby ad was for the same product.

The Globe does manage to avoid some of the pairings that offend readers' or advertisers' sensibilities -- for example, airline ads and plane crash stories can't be side-by-side -- but similar problems crop up elsewhere. The Nov. 13 Globe reported on the state's finding that NStar may have violated safety guidelines in a Hopkinton gas explosion that killed two children. Next to the story in early editions was an NStar ad ("At NStar, we're committed to serving you well"). Ouch.

Certain production editors do get a hard-copy layout that identifies ads by company, but if they had to cross-check every ad against every story "we'd never get the paper out," says Michael Larkin, deputy managing editor for news operations. Plus, he says, it's better that editors decide news placement without being influenced by ads. "You want to make (news) judgments in a vacuum, so they will be pure," he says.

Still, I am still pleased that a new computer system due in early to mid 2004 will more clearly identify ads on the layout screen. That will make it easier to avoid the "awkward adjacencies" that understandably bother readers.

Opus over Doonesbury?

The e-mail from a Cambridge reader was succinct: "Say it ain't so. Opus instead of Doonesbury? C'mon, put it back. Please?" Other readers worried that "political pressure" was what forced Doonesbury off the Sunday comics front and onto an inside page, as of last week.

Not so. Doonesbury was moved to make room for Opus, which is a new strip by Berkeley Breathed, whose Bloom County was extremely popular in the 1980s. The Globe thought his return with Opus warranted prominent display.

True, the Globe could have kept Doonesbury on the front and moved Dilbert inside instead, but Dilbert is hugely popular with a wide audience and deserves top billing. The third spot on the comics front was not big enough to accommodate Doonesbury at its current size.

So Sunday Editor Ellen Clegg opted to move Doonesbury to the third comics page, where it can run full size. "Doonesbury has a loyal readership and we are certain those readers will find it on Page 3," she said. "It seemed like a good solution."

The ombudsman represents the readers. Her opinions and conclusions are her own. Phone 617-929-3020 or, to leave a message, 929-3022. Our e-mail address is ombud@globe.com.