Report to Readers by Susan LoTempio

More on Harry

Two newspapers - The New York Times and the Baltimore Sun - published reviews of the new Harry Potter book on Thursday.

This was before the book was scheduled to go on sale.

By the way, our reviewer plans to stand in line at 12:01 a.m. Saturday to buy her copy. She will read it on Saturday and file a review for the Sunday News. We decided to abide by the official release of the highly-anticipated novel.

But, a friend told me Thursday morning that she was so angry that the Times ran an early review, she would have canceled her subscription, if she had one.

The question is: should the media respect the publication date or not? Is it more important to be the first with the review or wait until the book is officially released?

Give credit where it's due

  You can't imagine how annoying it is to wake up most mornings hearing a radio news report that's practically word for word what's in that morning's Buffalo News.

It's a badly kept secret in this town that some radio stations take the news right off the pages of this newspaper and pass it off as their own. We're talking original local stories that were uncovered, researched, reported and written by News reporters. Edited by News editors. Stories with bylines on them that are regurgitated over the airwaves (without the bylines, of course) as if employees of the radio stations wrote the stories themselves.

They don't write them, we do, and for the most part they don't credit The News as the source of the stories. Some people might call that "borrowing." I call it stealing.

It's particularly galling when a reader or a friend tells me they heard a certain story on the radio, so they don't have to read it in the paper. "Where do you think that story came from?," I'll point out.

The problem is not just with local radio.

Turn on the 6, 10 or 11 p.m. news and you are likely to see a reporter from a local TV station telling the same story published in the morning paper. It wasn't that reporter's original idea, but you wouldn't know it from the report. Do we get credit for our story? Rarely. The news editors at the TV stations would claim they are making the story their own.

Readers complain constantly that Buffalo is a one-paper town. That's bad in their eyes because they believe competition and different voices make for a healthier media environment. I used to tell them that there is strong competition in this town among this newspaper and the broadcast outlets. But I'm not so sure anymore.

Not when we break the story and they copy us.

Changing definition of news

Al Gore has been criticizing the news media lately for the "trivialities and nonsense" of celebrity coverage.  Hey, I'm sick of reading about Lindsay Lohan, Rosie O'Donnell and NASA employees who drive cross-country wearing a diaper, too.

Gore wants to see more focus in the media on issues like Iraq and climate change. No argument there.

But there are millions of valuable, educational and enlightening stories to be found somewhere in between Britney's latest stay in rehab and global warming.  Those are the stories that take place in our communities; stories that help us live better, safer lives; stories that tell us about people who do important things, and even stories that entertain us - but never in a trivial or gossipy way!

What's defined as news is obviously subjective.  Many readers pick up our front page or click on our home page and only want to read serious world and national news. They are looking for "just the facts" and maybe a little analysis on the side.

Many other readers broadly define news as stories that are closer to home and more personally relevant. These people admit to getting their world and national news in quick bites on the radio or TV or the Internet. But they want to read indepth local news.

The saying "All News is Local" has some relevance in our newsroom because that's what we do best - give you all kinds of local news. Even within our newsroom there is a debate about what's newsworthy and what's not; what belongs on Page 1 and what doesn't.  Answering those questions is a lot more complicated than you may think, but if you don't like today's menu, believe me, it will be different tomorrow.

So, my advice to Al Gore: You're right,  Americans should he reading more about the war and the economy and global warming. But a steady diet of those complex and often frustrating stories will just make readers turn away. Local newspapers need to offer a balance - not with the latest news on Paul McCartney's divorce per se, but with stories that mean something to local citizens. 

Agree or perish

Started the day with a phone call from a woman who is canceling her paper because she thinks The News' political coverage is biased. We're disrespectful of President Bush and too easy on Sen. Clinton, she charged, so rather than read "that trash" she's going to get "unbiased" news from Fox TV.

Unbiased is her word, not mine. But it does illustrate one important point: when she and others personally disagree with what they read in the newspaper or on the Web site - from news stories to sports results to editorials - then they think we're biased. But if they agree with what they read - or listen to on Fox - then it's fair and accurate reporting.

What's wrong with that picture?

Also discouraging was the caller who wants us to drop most of the comics from our Comics Pages because they also are "trash." She would prefer them to be warm and fuzzy, like in the old days.

Some comics still are warm and fuzzy, I assured her, but these days, artists want to create strips that are edgy, even political.

What's in the air that's prompting people to be so angry about stories and even comics that tell the truth about our troubled times? When did people start to demand that everything they read in the newspaper has to match their personal opinions or it's "trash"?

A very bad state of affairs, indeed.