Reader Advocate: Paper's changes irritating for some

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2008, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

When newspapers roll out changes, readers get frustrated.

In the last several weeks, I have listened to many callers tell me they cannot find things. I tell them where the features are now and they are pleasantly surprised when they find them.

Case in point: The comic "Close to Home" was moved from the comics page to the People Plus page of the Monday to Thursday paper. On Friday, the gentle comic about family life "floats" somewhere in The Mix section.

That baffled some readers. I got a total (over two-plus weeks) of 176 calls asking us to return "Close to Home."

It took several weeks for many readers to realize the comics on The Tribune's two amusement pages are now in alphabetical order. Many of those readers thought we had eliminated their favorites.

I have written already about the readers who said they could no longer enjoy the bridge column, because the type was too small. We corrected that starting last Monday.

But there are still dozens and dozens of readers who have called or written or e-mailed their complaint: Once they get out a magnifying glass they might be able to read the questions on Asimov's Super Quiz, but even with reading glasses and magnifying glasses, they cannot read the answers to the quiz.

"What the hell is going on down there?" many readers ask.

Well, I can tell you The Tribune is not trying to drive readers nuts. It just seems that way sometimes.

In the case of the features on the comics pages, this is what happened: In an effort to "shrink" the paper and save some newsprint, designers figured out a way to stuff more features on the same two pages. Unfortunately, the designers are all blessed with good eyesight - and they neglected to run the pages by people with "older" eyes and reading glasses before they implemented the designs.

Once the pages appeared in the paper, the phones started ringing and the e-mails started piling up. We did manage to do something about the size of the type in the bridge column and explain where the readers' favorite comic strips were.

We have not responded yet to the reader complaints about the type size in the Asimov Super Quiz. This is my formal communication to the designers: Increase the size of type in the Asimov Super Quiz. Subscribers cannot read it!

The bottom line lesson in all of the brouhaha about the changes is: This underscores the basic truth that newspaper readers are creatures of habit. They reach for the same section every morning to start reading. And they finish every morning with the same section.

One of the reasons people read newspapers is to feel smart. They do not feel smart when they look for a feature where they expect it to be and cannot find it.

If a newspaper is going to make changes - like alphabetizing the comic strips - then its editors need to convey that information - not once or twice but multiple times and in several different places, like A1 and the front of the section where the changes appear. This warning needs to happen in advance of the change and on the day of the change.

In general, people hate change. When change comes, people will adapt more quickly if they are given ample warning.

No one likes to feel stupid.

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The Reader Advocate's phone number is (801) 257-8782. Write to the Reader Advocate, The Salt Lake Tribune, 90 S. 400 West, Suite 700, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101. E-mail: reader.advocate@sltrib.com.