TO OUR READERS: New design driven by readers

Steve Forbes, CEO of Forbes Inc., was at a Rotary meeting here the other day talking about what he believes is needed to turn the economy around.

A question from the audience: What’s going to happen to newspapers? The questioner noted that some have closed around the country, newspaper companies have filed bankruptcy and some newspapers have reduced publication days.

Forbes was generally positive —- saying that newspapers provide great value but that the Internet had changed everything including the business model. To succeed, he said, newspapers must go through a process of “creative destruction.”

As the editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, I am living the process Forbes described, and it is bittersweet. Last week, we reduced the size of the newsroom by one-third. Some very longtime colleagues will be leaving us this month. It is difficult to see so many talented journalists leave.

While it hurts to see our friends and colleagues go, we know we play an important role in this community, and we must be focused forward. After the departures, we will still have a newsroom of more than 200 talented journalists —- the largest and best news-gathering operation in Atlanta. Yes, these are changing times, but I am confident we will work our way through this and continue to serve you well. We know how important a newspaper is to a community and to democracy.

On April 28, we launch an updated and improved newspaper for you. Not to be overly proud, but it’s great work by so many people in the newsroom and throughout the company.

We spent much of 2008 listening to hundreds of readers about what they want from their AJC. What we heard was gratifying. You don’t want a magazine. You don’t want a splashy tabloid. You don’t want blogs on paper. You want a newspaper —- well-crafted and relevant. You want us to celebrate the good as well as expose the bad. You want us to rededicate ourselves to the cause of making metro Atlanta a better place for us all. You want us to be fair and balanced —- and transparent about what we do. And you want us to be efficient, so the time you invest with us is well spent.

We heard that you want a newsy and fast-paced newspaper during the week, and you’ll get that. We heard you want a more relaxing and rewarding experience on Sunday, and you’ll get that. It’s a new look, a new nameplate (one for Sunday and one for daily). You want more watchdog coverage, and we’re providing it. You want a newspaper that’s easy to scan to find the things on which you want to spend time. We’re doing that.

In the past several months, we have been slowly changing and improving the newspaper. Yes, for economic reasons, we have had to eliminate some things and tighten the paper, but we’ve also added where readers told us it was important. The next step is the overall look —- it changes a week from Tuesday.

The newsroom has also changed. We have a dedicated team focused on the Sunday newspaper. We have a dedicated team focused on aggressive breaking news online. And we still have strong reporters in key beats.

As we reduced the size of the newsroom —- necessary because of our challenging business realities —- we thought deeply about what readers want, and we decided what would stay and what would go. We believe unique local content makes us special. Therefore, even though we reduced the staff by about 90 people, we go forward with only five fewer news reporters. We have reduced our arts reporters, but we will be building a strong stable of freelancers who are experts in the arts, including longtime AJC writers.

So … get ready for changes on April 28. Thanks to all the readers who have participated in this process. You have made us better and will continue to do so.

Send your comments to tellus@ajc.com or join me on ajc.com/conversation. I’ll be online Sunday answering questions.

SNEAK PEEK AT THE NEW DAILY AND SUNDAY AJC

> Classic design: Our redesign offers a colorful approach to a traditional newspaper look, emphasizing easy navigation and a quick, complete report. It launches April 28.

> The Sunday habit: You spend more time with the Sunday paper, and the new design helps make that relaxing and rewarding.

Our commitment to Atlanta is unchanged.