I'm trying a few new things this week after having a community journalism class offered by a former editor of The Alleghany News. Jock Lauterer was kind enough to come to Alleghany County last week to offer a little free instruction to staff members of the newspaper. He is a professor in the journalism department at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and is the director of The Carolina Community Media Project at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

He has been making a whirlwind tour of newspapers across the state to offer a short course on community journalism.

Photographs and stories were shared, including tidbits about family- owned and operated newspapers, which are becoming a thing of the past. Most newspapers are now being 'gobbled up' by larger syndicates, which are then devoured by even bigger companies. In the end, there likely will be only a few giant newspaper companies located in places like Miami, Los Angeles and New York.

Luckily, the local newspaper is still operated by folks in this area and is owned by a family company, not a large conglomerate. I think this fact makes a big difference in the product the readers receive and the fact that the news isn't so 'profit driven' as it is 'quality driven.'

When taking on an assignment, I've never been told to cut corners. Sometimes we don't have as much time as we would like to dedicate to each individual story, but that's only because there are a fixed number of staff members here and a fixed number of hours in the week. However, there are an unlimited amount of stories we could be writing about at any given time.

But those are stories for another time. As for the good professor, he did give us some useful advice: writing tips, layout tips and general ideas were offered. As with any expert in a chosen field, I try to weigh what I hear against what I already know and what I believe to be true, but I can say that I found his comments to be insightful and a good deal of them hit the mark.

I think it was a good thing that Mr. Lauterer came into our newspaper. It prompted me to look at the paper in a new way, perhaps as an institution more than as just a publication. As a vehicle for community service more than just a place to work. While these ideals are the things that generally prompt people to seek a career in journalism, ideals tend to fade over time, replaced by the realities of workloads and deadlines.

Lauterer himself last worked here in the late 1960s, but said some things about the county haven't changed much since he left, while others are unrecognizable. For instance, the house he rented while he worked here still stands on U.S. 21, but much of what he knew about

Sparta has definitely changed. The old newspaper office still stands in front of the Alleghany Courthouse, Farmers Hardware is still in business and the old Smithey's Building is right where he left it, albeit now operated by a new friendly face.

Overall, he said he thinks The Alleghany News is a good newspaper. He liked our design, coverage and our stories.

But he did offer some helpful tips—things like suggesting we try to bump up our lead headlines to a larger size and that we give more attribution on photos and stories to tell readers from whence they came. He even suggested that I write something to tell people how we 'do what we do,' from week to week.

"You're assuming that people know how to read a newspaper," he said, a statement I found quite odd in itself.

I would indeed think that a safe assumption. He pointed out some areas that might be confusing to some readers.

For instance, when a photograph is enclosed in a box, the box is supposed to indicate to readers that the photo stands alone, or has no story that it illustrates. He said some people might not realize this to be the case.

Another point was the fact that editorials (the larger type on the far left of the editorial page each week) are the opinion of the newspaper. Can a newspaper have an opinion? He pointed out that some newspapers even attribute the editorials, but that it is generally understood that the stand of the editorial is considered the position taken by the newspaper. However, columnists' opinions (like my own Reality Check) are considered the opinions of their respective author. Letters to the editor reflect the opinion of the person who has placed his or her name at the end. I verify each letter to the editor personally before printing it, making sure I can vouch for its author being a legitimate person of the name signed at the end. If I can't verify the letter, I don't print it.

Other things that people might not realize is where we get some of the information we print in the newspaper. It all comes from somewhere. For instance, stories about upcoming events often come from a variety of sources and the author isn't identified. Many times these are articles that I, or someone else on staff, have hobbled together from a press release from the Alleghany Chamber of Commerce, the organizer of an event or someone else. Mr. Lauterer suggested that we put 'from staff reports' on those articles so readers know they are created locally.

All in all, the program has led me to take a second look at the newspaper with an eye to make a few 'tweaks' here and there—and that's definitely a good thing.

Get more tongue in cheek commentary this week's issue of the Alleghany News!

Email: allnews@ls.net