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Why did The Bee eliminate the stock indicators from the Business cover?

Recently Bee editors and designers looked at what we could do to maximize the use of the Business cover space to allow for larger and more art elements, items proven to draw readers into stories, more so than a simple headline and text.

One of the answers was to remove the stock indicators -- the red and green arrows -- to allow for a less stilted, or pre-planned, layout. We reasoned that since the same information is listed daily at the top of Page C4, it wouldn't be missed on Page C1.

We were wrong about our readers' reaction.

In hindsight, we could have better prepared our readers for the change and better informed them where to find the information they have come to appreciate.

At the same time, we could have done a better job of letting our readers know what they will be getting in exchange: Better organized and more visually compelling pages that we hope will continue to appeal to long-time readers, as well as draw new readers to the interesting and relevant stories we have in the Business section.

Answered by Jennifer at 10:44 AM | Comments (0)

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We in the newspaper business make our living communicating, but when it comes to explaining ourselves, we have long fallen short. So it's no surprise that misconceptions abound about what we do and why we do it. Here, you can ask us why we do what we do and we'll try to answer it.
E-mail asktheeditors@fresnobee.com.

Fresno Bee Editors

Senior Vice President & Executive Editor
Betsy Lumbye
blumbye@fresnobee.com
Betsy manages the newsroom, providing overall direction and tone for its operations. In her spare time she competes as an amateur dressage rider, tackles the New York Times Sunday crossword and reads mysteries -- just not all at the same time.

Managing Editor
Jack Robinson
jrobinson@fresnobee.com
Jack oversees day-to-day operations of the newsroom. He entered journalism at the ripe age of 30, after working as a symphony musician and studying statistics at UC Berkeley.

Assistant Managing Editor for Presentation
Kris Eldred
keldred@fresnobee.com
Kris oversees the Bee's copy desks and the photo, art and features departments. She designed and edited her first newspaper -- for a creative writing class -- in the sixth grade.

Assistant Managing Editor for News
John Rich
jrich@fresnobee.com
John oversees The Bee's local news, sports and business departments. He got ink in his blood -- literally -- as a teenager working on a printing press.

Assistant Managing Editor for Online
Jennifer Ward
jward@fresnobee.com
Jennifer works with all the departments to develop multimedia content and interactive projects for online. She wrote her first computer program in 6th grade -- and still has the original cassette tape it's stored on.

Editorial Art Director
Andrea Cooper
acooper@fresnobee.com
Andi directs a staff of five artists. Her passion for art and illustration span careers in advertising, teaching and editorial design. She also enjoys trekking the High Sierra, winter, spring, summer and fall.

Director of Photography
William Haines
bhaines@fresnobee.com
William supervises a staff of 10 photographers who scour the valley to bring you compelling images. He rides vintage Italian motor scooters that spew smoke and his first published photo was of friend and actor Rob Schneider in high school.

Sports Editor
Matt Lloyd
mlloyd@fresnobee.com
Matt Lloyd has been at The Bee since April 1999. He recently was promoted to Sports Editor in August 2008. He previously was the Assistant Sports Editor. A former sports reporter in the San Francisco Bay Area, he oversees the production of The Bee's daily sports section and the department's special sections.

Executive News Editor
Alison Lucian
alucian@fresnobee.com
Alison oversees The Bee's copy editors from the news desk and the features department. She joined The Bee in 1998 after moving here from the East Coast.

Features Editor
Kathy Mahan
kmahan@fresnobee.com
Kathy manages two editors, 11 reporters and two information aides responsible for arts, entertainment and lifestyle coverage. Reading Rolling Stone Magazine as a teen sparked her interest in journalism.

Business Editor
Mike Nemeth
mnemeth@fresnobee.com
Mike oversees The Bee's business department. He has worked at newspapers more than 20 years and is the third generation of his family to join the industry.

Assistant News Editor
Steve Provost
sprovost@fresnobee.com
Steve manages the news copy desk, leading a staff of 18 wordsmiths and page designers. A Fresno native, he spends his spare time studying ancient and modern spirituality ... and singing karaoke.

Head Librarian
Nancy Ramirez
nramirez@fresnobee.com
Nancy oversees the daily archival of The Fresno Bee and the weekly publications along with research for the newsroom and the public. She is proud of her two awards for Best of the Bee Outstanding Achievement for Best Behind the Scenes.

Metro Editor
Robert Zizzo
rzizzo@fresnobee.com
Robert manages The Bee's metro/local news department.

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