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What has happened to our newspaper?

What has happened to our newspaper? The stories you are putting on the front page, such as Meth Babies, Police Cars, and Sports stories, certainly don't belong there. You have cut out so much of the paper I enjoyed. I had a hard time finding the book section today. We used to have a full page. And your new "7" section is ridiculous. From the looks of it today, you almost forgot to put it in.

Put human interest stories in the appropriate sections and sports in the sports section. Hard news stories belong on the front page.

Thank you for listening and do hope some changes are made.

Sincerely,

Carolyn Cochran
"A long time subscriber".

Thanks for writing to express your concern. But our philosophy about the front page hasn't changed. We always look for the most compelling stories we can find. And, like other newspapers -- even the New York Times and Wall Street Journal -- we sometimes find them in the world of sports or culture.

(The story about meth babies, by the way, described concerns about long-term health effects facing children exposed to methamphetamine in the womb -- not, as you suggest, a trivial issue.)

There was a time, decades ago, when newspapers had a more narrow definition of the front page. Editors favored stories that were important but dull, like political speeches, official reports and foreign treaties. Today the importance of a story is only one consideration. We think a good front page must have a lively mix of topics that reflects the varied interests of our readers.

In any case, the front page is only one page. If our choices for A1 do not always please you, I hope you will find other stories that interest you elsewhere in the paper.

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What is this?

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.

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.

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.