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EDITOR'S
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Nearly 14 years ago when a staff of 17 launched Virginia Business, I was the editor, the man in charge of the magazine's content. During my journalism career, I'd absorbed traditional ideas about the editor's relationship with the readers: Editors decided what was worth writing about. If I was good at my job if I got out of the office a lot and listened to what people were saying I could divine the issues that really mattered. And readers would appreciate my brilliance and insight. |
| Ah, the arrogance of youth. It took a while to realize that no matter how many people I talked to during the course of the year, the number represented only a tiny fraction of our readership. Others on the magazine staff had their own perceptions, and we squandered endless hours sitting around the conference table debating what the readers really wanted. |
When I became publisher, I concluded it was time to bring those fruitless conversations to an end. In January 1997, I gave the editorial staff the OK to institute monthly reader surveys. After two years, the results have been informative. Often, it turns out, the readers did not read what I thought they should. I like authoritative, in-depth pieces; the readers prefer short, lively articles. I like profiles of executives and corporate strategies; the readers want information they can use in running their businesses. I like my column, "Bacon's Rebellion." The readers don't.
Virginia Business is in business to serve readers and advertisers, not to indulge the publisher. Over time, you may have observed, our articles have gotten shorter. We've shifted our resources from journalistic profiles toward more articles based on market research. We've beefed up our commitment to features that readers say they love -- such as the Virginia 100 list of wealthiest Virginians and the List of Leaders ranking of largest companies. We've tinkered with a number of columns, looking for the right formula. And, effective this month, we're canning Bacon's Rebellion.
As you may know -- or, at least, as those of you who did read my column know -- I sometimes adopted an immoderate tone. Like this: You fools! Have you no discernment, no appreciation for subtlety of thought? How could you ignore my column?
It felt good to get that off my chest. Just like it was fun being known around the state as "the guy with the hand grenade." (The grenade still sits on my desk, by the way. I brandish it occasionally to quell staff uprisings.)
But puffing up the publisher's ego doesn't win reader loyalty. To give readers what they want, the editors decided to reallocate the space to an expanded "For the Record." Surveys have told us repeatedly that this digest of business developments is one of our best-read features. Be sure to look for the new two-page section next month.
Also reflecting Virginia Business' commitment to providing useful market information, we have created a new staff position: research editor. Leila Ugincius, a former editorial assistant, will oversee a number of new research initiatives, then prepare our findings for publication in the magazine and on our web site, the MagNet.
We've come a long way in 14 years. At Virginia Business, the readers rule, the editors serve, and the publisher gets out of the way.
James A.
Bacon
Publisher & Editor in Chief
© May 1999, Media General Business Communications, Inc.
publisher of Virginia Business Magazine