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Daily Southtown Editor Touts
Paper's Goal to Serve Southsider's Needs
("Community
Corner" segment at March 2001 PCC Monthly
Luncheon)
(An article about the panel
discussion from the luncheon--featuring
newspaper entertainment columnists--can be found
here.)
By Carl L. Henderson
In addition to PCC's main
monthly luncheon program featuring a speaker or
panel, a representative from a local media
outlet is also invited to speak to luncheon
attendees. The talk usually centers on current
activities of the publication, and how to
successfully pitch ideas to editors and staff.
The March luncheon guest was
Daily Southtown editor Michael Waters, a
13-year veteran of the newspaper, and editor
since February 2000. A graduate of the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he
also worked for the now-defunct Suburban Tribune
and the Times of Northwest Indiana.
Michael feels that the
viability and value of the Daily Southtown often
gets overlooked because of its operation
"in the shadow of the Sun-Times and the
Tribune." The newspaper's coverage is south
of the Stevenson Expressway, including 68-70
suburbs, portions of the City of Chicago,
including the area around Midway Airport.
The emphasis is local news,
but the paper also includes a national and world
perspective as well. "Pretty much anything
you'll find in the downtown papers, you'll find
in the Southtown," Waters offered.
Referring to a one-time ad
campaign of the newspaper, which jokingly poked
fun at "Northsiders," Waters stated
that he thought there really were some things
that "Northsiders didn't get." For
example, he noted that the paper's coverage area
is large and diverse, and more upscale than
people give it credit for.
In addressing how he would
like to be contacted from PR practitioners, he
prefers e-mail or faxes to phone calls, because
e-mail "can be read at your leisure."
"Don't call the editor to ask what the fax
number is," he jokingly scolded. "The
key is to find out the appropriate person to
contact. You can go through the general
switchboard, or in the newsroom through the
newsroom office manager," to get the most
appropriate editor. "We're interested in
stories primarily about our coverage area, where
people who live in or have roots in the coverage
area."
In response to a question
from the audience, Waters noted that the
newspaper doesn't directly edit a magazine,
however, as part of a larger newspaper group,
the newspaper does carry a monthly magazine
called Elite, which is inserted in the newspaper
and focuses on fashion, furnishings, dining,
etc.
Due to escalating expenses,
Waters noted that the Daily Southtown and the
twice-weekly Star, (both owned by the same
parent organization), will be doing some merging
of operations, but will remain separate
publications with separate staffs operating
under their current names.
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