Fla. The first step involved surveying people to learn what issues they considered most important in the '92 elections for president, governor and U.S. senator. Next came interviews with many poll respondents to help us develop questions that focused on what they wanted to know. We did not go through that process because we think ordinary citizens ask better questions than journalists. Many candidates bypass those basics, focusing instead on hotter topics they hope will sway voters. And in reportage centered on personalities, insider politics, hot-button issues and who's ahead, many newspapers neglect these basic issues, too.
Some critics contend our approach amounts to letting readers edit the newspaper.
We report what we think readers need to know, as well as what they want to know. We're not about to abdicate that responsibility. We feel we're capable of being informed by polls without being slaves to them. Our reader-focused reporting does not seem revolutionary to me. It is reformist, reminding us that it is the people's interests journalists traditionally have sought to serve.