By JOHN NORTH

A veritable barrage of questions and comments, including some that were highly critical, was fielded calmly by Publisher Randy Hammer of the Asheville Citizen-Times  last Wednesday.

The Q&A followed his speech at Leadership Asheville Forum’s monthly Critical Issues Luncheon. (A separate story on Hammer’s talk appears on Page 1 of this edition.)

Susan Roderick of Quality Forward, the first audience member to speak, said of the AC-T, “I really appreciate all your coverage on the environment.”

“This is a very green community,” Hammer replied. “But, having said that, what surprises me is the amount of litter along the roadsides.”

He sees mostly older people picking up the litter — and said it would be good to get younger people, who often are among the most vocal green proponents, involved in trash cleanup.

An unidentified woman asked, “To what extent does Gannett (the AC-T’s owner) have (input) in political and environmental” reporting and editorials in the newspaper?

“None,” Hammer answered.

“Then what is the role of Gannett with the paper?” someone asked.

“We get benefits,” Hammer said. “We’re getting a new computer system” and other improvements that a lone small daily could ill afford.

Nonetheless, he said, “I wish we (at Gannett) had the Warren Buffet model ....” Hammer did not elaborate on his reference to Buffet’s “model,” but the Rogue Investor Website states that Buffet favors companies in which one “can understand the business: the business model is simple and understandable.”

Hammer said, “We (at Gannett) get carried away with new marketing models. We (at the AC-T) were the first Gannett paper to switch back” from the new hyper-local to the old format that featured more of a balance of international, national, state and local news.

“To me, it was sort of a no-brainer to go back. I hope corporate has learned its lesson ....”

Hammer added, “I know if I’m going to be successful, it will be in caring about the community first, versus some sort of standard of journalism.”

Bob Meller asked how the editors determine where to put things in the paper. “The one-page business section on the back of the sports section is ... interesting.”

“We’re not a big enough newspaper to have a (separate) business section,” Hammer replied. “It’s probably my No. 1 goal to have a stand-alone business section” daily in the AC-T.

As for placing the AC-T’s daily business page on the back of the sports section, Hammer added, “Marketing tells me that majority of business-section readers are men, while women are the top readers of the Mountains section.”

John Clark of the Asheville Choral Society said, “You don’t have real reviews of local arts groups, other than what they provide you. Isn’t it possible to find people in the commmunity to do reviews, even considering the paper’s economic status?”

In reply, Hammer said, “First of all, we’ve got a strong arts section on Sundays.”

Despite once working as an arts editor, Hammer said, “The issue of reviews is: If I can have a reviewer or another education reporter, I’ll take the reporter.

“Usually, with small local arts groups, usually they just have one performance and then it’s over.” Any review would appear afterward, with no chance of readers of the review attending. Therefore, to some extent, such reviews are less relevant to readers than other possibilities. “We much prefer working far in advance” on such events, the publisher said.
Following a pause, Hammer asserted, “I’m very open to reviewers, though. If we find the right person ....”

A man said the AC-T ran a front-page story recently on the proposed Asheville Design Center that was inaccurate, coupled with a headline that did not match the story. To the paper’s credit, he said, “you came back and corrected it.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Hammer said of the errors. “I’m sorry.”

Another man said, “The Mountain Xpress has very good coverage of Asheville City Council and the Buncombe County (Board of) Commissioners. We’re very lucky to have a number of other publications in the community.” The man then asked if the news coverage of other local newspapers affected the AC-T’s news content or focus.

“For us, it’s more about TV (competition) than other weeklies,” Hammer replied. “We don’t try to base our stories on what other papers do.”

As an example, he noted just before Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick arrived for his keynote speech at the 2008 Prayer Breakfast (sponsored by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Association of Asheville and Buncombe County on Jan. 19 at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville), the AC-T received sketchy reports of allegations of misbehavior by the mayor, but held the story until it could get solid confirmation on the details.

“I’d rather be right than first — and that’s the philosophy we’re trying to instill” under his administration at the AC-T, Hammer said. “If we’d gone with earlier information (about the Detroit mayor), we’d have gotten it wrong.” Regarding the decision to wait for confirmation to ensure accuracy, “I’m proud of that,” despite not being first with the story, he said.

Regarding a question about the plethora of weeklies serving Asheville, Hammer said, “We have so many good alternative weeklies ... We’ve got weeklies all over the place. Here (in Asheville), they survive — and that’s a great thing.”

He added, “I hope print survives. For me, when I read the print New York Times or Wall Street Journal, I discover so much more information in the print product than the digital product.”

Still, a man noted, “The real game is on the Net.”

Not disagreeing, Hammer said, “We have backpack journalists,” who carry an array of video- and audio-recording equipment to news assignments.

The publisher then termed the AC-T’s Steve Dixon as “one of the most outstanding photographers I’ve seen” anywhere.
“For reporters (at the AC-T), they write for the Web and, at the end of the day, they write their print stories.”

But, Hammer later noted, “the question is: How do we get young people interested — engaged — in Asheville City Council and the Buncombe commissioners? That’s not happening with young people. With national politics, young people say they’re interested, but not in local politics.

“Again, do the test. Ask people who use the Web” exclusively for their news “who their elected leaders are.” Hammer said his research shows they do not know.

In concluding the Q&A, the publisher said, “I love talking about newspapers, but I’m really about community.

“I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven” in relocating to Asheville, Hammer said. “I’m delighted to be here in Asheville

... So this is my home and I have no plans to go elsewhere.”