SUZANNE TATE: New Members Sought For Our Readers Advisory Panel

Despite the fact that some critics think we do this work in the dark and alone, truly we don’t.

In every endeavor on these pages – news, opinion, photography, sports – we aim to seek out the views of experts, of readers, of people who have been most affected by what we are trying to report or share or opine.

For five years we have asked for help from a targeted group of community volunteers – people we ask to serve on our readers advisory panel. We ask this group to meet monthly and offer their ideas, criticisms and suggestions to the newspaper’s editorial board. Their input is invaluable and insightful.

And again we are looking for volunteers to join the advisory panel.

Some basics:

We ask you to serve for at least a year and commit to meeting on a monthly basis. In the past, many residents who have clamored to be on the panel and were appointed simply never showed up, or did so rarely.

The meetings are held at the Bristol Herald Courier office. Biggest perk? We’ll feed you. We also ask you to come hungry for discussion and to bring talking points, ideas and your curiosity.

If you have this time to invest and want to be part of an engaging discussion, read on.

Members of the panel are chosen by the editorial board from among readers who submit applications.

Like all news people, we’re nosy – we want to know more about you. Where did you grow up? What do you do for a living? Why do you want to serve on the panel? We want to know all those things.
And like high school English, we’re likely to give extra credit for creativity.

Most importantly, we aim for diversity. We want the panel to reflect our readership – by age, gender and other demographics. We want to see retirees as well as college students represented; both are important groups to the newspaper.

Your application needs specific biographical information, including your age, educational background, length of time in the area, present occupation, family status, political affiliation, areas of interest in the news, and hobbies or other interests.

If you are an avid reader of the newspaper, including the opinion page, we’re looking for you.

Send us a letter or e-mail. In 500 words or less, tell us about yourself and why you want to serve on the panel. If you have special interests or areas of expertise, share that, too.

And we want to see critics as well as fans. The only way we fix our shortcomings is to have someone point them out, and being willing to brainstorm a plan to fix them would be even better.

Previous panel members have helped us redesign the newspaper. They have helped make decisions about changes to the business page and our television guide. They have evaluated general news content – telling us which stories they read and which ones made them yawn.

New panelists in 2009 will be joined by a handful of veteran members who will help maintain continuity on the panel.

We’ve talked about who should apply, but there are a few groups that should not. If you are an elected or appointed official (local or otherwise), if you serve on multiple community boards or if you are paid to influence us or elected leaders (think public relations professionals and lobbyists), you are not the average community residents for whom we are searching. No offense.

We want the panel to reflect our communities and our readership.

Send your applications by e-mail to me at ; by mail to Suzanne Tate, Bristol Herald Courier, Box 609, Bristol, Va., 24203 or by fax to (276) 669-3696. If you have any questions, call me at (276) 645-2534.

We’d like to have all applications in hand by Friday, Jan. 23, so we can pick and notify new panelists and begin meeting in February.

Good luck.

SUZANNE TATE is opinion editor of the Bristol Herald Courier. She may be reached at or (276) 645-2534.