DATE: Sunday, September 28, 1997            TAG: 9709260010

SECTION: COMMENTARY              PAGE: J5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: LYNN FEIGENBAUM

                                            LENGTH:  105 lines

REPORT TO READERS WHEW! THE NEW GREENSHEET IS A HIT

Promotional ads for the new, improved Greensheet ran for days in the newspaper.

Remembering the last time we changed our Saturday TV section, I was thinking about taking a LONG cruise to the Caribbean this time around. Instead, I was in for a pleasant surprise.

After last weekend's launch of the new Greensheet, only a few dozen readers called the public editor's office about the changes. And (are you sitting down?) most of the calls were positive. In fact, not only positive but JOYFUL. Comments like:

``We just want to thank you for the way you've done the new Greensheet. It's as good as vanilla ice cream and we do thank you!''

And, ``The new Greensheet is excellent. It's clear and easy to understand and it gives us all the information we need. Thank you so much for redoing it!''

This is heady stuff for a public editor who's used to hearing mostly gripes and grumbles, especially when changes are made. Most readers, and many journalists, are from the if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it school; they tend to like things just the way they were, even when things are not quite right.

And the old green sheet - or Television Week, as it was known - wasn't quite right. It had a mix of grids and ``rolling logs'' (listings); the movie listing was incomplete; and you had to flip back and forth and forth and back.

The new Greensheet is much more consistent, with grids for all programming and separate grids for each day of the week. Primetime highlights are listed for each evening. Typography is better and the cover index more complete. In fact, 12 pages were added to the section.

The revamp was headed up by Joe Coccaro, The Pilot's director of product development, with a team of editors, designers and others. Unlike past efforts with the Greensheet, they held focus groups with readers - people who really watch TV and use the section.

``It's hard to please all of the people all of the time,'' said Coccaro, ``but we came pretty close on this one.''

He was referring to the numbers: A special Greensheet phone line last weekend drew 62 calls, with only a dozen complaining about the content. And of 260 calls to an INFOLINE comment line, 118 were positive and 23 negative; the rest were specific questions.

This is a welcome contrast to what happened in June 1995, when we ``improved'' the green sheet by cutting out eight pages and stuffing all the Monday-Friday daytime listings into one illegible, incomplete grid. Hundreds of callers complained, and the daytime rolling logs were restored some months later.

Naturally, not everything was perfect this time around. But features editor Eric Sundquist assures me that they're listening to the gripes and plan to make some changes. Among them:

Complaint: Sports was easier to find before, when it was near the back of the section.

Action: For at least the next few weeks, we'll highlight the page number in the index on the cover.

Complaint: The sports list is incomplete.

Action: TV Data, which provides the television listings, left out some channels - notably one that carried a NASCAR race last weekend and another that had the Sunday night NFL game. They're fixing that.

Also, we're having them include some taped sports events, not just the live events. We'll rename the section ``Sports'' instead of ``Live Sports.''

I have to admit I'm green with envy. Once upon a time I was editor of the Greensheet, and it wasn't nearly as complete.

COLUMN RETORTS. A number of readers offered feedback to my column last Sunday, so I'll give them the last word. Or maybe the next-to-last word.

Spoonfed journalism. To a request for us to publish SAT scores for private and parochial schools, I said we can't do it because the state doesn't keep a record of SATs for private schools.

A Virginia Beach man said he found my response to be ``a truly outstanding commentary'' on the poor quality of American journalism.

``I would think that a community-spirited journalist might try to find out what the SAT scores are for the local schools,'' he e-mailed, rather than limiting the newspaper ``only and solely to what the state will feed you.''

Education editor Debra Adams stressed that she never said ``we couldn't do it''; just that the state doesn't provide this information.

``Sure, we could call individual schools,'' she said, ``though we tend to shy away from self-reported information.'' It's not as reliable, she added.

But that's not the education team's main mission anyway. ``Our job,'' she said, ``is primarily to show how public schools, where public dollars are spent, are preparing our children.''

One-sided balance beam. About comments on the ``balance beam'' reporters tread between reporting the facts and being creative in their writing style, a reader commented:

``Yes, you do walk a balance beam all the time, and sometimes you do fall off, but why do you always fall of the LEFT side of the beam? Numerous times you have written: Sorry, we made the Republicans look bad, we'll try harder. .

Another caller didn't think reporters need any leeway for creativity. ``That's the trouble with your newspaper,'' he said, ``your reporters should be reporting facts, not creativity.''

Bring back old friends. And, inevitably, several readers didn't buy my explanation for certain comics - ``Hagar the Horrible,'' ``Beetle Bailey'' and ``Shoe'' - being dropped from the Sunday paper occasionally because of ads.

These comics are old friends to some readers and one caller thought last Sunday's ``Dennis the Menace'' said it all. In it, Mr. Wilson gripes: ``The comics are different these days. . . too small and too many! And I don't know these odd-looking creatures.''

Then Dennis opens the door to all the oldies: Nancy, Pogo, Henry, Popeye, Felix the Cat, etc. In the last panel, Mr. Wilson says, ``My old friends!! Where did they go?''

Well, we'd love to have all the old friends, though some aren't even around anymore. But we also have to make way for the new.

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