Clueless at McClatchy’s Raleigh N&O

McClatchy’s liberal/leftist Raleigh News & Observer’s executive editor John Drescher’s column today,

”Happiness is a warm readership,”

begins:

The people have spoken: You like us. You really like us.

What’s caused all the bow-wowing at a newspaper that’s recently been forced to downsize, outsource, and let employees go?

Drescher explains - - -

… In March, Raleigh-based Public Policy Polling asked North Carolina voters what they thought of The News & Observer and our sister McClatchy paper, The Charlotte Observer.

Statewide, 31 percent of voters had a favorable opinion of The N&O; 15 percent viewed it negatively. The rest were not sure. The Charlotte Observer was viewed favorably by 25 percent and unfavorably by 16 percent. …

Public Policy Polling works for Democrats but did not have a client on this poll, said Tom Jensen, communications director. He said the firm conducted the poll for the public interest.

In the Triangle, 63 percent of respondents viewed The N&O favorably and 16 percent had an unfavorable view, for "a net review" of plus 47. The Charlotte Observer also scored well in its main readership area.

The firm said President Barack Obama is the most popular politician in North Carolina, and his net review is plus 13.

"The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer are more popular than the president, the governor or anyone else we poll about on a statewide basis," Jensen said.

In evaluating The N&O, neither race nor gender seemed to matter much among Triangle voters [The Triangle is home to most of the N&O’s print readers. – JinC]. Party affiliation did. Of Democrats, 72 percent viewed the paper favorably, as did 67 percent of independents. But only 51 percent of Republicans had a favorable opinion of The N&O, compared to 27 percent unfavorable.

"Republicans still like The N&O more than they dislike it," Jensen said. "Maybe you hear more from the squeaky wheels, but by and large you hear from across party lines people like what the paper is doing." …

Drescher’s entire column’s here.

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My comments:

Well, well.

Of Reps. polled in the Triangle, 51% gave the N&O a favorable rating which means 49% didn’t.

But that doesn’t dampen Drescher’s happiness because

"Republicans still like The N&O more than they dislike it," Jensen said. "Maybe you hear more from the squeaky wheels, but by and large you hear from across party lines people like what the paper is doing."

Why didn't Drescher express any concern that about half the Republicans polled wouldn’t give the N&O a favorable rating? [Neither Drescher nor PPP’s post reporting the poll described the scale used to determine voter ratings. – JinC]

Drescher also expresses no concern that 33% of Inds. and 27% of Dems in the Triangle wouldn't give the N&O a favorable rating.

Seems like there are a lot of "squeaky wheels" in the Triangle, and they're not only Republicans.

But editor John Drescher’s just happy the N&O has a “warm readership.”

Talk about clueless! What must sensible N&O employees whose jobs are on the line have thought today when they read their executive editor's "Happiness" column?

PPP’s post includes this:

There is actually much less of a political divide for the Observer than there is for the N&O.

Drescher doesn’t mention that.

I’ve left the following comment on Drescher's column’s thread.

From PPP's Mar. 27 post:

"There is a pretty significant party divide in those numbers, with 72% of Democrats but only 51% of Republicans across the [Triangle] region giving the paper good reviews. 67% of independents are positive as well. ...

"There is actually much less of a political divide for the Observer than there is for the N&O."

John, why do you think there's more of a political divide over the N&O than the CO?

Of Triangle voters polled, the N&O fails to get "good reviews" from 28% of Dems, 33% of Inds, & 49% of Reps.

Those results set the N&O to bow-wowing about "happiness" and "a warm readership."

Why? Shouldn’t they concern you?

John in Carolina