Editorial 6.12 and 7.1, December 2004 and January 2005 by Deirdre Helfferich and Republic readers Readership Survey 2004 Readership Survey Results The 2004 Readership Survey was published as an insert in issue 6.9, September. As of this writing, thirty-five surveys have been returned, not quite 9 percent. If you haven’t filled one out, please do so. The publisher is still interested in what you have to say. 1. Did you read the last issue of the Republic that you received? Yes: 35 2. How much of it? Every last word: 5 3. Which subjects interest you? Alternative energy, oil & gas: 26 Anecdotal bits: 24 Art, music, performing arts: 19 Book reviews, poetry, fiction.: 23 (One person rated these: poetry-1, fiction-2, prose-3, reviews-4; 2 people emphasized book reviews, one of these also emphasized fiction. One person didn’t circle this as something that interested them, but wrote, “Loved the Hu Dun Niht series.”) Cooking, restaurant reviews, gardening: 20 (of these, 1 emphasized restaurant reviews, 1 gardening, and 1 both reviews and cooking but not gardening) Environment: 27 (One person noted “AK issues.”) Humor: 25 Letters, editorial cartoons, editorials: 30 (One person wrote, “Especially from cranks.”) Local news: 25 (One person wrote, “Only stuff NM fails to cover,” meaning, I assume, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.) Natural history, science: 19 (One person wrote, “Re: AK.”) Philosophy, metaphysics, religion: 11 Politics, policy, economics: 23 (One person crossed out politics.) Society pages, gossip, celebrities: 10 (One person emphasized gossip, another crossed out celebrities and wrote “or politicians.”) Sports, fishing, hunting: 6 Website reviews, computers, Internet: 9 Other: “History,” “the Draft,” “Updates on Arctic Refuge protection issues,” “would love to read reviews of more artsy/avante garde films—for my own enlightenment,” “photos, esp. local,” “photos,” “advertisements,” “Saw an ad for Toyo service, called said service made appointment.” Two people requested less sports, hunting, and fishing. 4. Why do you read the Republic? Fills a news gap: 15 It’s funny: 25 I like to keep an eye on the local subversives: 21 (of these, one added the note, “Especially Mark Simpson” and another 10 checked the next category also) I like to know I’m not the only subversive: 17 I like the variety: 16 It reflects my taste in politics: 20 It reflects my tastes in literature, film, and the arts: 10 (of these, 1 said, “somewhat”) I find subjects here a regular paper won’t touch: 23 My relative or friend contributes, so I have to: 4 Other: “It reflects my tastelessness.” “I read it because the heavy paper makes it very uncomfortable in the outhouse.” “It could be more bizarre.” “I’m embarrassed when people talk about it and I don’t know what they’re talking about.” “Nostalgia for my former home.” “I like keeping in touch with Ester and what’s going on there.” “Articles are mostly extemely well-written, researched, conceived and articulated, evidence that there are actually some highly thoughtful, intelligent, well-informed critically thinking human beings out there in the ‘TV wasteland.’” 5. Please rate the quality of the Republic: Photography Excellent: 9 (one respondent wrote, “could see more variety”) Cartoons Excellent: 7 (one person wrote, “Lisa’s hair really is a bunch of snakes.”) Two surveys did not rate the cartoons. Writing Excellent: 17 (Of these, one rated the article on the draft an A+, but the “New Environmentalism” article in 6.9 a D- for its reasoning.) One survey did not rate the writing. Overall Design/format Excellent: 16 (One person wrote “clean.”) One survey did not rate the design. Overall Content Excellent: 20 Two respondents couldn’t decide between Excellent and Pretty Good and so circled both. One of these wrote, “Sometimes tire of people writing so cryptically.” The next three questions were about where people get the paper and how many read it. Places suggested where the paper should be made available were: Alaska Coffee Roasters, Co-Op Drug, Mather Library, McMurdo Station, “every liquor store in town,” “lobby of boro bldg., local credit unions,” “at the breakfast table on the…” (?), and my favorite, “God, anywhere downtown! Save us from Daily NsM drudgery.” With regard to how many others in the household read the paper (ranged from 0 to 5 other people), one person wrote, “Black ants don’t read!” 9. What do you usually do with the Republic after you read it? Save It: 19 (Of these, 2 also passed it on to family and 1 occasionally left it in a waiting room. Comments on the others included “punched & bound,” “even the extra copies,” and “file some articles.” This last person also wrote, next to Toss It, “Never!”) Pass It On: 10 (Of these, 2 also circled Save It, 2 also circled Recycle It, 3 also left it in a waiting room, laundromat, or airplane, and 1 also circled Toss It.) Toss It: 4 (Of these, 1 also circled Pass It On, and 1 Recycle It.) Recycle It: 5 (Of these, 1 also occasionally tossed it and 2 also passed it on.) Leave it in a Waiting Room: 4 (1 also circled Save It and 1 passed it on.) Other: “Send it to Fairbanks Correctional Center,” “—line the bird cage, —place it under foot.” The next two questions asked about income and education. 8 people circled “none of your beeswax,” under income, 2 were “ flat broke,” and 1 was “rolling in dough.” Everyone else was in between. In education, quite a few people were self-taught (6) or at graduate level (18). One of these circled both categories. 8 had undergraduate education, and 3 had technical degrees and/or high school/GED diplomas. 12. Are you: Male: 17 13 & 14: All respondents were registered voters. 6 did not indicate their affiliation, if any, 14 were undeclared or nonpartisan, 14 were Democrats, and 1 was a Green. Of the undeclared, 2 indicated that they tended to vote Democrat or Green. One person said “Democrat but that could change.” 15. Job/Career focus: one person wrote, “raising hell;” another wrote, “No focus at all” and proceeded to list a huge number of different jobs and careers, among which was “agitator;” one wrote “don’t know yet,” and also circled the 60-69 age bracket; another wrote, “soon to retire?” Other notes were: “Many;” “Doing what needs to be done,” “small;” “tiny business owner.” People’s careers were all over the map, in science, transportation, health, landscaping, education, politics, mining, management, natural resources, motherhood, graphic design, etc. 16: Current age: precocious pipsqueaks: 0 17. Kids: yes, 21 (anywhere from 1 to 5); no, 14. Of the people who had children, one person wrote, “A few that I know of.” 18. 5 respondents did not have pets, and 2 people did not answer this question. Of the 28 people who did have pets, only 3 didn’t say which kind. 13 had dogs. 19. Where do you live? Ester or Ester area: 15 Fairbanks or Fairbanks area: 7 (see Other country) College: 1 Goldstream: 2 Tok: 1 Other state: 5 (One also wrote in Other Country, “I’ll say.”) Other country: Australia, Chena Hot Springs/Two Rivers.
Readership Survey Suggestions Many thanks to all of you who returned surveys. There were many useful comments and some interesting results. The editor will try to take them into account for future issues This was the last question in the 2004 survey: 20. Do you have any suggestions for the Republic? “Make an honest effort to get your facts straight. Otherwise keep up the good work.” “Keep up the good work!” “Naw...just keep the local flavor.” “Love you all—know it.” “Personally, I enjoy and prefer the local news and arts info. I hope you continue to emphasize them.” “Splendid job! Continue, continue, expand!” “No. Think you R doing a good job. Thanks.” “Pray for Geo. W. Bush’s defeat. Long live Tony. Down with the lying Murkowskis and their allies.” “Keep up the pace.” “Keep up the good work. I’ve noticed an increase in thoughtful political articles. I believe you’re on the way to becoming a key (rational) small town newspaper.” “Keep it up!!” “Hope/work for regime change & a healthier/happier/more peaceful & equitable planet!” “Keep surprising us. Be strong, be brave. Thank you…” “More recipes, book reviews.” “I really like the format of the content of the paper, but the format makes some articles look undigestibly long and dense at times. Use pull-quotes, subheads and the occasional drawing or other bits like lines or arrows—but not too much! Vary the line spacing to make a bigger break between paragraphs. A bit more editing would be helpful to make the writers’ points stronger. Keep up the good work.” “I know you eventually sell out of issues but would you ever be interested in selling volume sets to collectors?” “A drop-box in town so things like this don’t need to be mailed.” “Keep at it!” “Suggest slightly less emphasis on the Eagle.” “Please try and include current events, i.e., first Fridays, etc. more often.” “1. Time to hire/bribe an accommplished graphic artist/design maven. 2. Launch a writing contest (non-fic, fiction, poetry) in FBX region. 3. Pay for submissions to improve quality. 4. stick w/b&w, avoid color. 5. Have more fun!!!” “I like the quirkiness of the Republic; however it does not compleetely fill the role as an alternative to the News-Minus. I would like to see such an alternative, rather than a literary journal.” “Better cartoons—quality of drawing.” “Keep on keepin’ on! The Republic is a soothing balm to my fevered brow. Thank you.” The Editor/Publisher/Bottlewasher Responds: Again, many thanks for taking the time and stamp money to send in your survey, and many thanks for the encouragement. At some point we will indeed have drop box available—the ad man has made the same suggestion, and I’m sure it would be useful. I am working on providing a little more liveliness to the page layout, and I like the idea of a writing contest. I do pay for submissions when I can, which is much more often than it used to be, but I can’t make any guarantees yet (I need more advertisers). I would be delighted to sell volume sets to collectors, and can do so on volumes 2, 4, 5, and 6. Volumes 1 and 3, however, will require a search on E-bay or elsewhere for the missing issues. My fondest hope is to make the Republic a true alternative paper, not only to the News-Miner, but to the Anchorage Daily News and to the large chains of newspapers that are crowding out independents. Ester has a lot of interesting and talented people in it, of all political persuasions and educational levels, and of wide-ranging interests and origins. We are pretty quirky—but then, so are most places. When I started this paper, I hoped it would be a forum for the locals to expound their views in, and to some extent, it has succeeded in this. Getting solid reporting, investigative journalism, and regular income to pay for all that too is taking a bit of time. But we’re getting there! | ||
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