New must-read for journos: Paper Haters

At work, I used to sit beside the deputy managing editor for news. Part of his job is dealing with the public, and he would share some of the more offbeat reader messages and correspondence. There were some real gems — cranky “observations,” random requests and notes scrawled on newspaper clippings. One of my favorites was a shiny gold notebook/diary, its cover carefully adorned with a photo of a giant yellow rose and full of rambling nonsense and sketches.

In the last newsroom shuffle, I moved farther away from that editor. So thank goodness for Paper Hater.

Paper Hater a collection of comments from really angry readers, submitted by the newsroom folks who have to deal with them. I asked Queen of Reader Comments Maggie Jenkins a few questions about her new site:

What’s the premise behind Paper Hater?
The blog is intended to point out the irrationality and sometimes utter ignorance of newspaper readers and their often misplaced anger. It’s all at once funny and frustrating. People who work at newspapers enjoy it because they’ve been dealing with these responses for years. People who have never worked at a newspaper enjoy it because they are astounded by some of the things readers say.

What was the reader complaint that finally convinced you to start the site?
A friend sent me a voicemail he received from a man who was literally screaming about some small piece of information that was missing from that day’s paper. The rage in this man was unbelievable — both hilarious and disturbing. I forwarded it to a couple of friends and then thought, “You know what? Stuff like this needs a home. It needs to be shared with the world.” I only wish I’d started it sooner.

Has anyone ever sent a “you’re doing great” message? (Either to the site or in the history of newspapers.)
I’d estimate that one out of 100 newspaper reader responses is positive. And for that reason, no response is considered a good response. Once in a while, there will be “qualified praise,” like, “that was a great story … considering it came from you guys.” And sadly, sometimes when you’re putting together the newspaper, you have to answer this question to in order to make a decision: How many phone calls/emails will the editor get about this?

What do readers complain about the most?
In general, bias is the biggest complaint. “You guys like this team/school/candidate/restaurant/etc. better than this one.” And obviously, that we’re all bleeding-heart liberals. If I had a nickel …

Are the complaints mostly phone calls? E-mails? Hand-written letters? Haiku? Songs?
Nowadays, most of the complaints are emails or through online submission forms. It’s much easier for people to hide behind the crux of anonymity and a computer. But there are a lot of people who still call in. The strange thing is, once you let the angry caller vent for a little bit, then explain your views, they’re often placated. Like, they’re expecting you to just say, “Oh yeah? Well, I don’t care what you think!” and hang up, so they’re taken aback when you don’t do that. Mostly, they just want someone to yell at for a while. Once in a while you’ll still see a handwritten letter, and that’s when the real crazy starts coming out. I get giddy just thinking about those gems.

Is the site only for newspapers complaints?
Thus far, we’ve only received newspaper complaints, but we’d gladly accept reader responses from magazines or TV stations or online news outlets.

How long have you been dealing with reader complaints?
I worked in newspapers for more than seven years.

What section to readers complain about the most? Any theories on why that might be?
The sports section seems to get the most comments. People are just so passionate about sports. And when you start to factor in high school sports, then you’re dealing with their sports and their children. It makes for some heated responses.

How can victims of readers submit comments?
E-mail your reader comments to paperhaters@gmail.com. We will edit out the names of reporters, newspapers, cities, etc. And if you have the capabilities to send audio files, we’d love to get more voicemails. Again, reporter names, phone numbers, etc. will be edited out to protect the innocent journalists out there.

Find Paper Hater at paperhater.tumlbr.com. Jenkins has also set up a handy web form to submit those reader comments. Paper Hater is on Twitter (@PaperHater) and Facebook.