Your Advocate: an editor's blog
As editor of the Victoria Advocate, I want to amplify the readers' voices. I aim to promote transparency about what we do at the newspaper, on our Web site and any other delivery methods. By doing this, I hope to build trust with our readers as we seek to serve our community.
Real Name: Chris Cobler Address: 311 E. Constitution St. Victoria, TX 77901 Gender: male Member Since: September 16, 2007 Last Signed In: July 05, 2008 Profile Views: 1813 Blog Views: 9865 What are your thoughts about the Ratcliff coverage? How are you spending the Fourth? Inspirational story springs from the Fatal Funnel When should we release a user's IP address? A good weekend for your hometown paper - Texas Press Association awards Did you notice what else was going on this week in Victoria? How do you keep track of all the accusations? What knits together the fabric of a community? Why would an unwed father be featured on Father's Day? What is a personal attack? September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 
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Why do newspapers charge for obituaries?
Toni Anne asked this question to my previous post. Although I answered it there, I thought I'd create a separate item for this topic to keep the discussion separate from the previous one:
The Advocate publishes the first 4.5 inches of an obituary for free. If you want to publish a longer version or have the obituary appear more than once, we do charge a fee. The guidelines appear daily on Page B2. Paid obituaries receive a free online guest book for 30 days. You may find that by clicking on obituaries in the top navigation bar of our Web site. Most U.S. newspapers charge for obituaries in some way or another. Many don't print any part of an obituary for free. An American Journalism Review article from 1999 explores the shift in how newspapers have handled obituaries. As an editor, I'm not particularly fond of charging for these important notices, but I have to agree with the section of the article about the number of struggles I've had with family members and funeral homes when we published free obituaries and forced them to comply with news guidelines. With paid obituaries, family members are free to write them as they like because the items are no longer considered news articles. We do, of course, still write some news obituaries about prominent people. I'd hate for cost to ever prevent someone from publishing something as important as an obituary in the newspaper. I hope our policy works for most readers. Thanks for asking, Toni Anne. I'd appreciate hearing from readers about their experiences with getting obituaries published in the Advocate. 2 comments from 2 users
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posted by
ChrisCobler
on May 14, 2008 at 09:07 PM
Tom,Thanks for the feedback. Sorry to hear about the original mistake, but glad we made it right. I certainly understand why you'd want a lasting tribute crafted just the way you want it. Chris posted by
TomC
on May 14, 2008 at 09:01 PM
Chris....I had a good experience. After a recent death in the family, my family wrote the obituary and, of course, it ws over the "free" length so we had to pay. It was well worth it to pay for a lasting tribute to a wonderful person. On a side note, the first time the obit appeared there were two mistakes...not made by the family or the funeral home. Apparently, a proof reader at the Advocate thought the way we spelled a doctor's name was incorrect, and edited it. Not so. When the Advocte was contacted, the correction was made for the second day...and we did not have to pay for the first notice. So...very positive experience.
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