Newspaper Wonders Where the Readers Went!

This is the funniest news media story I've seen in a long time. It seems the Philly Inquirer was left scratching its head after hundreds of readers cancelled subscriptions when the paper endorsed John Kerry last year.

They didn't just back Kerry, they ran pro-Johnny editorials every day on the Op-Ed page through October and on to election day! Nice free advertising for Kerry in a big swing state.

Now, it has taken to calling them personally. Not telemarketers, the editors themselves. Can these elitists get back in touch with reality?


(Editor and Publisher)

NEW YORK Last Thursday, top editors and editorial board members at The Philadelphia Inquirer, including Executive Editor Amanda Bennett, began calling a couple of hundred former subscribers in an attempt to woo them back to the paper. Why had they left? In many cases, because The Inquirer had backed John F. Kerry for president in a particularly insistent way.

Bennett told The New York Times, in an article appearing Monday, "If the people I call say, 'Yes, I was mad at your editorial,' then the next thing I say is, 'Would you like to come in and talk about it?'"