Austin reads. In fact, Austin ranks as the most literate city over 250,000 in the State of Texas. That probably doesn’t surprise you. Dallas comes in second. Ft. Worth is third. What may surprise you is that Austin isn’t in the top ten “Most Literate Cities in the Nation”, according to a 2008 study by Central Connecticut State University (their most recent). Austin is #17. Dallas is #38.5 (a tie), and Ft. Worth is #45. Austin is in the top ten when only the Internet is concerned, and that isn’t surprising.
Austin reads more than most boasts of the biggest book store in the land, Book People.
These are not the reasons for a brand new section in the Austin American-Statesman, “Insight and Books” beginning in this Sunday’s paper. “The thinking behind it doesn't rely so much on any particular set of stats as on Central Texans generally being not just literate but interested in their community and public affairs, prone to debate and discuss and embrace civic engagement,” says Tony Shuga, weekend editor.
Formerly in Life & Arts, “the new section will join Insight to form Insight & Books. Available every Sunday in print, the new section will offer thoughtful discussion, in-depth analysis and focus on community engagement. And every day, interactive online features that complement the print product will be available online at statesman.com/insight,” said a Statesman news release.
“Austin is a thoughtful place, and we love a lively discussion,” said Statesman Editor Fred Zipp in the news release. “With the new Insight & Books section, we hope to feed that discussion and make the Sunday newspaper experience richer.”
“The Sunday print edition will offer articles about Texas and Central Texas written by non-staff writers (experts from the business community, nonprofits, academics and more) as well as those written by Statesman staff, according to a Statesman news release. Former Statesman Texana writer Mike Cox’s columns and reviews will continue in the new section. “There will also be summaries of PolitiFact Texas articles, a new science feature, excerpts from blogs and reader comments, letters to the editor and op-ed columns,” the release said.
“Overall we're adding material, not trimming,” Shuga said.
Who knows? Maybe newsmcnabb might make the Statesman.
© Jim McNabb, 2010
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1 comment:
Have you tried to catch the BBC World News lately... on 18.3?
Good luck...unless you can lip read...or like closed caption delays.
Because there's been NO AUDIO... since Monday! Unbelievable!
Also NO crawls to explain the technical difficulty or even apologize for this serious problem.
At the half dozen or so stations I have worked at, such engineering would have probably been met with immediate...dismissals!
If I had a corporate client interested in sponsoring KLRU, this incident alone would make me to rethink that...and with an existing client to DEMAND... make-goods galore!
Lex Wadelski
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