Brian Sandford: Additions aimed at giving you the newspaper and website you want

Readers want an intelligent newspaper that offers varied viewpoints, is nimble with breaking news, reflects the entire community and gives them a voice.

That’s not coming from me. It’s what you’ve told me when I’ve met you at numerous lunches, speeches and social events during the past six months. Meeting many of you has given me a better idea of who our readership really is, why they read and what kind of newspaper they want.

We’re making several changes in the Nevada Appeal in August with that feedback in mind. For starters, we’re adding three new columnists who will diversify the viewpoints appearing in our pages.

The first is Bo Statham, who grew up in civil rights-era Mississippi and worked for 40 years in law, government and business. He’ll offer a left-of-center perspective on local and national issues — a perspective many readers have suggested we’ve lacked. The second is Mike Alvarez, who runs the United Latino Community in Carson City. He’ll write about the numerous Latino-related issues and events in Carson City. The third is Dan Mooney, who has worked at the Nevada State Mental Health Institute, in private practice and as a consultant and co-assembled the American flag on C Hill. He has written for us in the past and will offer a right-of-center perspective. All three of these columnists will write twice a month and will introduce themselves in our pages in the coming two weeks.

In addition, deputy editor Adam Trumble will write an occasional column, giving us the perspective of an early 30-something.

As part of our effort to include more non-government officials in our newspaper, we’re adding an occasional Tuesday feature called Tuesday Conversation. It’ll feature someone in the community who has an interesting background and might not be featured in a story for traditional reasons. Our first subject will be Glen Lucky, who many readers regularly see pedaling his three-wheeled bicycle around town. We look forward to updating you about his inspiring life.

Reporter John Barrette now writes two columns a week, on Wednesdays and Sundays. We’re changing the name of his column from the staid Carson Perspective to Scene in Passing.

Speaking of scene, we’ve restored Carson Scene, a feature that showcases reader-submitted photographs. We want to encourage reader interaction, and running such pictures is one way to do so. Photos can be emailed to carsonscene@nevadaappeal.com.

A good newspaper updates its offerings on occasion not for the sake of change, but for the sake of improvement. We hope our modifications serve you well.

Editor Brian Sandford can be reached at bsandford@nevadaappeal.com.