IndyStar.com: Dennis Ryerson
Indiana's leading news source for all the top stories, local news, sports and weather.
<b>Star's Ryerson:</b> Citizens need to help in this battle
About a year and a half ago, I moderated a conversation with Indiana House Speaker Pat Bauer and House Minority Leader Brian Bosma before the Rotary Club of Indianapolis. For the most part it was a congenial discussion, even though the two...
Ways to make what we do for you better
More than 60 of my colleagues spent many hours during October participating in eight teams, examining ways to improve what we do for you. Here are highlights of preliminary reports presented by team leaders last week. Sunday: The Sunday Star is the...
Commenting on Tully's commentary
Last week I asked your thoughts regarding reader Betty Ruth’s concerns about columnist Matt Tully’s work appearing in our regular news sections rather than on the opinion pages. Betty objected to Matt’s column criticizing Mayor Greg...
Bias charges: What's an editor to do?
Betty Ruth was upset with us last week. She first wrote to columnist Matt Tully making clear her unhappiness with Matt’s column that urged Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard to support an extension of the city’s current but limited...
Disagree, but no name calling
Aweek ago a Star editorial supported plans to replace the old and inefficient buildings that are the centerpiece for community health care in Indianapolis — Wishard Hospital. The editorial clearly made these points: A tax increase to pay for...
Tradeoffs in decisions on coverage
Readers recently raised questions about two coverage areas — schools, and national and international news. Here is my take: “Yesterday’s front-page coverage of the Teacher of the Year was an insult to (Lebanon High School teacher...
Big stories show Star's strengths
Star business writer John Russell got the call around dinnertime a week ago this evening. Ed Sagebiel, Eli Lilly and Co.‘s manager of corporate communications, was on the line asking if John could be at the company’s headquarters at 7:30...
The tussle over school grid coverage
A new sign of the season has emerged along with falling leaves, children back in school and Friday night crowds at high school football games. It’s the annual tussle between the media and athletic directors over how college and high school...
A search for meaning behind news
I’ve noted before that we are working hard at The Star to provide you with information you can’t get anywhere else. I hope you’ve noticed that the vast majority of what you see on page one of the newspaper is information you...
A reasoned debate on health care
I learned several things since last Sunday when I asked you to respond to several key questions about health-care reform. I learned that if inflammatory language regarding “death panels” and “socialism” is removed from the...
Two big jobs to better serve our readers
Despite challenges facing newspapers, all media (and most other businesses) during this recession, those of us with Star Media are working to expand into new information delivery opportunities that reach more people and provide more opportunities for...
Partnering with business to aid schools in crisis
I’ve often said the most critical issue facing cities such as Indianapolis is the quality of education received by our young people. If families don’t perceive that their children will excel at school, those who are able will move out of...
Pursuing stories about public figures
It’s an old story but one that, it seems, is increasing in frequency. A politician is discovered cheating on his spouse. The politician conducts a news conference. The politician apologizes. The story is screamed all over Page One. Here’s...
Striking a nerve with readers
I struck a nerve last week when I asked questions about everything from lumpy streets to summer food programs for children. Here are excerpts of your comments: Why do people even live in Central Indiana when national quality-of-life indicators make...
Diversity of viewpoints enriches debate
It was in 1980 during the Toxic Shock Syndrome scare that I first saw the enormous value of diversity in the news business. I was an editor at a newspaper in the Pacific Northwest and wanting some diversity on our editorial page staff. I hired a...
Race coverage reflects event's local impact
I plan to be at the track today along with nearly 40 other journalists representing The Star at the world’s largest single-day sporting event. Some readers, I’m sure, wish we wouldn’t bother. Even if far more than 250,000 people...
You can't find this news anywhere else
Last Thursday, The Chicago Tribune’s front page contained only two stories: one about how Illinois lawmakers were debating badly needed ethics-reform legislation the old-fashioned way — behind closed doors and in secret hallway meetings...
Finding a way without federal help
A U.S. Senate subcommittee led by Sen. John Kerry held a hearing about the future of newspapers last week and it made me uneasy. It made me uneasy because when government says it is going to save you, there’s always a catch. As the auto...
Going green means being good stewards of our state
Electronic Waste Collection Days April 30, May...
We don't 'do' religion, we cover it
Several months ago amid the debate over whether The Star should offer a daily prayer (we dropped it, then restored it in response to reader reaction), I noted my belief that newspapers are secular institutions. Our job wasn’t to...
A paper three days a week?
Detroit residents awoke Monday to one of their bigger news days of the year. The chairman of General Motors had been forced out by the Obama administration. The Michigan State basketball team had returned from Indianapolis heading for the NCAA Final...
Going beyond yesterday's news
Here’s something that isn’t a surprise to me but may be a surprise to you: If you are reading The Star this morning you’re not one of the few relics of the past still clinging to newspapers. In the Indianapolis media market, you are...
Indy without pro sports? Think about it
Imagine Downtown Indianapolis without the Pacers, the Colts, Hilbert Circle Theatre and its orchestra, Circle Centre mall, IUPUI, Victory Field, the Indiana Convention Center, Lucas Oil Stadium, Conseco Fieldhouse, White River State Park and its...
Delivering news during tough times
Journalists work weird hours at an often frantic pace juggling new kinds of stories every day. We work in teams of like-minded individuals. Many of us entered the business not because of the pay, but because the jobs combine our love of words and...
Deciding to agree to disagree
Late in the morning of Oct. 15, the eight members of The Star's Editorial Board convened in Publisher Michael Kane's well-appointed fourth floor conference room. The topic: editorial election "endorsements" for various political...
Columnist will connect with socially connected
Last week in this space I announced the appointment of veteran Star journalist Jay Harvey as our new arts critic, covering classical music, dance, theater and jazz. I said that even though The Star recently had undergone a reduction in staffing,...
