Jan. 10, 2007

Most content companies that respond to news have big packages for the deaths of notable figures at the ready. MSN editors were aware of the failing condition of Gerald R. Ford, though on stories as large as the passing of as U.S. president, we primarily rely on our news partner, MSNBC.com, for the breaking news coverage. We also took steps to ready our homepage for the news.

Our job is to find a suitable location on the homepage for stories, based on merit.

As a story like this evolves, and as other news occurs, MSNBC's staff updates the developing stories and the MSN homepage editors change various placements. Rarely do we have news as big as Saddam Hussein's execution occurring at about the same time as the death of both a president and a heralded entertainment figure like James Brown.

Therefore, we were interested in what you thought of our coverage of Ford’s death and asked if you thought it was on the mark, too much or too little. With nearly 8,500 votes, 51% graded us as on target, with 36% saying it was excessive and 13% underplayed.

Awaiting the vote, I took a guess at what the numbers would be. I suspected half of you would have considered us about right, though I would have liked the other half to be split between excessive and underplayed.

Any time a political figure is involved, we only expect to please about half of our users.

The kind of feedback we like to get is from Carolyn, of Kansas City North, Mo.:

"I really like the way that you covered the week of his funeral. History, as you can see, will show that he made the right decisions for that period of time that I remember so very well. I am not even a Republican but a Democrat, and I thought it was wonderful coverage without [being] in the Ford family’s face."

Jeanne, a Californian, wrote to say that she was surprised Ford’s passing was the second headline behind Saddam’s execution. Meantime, Ken, who listed his town as Mongolia, believed Saddam’s death was underreported and argued that showing him facing death was offensive and potentially inflammatory.

[As an aside, the MSN homepage editors vigorously discussed appropriate treatment of images of Saddam in the gallows. We used photos from the execution but we avoided linking to the entire unedited cell-phone video. We did link, however, to parts of the cell-phone video with a warning to our audience.]

Users who visit us multiple times a day would have noticed that the Ford and Saddam stories changed frequently, often supplanting each other in a prominent position.

Typically we change the main stories on the homepage about three times each weekday. Each of those is called a daypart, though we also make adjustments as best we can when news demands.

Pleasing everyone, while it may be our goal, isn’t typically possible, and that disparity is evident in the nearly 200 comments we received on the Ford services.

We’re glad that Tami, of Rockville, Md., was able to watch the service over the Web. 

Jim, of Jacksonville, Ill., lauded the silence from MSNBC TV commentators Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews during the ceremonies, though Helen, of Winchester, Va., decried the "incessant chatter" and banter that accompanies special events, from sports to state funerals and inaugurations.

Carol, of Wilmington, Del., and who is hearing impaired, said she would appreciate transcripts of remarks delivered by presidents Bush I and II, as well as Tom Brokaw’s comments. But Michael, of Hopewell, Va., said the coverage seemed "almost like a communist state where funerals go on and on."

Likewise, Ron, of Highley, Ariz., was perturbed at the extent of honoring the 38th president. "I really think that his funeral services were too, too much. OK, give the guy his due, but he was unelected to the presidency. Why all the hoopla? Why did the federal workers need another day off? We just had Christmas and New Year’s and then a day of mourning. Why?"

Many federal employees probably don’t agree with Ron, but we hope there are a lot of people like Rose, of Carpe Coral, Fla.:

"Because I work during the day, the only way I could keep up with all the activities of the Gerald Ford services was on your photo gallery and video options. I felt, through your coverage, that I was involved from the very beginning to the very end. Thank you for making this American feel part of the mourning and healing process."

You’re welcome, Rose. But in revisiting our 51% "spot on" vote results, we hope to raise that number even higher, for big events as well as average days. To work toward that, next week I’ll address the issue of frequency of updates on our homepage. Please be sure you vote and maybe add a comment.

Also, please note that when you submit a letter, as editor I do not obtain your e-mail address; if you write to me directly, please include your e-mail in your reply. It will never be published.