We do that to reflect the readership of the paper. About half of the Herald's readership is outside of Washington County.
The Mail's readership is almost entirely in Hagerstown and other parts of Washington County. Again, the paper is edited to reflect that.
The Mail will accept and publish nearly all stories, press releases and photos it receives from readers and deems suitable for a family newspaper. The Herald is more selective in the information it publishes.
The Mail has features, like Mail Call, that run only in the afternoon paper.
The only parts of the paper that are virtually identical in both The Herald and The Mail are the Lifestyle section and the Opinion Page.
Our news operations are actually two distinct news departments.
Terry Headlee, the executive editor, oversees the newsroom. This includes the reporting staffs, news and copy editors, sports and features departments, photographers and editorial assistants. Essentially, the newsroom is responsible for everything in the paper that's not an advertisement or part of the Opinion section.
Bob Maginnis is editor of the Opinion section, also called the editorial page.
This section of the paper is where we, you and our syndicated columnists pen thoughts and opinions on the issues of the day.
Bob writes editorials and columns, and is responsible for everything on the Opinion pages. Tim Rowland helps Bob and writes a column three days a week.
The newsroom and the editorial department are separate entities. Each does its own thing without consulting the other.
That's done to try to keep the news coverage separate from the opinions that we or you may have. The news coverage strives to be as objective and fair as we can possibly be.
Most newspapers believe it's important, if not necessary, to keep the two functions separate.
If you have any questions about the newspaper, you can send them to me via e-mail at jleague@herald-mail.com or via regular mail to The Herald-Mail, P.O. Box 439, Hagerstown, Md. 21741.
John League is editor and publisher of The Herald-Mail.
