In its Aug. 29 Sunday edition, The Star carried a highly unusual front-page editorial. Traditionally, news and opinion are carefully separated. A front-page editorial is used only in a crisis situation.

It would be hard to disagree with The Star's editorial board that Anniston's government is in deep crisis. A newspaper is a community institution, expected to lead, as well as to report. The editorial, "Timeout, time over for City Council," is in the best tradition of newspaper community leadership.

It may not be fair to blame all council members as responsible for the current mess. Readers need to know more about the city code provision that allows for more wards. Why would seven wards work better than four? Does it really allow for at-large members? Anniston went to a ward system because the Justice Department and the federal courts were requiring changes from at-large representation to achieve more minority representation. Whatever the details, if the editorial helps stir and focus attention on Anniston's political crisis, it will have achieved its purpose.

More information needed

A continuing problem with The Star's news stories is that they are too often incomplete, leaving out essential facts. Some examples from August issues:

• "Inquiry calls Robinson, but judge says 'no.' " The story, by Laura Camper, didn't report which judge quashed the City Council's subpoena. The story told of four other persons who had subpoenas quashed. The Star's coverage of the continuing council inquiry has not really explained why the subpoenas are being quashed by judges. What is the legal basis for the judges' actions? The story said that George Monk, former city manager, "quashed the first subpoena the council issued to him." This Monk could not do; it requires a judge (Aug. 31, 1A).

• The story, "Documentary has new footage of Anniston bus burning," was exciting news. Until now only still pictures were thought to exist. The story, by Jason Bacaj, was vivid, well written. It told of an FBI search to find the film after a request from the producer of a forthcoming film, "Freedom Riders." But the story leaves out the most tantalizing fact: Who was the "local boy" who took the film "with a camera he got for his birthday?" The reporter apparently spoke to the film producer, but there is no suggestion that the question was raised. If the name is not available, the story should have told readers, describing the reporter's efforts to find it (Aug. 24, 1A).

Star on the rise

In the view of this critic, however, The Star is an improving newspaper. Look at the front pages of the last two August issues. On Aug. 30 there were three stories, all of them local, none of them covering breaking news. "Breaking news" means specific news events such as council meetings, fires or crime news. The Aug. 31 Star carried four stories on Page 1A, all of them local. Two were breaking news stories, two were staff-developed stories.

In two areas, The Star has shown definite progress in recent months — an increasingly local front page, and a growing number of staff-developed articles. Breaking news must be covered; this is reactive journalism. A good newspaper will give equal attention to stories not based on specific events, stories that cover what is going on behind the scenes, proactive journalism.

Such proactive stories in August included:

• "Schools supporting gifted programs as best they can with local help," by Laura Johnson (Aug. 8, 6B).

• "Fasting crosses religious lines," a fine story about ceremonies shared by different religions, by Brett Buckner (Aug. 14, 1B).

• "Downsizing," localizing the problem of obesity, by Laura Tutor, photo by Stephen Gross (Aug. 22, 1D).

• Inmate health care, by Cameron Steele (Aug. 22, 1A).

• Updating the cold case of Thad Christian, by John Fleming, photo by Gross (Aug. 28, 1A).

Another interesting story was "Looking for Answers," about murders locally that have not been solved, by Steele. But the organization of this story was flawed. The meaning of the term "solved case" was vital to understanding the story. Many readers might assume that a solved case meant a conviction. Not until the 59th paragraph did they learn that a murder case is considered "solved" if someone has been arrested (Aug. 15, 1A).

Judging the best

The "Best of Winners" package in the voting in 72 categories was well presented in the Escape Section (Aug. 20-26). Many newspapers do this kind of contest. But for the results to have any meaning, the vote totals should have been given. Also, I have never seen some of these categories in other surveys: best server, best dentist, best real estate agent. Unless you've bought or sold a bunch of houses, how do you compare real estate agents?

Paul Rilling is a retired former editor at The Star.