Your Annual Chance to Grade Newspaper Comes Next Week

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Byline: Jim Slusher

In the fall of 1999, the American Society of Newspaper Editors published the results of a two-year study chronicling a steady decline in the confidence people have in their newspapers.

That people were not reading newspapers as much as they had in the past already was well-documented. But the editors' survey suggested a critical reason for that trend - a conspicuous drop in the level of trust readers place in their newspapers.

The Daily Herald was disturbed by the survey results, and we wanted to do something to make sure they don't apply to us. Thus was born our first Reader Report Card, an opportunity for readers to rate us on …