(WOMENSENEWS)–It’s Thanksgiving tomorrow, so I thought it was a good time to say thanks to all of our 2 million readers, from the staff of Women’s eNews and our writers from around the world.
We are grateful for your daily readership, your e-mails with story ideas, outrages, comments and corrections. Thank you too for your 21 Leaders nominations. It is such a joy to read the biographies of so many out there workingeffectively to improve the lives of women.
And thanks again for responding to our reader’s survey. We made two major changes as a result of your feedback. We changed Outrage of the Week to Cheers and Jeers of the Week. (Yes, we agree that we all occasionally need good news.) And we began telling our e-mail readers–right at the top of each message–what the most current story is about. That information is now followed by our description of the features and services on our Web site. Your feedback let us know our old format was confusing.
Continue Staying in Touch
Also, many of our survey respondents wrote personal notes or used the opportunity to resolve problems or seek permission to reprint our stories. We are glad so many seized the occasion to communicate directly with us. And we did read each of the hundreds of comments and have responded to as many as we could. We are still working on it and are about two-thirds of the way through. As for the many who wrote notes expressing affection and gratitude for Women’s eNews–right back at you!
Even though we are grabbing Thanksgiving as the opportunity to express our gratitude to you in writing, our thanks are on the back of our minds each day, as we prepare the day’s article for the only independent daily news organization covering women’s issues. We couldn’t and wouldn’t make Women’s eNews happen without you.
Knowing you are there, that you will read the product of our intense work–from struggling to clarify the obfuscations of the so-called partial-birth abortion law to setting house style on the spelling of burqa–inspires us each day. You will notice, we know, and catch us when we slip up.
Stories Rise Like Bread
Producing Women’s eNews is a bit like baking bread. The crucial ingredients–a reporter’s intelligence and writing ability, seasoned with curiosity and perseverance–are kneaded by our editorial concern for timeliness, accuracy and clarity into the next day’s story. With hope, it rises to meet the standard of an article that serves the interests of women and our 2 million readers.
Often, at day’s end, we look again at the story that will be posted at 5:30 the next morning. At that point we can’t actually smell the bread baking in the oven, but we do sometimes indulge in the baker’s delight in thinking we might just be about to produce something that will please and nourish others.
So thanks again for valuing our work and sharing it with others. We feel privileged to be able to do work we enjoy and that feeds others.
Rita Henley Jensen is editor in chief and president of Women’s eNews.
