Fergus Cassidy

Comic relief

ENGLISH can be a contrary language and none more so than when it comes to newspapers. 'Do you take the Times?', is a uniquely British way of asking what newspaper someone buys or reads. A quaint nod toward tradition, kept on life support by the likes of Hyacinth Bucket and her toilet roll covers.

'Do you take the Times?' only makes sense if the answer is 'yes, if I haven't got any money'. But it appeared in the wild last week, in the Guardian newspaper's online Editor's Weblog.

Last Monday morning, the newspaper unveiled a radical new look and design, costing Euro119m. British readers saw not only changed layout and design but also a new size and shape called Berliner. It's half way between tabloid and broadsheet. Irish readers got something a little different but that's another story.

New shape or not, one of the innovative aspects of the Guardian is its website. In particular the editor's blog, "where senior Guardian staff write about the decisions they make, and the reasons behind them".

In the days leading up to the radical redesign, web readers got a fly-on-the-wall view of what was happening behind the scenes. For example, one photograph revealed "foreign editor Harriet Sherwood grabbing a quick Coke - when her computer crashed - after binning the lunch she was eating standing up".

In the end, it all seemed to go quite smoothly and by mid-morning of last Monday's launch day, most readers had responded positively to the new look. But not all.

The paper had dropped the Doonesbury comic strip and at 11.30am that morning, an editor posted a message online stating that 300 emails, 100 phone calls and 100 website posts had been received - all complaining at Doonesbury's demise.

And the web posts continued unabated. At 3pm, Ian Katz, the features editor responsible for dropping the comic strip, posted this message: "We felt Doonesbury had a small, committed following but was not read by a large readership. If we're wrong about the number of people who read and love it, we may have to think again".

The readers' posts then surged. "I've been a Saturday Guardian reader for years and I've just decided I can afford to take it daily. One of the things I was looking forward to was a daily dose of Doonesbury. PLEASE bring it back!", wrote Paul Youd.

"No more Doonesbury? Goodbye Guardian", said Col Moss.

Ben Kemp wrote: "The Guardian without Doonesbury is unthinkable, like a margarita without salt. If you can't find the space, I can't find the 60p".

"Why don't you bloody ask first! I bet it was a poxy 'focus group' thing wasn't it!, advanced Rex Gale.

For six hours the battle raged and just after 9pm Ian Katz appeared from the trenches. "OK, OK. I'm coming out with my hands in the air. I'm walking... very... slowly. Please don't shoot!

"I was the man who bumped Doonesbury from the new G2 and who, as several of you have pointed out, failed even to extend the courtesy of warning you in advance. Apologies for the last bit for starters".

He went on to explain that he wasn't a regular reader of Doonesbury and had wondered if it was symptomatic of an obsession with all things American in the British media. This lead him to question how many people actually read the strip.

Katz said that "the vast majority of people I asked - and we asked all those who looked at dummies of the new paper during the research leading up to launch - said they did not.

"One or two wise heads said touch it at your peril. They - and you lot - were right, and I was wrong... . Doonesbury will be back in G2 from Monday... . We'll run a catch-up omnibus for the week on Friday and start the daily strips again next week.

"... The good news is that we now know just how strongly you feel about it and no damn fool features editor is going to mess with it - for at least 25 years. Now I'm going home, if I can just get off this sword."

So that was that. After hundreds of posts on the paper's blog by readers (plus emails sent in), the Guardian's foresight in facilitating such communications in the first place proved invaluable. The 'Bring Back Doonesbury Campaign' was happy.

"Ian, thank you very much indeed. I'd buy you a pint if this wasn't the Internet", posted The Rev.

Alex Ingram wrote: "Curses, my principled boycott will have lasted maybe 30 minutes. This is what the Guardian is all about - thanks for listening and acting so promptly".

"Well, reason and sanity prevail. Hurrah, and thank you. Never underestimate the tenacity of Doonesbury addicts", wrote David Mounce.

Or the power of the web.