Fresno paper removes stock indicators from front page, and hears about it

The Fresno Bee recently took away the major stock market indicators on the front page of its business section, reasoning that the same information was contained inside the paper on the stock pages.

Big mistake. Readers complained.

Kris Eldred, assistant managing editor, wrote, “One change was to remove the stock indicators — the red and green arrows — to allow for a less stilted, or pre-planned, layout. We reasoned that since the same information is listed daily at the top of Page C4, it wouldn’t be missed on Page C1.

“We were wrong about our readers’ reaction.

“In hindsight, we could have better prepared our readers for the change and better informed them where to find the information they have come to appreciate.

“At the same time, we could have done a better job of letting our readers know what they will get in exchange: Better organized and more visually compelling pages that we hope will continue to appeal to long-time readers, as well as draw new readers to the interesting and relevant stories we have in the Business section.”

Read more here.