235 Pinelawn Road
Melville, NY 117475-4250
631/843-4000
http://www.newsday.com
F. Scott Fitzgerald once said there were no second acts in life.
Newsday disagrees. Its new "Act II" section provides a weekly look
at retirement - from planning and preparation to policy issues
affecting retirees in the New York area.
The editor of the new section, Rick Green, is also in something
of a second act. Green was the Sunday business news editor at
Newsday, then left for stints as a senior editor at SmartMoney and
BusinessWeek. Now he has returned and is looking for news and
information his readers can apply as they plan for and enjoy their
retirements.
Content/Contacts/Deadlines
All pitches should be sent to [email protected]. Messages to
this address can be viewed by Green and by all of his colleagues
working on the section. Act II, Green emphasizes, is not "strictly
a retirement thing. I refer to it as targeted at retirees and
people who would like to be [retirees] one day." He says the
audience includes anyone middle-aged and up, and content will
actually focus on the younger end of the spectrum, with a cover
story that could be lifestyle-, service- or news- oriented; a
retirement planning guide; a tips page with "quick-hit" service
items; a column on wills and estates; profiles of retirees who do
something unique, whether volunteering or launching a new career; a
column on government policy affecting retirees; and a weekly guide
and review of retirement communities.
Stories are assigned about 30 days in advance of publication and
copy deadlines are two weeks in advance of the Saturday issue date
- so the ends of weeks are most hectic for Green and team.
Pitch Tips
"Please no phone calls," Green begs. He says they won't get you
anywhere and he has no time to take them. Plus, the email box for
the section allows your idea broader distribution among
contributing reporters.
The editors are interested in almost anything that pertains to
retirement. One topic they will not touch, however, is medical
stories. Healthcare policy may be of interest to them - for example
the debate over Medicare and prescription drugs - but new
medications, medical technologies, or stories about diseases of the
elderly will get you nowhere.
Also, Green says, "we are relentlessly local in focus." If the
story doesn't have some angle or relevance for readers in Long
Island, Queens or Brooklyn, Green won't cover it.
Comments
So far the section is generating tremendous feedback among
readers. "I consider myself hard to impress, but wow," Green says.
After only a few weeks on newsstands, he says the response from
readers has been overwhelming. "I've gotten so many calls and
emails and letters" from readers who are hooked on Act II.
In The Pipeline
Green would like to see more information on technology that has
some application for retirees. This could be computers, software,
hardware, an assistive technology (like one that reads email for
seniors with bad vision). Any tech-driven story that fits his
audience demographic will be of interest to him.