Ask The Post

Jill Dutt, Deputy Assistant Managing Editor, Financial (Bill O'Leary -- The Washington Post)

Washington Post assistant managing editor for Financial Jill Dutt was online Tuesday, Nov. 14, at Noon ET to answer your questions about recent changes to the financial markets pages in the newspaper.

Beginning Nov. 14, listings in the paper of individual stock and mutual fund prices will be trimmed. Instead, the business section will present expanded market summary tables and a story describing the previous day's market-related events. Full listings of individual stocks and mutual funds will continue to appear in Sunday Business. Monday Business will continue its expanded listings of local company stocks. Read the complete editor's note to readers here.

NOTE: This transcript was updated to clarify the amount of price/trading information The Washington Post publishes compared to other newspapers

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Jill Dutt: Good afternoon. Thanks for your questions on the changes we introduced today in our financial market tables in the Business section. I'm also happy to answer other questions about Post coverage of business and economic topics.

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Columbia, Md.: I hope there was an error in today's mutual funds listings. Vanguard is the second largest mutual fund company in the country, yet there was only one Vanguard fund (the Star Fund) listed. Other much smaller fund families had several funds listed.

Jill Dutt: We have gotten lots of questions about the Vanguard funds, so let me take this good, specific one first. We did not intend to eliminate all the Vanguard funds but one. They will be restored in tomorrow's listings. The reason Vanguard's funds fell off the list is that we have screened our mutual funds to present those that have a $2,000 minimum investment or below. We did that to eliminate a lot of institutional funds that require $50,000+ initial investments. I did not know that many Vanguard funds require a $3,000 minimum investment. So, starting tomorrow, we will increase our minimum investment criteria to $3,000 and select the top 2,000 funds from that list. You should see a lot of Vanguard funds reappear.

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Clarksville, Md.: Ms. Dutt:

Whoever prompted you to make the changes in today's Business section- ought to be fired.

This hodgepodge of information, combining stocks from the three major exchanges, asking for certain stocks to be included, etc- is preposterous, and absolutely non-helpful.

In an effort to reduce the paper size- (and I understand about cutting costs)- cutting this section- is absolutely a BAD DECISION.

In fact, you ought to add some info such as: His/Lows- for each market, at least the NASDAQ.

Moving the mutual funds around, (Price is now T rowe price), is a disaster.

For goodness sake, restore the old business section, and leave it alone. Tell Mr. Downie, and Bennett- to cut elsewhere. For example, joining metro and the first section is just fine.

Subscriber since 1989

Jill Dutt: I understand your anger. It was a difficult decision to cut back on the financial markets listings. I believe that providing this data is an important reader service and have argued for years that we should not cut it. But, I had to rethink those arguments when every other major metropolitan daily newspaper cut their financial tables. The only daily newspapers I know of that still publish full listings are the Wall Street Journal and Investor's Business Daily.

Even with the cuts we made today, we still publish more daily price/trading information for individual stocks and mutual funds than does the New York Times and the Financial Times. The Baltimore Sun and the Washington Times both list more individual stocks than we now do, but our trading data for each stock is more comprehensive. USA Today lists more individual stocks, but fewer mutual funds.

We will keep for now our full listings in Sunday Business. But trimming there also is not off the table. Newsprint is very expensive and it's harder to justify spending it on agate when there are cuts going on elsewhere in the newspaper.

As to your specific questions, we decided to list the 1,000 biggest stocks regardless of where they trade because the difference in trading systems among the various markets is much less than it used to be. We did expand the high/lows to include Nasdaq and Amex stocks; before this change we only listed highs/lows for NYSE stocks.

You will have to get used to looking for T. Rowe Price funds under "T" instead of "P."

If there are any stocks or funds that you don't see listed, just email us a stocks@washpost.com and we'll try to add them back in.

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Olney, Md.: For me and for so many other Washington Post customers, November 14, 2006 is the day that The Washington Post died.

What numbskull thought that to save newsprint costs, it would be wise to perform a slash and burn edit of the stock tables. In this new reduced format, they are useless.

Econ and business majors are taught to read the financial tables. We don't need this dumbed down version of stock listings. It is an insult to the intelligence of the average Washington Post reader to reduce these stock listings to an appreciated and consolidated "snapshot".

The criteria for what remains listed in the stock table is so arbitrary. I think the assignment was to back into the amount of space that you, as assistant managing editor dictated to staff. This action has alienated and angered your readership.

Just raise the newsstand price of an individual copy of the Post to 40 or 50 cents, resume the daily stock listings in the format that they last appeared in the Saturday, November 11, 2006 edition, and all is forgiven.

Consider this as a very bad business decision, the likes of New Coke and the AOL-Time Warner merger, and resolve, to reverse the decision and promise never again to even consider such a stupid idea.

Jill Dutt: This writer expresses the view of many people who have emailed me at stocks@washpost.com this morning. I question the premise of whether these listings are really rendered useless. We are reducing the number of stocks and mutual funds listed to the largest ones and encouraging readers to write, call or email to tell us which ones they own that are no longer listed and we will try to add them back. Since we can no longer justify the newsprint expense to publish everything, we are trying to start today in a dialog with all of you to keep these lists useful in a smaller space. But if you think they are useless, that we have reached some tipping point by reducing our stocks listings to the 1,000 largest (including all local companies even if they're not among the 1,000 largest) and 2,000 mutual funds, then I ought to know that.

I considered and rejected going the way that some newspapers have gone: eliminating trading data for all but the 100 largest stocks or the 100 local stocks and instead publishing only trends and summaries of market activities overall. I see news value in publishing as many daily price change quotes as we can. But if others see advantages to taking a summary approach, with more graphics about general trends, I am open to considering that.

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Potomac, Md.: What does The Washington Post think it has to gain by this change?

My view is that your decision will be very costly in terms of reader dissatisfaction and thus a reduction in circulation which will more than offset any savings in newsprint.

Jill Dutt: Good question. Newsprint is one of the top 3 expenses at a newspaper. We are saving two pages of newsprint a day with these changes. That adds up to a lot of money over the course of a year. We are trying to minimize reader dissatisfaction by inviting you to request which stocks and funds you'd like us to add back. We will do our best to add back all those for which we get specific requests.

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Ocean City, Md.: This is a comment. I know that I am only one Post reader, but I am very dismayed at your decision to stop running the daily stock changes for the majority of stocks. I have several stocks in my portfolio that I check regularly while reading the morning news. They are now gone.

I realize that I can go on-line and check prices, but this is very cumbersome if you are not regularly on line.

It may seem like a small thing to you, but I consider it important to have that information available to me at my fingertips when I want it.

Why did you cut this information out, anyway?

Regards.

Jill Dutt: We made these cuts to save money for the newspaper. As all of you know, newspaper circulation has been declining for at least a decade and although The Post has weathered this decline better than many other papers, we are not immune to this trend. As circulation declines, advertising revenue eventually follows. When those two pillars of our business erode, we have to look to make cuts. The Post has instituted many new ways to manage its newsroom more efficiently, but we are committed to providing the highest-caliber reporting both within the Washington region and around the world. That's expensive. We are doing everything we can to save money with a minimal impact on readers. Since all other major metro dailies have cut their stock tables, and an increasing body of research that shows more people getting their investing data online, it was impossible for me not to make some sacrifices there.

I will be emailing everyone who writes to stocks@washpost.com a short guide to setting up a way to track your investment portfolio at washingtonpost.com. Those emails should go out by the end of this week. You could use that to supplement the research you do using the ink-on-paper listings.

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Reston, Va.: If The Washington Post is to have a partial list, why should I look at that listing and then have to look at a web site. I might as well skip the Business section and go solely on a web site. When I do that, of course, I won't see the ads in the Business section. Isn't that how you get revenue?

Jill Dutt: If there are stocks or funds that you own that are missing in our printed list, just email stocks @washpost.com with the specific names and we'll add them back. We can no longer afford to publish all of the 3,700 stocks we used to list, but we can add back a couple hundred.

The revenue we generate by publishing ads in the financial markets listings table is not enough to offset the considerable costs of printing the listings.

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Palmyra, Va.: RE: VANGUARD FUNDS: I read only the funds with $3000. to buy will not cover several costing more such as "Energy" Windsor II, Healthcare, as well as "closed to new investors." some in which we are invested, and need to know about. We have subscribed for 30 years & have just paid $187 for a new year, which we may have to cancel because of your omissions. DISAPPOINTED!!!

Jill Dutt: If you own specific funds that don't meet our screening criteria, we can add them back in if you send us the exact names. Our data provider will run the initial screen to produce our lists and then add in all the "special requests" we forward their way. I can add back Windsor II, etc. Please email stocks@washpost.com with that request.

I really want the paper to be as useful to you as it can be. I hope this will solve your concerns.

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Reston, Va.: As more and more people rely on stocks and mutual funds for their retirement planning, and as the Baby Boomers enter retirement, it is incredible that The Washington Post (and the New York Times) abridged its stock mutual funds listings. Delving into computer Web sites takes more time. It is a shame that The Post seems to find space to reprint blogs and other amusements in the Sports pages and to print non-stories in the Style section. If you can have a KidPost, why can't you have an AdultPost?

Jill Dutt: Newspapers have to change with the times and I know how unsettling that can be. Yes, we now publish our share of tidbits from blogs, etc., but if we didn't we would be abdicating our responsibility to write about what's happening in the world around us. While we are exploring new forms to deliver information in print and online, the core of The Post is what it has always been and will continue to be: a place where news rules, as our executive editor, Len Downie, likes to say. We are committed to covering the news of our local communities, politics and national issues, business, sports and the whole world. We have added more features, like the terrific KidsPost, to bring in new readers more accustomed to getting their information off screens. That's only prudent. But if you look at the column inches devoted in this newspaper to news, analysis and features, it's pretty clear that the soul of our paper is to serve readers by reporting on the most important issues in their lives.

I take your point about how more of us will have to rely on our own investment savvy to save enough money for retirement. That's why we've added a column in Sunday Business written by veteran financial journalist, Martha Hamilton. If you haven't read it yet, check it out. We are also keeping our full financial markets listings on Sunday -- for now, at least -- for that same reason. We want to give readers as much useful information as we can to help keep you informed and to help you make better decisions.

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Washington, D.C.: I'm here to stick up for Jill and her section. In the face of mandatory cuts, they're doing the best they can to make some kind of a logical, systemic decision.

I don't get why people are so up in arms about this. Stock tables are DATA, available in 100 different places online.

Like it or not, the modern newspaper is shrinking due to budget cuts and the changing nature of the American media environment. I'd -much- rather have the WP use its precious X number of pages available every day to give me original reporting and analysis on local, national and international issues. Data (stock tables, sports agate, etc) is a commodity and can be found anywhere.

Jill, you worry about telling me -why- the stocks are doing what they're doing. That's what I really need from you.

Jill Dutt: Here is another perspective on the changes we've made. I appreciate the sentiments.

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Silver Spring, Md.: And now a voice from the other side. I don't give a giant flip about printed stock prices. That's what the Internet is for.

Making me pay an extra 15 cents a day for somebody else's joy is not okay.

Leave it as is. The rest of you just buy the Wall Street Journal and be done with it.

Jill Dutt: And here's another!

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Arlington, Va.: I'm sending this for a close friend:

Why have you decimated your stock listings? I had been watching 12 mutual funds on the NYSE everyday, and now there are only 2 of them included in your very shortened listing. In the past I've praised the Post to others around the country in its completeness and for the ease at which listings could be read (in comparison with the Chicago Tribune or the Detroit Free Press)

As a daily newsbox purchaser who does read the Post for its editorials and columns, too, I had been seriously contemplating home delivery, but now with your stripped down stock listings I won't. I really don't want to have to subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, but you may have forced the issue. I'm truly sorry you're doing this, but to keep others reading besides me you should seriously reconsider your "adjustment." Thank you.

Jill Dutt: I do hope you decide to become a home delivery subscriber. Please email stocks@washpost.com with the names of the 10 mutual funds we are no longer listing that you follow. We will do our best to add them back in.

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Arlington, Va.: You should have cut all of the stock and fund listings - anyone who wants them can easily get more current info from the Internet.

Please bring back the "business class" travel column. Keith Alexander did a great job with that - and the Sunday travel section does not address issues that challenge most business travelers.

Jill Dutt: Thanks for your question about the Business Class column. I'm afraid I cannot promise that it will return. We have a fabulous reporter, Del Wilber, who is now covering airlines and business travel, as well as air safety, air security and airplane makers. That's a lot of ground to cover. Keith did a great job with the column, but when he was writing for us (he's now moved to the Metro staff covering social issues, which he enjoys) he did not have to also cover air safety and security. As part of our need to consolidate where possible, we've now wrapped the duties of two reporters into one. This is one of the tradeoffs we're weighing (and balancing with decisions like trimming the financial tables to save newsprint) as we deal with the business realities of newspapering. But do check out Del's story in the Monday paper, about a Delta Connections flight between JFK and DC that's late 100 percent of the time. He is writing stories to which all of us who travel for Business can relate!

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Washington, D.C.: Could you gather with your team and perhaps formulate a compromise between the way it used to be and what we now see?

Jill Dutt: I'm the fourth of six kids in my family, so I'm all about compromise! :-)

Although we'll never get back the two pages of newsprint we saved through these cuts, I do want a real dialogue with our readers to provide you the best cut of information we can provide that fits in the space available. We will be adding back stocks/mutual funds that are specifically requested, as I've said here a few times today. I also got a call from a reader requesting that we once again highlight daily movements in gold and oil prices. I agreed to do that (increasing their visibility from where they now appear under the Futures market data). We will be adding gold and oil market moves into the upper left-hand corner of the section front, where we now provide a brief, graphical snapshot of market moves. All other ideas like that are welcome! Please email stocks@washpost.com

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Springfield, Va.: Fidelity and Vanguard are the two largest mutual fund companies. In today's paper you list all Fidelity funds (more than 200) and only ONE Vanguard fund. Vanguard has more than 100 very active mutual funds. Will you list all the Vanguard funds?? I don't like your stock listings either. NASDAQ & NYSE should be listed separately. I'm opposed to everything you did today.

Jill Dutt: In case you didn't see this answer earlier, we made a mistake that caused the Vanguard funds to drop out today. They should be back in there tomorrow -- Thursday at the latest. NYSE, Nasdaq and Amex stocks will stay in the combined list, however. Please email me at stocks@washpost.com and let me know why it's so important to you to keep the listing market as the central organizing principle of our stocks listings. I'd like to know more about that.

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Jill Dutt: Thanks to everyone for your good questions. Our time is almost up. I will end with two posts that express the mixed reaction we've gotten to these changes. Here they come.

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Annandale, Va.: I agree with your move and have often wondered why you printed the full stock table when online provides so much information. The space is better used for meaningful business comment. Washington Post online can carry the full tables.

Jill Dutt: pro

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Arlington, Va.: I have been a subscriber to The Post since 1977 and am extremely disappointed by your decision to limit the listings of stocks and mutual funds. I think that The Post and newspapers in general risk becoming completely irrelevant if they fail to provide useful information to readers. While I can appreciate that newsprint is expensive, not having anyone purchase your newspaper would be of greater cost to The Post.

Jill Dutt: and con.

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Jill Dutt: Thanks again for participating in this chat.

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