Publication analysis
About the publication
Title: Sacramento Bee
ISSN: 0890-5738 (Print)1
Website: http://sacbee.com
Purpose, objective, or mission: “…to produce a newspaper that serves the needs of its community without becoming subservient to the whims of public opinion or the pressures of the powerful.”2
Target audience: “The Bee’s circulation area covers the Northern Sacramento Valley and surrounding areas: south to Stockton, north to Redding, east to Reno and west to the San Francisco Bay Area.”3
Publisher: The McClatchy Company.4
Peer reviewed? No.
Type: Civilian newspaper
Medium: Print and online.5
Content: Local, state, and national news, politics, community events calendar, sports, and entertainment.
Frequency of publication: Daily.6
About the publication’s submission guidelines
Location of submission guidelines: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/submit-letter/article3351588.html
Types of contributions accepted: The Bee accepts letters to the editor (150 words),7 opinion columns and personal viewpoints of roughly 600 words.8
Submission and review process: Use the separate online forms for submitting a letter or opinion piece, and read the instructions for each.
Editorial tone: None identified.
Style guide used: None mentioned.
Conclusion: Evaluation of publication’s potential for LIS authors
An LIS author who resides in or has personal knowledge of the market served by the publication could write a letter to the editor about a current library funding issue, a longer article on the value of libraries specific to a population within Sacramento, or write in response to a published article in The Bee about the state of library services. There are many possibilities for an LIS author familiar with the market area.
Audience analysis
About the publication’s readers
Publication circulation: 92,733 paid daily, 164,041 paid Sunday, average monthly online audience of 27,608,000.9
Audience location and language or cultural considerations: “The Bee’s circulation area covers the Northern Sacramento Valley and surrounding areas: south to Stockton, north to Redding, east to Reno and west to the San Francisco Bay Area.”10 This is an English language publication serving a racially diverse population.
Reader characteristics: Demographic information is not available, but according to the United States Census, Sacramento County is 62.8% white and 23.6% Hispanic or Latino.11 The publication supports community arts and champions environmental causes.12
Knowledge of LIS subject matter: The readers of this publication are the general public and would have limited knowledge of LIS matters and terminology.
Conclusion: Analysis of reader characteristics and their potential impact on authors
Since the readers of The Bee will not be familiar with LIS jargon or library issues, an author needs to keep writing for this publication general and be certain to provide convincing reasons for the reader to care about the library topic of their article.
Last updated: September 14, 2020
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