A handful of protesters demonstrated in front of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Thursday, urging Georgia's biggest newspaper to restore the position of its book review editor, Teresa Weaver. The paper had eliminated her job and those of other editors of specialized sections including food, movies, theater and music in a reorganization move.

		Book editor Bob Hoover's column Book sections remain a vital part of culture

Organized by the National Book Critics Circle, with about 700 members who write book reviews, and Shannon Byrne, a publicist for Little, Brown, who lives in Atlanta, the "Campaign to Save Book Reviewing" had collected nearly 5,000 signatures on a save-Weaver petition since her removal was announced earlier last month.

The campaign moved to Atlanta with a demonstration that included selected readings and speeches. The newspaper said there were 22 participants. The critics circle claims there were 50 on hand.

"As a book person, I loved the fact that the newspaper had a book section with a personal identity whom we could relate to," Byrne said after the demonstration. "This paper is the largest in the Southeast, where we have a really fine literary tradition. To lose somebody like Teresa is a tragedy."

Byrne and John Freeman, president of the critics circle, met with Journal-Constitution editor Julia Wallace for an hour.

"She told us it was both a financial decision and a change in editorial philosophy," Byrne said. "They want to put more money into their digital side, so they're cutting back on the print side."

There will be no downsizing of the print edition, Mary Dugenske, the Journal-Constitution's communications director, said yesterday. "Instead, we are changing the ways we gather and report the news to better support the online newspaper."

The plan, which takes effect at the end of June, creates a staff of generalists who will focus on writing local stories that will feed the Internet newspaper "24/7," said Dugenske.

She cited a statement in Sunday's paper by editor Julia Wallace:

"Many jobs -- such as book editor -- go away because content and production are being separated. However, we have no intention of eliminating our book pages. We probably won't often hire out-of-town freelancers to review books at a national level. Instead we will present reviews from the wire services. ... This will free us to focus our resources on local books and metro Atlanta's literary scene."

This shift is occurring at newspapers around the country, including the Post-Gazette, which has invested in Internet technology and personnel to expand its online presence. The paper has also joined its counterparts nationally in reducing the size of its printed editions.

The Christian Science Monitor is a leader in transferring the bulk of its content to the Internet, including book reviews. Book editor Marjorie Kehe said that the Monitor's reader research showed a steady rise in online interest.

"I like to believe that there is a vital place for reviews online," she said. "Unlike print readers, online users are much more targeted. They're looking for specific subjects, and that fact might change the way I do things. But the Internet is still the great unknown. There's virtually unlimited space, and that means my job is just going to get bigger."

The Monitor publishes "five or six" book reviews a week in its print version. "There will continue to be a need for a print book review," Kehe said. "Those readers are still out there."

For authors and publishers, one or more positive reviews -- whether online or in print -- can have the impact of thousands of dollars' worth of advertising and, in some cases, can make a career.

"The question is, 'Would authors have careers if there were no book reviews?'" asked Laura Lippman, creator of a popular crime series and a former newspaper reporter. "There's no question that reviews always help. They clearly helped me sell my new book."

That book, "What the Dead Know," was not part of her series, and many critics called it Lippman's literary breakthrough. The result was increased sales, a full-page advertisement by her publisher, Morrow, in Lippman's hometown newspaper, the Baltimore Sun, and finally a profile of her in the paper.

Lippman endorses the "traditional media" over the Internet.

"It's like the difference between shopping for a book at a bookstore or going to Amazon to buy a book you want to buy," she said. "When I go to a bookstore and browse around, I end up buying a book or two I had never planned to buy.

"Newspaper book sections, with their wide range, can get you thinking about a book you were not thinking about at all," she said.

Geeta Sharma Jensen has been the book editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for eight years. "My insight is that readers want a voice, an attitude, a certain personality in the book section, but they also want information and guidance," she said.

The Journal Sentinel uses four reviews and a roundup of short reviews in its Sunday page, which Jensen augments with author interviews and her column. "Anything to get more book coverage in the paper."

Lately, she has been called upon to augment the Internet edition as well with podcasts, but she doesn't believe that online content will replace the printed page in the near future.

"The issue really facing us here is the fact that newspapers in general are democratic and accessible to everybody, unlike the Internet," said David Ulin, book editor of The Los Angeles Times, where changes in his section earlier raised concerns about diminished emphasis on book coverage at daily papers.

The Times' stand-alone Sunday book section of 12 pages was recently combined with its opinion section, losing pages in the process. The Chicago Tribune, owner of the Times, will move its book section from Sunday to Saturday May 19, but it will remain devoted to books.

"We have, though, made a serious commitment to books on the Internet edition," Ulin said. He plans to produce Internet-only features and columns, including a literary event calendar, but stressed "they are still part of the newspaper and will be edited and checked like any story that goes in the print edition."

"It's clear that a lot of people are reading us online, so newspapers are going to have to make an investment there," Ulin continued. "It is a generational thing. I used to teach and know that my students got most of their information online.

"But the Internet is not a panacea. The core of any book section is intelligent, engaged criticism," Ulin said.

Novelist Richard Ford ("The Lay of the Land," "Independence Day") has long written about the nature of American culture. He views the changes in newspaper book reviewing as "another erosive loss to the public cultural discourse, which loses ground every day."

Ford said last week: "It's also a backing away from print journalism's historical claim to relevance. For most readers, let's face it, losing the book page would be invisible. Which is not to say it would be inconsiderable."

---

Correction/Clarification: (Published May 9, 2007) The Chicago Tribune will publish its book review section on Saturdays starting May 19 as a stand-alone section. It will not be combined with any other section as reported in this story as originally published in May 8, 2007 editions.