Since starting this column last summer, I've heard from a few readers who say they enjoy getting a peek into how the newspaper operates and how we go about making daily decisions.

It's nice to hear that kind of feedback, but it also reinforces one of the main reasons for creating this feature - the lack of understanding that so many people have about what we do and their interest in learning more.

In many ways, that's very much the fault of the journalism industry. For as much energy as we put into covering the news, we generally do a horrible job covering ourselves. Some editors may say stories about the journalism industry are only self-serving or not interesting enough for a general audience. I think they are missing the bigger picture - how can we have credibility if we're not willing to share what's going on in our industry?

Covering the news is not terribly complicated. It's not like we're computer engineers or neurosurgeons who would be wasting their time trying to explain the intricacies of how they do their job.

Fortunately for readers who would like to learn more about how news is reported, the Internet has a bunch of “insider” resources for the public domain.

Here are a few places online that readers might find enlightening:

€ www.poynter.org - This is the Web site for The Poynter Institute, a terrific organization that is essentially a school for practicing journalists. St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Poynter hosts all kinds of training programs, both at their headquarters and online. And they conduct terrific research on the news industry. Probably the most popular feature at poynter.org is the daily column by Jim Romenesko, who posts all the latest information on scandals, personalities, hirings, firings and business decisions in the world of journalism. He'll often publish internal newspaper memos, which can be both funny and frightening.

€ www.ajr.org and www.cjr.org - The American Journalism Review and the Columbia Journalism Review, respectively, don't offer as much breaking industry news as the Poynter Institute, but they do provide some in-depth and easy-to-understand analysis about journalism industry trends. These two organizations have long produced well-respected trade magazines, and their Web sites are nice complements to them.

€ www.lee.net - OK, so maybe I'm pandering to the corporate bosses here, but I would recommend readers of The Citizen check out the site of our parent company, Lee Enterprises. You'll get a good look at our philosophies and strategies, and there's some great examples of strong journalism done at Lee papers.

Executive editor Jeremy Boyer's column runs Saturdays in The Citizen and he can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 231