Readers&#8217; reactions to the new format of The Kansas City Star have been all over the map in the past two weeks. I&#8217;ve received enough suggestions to fill dozens of columns with the best critiques alone.</p><p>Obviously, lots of readers are simply chagrined that The Star, like far too many other businesses, has to tighten its belt during this recession.</p><p>But it&#8217;s certainly not all negativity. Numerous people underline how much they love The Star, and say they understand the difficulties the paper and its advertisers are facing.</p><p>Many have told me they actually like the new combination A section, but several are uneasy with the fact that the world seems to be turning to the computer and mobile phone for information more and more every day.</p><p>Terry Glenn e-mailed a sentiment I&#8217;ve heard many times: &#8220;I may be a dinosaur, but reading news on the computer screen is not the same as reading news printed. It truly is a daily experience to me. There is anticipation every day that I am going to be entertained, educated and/or challenged by what I find inside the pages.&#8221;</p><p>Many people have told me they especially miss the daily listings of stock tables &#8212; something most papers are cutting. &#8220;I worked with computers until I was 75. But now I want to get away from (them), even though I know that&#8217;s the way the world is going,&#8221; said a caller recently.</p><p>&#8220;I really wish you&#8217;d try to find a way to get &#8216;The Buzz&#8217; back in my paper every day instead of just Sundays,&#8221; said a reader last Wednesday. &#8220;We need all the laughs we can get in this country right now.&#8221; Editors are considering that, by the way, possibly in a tweaked format.</p><p>Charlotte and Frank DiTirro offer an idea they think would make The Star easier to use. &#8220;Suggestion: If you must combine the former first and second sections of the paper, why not make the Local section a &#8216;pull-out,&#8217; as such? That way, the paper can be shared easily and you&#8217;ll still benefit from the cost-saving effort (smart move) of combining the two sections.&#8221; I like that, though it&#8217;s virtually impossible from a logistical standpoint.</p><p>More than anything else, I sympathize with people who just don&#8217;t like the changes in today&#8217;s media landscape. &#8220;My kids got me a computer, but I don&#8217;t like to use it,&#8221; said one. &#8220;I have been reading The Star for almost 55 years. I admit I don&#8217;t really use those (listings) for following my stocks, but I liked to look over them every morning with my coffee. I feel like I&#8217;ve lost something that&#8217;s been constant my whole life.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Newspapers provide an important service to a community &#8212; that&#8217;s one of the reasons why I&#8217;ve maintained my subscription,&#8221; e-mailed another reader, who also offered a suggestion: &#8220;Throw your subscribers a bone &#8212; special sports or business issues that aren&#8217;t available at newsstands or online. Load up a little more on coupons &#8212; they really can pay for a subscription. But most of all, make the content interesting and fairly weighted to all perspectives.&#8221;</p><p>The whole media landscape is still in the infancy of figuring out how to deliver content electronically &#8212; and how to sustain it. After all, some of the biggest Internet &#8220;successes&#8221; like YouTube and Twitter lose money. Print readers have told me for years they think it&#8217;s unfair that papers and magazines have been giving away their content for free online.</p><p>The Internet is a medium, not a news source. And while there are some great Web sites doing quality original journalism independently, the overwhelming majority of news online still comes from the same newspaper, broadcast, and wire service newsrooms that have been plying their trade for decades.</p><p>&#8220;I just want reassurance,&#8221; said one reader. &#8220;I depend on The Star. I don&#8217;t like any change, and I don&#8217;t want less news. &#8230; If I had my way, nothing would ever change. Newspapers are something I can hold onto, and I love them.&#8221;