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Right now, I'm awaiting the final word on whether or not I'll be selected as the new Publisher/Editor of a county newspaper in the mountains of NC. I'm really excited about the opportunity, but it looks like I'll have my work cut out for me.
The newspaper is in bad need of a redesign. Currently, their front page looks like a jumble of stories, their interior pages are equally chaotic, and there is little delineation between ad space and copy space. To top it off, I'm a bit iffy on whether their interior material is interesting enough to pull the casual reader through the entire paper.
So, if I can mine your collective creativity, would anyone be willing to say what gets them going when it comes to reading a newspaper? What grabs you visually? What sections do you read first and most often? What kind of ads grab your attention the most? What things immediately turn you off when you dive into a newspaper?
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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If you get the position, CONGRADULATIONS! Being a journalist (and student as well) myself--I think that's really great your getting that position.
As for a newspaper layout--yeah, you definetly need to get that straightened out. I don't know how bad it is, but I can imagine. Another thing---what are the demographics for your area? Those are important---find that out. There's a lot you can do with a weekly---how about more Features rather than hard news---dailies usually get to that, so once it's in the weekly, nobody cares. Focus on the community and community events. Find little quirks in the area that might be interesting. If the paper is located near the smoky mountains national park, you could include happenings in the park as well---or even put in a little bit of history on the area for features.
Let me know a little more about the area in which this paper is in---then I can help you more. Posts: 463 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Wait---I thought it was a weekly---many apologies. But the part about the demographics is important---get those, then it will be easier to determine what your readers want. Posts: 463 | Registered: Oct 2003
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The place where the paper will be makes for part of the trickiness of the redesign. Avery County, NC is home to a hugely varied population. You've got classic small town life in one area, another town (Banner Elk) based around Lees-McRae College and the highest density of ski resorts in the Southeast (including the highest ski slope on the East Coast), you've got scenic Grandfather Mountain, you've also got very rural farms tucked away in the valleys, it's home to the nation's biggest and best Highland Games event, and features the town of Linville, which is among the highest per capita income towns in the nation.
You've got nationally acclaimed mountain story tellers Ray and Orville Hicks, conservationist Hugh Morton and the owner of the Miami Dolphins living within a few miles of each other. You can eat barbecue sandwiches at an operating, water powered grist mill for lunch and that night dine on the finest shrimp etouffe` you've ever had.
Basically, the current newspaper caters to a small section of the local population, the "long-timers." I want something that appeals to them, as well as the "newly-arrived," the college students, the ski and resort crowd and the tons of tourists. Rich, poor, educated and just plain old folks.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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And thanks UofU and Starla* for the input so far. It is a weekly newspaper, but the area is not served by a daily.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Sopwith, Before I switched over to Web and Internet design and software usability, I worked for more than 17 years in newspaper design, and have participated in several complete overhauls. It sounds as if you have an exciting and challenging task ahead of you, if you get the job. Good luck!
Here are some of the thoughts and questions I would bring to your situation.
(Newspaper) layout and design are, in a general sense, the servant of content; but the bad old days where this meant that editors told photographers what to shoot, and copyeditors ordered up insta-clipart to fill column-inches, are, or should be, long gone.
What is now recognized is that both design and writing are servants of communication. This may sound like a truism, but it has profound implications for the operations and relations in the newsroom.
Get to know who the champions are - on the copy desk, on the general reporting staff, among the photogs, in the art department - of complete storytelling. Find out who has the willingness and imagination to collaborate - even on very small stories - with the full range of tools available (maps, charts, pictures, words, headlines, lists, layout, color, etc., etc.) - to tell compelling, meaningful stories that help readers make a difference in their communities.
Let these leaders stretch their legs from time to time on special series, big breaking stories, etc. Give them permission to inculcate similar values among the rest of the staff. ... On redesign. Broadly speaking there are two basic approaches: revolutionary and evolutionary. Obviously, points along the spectrum. If your established readership is conservative as well as intensely loyal, evolutionary may be the wiser course. Another advantage of evolutionary (other than not ticking people off) is that it gives you a chance to:
measure what's working
be respectful of community standards
show the executive board early results quickly
save money
not get frustrated trying to develop an earth-shaking 'master plan' which will be obsolete before it's published
involve the daily working staff integrally, rather than have a consultant sequestered for weeks.
That said, some kind of master plan is necessary, at least in order to queue up priorities. And there are some obvious dependencies. For example, if you wanted to institute a new approach to informational graphics, it would be well to revamp the overall typography first, rather than after. ... On organization. Don't underestimate the degree to which entrenched organizational patterns (even down to byzantinely detailed levels within the newsroom) can hamper creative vision. For example, every item in the Page One jumble of stories you cite probably has a stubborn champion. The order you make out of chaos has to come from within - coherent organization of people and ideas.
Of course, the obverse of this is encouraging - small organizational changes can have a big impact on the value of the newspaper to readers. Naturally, as a savvy as well as sensitive boss, you'll be able to do this stepping on toes without leaving scuffs on the boot polish Those stubborn champions? Some of that passion can be redirected to the paper's benefit.
I find some more recent trends in newspapering especially apt for a small regional weekly. Involvement with and by readers. Write-ins, feedback columns, quizzes, surveys, contests, etc. Use of the internet, including making writers part of the feedback process via email. Using all these tools to enhance the role a newspaper can play as the town caucus-hall, encouraging debate, driving education about little-examined issues, celebrating successes, and in general fostering the democratic fabric. These measures, more than faddish topic-mongering, will attract the spectrum of readership you're hoping for.
IMHO
(edited for random typos and format)
[ October 23, 2003, 02:05 PM: Message edited by: John Van Pelt ]
Posts: 431 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Sopwith...first of all, I hope you get the job.
Things I look for in a newspaper:
-a good, clean layout with obvious delineation between stories. Especially on the front page, I like to see a good balance of photos to print, not just a mass of print and not too many photos. I also look for headlines that are short, to the point, and unambiguous.
-news stories that don't editorialize or read like features. I'm a great believer in "who, what, when, where, why, and how" in the first paragraph, if not in the first sentence, of the story. So I'm old-fashioned.
-good editorial/op-ed pages that cover all points of the poltiical spectrum. A good selection of letters to the editor.
-features on a wide variety of topics, both local and more universal.
-good science reporting.
-literate sports writers. Most papers have literate news and feature writers, but a literate sports writer who knows their sports but can see the larger picture and relate sports to the world at large is a treasure.
-good comics, of course.
What I really hate:
-newspapers that are just cheerleaders for the local chamber of commerce.
-papers that only print letters to the editor that gush about recent community social and sports events ("I want to thank the member of the local Y, who put on a really great barbeque the other night"). These have their place, but those are the only letters my local weekly ever publishes, and it drives me crazy.
-local features that are obviously straight reprints of organizations' press releases.
I really hate to end on a negative note. So I'll add that I really like a paper that bothers to cover local cultural events - school plays, community concerts, and the like. We don't get too much of that around here, and it is something I really miss.
Oh, and if you get the job...will you be hiring writers? I'm willing to relocate. Posts: 2454 | Registered: Jan 2003
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Just remember that being a good news journalist does not involve changing the world. It does not involve convincing people one way or the other. A new journalist's main concern is reporting and uncovering news.
Posts: 859 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I was editor of a small town weekly for several years before doing a career change to technology (more money!). Good luck on your endeavor.
Did you specify whether this is a daily or weekly?
Only advice I have: as you do your "make-over" - do it very slowly, and stages. The "old-timers" that you want to keep as readers are resistant to change (I found that out!) so you have to ease them into the new look so as to not alienate them.
Personally, the older I get, the more I like white space -- guess that means my eyes are having a harder time with the layouts than they used to.
You are trying to appeal to such a varied audience, that it is going to be a rough row to hoe. Do you have much competition -- and what is the focus audience of your competition?
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I agree with Papa Moose on that. I pay for a local paper solely for the coupons (which more than pay for the paper). My news I get online.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Yes, on a more serious note, I look for different things in a daily than a weekly. In a daily, I want unbiased reporting as much as possible, an editorial page that is biased on every issue, although not necessarily in line with a particular issue, and a good letter to the editor selection. In a weekly, I want the stories they report on to be biased, but not obnoxiously so, and I want those stories to be stuff that may not be picked up on by the daily. One thing I do not want is for editorials written by the paper to take a broad, inclusive look at all sides of an issue, especially if they really are biased. It fools no one, and guest editorials or syndicated columns can give opposing viewpoints at least as well.
Also, a good selection of comics. My paper is ok, better than most even, but I still do not read a third of the comics because they are really boring and stupid. Often, all I have time to read in the morning are the front page, the comics, and maybe the LTE. I want the comfort of the comics to start my day, and I am only comforted if they are funny or at least interesting.
Posts: 1364 | Registered: Feb 2003
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Thank you all, from the detailed posts to the quick hits. All are welcome and all are considered.
Special thanks to the professionals in the field for the specific advice. I've gone through this a couple of times now, even designing one from the ground up, but it always helps to have more input.
And thanks to the readers, when it all comes down to it, it's about appealing to you. Without a strong and steady readership, you've got nothing.
On the coupons, they are very much a function of the advertisers. Inserts are often chock full of coupons and since this paper is part of a chain, I'm hoping we can get some co-op inserts going. Actual print coupons can be a two-edged sword. Not everyone will cut a coupon out of the regular paper, but the advertiser will use them to gauge the effectiveness of their advertising, sometimes with skewed results.
Like I said, I hope to hear on this by Oct. 31 and I would love to get back into a good newsroom. And starting an evolutionary redesign will be great fun and a fabulous team building exercise.
The deeper I get into reading the prior issues, the more I am encouraged with this. There's not a clinker in the bunch, from writers to ad designers, but there is a lot of room for polish.
Lilmiss -- Let me get settled in and relocated and I'll look at what can be done.
Also, if anyone has a great newspaper in their area that has an online edition, feel free to shoot me a link. I've been checking out Garcia Design's work and many of their posted examples. Some really interesting reading in there, as well. Hopefully inspiration will flow.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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No one has mentioned the crossword puzzles. I love crossword puzzles. I like them even better if they are actually on the same page, or at least in the same section of the newspaper, every day. The same goes for other features. I recently got back from 3 months in Burlington, NC, and the local paper editor decided that he'd throw in daily features like comics, seek & find, and crosswords into whichever section of the paper had extra space that day. Maddening. Posts: 786 | Registered: Jun 2003
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I have no design history, and have even less design sense, however almost 30 years ago I toured "The St. Louis Post Dispatch".
I remember a semi-quote our guide mentioned to us from Mr. Pulitzer (yes, of the Pulitzer Prize family).
"On the front page, have something to grab their attention. Make it big and colorful. A color Photo is best. If not, a black and white photo.
It need have nothing to do with the lead story, or any story on the front page, but it needs to be big and catch the eye."
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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This may sound odd, but back when I was say 22, I was part of a trio of folks who started our own newspaper. We wanted to have crossword puzzles and horoscopes, but the sad fact was, we didn't have the money to buy the syndicated work.
So, basically, we fudged on the horoscopes and decided to skip the crossword and do word search puzzles instead, since we could do those in house. Strangely enough, the word searches were one of our most popular features ever and people also remarked how accurate our horoscopes turned out to be. Live and learn.
Would a word search puzzle be worth putting in to a paper? I've always enjoyed the light brain power they take, they make a nice break in the day.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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I would take any recommendations from the Post-Dispatch with a grain of salt. They do well by having a monopoly, not by having a high quality paper (it's average, maybe).
The Riverfront Times is the good Saint Louis paper, but it's a weekly and is more of a magazine style.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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COMICS!! and teen news. Somehow my school has all of these "famous" students so you sorta see them in there often.
Posts: 4628 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Sorry you didn't get it - sounded as if you were (rightly so) revving your jets to make the most of it. I'm sure they missed a great opportunity, but as Farmgirl says - I hope it also means a better opportunity for you just around the bend.
Posts: 431 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I'm still keeping my head up and I guess there's some hope in what they replied to me. In truth, though, this newspaper was close to the area my wife and I wanted to move back to, but not exactly the area.
Also, taking the job would have meant picking up and leaving Greensboro rather quickly, which was also a bit ahead of our planned schedule.
Perhaps I'll just make the best use of this time where we are. Heck, it's a great little city to live in and there are some pretty fine folks here. My only problem is, I'm a bit tired of the lackluster freelance market locally. Perhaps a little time in a different field will get my fuel tanks topped off again.
Posts: 2848 | Registered: Feb 2003
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