There is an update to this following the DEN October meeting, here.
Addition, May 26. The slideshow has now been updated to include a few GMG initiatives.
The presentation is finally out of its wraps having been displayed yesterday. My brief was, well, brief. What local newspapers are doing. The snapshot of that activity is here for you to share, use, add to, comment upon or otherwise consume.
Those present were certainly impressed by the amount of imaginative projects going on in newspapers around the country.
More case studies are always appreciated so I will keep it going as a work in progress. ( Simon Waldman did correctly spot a bit of northern bias so more experiences from the south of the country most welcome! )
I’d also be interested to hear from journos at any other newspaper groups as to whether they recognise the challenges I identified – reaching audiences/advertisers, maintaining relevance, turning print staff onto digital opportunities and helping people – as their challenges. Are there others I should have included?
Thanks to everyone who has helped (intentionally or otherwise) to build this picture so far. There’s one glaring omission of course – all the GMG regional activity across Greater Manchester and Surrey & Berkshire.
My audience yesterday obviously already knew all about those projects but I will endeavour to add some details in at some point in case anyone else finds the need to do a presentation like this and wants it as a case study.
But for now, over to you.
Dim Sum Digital 
Hi Sarah, really intereresting presentation. I’m sure we’re going to see more online social media tools incorporated in newspapers as the indusry tries to build its own niche communities.
I guess that, in the same way newsrooms are tentatively starting to move towards the new technologies and cultural shifts, so are advertising departments.
I know some newspapers have their digital specialists working alongside print journalists and exchanging ideas. It might be worth looking at the Daily Post in North Wales where it appears they’ve gone a step further, and embedded a marketing person in the digital team as well. Early days but it looks like it’s proving a success.
LikeLike
Hi Sarah, really intereresting presentation. I’m sure we’re going to see more online social media tools incorporated in newspapers as the indusry tries to build its own niche communities.
I guess that, in the same way newsrooms are tentatively starting to move towards the new technologies and cultural shifts, so are advertising departments.
I know some newspapers have their digital specialists working alongside print journalists and exchanging ideas. It might be worth looking at the Daily Post in North Wales where it appears they’ve gone a step further, and embedded a marketing person in the digital team as well. Early days but it looks like it’s proving a success.
LikeLike
Hi Sarah, really intereresting presentation. I’m sure we’re going to see more online social media tools incorporated in newspapers as the indusry tries to build its own niche communities.
I guess that, in the same way newsrooms are tentatively starting to move towards the new technologies and cultural shifts, so are advertising departments.
I know some newspapers have their digital specialists working alongside print journalists and exchanging ideas. It might be worth looking at the Daily Post in North Wales where it appears they’ve gone a step further, and embedded a marketing person in the digital team as well. Early days but it looks like it’s proving a success.
LikeLike
Great set of slides, and obviously difficult to know if subject was mentioned, but I don’t see a great deal of linking out.
Newspapers are seeing the value of social networks, but they are still being used to republish what’s already been produced, the SaveSven twitter feed is a great example of linking out to other news stories from around the web.
And what does amuse me is that some blogs on newspapers do link out but when you go the the ‘normal’ news stories such links dry up – granted that might be a deficiency in the CMS
LikeLike
Great set of slides, and obviously difficult to know if subject was mentioned, but I don’t see a great deal of linking out.
Newspapers are seeing the value of social networks, but they are still being used to republish what’s already been produced, the SaveSven twitter feed is a great example of linking out to other news stories from around the web.
And what does amuse me is that some blogs on newspapers do link out but when you go the the ‘normal’ news stories such links dry up – granted that might be a deficiency in the CMS
LikeLike
Great set of slides, and obviously difficult to know if subject was mentioned, but I don’t see a great deal of linking out.
Newspapers are seeing the value of social networks, but they are still being used to republish what’s already been produced, the SaveSven twitter feed is a great example of linking out to other news stories from around the web.
And what does amuse me is that some blogs on newspapers do link out but when you go the the ‘normal’ news stories such links dry up – granted that might be a deficiency in the CMS
LikeLike
Interesting set of bullet points, though obviously hard to know what you said about each development and the pros and cons.
I think Craig makes an interesting point above – why shouldn’t all pages on your website behave like blogs? Most online stories are totally different to the printed version – amended headlines, different intro, reader comments, social bookmarking functions, photo gallery, embedded video, etc – so why not more links, track backs, tags, automatically generated related stories etc? That’s certainly what we’re working towards.
I will return later to throw in my tuppence ha’penny about geotagging and hyperlocal.
I would just add one thing Newsquest does that I don’t think any other regional newspaper company does. i.e. all Newsquest newspaper websites are ‘web first’. That means if you look at the Northern Echo website, for instance, this evening, every story from tomorrow’s paper should be online. In that respect, every Newsquest title has reorganised its news production flow to achieve that. And subsquently reporters, news desk, subs etc are all working to the web first before the newspaper. There is nothing better you can do, in my opinion, to reinforce the fact that staff are working on all platforms than make it the first stage of their day-to-day role.
LikeLike
Interesting set of bullet points, though obviously hard to know what you said about each development and the pros and cons.
I think Craig makes an interesting point above – why shouldn’t all pages on your website behave like blogs? Most online stories are totally different to the printed version – amended headlines, different intro, reader comments, social bookmarking functions, photo gallery, embedded video, etc – so why not more links, track backs, tags, automatically generated related stories etc? That’s certainly what we’re working towards.
I will return later to throw in my tuppence ha’penny about geotagging and hyperlocal.
I would just add one thing Newsquest does that I don’t think any other regional newspaper company does. i.e. all Newsquest newspaper websites are ‘web first’. That means if you look at the Northern Echo website, for instance, this evening, every story from tomorrow’s paper should be online. In that respect, every Newsquest title has reorganised its news production flow to achieve that. And subsquently reporters, news desk, subs etc are all working to the web first before the newspaper. There is nothing better you can do, in my opinion, to reinforce the fact that staff are working on all platforms than make it the first stage of their day-to-day role.
LikeLike
Interesting set of bullet points, though obviously hard to know what you said about each development and the pros and cons.
I think Craig makes an interesting point above – why shouldn’t all pages on your website behave like blogs? Most online stories are totally different to the printed version – amended headlines, different intro, reader comments, social bookmarking functions, photo gallery, embedded video, etc – so why not more links, track backs, tags, automatically generated related stories etc? That’s certainly what we’re working towards.
I will return later to throw in my tuppence ha’penny about geotagging and hyperlocal.
I would just add one thing Newsquest does that I don’t think any other regional newspaper company does. i.e. all Newsquest newspaper websites are ‘web first’. That means if you look at the Northern Echo website, for instance, this evening, every story from tomorrow’s paper should be online. In that respect, every Newsquest title has reorganised its news production flow to achieve that. And subsquently reporters, news desk, subs etc are all working to the web first before the newspaper. There is nothing better you can do, in my opinion, to reinforce the fact that staff are working on all platforms than make it the first stage of their day-to-day role.
LikeLike
Thanks for the input so far. On the question of links – agree with you totally Craig and Paul but isn’t this standard practice now? Maybe it isn’t and I just took that for granted so I will have a closer look around.
I think Newsquest’s lead on web-first is a giant step forward – I’d be interested to know if there’s much debate on “exclusives” – there certainly was when I worked at the Northern Echo many moons ago.
Hoping for some more input and promise I will add some GMG slides – soon.
LikeLike
Thanks for the input so far. On the question of links – agree with you totally Craig and Paul but isn’t this standard practice now? Maybe it isn’t and I just took that for granted so I will have a closer look around.
I think Newsquest’s lead on web-first is a giant step forward – I’d be interested to know if there’s much debate on “exclusives” – there certainly was when I worked at the Northern Echo many moons ago.
Hoping for some more input and promise I will add some GMG slides – soon.
LikeLike
Thanks for the input so far. On the question of links – agree with you totally Craig and Paul but isn’t this standard practice now? Maybe it isn’t and I just took that for granted so I will have a closer look around.
I think Newsquest’s lead on web-first is a giant step forward – I’d be interested to know if there’s much debate on “exclusives” – there certainly was when I worked at the Northern Echo many moons ago.
Hoping for some more input and promise I will add some GMG slides – soon.
LikeLike
Re: web first vs big exclusives. I can’t speak on behalf of Newsquest’s newspapers but would suspect they go for a middle ground – ie if you hold out posting an exclusive story until 11pm the night before, it’s past the deadlines for nationals and local papers (since most in the north west are now overnight printing) and there is a skeleton staff on local radio, so no one will see it any earlier than they would if they picked up a newspaper copy at 6 or 7am. For 98 per cent of stories, however, as soon as a story has gone through news desk, it goes on the website.
Re: links. I still think there is some way to go. The only regional newspaper I can see which tags stories with key words, therefore automatically generating links to previous stories, is Trinity. And couldn’t these tags appear in a cloud too? This is something a free service like WordPress does – your post above is tagged with various key words – surely our CMS should be able to match it? Also, I’ve yet to see any trackbacks on any newspaper site.
Re: mapping, geotagging, hyperlocal news etc. I think gathering the geographical data of where stories occur is a great idea, particularly if your CMS can then place it automatically in the appropriate hyperlocal news section. We’ve had hyperlocal news sections for a couple of years (ie our news index is broken down to each area we cover, then within those areas, each village or suburb) but this isn’t automated. However, I see a whole host of problems in going a stage further and placing on a map exactly where a story occurred. On a court report, we would currently just give the defendant’s name and street. Is it really right to give their exact address and place an arrow over the defendant’s house on a map? How about if he was acquitted? Would the victim of a burglary, for instance, want their house identified on a crime report in this way either? Would the parents of a young girl be happy for the newspaper to interview them if the child’s address is going to be mapped on our website? There are so many problems with this that you would need very careful management. Alternatively, if you decide not to plot the specific address on a map but for instance just post all Chorlton stories on the Chorlton area of a map of Manchester, what is the point of the map? I would much rather click on a text link to Chorlton news than have to work out where it is on the map. The map is reduced to a gimmick.
Good uses of maps in my opinion would be to plot where local services are – cash machines, phone boxes, newsagents, petrol stations, doctors, dentists etc – or for specific stories such as signtings of the Rossendale Panther on the Rossendale Free Press website, or for where flood damage has occurred last year on the Hull Daily Mail.
LikeLike
Re: web first vs big exclusives. I can’t speak on behalf of Newsquest’s newspapers but would suspect they go for a middle ground – ie if you hold out posting an exclusive story until 11pm the night before, it’s past the deadlines for nationals and local papers (since most in the north west are now overnight printing) and there is a skeleton staff on local radio, so no one will see it any earlier than they would if they picked up a newspaper copy at 6 or 7am. For 98 per cent of stories, however, as soon as a story has gone through news desk, it goes on the website.
Re: links. I still think there is some way to go. The only regional newspaper I can see which tags stories with key words, therefore automatically generating links to previous stories, is Trinity. And couldn’t these tags appear in a cloud too? This is something a free service like WordPress does – your post above is tagged with various key words – surely our CMS should be able to match it? Also, I’ve yet to see any trackbacks on any newspaper site.
Re: mapping, geotagging, hyperlocal news etc. I think gathering the geographical data of where stories occur is a great idea, particularly if your CMS can then place it automatically in the appropriate hyperlocal news section. We’ve had hyperlocal news sections for a couple of years (ie our news index is broken down to each area we cover, then within those areas, each village or suburb) but this isn’t automated. However, I see a whole host of problems in going a stage further and placing on a map exactly where a story occurred. On a court report, we would currently just give the defendant’s name and street. Is it really right to give their exact address and place an arrow over the defendant’s house on a map? How about if he was acquitted? Would the victim of a burglary, for instance, want their house identified on a crime report in this way either? Would the parents of a young girl be happy for the newspaper to interview them if the child’s address is going to be mapped on our website? There are so many problems with this that you would need very careful management. Alternatively, if you decide not to plot the specific address on a map but for instance just post all Chorlton stories on the Chorlton area of a map of Manchester, what is the point of the map? I would much rather click on a text link to Chorlton news than have to work out where it is on the map. The map is reduced to a gimmick.
Good uses of maps in my opinion would be to plot where local services are – cash machines, phone boxes, newsagents, petrol stations, doctors, dentists etc – or for specific stories such as signtings of the Rossendale Panther on the Rossendale Free Press website, or for where flood damage has occurred last year on the Hull Daily Mail.
LikeLike
Re: web first vs big exclusives. I can’t speak on behalf of Newsquest’s newspapers but would suspect they go for a middle ground – ie if you hold out posting an exclusive story until 11pm the night before, it’s past the deadlines for nationals and local papers (since most in the north west are now overnight printing) and there is a skeleton staff on local radio, so no one will see it any earlier than they would if they picked up a newspaper copy at 6 or 7am. For 98 per cent of stories, however, as soon as a story has gone through news desk, it goes on the website.
Re: links. I still think there is some way to go. The only regional newspaper I can see which tags stories with key words, therefore automatically generating links to previous stories, is Trinity. And couldn’t these tags appear in a cloud too? This is something a free service like WordPress does – your post above is tagged with various key words – surely our CMS should be able to match it? Also, I’ve yet to see any trackbacks on any newspaper site.
Re: mapping, geotagging, hyperlocal news etc. I think gathering the geographical data of where stories occur is a great idea, particularly if your CMS can then place it automatically in the appropriate hyperlocal news section. We’ve had hyperlocal news sections for a couple of years (ie our news index is broken down to each area we cover, then within those areas, each village or suburb) but this isn’t automated. However, I see a whole host of problems in going a stage further and placing on a map exactly where a story occurred. On a court report, we would currently just give the defendant’s name and street. Is it really right to give their exact address and place an arrow over the defendant’s house on a map? How about if he was acquitted? Would the victim of a burglary, for instance, want their house identified on a crime report in this way either? Would the parents of a young girl be happy for the newspaper to interview them if the child’s address is going to be mapped on our website? There are so many problems with this that you would need very careful management. Alternatively, if you decide not to plot the specific address on a map but for instance just post all Chorlton stories on the Chorlton area of a map of Manchester, what is the point of the map? I would much rather click on a text link to Chorlton news than have to work out where it is on the map. The map is reduced to a gimmick.
Good uses of maps in my opinion would be to plot where local services are – cash machines, phone boxes, newsagents, petrol stations, doctors, dentists etc – or for specific stories such as signtings of the Rossendale Panther on the Rossendale Free Press website, or for where flood damage has occurred last year on the Hull Daily Mail.
LikeLike
Some very interesting findings, thanks Sarah. Perhaps you can chat a bit more about the (evolving) study at the next Digital Editors Network meeting?
For accuracy, I thought I’d point out that Newsquest’s web-first policy isn’t really cutting-edge. The Lancashire Evening Post, which is the UK’s first full-integrated newsroom (local or national), has been publishing to web first for two years now and every one of their journalists has been trained to build multimedia stories. That is also the case in for a number of other Johnston Press titles.
LikeLike
Some very interesting findings, thanks Sarah. Perhaps you can chat a bit more about the (evolving) study at the next Digital Editors Network meeting?
For accuracy, I thought I’d point out that Newsquest’s web-first policy isn’t really cutting-edge. The Lancashire Evening Post, which is the UK’s first full-integrated newsroom (local or national), has been publishing to web first for two years now and every one of their journalists has been trained to build multimedia stories. That is also the case in for a number of other Johnston Press titles.
LikeLike