This post is provided by the BG News Aliumni blog started recently by former BJ staffer Beth Hertz for alumni of Bowling Green State University,.. This article from a member of the class of 98 hits close to home–Canton. Click on the headline to see this post and then check out other stuff so far on the BG blog.
From Scott Brown, Class of '98
We have a new editor in Canton. Good guy, very sharp.
He also says "Internet" or "Web" once every 15 seconds. To most of us in the office -- at least, those of us who haven't had our heads in the sand for, oh, the last 10 years -- it's no surprise. Web-first publishing is hitting everywhere. My paper, The Repository will be Web-first with all content by Jan.1 -- despite the grumbles of some. (By Web-first, I mean all content will be available on the Web site up to several days before it appears in print.) What I can't understand is why some of my colleagues are so resistant to it all.
The Internet is an opportunity for newspapers to stay relevant in a digital age. And it can be a lot of fun. I hardly write any more, but a couple weeks ago when Stark County hosted the state football championships, I wrote a couple of stories. I wrote a preview story for one game that published in a special section on Thursday, but we posted the story online Wednesday morning. I think it was the first time we had ever published something that wasn't breaking news to the Web site first, and that was pretty neat.
Then, I covered a title game that started at 11 a.m. on Friday. In the past, I would watch the game, go to the office and write one 18-inch story. This time, I wrote a pregame story "State finals begin under sunny skies" that I posted straight to the Web site via wireless with a laptop. Then I posted updates after the first quarter, at halftime and after the third quarter. I filed a quick game summary just as the final seconds ticked off, then rewrote an 18-inch story with quotes to post about 90 minutes after. Thatstory also appeared in the paper the next day.
Each of my quarterly updates received between 50-100 hits on our Web site, which we deemed a modest success considering they were only posted about 30-40 minutes at a time featuring a game not involving a local team. Was it more work? Sure. And I don't think it's practical to post such updates constantly from every event we cover.
It was also fun. I just wish more people would embrace that, and stop wishing for that print-only past that is quickly becoming a distant memory.
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