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Rockford Register Star has a nifty tradition called Editorial Stew that takes some good news stories a cooks up a positive editorial.
WHAT THEY DID: Rockford takes three good-news stories (a regatta on the Rock River from the weekend, a community gardening program for the needy, and a belated celebration for the Super Bowl Bears) and writes an editorial praising all three. Online, the package contains links to related video, gallery and stories. A short explainer -- set up as a sidebar -- helps readers understand the concept of the Editorial Stew.
TAKEAWAY: Be sure to trumpet good news in your town. As Rockford puts it, many days you'll have meatier fare for your editorials. We use our opinion page to advocate for our communities. But sometimes our editorials can point out the good in our communities. In this case, Rockford was able to package content for a popular event that drew thousands to the river. Usually, lighter editorial content doesn't draw a lot of traffic on the web, but this type of packaging, bringing together elements such as a photo gallery and video, along with prominent placement, make sense.
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GateHouse Media news organizations are finding ways to work corporate strategies for best practices into their websites and newspapers every day. National content development managers Jean Hodges and Sarah Corbitt are on the lookout for your best work, and we'll share it here.
