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Messenger Post in Canandaigua, N.Y., presented a centerpiece about a skateboard park in a non-traditional way, using numbers, a quick-hit ASF and a refer to the web to complement dynamic photos.
WHAT THEY DID: Messenger Post's centerpiece about the opening of the skate park emphasizes the visual, while giving an overview of the work teens did to advocate for the park, where the money came from in a by-the-numbers format, as well as a web refer to view video of the kids "showing off their moves" and a guide to the lingo. Instead of writing a long-form story reviewing all of the past steps to get to the opening of the park, the paper chooses to focus on the "now," while highlighting the background using alternative formats.
TAKEAWAY: Look for different ways to tell stories, especially when a story has been going on for a while. If you have strong photos, play to the strength of the content, while looking for new ways to synthesize information for your readers. At a glance, readers learn a lot from the by-the-numbers and ASF presentation. Plus, remember to incorporate ways to point people to unique content on your website (in this case, the videos of teens skateboarding).
Jean Hodges served as a reporter and editor for more than 20 years and led groundbreaking projects that won national acclaim before coming to GateHouse to launch the company's news service. She worked most recently at the Chicago Sun-Times' Daily Southtown, covering the south side and south suburbs of Chicago. Before that she worked at the Killen (Texas) Daily Herald, the Clovis (N.M.) News Journal and the Ely Standard in Cambridgeshire, England. She now works with GateHouse news organizations on content strategies, Web initiatives, plus she leads training programs such as webinars and LEDE, GateHouse's leadership program.
