The Siskiyou Daily News in Yreka, Calif., has launched a redesign as part of the News & Interactive Incubator Program, and publisher Rod Dowse said the new format has received "rave reviews from the community."
The Incubator Program includes not only a redesign, but a study of the content as well. The staff in Siskiyou, working with News & Interactive, took the opportunity to build new content items into the template, including key components of News Cube, such as community partner journalism formats.
More from Rod:
"We had been wanting to participate in the program for a couple years now but waited until we had a solid newsroom and editor in place.
"(News & Interactive) helped us develop a plan for the newsroom training and redesign and launch that worked well for a property about as geographically removed from the core clusters of properties in Gatehouse.
"Most of our newsroom training collaboration on our redesign was performed on conference calls and webinars. The newsroom was excited about the potential for a new look, and they took real ownership in the process.
"With the help of the team at Gatehouse we were able to develop a product that fit the needs of our community and that all of the employees at the paper are very proud of. The last changes to the paper were about 20 years ago.
"We have received rave reviews in the community. The redesign is the topic of conversation at the coffee shops, with most comments noting how great and progressive it looks. We have received a couple complaints from a few readers who noted “the paper looks too modern.” (We actually took this as a compliment as well.)
"The process was so easy and seamless to implement that I will be scheduling the other papers in our cluster here in California for a redesign in 2011.
For more information on the Incubator Program, contact Chris Biondi at cbiondi@gatehousemedia.com.
The Siskiyou Daily News in Yreka, Calif., has launched a redesign as part of the News & Interactive Incubator Program, and publisher Rod Dowse said the new format has received "rave reviews from the community."
The Incubator Program includes not only a redesign, but a study of the content as well. The staff in Siskiyou, working with News & Interactive, took the opportunity to build new content items into the template, including key components of News Cube, such as community partner journalism formats.
More from Rod:
"We had been wanting to participate in the program for a couple years now but waited until we had a solid newsroom and editor in place.
"(News & Interactive) helped us develop a plan for the newsroom training and redesign and launch that worked well for a property about as geographically removed from the core clusters of properties in Gatehouse.
"Most of our newsroom training collaboration on our redesign was performed on conference calls and webinars. The newsroom was excited about the potential for a new look, and they took real ownership in the process.
"With the help of the team at Gatehouse we were able to develop a product that fit the needs of our community and that all of the employees at the paper are very proud of. The last changes to the paper were about 20 years ago.
"We have received rave reviews in the community. The redesign is the topic of conversation at the coffee shops, with most comments noting how great and progressive it looks. We have received a couple complaints from a few readers who noted “the paper looks too modern.” (We actually took this as a compliment as well.)
"The process was so easy and seamless to implement that I will be scheduling the other papers in our cluster here in California for a redesign in 2011.
For more information on the Incubator Program, contact Chris Biondi at cbiondi@gatehousemedia.com.
