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Offices for The Repository in Canton and The Independent in Massillon are about 10 miles apart in Stark County, Ohio. For decades, the two newspapers have competed fiercely, even under common ownership by more than one newspaper company. So it’s remarkable that the two papers could set aside their traditional war to collaborate on a series about federal stimulus spending in Stark County. The two papers published their four-part series Wednesday through Saturday, Feb. 17-20.
The series, called “Stimulus in Stark,” was the first collaboration of its kind between the two GateHouse Media papers. It sought to quantify how much federal stimulus money has come into our county and how many jobs the money has saved and created. It took deeper looks at key areas such as education (stimulus funding was a boon to public school districts) and public infrastructure spending, among other topics.
Work on the project began in November. It grew out of Kelli Young’s attendance at the GateHouse “Big Ideas” summit last fall. Kelli is The Repository’s politics and government editor.
Reporters Matt Rink of The Independent and Robert Wang of The Repository joined Kelli in tackling the reporting and writing. The reporters split data collection by types of agency and by geography. They then mapped out story angles for each to pursue separately.
Veronica Van Dress, assistant managing editor for content at The Rep, was lead editor. Dave Irvin, online projects editor for The Rep, assisted the reporters in creating an online database.
The Independent handled most of the photography; The Repository contributed graphics. Each paper did its own page design with just enough coordination to ensure that the two papers’ would look different in side-by-side vending boxes.
The package drew the most reader comments online on its opening day and was among the most commented on other days.
The Indpendent-Repository collaboration showed that where it really counts – with high-impact enterprise packages – there is power in working together. It’s a lesson we’ll put to use again.
Want to track your own stimulus money? Kelli Young at The Repository will tell you how. Contact her at (330) 580-8339 or kelli.young@cantonrep.com.
Offices for The Repository in Canton and The Independent in Massillon are about 10 miles apart in Stark County, Ohio. For decades, the two newspapers have competed fiercely, even under common ownership by more than one newspaper company. So it’s remarkable that the two papers could set aside their traditional war to collaborate on a series about federal stimulus spending in Stark County. The two papers published their four-part series Wednesday through Saturday, Feb. 17-20.
The series, called “Stimulus in Stark,” was the first collaboration of its kind between the two GateHouse Media papers. It sought to quantify how much federal stimulus money has come into our county and how many jobs the money has saved and created. It took deeper looks at key areas such as education (stimulus funding was a boon to public school districts) and public infrastructure spending, among other topics.
Work on the project began in November. It grew out of Kelli Young’s attendance at the GateHouse “Big Ideas” summit last fall. Kelli is The Repository’s politics and government editor.
Reporters Matt Rink of The Independent and Robert Wang of The Repository joined Kelli in tackling the reporting and writing. The reporters split data collection by types of agency and by geography. They then mapped out story angles for each to pursue separately.
Veronica Van Dress, assistant managing editor for content at The Rep, was lead editor. Dave Irvin, online projects editor for The Rep, assisted the reporters in creating an online database.
The Independent handled most of the photography; The Repository contributed graphics. Each paper did its own page design with just enough coordination to ensure that the two papers’ would look different in side-by-side vending boxes.
The package drew the most reader comments online on its opening day and was among the most commented on other days.
The Indpendent-Repository collaboration showed that where it really counts – with high-impact enterprise packages – there is power in working together. It’s a lesson we’ll put to use again.
Want to track your own stimulus money? Kelli Young at The Repository will tell you how. Contact her at (330) 580-8339 or kelli.young@cantonrep.com.
