During News and Interactive’s recent trip to several GateHouse Kansas papers, integrating new social media practices was the focus. Here’s a rundown of the trip, with some unique facts about the towns and journalists who work there.
WHERE McPherson
PAPER The McPherson Sentinel
EDITOR Cristina Janney
COOL FACT McPherson was home to the Globe Refiners basketball team — which had some of its members compete in the first ever U.S. Olympic basketball team in 1936. The U.S. team came out with a gold medal.
NEXT BIG PUSH The staff at the Sentinel already has Facebook posting down pat, so Cristina is looking at implementing a schedule of posting to increase interaction and referral traffic by posting five times a day, seven days a week.
WHERE Newton
PAPER The Newton Kansan
EDITOR Chad Frey
COOL FACTS
• Frey spent 10 days in Belfast, Ireland, on a peacekeeping mission between the Irish Republican Army and the Ulster Defense Association.
• Lifestyle and Entertainment Editor Wendy Nugent “opened” for famed astronomer Carl Sagan when she was in college. Sagan wrote “Contact,” the book that was the basis for the movie starring Jodie Foster.
• News Editor James Jordan wrote the first newspaper article about basketball player Scottie Pippen when Pippen was in the ninth grade. Pippen used to call Jordan “Mr. Newspaper.”
• Reporter Ashley Bergner toured the queen’s home in Edinborough, Scotland, and visited Loch Ness. “We didn’t see the Loch Ness Monster,” she said.
NEXT BIG PUSH The staff is looking to ramp up the newspaper’s social media offerings, perhaps by tackling a more aggressive Facebook posting strategy, and starting some Twitter accounts for news and sports.
WHERE Augusta
PAPER Augusta Daily Gazette
EDITOR Belinda Larsen
COOL FACT President Barack Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Payne, the woman who raised him, grew up and went to school in Augusta. Larsen did some digging, and was able to find several former classmates of Payne’s to interview. The Gazette office is usually the first stop for Obama biographers who come to town.
NEXT BIG PUSH The staff at the Augusta Daily Gazette is looking to use HootSuite, a social media dashboard, to update Facebook and Twitter.
WHERE El Dorado
PAPER El Dorado Times
EDITOR Julie Clements
COOL FACT
NEXT BIG PUSH The staff at the El Dorado Times is looking to use HootSuite, a social media dashboard, to update Facebook and Twitter.
WHERE Wellington
PAPER Wellington Daily News
EDITOR Nate Jones
COOL FACTS
• Wellington is known as the wheat capital of the world.
• Sumner County, in which Wellington is the county seat, had the first woman mayor in America – in 1887. Susanna Madora Salter was elected mayor of Argonia, Kan., at age 27.
NEXT BIG PUSH Wellington is a “Facebook town,” Jones said. He gets a lot of interaction with readers through the newspaper’s Facebook page, and is planning on ramping up the number of posts per day – aiming for five daily posts, seven days a week.
During News and Interactive’s recent trip to several GateHouse Kansas papers, integrating new social media practices was the focus. Here’s a rundown of the trip, with some unique facts about the towns and journalists who work there.
WHERE McPherson
PAPER The McPherson Sentinel
EDITOR Cristina Janney
COOL FACT McPherson was home to the Globe Refiners basketball team — which had some of its members compete in the first ever U.S. Olympic basketball team in 1936. The U.S. team came out with a gold medal.
NEXT BIG PUSH The staff at the Sentinel already has Facebook posting down pat, so Cristina is looking at implementing a schedule of posting to increase interaction and referral traffic by posting five times a day, seven days a week.
WHERE Newton
PAPER The Newton Kansan
EDITOR Chad Frey
COOL FACTS
• Frey spent 10 days in Belfast, Ireland, on a peacekeeping mission between the Irish Republican Army and the Ulster Defense Association.
• Lifestyle and Entertainment Editor Wendy Nugent “opened” for famed astronomer Carl Sagan when she was in college. Sagan wrote “Contact,” the book that was the basis for the movie starring Jodie Foster.
• News Editor James Jordan wrote the first newspaper article about basketball player Scottie Pippen when Pippen was in the ninth grade. Pippen used to call Jordan “Mr. Newspaper.”
• Reporter Ashley Bergner toured the queen’s home in Edinborough, Scotland, and visited Loch Ness. “We didn’t see the Loch Ness Monster,” she said.
NEXT BIG PUSH The staff is looking to ramp up the newspaper’s social media offerings, perhaps by tackling a more aggressive Facebook posting strategy, and starting some Twitter accounts for news and sports.
WHERE Augusta
PAPER Augusta Daily Gazette
EDITOR Belinda Larsen
COOL FACT President Barack Obama’s grandmother, Madelyn Payne, the woman who raised him, grew up and went to school in Augusta. Larsen did some digging, and was able to find several former classmates of Payne’s to interview. The Gazette office is usually the first stop for Obama biographers who come to town.
NEXT BIG PUSH The staff at the Augusta Daily Gazette is looking to use HootSuite, a social media dashboard, to update Facebook and Twitter.
WHERE El Dorado
PAPER El Dorado Times
EDITOR Julie Clements
COOL FACT
NEXT BIG PUSH The staff at the El Dorado Times is looking to use HootSuite, a social media dashboard, to update Facebook and Twitter.
WHERE Wellington
PAPER Wellington Daily News
EDITOR Nate Jones
COOL FACTS
• Wellington is known as the wheat capital of the world.
• Sumner County, in which Wellington is the county seat, had the first woman mayor in America – in 1887. Susanna Madora Salter was elected mayor of Argonia, Kan., at age 27.
NEXT BIG PUSH Wellington is a “Facebook town,” Jones said. He gets a lot of interaction with readers through the newspaper’s Facebook page, and is planning on ramping up the number of posts per day – aiming for five daily posts, seven days a week.
