Star Beacon
March 25, 2009 07:27 pm
—
Legendary Conneaut High School coach Andy Garcia used to say, "If you've heard this story before, don't stop me. I'd like to hear it again myself."
My story today is about newspapers and newspaper Web sites and how things change but sort of stay the same.
I say this because the Beacon's Web site, or as we like to call it, www.starbeacon.com, is continually undergoing changes. Many changes are subtle. Frankly, we don't have the resources to make big changes, especially for the sake of making changes.
I say this because one of the bigger papers in the area recently announced a facelift of its Web site. I frankly couldn't see a big difference, except it seems to emphasize sports more.
The Beacon's Web site is turning 13 this year. Yes, you could be a teenager today and not lived on this Earth when there wasn't a Star Beacon Web site. We went into the Beacon Web site with a clear plan and goals to achieve.
OK, that was a complete lie. We went into it not knowing what we were doing. I was asked to guide the project, as well as execute it. So first off, I got myself some free html software and learned to write much of the pages myself. It always looked a little off because I would forget a bracket or didn't end a bold face or my links went nowhere.
Nobody seemed to mind that, but when I decided to simply put the first paragraph of all front-page stories on the new site, well, my critics responded.
Even during those pioneer Internet days, when you needed $2,000 for a computer and dial-up cost $30 monthly or more, there were enough Web surfers out there were I quickly got suggestions on how to improve.
I was told stop putting national and world news online. They could get that elsewhere. And what was I, cheap for just putting the first paragraph? Where is the rest of the story? And what about obituaries, and sports?
Initially, putting a picture on the page was so complicated, I did one every few days.
We were working on computers that were glorified word processors. But mine had a DOS base, the operating platform which preceded Windows. My stories were copied to floppy disc and I took them home to update, because the office had no Internet.
The Warren Tribune had a Web site before us and the Akron Beacon Journal placed a few sports stories online, but that was about it. The Plain Dealer, the News-Herald, the Erie Times-News were a few years away from getting online. I will say they probably thought their sites out more than I did and had those goals in mind I was only joking about.
Today, newspaper Web sites are being heralded as the salvation and doom of the printed word.
It is the salvation because Web revenue at many papers is either steady or on the rise. Ours, I am told, is on the rise. It is the doom because people read their news online and don't pluck down those two quarters to buy a real newspaper, even though with the extras you don't get online, the real newspaper is a pretty good and vital package for a community.
Some newspapers have switched to digital only publications, with the loss of a staggering number of jobs.
The Detroit Free Press now delivers only three days a week. A more limited edition can be purchased on newsstands, but for many, they are dependent on the Web version the rest of the time.
The Star Beacon is trying to satisfy the demands of Web readers, while retaining its core group who want to read an actual newspaper daily.
One way we are doing that is by trying to update the news on our Web site more often.
The Beacon has begun updating the news as we get it, write it and process it. The Beacon no longer will be working for that 11 p.m. daily deadline. Our deadlines will come whenever news becomes available.
Our ploy, frankly, is to get you interested in coming back to our Web site as much as possible. Our advertisers are hoping you will take more notice of their existence on our site and what they have to say.
Also, local radio stations no longer emphasize local news. Most no longer have real news people. Alas, they rewrite or read the Star Beacon verbatim early in the morning and forget local news the rest of the day.
Which means when news happens throughout the day, our Web site is your best bet for staying informed. Hmmm, that sounds like a commercial.
And also the Beacon Web site now tweets. Pardon us, yes, we do.
If you aren't familiar with tweeting, it comes from social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. Tweets are usually single sentences in which a member announces to his friends what he is doing or thinking or considering, like, "Well, I'm going to take a shower" or "The first tulip of the season is popping out outside my window."
Beacon tweets may give you an inside view of upcoming stories, little asides from a meeting that didn't fit the original story or heads up on a story or column or feature that you might be interested in. It could even be, gasp, a correction to a published story. "Here is the real emergency number. We got it wrong in today's newspaper. Dial 911."
Our staff is still adjusting to this tweeting thing, but stop at our site from time to time and see what's going on. It gets you further into our newspaper, the inner workings of the newsroom. Pretty exciting, eh?
Well, calm down and enjoy our subtle changes. This column is already getting too long. If I have any more to say on the subject, I'll just tweet it.
Lebzelter is special sections editor. E-mail him at bobleb@starbeacon.com.
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A ROBERT LEBZELTER column