Archive for the ‘newspaper websites’ Category

Last Wednesday, the Sooke News Mirror published an interesting article that we enjoyed reading. The article describes the history and the production process of some local BC community newspapers. People read their community newspaper every week or even every day but how do the newspapers actually get from the newsroom to your news box?

The story goes back to 1976 when Verne Percival and associates started the Goldstream Gazette. At the time all the printing was contracted out up island so in 1981 they decided to start a press in Sooke to print their own newspapers: The Goldstream Press was born. Besides producing the Gazette it also took on printing jobs for the Mirror and several other south Island papers.

The Goldstream Press stayed in Sooke for five years, as this was the minimum stipulated time for a new business receiving a federal grant. It then decided to relocate to Victoria because most of their print was in Victoria and surrounding areas. These days, The Goldstream Press can be found in Saanich where it continues to print the Goldstream Gazette, the Sooke News Mirror, and all the weekly and bi-weekly Black Press publications south of Duncan.

Now what goes on actually inside of this massive building where the local newspapers get printed? A staff of about 70 people takes on different shifts (day and night) and they look after running the printing machines, inserting fliers, packaging up bundles, looking after deliveries and a myriad of other duties.

Heavy machines, giant cylinders, lots of paper and ink, hot plates of 250 degrees and “flyboys” make it happen that the community can read their local newspaper.

On the flip side, we shouldn’t forget the newspaper carriers who deliver the newspapers to the mailboxes. International Newspaper Carrier Day is coming up soon on October 8, 2011!

Click here to read the full article in the Sooke News Mirror and click here to learn more about International Newspaper Carrier Day.

Our latest blog post discussed the multi-tasking of community newspaper journalists. The Publisher – a publication from the Canadian Community Newspaper Association – recently featured an article discussing this model, and the importance of journalism students to learn entrepreneurial skills as well as practiced reporting abilities. It reads, “Today’s newsrooms are looking for journalism school graduates who can write, photograph, tweet, text, and generally move in and around the new news ecology with ease, style and skill.”

Jeff Jarvis, associate professor and director of the Interactive Journalism Program at City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School of Journalism, has created a program focusing on just this. He believes that young journalists will face careers different from those in the past and, as such, schools should reflect this by providing tools to create one’s own opportunities and deal with the evolving nature of newsrooms and the media.

For community newspapers, this wide base of training promises a new era of journalism and forward-thinking that can create even stronger community connections and news-telling opportunities, both on and offline.

Newspapers Canada recently released “Newspapers Online: A survey of practices in daily and community newspapers.” The published results are fascinating and further elucidate the multi-talented and integrated approach community newspaper journalists take when interacting with their local area to create each newspaper.

Some interesting statistics from the survey include:

- More than 72 percent of community newspaper journalists are expected to help design the page layout for their newspaper on a regular basis.

- 70 percent of journalists are expected to add stories to the newspaper’s online site.

- Currently, just 32.6% of journalists are asked to tweet and engage in social media activity on a regular basis.

“Newspapers Online” accurately reflects the continuously shifting requirements of news rooms that are increasingly filled with reporters skilled in not only writing but also web design, photography, graphic design and management. The ability of community newspaper staff to perform such dynamic roles is one of the reasons that such in-depth and reflective stories about the community can be filed and printed with quick turnaround times.

For more information about the study, go to www.newspaperscanada.ca

The Canadian Newspaper Association (CNA) and the Canadian Community Newspapers Association (CCNA) recently presented a new name, logo and website that will be used to represent the newspaper industry in Canada.

Both the CNA and CCNA continue to remain as separate organizations. However, their overarching title of ‘Newspapers Canada’ – and the associated website – will be used as a one-stop shop for information related to the industry.

www.newspaperscanada.ca provides a wide range of information resources for both the public and industry, including recent circulation figures, recent news, readership research and even the history of newspapers in Canada.

This collaboration between the CNA and the CCNA demonstrates a strength in the newspaper industry and a promise to deliver news across multiple platforms. It heralds a successful 2011 for the news media in Canada, during which the combination of print and online journalism will be uniquely paired.

As part of their media buy to promote RSPs, Scotiabank advertised in newspapers and on newspaper websites during the competitive RSP season (which also happened to be during the 2010 Winter Olympics this year).  The combination of print and online helped boost spontaneous awareness of Scotiabank to 76%.  Its media agency highlighted that “marrying the two media, newspaper and online, further propelled our reach and effectively created synergy for the campaign.”

Read the full case study here.