In 2003 I sent an email to MediaNews Group’s interactive department asking for help with our Web site. Only a fraction of our content was displayed and often stories or photos did not show up or had somehow turned into html-type hieroglyphics. That call was the beginning of a fascinating journey.
Bit and pieces of The Park Record had been available on the Web since 1996 but uploading of the content was mostly handled by a succession of web contractors who were not necessarily as vested in the subject matter as the editorial staff was. The writers, photographers and I placed stories and photos in a folder on the computer’s server and hoped for the best.
But with the pressure of the Olympics behind us, my attention finally turned to our little piece of the World Wide Web. Why were our photos so small, why were so few stories showing up, why was the punctuation missing from some of the editorials?
The staff at MediaNews Group Interactive responded with training, support and patience. Since then we have worked closely with MediaNews Group on several content and advertising initiatives and two major redesigns. The ‘Most Viewed’ articles box and the article commenting tool, for instance, are MediaNews initiatives.
In hindsight, we latched on to the Internet rocket ship just in the nick of time. The Park Record tracks its online readership using Omniture, a sophisticated measuring tool that allows us to see exactly how many viewers are looking at specific pages on The Record’s website. The data from the last 10 years proves that over the last decade, our readers are demanding more content on the web and want it delivered to their computers, PDAs and phones.
In 2000, the first year for which we have Omniture data, 11,132 readers logged on to a total of 88,453 Park Record web pages. This year, so far, 452,315 unique readers have amassed 2,695,794 page views. Our mobile readership is also growing and with it we are able to send out text alerts when there is breaking news. On election night, for instance, mobile subscribers were the first to learn the results of this year’s mayoral and city council race results.
When we pulled statistics for the decade, it showed that several interactive features on the site have become indispensable to readers. Most of our letters to the editor are now submitted online, many local organizations are entering events on the online calendar, real estate listings and coupons are also seeing an increase in traffic.
The picture isn’t all rosy, of course. The website is still supported almost entirely by the advertisers and loyal subscribers of The Record’s print edition and while online readership has grown by leaps and bounds, print circulation has remained steady at approximately 8,000 copies per edition. So, like our sister newspapers around the country, we are struggling to find ways to come up with an economic model that will support the additional resources needed to expand our platform, in print and online
For me, a writer, photographer and firm believer in community activism, the web is an exciting and sometimes scary new frontier. Our staff has been alternately enthused and frustrated as we learn the basics of audio, video, flash ads, maps, mashups and social networking. Since 2003, I have learned to write just enough code to be a danger to myself and others. In the newsroom we are alternately enraged and inspired by the comments on the Topix tool and the reporters are both excited and daunted by the ability to post immediate updates on breaking news stories.
I am often asked these days how The Record is faring in the new online environment. My response is that it has been hard, that there have been cutbacks in staff and revenues are unpredictable. But I also point out that our website is reaching more readers than ever before.
When I ask myself the same question, though, I have to admit the obstacles pale in comparison to rewards we have discovered in communicating with our readers online.
During the 32 years I have spent covering the news in Park City, our mission has not really changed. When I became editor in 1996 I promised the newspaper would embrace change and new ideas, but would also seek to preserve local tradition. I still maintain that we need to “provide the most timely and accurate information possible and also strive to provide a sense of community and continuity.”
That hasn’t changed, we just have a wider variety of tools to do the job.