The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
What do you think of our online efforts?
PUBLISHED: April 10, 2008
The newspaper industry has evolved tremendously in the last 16 years that I've been writing, editing and designing various publications in some of the small communities that make up Washtenaw County.
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I started my career in 1992 at The Chelsea Standard and The Dexter Leader, using a typewriter and a lot of Whiteout before the couple who owned it, Walter and Helen Leonard, had time to teach me how to use the Compugraphic phototypesetter they had been using since the 1970s. The machine was a bit archaic and slow, and appeared inefficient. I had been using computers since high school and understood the amount of time and frustration they could save.
By 1994, the Leonards had made the leap to computers, but we still designed the newspapers the old-fashioned way, using light tables, hot wax and paper printouts of stories and ads.
In 1995, Heritage Newspapers bought the Chelsea and Dexter papers, as well as The Saline Reporter and Milan News, and later the Milan Leader. Even the newspaper chain wasn't totally computer literate, still composing newspapers on light tables until the late 1990s.
Today, we rely heavily on computers, with reporters taking notes on them; editors editing copy in electronic files and downloading photographs from cameras and e-mail; paginating the newspapers and sending the pages electronically to the press; posting stories on Web sites; producing video and uploading it to our Web sites; and posting comments on newspaper blogs for the world to see.
I often marvel at how far the Saline and Milan papers have come in the last 18 months. What I am most excited about is our ability to post breaking news and local video online for our readers, as well as the world, to view.
For those who haven't checked it out yet, visit our Web sites at www.salinereporter.com and www.milannews.com. We've posted many breaking news stories from our communities online before the competing daily newspapers have reported on them. Readers should check the site daily to see what's new. Having this ability allows us to serve our readers better, providing the latest news as it happens.
We've had video online for a year now. It started with coverage of the Saline Salutes program last spring and continued throughout the year with coverage of local festivals and community events, athletic contests, coach and player interviews, candidate forums, demolition projects, fires, parades and other news events.
One of my pet projects, which no one besides us is doing within Heritage Newspapers, is a local newscast and sportscast featuring readers from the community. I thought it would be pretty cool to offer our community coverage in this format because it isn't very often that the Detroit TV stations cover news in Washtenaw County, let alone our communities.
Milan High School junior Keila Hemmie reads Milan's on a regular basis and in Saline I have four volunteers who come in and serve as news anchors. Leo Babcock, Jennifer Butcko, Terri Sibo-Koenig and Art Trapp serve as readers on a rotating basis. Anyone else with an interest is welcome to contact me and I can add you to the schedule.
I think it's pretty special and I would love to know how many people are watching and whether they think it's worthwhile. The newscast and sportscast are posted Wednesday night before the newspapers hit the streets Thursday morning, so viewers get a sneak peak at what they'll find in their local newspaper.
I would love for us to continue reaching the community in other creative ways, so if you have any ideas, please contact me.
Some things I would like to see include a five-minute cooking show featuring students in the culinary arts program at the high school; a sit-down interview-style show in which a volunteer host talks to representatives from our various community organizations each week about an upcoming play, festival or event; or a one-on-one interview featuring a volunteer or leader in the community.
If you would like to volunteer to help make some of these things happen, I am all ears. I would shoot the video and produce it. I just need someone to serve as the online talent, set up the interviews and formulate the questions. This would be an opportunity to showcase our active volunteer base, talent and community spirit.
In addition to the videos, our staff maintains a blog, where people can read our thoughts on various issues in the community, events we may have attended or learn about newsroom initiatives. The blog often includes photographs and video, in addition to a venue for readers to post their comments on the topic.
I've been communicating with readers for the last six months about our efforts online in hopes they will look to our Web site for additional coverage of the community. Our numbers show we have thousands of readers online, but I don't know how many of those people are local residents. So, if you have the time, drop me a note and let me know your thoughts. I would love to hear from you.
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