Evolution isn’t easy. Still, the news staff at The Courant is at last facing the changes in the newspaper industry straight on.
In September, Editor Cliff Teutsch asked a committee of 12 to prod the rest of the staff into offering ideas – from the routine to the idealistic – to take “The Courant forward as the state’s most powerful and important news-gathering organization.”
The result was a free-wheeling wish list of more than 100 suggestions for newsroom managers to consider.
“We thrive on our staff’s energy and creativity,” Teutsch said. “We’re already moving ahead on a number of their suggestions, from bolstering town news and high school sports online to seeking more content from readers. We’ve made lots of improvements in the past two months, and we’re pushing hard to make more, on paper and online.”
It was refreshing to see that quite a few of the staff’s ideas mirrored requests I often hear from readers.
As Rick Green, a Courant columnist and a committee chairman, pointed out, “I am struck by how much people deeply care about this place and how much everyone realizes we have to change. And, if you read closely, the staff also wants what the readers want: balanced news, more local, more sports, more stories about people, religion, children.”
Following are a few of my favorites. They do not reflect the variety of suggestions, many of which focused on the newsprint product. They do not necessarily represent the most innovative, popular or profitable of the suggestions. But they tap into some recurring themes from readers.
* Make www.courant.com as much a priority as the printed product. This initiative is long overdue. News organizations such as Gannett are already rearranging their staffs and changing their focus from simply delivering news to connecting readers to the information they want in the many forms they want it.
* Podcast the 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. news meetings. Some readers would find the news meetings fascinating. Other newspapers are connecting with readers on this level already. For instance, during the past election season, The Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Philadelphia Inquirer posted audio recordings of editorial board endorsement interviews on their websites, allowing readers to use the information to make their own decisions about the candidates.
* Create MYCOURANT. This proposal invited readers to “write their own reviews (theater, restaurants, music), make recommendations (great bargains, service, shows, eateries), vent (politics, the media), log in tips, and talk to each other about stories and issues.”
* The Courant’s two websites, ctnow.com and courant.com, hosts message boards that allow readers to respond to reviews and issues but the staff is also testing how much more readers want to participate. Towns Online on courant.com is offering residents in eight Middletown area communities expanded local news and views, town resources, events and a town talk forum.
* Enhance high school sports coverage and interactivity. Not a workday goes by that I don’t hear from a parent of a football player, a soccer player, swimmer looking for coverage. This suggestion is for “a high school page or two every day with photos and game stories in addition to the scores … and a website where kids could go to read more about their teams and have an interactive board (like www.birdseyesports.com) where they could discuss games.”
* More coverage of the Mets. It did my heart good to read this one after a few summers commiserating with Mets fans.
* Increase coverage of churches and religious communities. As the person who proposed this idea pointed out, a large percentage “of our readers go to church at least some days and yet we rarely report on church activities unless there’s a controversy.”
I shared many of the suggestions with The Courant’s readers panel. The group of mostly longtime subscribers isn’t willing to abandon the newspaper experience for an online experience. Their request: “Do not desert us.”
As Sondra Astor Stave of Coventry said, “We are your longtime paying subscribers. We have been with you and will continue to be with you – until the end.”
