Leaderland: A Digital Frontier

So I felt the best post to begin our joyous, exciting journey into blogland would be an explanation of some current and future goals for we at The Leader. Let's begin with the column I wrote, which was published in print today:

It's Wednesday morning and you grab your copy of The Leader and peruse the latest news. There are many headlines leaping out at you, but what most strikes your interest?
After you skim through a handful of news stories, potentially unworthy of your little time, you find something you actually want to take the time to read.
Or, you find nothing and mindlessly toss the edition in the wastebasket or recycling bin, whichever you so choose.
Then a question enters your mind: Where's coverage of that big accident yesterday keeping me from getting to work on time. You would think they would have wanted to cover that, you say to yourself.
You continue with your day, somewhat unaffected, merely an afterthought to you now.
That's the unfortunate truth with print journalism, more prevalent for a smaller weekly publication such as The Leader – we cannot get the latest, most up-to-date, in-depth coverage on stories interesting to our readers out in the timeline we desire.
That is, until one considers the printed copy now only a small part of what our news organization, in particular, has to offer in regards to content.
The movement of focus from print to pure digital media has been in the works for many years, but only recently to widely-attract online audiences.
After John Paton became the new CEO of Journal Register Co. – The Leader's owner and publisher – a few years ago, Mr. Paton piloted the company into the national media spotlight for its dedication to Digital First initiatives. It wasn't a gimmick, it wasn't a sales technique – it was a true move that would quickly become the heart and soul of a medium becoming antiquated.
Well, maybe not antiquated, but considering the plethora of digital and online tools available, print media was rapidly dwindling and under constant scrutiny.
There are two kinds of people – which I've found true in my experience: those who like having a printed publication in their grasp, and those who want to receive their news digitally, on a 24/7 basis, wherever they may be – establishing the online audience.
It's like the debate over books: would you rather have the hard or softbound copy in your hands or read it on a device, such as an iPad or Kindle?
In J-School, I was constantly reminded modern-day journalists must become a "jack of all trades." They must be able to photograph their own material, shoot and edit video, utilize the latest Internet resources available, and, obviously, still write very well. They must be able to take on any person's duties, at any given time.
For that kind and constant reminder from my journalism professors, I am grateful, as it has served me well throughout my career journey, as it is absolutely true.
Considering many factors, such as the realization anyone can now relay news, commonly referred to as citizen journalism, newspapers around the nation realized something had to be done to solidify their future role in delivering news, to tell stories they felt needed to be shared. Mr. Paton, and his team, delved into the recent establishment of Digital First Media – a conglomeration of sorts incorporating Journal Register Co. and Media News Group, which owns many large-scale publications, including The Detroit News and The Denver Post.
Their aim is to ensure audiences understood they were neither taking digital media lightly, nor slacking on furthering its reach and possibility.
My predecessor continually explained our county possesses a drastically small online audience, but this – whether it true or false – did not stop my own team and myself from utilizing the tremendous availability of online tools to deliver news to our public.
With that, we now are able to keep our audience up-to-date on virtually everything going on within the community, state and even nation, all-the-while doing it in a style sure to become the norm for other media outlets, if it has not already. We do it on The Leader's website, with video and photos; through Facebook, with posts to establish community interaction; and Twitter, to send out news condensed to 140 characters and on a constant basis.
It's easy for us to see the effect digital media has rendered in our own backyard. And it's been a positive experience for all involved.
While we strive to further our digital outreach, we continue to put out a publication each week to inform, as well as to attract those to experience our online content. No matter what happens in the future, there will always be a niche – small or large – for print.
It's not the death of print – it's the birth of something bigger and better."

Well, there you have it - Who We Are at The Leader.

The current goal I am personally working on is - a "movement" set forth by my boss, Morning Sun Executive Editor Rick Mills - to establish a community editorial board. Such a simple way to bring community engagement back to our paper. We don't ever want to exclude any comments or ideas from our public, because that is who we serve.

I'm planning to have a first editorial board meeting sometime in the beginning of January, and I have to say I'm pretty excited to see what our public can come up with - what exactly they want to read. While plans are a bit vague as of this moment, its establishment will help The Leader gauge exactly what our readers want; if nothing else, to further interact with our community and throw some ideas around.

Stay tuned for more info.

See you soon. 

Bryce Martin - Leader & Kalkaskian Editor