NAPLES DAILY NEWS CHANGING FORMAT
Just in case you are confused, here is the release from NDN
Six weeks ago this column reviewed what we heard from focus groups and reader surveys about the daily newspaper.
You may recall that in less than two weeks the Daily News will be printed on a spanking new press in our new plant on Immokalee Road. This new Daily News will be a new size. Each page will be an inch and a half more narrow than our current edition, closer to the width of The New York Times and USA Today.
Switching to a smaller, modern page profile offers an opportunity to redesign and rethink the daily edition. That’s where the readers come in. Their likes, dislikes and requests are driving the redesign.
Actually, as Managing Editor Eric Strachan has pointed out to readers, calling it a redesign is a bit of misnomer.
Pages will be smaller, but they will look similar to today’s Daily News. Readers will find the same headline fonts and the type size will remain the same. The text will not shrink.
The page-size reduction will have an impact on our daily comics and puzzle pages. Monday through Saturday our Neapolitan edition offers two facing pages with 31 comic strips and three puzzles. We would have to reduce the size of the strips to keep that same configuration in the new Daily News.
Surveys and tests have shown that readers don’t want comic strips any smaller than they already are. Readers also have told us that they don’t want us to eliminate any strips or puzzles.
So, we won’t. Instead we are going to keep the comics the current size and spread them on multiple pages in the daily Neapolitan section. This way we won’t have to eliminate someone’s favorite strip. In fact, it even allows us room to add a puzzle to the daily edition. That’s why we were testing new puzzles earlier this month, asking readers to try them out and to recommend a fresh puzzle for the section.
The Neapolitan section front will continue to have a focus on key reader-interest topics. Tuesdays will continue to be devoted to health and Wednesdays will focus on food and dining.
Our focus on the good things that are happening in area schools will move to the B Section on Saturdays. This will allow us to showcase the interesting people and places in our community on the Saturday Neapolitan front. A July focus group comprised of occasional readers applauded the publishing of such interesting and inspirational stories.
On Fridays, we will continue to publish the weekly Showcase entertainment guide. The Neapolitan section that day will be devoted to home furnishings, decoration and design, along with gardening. This will better showcase our “At Home” content that had been contained in a separate four-page section inserted deep in the Saturday edition.
Thursday’s Neapolitan will focus on the arts. Readership surveys tell us that there is keen interest in Southwest Florida’s thriving fine arts scene.
Sunday’s Neapolitan cover will be reserved for our best journalism. The top feature story of the week will be displayed there. If we do it right, it will be what the readers are talking about at work on Monday mornings.
Monday’s Neapolitan will be built around a new feature — a community events calendar. Readers in our focus groups told us they wanted an easy-to-use calendar to better keep track of entertainment and community events on a weekly basis.
We think these reader-inspired changes will make for an-easier-to-read, more-enjoyable section. But, it won’t stop there. We are committed to listening and polling our readers, offering them a clear process to tell us what they like and don’t like.
Check it out starting Sept. 9. It was designed with you in mind.
Phil Lewis is editor of the Daily News. His e-mail address is plewis@naplesnews.com.
Rate this! 1-5 starsYou may recall that in less than two weeks the Daily News will be printed on a spanking new press in our new plant on Immokalee Road. This new Daily News will be a new size. Each page will be an inch and a half more narrow than our current edition, closer to the width of The New York Times and USA Today.
Switching to a smaller, modern page profile offers an opportunity to redesign and rethink the daily edition. That’s where the readers come in. Their likes, dislikes and requests are driving the redesign.
Actually, as Managing Editor Eric Strachan has pointed out to readers, calling it a redesign is a bit of misnomer.
Pages will be smaller, but they will look similar to today’s Daily News. Readers will find the same headline fonts and the type size will remain the same. The text will not shrink.
The page-size reduction will have an impact on our daily comics and puzzle pages. Monday through Saturday our Neapolitan edition offers two facing pages with 31 comic strips and three puzzles. We would have to reduce the size of the strips to keep that same configuration in the new Daily News.
Surveys and tests have shown that readers don’t want comic strips any smaller than they already are. Readers also have told us that they don’t want us to eliminate any strips or puzzles.
So, we won’t. Instead we are going to keep the comics the current size and spread them on multiple pages in the daily Neapolitan section. This way we won’t have to eliminate someone’s favorite strip. In fact, it even allows us room to add a puzzle to the daily edition. That’s why we were testing new puzzles earlier this month, asking readers to try them out and to recommend a fresh puzzle for the section.
The Neapolitan section front will continue to have a focus on key reader-interest topics. Tuesdays will continue to be devoted to health and Wednesdays will focus on food and dining.
Our focus on the good things that are happening in area schools will move to the B Section on Saturdays. This will allow us to showcase the interesting people and places in our community on the Saturday Neapolitan front. A July focus group comprised of occasional readers applauded the publishing of such interesting and inspirational stories.
On Fridays, we will continue to publish the weekly Showcase entertainment guide. The Neapolitan section that day will be devoted to home furnishings, decoration and design, along with gardening. This will better showcase our “At Home” content that had been contained in a separate four-page section inserted deep in the Saturday edition.
Thursday’s Neapolitan will focus on the arts. Readership surveys tell us that there is keen interest in Southwest Florida’s thriving fine arts scene.
Sunday’s Neapolitan cover will be reserved for our best journalism. The top feature story of the week will be displayed there. If we do it right, it will be what the readers are talking about at work on Monday mornings.
Monday’s Neapolitan will be built around a new feature — a community events calendar. Readers in our focus groups told us they wanted an easy-to-use calendar to better keep track of entertainment and community events on a weekly basis.
We think these reader-inspired changes will make for an-easier-to-read, more-enjoyable section. But, it won’t stop there. We are committed to listening and polling our readers, offering them a clear process to tell us what they like and don’t like.
Check it out starting Sept. 9. It was designed with you in mind.
Phil Lewis is editor of the Daily News. His e-mail address is plewis@naplesnews.com.
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