News Archives
Posted by Josh Hallett on May 14, 2008 at 09:37 AM
It's been over two months since the News Chief was purchased by The Ledger. How's the outlook? I think this photo of the 'News Chief' sign might offer some foreshadowing.
Looks a bit temporary. You figure they could get a more permanent sign. In my review of the sale one of the points I made was that it didn't make sense for The Ledger to operate the News Chief under a separate masthead. They're competing against themselves. Their non-purchase of the Chief's facilities also raised this flag.
When will it happen? You know the statement that says something like, "We gave it our best shot, but unfortunately economic forces......"
3 months? 6 months? Perhaps we'll start a pool. I'll take either July 23rd or October 23rd.
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 23, 2008 at 09:46 AM
In one corner we have Lakeland the other Orlando. One is for the Commuter Rail/CSX project, the other against. With that backdrop it's interesting to read the two headlines talking about the same story, the on-going debate in Tallahassee:
Orlando Sentinel: Orlando-Area Cmmuter-Rail Deal Gets Sidetracked
The Ledger: Railroad Deal Rolls Closer to Approval
So which is it? Closer or sidetracked? Is that good or bad? Depends on which headline you read and where you live :-)
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 17, 2008 at 10:27 AM
You remember in Star Wars - A New Hope when Alderon was blown up and Ben Kenobi felt thousands of voices crying out, then silenced? The same thing happened with Polk Online, the News Chief's former web site. If you visit PolkOnline.com it now redirects to NewsChief.com. All the old stories and links are dead. How many links? According to Google 116,000 links. That's a great way to kill your PageRank, search traffic, ad revenue, long-term relevance.
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 16, 2008 at 03:53 PM
When The Ledger purchased the News Chief, one of the benefits I hoped for was improved reporting, specifically around the CSX story. The News Chief has long ignored the CSX story from an investigative standpoint. Looks like things haven't changed much. Great case-in-point this morning. Shown below are the front pages of the News Chief and The Ledger.
The Ledger has a 'Special Report' on the CSX deal. Big news, with an investigation into the secrecy surrounding the state's deal with CSX. Surely this story has impact on Winter Haven? After all we're the proposed location of the ILS.
Nope, the News Chief featured a story about CSX, but a bit more positive....construction could start soon.
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 4, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Wow, something I thought I'd never see. Polk County has made Gizmodo, one of the top gadget blogs. They picked up on the recent crime-ring bust. It seems they like bazookas.
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 3, 2008 at 01:51 PM
Well the article on 'Polk Bloggers' was published this morning in the Sentinel. Chuck has some thoughts, and here are a few from me in a different format: Winners & Losers.
Winner: Polk County - yeah we had something written about us in the Sentinel that doesn't mention naked people on crack and alligators.
Loser: Polk County - blogs are great for rural areas...yep that's us.
Loser: Billy Townsend and the Tampa Tribune - I told the reporter my discovery of the CSX rail-traffic re-route was done in conjunction with Billy and the Trib. No mention of that.
Loser: Me - nice misquote: "many people consider themselves citizen journalists" I said "some people" big difference.
Loser: News Chief - the standard trend of papers outside of Winter Haven covering CSX more.
Loser: Joy Townsend - the story almost seems formulaic, bloggers vs somebody else. Unfortunately for Joy she was cast in the part with her single-line quote. It's always nice when you talk to a reporter for 20 minutes and they choose one line.
Winner: Conversation - more people talking and aware of blogs/local issues, etc.
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 3, 2008 at 11:56 AM
Just a small note that Winter Haven's cnp_studio just helped launch yet another high-profile web project, this time for eBay. Both Nick and I noted the hat trick that cnp_studio has recently completed with projects for eBay, Yahoo and Sony. Who says we're a 'rural' community?
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 2, 2008 at 10:58 AM
Update: The article is out.
The Orlando Sentinel is putting together an article about the 'Polk Bloggers' and CSX. I was interviewed along with quite a few other people involved in that 'blogging-thing'. If you remember John Chambliss from the Ledger wrote something similar back in June of 2007. You can read the notes I had about John's article.
I was asked if I was in favor of the project. I said I was*, and stated so on this blog. That's the great thing about this format, if you need a quote you can just grab it from here. If you copy/paste and then cite the original source there is no way a reporter can misquote me.
What's that *asterisk you say? Well, more on that tomorrow.
Posted by Josh Hallett on March 4, 2008 at 12:21 PM
When Bob posted his little hint about something going on in the local newspaper market, my thoughts were:
1. The News Chief is shutting down.
2. Somebody was going to buy them.
Truth be told, I figured option #1 was going to happen a long time ago. I thought when Wayne Ezell left and they didn't announce a full-time replacement that the writing was on the wall. I thought that since Wayne had been at the helm so long, they (being Morris) didn't want to shutter the paper while he was there. Better to let him move-on to Jacksonville, then let the paper die a few months later. People could always say, "See....once Wayne left, the paper was never the same."
Truth is the paper has never been much of anything for a while. That leads to option #2
If somebody was going to buy them, at first for me, the two choices were another outside group (as in outside of Florida) or either the Orlando Sentinel or the Tampa Tribune. Buying the News Chief would give them a beachhead into the Polk market. But of course what would they be buying? A dismal circulation and poor facilities? In the long run it would be cheaper to compete them to death, then buy them.
Enter The Ledger. As we now know, the Ledger is the buyer and they've indicated some of their plans. Here are some random thoughts:
- Nelson Kirkland is the man for the job. I've worked with Nelson on projects and chamber dealings (both Lakeland and Winter Haven) for a number of years. He's direct when it comes to business. Some people don't like that, but it's what gets the job done. He's also very connected (and concerned) about this community, something none of the previous two News Chief publishers were.
- Was it a mercy buy? Did they really need to buy them? Terms are not public, but could you spend the same amount of money improving the features/services
and just crush the News Chief? Or was it easier and cheaper just to buy them?
- With the end of the East Polk edition will Lakeland finally get their paper back? By this I mean will the Ledger become a Lakeland-focussed paper and the New Chief the Winter Haven/East Polk paper? Will this mean less Winter Haven news in the Ledger? It will be interesting to see how the content shifts in the coming months.
- The Ledger indicated that they intend to keep the News Chief masthead. Sounds good now, and makes everybody feel good about the purchase. But what about one year from now, will it still make sense for The Ledger to dilute their brand across the county with competition from the Sentinel and Tribune on opposite sides? The Ledger didn't acquire the facilities, just the titles/mastheads and some staff. Shutting down the 'paper' a year from now won't require much effort, compared to selling a building/presses/equipment, etc.
- I know many advertising folks were scared about a Ledger purchase of the News Chief since it would impact print ad rates once competition was gone. The Ledger indicates that the rates will remain the same for now. But, like the point above, let's see what happens one year from now.
- Is there a place for an afternoon paper? Thinking about the logistics....the News Chief will be printed by the Ledger at their main facility in Lakeland. How does this
impact the production of the Ledger. A few options:
1. The News Chief is printed first and thus has an earlier deadline. This would actually be status quo, since PolkOnline is usually updated around 11pm with tomorrow's stories.
2. The News Chief is printed after the Ledger and thus we have a tight delivery schedule.
3. The News Chief goes back to an afternoon paper. Think about that, it might be interesting.
- I can't wait to see better reporting in the paper. That's one thing the Ledger will bring to the News Chief.
- I'll have to ask Barry what the plans for PolkOnline are. I have some ideas, but I gave up working with newspapers last year. Barry lunch sometime soon?
Anyway, the next few months should be interesting.
Disclosures: In the past two years I have done paid consulting work for The Ledger and the Orlando Sentinel. Many years ago with a previous company I also did work for the News Chief. As far as the Tampa Tribune is concerned....I know Billy :-)
Posted by Adam Weeks on February 12, 2008 at 03:37 PM
If you regularly read news and articles online (you're reading one now) and haven't used RSS feeds yet, why not? Its a very simple way to keep track of your favorite sites, read posts, and stay informed!
I use Bloglines as my RSS reader of choice. Some others include Google Reader, My Yahoo, and Newsgator.
These are the RSS feeds that are currently in my "Local" folder, if you have any additions or suggestions, please comment:
Continue reading "Local News Feeds" »
Posted by Josh Hallett on January 28, 2008 at 09:47 AM
Brother's Brick reminds me that LEGO turns 50 today! I don't recall when I received my first LEGO set, but I think it's safe to assume that I've been playing with them for over 25 years. Thanks for the memories!
Posted by Josh Hallett on January 15, 2008 at 03:16 PM
I had jury duty yesterday and was part of the initial 13 jurors selected for this case. It was eventually narrowed to 7, I did not make the cut.
I understand the 'civic duty' related to jury duty but it was hard to fathom sitting on a jury in a case involving the death of a baby.
Posted by Josh Hallett on January 10, 2008 at 09:22 AM
Of course the tragic crash on I-4 yesterday is the big news in all the local papers. However, it's interesting to note the difference in the 'lead' story for the two papers, The Ledger and the Orlando Sentinel.
The Ledger's main headline is 4 Dead, 38 Injured in Massive Pileup and the story focuses on the wreck and the rescue operations. There are interviews with crash survivors and rescue personnel. Only at the end is there a short discussion about the conditions that lead to the poor visibility.
The Orlando Sentinel's main headline is Warning Signs Began Nearly 20 Hours Before Polk Crash and the story focuses on who could possibly be at fault for the accident. Should FHP have closed the road? etc. The story features segments like this:
Before sunset Tuesday, National Weather Service meteorologists issued a fog alert based on a scale of one through 10. Experts consider seven or higher to be risky for drivers. The forecast for north Polk County was a 10.
A few hours later, the state Division of Forestry told the Florida Highway Patrol to expect dangerous conditions because of a particularly stubborn and smoky wildfire at I-4 and County Road 557....
...The warning was not a routine call. Only once or twice a year do forestry officials, who rely on sophisticated computer models, tell FHP to be on guard for a smoked-in highway.
In all, those and other warnings of horrendous visibility caused by smoke, fog or both were unmistakable. Yet as it turned out, FHP troopers would find little to be concerned about, and the state Department of Transportation installed just one warning sign in each direction
The Ledger does have a sidebar story about the role the smoke played in the accident, but it's not the main, above the fold story. Perhaps because the Ledger is more 'local' to the story they're still focusing on the immediate/human aspect of the story, while the Sentinel is moving beyond the initial story.
I expect in the coming days the Ledger's focus will shift from the events of the accident to the events that caused the accident. It's a natural progression of the story and the details will emerge as the investigation continues.
Anyway, I just thought it was interesting that two major papers would have those different angles on the story one-day out.
Update: The Orlando Sentinel has posted two items looking and the varying coverage:
- How we and other media covered the pileup
- A look at the front pages across Florida
Posted by Josh Hallett on November 2, 2007 at 03:50 PM
Billy Townsend has announced that he's going to move off the CSX story. Why? It's because of a possible conflict of interest issue. I don't have an issue with it, but others might.
Anyway it's a sad day since the only 'real' media covering the story is The Ledger (don't get me started on the News Chief). Tom Palmer submits things from time-to-time on the print side of things, but his blog is where all his CSX action is at. However as Chuck recently pointed out, Tom can turn into Mr. Snarky McSnarksalot on his blog.
The only other major source of CSX coverage is Chuck Welch at Lakeland Local, a blog, imagine that :-)
Posted by Josh Hallett on October 24, 2007 at 05:32 AM
Well it finally happened, the News Chief has been sold. There had been rumors for some time and I had also heard word from an insider that it was on the block.
Morris Publishing Group agreed Tuesday to sell 17 of its newspapers, including the News Chief in Winter Haven, to GateHouse Media Inc. for $115 million.
Morris will use the cash to pay down debt. The sale of its smaller newspapers will leave the Augusta-based company with 10 medium-sized papers.
The other papers sold:
In addition to the News Chief, the Morris daily newspapers to be sold are the Dodge City (Kan.) Daily Globe, The Newton (Kan.) Kansan, The (Pittsburg, Kan.) Morning Sun, the Hillsdale (Mich.) Daily News, The Holland (Mich.) Sentinel, the Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post, The (Independence, Mo.) Examiner, The Grand Island (Neb.) Independent, the York (Neb.) News-Times, The Daily Ardmoreite (Okla.), The Shawnee (Okla.) News-Star, the Yankton (S.D.) Daily Press & Dakotan and The Oak Ridger (Tenn.).
The nondaily newspapers include La Estrella (Dodge City, Kan.) The Girard (Kan.) City Press and the Vermillion (S.D.) Plain Talk. Also sold was a commercial printing operation, Flashes Publishing (Mich.), which also publishes The Holland Sentinel and the Flashes Shopping Guides.
So it looks like they're dropping their smaller market papers. Properties like Jacksonville and Augusta, their stronger brands, remain. Here is the official release from Morris.
The new owners, GateHouse Media, own a number of smaller publications across the country. Papers like The Daily Telegram and the Boonville Daily News. Looking around at some of the paper web sites, they're not that impressive which isn't a good thing since the future of all news is online. There are some bright spots like the Taunton Gazette. It features a somewhat decent layout, RSS feeds...but a completely blank blogs page.
Posted by Josh Hallett on October 9, 2007 at 05:59 AM
Back in March of this year, Taylor Smith, 20, was involved in a severe accident resulting in a head injury. Since the accident his parents have maintained a blog track his recovery. The most recent post is from yesterday and discusses a meeting between Taylor and Officer Pat Guity of the Lakeland Police Department.
In a case like this a blog is a great tool to keep friends and family updated on a situation. It will also serve as a historical reference.
Posted by Josh Hallett on September 16, 2007 at 11:23 AM
When I picked up my mail on Saturday I had to do a double-take. At first I thought either the Tampa Bay or Orlando Business Journals were printing a Polk County edition. It turns out that it's the Lakeland Ledger. The debut issue of the Polk County Business Journal should be in your mailboxes now. Business mailboxes that is.
It's a monthly publication unlike Tampa and Orlando which are weekly. According the the article today, it will be mailed to 7,000 businesses. I wonder if they'll ever start inserting it in the Monday paper like Orlando does with their Monday business feature???
I read through the first issue while having lunch at Mama Dilo's on Saturday. It's your standard business content, with ads of course :-).
As of this post, the web site: http://www.polkcountybusinessjournal.com/ was not working. Probably just a DNS thing.
Posted by Josh Hallett on September 14, 2007 at 10:32 AM
We're coming up on Armand Nardi's first anniversary as publisher of the News Chief. At least I think we're close. I noted his appointment back on October 3, 2006. I first met Armand at an FPRA event on October 18th of that year.
In honor of his 1st anniversary I wanted to interview Armand about his year and what's to come.
I sent him three e-mails over the past week and a half including the questions (below).
1. Your one-year anniversary at the News Chief is approaching, what is the exact date?
2. What have been some of the highlights on the job this past year?
3. After a year in Winter Haven, what are your thoughts about the community?
4. What's the one community project you've become involved with that you find the most rewarding?
5. Speaking of community, how do you view the relationship between the News Chief and the community? How has/will this change in the future with more news moving online?
6. Obviously Winter Haven is the primary market (and home) of the News Chief, but what about other East Polk cities like Lake Wales and Haines City. What's the relationship like there?
7. With respect to the online world of news, Morris Publishing/Morris Digital have developed a number of products for the online world. Many of these are featured on sites like the Jacksonville Times-Union and the Savannah Morning News. The News Chief has used the 'Spotted' product, any plans to adopt any additional community/citizen-journalism tools?
8. On this blog I've been somewhat critical of the News Chief, specifically the lack of reporting on the CSX project. The majority of the research and reporting is being conducted by The Ledger and the Tampa Tribune. Considering the impact this project has on Winter Haven, why hasn't the News Chief put more of a focus on the pros/cons of the project?
9. Like many other newspapers across Florida, the News Chief has diversified their offerings with additional print products like Active Senior, Her Voice, etc. What percentage of resources/revenue do these products use/produce compared to the daily news product?
10. Anything exciting planned for the next year? (That you can talk about)
Yesterday I finally heard back from him. He thanked me for the opportunity, but declined to answer any questions.
It's always a bit ironic when members of the media decline to answer questions.
Posted by Josh Hallett on September 13, 2007 at 10:00 PM
I received a new t-shirt in the mail today. Do you know what it means? Leave a comment if you do. Chuck, you're not eligible :-)
Update: Barry guessed it. It's a Creative Commons t-shirt. What is Creative Commons? It's a new form of copyright. Here is their FAQ.
Posted by Josh Hallett on September 13, 2007 at 04:55 PM
I discovered a new Polk County blog today: What's Happening in Polk County. It's authored by Pam Childers and Dee Dee Chiavuzzi. Their first post states:
Welcome to the first Polk County Info blog! Pam and I started this blog to post info on things we knew were happening in our area. Some may be old subjects, some new! Feel free to tell us what you'd like to discuss!
So far there are three posts and one comment. The most recent post talks about their experiences in the Polk Citizen's Academy program:
There was a little bit of everyone in our class. Some people work at the county, some are retired citizens, others are interested in politcal offices at city and county levels.
We met at the Polk Outpost 27, which is up near I-4, on the left side, coming from the south. It's our new visitors center and pretty cool. From the outside it reminds me of a Bass Pro Shop. Everyone should stop by when heading that way. I was impressed.
I will say that I was unimpressed with Tom Patton, with I believe, Economic Developement & Growth. Even when it was not on the agenda, and not a topic of discussion, decided to bring up CSX and it's potential. Then point out Pam and me, not once, not twice, but three times and tell everyone we were from Sundance and how we opposed it and so on. I was shocked. I guess, when I'm ready for a fight, my guard is up, but not in a classroom, lecture setting.
Aside from that, the evening was a success. We met lots of nice folks and learned a bunch. I think all Polk residents could learn and appreciate the Citizen's Academy.
Here's a screenshot of the blog:
Posted by Josh Hallett on September 13, 2007 at 09:35 AM
A reader of EP sent me an e-mail pointing out something interesting. With the new Ledger design, the photos of the columnists are front and center on the primary category pages. Here are the news columnists.
Notice anything similar about them (other than the facial hair)? How about the sports columnists shown below?
At least Lisa offers a bit of a break from the ordinary.
Heading over to the Life section, here are the columnists. Hmmm.
Posted by Josh Hallett on September 4, 2007 at 07:57 AM
Back in April of this year I asked, "Where is the News Chief in the CSX Deal?" I just wanted to know why "Winter Haven's" local newspaper was doing next to nothing in the way of reporting on the CSX deal. It's now almost five months later and the question still stands?
Posted by Josh Hallett on September 2, 2007 at 09:09 AM
Barry has posted that a new web site design is coming to TheLedger.com this Tuesday (barring any major issues). He shared a preview with me last week. It's a big change that will put much more content on the home page and handle breaking news much better.
The big question is, what will readers think?
Recently major sites like CNN.com, USAToday.com and OrlandoSentinel.com have all updated their designs. While they all offer a much better experience for the reader, most initial comments from folks were not that positive. People just don't like change.
Posted by Josh Hallett on July 18, 2007 at 03:41 PM
Some design work I did a while back for PolkVoice has finally been published. Barry has the details.
Posted by Josh Hallett on June 29, 2007 at 01:42 PM
The new publisher for the Lakeland Ledger is Jerome Ferson. The announcement was made this morning. Jerome starts on July 30th.
Here's the interesting part, he's 35. Younger than many of the managing editors he'll be in charge of, especially Skip Perez.
I wouldn't stereotype and say young = more internet savvy, but I think that any new hire in the executive ranks within newspapers has to have a strong focus on the net.
Posted by Josh Hallett on June 25, 2007 at 10:59 AM
In a comment on a previous article, Tom Palmer from The Ledger asks:
What is the significance of the fact that the overwhelming percentage (76-24) of readers who responded to the Polk Pulse question the day the CSX blog story ran said they didn't read local blogs?
I'd say it's in-line with our community and the state. Florida tends to be a bit behind on many things :-) According to a 2006 PEW report, national blog readership is around 39% (PDF Report Link) and 8% of Americans keep a blog.
In my comment response to Tom, I said with blogs it's the who, not the how many. If it's only 24% that's fine, as long as that 24% are a the folks "I" want to reach.
Fundraisers have known this for years. Sure they can go out and ask 100 people for $10 or just go directly to the one person that will probably give them $1000. It saves them time and effort.
I know that this blog is read by a number of reporters from various media around the area and by a number of, well I'll just say 'community leaders'. If I only have one reader, but that reader is a reporter that writes a story, or is a civic leader that mentions it to somebody else then my job is done.
Another major factor is that most of the hyperlocal bloggers I know aren't in it for the money. While page views are a nice metric, revenue is not an issue. With traditional media it's a major factor. Traffic drives revenue and that runs the business. While I know many journalists that 'love' their jobs and are amazing journalists, I'm not sure how many of them would continue to cover their beat if they weren't getting paid :-)
Posted by Josh Hallett on June 22, 2007 at 01:43 PM
In reference to my previous post, I am now receiving an e-mail from The Daily Ridge. It appears to be a web site that features news about Lake Wales. Looking at the site there is no information about who is responsible for the content. Each article is attributed to 'Staff Reporter' and the phone number listed is 000-000-0000.
Posted by Josh Hallett on June 18, 2007 at 07:22 AM
The CSX/Blogging article ran in today's Ledger. I think John Chambliss did a good job with the write-up. The article looked more at the overall issue of hyperlocal blogging rather than the specific development of the CSX story itself. Here are a few random thoughts:
- Susan McManus from USF states that blogs are a form of activism. That's not always the case and it's not always good to make broad generalizations about what a blog is or isn't. A large number of people who blog aren't interested in activism.
- While blogs helped push the overall dialogue of the story, much of the true groundwork was done by Billy Townsend of the Tampa Tribune. If you want a review of how the CSX story developed online click here.
- One of the benefits of blogs is long-term search relevance. While there may be short-term discussion around a post, it's the long-term visitors that can add up. Do a Google search for 'winter haven csx project'. What comes up first? Probably something from the Winter Haven Chamber. That's the true power of blogs.
- The photo of me was taken late on a Saturday at Richard's Coffee....a slow time. Generally there are more people in there :-)
- Of course the story does feature a picture of me 'blogging'. That's what's always funny about stories like this. The photographer shows up and says, "I'm supposed to get some shots of you blogging......so blog." Looks exciting doesn't it.
- Also, for the record, I am in favor of the CSX project. I just think it needs to go through the proper channels for approval.
Posted by Josh Hallett on June 17, 2007 at 10:29 AM
The Ledger might be running the CSX/Blogging story tomorrow (Monday) the article is posted. The basic gist is how a few blogs in the area opened up the story a bit and caused everybody to take a closer look at the project.
The big question is, will The Ledger be willing to give the majority of the credit to Billy Townsend at the Tampa Tribune? Billy was the one reporting and investigating long before any other media outlet was. We'll see.
Posted by Josh Hallett on June 9, 2007 at 12:25 AM
I just got word from Anaheim, CA that Polk County was designated an All-American City.
More details soon.
Update: Chris Gent from KUA e-mailed me the following:
Polk County was just named an All America City by the National Civic League -- one of only 10 cities in the nation this year. Kissimmee/Osceola County was a finalist but did not make the final cut.
The awards were given out in Anaheim, Calif. That's where I am now.
If you remember I posted about this last week.
Posted by Josh Hallett on May 24, 2007 at 04:35 PM
Over at the other blog I have a lengthy post up about how traditional reporters are interacting with bloggers. It's specifically related to the CSX story.
The Ledger is working on a story on this same topic, i.e. hyperlocal blogging and local media interaction. We'll see what comes of it. The article has been posted.
Posted by Josh Hallett on May 21, 2007 at 10:01 AM
One of the questions that often comes up in media/ad circles in the area is, when is the News Chief going to fold?
The last public statement about their circulation by publisher Armand Nardi stated that it was around 6,800. However, there is no growth in print circulation, just ask any publisher that. The innovation (and growth) is online. When you look around at other Morris papers in markets like Jacksonville and Savannah you'll see some innovative things going online. None of that is happening at the News Chief. Is the Chief the forgotten step-child of the Morris paper group?
While they do cover local news, some of it is press-release reprinting. When it comes to big issues/topics they're AWOL. I recently talked about their lack of substantial coverage of the CSX deal (which hasn't improved). The true investigative journalism is being done by The Ledger and the Tampa Tribune. That relegates the News Chief to fluff pieces on society and other local items.
The only thing going for the News Chief is that it's Winter Haven's newspaper, whatever that's worth. (Remember that WH/Lakeland divide?). Granted The Ledger has an East Polk edition, but when I pick up a Ledger it's a section buried inside, i.e. not the cover. I think that when Winter Haven resident's pick up a Ledger they still think of it as Lakeland's paper.
In defense of The Ledger though, they want to keep the focus broad with their East Polk section. There is more to this side of the county than Winter Haven. There's plenty of growth going on in Lake Wales and the Four Corners area.
The Four Corners region is an interesting microcosm in itself. The Ledger publishes a special paper called The Reporter just in that region. The sleeping giant in the Four Corners is the Orlando Sentinel. A large percentage of residents that live in the Four Corners work in the Orlando area, and want to read an Orlando paper.
I haven't seen any initiative from the News Chief in that market. The fastest growing area in their side of the county has been ceded to a paper across the county (The Ledger) and a paper that until now, never had a foothold in this market (Orlando Sentinel).
Things aren't all bad. Those in the local ad industry don't want the News Chief to fold since that will only leave The Ledger. Then, as the only source of newspaper advertising in the market, The Ledger is free to raise their rates. That's good news for the Chief since ad revenue is their only revenue.
The question is, what will/can the News Chief do?
Taking a cue from John Moore and his 'Would you care?' series:
Does the News Chief provide such a unique product and customer experience that we would be saddened if it didn’t exist? Does the News Chief treat its employees so astonishingly well that those workers would not be able to find another employer to treat them as well? Does the News Chief forge such unfailing emotional connections with its customers that they would fail to find another newspaper that could forge just as strong an emotional bond?
What say you?
Posted by Josh Hallett on May 21, 2007 at 09:34 AM
It was interesting to read the Ledger article about the City of Lakeland's investigation into the 'leak' of the recent financial losses from Lakeland Electric. One of the things I do in my real job is educate corporations that there are no more secrets. Just assume that those secrets you're trying to keep inside your organization are going to get out. And it if the news is really bad, it will probably happen faster.
Even if you say nothing, the word will get out. A while ago the Financial Times of London talked about how they use their search queries to locate stories. Here is how it works:
Employees of Company X know that there is some bad news coming, so they visit the local paper and begin to search for it. The newspaper then sees searches for "Company X scandal" or other variations on their site. Of course most of these searches are coming from Company X's network. Paper says, hmmm...must be a story there, and they start asking questions.
The speed at which truth moves on the internet is incredibly fast. Rather than hide it, you might was well stay ahead of it.
Posted by Josh Hallett on May 15, 2007 at 12:58 PM
Billy Townsend from the Tampa Tribune has some questions for Winter Haven City Manager David Greene. Billy says it's been impossible for him to get any response from David in his years of covering local government:
It’s certainly Greene’s prerogative to talk or not talk to whomever he chooses. But I think it’s worth noting that I’ve covered local governments on and off for 11 years. Never in that time has the head of a city or county government or the head of a major public agency simply refused to answer questions. David Greene is the first and only official with whom I’ve had that experience.
I wonder if I should request an interview :-)
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 30, 2007 at 02:37 PM
A few weeks ago I stumbled upon the Living in Poinciana Florida blog. There are no details about who is writing the blog, but it mostly seems to be police blotter activity taken from other sources. For example recent posts include:
- Osceola County Real Estate Broker Linked to Murder
- Arrest Made in Recent Homicide Case
- 3 Suspects Arrested for Lewd Acts in Public Park
Since Poinciana sits on the Polk/Osceola border there is a mix of content, most of it being Osceola-focussed though.
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 27, 2007 at 03:14 PM
The Ledger has launched their second podcast, the Polk News Blast. The tagline of the blog says:
Listen to Polk News Blast each weekday afternoon for an audio preview of stories and new content planned for The Ledger and theledger.com.
The first episode is hosted by Lenore Devore who talks a little bit about the initiative on her blog. At 1:18 in length it's just a listing of upcoming stories for the next day's paper, nothing breaking though.
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 13, 2007 at 07:58 AM
Mark Glaser, who writes the PBS Media Shift blog talks about hyperlocal blogs. Specifically he lists eight things that hyperlocal blogs should do:
1. Serve as a model journalist and cheerlead for others to follow.
2. Ask not what the community can do for you; ask what you can do for the community.
3. Journalism is hard work.
4. Collaborate with and link to other local news outlets.
5. Barter and network in the community to save costs.
6. Meet face-to-face with the community to make a real-world impact.
7. You need a real crowd if you want to do crowdsourced journalism.
8. Take a long view on making the site a profitable endeavor.
You can read the full post to get all the details on these items. From my standpoint I agree with all of them except the last one. EP has never been, and probably never will be about making a profit. That's obviously not the best business model in the world...but that's just it. It's not a business :-)
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 12, 2007 at 09:14 AM
Mindy McAdams, the Knight Chair - Department of Journalism at the University of Florida has a post reviewing the newspaper industry in Florida. This comes on the heels of the Tampa Tribune's recent layoffs.
Mindy points out that the one shining star in the Florida newspaper world is not part of a major chain, i.e. New York Times, Tribune, Media General, etc. The St. Pete Times is still independently owned. However she says that independence is not the issue:
It's not that independence or private ownership will automatically save newspapers. And I don't think it's impossible for a chain-owned newspaper to be good. But I do believe that excellence will lead to profit. Excellence in content, in journalism, in reporting. Excellence in public service. Excellence in usability -- and utility.
Profit seeking for its own sake can never lead to excellence.
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 9, 2007 at 11:01 AM
CSX: It's one of the biggest economic development stories to hit Winter Haven in years. The project has significant long-term effects on the economy, growth, image and environment of Winter Haven. It's a big local story, so where is the News Chief? Remember the News Chief, they're Winter Haven's newspaper. (I suspect many of the folks at the East Polk Ledger would disagree, but that's another post)
The News Chief has done no significant reporting/research about the CSX story that I can find. Sure there have been a few articles covering the announcement and other mundane details, but nothing more. The most in-depth reporting has been done by the Tampa Tribune, with the Ledger coming in a distant second. I think Chuck and I have more posts about the story than the News Chief.
Perhaps it's a sign of the times that the best resource for local information about the project is the Winter Haven Chamber's site. For the News Chief, that's just sad. How can you be a community newspaper and ignore this story? It's also sad for the News Chief's readers since they have no idea what's going on with the biggest development deal to hit their community in a decade.
What's also sad is the insular nature of some media. If I find a great resource for content or news for my readers I'll link to it. I don't care who it is, as long as the content is good. Perhaps the News Chief can just run a story saying: Since we're not going to cover this, here are a few good links for you to read....
Posted by Josh Hallett on April 2, 2007 at 09:17 PM
Good job by Chuck finding this blog post detailing some behind-the-scenes info about the recent Operation Cyberhawk. The blog post is by 'Wingman' who worked as a cameraman for Fox 13 in the house the Polk Count Sheriff's office used in the sting.
I spent Thursday and Friday of last week working for Fox 13 Tampa at a sting set up by the Polk County Sheriff's Department. A task force of undercover officers from Polk County as well as the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement, Plant City P.D., and the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement had been trolling in chat rooms for the last week posing as young girls and boys and had been talking to a number of sexual predators.
The post is very detailed and contains a number of images. Check it out.
Posted by Josh Hallett on February 17, 2007 at 12:08 PM
It's been fun to watch the number of blogs in Polk County grow over the past year. Shown below is my 'Polk County' folder in my RSS reader. It's not as big as my Tampa, Orlando or Atlanta folders, but it is a growing list. As you can see there are a few that haven't updated in a while (the light brown ones).
Polk County even has a podcast now...granted it's from a traditional media firm.
What I don't include in this mix are the blogs over at PolkVoice. PV has a number of local bloggers, but also a few PR folks that just use it as a place to reprint press releases.
I wonder how things will grow over the next year.
Posted by Josh Hallett on February 13, 2007 at 03:19 PM
Why do I sense a trend here. The Winter Haven Chamber blog reports something, then the next day the traditional media has a story.
Message to the business reporters covering the Winter Haven area....Bob Gernert and the chamber blog are eating your lunch.
Posted by Josh Hallett on February 2, 2007 at 01:39 PM
The Ledger has launched some blogs. (The Ledger is a client of mine, but I was not involved with the development/launch of these blogs) With that out of the way let's take a look under the hood.
Chuck over at Lakeland Local has some initial impressions. I especially agree with #3 on his list. Nowhere on the blog posts does it list the name of the author. That's one of the biggest tenants of blogging, taking ownership of your own words. It's kinda surprising from a journalism standpoint. I think however it's more a result of the platform they're using (iUpload) and not an omission on the part of the blog authors.
I'm looking forward to Lenore's blog, specifically since she said they (meaning the journalists at the paper) would never blog. Of course at the time I think she had the definition and purpose of a blog somewhat mixed up. Her first post sums up what we can expect.
The big issue with any newspaper blog is will the journalists adopt the methodology or just the tool? We'll check back in a few months from now and see.
Posted by Josh Hallett on January 23, 2007 at 11:26 AM
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