RUTLAND — With advances in technology shaping how news organizations deliver their products, the Rutland Herald and The Times Argus are announcing ways by which they will deliver local news to consumers across Vermont, as well as online.
Publisher R. John Mitchell said last week that the changes, which will go into effect later in the year, provide platforms for all readers, including print, online and mobile devices.
“We are defined by the number of papers we sell,” Mitchell said during a recent interview. “We are seeing a shift in our audience, and this is our reaction to that shift.”
It comes down to how consumers want to get the news that is important to them, said Vice President and General Manager Catherine Nelson. “It's simple. We're responding to the demand of a different delivery system. It speaks to the efficiencies of getting local news into the hands of readers day or night. It is a logical next step for us.”
First, the award-winning daily newspapers will introduce a “green” or e-edition of their publications, which allows readers to enjoy an exact replica of the print version, including advertising, as well as added features such as embedded video and audio clips, photo galleries and up-to-date rewrites of both local news and stories from the wire services.
The e-edition also will give subscribers access to digital archives of the newspaper going back years.
The Web is a perfect delivery system, Mitchell said. The ease of delivery online, for example, allows the newspapers to get into markets made more difficult by transportation and delivery costs. There are no longer limitations.
“People want our content; they want our news,” he said. “We need to always be thinking of ways of providing it online and in print.”
Mitchell said subscriptions to the “green” and print editions of the newspapers would be comparable and would be offered in simple payment methods. By no means, Mitchell said, is the print product going away.
“This is adjusting to market demands,” he said. “People like print. And nowadays, people enjoy online. This appeals to both.”
Nelson pointed out the new delivery system makes local news accessible to anyone, whether it's the mobile generation or traditionalists who like to get ink on their fingers. “People want the portability of the newspaper and its content,” she said. “This gets news into your hands quicker, faster.”
Second, in the coming months, both publications will “gate” or charge for the content on rutlandherald.com and timesargus.com.
Previously, newspapers gave away content on the Internet as a means of providing information as a public service, Mitchell said. However, giving away news has cost publications nationwide valuable subscribers. Mitchell said the days of handing out the high-quality journalism produced by both of his publications will end.
“We are asking people to pay for the news, plain and simple,” Mitchell said. “That is the service we provide. We can no longer afford to give it away on the Web. It continues to take significant resources to provide our content.”
Simultaneously, the Web sites will be revamped to provide additional content, including live feeds to the wire services, online-only investigative journalism, a blogging community and expanded coverage, including audio and video broadcasts. Reporters and photographers will have access to mobile equipment that will allow them to provide on-the-spot news coverage.
Third, both newspapers will begin using state-of-the-art software and hardware to plan and produce their award-winning news coverage. The new technology will allow the newspapers to expand and track coverage in communities and on statewide issues, produce engaging publications, and generate news content throughout the day and night and on weekends.
Mitchell pointed out that news does not stop when the presses are not rolling. “We are thinking of ourselves as a statewide news organization, one that combines effort and allows us to produce news in creative, exciting ways.”
The Pulitzer Prize-winning Herald already has begun using the new technology. The Times Argus will follow suit later this summer.
In addition to the Herald and Times Argus, the Mitchell family owns the New England Business Journals, as well as two free weeklies, niche products and several monthly publications.