When we launched the redesign of our newspaper nearly 16 months ago - good heavens, has it been that long? - one of the highlights was expanded coverage of news or record. That includes the Police Blotter, traffic accidents, etc.
We viewed that expansion of coverage as a double-edged sword, with one side being much more dull than the other. Quantitative and anecdotal evidence suggests that Record page items are the most read in The Monroe Times, as they are in most newspapers. People want to know who got arrested, who got into an accident, and where the fire trucks were going last night.
People are nosy.
However, we also knew that there are some people who don't appreciate having all of that dirty laundry aired in the local newspaper. Mostly, those are some of the people whose names appear on the page. But sometimes it's just somebody who doesn't want to have to read about bad news in their newspaper.
We decided it was best to serve the majority of readers, and the public's interest, by publishing more Record items. We expanded Police Blotter coverage. We added traffic court items, and fire and EMS calls.
Of the few reader complaints we've received since, most have been about things we still don't cover - real estate transfers, bankruptcies and regional fire and EMS calls come to mind. As we expanded our coverage at the end of 2006, we intended to branch out even further in the future. Frankly, since then staff changes and other new projects have gotten in the way of expanded Record coverage. But I think it's something we'll revisit again soon. Any changes you would suggest are appreciated.
We viewed that expansion of coverage as a double-edged sword, with one side being much more dull than the other. Quantitative and anecdotal evidence suggests that Record page items are the most read in The Monroe Times, as they are in most newspapers. People want to know who got arrested, who got into an accident, and where the fire trucks were going last night.
People are nosy.
However, we also knew that there are some people who don't appreciate having all of that dirty laundry aired in the local newspaper. Mostly, those are some of the people whose names appear on the page. But sometimes it's just somebody who doesn't want to have to read about bad news in their newspaper.
We decided it was best to serve the majority of readers, and the public's interest, by publishing more Record items. We expanded Police Blotter coverage. We added traffic court items, and fire and EMS calls.
Of the few reader complaints we've received since, most have been about things we still don't cover - real estate transfers, bankruptcies and regional fire and EMS calls come to mind. As we expanded our coverage at the end of 2006, we intended to branch out even further in the future. Frankly, since then staff changes and other new projects have gotten in the way of expanded Record coverage. But I think it's something we'll revisit again soon. Any changes you would suggest are appreciated.
