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ENLARGE
Editor Vicki Menard pauses for a photo at Lake Tahoe last weekend.
I had a little change of pace this past week. I left the job of putting out the daily newspaper to our very capable newsroom staff while I was off at a conference and meetings.
It was time for the editors, publishers and advertising directors from the various newspapers in our family-owned newspaper group, Swift Communications, to get together and assess where we are and where we need to go in the future.
It was a time to talk about our goals, our values and how we're going to keep up with the rapid pace of advancing technology. Where in the past, the editors might have discussed how best to tell stories, design pages or investigate shady characters, this year we talked a lot more about electronic media.
Every newspaper in our group has its own Web site and for a few years now, we've been placing news on our site, nrtoday.com, before we can get it delivered to you in the newspaper.
With the advent of social networking sites — that's what they call Twitter, Facebook, MySpace — we're finding increased competition for where news will be released first. Because we're not all-knowing, we realize we need to follow the tweets of local residents who may hear about breaking news before we do.
But because we're a local newspaper, and studies show we remain the most trusted source for news, we'll be looking to verify that tweet before we post it as a fact on nrtoday.com or in The News-Review.
If you are tweeting stories of local interest and want us to follow you, sign up at nrtoday.com/twitter. Or if you want to know what news we're posting, you can sign up to follow us at twitter.com/nrtoday.
For those of you haven't yet checked out Twitter, I know it sounds a bit crazy. But I've now attended sessions at three different conferences where our speakers have told us we've got to learn what it is, understand it and use it or we'll be left behind.
The trick will be for us to use it without being too distracted by it. Because while we've fully embraced the World Wide Web — and we encourage you to come to our Web site where you can write blogs, leave comments and submit photos — we remain committed to our core product, a daily newspaper full of local news about local people and events that you won't find anywhere else.
FRIENDLY COMPETITION: When the employees of Swift Communications attend meetings, it's like bringing together family. It's not uncommon to see hugs and wide smiles as friendships are renewed. People who have worked together in the past enjoy seeing one another and catching up, not only on shop talk, but news of their respective families.
I was pleased to have the opportunity to visit with our former editor, Bart Smith, who now publishes The Greeley Tribune in Colorado. For those who are curious, he's had a challenging year in business and his family is healthy and doing well.
Under our friendly exterior, we're a competitive bunch, however. When it came to the announcement of the annual Swift Awards, I was eager to see how we would fare against the slightly larger newsroom in Greeley. I knew The Union in Grass Valley, the Nevada Appeal and the Vail Daily would have strong entries as well.
For the coveted Newsroom Excellence Award, we had been asked to submit examples of our best work in various categories such as breaking news, short story, photo, column, and coverage that is most relevant to our community. It's always difficult to select just a few examples from 52 weeks of papers, but we tried to put our best foot forward.
I couldn't be happier with the results. The judges, which included the two sisters who own our newspaper group, selected The News-Review for the Newsroom Excellence Award for 2008. Our terrific, hard-working news staff deserved the recognition.
ENLIGHTENED CALIFORNIAN: Between our meetings in Reno, a couple of us had time to drive around the rim of beautiful Lake Tahoe. While stopped behind an accident, a local woman stopped to talk to us when she tried to squeeze by our car to get to her own driveway.
Through the open windows, we had a short conversation and revealed we were from Oregon. When she asked whereabouts and I replied, she said enthusiastically, “Oh I love Roseburg!”
Isn't that a nice comment to hear about our lovely little city.
Editor Vicki Menard was pleased to return home after a week away to once again to hold and read her local newspaper cover to cover. She can be reached at vmenard@nrtoday.com or 957-4203.
It was time for the editors, publishers and advertising directors from the various newspapers in our family-owned newspaper group, Swift Communications, to get together and assess where we are and where we need to go in the future.
It was a time to talk about our goals, our values and how we're going to keep up with the rapid pace of advancing technology. Where in the past, the editors might have discussed how best to tell stories, design pages or investigate shady characters, this year we talked a lot more about electronic media.
Every newspaper in our group has its own Web site and for a few years now, we've been placing news on our site, nrtoday.com, before we can get it delivered to you in the newspaper.
With the advent of social networking sites — that's what they call Twitter, Facebook, MySpace — we're finding increased competition for where news will be released first. Because we're not all-knowing, we realize we need to follow the tweets of local residents who may hear about breaking news before we do.
But because we're a local newspaper, and studies show we remain the most trusted source for news, we'll be looking to verify that tweet before we post it as a fact on nrtoday.com or in The News-Review.
If you are tweeting stories of local interest and want us to follow you, sign up at nrtoday.com/twitter. Or if you want to know what news we're posting, you can sign up to follow us at twitter.com/nrtoday.
For those of you haven't yet checked out Twitter, I know it sounds a bit crazy. But I've now attended sessions at three different conferences where our speakers have told us we've got to learn what it is, understand it and use it or we'll be left behind.
The trick will be for us to use it without being too distracted by it. Because while we've fully embraced the World Wide Web — and we encourage you to come to our Web site where you can write blogs, leave comments and submit photos — we remain committed to our core product, a daily newspaper full of local news about local people and events that you won't find anywhere else.
FRIENDLY COMPETITION: When the employees of Swift Communications attend meetings, it's like bringing together family. It's not uncommon to see hugs and wide smiles as friendships are renewed. People who have worked together in the past enjoy seeing one another and catching up, not only on shop talk, but news of their respective families.
I was pleased to have the opportunity to visit with our former editor, Bart Smith, who now publishes The Greeley Tribune in Colorado. For those who are curious, he's had a challenging year in business and his family is healthy and doing well.
Under our friendly exterior, we're a competitive bunch, however. When it came to the announcement of the annual Swift Awards, I was eager to see how we would fare against the slightly larger newsroom in Greeley. I knew The Union in Grass Valley, the Nevada Appeal and the Vail Daily would have strong entries as well.
For the coveted Newsroom Excellence Award, we had been asked to submit examples of our best work in various categories such as breaking news, short story, photo, column, and coverage that is most relevant to our community. It's always difficult to select just a few examples from 52 weeks of papers, but we tried to put our best foot forward.
I couldn't be happier with the results. The judges, which included the two sisters who own our newspaper group, selected The News-Review for the Newsroom Excellence Award for 2008. Our terrific, hard-working news staff deserved the recognition.
ENLIGHTENED CALIFORNIAN: Between our meetings in Reno, a couple of us had time to drive around the rim of beautiful Lake Tahoe. While stopped behind an accident, a local woman stopped to talk to us when she tried to squeeze by our car to get to her own driveway.
Through the open windows, we had a short conversation and revealed we were from Oregon. When she asked whereabouts and I replied, she said enthusiastically, “Oh I love Roseburg!”
Isn't that a nice comment to hear about our lovely little city.
Editor Vicki Menard was pleased to return home after a week away to once again to hold and read her local newspaper cover to cover. She can be reached at vmenard@nrtoday.com or 957-4203.
