Orlando Sentinel first to receive Tribune's make-over
By Leah McBride Mensching, Monday 23 June 2008 at 23:34 :: Editorial Content :: #1830 :: rss
The Tribune Co. has begun its overhaul, and the Orlando Sentinel is the first to exhibit the changes, with more news bytes, graphics and top news items, making it easier to skim for more hurried readers, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Sam Zell, owner of Tribune, announced plans earlier this month to cut down on employee numbers, pages in its newspaper and increase its ads to content ratio to 50/50, as well as redesigning the papers to offer more easily digestible news and information, for readers on the go.
The Sentinel is a “proving ground” for Zell, The Wall Street Journal reported. Tribune also owns the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, as well as other newspapers, television and radio stations, and other properties, such as the Chicago Cubs baseball team and its home field, Wrigley Field, both of which Zell has promised to sell to pay down the company's debt.
Zell bought Tribune in December in a US$8.2 billion buyout deal to take the company private, and has been selling off Tribune properties and pushing for changes at the company's newspapers to battle debt.
In the days before the Sentinel's launch of its new look, newspaper promotions stated “New look, new stories, new attitude,” a concept that “reflects a new industry reality: to avoide looking dowdy to readers used to the pizzazz and immediacy of the Web, newspapers must be eye-catching and full of alluring and indispensable stories,” The Wall Street Journal article stated.
Charlotte Hall, editor of the Sentinel, told The Wall Street Journal that the paper's readers are a “fast moving, very modern,” community that must “have a paper that feels like that too.”
Hall said the redesign isn't extreme, but it did try to tailor changes to the newspaper, and add less common touches. For example, the paper now features its “stars,” showing pictures on the front page of columnists, along with a short excerpt from their columns. It also increased its local news, government watchdog and consumer information stories, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Sentinel, which as a circulation of 332,000, has an e-mail address and phone line that will take reader feedback about the redesign.
Next to be redesigned will be The South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Baltimore Sun, and the Chicago Tribune has put in place leadership teams to be in charge of its redesign, slated for September. Lee Abrams, Tribune's chief innovation officer, told The Wall Street Journal that Tribune newspapers will have “similarities, but it won't look like a national template by any means.”
For previous information on this story, visit our partner site, Editorsweblog.org.
The Sentinel's newly designed front page
Comments
No comment.
Post comment