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To Our Readers
Frank Bridgewater
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New format will make news more accessible
TO OUR READERS
Frank Bridgewater
THE Star-Bulletin will unveil a new format tomorrow that makes it easier and quicker to get the news you want and need.
We hear regularly how you are squeezed by time, so we have designed a newspaper that will provide the basic facts of a story and, if you want more, an in-depth version.
Also, research shows that the overwhelming majority of newspaper readers hate stories that "jump," or are continued from the front page of a section to a page inside, so we are eliminating jumps.
Newspapers traditionally have been slow to change -- a trait magnified in the past decade by the Internet. As a result, papers generally look the same.
To break that mold, the publisher, myself and assistant editor Michael Rovner, who is in charge of the paper's design, along with other editors started with the premise: "Newspaper Meets the Web Site." The result is a newspaper that is unique in the industry and, similar to Web sites, offers options.
Here is how it will work:
On Page A1 and the front page of the Sports and Business sections, we will have summaries, short stories, graphics and/or photos on the top four or five stories of the day. These will provide "just the facts." Page A1 will also include a digest that includes key stories from all sections and our national/international news report. After looking at the front page, you will have a grasp of all major news of the day.
If after reading the summaries on A1 or the cover pages of sections you would like an in-depth story, a page number will direct you to a story with more details. Think of it as clicking on a link on Page A1 or the cover pages to a story inside the section. Stories inside will run about as long as they do now, when warranted -- this is not a format that has as its goal shorter stories throughout the paper.
The Today section will have a different look from the rest of the sections, primarily because its subject matter lends itself to bigger layouts. But no story will jump from the first page.
Also in Today, columnists who have been featured regularly on our Entertainment page -- Jason Yadao (Cel Shaded), Jason Genegabus (In the Mix) and Katherine Nichols (Screen Time) -- will move to the second page of the section. We no longer will have a full page dedicated to popular entertainment, but all the elements, such as the Top 10 lists and reviews of new CD and DVD releases, will find a home elsewhere in the section. The People report will move to the inside back page of the section.
The overall result of our "Newspaper Meets the Web Site" approach is a paper that offers you options -- summaries or entire stories -- rather than forcing you to endure jumps from every section cover to inside pages.
As Hawaii's oldest continuously published daily newspaper, we truly appreciated the widespread support we received from the community in 2000 when the owner of the other paper tried to shut us down. You wanted a second newspaper in the community, and we have tried to live up to your expectations. Our new format continues our efforts to meet your changing needs.
During the days ahead, if you have comments or questions, please e-mail us at newlook@starbulletin.com.
Frank Bridgewater is editor of the Star-Bulletin. Call him at 529-4791. He can be reached at
fbridgewater@starbulletin.com or write to 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813.