Meet the Staff

If there’s anything Martha Stewart has taught Americans (beyond the importance of carefully vetting one’s stock broker) it’s that presentation is, if not everything, then certainly fundamental to fine food. It may come as a surprise to those familiar with only the past decade or so of the domestic denizen’s eminence that before “Martha” became a household name, she was known for a lot more show than go. Indeed, her first cookbooks, chock-full of stunning displays of food, were criticized for their difficult-to-follow recipes producing mediocre results.

It is with that essential lesson learned, that I am proud to unveil your redesigned Herald News today: replete with style, supported by substance.

Starting with editorial content — the heart and soul of the newspaper — we’ve endeavored to capitalize on our strengths and, frankly, cut our losses on our weaknesses. We’ve listened to our readers, and we’ve tuned in to our hearts. We’ve kept what worked, discarded what didn’t; embraced the new without forgoing the familiar. We’ve reinvigorated The Herald News and, in the process, ourselves.

I hope you’ll agree that we’ve found new and compelling ways to engage you, our readers and advertisers, while improving the organization and functionality of your daily read. Using easy-to-spot directionals, we’ll alert you to content inside the pages of The Herald News, or upcoming in a future edition, or exclusive to our Web site, www.heraldnews.com. And we’re packaging our information in appealing and digestible nuggets, as well as larger blocks of type defined by the airiness that surrounds them.

For instance, check out “Go Figure” in the reader extras that you can find anchored at the bottom of Page A1 every day. It’s a number we think’s important; a number to know. (Does $700 billion ring a bell — or set off an alarm — with anyone?) Flip the front page and find an old favorite, then thank God you’re not listed there. It’s the obituaries, back on Page A2, from where readers have lamented their departure for years.

We’ve expanded the space available for our award-winning local news to span two sections of the newspaper, gaining more color and prominence. Find community items and vital stats such as the police log on our newly named “Home Page,” Page A3, and a full page of local news in our relocated Local Report on Page B1. Every day, we strive to make The Herald News the preeminent source of news and information in our market, and we believe the placement of our Local Report now reflects that mission.

We’ve redesigned our Sports pages and content to help you feel the energy of the games you’re reading about, and perhaps even make you feel as if you’re sitting on the sidelines. And, we’re expanding our Sports coverage to include the participatory and recreational pursuits in which so many of us find ourselves engaged.

Our features coverage has been reorganized to highlight specific topics on given days: Monday, Health; Tuesday, Education; Wednesday, Relish Food; Thursday, Wheels and RSVP; Friday, SouthCoast Homes and Get Out!; Saturday, Home; and Sunday, Lifestyle.

We recognize that readers nowadays consume their news in different ways and through a variety of sources, and we’ve tailored our products accordingly. We’ve streamlined our weather report, publishing the most popular weather items on Page A2, and referring readers looking for more extensive information to our interactive product online. So, too, have we pared our stock listings to the essential Stocks of Local Interest, fine-tuned from reader input and published on our daily Business page inside the B section.

Those changes have made way for an expanded Opinion section, two pages of community conversation, insight and commentary. As a community leader and resource, The Herald News understands the importance of giving voice to our readers’ issues, and we are ever devising new methods for making them heard.
No doubt, newspapers and journalism in general have taken their hits lately, some deserved and some not. Such challenges, however, only serve to remind me what I love best about newspapers. Despite appearances, newspapers are living, breathing things: dynamic and ever-evolving. Every day, 365 days a year, we start fresh, attempting to make The Herald News more relevant, more vibrant and simply better than the day before.

Our redesign has been a microcosm of that daily effort, as we’ve tweaked concepts, improved designs and incorporated feedback. And, we’re continuing to invite our readers to join that process by logging onto www.madeinfallriver.com/newheraldnews, our Web site devoted exclusively to our redesign. There you’ll find a variety of opportunities to provide input, which I hope you will.

It isn’t lost upon us, of course, that change can be difficult, particularly in an area as steeped in tradition as Fall River and among such traditionalists as newspaper readers. Rest assured that it is with an eye toward the past that we venture into the future.

As just last week I watched Herald News columnist Marc Munroe Dion, an avowed history buff, gingerly thumb through an 1863 bound edition of the newspaper and zero in on an article about the Civil War, it occurred to me exactly how profound our undertakings are at The Herald News. As much as I have a sense of ownership over the newspaper where I’ve started each workday for the past 17 years-plus, I recognize that all of us at The Herald News are only caretakers, recording a slice of life for consumption today, tomorrow and further into the future than any of us can imagine.

I, along with my colleagues, am delighted to have the privilege of shepherding The Herald News into that bright tomorrow.