All swine flu, all the time

Add comment April 30th, 2009

We’re not hyperventilating over the swine flu outbreak (after all, our editor would tell you not to), but we have collected all of our coverage, plus links, on a special report page. Plus, you can always monitor the headlines on HealthyRockford.com.

Still a Star in our eyes

Add comment April 29th, 2009

Last year, the Register Star won GateHouse Media’s Newspaper of the Year Award in the company’s 2007 Best Of competition.

This year, the 2008 award went to the Canton (Ohio) Repository, which is led by former RRS managing editor Jeff Gauger, who worked here from 2005 to 2007. Congrats to him. Drop him a line if you remember him.

(This year, the Register Star was a finalist.)

One paper’s strategy to ‘boost value of print edition’

2 comments April 28th, 2009

Interesting Web/newspaper strategy by the Janesville (Wis.) Gazette. Our neighbor to the north plans to delay posting content until the afternoon of that day’s newspaper.

Not sure how this strategy will play out for them. Will it encourage people to subscribe to the newspaper? Will it retain current subscribers?

The editor’s blog post has generated more than 70 comments. What do you think?

Look for extra coupons to ’stretch’ your dollars

Add comment April 25th, 2009

This Sunday in the Register Star, you’ll find deals from more than 25 local retailers on mini-wraps around the main news and classified sections.

They will be labeled “Stretched… Savings for your home, your family, your life.”

Rockford Woman: The giveaways just keep giving…

Add comment April 24th, 2009

The May/June issue of Rockford Woman is out this weekend, and there are at least three things special about it.

1. It contains the springĀ “Look Good, Feel Good” section.

2. We’re giving away Sarah Jessica Parker Lovely fragrances online in a two-week contest.

3. Well, I can’t tell you what’s extra-special about one of the cover models until Sunday.

UPDATE: Aubrey Henning is also one of the 2009 Register Star Young American award winners!

College student’s editorial upsets football coach

Add comment April 23rd, 2009

Interesting tidbit about a student journalist at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater who wrote an editorial about a few student athletes who didn’t think they had to follow the rules.

The editorial prompted the head football coach to swear at a reporter and to deny interviews to the student newspaper. The coach later apologized after the university’s chancellor sided with Royal Purple.

Story got attention on jsonline.com and Romensko.

I found it on Twitter.

Honoring outstanding young people

Add comment April 22nd, 2009

On Saturday, the Register Star will honor 40 young local students for their efforts in school and in their community at a luncheon at Cliffbreakers. We gave out the first Young American award in 1957.

Each year, leading up to the banquet, we profile winners from 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago. Check out our database of former winners and read profiles of the five we caught up with this year.

Mash it all together

Add comment April 21st, 2009

I found Mashable, a blog that explains anything and everything about social networking. Interesting posts on everything from Twitter to how to share music via social networking. I have a lot of reading to do. First, I am going to check out this whole Susan Boyle YouTube video thing.

What j-schools are doing

Add comment April 20th, 2009

A colleague sent this link to me this morning. It’s a New York Times piece on journalism schools and what they’re doing to churn out graduates who want a future in this business. Talking about the biz and the future of journalism is stuff I wish they were talking about 10 years ago. Still, today, I found it amazing a student can still graduate with an emphasis in print (as I did 10 years ago). Funny thing is, there really is no such thing as print emphasis in the real world. You’ve got to be able to do more. You’ve got to know more. You’ve got to be forward thinking.

5,900 fewer newsroom jobs this year

Add comment April 17th, 2009

Just got an e-mail from the American Society of Newspaper Editor’s with this first paragraph: “American daily newspapers shed 5,900 newsroom jobs last year, reducing their employment of journalists by 11.3 percent to the levels of the early 1980s.” The e-mail linked to this press release that details findings from its annual census of U.S. newsrooms.

Our newsroom, too, has fewer bodies than it did last year when we had two rounds of layoffs. It’s a tough time for our industry, and there’s no sign that the situation will improve any time soon. It’s hard for me, though, to be down. I am proud of what we do here, and I am optimistic about the future of our business. Sure, what we’re doing five years from now is not going to be like it is today. Our business isn’t like it was 20 years ago either. Got me thinking about that blog post I read a couple weeks ago. The difference between now and then is the business model needs to change much faster.