Archive for August, 2009
August 28th, 2009
Sigh. The weather has felt like fall for two months. And summer is unofficially over as we approach On the Waterfront and watch our first high school football games tonight.
Today’s Gridiron section introduces the season with 18 pages of previews from our Sports staff. What I love the most, creatively, is that our staff re-created famous football photos in history with each of the NIC-10 teams. See our gallery and the video explaining how we did it.
Our Web site is back and better than ever, with a Twitter feed, quarterly scores, team/individual statistics, stories, photos and three video shows a week (Wednesday-Friday), plus a video from the game of the week.
August 27th, 2009
We’ve gathered all the content related to Monday’s shooting in one place on rrstar.com. The special report has stories, videos, photos and more. You will also find a link to comment on the case.
August 26th, 2009
Jim Killam, adviser for the Northern Star, Northern Illinois University’s daily newspaper, spoke with WNIJ about the future of the journalism and its uncertainty.
At the Register Star, we’ve worked for years with Killam because his recommendations on students carry currency for us in hiring.
Of course, he worries about less investigative journalism and the ability to make money when people expect news to be free. In the end, he makes a good point:
“What our main product is is not paper and ink; it’s news and information.”
August 25th, 2009
We won some Illinois Press Association awards for our work in the past year. We don’t know the places yet. Those will be announced at the annual awards luncheon Oct. 9. Here’s the work that will be recognized:
Editorial Page (staff)
Business/Economic Reporting – IBM; 30 years, 3 agencies, 1 mission (Isaac Guerrero)
Enterprise/Feature Writing – 180 degrees project (staff)
Informational Graphic – How the Rock River Valley voted (Margo Morgan, Chris Soprych)
Headline Writing (Barry Wood)
Special Section – Rockford Woman magazine (staff)
Best Web Site, rrstar.com (staff)
Most Innovative Project – Gridiron (staff)
Sports Photo – 2 pinned, see it below (Scott Morgan)
SCOTT MORGAN | RRSTAR.COM
Harlem’s Derek Elmore works to pin Belvidere North’s Greg Adkins in the 103-pound championship final Saturday, Jan. 31, 2009, during the NIC-10 Conference Wrestling Championships at East High School in Rockford
August 20th, 2009
Today, you’ll see the section letter “C” on Thursday’s People section.
This is nothing new. It’s fallen in that position for almost a year.
Before that, the section used to be inserted. Why the change? You don’t really want the boring, complicated details about press configurations. …
The bottom line? Readers really like order. Seeing the A section and the B section and then no C section was disconcerting to some of you, so we gave People “a C section,” one e-mailer joked.
Readers like order so much, in fact, that I had one tell me he always wanted B to be Local and C to be Sports and so forth, darn it! If only it were that easy. News and advertising needs change daily, and our new press, while wonderful, cannot print just any number of pages or sections we want. It’s a balancing act.
August 19th, 2009
The coverage of Baby Crystal’s mom, Katie Stockton, is hands down one of the most read on our Web site in the last couple weeks. Since the story broke Thursday, Aug. 6, rrstar.com garnered more than 100,000 page views. There are more than 100 comments on this case, too.
August 11th, 2009
Win two tickets to see Journey and Heart on Aug. 18.
Take our quiz to be entered into a drawing for tickets to the show at the MetroCentre.
Hurry up and enter as many times as you like until the contest ends Thursday.
August 6th, 2009
… fill out our survey. About GO, the Register Star’s Monday-Saturday section filled with things to do. It won’t take long.
It’s been three years since we expanded GO from just Fridays to six days a week. We want to make sure you’re getting what you need in print and online to plan your life.
P.S. You also might notice that we’ve improved our calendar platform online. You now can add your events on the Web instead of e-mailing us. Note: We do approve items before they publish.
August 5th, 2009
Sadye Scott-Hainchek almost won “most unathletic” when she graduated from Rockton’s Hononegah High School in 2004. That near “win” inspired her to, well, take up running.
Sadye, who’s also a copy editor for us here at the Register Star, started training earlier this year to run a half marathon. She asked if she could blog about the experience. We said sure.
Her blog is Get Running. Now, get reading … and if you’re inspired, get running.
