We’re shifting.
Not out of city (lest we get confused with an NBA franchise) and even additional down the road. Only for a brand new launch day.
Outdated printing date: Wednesday. New printing day: Friday.
Starting July 7, CDN’s print newspaper — a neighborhood establishment for greater than a hundredth of a century — will probably be printed Friday mornings, accessible at customary pickup areas, and delivered to the US Postal Service for mailing to subscribers. The final printed Wednesday version of the CDN will seem on June twenty eighth.
Why the change? Effectivity, practicality – and a slight shift in content material.
We began printing on Wednesdays in March 2021 earlier than we have been absolutely established as a information group. The Wednesday version has at all times been a hybrid of kinds, mixing the most recent midweek information with a number of the higher CDN content material from the previous six days.
Whereas sustaining a robust “what’s new” method, the Freitagzeitung aligns itself with the latter objective: extra entrepreneurship, depth, context, investigative reporting, participating commentary, group faces and images.
We have additionally heard from quite a few readers in a latest in-depth survey (huge due to everybody who took half, btw) that lots of you might be already taking quieter occasions to learn CDN’s printed model. This suits in with our present issues of shifting to a extra weekend-focused print newspaper.
We would like the print newspaper to remodel into a bigger showcase for the perfect CDN firm tales, images, particular stories, distinctive layouts and different storytelling options that attain new – and arguably higher – dimensions in print than on-line.
We try this generally now. We are going to do it extra typically sooner or later.
However different, extra pragmatic components are fueling the change – in my view, causes sufficient for a change.
I shrink back from the business time period “digital first”, however we actually are. We submit information on-line seven days per week (if you happen to’re undecided, join one in all our day by day e-mail newsletters) and that will not change. However a Monday via Friday publication paper manufacturing schedule will probably be extra environment friendly for all of us within the newsroom.
Wednesday’s print launch gave us a 6pm Tuesday deadline, which meant that our print “manufacturing day” – after we all have interaction in revisions, proofreading, web page proofing, and extremely entertaining kibbitzing and reflections – was scheduled for quite a few necessary authorities conferences and information occasions fell . These embrace the at all times fascinating actions of Bellingham Metropolis Council (Mondays) and Whatcom County Council (Tuesdays). Even election evenings with tight and even unimaginable deadlines on Tuesday night have been no enjoyable – even with the same old pizza filling.
And a weekly manufacturing schedule is extra environment friendly than one punctuated by a weekend when each employees and sources take day without work to attempt to be like regular individuals.
An additional growth of the print content material
How will this have an effect on CDN’s merchandise, each on-line and in print? Hardly on-line as we already publish all of the information materials produced by our employees on cascadiadaily.com.
The printing paper (see above) just isn’t shriveled or high quality. However it’ll evolve as we retool, refocus, and report and remark extra absolutely. (See beneath!)
Within the brief time period, nonetheless, you’ll discover some print optimizations: some options of the residing space will probably be redesigned; We’ll be asking our columnists and contributors for extra curated featured tales and fewer prolonged occasion listings that can stay on-line. (Calendars concentrate on Friday via the next Sunday, so there are at all times two weekends in view.)
We may even be merging our earlier two puzzle/comedian/how-to pages into one to make extra room for authentic life-style content material that readers have made it clear they love and will probably be placing some content material on-line.
One of the best ways to get all of this with out lacking a phrase or image is by subscribing. It is also one of the best ways to safe the salaries of our information and enterprise employees over the long run.
Change is at all times nerve-racking and we’re grateful that lots of our readers have already made CDN part of their weekly behavior. We hope that this launch change will probably be as helpful for readers as it’s for us. Your satisfaction with our product is actually our backside line.
As at all times, be happy to get entangled by contacting me personally, sending a letter to Letters@cascadiadaily.com, or emailing our predominant inbox, newstips@cascadiadaily.com. In case you have any supply points, please contact our Member Companies Division, member@cascadiadaily.com.
Meet the brand new editor-in-chief
The upcoming launch swap is not the one huge change coming to our newsroom. As well as, I’m happy to announce the arrival of a brand new Editor-in-Chief. Rhonda Prast, a former Seattle Instances colleague, beforehand joined CDN over the web from her residence in Idaho. She will probably be relocating to Whatcom County in early August to work full-time at CDN.
Rhonda Prast, new editor-in-chief of CDN
Her spectacular profession has included senior newsroom positions on the Las Vegas Evaluation-Journal, Idaho Statesman, Kansas Metropolis Star, Minneapolis Star Tribune and Miami Herald – along with this small Lake Union newspaper. She helps me in working the day-to-day operations of the CDN newsroom and makes use of her in depth business data to take our publication to the subsequent degree, each by way of content material and the way and in what kind it reaches you.
Prast, who holds a bachelor’s diploma in journalism from Arizona State College and a grasp’s diploma in journalism from the College of Missouri, replaces Staci Baird, who was lately promoted to basic supervisor, to supervise CDN’s enterprise capabilities. She will be able to’t wait to get began.
“I’m lucky to be a part of a newsroom workforce that’s so energetic and dedicated to serving a subject that’s hungry for native information,” stated Prast. “It is thrilling to return to the Pacific Northwest, and in my new function, I sit up for assembly residents and studying how CDN can proceed the necessary public service of reporting tales that matter to our readers.”
In her most up-to-date management function, Prast led the investigation into the September 2022 homicide of a colleague, Las Vegas Evaluation-Journal reporter Jeff German. An elected county official has been charged with the homicide of the hard-line investigative reporter.
She and two different former colleagues will ship a keynote speech on the topic this weekend on the Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE) Nationwide Convention in Orlando, Florida.
We’re very excited to welcome Prast to our group, newsroom and CDN household. Say hiya to them at rhondaprast@cascadiadaily.com.
Ron Judd’s column seems – initially – on Wednesdays, however will change to Friday from July seventh; ronjudd@cascadiadaily.com; @roncjudd.
