JOURNAL REGISTER CO.’S
DIGITAL RETOOLING
To jump-start its digital-first strategy,
dailies drop legacy systems for free Web tools
By Mark Fitzgerald
34 E DITOR & PUBLISHE R JULY 2 0 1 0 w w w. e d i t o r a n d p u b l i s h e r. c o m
It’s a process: News-Herald staffers used free Internet
software to complete an entire edition from start to
finish. Clockwise from top left: Story assignments
were created and shared using Google Docs; an
imposition was made in OpenOffice.org; GIMP ,
a photo editing program, was one of several used
for toning; layouts were completed using Scribus
J
OURNAL REGISTER CO.’S BEN FRANKLIN “Newspapers are process-driven,”
Paton says. “And in many cases the
Project might strike some as a stunt. But to processes are broken because the
CEO John Paton, the reason to make the companies themselves haven’t
invested in the proper IT, and our
chain’s 18 dailies produce a newspaper thinking gets heavily invested in
using only digital tools available for free on this broken process.”
And if any newspaper company
the Internet is to force a change in thinking. was broken, it was Journal
w w w. e d i t o r a n d p u b l i s h e r. c o m JULY 2 0 1 0 E DITOR & PUBLISHE R 35
JOURNAL REGISTER CO.’S DIGITAL RETOOLING
Register. Though it has some of the most storied
properties in the nation, such as the New Haven
(Conn.) Register, it suffered for the better part of three
decades under a succession of ownerships seemingly
determined to test the very limits of cost-cutting. “JRC
has terrible IT,” Paton says flatly. “Not terrible IT peo-
ple, but terrible systems because there has not been a
lot of money invested in the technology.”
Paton is one of the newspaper industry’s chief evan-
gelists for a digital-first, print-last strategy, and Journal
Register Version 1.0 might seem like an unlikely place
to practice that philosophy.
Instead, it spurred him to thinking that, as he notes,
would not seem radical in any other information
industry except newspapers. “If you take the crappy
systems and add the need for culture change, why
don’t we try crowd-source journalism, open-source
journalism and populate the results of that on Web
and print using only free Web-based tools?” he asks.
As editor of The News-Herald in Willoughby, Ohio,
Tricia Ambrose was, in effect, the first front-line guinea
pig in the Ben Franklin Project, along with another
News-Herald, JRC’s weekly in Perkasie, Pa. The two
papers volunteered to figure out how to produce an
entire paper using Web tools. Once they successfully
completed their editions in May, Paton promptly
announced that all 18 JRC dailies would do the same
thing on July 4.
“It really forced us to accelerate — or move in the
first place — to digital-first, especially some of the
more veteran journalists who hadn’t quite been into
Twitter and other social media,” Ambrose says.
It wasn’t always a smooth process. The News-Herald found
that a lot of the digital tools simply weren’t up to the task.
“If you’re at your house putting together a newsletter,
they’re fabulous,” Ambrose says, “but if you’re sharing with
35 people, it’s slow going.”
Sports Editor John Kuehn, getting his section ready for The News-Herald before (upper left) and after (lower
the July 4 deadline at The Oakland Press in Pontiac, Mich., right) its Ben Franklin Project transformation.
found himself struggling to get productivity out of the
painfully slow free page-composition tool Scribus. “There’s up — and it didn’t involve a tragedy,” Ambrose says, referring
a reason it’s free,” he says with a laugh. to the local and national catastrophes it typically takes to get
Yet in many ways, sharing that learning curve energized an all-hands-on-deck effort going in newsrooms.
the newsrooms, editors say. Younger journalists were The community engagement that resulted from crowd-
suddenly the ones mentoring veterans on Web apps. sourcing was eye-opening, editors say.
“It was nice to work on a project where everybody is fired continued on page 90
Ben Franklin’s Tool Shed
Some of the Web-based digital tools Journal Register Co. used in its Ben Franklin Project:
Crowd-sourcing Newsroom Composition
Survey Monkey — surveymonkey.com Google Docs — docs.google.com GIMP — gimp.org
Polldaddy — polldaddy.com OpenOffice.org — openoffice.org ClipMarks — clipmarks.com
YouTube — youtube.com Flickr — flickr.com Photoshop Online Editor — photoshop.com
Vimeo — vimeo.com ShareThis — sharethis.com Picture2Life — picture2life.com
CoverItLive — coveritlive.com DrPic — drpic.com
Scribus — scribus.net
Aviary — aviary.com
36 E DITOR & PUBLISHE R JA N UA RY 2 0 1 0 w w w. e d i t o r a n d p u b l i s h e r. c o m
Classification of Syndicated Features
Beauty — 1tw -var -Wire/eml/fax/ctc -Cruz, Debra Renee..............NNB orp/DF/mail/ctc -Heloise ...............................................................KFS † * Realstyle — 1tw -DF/ctc/line -McLaughlin, Patricia ..................UPS
† * Beauty Trends — 1tw -var -ing/igp/disk/mail/rom/line - Human Behavior/Popular Psychology — 1tw -600-800 -mail/ctc - RoMANtic, The — 2tm -2" x 10"/500 -eml/line -Webb, Michael..ROMA
Aquino, Andres................................................................................FSP Adler, Jane .......................................................................................WF † * Runway Fashion-Women — 1tw -var -ing/igp/disk/mail/rom/line -
Best Looks — 1tw -600-800 -id/mail/ctc -Abrams, Diane ...............WF Inspiring Insights For Your Soul & Spirit! — 2tm -150-600 -eml - Aquino, Andres................................................................................FSP
Bottom Line, The — 1tw -600 -mail/line -Basco, Antoinette ............CAT Thomas-Anderson, Gloria ..................................................................HT Sense & Sensitivity — 6tw -500 -Wire/DF/ctc/line -Cole, Harriette UFS
Bridal — -orp/Wire/eml/ctc/line -Staff ...........................................NU Life Styles — 1tw -var -ctc -Cruz, Debra Renee...............................NNB Sense & Sensitivity — 6tw -500 -DF/ctc/line -Cole, Harriette.........NEA
† Brides & Bouquets — an -sup (15 stories) -id/igp/eml/rom/line - LifeBeat — 1tw -3200 -igp/Wire/eml/line ......................................NYT † Sew Simple — 1tw -550 -id/DF/mail/ctc -Farmer Ellis, Vicki.......KFS
Staff ...............................................................................................CRE Living — 1tw -800 -igp/Wire/eml/line -Martha Stewart Living Sex & Relationships — -eml -Gibson, Valerie ................................SMC
† Bride's Guide — qt -sup -igp/rom/line........................................CTW Magazine ........................................................................................NYT † Shopping Can Be Fun — 3tw -500 -aud/fax/mail/ctc/line -Lawson,
* Budget Stretching Ideas — 1tw -var - † Love & Relationships — 1tw -DF/eml/ctc/line -Staff ..................MCT Laurie.............................................................................................PITE
id/igp/orp/disk/fax/mail/rom/ctc/line -Staff ..............................NAPS † MCT Weekly Feature Graphics — 1tw -line -Various.....................TMS Slightly Off! — 1tw -500 -man/eml/fax/ctc -Di Sandro, Deb..........SOF
† Decor Score/Homes — 1tw -650 -igp/eml/line - * Making Family Life More Fun — 1tw -var - † Soap Opera Review — 1tw -600 -Wire/DF/eml/ctc/line -Johnson,
Gilbert, Rose Bennett .....................................................................CRE id/igp/orp/disk/fax/mail/rom/ctc/line -Staff ..............................NAPS Nancy.............................................................................................UFS
* Entertaining Ideas — 1tw -var - Martha Stewart Weddings — qt -Wire/eml/line...............................NYT
Spring Brides — sea -sup -Wire .....................................................SHN
id/igp/orp/disk/fax/mail/rom/ctc/line -Staff ..............................NAPS MaryJane's Everyday Organic — 1tw -500-600 -
† Spring/Summer Fashion — an -sup (15 features) -
† Fall/Winter Fashion and Style — an -sup (10 features) - orp/Wire/DF/eml/ctc/line -Butters, MaryJane................................UFS
id/igp/eml/rom/line -Staff.............................................................CRE
id/igp/eml/rom/line -Staff.............................................................CRE † Miss Manners — 3tw -600 -Wire/DF/eml/ctc -Martin, Judith......UFS
* Style Insider — 1tw -var -igp/Wire/eml/line -Various ...................NYT
† * Family Features Editorial Services Inc. — 1tw/sea - Mary Mitchell — 1tw -600 -orp/Wire/DF/eml/ctc/line -
ps/hps/qps/pt/hpt/var -disk/eml/mail/line ................................FFES Mitchell, Mary.................................................................................UFS † TMS Specialty Products — 7tw -sup/var -line .........................TMSSP
† * Fashion Accessories — 1tw -var -ing/igp/disk/mail/rom/line - † * Model Pictorials — 1tw -var -ing/igp/disk/mail/rom/line -Aquino, † Today's Lifestyle — 1tw -700 -igp/eml/line -Staff .......................CRE
Aquino, Andres................................................................................FSP Andres ............................................................................................FSP † Variety Pak — 1tw -var -id/igp/eml/line -Various.........................CRE
Football Widow Sundays — 1tw/sea -qph/900 -eml - † Modern Living — an -sup (10 features) -id/igp/eml/line -Staff...CRE † Wedding Bells — an -sup (15 stories) -id/igp/eml/rom/line -
Salfino, Catherine .........................................................................MMG Moms — 1tw ..................................................................................MCT Staff ...............................................................................................CRE
* Paula Royce Graham — 1tw/cont -500 -igp/man/mail - NextSteps — 1tw -700 -Wire/DF/eml/ctc/line -Collins, Jan K./Warner, Woman to Woman — 1tw -Feldhahn, Shaunti /Glass, Diane...........UPS
Graham, Paula Royce.....................................................................GNS Jan L. .............................................................................................UFS † * Women and Money — S -tps/qps -orp/ctc/line -Orman, Suze .UPS
Happy Musings — 6tw -Huss, Sally .................................................KFS * Party Pointers — 1tw -var -id/igp/orp/disk/fax/mail/rom/ctc/line - * Women's News — 7tw -var -fax/mail/ctc -Staff ............................GIN
Heart & Head — qt -750 -ctc -Engberg M.D., Karen M...................EKM Staff.............................................................................................NAPS You, Your Child and Entertainment — 1tw -500 -man/mail -
† Hints from Heloise — 6tw/S -d-4 1/4"/S-tps/hpt/tpt - † Prime Time With Kids — 1tw -350 -igp/orp/DF/mail/ctc -Erickson, Nydick, David .................................................................................DAN
orp/DF/mail/ctc -Heloise ...............................................................KFS Donna ............................................................................................KFS You, Your Child and School — 1tw/7tw -500 -man/mail -
† Hints from Heloise (classified) — 1tw -orp/mail/ctc -Heloise......KFS Real Simple Solutions — 1tw -500-700 -igp -Real Simple Magazine Nydick, David .................................................................................DAN
† Hints from Heloise (condensed) — 3tw -d-2 1/4"/200-250 - Editors............................................................................................UFS You, Your Child and Sports — 1tw -500 -man/mail -Nydick, David.DAN
JOURNAL REGISTER CO.’S DIGITAL RETOOLING
continued from page 36 “That kind of
Though only a few people came to the community meeting collaboration has
Kuehn called to discuss what the Oakland Press should been lacking at
cover in its sports pages, they brought a wealth of ideas that JRC,” he says. “But
will be fueling a major series in the paper, he says. now people are
And a far-bigger meeting in Willoughby resulted in weeks finding new prod-
of user-generated content and crowd-source information ucts and tools and
about dangerous intersections and blighted properties. saying to one
The meeting, videotaped and posted on YouTube, shows another, ‘If this
someone making a suggestion about investigating the city’s one doesn’t work
controversial “pay-as-you-throw” garbage collection system for you, here’s another.’”
that had many people smuggling their trash into other JRC created what it calls “Ben Franklin in a Box” with a
municipalities for disposal. The large range of free apps for the project (see sidebar). The free
audience burst into applause. tools, not surprisingly, make up the first suite of applications
“When’s the last time that JRC has in common. Like many other chains, some JRC
you pitched a story at an papers are running multiple versions of Quark, for instance.
editorial meeting and anyone “We used to have to figure workarounds for outdated
applauded?” asks JRC’s Vice software,” Cooper says. “By using these tools, we are able to
President of Content Jon Cooper. keep people on a level playing field without having to worry
As JRC rolled out the Ben Franklin about somebody saying, ‘I need Photoshop to take print
Project to all of its dailies, the photographs and size them for online.’ Well, they don’t need
biggest hurdle was the sheer Photoshop. There’s Aviary and GIMP and DrPic. And these
number of people who products don’t cost anything other than the time it takes to
needed to be trained in learn them.”
finding and using Cooper and CEO Paton give the distinct impression that
digital tools, Cooper they will be hard sells for industry vendors. As much as
says. In a series of anything else, though, the Ben Franklin Project was about
Webinars, three or convincing JRC employees that they couldn’t wait for a new
four JRC content box of equipment or software to arrive before changing their
executives managed mindset to digital-first. Both note that the great bulk of a
to reach about 1,100 employees newspaper’s costs are sunk in infrastructure, with just a third
from journalists to ad invested in sales, circulation, advertising, and editorial.
salespeople to back-office “It’d be nice to spend that money on other operations,”
workers. But just as Cooper muses.
important, Cooper says, Paton adds, “It’s like saying, ‘Everything will be better
was the learning going on when we move into the new building.’ No newspaper can
among employees. wait to make those fixes.” wait to make thos
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