Green Bay Press-Gazette
1
1
Page A003 Clip resized 89%
3
4
5
6
TODAY’S TAKE | MIKE KNUTH
Mar 02 2014
2
2
3
4
5
6
7
Thanks to all who took time to share feedback T wo weeks ago we unveiled our first MORE edition, and I asked you to share your thoughts with me about the big changes we have brought to your Press-Gazette. I asked for feedback, and you delivered in a big way. To all those who took the time to respond, I want to tell you how much I appreciate your emails, phone calls and messages via social media. Frankly, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the positive messages. I’m not complaining here, but in my 25 years in the business of journalism, I don’t ever remember hearing so much praise in such a short period of time. I write this column to thank our readers for responding, and to thank my staff for making MORE a reality. As you might imagine, adding approximately 70 additional pages of content to the Press-Gazette each week is a tall order, but all the extra work is worth it when you receive wonderful notes from readers. I will not identify those who responded, because these responses were directed to our staff and not necessarily for public consumption. One of the first responses was all of two words. With punctuation that would normally make an editor’s skin crawl. “Loved it!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” was all the email from Scott J. said. Jerry Jerr M. said, “Great paper today… It is filled with news and features worth reading…it is packed
with good reading. This is a great improvement…thanks for upgrade.” Jean S. called in to tell news editor Amy Bailey that “I think it’s just wonderful! It really adds the kind of a punch that we’re looking for.” We received a lot of great comments, but my favorite from the dozens of notes and calls came from a woman who left me laughing. “Honey, you guys have done a good job. You didn’t mess with the crossword, and you have the NASCAR stuff in there, so I like the changes. s. And I’ve been reading the paper since the beginning of time.” There are days in this business, filled with deadlines and breaking news, that make me feel like I have been an editor since the beginning of time. When you make changes to a newsy paper, r a product which hundreds of thousands of people read every day, you realize not only is it impossible to please all of the people all of the time, there are days it seems you can’t please anyone. In the spirit of full disclosure, we received a few emails and phone calls from folks who don’t care for the changes we made in our move to MORE. Some don’t have much use for the USA TODAY content, and some don’t think too much of the increased local content. That’s fair, and a good newspaper is constantly evolving to meet the needs of its customers, so we take critique and comment seriously. In
the media world, there is always another edition, another deadline to meet, and another chance to succeed, or to fail, the reader. That is an awesome responsibility, and an awesome opportunity. My email box is open 24/7, so I welcome you to reach out and share your thoughts on the Press-Gazette, both the print edition and our website, greenbaypressgazette.com. I will close with one more thank-you to the team here at Press-Gazette Media. Last Friday night, the PressGazette consectte won its third th utive Newspaper of the Year award Wisconard at the annual an sin Newspaper Association convention. I am honored to say I am a member of this winning team, and that team includes every employee who works hard every day, night, weekend, holiday and everything in between. From the first-class group in distribution to the awesome sales and marketing staff to the always resourceful news hounds in the information center, you deserve a round of applause. You help keep the title in Titletown, and you should be proud.
SHARE YOUR STORY Today’s Take is a daily column written by a Press-Gazette Media staff member or community member. If you’re interested in contributing, send your column to Community Engagement Editor Amber Paluch at apaluch@ pressgazette media .com.
Mike Knuth is the executive editor of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach him via email at mknuth@ greenbay .gannett.com.
Property of Wisconsin News Tracker and members of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.