Top editor Paul Anger told readers in a note today that the Detroit Free Press is adding more sports, features and business news -- plus an iPhone application, "soon."
Anger also noted that the paper was adding two new "advertising sections." One is called Working, and "profiles businesses and spotlights job-seekers," he wrote. The other, Celebrations, "debuts with a spotlight on weddings." Unfortunately, Anger's column didn't make clear whether the content would be produced by, say, advertising agencies or by the newsroom. Let's hope it's the former, and not the latter.
Regarding the iPhone app, Anonymous@11:35 p.m. yesterday asks: "Anyone else besides USA Today have one?"
Earlier: Retreating, Detroit papers resume 7-day delivery
Monday, June 28, 2010
12 comments:
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Arizona Republic has an iPhone app but it doesn't work with iOS4.
ReplyDeleteI think we already know where this is going, don't we?
ReplyDeleteGee, typical Gannett. First they cut, cut, cut. Now they reverse course and claim they're going to expand.
ReplyDeleteBut also typically, they won't expand the staff to handle the increased workload. They'll just dump it on the poor staffers who work there already, until the next initiative comes along.
The Indianapolis Star has several iPhone apps, the main paper plus apps for IU basketball and the Colts.
ReplyDeleteI haven't looked in a while, but Cincinnati had a few as well at one point.
Hooray. For the first time in this recession I sense a reversal of the litany of cutbacks in staff and newspaper space. It is a modest start in Detroit, but it looks to me like it is possibly a start.
ReplyDeleteInteresting they picked business news and sports for expansion. These sections appeal largely to male readers, a core of newspaper readership who have probably drifted off to other publications. Missing from Anger's story is any discussion about expanding news, especially local news that is said to be the savior of newspapers.
Also absent from the discussion is whether the paper is rehiring, or whether it will just be rip and print and the paper will do it without adding staff. Adding puzzles to the furniture doesn't strike me as journalism, but I know there are readers who love them.
apps are a great waste of money
ReplyDeleteAm I the only one who is a little sick of this constant hyping of the app. It just promotes Apple's Iphone, and I think the novelty wears off.
ReplyDeleteShreveport has "Celebrations." It's a catch-all for submitted photos and good news briefs (i.e. five generations, family reunions, first big fish, school gets a grant, etc.). Shreveport already was running the content elsewhere and just consolidated it. It debuted as a separate Sunday section to wrap some of the Sunday sale circulars 2 or 3 years ago but now it's down to three pages in the Sunday Living section.
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ReplyDeleteShould be great. Interesting reading Detroiter's comments. Many of them seem to be saying "where's the Nation & World reporting"... Doesn't the Free Press have a Washington Bureau?
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the whole App thing... Why can't Gannett centralize App making? Since the Freep uses the same format (News, Business, Life, Sports) for headlining pages, why can't they use the USA Today App and just rename it "Detroit Free Press App"? Seems that would be wiser to centralize than running the news articles.
ReplyDeleteWe have standing orders to not develop apps.
ReplyDelete