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Public TV, Radio Stations to Increase Local Investigative Coverage

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A Real (Cities) Hit, or Not?

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knight-ridder re-design

5/14/2002 2:26:44 AM
Posted By: Kelly

As someone who actually works at KRD let me say that before the current platform the sites were a total mess. There was zero content management, the designs were all over the place, and there was no consistent ad placement, syndication tools, and no rules about anything. At least now there is a professional platform underneath the sites which will allow for rapid improvements of products and designs. I agree that I would have preferred something which was more unique in each market, but for years nothing was done to make any of the systems work at all with each other. Give it a break. And FYI--it's been Philly.com since 1997. The Inky and the Daily News have shared the site ever since then.

Living in Minneapolis,cut off from St.Paul

5/13/2002 6:14:04 PM
Posted By: Lynnell Mickelsen

Can I add to the wailing and gnashing of teeth? I live in Minneapolis, only five miles from the St.Paul border. But the St. Paul Pioneer-Press doesn't do home-delivery in Minneapolis. So I either have to go to a store that sells the Pi-Press or get it on-line. Getting it on-line hs become such an endless drag, so cumbersome and slow that I've basically given up.
The result:almost no news about St. Paul.Despite all KR's ill-advised cut-backs, the Pi-Press is actually a remarkably good newspaper.It routinely wins all the local press awards and on many beats, provides better coverage than the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
I can't tell you how much I hate Knight-Ridder's new web design. And I curse the creeps who took what was once a good media company and turned it into this stupid shadow of its old self. Every day it's becoming more and more like--the horror, the horror--Gannett.

k-r websites/philly.com

5/11/2002 3:18:02 PM
Posted By: bill tonelli

Because nobody born and raised there ever really moves away from Philly, I used to check in on the Daily News and Inky several times a week. Once it all became philly.com, the site was so numbingly slow to load, and so ugly, awkward and poorly designed from the point of view of anyone trying to navigate quickly and easily,that I gave up altogether. I've gone from 10 visits a week to zero. If I try linking to a story from drudge, say, and realize I'm headed to another K-R paper site (like miami.com) I race for the stop button. K-R papers have been in a steady decline, so why would the websites be any better?

The Miami.Com Challenge

5/10/2002 2:01:08 PM
Posted By: M. Lane

I dare anyone to find a link to editorials anywhere on the front page of Miami.com.

I dare anyone to find a link to state news anywhere on the front page of Miami.com.

I dare anyone to find a link to Legislative news anywhere on the front page of Miami.com.

I dare anyone to get to the Carl Hiaasen columns in fewer than three clicks.

And while you attempt this, the pages will all load slowly.

This site is too frustrating to use. I don't go there anymore. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

knight-ridder redesign

5/10/2002 10:47:22 AM
Posted By: murdoch matthew

I used to check the Fort Worth Star-Telegram site frequently because it had a comprehensive religion section. That went away with the redesign. I don't go there anymore. I look at the Lexington Herald Leader daily for Joel Pett's cartoon. This used to show on the editorial page, accessible from my "favorites" menu, with a convenient list for reviewing his past month's work. Now it takes three clicks to get to the drawing and much waiting. Why does Knight-Ridder think that making all their sites look the same is a good idea? Papers should have their own, their local identity. Go back, people!

Another reason to read the Star Tribune Online

5/10/2002 10:23:35 AM
Posted By: Nate

I am a media consultant in Minnesota. Part of my job is providing clients, both local and national with reports of what the papers here are saying about them. KR's St. Paul Pioneer Press, Duluth News Tribune and Grand Forks Herald are all on my daily online read list, and they each used to have a average sites. They weren't great, but were useable. The current company-wide design is deplorable. My research time is twice as long to find the same articles, and I never go to the site when I really NEED to know what is going on in the twin cities. I may be spoiled because the Minneapolis Star Tribune has one of the best news content sites for completeness and ease of use, but I wish that KR would recognize that the current format is HORRIBLE. Much like when they cut a ton of reporters in a cost saving move, I firmly believe that a paper without a solid online presence will have a hard time competing with companies who still undestand that a newspaper's primary focus still has to be quality news production. Cutting corners will make them attractive to Wall Street this week, but when the product continues to slip and subscriptions plummet, investors will jump ship, and then what do you have? A bad product AND no investors.

lies, damn lies...

5/10/2002 9:57:51 AM
Posted By: emedia

... and web numbers. which can never ever be trusted, coming from managers. i can believe there was a drop -- i used to check the philly inquirer's site every day. i no longer do so -- it's too hard to navigate and takes too long to load. and the reeason designers don't have any more latitude to affect site design? managers got tired of 404 errors for links that didn't lead anywhere, haphazard ad placement, 'special sections' that fragmented the identity of sites, etc. there is a happy medium; it will shake out. but don't hold your breath, and look for nytimes or wsj.com to do it first.

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