New CJ site

Does anyone like it? I found it rather flat and dull. I don't like a great deal of hype and flashing anything but the new site just seems so lifeless. Maybe they are trying to drive the masses back to actually buying a paper.

Considering print media has a long history of misfiring when it comes to making the most of digital platforms, I was excited to see this futility continue. I'm not sure how I'd respond if one of the major print publishers figured out the intrawebs.

[Robin Garr]

Considering print media has a long history of misfiring when it comes to making the most of digital platforms, I was excited to see this futility continue. I'm not sure how I'd respond if one of the major print publishers figured out the intrawebs.

I think the New York Times has done a decent job of it on the content side (which is about to go back behind a paywall, apparently).

The CJ was extremely late even discovering the Internet, long barricaded in its own little Alamo amid a great deal of denial that either content or advertising could exist out there on that newfangled Web thang, and I don't think they've ever fully gotten it. Those nutty little "PRINT EXCLUSIVE" logos on a few top stories on Sundays kind of illustrate that. I wonder if anybody actually buys a newsstand copy to read a Sunday Exclusive rather than just waiting for it to show up on the 'net on Monday. Or not reading it at all.

I think the New York Times has done a decent job of it on the content side (which is about to go back behind a paywall, apparently).

The CJ was extremely late even discovering the Internet, long barricaded in its own little Alamo amid a great deal of denial that either content or advertising could exist out there on that newfangled Web thang, and I don't think they've ever fully gotten it. Those nutty little "PRINT EXCLUSIVE" logos on a few top stories on Sundays kind of illustrate that. I wonder if anybody actually buys a newsstand copy to read a Sunday Exclusive rather than just waiting for it to show up on the 'net on Monday. Or not reading it at all.

I read what looks interesting and is available. I don't purposefully return to read any certain story.

The new CJ site is a Gannett site, just as the CJ is really just a USA Today with a Louisville overwrap.
Compare it to the Indy Star its damned near identical, I expect the Cincy Enquirer is also the same thing


The San Francisco Chronicle gets it, so does the Oregonian and the Sacramento BEE.
I'm waiting for Rupert Murdoch's The Daily to bomb, I'll bet money he doesn't get it.

I like Newsvine my self

First impression ? I like the new site better than the old site.

The CJ was extremely late even discovering the Internet, long barricaded in its own little Alamo amid a great deal of denial that either content or advertising could exist out there on that newfangled Web thang, and I don't think they've ever fully gotten it.

And the funny thing, Robin, is that Barry Bingham, Jr. was actually leading the charge toward seeing what computers would mean to the newspaper industry. I'm going to tell a story that I'm a little fuzzy on some of the details now, but this is the way I remember it. At the time, I was far more impressed by Lisa than I was by Barry:

The C-J (or some affiliate or subsidiary or Bingham) had a retail computer store for a little while in the early 80's - maybe '82 or so. (Can't remember the name. It was on the west side of, maybe 5th Street, maybe between Ali and Chestnut?) Anyway, I was in there one day, looking at this really hot new Apple computer, the Lisa (which was much neater than the Mac at that time, I think, and I always wondered what happened to it) and Barry Jr. comes in, checking on store business or something. We get to talking computers and stuff. Eventually, he starts talking about how we're only a few years away from having the paper delivered directly to our computers (I'll never forget his selling point of how much the publisher will save in paper, ink, transportation and delivery costs and how the reader will get the morning paper at the touch of a button instead of walking through the snow to the paperbox in his pajamas). Anyway, he went on to explain a delivery system sort of like the Internet. I couldn't fully understand the whole idea, but it all sounded pretty forward thinking to me. He seemed to be very excited about all the coming technological changes and opportunities coming to his industry.

I bet anything that the C-J would have been a leader in Internet newspaper publishing had the Binghams not sold.

Considering print media has a long history of misfiring when it comes to making the most of digital platforms, I was excited to see this futility continue. I'm not sure how I'd respond if one of the major print publishers figured out the intrawebs.

I think the New York Times has done a decent job of it on the content side (which is about to go back behind a paywall, apparently).

The CJ was extremely late even discovering the Internet, long barricaded in its own little Alamo amid a great deal of denial that either content or advertising could exist out there on that newfangled Web thang, and I don't think they've ever fully gotten it. Those nutty little "PRINT EXCLUSIVE" logos on a few top stories on Sundays kind of illustrate that. I wonder if anybody actually buys a newsstand copy to read a Sunday Exclusive rather than just waiting for it to show up on the 'net on Monday. Or not reading it at all.

I buy the Sunday paper only for the coupons and then I find where I can get the paper at a discount...did I mention I was a bargain shopper?

[Robin Garr]

And the funny thing, Robin, is that Barry Bingham, Jr. was actually leading the charge toward seeing what computers would mean to the newspaper industry.

Your memory is exactly correct, Jeffrey. I worked at The Louisville Times and, after the merger, th CJ, during that period, and Mr. Bingham often talked about how someday people would get the newspaper on their computer, and "become their own editor" by choosing which articles they wanted to receive and how much they wanted to read about any particular subject." He had an incredibly clear vision of this particular future, and while some of us were fascinated by it, others thought he was silly.

The Data Courier firm did get a lot of material into databases, although to be honest, I'm not sure that even many of us in the building really understood (or much cared) what it was doing.

I'm a web techie, but from just a usability standpoint, I think the site is better than before. It feels more readable in terms of spacing, font size and sectioning, and the color scheme is a bit more pleasant.

Some complaints I held before continue on, such as a little too much advertising obtrusiveness, and the dropping of articles off the site after a short period of time when they should keep the page going with an article snippet and a link to the archive. The latter issue is what makes this site particularly unfriendly to blogs, discussion boards and Wikipedia.