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Innovations developed and tested at the Boca Raton, Florida, News are spreading to other Knight-Ridder Inc. newspapers. The News was redesigned by Knight-Ridder as a prototype, in an effort to attract young readers who have shunned newspapers. Now, other Knight-Ridder newspapers are making changes on their own. A key change is broadening the definition of news beyond government and crime to include stories about how people actually live their lives. The Boca Raton News was, essentially, completely remade, from content to looks. Among other things, it banned jumps from page to page in all but a few exceptions. Some ideas that seem to be desired elsewhere include Page 2 digests and indexes to advertisers. However, changes for one area's readers do not necessarily translate to another paper, another readership, elsewhere.
Innovations developed and tested at the Boca Raton, Fla., News are spreading to other Knight-Ridder Inc. papers.
Knight-Ridder vice president of news Bill Baker said other papers have been encouraged to learn from the Boca Raton experience when they "rethink, on their own," the look and content of their own papers.
While the News was redesigned by Knight-Ridder as a prototype, in an effort to attract young readers who have shunned newspapers, other Knight-Ridder papers are making changes on their own, with "some help" in financing, research and editorial advice from the corporate staff, Baker told the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association's convention in Boca Raton.
Papers considering changes made in Boca Raton include the Philadelphia Inquirer, San Jose Mercury News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Macon (Ga.) Telegraph, Gary, Ind., Post-Tribune, Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald. Boulder, Colo., Daily Camera, and Detroit Free Press.
A key change is broadening the definition of news beyond government and crime to include stories about how people actually live their lives.
The Boca Raton News was remade from the ground up, from content to looks. It reduced long town council stories to short charts on actions taken. It converted world news to a giant map with balloons of text describing news events around the globe. It shortened stories and added descriptive kickers to help readers scan stories. It created daily tabloid magazines based around subject themes. It banned jumps from page to page in all but a few exceptions. It converted tabular vertical classified layouts to a horizontal format to make it easer for readers to shop.
Some ideas that seem to be desired elsewhere include Page Two digests, and indexes to advertisers.
The Daily Camera in Boulder started Flip Side, a lighthearted page on the back of a section. It includes off-beat stories and cartoons.
Even the most controversial change--the no jump policy--is getting a hard look at other papers, Baker said. The no jump policy has been the single most universally acclaimed feature by readers of the Boca Raton News--and most universally reviled by journalists.
Some ideas are not new. For instance, synopses on Page One refer readers to fuller stories inside--a trick already used by the New York Times--is being considered by the Miami Herald.
As Knight-Ridder papers track changes at the Boca Raton News as part of Knight-Ridder's 25/43 project, referring to the age of the post-World War II baby boom generation, they use similar techniques, including heavy use of staff committees to involve staffers in changes, prototypes to test reaction, and focus groups of readers to evaluate changes.
To coordinate with its new color printing plant, the Philadelphia Inquirer, a leading exponent of indepth reporting, is planning "massive" content changes as part of the first complete redesign in at least 20 years.
Changes include summary paragraphs with most stories and a more modular layout. With consultant Mario Garcia, the planning has involved groups of staff advisers and reader focus groups. Changes will be made in phases beginning this month.
Deputy editor Gene Foreman said that the Inquirer adopted the News' instructions on how to read stock tables, but otherwise Boca Raton "had nothing to do with our redesign." Inquirer editors followed developments there but "their approach is quite different from what we're doing," he said.
Changes for one area's readers do not necessarily translate to another paper, another readership, elsewhere.
"Paper's are edited in different cities for different people. Some things transfer, Foreman said. "Some things don't." He called the Inquirer's new design "content driven, with an emphasis on detailed reporting."
While the Inquirer will try to cut the length of "routine" stories to make room for longer stories "where warranted," Foreman said, "We won't stop using jumps. We want to make stories interesting enough so readers follow the jumps."
Baker of Knight-Ridder said the circulation growth at the News has proved that newspapers must listen to customers, and that is not "pandering." Readers want a broader menu of news that newspapers have traditionally supplied. That includes more church, school and community news.
Another major lesson from the News, he said, is that "newsroom culture" can change, at the same time "preserving the best of the past," but it is crucial to involve staff in making changes.
Wayne Ezell, editor of the Boca Raton News, found out that a lot of what the newspaper used to do was dictated by "industry practice, not reader need."
But when it was all done, he discovered that "a reader friendly paper is not editor friendly." It takes a lot more editing--and editors--to actually write the summaries and other devices.
"If we are to be successful, change has to be an integral part of our industry for a long time to come," Ezell said.
Copyright Editor & Publisher Jan 11, 1992