Published: August 27, 2006 12:13 am      

Newspaper changes

We’ve tried a few different things in the past two weeks to catch our readers’ attention.

Most of the changes — some more subtle than others — have been made to the design and layout. The first change: making our teasers above The Meridian Star nameplate stand out.

We want people to look twice when they glance at the front page and, hopefully, decide to pick it up and read the entire edition. A few cutout photographs of President George W. Bush, a rooster and Tiger Woods did the trick last week.

Some readers liked it, others didn’t. The cutouts were eye-popping and bold. At times we even pushed the envelope of our own taste — covering a large portion of the nameplate. But the good thing is people are noticing a change.

The front page isn’t the only area where changes have been made. Late this week, we also made some changes to our editorial page. Unlike the front, these changes were a little more calculated.

We are now placing columns on opposite sides of the page, instead of one on top and the other on bottom. The reason for the change: balance. We don’t want one writer’s opinion to dominate the page. On days where we have columns with opposing views, they will flank each side of the page.

We believe our editorial page is a great place to showcase a wide range of views on various topics. We don’t want our page to be dominated by one ideology or political persuasion.

We’ve also placed our editorial cartoons, editorials and, in some cases, letters to the editor in the middle of the page.

Our main objective with the editorial page changes is balance. The objective of our front page changes is to make the paper look more visually appealing.

This continues to be a work in progress. Feel free to contact us and let us know how you feel about these changes. We also welcome any input on other things you’d like to see change in your hometown newspaper.

Our hope is to slowly change the look and feel of the newspaper in the coming months. We want to give the readers a better product.