The Durango Herald website is changing and, with it, so is the Opinion Page online. “Digital first” newsrooms, as they are known and most surviving newspapers have adopted, require different strategies to inform and engage readers as news is being made.
With the onset of the digital media age, we recognize we no longer just have readers of print but a bigger audience who take in information in different ways and via multiple platforms. The Herald is joining its media colleagues in meeting people where they are – on a phone, tablet or computer reading a story, or watching and listening to a video – with more engaging content and a more responsive website.
This is good news for the Opinion Page that has as one of its goals to stimulate thought and activate conversation in our community. The more people who have a voice and are actively a part of the conversation, the more we will be fulfilling our role as a community newspaper reflecting broad community input. One of the approaches to meeting this goal is to create more ways for people to interact.
In September, we launched “Durango Herald Opinion” on Facebook and Twitter and daily share the newspaper’s opinion page content (an editorial, op-ed, editorial cartoon, letters to the editor and local columns) on our website and via social media. The page contents are not changing. What is changing is where and how readers might engage with it.
The biggest change is that comments have been enabled for readers to respond to editorials, op-eds and columns. While letters to the editor (that can be submitted online or by email) have long been a vehicle by which our readers have engaged with the paper, we know not everyone will take the time to write. Opinion Page comments can be made on our new website by anyone with a Facebook account. We encourage civil and substantive comments on the website and social media. Eventually, we would like to curate and share select comments across platforms so hard-copy readers can respond to online comments and vice-versa. A visual change is that the Opinion Page online now includes editorial cartoons to enjoy in a gallery at the top of the page and more pictures to accompany page elements.
It does not hurt to clarify that editorials are written by members of the editorial board and are distinct from articles written and reported by our newsroom staff. Editorials offer an editorial board opinion six of seven days per week. An op-ed (an abbreviation of “opposite the editorial page” where traditionally they have been placed in a newspaper or magazine) expresses the opinion of a named author not affiliated with the editorial board. We host regular nationally syndicated columnists and guest op-ed writers, as we did during the election with a pro-con op-ed format on ballot issues. Columns include those contributed by local authors once or more per month.
If you have an idea you think would enhance the Opinion Page, please write to us at letters@durangoherald.com or leave an online comment. We hope a new more responsive website and social media presence will help us expand the reach of the Opinion Page, create new audiences and increase readers engagement with our community and its conversations. Take a look around and let us know what you think.
Editorial Board members include Richard Ballantine, Chairman; Doug Bennett, CEO, Ballantine Communications, Inc.; Bill Roberts, Editorial Page Editor; and Ellen Stein, Gregory Moore and Suzy Meyer, Editorial Writers.
