Here in the Southeast, my home is Midway, Ga, and my county is called Liberty County. Liberty County includes such cities as Midway, Hinesville, Ludowici and others. Our source of news is the local paper, the Coastal Courier. Like many local newspapers, the Coastal Courier talks about town meetings, my awful high school football team and because Fort Stewart Army Base is stationed in Hinesville it has articles about the military. When I was in high school I never read the Coastal Courier because it was of no interest to me, but now that I’m in college I want to know what’s happening back home. The only way for me to keep up with local celebrities and interests is through its online site. www.coastalcourier.com I never paid attention to it before but then I realized that the online site is quite boring.
The home page of the Coastal Courier is very plain and simple. Blue is the main color with a white background. Other splashes of color come from advertisements but not the main news sections themselves. It does feature a slideshow and multimedia functions; however, those areas look plain as well. I think that I always knew that it was simple but never wanted to say so. Sometimes I feel that the site reflects the town it represents. Not much goes on in Liberty County. When the army is deployed it’s like a ghost town. Just because it may be small and can’t be found on the map doesn’t mean that the site can’t have a little more pizzazz. Whoever manages the site might feel that more people read the newspaper than go online, therefore eliminating the need to make the site look more unique.
People often ask me, “Where is Midway?” My response is 45 minutes south of Savannah; it’s the only way to identify its location. So I compared the online news site of the Savannah Morning News to that of my local newspaper. Savannahnow.com What a difference. The Savannah Morning News site is much more appealing. It has more color and the colors separate different news features. Advertisements still bring in most of the color but it complements the site and blends in. This news site is more intriguing and I’d rather click through its web pages than that of my own home newspaper.
Just how the Coastal Courier reflects the atmosphere of Liberty County the Savannah Morning News does the same for Savannah. Savannah has historical buildings, the Garden of Good and Evil, Riverstreet, where our beloved bulldog Uga lives and other attractions. It makes sense that its news site is appealing, has color and is entertaining. Savannah is an active city and its news site must reflect that.
I can understand how more effort is put into the Savannah Morning News versus the Coastal Courier. Lack of funding can also be a factor, but regardless I still think that my local paper can have a uniqueness which reflects Liberty County.
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TK,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you raised the issue of funding at the bottom of this post, because the resources available to a given news organization should play a big role in how you evaluate its performance. The Savannahnow site pales in comparison to, say, The New York Times, but I presume you wouldn't hold it to the same standards. You might look up circulation numbers for the Savannah Morning News and the Coastal Courier to get a sense of just how different they are in size.
I'm curious how you would change the Coastal Courier site to make it livelier. Is more color all it needs? What content changes would improve the site?
Perry