Front Page. There are three front page stories in the Register for the May 1st issue: “An Arbor Day with Special meaning,” a story about a rock for peace concert, and coverage of a suit against the building of a new Lakeland School in Elkhorn.
The arbor day story centers on the planting of a memorial tree, and includes two color photographs. The story about the concert describes a UW-Whitewater organization’s plans for a concert at Starin Park. The third story is about the rejection, at the appellate level, of a suit against construction of a new, larger Lakeland School in Elkhorn.
Inside. The Register lists headings inside for different areas of coverage: Community, School, Business, UW-Whitewater News, Health Matters, On the Record, Opinion, and Sports.
This seems like a more recent design change — the sections are more clearly indicated than I remember them being in the past. It makes the paper easier to read, certainly.
Will it spur more local coverage? If format sets the agenda, then the answer should be yes. If the format isn’t fixed and decided, but can shift based on content, then it won’t have that same influence of driving efforts to collect stories of a certain type.
Over time, additional local coverage should encourage more local readership, and more local ads. It only works if the focus on providing content for the different categories is diligent.
We’ll see.
Insert. There’s an insert in the Register called American Profile, sixteen pages long, in full color. It may not attract new readers to the paper, but it will likely provide additional value to some existing readers.