Editor responds: How’s the Web-first Monitor doing?
By John Yemma | 04.29.09
We’re a month into our Web-first shift for the Monitor, so I thought it would be a good time for a progress report and a Q&A from readers on how we are doing, why we do what we do, and what we could do better.
The Weekly
Four issues of the Monitor’s weekly review of global news and ideas are now in circulation. Along with many other topics featured in our 48 page publication, we’ve done in-depth cover stories on the economy, the environment, the Obama administration, and Iraq. Coming up next: an examination of the growing debate over drugs designed to boost mental performance.
Our readers have been strongly positive about the content mix and presentation of the weekly. We are continuing to refine aspects of the publication and are cautiously hopeful about growth of subscriptions and readership. Please continue to let us know what you think.
The Daily News Briefing:
We launched our three-page e-news briefing this week. So far, so good. Some readers have requested a little more content. Others have suggested we deliver the DNB by fax.
Those are reasonable ideas. The balance we are trying to strike is in giving you enough news and perspective without overloading you. We also want to keep your printers from running through ink, which is why the DNB doesn’t have graphics or photos and part of the reason we’ve limited the page count. We’ll keep exploring ways of improving this new publication and will consider various alternate forms of delivery.
CSMonitor.com:
Our website is evolving. We are more actively updating it — and our news staff is figuring out the optimum times to post articles. Our goal and hope is that more and more readers will find Monitor articles not just via Web searches, aggregators, and referrals but that they will start on CSMonitor.com and will stay there a little while (at the bottom of CSMonitor.com is a link that shows you how to make us your home page).
We realize that the site needs improvement. We have a new content management system in the works and expect to launch it in the next few weeks. When the CMS is up and running, we’ll have better section pages, such as USA, World, and Culture (notice how I’m not hotlinking them right now; I’d rather you didn’t visit them until they are renovated.)
Q&A from readers
Here are some questions culled from our customer service email, the comments sections of our blogs, and direct emails to yours truly:
Q: I tried to sign up for your Daily News Briefing and could not connect with the site to do so. Could you please have someone contact me and help me to get the Daily News Briefing?
A: Sorry. You may have been trying to access a bad link I had in my Connecting the Dots blog. I think that’s fixed now. Try this one.
Q: Is there anyway I can get a one day or week trial before commiting to a subscription to the daily briefing?
A: At present, we aren’t offering a trial subscription. It is, however, only $5.75 a month.
Q: While I applaud your transition to the Internet (and the weekly newspaper) I am hoping you ditch readers’ comments to particular articles here…. The comments are the kind of stuff that makes Internet news lowbrow.
A: This is a tough one. We are trying to be open to comments from the general public while moderating the worst of them. The easiest thing is to shut off comments, but I’m not sure that’s a good way to invite discourse. Plus, there are many people who seem to enjoy the comments both for what they are and for the insight they provide into popular thinking. Others may simply choose not to look at the comments. We are feeling our way through this, trying to thread the needle between living in a walled garden where we only talk to ourselves and standing in the middle of Times Square during a New Year’s Eve bash. It is a work in progress.
Q: What happened to the motto that used to be printed on the top of the Monitor front page?
A: The Monitor’s motto, per the request of its founder Mary Baker Eddy, has always been found on the editorial page: “First the grain, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.” The phrase you’re referring to, which was contained in an editorial by Mary Baker Eddy in the first issue of the Monitor, is “The object of the Monitor is to injure no man but to bless all mankind.” It was not on the front page of the Monitor until being placed there in a redesign in 1999. When we developed the format for the weekly, we found that we couldn’t easily leave the phrase there. It would have been crowded because of other information we had to put at the top of the page and because the dimensions of the page were smaller than the tabloid size we had in the print daily. So we found a prominent and elegant place on Page 3, the table of contents page.
Despite the move, the “injure no man” directive from our founder is — and will always be — the North Star by which we guide Monitor journalism.
<< Morning briefing: climate, security, and politics | MainComments
2. Barbara | 04.29.09
Why not place Monitor Mall next to The Home Forum on the first page header, or another place near the top of the first page, so we who want to shop can go there right away without searching for the link elsewhere on the site. Prominent visibility could remind readers to first look for what they need at the Monitor Mall. Thanks.
3. Linda Gorman | 04.29.09
My husband and I have set up 2 laptops for evening reading of the Monitor every day. Delivery is right on time, unlike the previous print edition. I feel very well-informed! I also enjoy photos of the day.
4. Lee | 04.30.09
I say “Bravo!” for all the Monitor products. I love the magazine. The design is great, the “lightness” of the design doesn’t keep the magazine from being substantial and serious in all the best ways. The writing is excellent, the topics are timely and fun. They satisfy curiosity and also educate. The daily news briefing is just right–it feeds without leaving one feeling stuffed.
It’s true that the website will be benefited by an update, but the content is solid and strong. When you compare Monitor reporting to some of the hysteria that’s going on re swine flu these days–well, let’s just say there is no comparison. The Monitor gets my vote. Thanks to all of you who have worked so hard to “make it so.”
5. Suzanne | 04.30.09
I love the daily e-mails of The Monitor, and am reading them regularly…something I didn’t do with the daily print Monitor. When I check my email each morning, there’s the Monitor! I feel so much more connected to the paper. And we are enjoying the weekly print edition, too.
6. Rich | 05.02.09
I agree with Barbara that the Mall needs to be easier to find.
The weekly edition has exceeded my expectations- nicely done
csmonitor.com I read every evening- but sounds like you are working on a more manageable site- which it needs.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Comment
We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published.
Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it short. We will not publish lengthy comments. Come up with your own statements. This is not a place to cut and paste an email you received. If we recognize it as such, we won't post it.
Please do not post any comments that are commercial in nature or that violate copyrights.
Finally, we will not publish any comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence.
1. David K. McClurkin | 04.29.09
Readers of the DNB will notice the “injure no man” directive on page 3 of the Briefing also.