It's not a blog, but it's close... | 802 Online

Friday, November 4, 2005

It's not a blog, but it's close...

Posted By on Fri, Nov 4, 2005 at 11:36 AM

The Burlington Free Press has been beefing up their website over the last month or so. They recently debuted a new layout (with a really obnoxious banner ad), and have started posting breaking news items on the homepage. It's gotten to the point where I can actually read the most important stories on the web the day before I see them in my newspaper, which is, I think, a good thing.

Today they've branched out again. Yesterday, one of their breaking stories was the death in Iraq of 2nd Lt. Mark Procopio, a BHS and UVM grad. Very sad. Today they've added a breaking item inviting readers to share memories of Lt. Procopio. The result is this page, where the BFP has posted emails they've received. The emails have gone through a filter--you can't post to the site directly--but I think it's the closest they've come to doing anything blog-like. They say they'll print some of the emails in tomorrow's paper.

I think this kind of responsive innovation is great. Too bad it's linked to tragedy. I hope the BFP continues to experiment with it.

Cathy Resmer

Seven Days’ deputy publisher and co-owner Cathy Resmer is a writer, editor and advocate for local journalism. She works in the paper’s Burlington office and lives vicariously through the reporters while raising money to pay them. Cathy started at Seven Days as a freelance writer in 2001 and still has the Rolodex...