Larry Smith: Changes help inform, entertain readers

Opinion

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July 5, 2009

BY LARRY SMITH The Commercial-News Sun Jul 05, 2009, 03:34 PM CDT

One of the most difficult challenges newspaper editors face these days involves making the best use of our resources to provide readers with the most complete and entertaining information each day.

Delivery of that information no longer comes in printed form. We update our Web site — http://www.commercial-news.com — several times a day. We’re also looking at ways to expand our coverage on the site, including the addition of video of local events.

Our daily newspaper, however, remains our primary focus. We’ve made a couple of changes in our offerings that we hope readers will enjoy.

In our Sunday comics, we’ve added a couple of comic strips. Pickles involves the daily lives of an older couple who deal with all the changes that come along with retirement age. Red and Rover offers readers a funny look at the adventures of a boy and his dog.

Also on Sunday, we’ve moved the crossword puzzle out of the All Around Danville section — although the answers will stay there for those who give in to the urge to take a peek — and placed it on the back page of the Sunday comics.

The move allows us to add more stories to All Around Danville while giving the puzzle the room it needs for those who work it to do so easily.

Another Sunday change involves the Opinion page.

George Will, a conservative columnist with ties to the University of Illinois, joins our regular lineup. Next week, the popular Cynthia Tucker will join him. Froma Harrop’s column will move from Sunday to Monday, taking Tucker’s former spot.

The changes continue to offer readers thoughtful commentary from across the political spectrum.

Our Viewpoints section on Sunday also will see a few changes. We’re starting to contact the city’s neighborhood associations to offer their members the opportunity to provide information on their activities to all our readers and to share their success stories.

As always, we welcome story suggestions. We recently added a single phone number for news tips — 477-5182. Suggestions also can be sent via e-mail to newsroom@dancomnews.com.

Thanks for reading the Commercial-News.

Larry Smith is editor of the Commercial-News. Contact him at lsmith@dancomnews.com.

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