Newspaper & Mailroom

Journal Register Company Unveils Open Community Newsroom Concept at Connecticut Site

Monday 06. December 2010 - Register Citizen Welcomes Audience Inside

Journal Register Company, a leading local news and information company, today announced the relocation of The Register Citizen to an open, community-focused newsroom that includes a newsroom café, a community meeting room and access to more than a century of archives.
The Register Citizen, a daily website and newspaper serving Connecticut’s Litchfield County, is moving from offices the staff has used for 110 years to a reclaimed manufacturing site that is focused on community access and reader involvement in the newsgathering process.
“This is an example of the physical manifestation of the changes Journal Register Company has been making under our Digital First business model. Bringing the audience into the physical space and providing a welcoming area for readers and staff to interact will continue to foster greater engagement,” said John Paton, Chief Executive Officer of Journal Register Company. “The inclusion of the crowd — through our Community Media Labs and the community meeting space — provides additional voices to the coverage of our communities. This is what our readership wants and it is what we will deliver.”
The Company’s focus on audience-driven content — as exemplified during The Ben Franklin Project which focused on the audience as the center of the newsgathering process — has provided the framework for this new office space.
“As the primary vehicle for debate in the communities we serve, The Register Citizen now has a physical space that reflects the engagement of our readers,” says Matt DeRienzo, Publisher of The Register Citizen. “Our audience — the community as a whole — is welcome to participate at any level and in any part of the news gathering process.”
The Register Citizen’s new 13,000 square foot office space includes:
Community Media Lab: Featuring five dedicated workstations for community bloggers and contributors, the Lab is located adjacent to the staff’s news meeting conference space. The Register Citizen Community Media Lab provides workspace for all community contributors interested in adding their blog and their voice to the community dialogue. Community Media Lab participants will receive training and have their work featured on www.RegisterCitizen.com.
Community Meeting Room: Home to The Register Citizen Community Journalism School, this space features large screen monitors for video conferencing, this classroom environment will be used for Community Media Lab training on topics ranging from blogging to visual storytelling. This space will also be made available to community groups for meetings.
Newsroom Café: With free WIFI and Green Mountain Coffee and muffins and pastries for sale, this gathering space provides a welcoming environment to those visiting the newsroom.
Open Archives: More than 120 years of stories, photographs and newspapers will be made available to the public. Photographs from the Connecticut floods of 1955 will be on display when the archives are opened.

http://www.journalregister.com
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