Saturday is a very special day for the Missouri School of Journalism. Oct. 1 marks the first anniversary of MyMissourian.com, our citizen journalism Web site. But the more exciting reason for celebration Saturday is the launch of a print version MyMissourian. More precisely, it is the launch of a unique collaboration between the traditional Missourian print
newspaper and our citizen journalism Web site.
And it better explains what we have been doing for the past year.
For a decade the paradigm of newspaper/Web journalism has been to publish first in the print newspaper, then to move this content onto the Internet. You call it "shovelware."
We have reversed that paradigm. Starting Saturday, we will take the best recent submissions from MyMissourian and place them in the Saturday Weekly, our total market coverage (TMC) publication that is delivered freeto more than 23,000 homes in Columbia. Web to print, rather than print to Web.
This move allows the Missourian advertising department to sell a free product with unique, compelling content instead of recycled and often out-dated copy. Free TMCs are a major part of our revenue stream and draw readers to our main product. But the newspaper industry's practice of filling TMCs with old "light" copy may be compared to a baker standing at the door to his shop handing out three-day old bread crumbs to attract new customers.
In our first year, the MyMissourian staff focused almost exclusively on developing writers rather than readers. With a sufficient corps of contributors, we knew we could help the Missourian TMC. Saturday is a soft
launch, so we will put MyMissourian copy on the front page only. But the site now generates plenty of new stories and photos each week and we hope to soon fill all or most of the Weekly.
The success of this new section is due largely to the trust placed in us by Columbia Missourian editor Tom Warhover and his staff, especially design editor Joy Mayer. I in turn put my trust in a team of graduate students, led by design and process wizard Jeremy Littau and software integration genius Brian Hamann. Watch for their names in your future.
There is no online edition I can send you to, as this is a print edition of Mymissourian.com. But we have posted a PDF of our first edition. Take a look at:
http://www.missouri.edu/~bentleyc/MyMo/1stmymo.pdf
Clyde
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Clyde H. Bentley, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Missouri School of Journalism
3 Neff Hall
Columbia, MO 65211-1200
(573) 884-9688 BentleyCl@missouri.edu
http://www.missouri.edu/~bentleyc