20 May 2010

New look Canberra Times

| paperboy
Join the conversation
21

Some changes are afoot at The Canberra Times.

They’ve been running a teaser for a week or so, but it doesn’t give much away.

“Saturdays are about to get even better. New Look edition unfolding June 2010”

Clearly it won’t be anything as radical as moving from spreadsheet to tabloid. If that was going to happen, I think Monday to Friday editions would change as well.

We’ll probably find some superficial changes, with a care factor of zero.

Maybe the time is ripe for Rioters to suggest some changes…

[ED – Personally I love the way in the website redesign the big brains in head office who’ve never been west of Hornsby have decided that local regional news means ALL the regions. Yay for blog posts from the Dubbo Liberal on the Canberra local news page! In any event it must be Canberra Times Day here on RiotACT as “XO_VSOP” posted the following as a story which I’ve consolidated here]

I have serious issue with the Today section of our daily newspaper…………..

I have a serious issue with Today columnist writer Claire Low…………..

How is anything that Clare Low writes relevant to the local community? I hear you saying but yes how is the Canberra times even relevant, that’s another story although partly covered in this…..

Day after day I purchase my Canberra Times to find out what’s happening in this town, I do, and I will admit I enjoy reading Today and food and wine, the light hearted airy fairy content , as the hard hitting local stuff does nothing for me, I have either read it on here 1st , listened to it on ABC or been told by my neighbour yes all that before the EGN section of the Canberra times gets it in on time!

However back to my axe to grind, the today section is supposed to be a light hearted section that buys into event news, gossip, and plays a what’s on guide for the times, and previously it had enjoyed all local content, now I look it’s got New ideas style / National enquirer rehashed stories, tabloid journalism at its finest, how is it relevant to me in Canberra that Brad and Angelina have marriage and baby worries, or that Jack Nicholson was front row at the Lakers game in LA next to bad boy Chris brown that segues into another story about Chris browns Ex Rhinanna,

The simple answer is who should replace Clare low or even better Rod Quinn , But let’s just work on Claire for now…… I vote 1 for bringing Jessica Wright back ( as i duck the fruit)

Join the conversation

21
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

The much anticipated revamp apparently happened this weekend. Did anyone notice the difference? More like a minor colour scheme change rather than a revamp.

What sort of cheap shot on an entirely different post about the Canberra times.
What a surprise you haul jess wrights name into this.
And now Claire low. Do any of you know either of
these girls? Ever stop to think what impact your words have?

So after all that, what actually changed? I saw bugger all difference this morning…

I wasn’t aware the CT had local reporters or Editors. I always love reading the Food & Wine section on Wednesdays. Although AAP is sourced regularly so are US papers. Maybe the new look will mean scrapping all but the TV guide, Classifieds, and Real estate. It will save on having to buy in stories and save peoples time having to flick through all the rubbish.
The front sections are all saved in a box for winter and used to start the fire.
Not sure what i will have to use now….

Well I hope they up the education of their journo’s as they seem to get so many stories wrong, what they don’t know they make up, maybe they need a hearing aid!

Growling Ferret said :

I can’t get enough of David Barnett.

He makes Andrew Bolt look reasonable.

Very good association,now David Barnett let’s call him “Mr Pru Goward” and Howards biographer brings nothing but a bigots view on the world in which we don’t need, keeps us honest ? however put him in the same boat as Mr Rudd’s biographer Robert Macklin who crayons his way into a pay check with the circa 98 Canberra times ……….. “Citynews” and You’ve got a match.
And EGN sorry = Early general news

Growling Ferret10:02 pm 20 May 10

I can’t get enough of David Barnett.

He makes Andrew Bolt look reasonable.

The CT is useful for some local stories, the rest is a direct copy and paste from AAP. I used to enjoy a quick read of the Today section part of the paper, it has taken a complete nosedive in the past couple of months. They have seem to have changed it from quirky/amusing tidbits into the most boring things that they could extract from a conversation with their grandma.

The new website is an improvement on what it used to be, but they sill haven’t got the “local news” part right, and most of the websites of the regional Fairfax papers crap all over the local content on the CT site.

The new improved Saturday CT is likely to be the same as any other changes that they have made in the past, new sections that move the existing stuff around. I doubt it will be too much different.

moneypenny26127:11 pm 20 May 10

[ED – Personally I love the way in the website redesign the big brains in head office who’ve never been west of Hornsby have decided that local regional news means ALL the regions. Yay for blog posts from the Dubbo Liberal on the Canberra local news page!]

Er, they need link to the nether regions – otherwise the webpage will look very empty! It’s filler.

It’s a “good day” when the Crimes online has half a dozen news stories that are relevant and current to the local region.

A Noisy Noise Annoys An Oyster5:24 pm 20 May 10

I consider The Canberra Times to be a throwaway newspaper – you throw it in the air and read it on the way down. Actually you can’t really call it a newspaper anymore. There is precious little news in it anymore – any news it carries has already been covered by TV, radio or online – and it seems to have been taken over by animal liberationists, vegetarians, radical greenies, hard left zealots and the climate change brigade. Someone on Facebook called it The Green Left Daily. That is a fairly good description.

eyeLikeCarrots said :

Unfortunatley they have not said they will inject any integrity into thier product.

When is the last time you saw the CT featured on ABC Media Watch?

The AGE for instance, seems to have a permanent booking every week…

Great HTML! 427 Errors, 189 warnings. That is the most I’ve seen in a while.

Don’t read Today so I can’t comment on Low. But pulling off a full page (yet alone a full broadsheet) of gossip every day in a town like Canberra seems a bit brave. Not even this website prints many “gossip” items a day. Why don’t they just make the gossip section smaller, or do it once a week?

And what’s EGN anyway? Is this part of the secret language I missed in my APS orientation?

georgesgenitals3:35 pm 20 May 10

XO_VSOP said :

to georgesgenitals:
I was being cheeky, the travel reference is a quip nudging you to broaden your horizons of media intake , if you were serious in your statement ! As I stated I enjoy the light hearted content , hard hitting gets me nowhere. However ,you’re entitled to your option.

Don’t worry, I was being a bit silly too. 🙂

The CT is ok to skim through over your cornflakes, but it’s primary purpose can only ever be to line that cat’s litter tray.

to georgesgenitals:
I was being cheeky, the travel reference is a quip nudging you to broaden your horizons of media intake , if you were serious in your statement ! As I stated I enjoy the light hearted content , hard hitting gets me nowhere. However ,you’re entitled to your option.

gospeedygo said :

It would be nice to be able to see full stories online for once.

Agreed it’s a mish mash of yesterdays and last month’s news, far from consistent and on par with the printed version. I tried to search an EGN article and it was nowhere to be found. An another thing and it has been alluded to by Johnboy they need an updated stock image library, the VT commodore has been put out to pasture by the VE for the past 10 years or so?

It would be nice to be able to see full stories online for once.

georgesgenitals2:32 pm 20 May 10

XO_VSOP said :

georgesgenitals said :

I really like the Canberra Times – quality, balanced journalism and a range of interesting local, national and international stories.

Sarcasm in its finest form I would hope , or that you consider Bungendore and Braidwood the equivalent of an overseas trip. The Canberra times is prehistoric, look through the paper and count how many articles end with AAP an online new source where the Canberra times with their fleet of journalists, sub editors, editors at large , politics editors, ect ect still choose to buy 60% of their content from……

I quite like the Canberra Times. Not sure what travel reference has to do with anything, though.

georgesgenitals said :

I really like the Canberra Times – quality, balanced journalism and a range of interesting local, national and international stories.

Sarcasm in its finest form I would hope , or that you consider Bungendore and Braidwood the equivalent of an overseas trip. The Canberra times is prehistoric, look through the paper and count how many articles end with AAP an online new source where the Canberra times with their fleet of journalists, sub editors, editors at large , politics editors, ect ect still choose to buy 60% of their content from……

georgesgenitals1:30 pm 20 May 10

I really like the Canberra Times – quality, balanced journalism and a range of interesting local, national and international stories.

eyeLikeCarrots1:19 pm 20 May 10

Unfortunatley they have not said they will inject any integrity into thier product.

“…moving from spreadsheet to tabloid.”

Usually things change from spreadsheet to database or from broadsheet to tabloid.

_The_ Times went tabloid, which is a not a bad idea IMHO, so I reckon the CT could do worse than go fully tabloid too.

Even better would to go “dead-tree free”, but I’m not going to pretend that’ll be easy or clear.

All I can say is newspapers are dinosaurs (thus doomed), but journalists are monkeys (thus will survive).

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.