EDITOR'S NOTE: In June 2004 I began a new venture as managing editor of both Northfield News and Faribault Daily News. This column originally appeared in the Northfield News on Sept. 29, 2006.
Change has been a constant here at the Northfield News during the past year: We've developed new sections, moved content around, redefined our news beats, introduced and new publisher and brought new faces into our newsroom. It hasn't been a good time for the timid, or for those afraid of change, to be a part of the Northfield News. I, as the newsroom will tell you, and maybe not always in a friendly way, like change. It keeps our newspaper exciting, keeps our staff excited about their job and keeps our readers entertained and coming back for more. While, many changes have taken place behind the scenes in recent weeks, I'm telling you about three of the more visible changes we've undergone. First, the most visible change to those of you who follow city government and the downtown beat is that we've introduced a new reporter to our staff. Ariel Emery came aboard the week of Defeat of Jesse James Days, and hasn't stopped chugging along yet. It's probably not the nicest week in Northfield to bring someone into the newsroom, but thankfully for us, Ariel knew what she was getting into. You see, Ariel is a graduate of Northfield High School and grew up in town. This summer, when reporter Adam Johnson bid his adieu to the News, we couldn't have been more fortunate to find a reporter with experience, who knew her hometown as well as any of us here at the News, and who wanted to move home. Trust me, that doesn't happen often in community journalism. But Ariel is here, and we are delighted. I knew that it was a good fit when during the interview process, I asked Ariel what she thought about reporting in her hometown. I added that our readers are tougher critics than in a lot of community's. Ariel just smiled and said, Oh, I'm well aware of how Northfield can be; I can handle it." Deal done; the rest of the interview may have just been a formality. Kidding aside, Ariel has come aboard and has done a fantastic job of slipping into the city government beat, formerly held by News Editor Michelle Kubitz. This summer, Michelle took on some added responsibility and we knew we had to find someone capable of filling her shoes in the all-important city government beat. We've found that reporter in Ariel. Please welcome her back to town and to the News. New column Our second visible change starts in today's edition. On Page 16A readers will see a new column by Rice County Master Gardeners. The News and the Master Gardeners have partnered to publish a weekly column each Saturday devoted to gardening, whether be tips about winterizing your favorite plants, to planting tips for next spring, each week a new Master Gardener will be writing about a new topic. We are excited to bring you this new feature, and excited about our partnership with the Rice County Master Gardeners. You've seen Publisher Louie Seesz over and over again write about partnering with local entities, and we see this latest partnership as another positive development for the community. Style changes Lastly, very observant readers will notice a few new style changes in the News. No, we aren't constantly switching up the News to disorient readers; actually, the styles were prompted by a change in design software the News underwent during the past couple of weeks. Ultimately, the program we are using will lead to better designed pages, a good thing for readers, but with each switch in software you make, you always find issues you didn't anticipate. One our issues has been fonts. Not all of the same fonts we previously used in the design of the News were available in our new software, and so a few tweaks needed to be made. Most probably will go unnoticed, but yes for those of you with eagle eyes, there certainly has been some changes. Hopefully, they'll receive the rave reviews the changes to our front page received. - Devlyn Brooks is managing editor of the Northfield News. He can be reached at dbrooks@northfieldnews.com or at 645-1116.
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