By Staff
Jan. 1, 2002
Today's edition of The Meridian Star marks the first significant design change in about nine years as your daily community newspaper moves to a new, open, more readable and more organized format.
As you will note, the newspaper's nameplate has been redesigned, and basic headline and text fonts have improved to what we believe is a much more reader-friendly look.
The paper will be organized starting from page A1 with local, regional, state, nation and world news. Page A2 will contain a daily news index and summaries of stories that appear on other pages. Weather graphics, the daily One of Us feature and other elements will also appear on page A2. Section fronts for Sports, Connections, Religion and Classifieds should be readily identifiable by the placement of new headers at the tops of those pages.
Readers who have shared their opinions and ideas over the last year have told us the new design achieves the objectives identified at the beginning of the process:
Produce a daily newspaper that is graphically attractive, easier to read and emphasizes local news reported in a more narrative writing style;
Better organization of news stories and features on the inside pages;
A bolder, more credible nameplate that sets the tone for the newspaper's overall mission.
Our editorial mission remains unchanged. We will strive to seek the truth and report it in our news columns in as unbiased a manner as humanly possible. We hope our opinion pages, clearly labeled, will continue to provoke thoughts and comments, as well as offer a venue for our readers to express their views through letters to the editor and reader-written opinion pieces.
We at The Meridian Star are refreshed, reinvigorated and renewed by the confidence many of our readers have indicated in the higher professional standards we are attempting to impose on ourselves. The fact is, we must get better if we are to meet reader demands, and we welcome the opportunity.
We invite you to explore the new design and become familiar with the organization of your daily newspaper. We also welcome your comments.