Tag: Newstrack

For my fourth and final Newstrack, I’ll be focusing in-depth on the actual content of the Cambridge Chronicle site. When looking through the various stories on the Cambridge Chronicle’s website, I found that they tended to fall into four different categories: press-releases-turned-article, community calendars, syndicated state and national news, and in-depth local coverage.

Although thankfully not too common, some of the stories on the website were crafted entirely based on “courtesy” content, coming off more as an in-depth advertisement than a news article. For example, one of the top articles was a photo story about a new market opening this week. While it initially looked like an interesting story, all of the photos were courtesies provided by the Brothers Marketplace (just of generic shots around the building) and the brief captions repeated the same dry facts likely from a press release. This story, while on a topic of community interest and not unhelpful, lacked the pleasant touch of community viewpoints.

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Upcoming events and community calendars were also relatively common. Some of the articles just focused on a single event, and others listed events centered around specific celebrations or topics. One example of the latter was an article highlighting various Veteran’s Day observances in the Greater Boston area.

Also, news items that are larger than just Cambridge, including national and even state news, tend to come from writers outside the Chronicle, such as other “Wicked Local” sites and even other news services. For example, most of the state-news coverage comes from writers at the “State House News Service” (left below), and the majority of the entertainment news comes from writers at the Patriot Ledger, a branch of the “Wicked Local” brand (right below).

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Despite the presence of all the above kind-of stories, the local stories are the most prominent and noteworthy on the site. Most of these stories go into depth on topics of great interest to the Cambridge community, such as bike safety, small businesses, and recently election coverage. These stories also notably show each issue from multiple angles, such as various business owners, elected officials, and average individuals, giving it an authentic Cambridge feel without compromising any journalistic integrity.

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For my third Newstrack I took a look at the mobile site for the Cambridge Chronicle. Just like on a desktop, the website is easy to locate. While the visuals translate to mobile site pretty well, the headlines don’t work quite so well. Since the articles tend to have rather long headlines in general, the headlines are often cut off because they simply don’t fit on a screen. This isn’t effective because readers can’t get a full idea of what the article is about before clicking on it. Readers are probably less compelled to click on articles in the first place.

Also, as I mentioned when analyzing the desktop version of the site, the native advertising is a bit obnoxious as it blends in with the stories themselves. However, because of somewhat-clunky layout, the “Sponsored Content” label stands out a bit more, which helps in distinguishing between ads and editorial content.

The menu and content tend to translate pretty well, although some of the photo galleries didn’t have clear labels. Also, a number of the sections from the site are put into swipe-through type formats, which although not the most aesthetically pleasing, helps reduce the need to scroll way down through the page in order to find stories of certain categories, which is convenient as a reader.

As I explored the Cambridge Chronicle website for my second Newstrack assignment, one aspect that stuck out to me was the extensive inclusion of reader content. Letters to the editor seem particularly common. Even within the “Top Stories” section of the main page, five out of the seven stories displayed were letters.

A vast majority of these letters center around the city council and the education system, which seem timely and relevant for local readers in Cambridge.

Another significant aspect of reader inclusion is the “Wicked Local Reader Photos of the Day,” in which reader photos centering on a specific theme are displayed in a small gallery. Although I don’t really see the “newsworthiness” of these photos, it is a neat touch and seems popular with readers. 

On the note of photos, the Cambridge Chronicle is very visual-heavy. Just about every story has a picture with it, and the video and photo sections are relatively high up on the home page. However, while there are many visuals, these visuals are often a bit underwhelming. Many photos are just of buildings, “Wicked Local file photos” that are a few years old, or bland logos (see an example logo below). To make the visual impact of the site more powerful, there needs to be fresher, more engaging photos to go with each story.

On a totally different note, I encountered a paywall for the first time, since last spring I was able to access the Cambridge Chronicle through my professor’s subscription. However, I was able to avoid the paywall by simply refreshing the page or by re-searching the link in a different tab. From a reader’s perspective, I was glad it was so easy to avoid creating a paid account, but from a publisher’s perspective, this lack of enforceability seems like a loss of profit.

For my Newstrack assignment for JO304, I’ll be looking at the website for the Cambridge Chronicle, one of the most prominent local papers for the city of Cambridge, throughout the semester. I have used the website before, as one of my other classes partnered with the Cambridge Chronicle in order to get articles published and get the experience of this process, so I thought it’d be interesting to look at this site from a reader-standpoint instead. 

The website is easy to find in a regular websearch, and both the bar at the top of the home page and the “Sections” tab make it easy to locate specific topics and article-types around the site. Additionally, the homepage is organized into sections, including areas like “Top Stories” and “Editor’s Choice” on top of various types of news articles (sports, police, entertainment, etc.), which makes a quick scan of the top headlines relatively easy.

However, on a less positive note, each section of the home page has one or two ads, on top of some ads on the side of the screen, which can be a bit distracting from the actual news, particularly with the use of some native advertising with “click-bait” titles.

One aspect of the site I really appreciate is actually at the very bottom of the home page. On the left, readers can sign up for the weekly newsletter, which is handy if they want to continue to stay connected to the news the Cambridge Chronicle provides. The part I especially think is useful is the “Community Info” and “Arts” sections to the right of the page. Both of these sections provide links to other resources of great interest to Cambridge residents and those looking to stay up to date on the city of Cambridge, such as the City of Cambridge website, the Cambridge Police Department website, and the website of other prominent community and government organizations.

While by no means a complete review, my initials observations lead me to believe that the Cambridge Chronicle has a well-organized, easy-to-navigate webpage for locals in search of news.