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- The new Downtown Express.
FROM PUBLISHER JOHN W. SUTTER | We are pleased to announce four significant changes to the Downtown Express, all of which we believe will strengthen its central role in covering the local news of our Downtown neighborhoods.
First off, the Downtown Express is returning to its roots as a bi-weekly publication, effective this issue. The Downtown Express was founded in 1988 as a bi-weekly. Beginning in October 2001, we turned the paper into a weekly, as we quickly realized that people in a disaster zone desperately and quickly needed information in the wake of 9/11.
Over the past decade, we have published more than 1,700 stories that addressed the recovery, the resilience and the renewal of Lower Manhattan tied to that fateful day. While there is no end in sight to the redevelopment of the World Trade Center — what is arguably known as the world’s most complex construction site — we now believe that we can best deliver local, Downtown news by increasing our online presence and returning to a bi-weekly schedule for the print edition. Our channels of communication with our readers are ever more robust, and we’ll continue to utilize them to their fullest extent.
And that leads us to the second change: we will now be posting concise, breaking stories more regularly on www.downtownexpress.com. Like most organizations that develop original and regular content, we are in the process of integrating dynamic digital platforms into the way that we spread the news. With our web site, e-mail blasts, new mobile app, social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook, and soon-to-be available iPad app, we are able to speedily disseminate content to our growing and connected readership. Our printed issue will become more important than ever, as every two weeks it will contain a complete and thorough record of the most current news events. It will also have exclusive feature stories that will be first available in the publication’s print version.
Thirdly, Downtown Express has a new Associate Editor, Aline Reynolds. John Bayles, who has held the position since April 2010, will be leaving the company. Aline, the paper’s staff reporter since June 2010, will now be responsible for editing the paper and its digital products with the assistance of Community Media contributor and Lower Manhattan resident Bonnie Rosenstock. Aline will be commissioning work from seasoned Downtown Express writers Terese Loeb Kreuzer, Helaina N. Hovitz, Zach Williams, and Sam Spokony, as well as other talented freelance writers. We congratulate Aline and wish her great success in her new role.
Finally, as you might have noticed, the paper has a fresh, new design. We hope you like it! As with all of our changes, this one will evolve, and we wholeheartedly welcome your input.
We are confident that these changes will enhance the quality and intensity of the Downtown Express’s particular brand of community journalism. The Downtown Express was recently recognized by the New York Press Association for excellence in its editorials, and for the best spot news coverage of any weekly newspaper in the state in its circulation category. We are eager to continue and build on that record of excellence, and believe that the above changes will help to make the Downtown Express a more integral part of our readers’ lives.
— Publisher, John W. Sutter
