You may have noticed some changes lately with our Manhattan newspaper group — The Villager, Villager Express, Chelsea Now, Downtown Express and Manhattan Express.
As of mid-September, we are now part of Schneps Media.
We already were the New York City metro area’s largest community newspaper group when we were NYC Community Media / Community Newspaper Group.
Now we’re even bigger.
As with any ownership transition, there are going to be some changes. One terrific one is that we now have more reporters than before, which is helping us expand our coverage.
In turn, that additional staffing is going to allow us to do more daily online posting, so that we will be even more of a go-to daily news resource for our readers. We are also making tech improvements on the editorial side to allow us to streamline our process and ratchet up our daily posting to higher levels — and we will get there quickly.
Also, significantly, in terms of our online presence, we are launching a single unified Web site that brings together all of our Manhattan newspaper brands, under which you will find content for all of our papers serving the borough.
Again, this will create a stronger, more dynamic online site for our award-winning papers and a more powerful news resource, in general, for readers.
Some of our sites were stronger than others, so by combining them, the idea is that “a rising tide will lift all boats.” Plus, readers won’t have to jump around between different pages, but will find everything they were looking for — and more — in our “one-stop” site.
We’re very excited about launching this powerful new Web site.
In short, our goal increasingly is to become your source for the best and latest local Manhattan news, features and arts reporting in your neighborhood, as well as events listings.
More to the point, in an age of shrinking media, one area continues to thrive — community news. That’s because people crave local news, they’re passionate about it. They want to read about news that directly affects their lives and their communities.
So we are still here, and we intend to stay here, doing what we love doing and what are readers want.
Important to note, our print editions also are still going strong, as the enjoyment of reading and simply holding expertly designed pages in one’s hands (no battery needed!), and visually appreciating well-displayed photographs and good design, has not faded. And many hope it never will.
On that note, we’re also striving to bring even greater attention to design detail to make our print products look even better. And, of course, we continue to feature stunning photos — by some of the best photographers New York City has to offer.
In short, yes, we have been going through some changes, as you probably have already noticed, but we believe they’re making our products even better. Nothing stays the same forever; we all must change with the times. But in an era of dramatic media shrinkage, we’re thriving — and always aiming to improve.
