Watch out y'all, The Chronicle Herald, the grand daddy of Halifax newspapers, has a new format; saddling up and taking a stand against extinction at the hands of digital media. They've jazzed up their font and created a modern new look, making the newspaper easier to peruse and more palatable to a 'one second attention span' public.
The new format is conducive to discriminative reading, making it possible to simply pick out the stories of interest without having to ingest any other factoids. This type of format is created for a fast paced, no time to spare population, which has its downfalls as well.
The font is larger and the stories seem slightly cropped, begging the question as to whether details are being lost in translation. Journalists are having to cater to a digitally accustomed crowd who have become used to simple clicking and scanning, opposed to taking the time to actually read anything in its entirety.
Hey, I'm as guilty as the next reader - simply scanning most of the time, picking out the meaty details and leaving the rest behind. But I can't help but wonder, whether this is another nail in the coffin of the printed press.
I quite enjoy The Chronicle Herald with all its talented writers, and the new look certainly facilitates a comfortable reading experience. I mean with the Metro as the alternative, I pray that The Chronicle Herald can keep things up and running for a long time to come. I just hope that this precarious step in the direction of modernization keeps this paper inching towards a larger readership instead of falling off the edge of relevancy, into a a blue bag of old news. read more