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Welcome to your new News & Messenger!

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Bruce Potter/Publisher
Published: October 12, 2008

As we previously announced, the Potomac News and the Manassas Journal Messenger are now combined into one newspaper seven days a week. We have significantly redesigned the paper into what we believe is a more readable format and added features to highlight our coverage of the communities that make up Prince William County, Manassas and Manassas Park.

Some of the changes, such as the look of the front page, are quite evident, while others may not be so obvious. A major addition is the community page, which you will find on Page A2 Mondays through Saturdays. Each community page will focus on a specific area and will include the Neighbors columns that previously were published in the Friday newspaper.

For a complete guide to the redesign and the new sections and pages, please turn to Page A12 of today’s newspaper.

Also as part of this change, we have restructured our reporting staff to focus on the communities in our coverage area. Each reporter is responsible for covering a specific geographic area and is the main contact for all news and information from that locality.

Our Web site has new pages about the communities we cover. Follow the “Community” link on the upper right portion of the home page to select your community, read local news, participate in local forums and post your stories and photos about community events.

Home-delivery customers who formerly received either the Potomac News or the Manassas Journal Messenger have had their subscriptions converted to the new paper, and expiration dates will not change. Subscribers with delivery-related questions should call 703-369-5556. To subscribe to the new paper go here or call 703-369-5556. If you have any questions at all, please contact us.

We hope you enjoy your new News & Messenger. This is your newspaper — part of your community. Experience It. Daily.

— Bruce Potter, publisher

WHAT DO YOU THINK? We want to hear your thoughts and suggestions. Please comment below.

Reader Reactions

Posted by ( JMChrysler ) on October 24, 2008 at 9:15 am

Congratulations! Publication re-design is challenging and you did great. I look forward to great things from the paper.

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Posted by ( CaptObvious ) on October 17, 2008 at 8:29 pm

Having lived and worked in PWC for most of my life I have had the opportunity to see the so called development of two local papers. I have never been accused of being an intelligent man, but I know enough to see one someone is trying to sell me a turd. You can only polish it so much, but it doesn’t change what it is. Pomp and circumstance, flash and bling, do not make up for lack of content or effort. To believe that you can swindle the public into thinking that your paper is anything more than a high school extra circular activity is offensive and shameful. People have a right to know what is happening in their community, and for you to try to cover up your lack of content with a new coat of paint doesn’t wash. So in the future I would recommend a slight bit more effort directed towards content and community, and a little less on window dressing.

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Posted by ( survivor1 ) on October 17, 2008 at 4:35 pm

Terrible, awful and a waste of money are the best polite terms to describe the “redesign”.

There is much less content than previously; the excessively larger font sizes are just used as filler for the pages that are printed - the current paper is harder to read; and lastly this may be the ‘trend’ in local papers and the business side of the operation but that is the beginning of the downfall of the paper and will lead to the loss of subscribers.

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Posted by ( kegan32 ) on October 15, 2008 at 2:30 pm

Another comment I want to make is; On the front page of the newspaper, it gives the website www.insidenova.com and then says to click on keyword Redesign. Where is the redesign keyword. I believe you must first correct your website if you want people to find where to place comments, not like I did when I had to telephone your paper to find out how to find your comment page.

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Posted by ( kegan32 ) on October 15, 2008 at 2:12 pm

I don’t like the redesign of your crossword puzzle page. The old format put the clues and puzzle side by side. Having the puzzle under the clues makes it more difficult to do the crossword. Go back to the old format.

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Posted by ( Sfrancisco ) on October 14, 2008 at 2:47 pm

What about addressing the very appropriate comments about lacking in content/grammar. You’re just dressing up a pig - and it’s not a very pretty dress. Why not put all this money and time into hiring more reporters who actually want to cover NEWS. Maybe some that even get out of the office. The new “redesign” is a terrible waste of effort. It is not “catchy” (nor is the horrible video that makes that claim). It is sad to see a paper in such a news-saturated area that falls so short of understanding what is needed to succeed. Your first concern should be content, then work on a redesign. People may pick up a shiny new paper the first day, or the first week, but when they see the content - or lack there of - is still the same, it’s not going to hold readers for long. Unfortunately newspapers in general are slipping down the tubes, and only the great ones will survive. I don’t see a bright future for the “News & Messenger.” But don’t take my word for it, I’ve only been in the news business for a couple of years. Guess we’ll just wait and see!

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Posted by ( bpotter ) on October 14, 2008 at 12:59 pm

Readers,

Thank you for your comments. We value all of the feedback and appreciate your taking the time to let us know what you think. To address a couple of specific questions:

- Thanks to Cindy for pointing out the problem with the Submit feature in community news. That has now been fixed. Please let us know if you have any more problems.

- Regarding the question about fonts, our main headline font (the sans-serif) is called Antenna. This is used in various weights (bolder, condensed, etc.) on all news stories. The serif font, called Minion, is used on columns, the editorial page and some feature stories. The idea is to give the reader a verbal clue that those are not hard news stories.

Thanks again for the comments !

- Bruce Potter

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Posted by ( jdalach ) on October 14, 2008 at 9:49 am

I’m disappointed with the new name. I believe a geographic identifier needs to be in the name, not some generic news and messenger. The Potomac Messenger would have been a better choice. I’ve been reading the Potomac News for almost thirty years so it’s hard to accept this name change.

Overall, it has a good look to it but a small detail that bothers me is the date format. Write out the name of the month and place in comma format like October 13, 2008
It’s a much more classic newspaper look.

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Posted by ( Cindy B ) on October 13, 2008 at 10:24 pm

I like the improvements on the Web site, like the ability to submit Community News, but when I went to try the feature, there is only a place for “title” and “submit,” no body copy!

I also like how you combined two newspapers into one.

But until you increase the quality and quantity of your local news coverage, you haven’t improved, just put a new flashy dress.

Also, please stop delivering The Pulse. It seems dishonest to inflate circulation numbers by throwing it on vacant properties, where the blue bags pile up on driveways and in the tall weeds. Many residents throw it unopened back into the street where the blue bags get tattered and the newsprint clogs the gutters and storm drains. If you really care about our community, stop polluting it.

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Posted by ( anonmom ) on October 13, 2008 at 9:34 pm

Nice look, same poor grammar, spelling and usage, unfortunately.

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