The Leader, SUNY Fredonia's student-run newspaper, announced the implementation of its new Web site, hosted at www.fredonialeader.org. Using CollegePublisher 5.0, The Leader is applying the same web hosting service that is used by many college newspapers, joining the ranks of a few hundred other school papers, such as the University of Texas at Austin's Daily Texan, Notre Dame's Observer and Brown University's Daily Herald.
“The Leader is finally taking a headfirst plunge into the Internet practices that so many newspapers already follow,” explained Editor in Chief Brian Bishop. “Our hope is this will increase reader participation and bring a wider scope to the student body conversation.”
Online readers can enjoy the same benefits that any mainstream news Web site offers including commenting on stories, receiving email updates of breaking news stories, taking polls, the ability to share stories over Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites, as well as the option to subscribe to an RSS feed. There is also a letter to the editor form that can be filled out in a matter of minutes.
As the semester progresses, The Leader will be developing the site to incorporate options for freelance photographers to share their photos and for readers to write in about story ideas. Also the newspaper is planning to include video content, podcasts, and photo slideshows to provide greater context to the stories.
The Staff of The Leader is interested in feedback from readers about the site's layout and content>>
