GREAT IDEAS

How the Gaston Gazette goes for visual appeal

Innovation sets a story apart

Posted

The increasing popularity of craft beers and home brewing aren't new stories, nor are boilerplate write-ups about bond issues. At the Gaston Gazette in North Carolina, however, such everyday topics have been turned into award-winning innovative ventures through digital journalism.

Nick Dumont
The Gazette, with a daily circulation of 16,700, gets it done with visual journalist Nick Dumont, 23. From Lebanon, Maine, Dumont holds a journalism degree from Emerson College in Boston, but in terms of creating projects for the web (www.gastongazette.com), he is self-taught. For example, he learned web coding from www.codeacademy.com, which offers free tutorials.

Dumont's position and job title were created at the Gazette when a graphic and design person left. Dumont does graphic design, coding, writing, photography and video. "I'm pretty free-range," he said.

In a recent GateHouse Media competition, Dumont won for Best Web Project and Best Interactive Project, among other awards. The web project was "a week for just local beer" as Dumont describes it, while the interactive project was about an important statewide vote on a massive bond issue (more on that one in a future eBulletin).

Gastonia is just over 22 miles from Charlotte, N.C., where there are several breweries. But a listing of what's available was only one part of the "Hops Street" package that ran in print and online.

Hops Street, (http://web.gastongazette.com/interactive/hopsstreet/) grew out of some other pieces on local fried chicken and bakeries. "The only stipulation was that I had to design my content around which lifestyle theme we had going that day," Dumont said.

The health care print section coincided with health benefits of beer. (Yes, there are health benefits; go read about them). The food section paired with "Eating Beer," which included visual recipes for beer-battered chicken, beer-battered green beans and the intriguing chocolate stout peanut butter cups. The entertainment section featured "Silver Screen Suds," a piece on the best beer-drinking movies.

The project also included a profile of a couple of home brewers, one of whom teaches a class at a local community college. And the Sunday piece described five craft breweries in Charlotte, complete with locator map.

Reproducing the package for print was a matter of laying out the elements on the page for each day.

Dumont was a little concerned that there might be some negative reaction to a week's worth of stories about local beer. "The reaction was really positive," he said. "I got a lot of emails, a lot of phone calls. I heard from a reader who said he actually wanted to try home brewing after reading my profile about home brewers."

Dumont said he started college with the idea of being a writer. He learned web design and coding by designing his own website after graduation, and came to the Gazette with a "novice" understanding of design. Now, he writes one or two stories a month on his own and helps out whatever department needs it, from lifestyles to news to sports.

Dumont thinks many newspaper websites are already old-fashioned. He works outside the Gazette's own content management system and appreciates the creative freedom he gets at the paper.

"I'm really passionate about making journalism visually appealing on the web," he said.

For more information, contact Nick Dumont at ndumont@gastongazette.com.


Jane Nicholes

Jane Nicholes, a regular contributor to the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association's eBulletin, is a freelance writer and editor based in coastal Alabama. She is an award-winning veteran of more than 30 years in the newspaper business. Reach her at jbnicholes@att.net. Suggestions for future stories and comments on this piece are welcomed.

Gastonia, beer, Dumont
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