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AN EDITOR’S SIDEBAR,
ONLINE
8/17/2001
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“I like
community newspapers. I’m convinced that once the dust settles from
the Internet wars, community newspapers are going to be the winners.
Community newspapers are personal. You carry a picture of your wife
in your pocket – you don’t carry a PDF representation. There’s
something about ownership and people tend to feel that they own
their community newspapers.” |
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Editor's
Sidebar Editor Chris Simpson |
Ontario community newspapers
looking for an online journalism and fact resource online have a new
source – the Editor’s Sidebar.
Located at www.circa2000.com/sidebar,
the site offers a wealth of journalism resources, from information about
the rural communities of Ontario, to columns from important names in the
field. It even offers a few irregular bulletins.
And behind it all
is Christopher Simpson, 48.
Simpson is a University of Toronto
English graduate. He has been, at various times in his career, the
executive editor of the Celtic Curmudgeon, a senior staff writer at What’s
on Queen, the associate books editor and reporter for The Strand, an
assignment editor and columnist for The Outrider, and a columnist for the
Welland Tribune.
Simpson began the site two months ago, and sent
out invitations to editors and publishers last month. As for why he put up
a journalism web site, well … Simpson said he just doesn’t know.
“I
like community newspapers,” he said. “I’m convinced that once the dust
settles from the Internet wars, community newspapers are going to be the
winners. Community newspapers are personal. You carry a picture of your
wife in your pocket – you don’t carry a PDF representation. There’s
something about ownership and people tend to feel that they own their
community newspapers.”
The Editor’s Sidebar offers its visitors
news from community newspapers around Ontario, facts about rural and urban
Ontario, information on the Ontario government, lists of government
contacts, links to journalism sites around Ontario, Canada, and the world,
and interesting columnists.
One of those columnists is Tony Sutton,
the man behind several award-winning newspaper re-designs, including The
Globe and Mail.
“Tony was one of the world’s flukes,” said Simpson.
“He said that in an idle moment while he was doing a search on his name …
he found the Circa 2000 site and subscribed to the newsletter.
“I
remembered who he was and I contacted him. He offered some columns –
original ones that were entirely his idea. I was so happy. I wandered
around for the next couple of days telling my wife, ‘Hey! This guy
re-designed The Globe,’” he said.
Besides being the editor of the
Editor’s Sidebar, Simpson is also a webmaster for Circa 2000, a virtual
time capsule of the web. The site aims to capture and store web sites for
future generations to view.
So far, traffic to the Editor’s Sidebar
has been brisk. Subscriptions to his various newsletters have been strong,
and he is now facing traditional newspaper headaches.
“I was very
nicely corrected on some spelling in my last newsletter by a copy editor,”
laughed Simpson. “I’m thinking about making the next newsletter about the
importance of copy editing.”
The Editor's Sidebar also publishes a
periodic newsletter that offers tips and tricks on how to get more
information from the Internet, and a weekly column by advertising analyst
Blaise Meredith, entitled Your Weekly Insult Newsletter, that explores the
history and etymology of the insult.
Although the site has no
advertising yet, Simpson said he plans to eventually sell advertising in
the newsletters. As for the future, he remained vague.
“I really
don’t know,” said Simpson. “I’m hoping that the editors and the people
that come and visit are going to help direct it through their comments and
criticisms.
“It’s a resource site – I want to see how many
resources I can offer,” he said.
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