By: Joe Strupp The Washington Times, a daily that turned 25 last fall, plans to unveil a string of sweeping redesigns that will include a weekly national security section, a new electronic edition, and a Sunday paper that leads with a magazine-style opening section.
Executive Editor John Solomon, who joined the paper just three months ago after stints at The Washington Post and The Associated Press, announced the moves that will begin with a Web site redesign on May 19. He said that will follow with a major new print format on June 2 that includes a first-ever electronic edition.
?It is a yearlong effort that our publisher [Tom McDevitt] put in place as an entire new corporate structure for the newspaper,? said Solomon. ?Really building a strong corporate structure for the next 25 years.?
The Times, long seen as both a fierce conservative voice and the product of the controversial Unification Church, is aiming to use both a new print and Web approach to build readership and expand itself as a national entity, Solomon said.
The first move is a redesigned Web site that will launch in one week. Famed designer Roger Black was among those who created the new look, which Solomon says will include a new vertical structure for the home page and more interactive features that will allow users to customize their daily news listings and feeds.
?The goal is to create an interactive forum to engage the news,? he said, declining to reveal what the changes are costing. ?And move away from the vertical format. Liberate the reader from that.?
The Web site will include a new social networking option, more topic-driven entryways, online communities and between four and five multimedia packages each day. Solomon said the paper has also built a television and radio studio in its building to allow such production.
On June 2, the second wave of changes will occur with a new electronic edition, which the paper is targeting as a way for national distribution to locations that cannot receive the print paper. ?We?ve known for years we have a name following,? he said. ?We will be able to sell the print edition this way across the country.?
On that same day, a redesigned print paper will be presented, thanks to an in-house design team. ?It will be a little bit deeper, richer and include more metro and business in the A section,? Solomon said.
Among the changes is a new daily eight-page section titled, ?Plugged In,? with a different emphasis on each weekday. That section will offer stories on marketplace and personal finance on Monday; politics on Tuesday; living topics on Wednesday; national security on Thursday; and arts and entertainment on Friday.
?We have always had robust national security coverage,? Solomon said about creating a weekly section for that topic. ?That is one of our strengths. We have a large community of reporters on that subject.?
The biggest print change, however, may be on Sunday, which will see a new magazine-style lead section with 36-40 pages, followed by four broadsheet sections. ?It will be a Time magazine cover approach,? he said. ?We have a strong enterprise team here and on Sunday everyone goes for the traditional approach. We wanted to give a different approach.?
The Times moves come as two other Washington, D.C. dailies go for changes this year. The Washington Examiner is planning to launch a new Sunday edition soon, while The Washington Post has been working on a major Web site redesign for months.
Solomon, who raised a few eyebrows when he left the Post for the Times 90 days ago, said he has been surprised at the paper?s ability to cover so much with so few staffers. ?The resourcefulness of the newsroom,? he said. ?They have been able to churn out the same quality of stories.?
He also defended the paper?s independence in the face of those who claim a conservative bias and an influence from the Unification Church. ?There is a great misconception,? he says. ?It is completely hands-off other than some mention that the church started the paper. This newsroom is like any other metropolitan paper. We are conservative on the Op-Ed page; on the news pages, we are competitive."
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