Guest Speaker David Tranchida

    Dave Tranchida, Vice President and Editor of the Westerly Sun, was our guest speaker on Monday night. He shared that he loves his job but being in the newspaper business is a challenge these days. Everything is going digital. As a result you have to work on two platforms all the time. 

     The print deadlines are still important. It is a longstanding  mindset in the industry and it doesn’t go away. But now you have to report things as they happen. You use the web page, social media, Facebook, twitter and report the news in real time. Some things may never make it to the print form as a result because the stories will be old news by the time the next edition goes to the presses. The upcoming generation gets almost all of its news digitally and the phone or the tablet is their source for news. It is part of the new reality. 

     Another factor in the changing nature of the newspaper industry is the fact that many newspapers, like the Sun, have given up their presses and now export their copy to outside presses. That changes deadlines because of the expanded distribution networks The Sun is a three state newspaper. The office is in Connecticut. The circulation area is in Rhode Island. It is printed in Attleboro, Massachusetts. 

     Dave shared a bit of the newspaper’s history. It is, and has been, a family owned newspaper. The Whites own the Record-Journal newspaper in Meriden, Connecticut and have shown that they believe in local newspapers. When the opportunity came up for them to expand by purchasing the Sun, they took it. The White family bought the Sun from the Utter family in 1999.        

    Dave took some questions from the crowd after his prepared remarks. He was asked about staffing and the Sun’s coverage area. He noted that the Sun is a seven day a week operation and it is hard to staff. There is always news coming in. They try to report in Westerly, Charlestown, Ashaway, Richmond and cover the whole region. In the newspaper business today it is about the local news. Dave's philosophy is to give a mix of local and national. The front page is all local. 

     He was asked about social media and Dave said that it is a boon to local news. It helps reporters find news and sources. It is so widespread today. 

     When asked about online subscriptions, Dave said that they are through the roof now. The Sun averages a million page views a month. People can read the newspaper from across the country. The challenge now is how to capitalize on the digital editions to make enough money to keep the newspaper moving forward. The White family has made a significant investment in the newspaper in order to help them stay competitive in the future.     

      Dave was asked if he thought the newspaper would  ever go completely digital. He mentioned the  “refrigerator effect” as the reason that he believes there will always be a print edition. There is something about a seeing your name in print. You want to cut it out and put it on the fridge. People still submit announcements and want to see them. There is also a difference between the news and Facebook. It has been vetted and is legitimate. People look for the local Honor rolls, photos, special features. 

      When asked about staffing Dave said the newspaper has a dedicated staff. It is small. They work unpredictable hours and are always on call twenty four hours a day. They work late nights and split shifts but they do it     because they love the business.

     The final question was about the archives of the     newspaper. Dave said they have bound copies in the office going back to the founding. There are records on microfilm in the Westerly Library going back to the 1960s that are available to the public.