Herald launches new Web site

Although the Herald Community Newspapers have had an online presence since 1999, an expanded, more comprehensive Web site has recently been launched to help readers keep in closer touch with their communities. The new LIHerald.com has more news, sports, local business and arts coverage and event listings than ever before.

More than a year in the making, the site includes separate home pages for the more than a dozen communities the Heralds serve. Readers can not only view all of the news from the print editions, but learn about fast-breaking news and comment on stories. Readers can also post their own photos, videos and news on the site.

“It’s really an open forum for the readers, and that is exciting,” said Richard Stein, the Heralds’ online content editor. “We really see it as a partnership with our readers.”

John O’Connell, executive editor of the Heralds, said the Web site will allow readers access to the most updated information. “While we continue to provide our readers with a high-quality printed newspaper, a solid example of community journalism, filled with the news, features and neighborhood information readers want and enjoy,” O’Connell said, “our new Web site enables us to expand our community coverage and once-weekly publication deadlines.

“Also of great benefit to our readers and the community at large is that visitors to our site can immediately respond, interacting with the reporters and with fellow readers,” O’Connell added. “Instead of the traditional one-way relationship, in which reporters and editors tell readers what’s news, our site visitors can participate — they can upload their own photos and videos of community events, and share what’s important to them. This is great for the readers and great for us.”

An interactive calendar will allow readers to add community events to those listings for all site visitors to see.

Stuart Richner, who publishes the chain of weeklies with his brother, Cliff, said the redesign of the Web site is an exciting time for the company. “The new site will allow our readers to not only follow the news but also interact with it — all in real time,” Richner said. “With LIHerald.com, local residents and business owners will have the unprecedented opportunity to embrace community happenings and engage in lively discussion to the fullest. LIHerald.com supplements our print edition by creating a vibrant community forum for news, information and discourse.”

Mekea Hurwitz-Fishlin, director of online media for Richner Communications, parent company of Herald Community Newspapers, said that one upcoming feature will be Find It LI, a comprehensive directory of all businesses in Nassau County. Each business will get its own free page, and for a nominal charge owners can enhance their sites with photos, video, coupons, menus, maps and more. “The beauty of it is they can manage it themselves,” Hurwitz-Fishlin said. “If they want to change their specials, they can do it.”

Stein said the new Web site will also benefit advertisers both small and large, because there are no costs associated with printing. “This should be the first place you think of for advertising,” he said. “The little guy can have his or her voice heard in a very affordable way.”

For now, all visitors have free access to everything on the web site, which was launched Sept. 10. Starting in November, many items will be available only to subscribers. Those who receive the print edition will be able to enter their subscriber identification number to create a user name, and have unlimited online access. Others can sign up using the EZ-Pay system, which will cost $6 for every three months of access to LIHerald.com and include a free print copy. Breaking news stories will remain free on the site to all visitors.

Economic realities, Stein explained, necessitate the fee. “If you want to have the best corps of journalists on Long Island,” he said, “you have to figure out a way to pay them, so we think a modest charge is fair.”

Richner Communications remains committed to its print products. The future of publishing, Stein said, will involve both mediums working closely together. “We see a chance to have a symbiotic relationship between the Web and print,” he said.