Welcome to Window to the Newsroom

Welcome to Window to the newsroom, a blog through which we can have a conversation about The Port Arthur News and panews.com.
The news business is changing at a fast pace and through this blog we hope to keep you informed of how the changes are affecting your source of community news and also to learn from you how we can better serve your needs.
You may not know it, but we’ve been paying attention to how you get your news these days. Some of you still like your trusty newspaper, your longtime friend of ink on paper. You can carry it with you to wherever you may be going. You can tear the crossword out and stuff it in your shirt pocket to work later while you are waiting get the oil changed in your car.
But others of you, we know, hit the floor running in the morning and may only catch a glimpse of the headlines before you are out the door, taking the kids to school, heading to work or doing a million and three other things that seem to fill our days. Once at the office you, like millions of other Americans, may catch a glimpse of two or three online news sites. Maybe you check Yahoo news, or TMZ or some other national site. Then perhaps you scan panews.com for the news about the school board meeting or the city council.
Or maybe you saw the ad for panews.com/mobile in the newspaper and have it bookmarked on your smart phone. Mobile devices, including tablets, are the fastest growing category of online audience at panews.com and most other websites. It’s amazing how these new devices have changed the way people get their news — and how they want to get their news.
That’s why it is important to us to have this conversation with you about your news. If you are changing the way you want your news delivered, we need to be listening so we can offer you the news you need in the way you prefer.
Reporters will still write stories, though we may have to learn to get to the point a little quicker. Photographers will still take photographs, though the camera may also shoot video. Editors will still worry about spelling and style.
We’ll still deliver your paper on time every day with something for everyone, but we’ll also put it on the web for you, tweet it to you and post it on FaceBook for you.
The topics to be addressed on this blog will range from how decisions are made in the newsroom to new products that may be coming your way. We look forward to addressing concerns you express and implementing ideas you toss out.
Once, again, welcome to the Window. We’ll be looking out at you while you are looking in at us.
Window to the Newsroom is written by Roger Cowles, editor of The Port Artur News. Contact Cowles at rcowles@panews.com.