The data collection period of this research in November 2014 proved to be an interesting time of change for the Shrewsbury Chronicle digitally and on mobile. The weekly Chronicle is owned by Midlands Newspaper Association, which also owns one of the daily newspapers
examined during this research, Express & Star. The analysis revealed differences between the two websites to the extent that there were no similarities in the design or specifications of the sites and nothing to link them in any manner. It quickly became clear during this research that www.shrewsburychronicle.com was not being updated. That was despite readers being
directed to it from the newspaper. There was no explanation online or in paper. The url shrewsburychronicle.com was not redirected to another site, and at first sight there was nothing to show that the homepage was not being updated. The only indication that
something was amiss on the site was the fact that the stories on the homepage did not change during the research period. The homepage news article ‘Guildhall on university wish list’ was dated July 11, 2014, although this information was only displayed after clicking through to read the complete article, and appeared to be the last story uploaded on the site. None of these stories appeared in the print edition of the Shrewsbury Chronicle during the research period, although that is not surprising considering their publication date.
The lack of stories on the homepage prompted a decision to investigate the news section of the sites. This section displayed a total of eight news stories on the main page, all in list form with only the headline and first paragraph displayed. The stories did not change. They were -
‘Guildhall on university wish list’, ‘Nursery faces closure threat’, ‘Villagers in shock at cyclist’s death’, ‘Concern at old hospital plans’, ‘Thumbs up for school merger’, ‘Anger over plans meeting blunder’, ‘Dana bid falls at first hurdle’, ‘Wyle Cop junction to get facelift’,
‘Businessman’s bid to buy jail’, and ‘Family mourns tragic racer’. These unusual
circumstances prompted further investigation beyond the planned analysis. The top link in all searches was www.shrewsburychronicle.com, including links to several sections of the website. However, the second was the Shrewsbury Chronicle section of sister paper Shropshire Star at www.shropshirestar.com/shrewsbury-chronicle. The third was a free digital edition of the newspaper and archive published via PageSuite, with no apparent link
either to or from either the two homepages mentioned above. Articles were uploaded from the Shrewsbury Chronicle to this sub-section of Shropshire Star. The mobile and web homepages differed in design but shared the same stories, although they could not be found using information either from the print editions, the homepage of Shropshire Star or
www.shrewsburychronicle.com. To add to the confusion, while Shropshire Star did have a homepage tab labelled Shrewsbury (www.shropshirestar.co.uk/shrewsbury), this directed readers to stories from the Shrewsbury edition of the daily newspaper, not the weekly Shrewsbury Chronicle.
The Shrewsbury section of the Shropshire Star mobile site had a simplified design which displays the date, Twitter and Facebook icons, and the Shropshire Star masthead, drop-down section and search facilities, with the Shrewsbury Chronicle masthead immediately below.
The top story stood alone, followed by two pairs of stories, then a further 22 articles all displaying the headline, first sentence and photo. Therefore a total of 25 news stories were available on the mobile homepage. This was the same as the web homepage which displayed identical stories in a slightly different layout: the top article appeared in the top left corner of the site, to the left of four stories which were grouped and did not have the first sentence on display. The following stories were displayed in rows of three and did have the first sentence on show. There was also a difference with the mastheads on the mobile site. On the desktop site the Shrewsbury Chronicle was considerably smaller than the Shropshire Star masthead, compared to identical sizes on the mobile site. The website also displayed the Twitter and Facebook icons, followed by three rows of tabs. The first contained – jobs, dating, buy photos, local businesses, star shop, classifieds, book an ad, and digital editions; the second – home, news, sport, lifestyle, what’s on, business, education, farming, motors, property, notices; the third – iPad and iPhone apps, desktop edition, weekly editions, free
e-supplements, Telford, Shrewsbury, Oswestry, crime, 999, Shrewsbury Town, AFC Telford, and more.
The apparent lack of coordination between the online sites and print version of the
Shrewsbury Chronicle offered an interesting insight into the relationships between daily and weekly local newspapers. The lack of signposting plus incorrect signposting must raise questions about how digital content is regarded and the importance attached to it. As noted previously (see Footnote 25) the web and mobile sites for www.shrewsburychronicle.co.uk were overhauled after the data collection period so towards the end of 2015 this url redirected readers to a Shrewsbury specific section of daily sister paper Shropshire Star. While this is clearly outside the remit of this research, in the context of discussion focusing on the priority relationships between daily and weekly newspapers, it should be noted that readers of the weekly newspaper were directed to a defunct website for more than a year.