COLUMN: Changes coming to Trib

On Wednesday, readers of The Tribune will see some big changes in the appearance of their hometown newspaper.

They’re all part of our efforts here and of parent company Home News Enterprises to strengthen and improve the newspaper and the content we deliver to your doorstep.

Most noticeable among those big changes is just that — the newspaper will grow in size, returning from the current narrow page width of 11.25 inches to the wider web of 12.5 inches.

This wider web will spur other changes — a more dynamic design for our front page and other centerpiece pages, including our Horizons and Sports covers. The improved design will carry over to other inside pages, as well.

Powering that change in design is our company’s investment in what’s called a consolidated design and copy desk, a concept we embraced earlier this year and implemented first with sister papers in Franklin and Columbus. Our pages join that mix Wednesday with rollout of the newly redesigned Tribune.

The consolidated desk, operating out of the offices of HNE in Columbus, brings the copy editing and page design skills and talents of the newspapers’ staffs under one umbrella to offer the best of what we have to all three newspapers.

Our page designer, Michael Bradley of Seymour, will join the consolidated desk this week. We’ll miss seeing him in the office, but we’ll still enjoy the benefits of his strong work ethic and talents.

You’ll also continue to see more color inside the newspaper, an improvement we made this spring.

Besides the more easily observed aesthetics of the redesigned and enlarged pages, The Tribune and HNE are committed to improving our local content — telling the stories of our neighbors and serving as a community watchdog.

Helping drive that are two new hires — a full-time staff photographer, Aaron Piper, and an additional full-time reporter, Jessica Squires.

Aaron and Jessica will help staff reporters Aubrey Woods and January Wetzel, along with sports editor Zach Spicer, deliver a more compelling and enterprising daily local news and sports report.

The commitment by HNE to enlarge our newsroom staff bucks the trend seen in many other newspaper companies — a trend of shrinking staff.

That investment also illustrates HNE’s commitment to community journalism and the communities we serve. Our staff is more involved in community affairs, joining boards and committees, and our company is contributing financially to Jackson County United Way, Girls Inc. of Jackson County, Jackson County Industrial Development Corp., Seymour and Brownstown chambers of commerce and other important community organizations, as just some examples.

The Tribune and Home News Enterprises are committed to our community and will do all we can to help make Jackson County a wonderful place to live and do business.

Tell me what you think of the changes.

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Dan Davis is editor of The Tribune. You may call him at 523-7051.