This document outlines the process for developing franchise topics and coverage plans for digital platforms. It discusses holding committee meetings and check-in calls to refine topic ideas and understand key audience needs. Example franchise topics are presented from other newsrooms focusing on issues like the local environment, crime, and non-profits. The document stresses that coverage plans should be highly visible, uniquely local, credibly authoritative, immediately responsive, personally focused, and provide solutions. Newsrooms are given homework to refine topic names/scopes and select two topics to focus on, including writing descriptions and revisiting key demographics.

1. Four Pillars,
Four Platforms
Scripps Community News
Organizations

2. knightdigitalmediacenter.org2
Vision Plans Re-
sources
Skills Action
From vision to action

3. KDMC process
• Webinar series
– Key topics in plan development
• Committee homework
• Check in calls
• Newsroom visit
3

4. Committee homework
• Identify and refine franchise topics
• Connect to key audience segments to
understand what information they
want and where, when and why
• Create personas
• Develop coverage plans to serve
personas on digital platforms
• Explore learning needs
4

5. What about print?
• Focus right now on three digital
platforms
– Your learning curve
–Potential audience growth in non-
print age groups – 18-34 & 35-54
5

6. The digital evangelist
6
codinghorror.com

7. Questions?

8. Your topics (so far)
• Each newsroom team has 10 minutes
• Three franchise topics – What & Why
• No discussion
• Follow up questions to clarify OK
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9. Abilene Reporter News

10. Get Out Abilene
Refuting the idea that Abilene is boring — a notion
reinforced on popular T-shirts and bumper stickers — we
aim to be the one-stop-shop for all things fun in the Big
Country. Through comprehensive calendars, reviews,
videos, features, top-10 columns and readers‘ choice
awards, we will strive to become the definitive source on
what to do in Abilene and its surrounding counties.
• Primary audience: A 21-year-old white male college
student who wants to party on a budget and uses his
smart phone and social media to find things to do.
• Secondary audience: A Hispanic married woman
(24-35 years old) interested in family-friendly activities
and events for her kids and affordable date nights with
her husband.

11. The Big Three (Oil, Gas & Wind)
Parts of the Big Country may be beginning a 20-30 year
oil boom, and others have been at the frontlines of the
wind energy industry for more than a decade. We‘re
exploring the economic and environmental impact of
Cline Shale and the effects it could have on our
area, while also taking an in-depth look at the growth of
wind-generated energy and its impact.
• Primary audience: A married man (40-50 years old)
who owns a small business in town and is interested in
knowing how this energy boom could impact his
business economically.
• Secondary audience: A single or divorced male (18-
35 years old) on an hourly wage, interested in making
much more money than he currently does.

12. Doing Our Homework
We will be the eyes and ears for our audience on what is
happening in our local and area schools, providing
information to readers about the quality of education in
the Abilene area. We‘ll take a look at individual
districts, the programs they‘re providing and how they
stack up to others in the area and state.
• Primary audience: A young mother (28-35 years old)
interested in the quality of her child‘s education and
the options available.
• Secondary audience: A female secondary-education
teacher interested in programs and legislation that
impacts her job directly.

13. San Angelo

14. Making a Living
The topic: People are looking make the most of their careers in
San Angelo, whether they‘re unemployed and searching for a job
or looking to improve their lives and find better opportunities. We
would offer content to help them find their way economically -- to
the right job, the right house, the right resources, etc. We‘d like
to explore some aspects with in-depth stories in the newspaper,
but for the electronic platforms, we‘d like to use lists, databases
and tables as well (some of which could run as info boxes in the
paper). We‘d delve into topics such as the 10 highest-paying
jobs in San Angelo; 10 lowest-paying jobs; top careers in
demand; five degrees that can pay off in San Angelo vs. five
degrees that are hard to get work in. We could also compile
resources for people, telling them where to go to get temp work,
to get help starting a small business and so forth.

15. Making a Living
The demographic: We could see this
primarily appealing to a 34-year-old white
woman with a college education who wants
to start her own business. Secondarily, it
could appeal to a 23-year-old recent college
graduate who needs to find a higher-paying
job to turn into a career.
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16. Shaping San Angelo
The topic: With so much changing in San Angelo because of our water
issues and incipient oil boom, the city is at a crossroads to redefine
itself. We would explore, with residents‘ and officials‘ input, where the
city is going and whether that‘s the direction it should be going. For
example, what decisions should officials be making, and are they the
decisions residents want them to make? We could involve city officials
and other leaders, getting them to write columns that lay out certain
issues and address how they're being approached. We could ask
several officials the same question and see how many different
answers we get, then ask the same thing of residents to see how the
opinions compare, publishing both. We‘d encourage readers to get
involved and share what they think needs to be done or considered, for
publication online and perhaps in out Viewpoints section. We'd need to
also encourage discussion online, perhaps doing a Cover it Live chat
with officials sometimes.
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17. Shaping San Angelo
The demographic: This might primarily appeal
to a 40-year-old white man with a college
degree who has a long-term career and family
in San Angelo and is concerned about how the
city could change for the negative. Likewise, it
could appeal to a 28-year-old Hispanic mother
with a college education whose children are
about to start school, and she‘s questioning
whether her family should remain in San
Angelo.
17

18. Transparency & Accountability
The topic: With recent scandals surrounding multiple local officials, it
could draw a lot of interest and truly be unique coverage if the
Standard-Times were the source people could always count on to know
what public officials (and perhaps even others, like nonprofit leaders)
are doing in more detail than we've ever been able to give before. For
example: How can they reach the officials who represent them? Who
has the best attendance record at City Council meetings? Is the water
department holding people accountable for not following water
restrictions? Are local judges fair? Is money being spent the way it's
supposed to be? We could have online offerings including the agendas
for City Council, school board and county commission meetings, plus
associated. We could ask officials to take part in Cover It Live chats
with residents or aggregate their Twitter feeds (if they have Twitter). We
could have meters measuring how certain projects are
progressing, showing which phases have been completed and how
much money they've cost of their total projected budgets.
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19. Transparency & Accountability
• The demographic: Primarily, it seems like
a 50-year-old white man with a college
degree, perhaps a small business owner,
would be drawn to this topic. Law and
order also appeals a lot to our younger
non-subscribers, so we could see the
secondary demographic being a 27-year-
old office worker with at least some
college education and time to burn online
in the mornings or afternoons.
19

20. Wichita Falls

21. Meeting Meth
The Topic: Meth is a topic that appears in almost every day‘s paper,
from a crime standpoint, but our committee wanted to look at who is
behind it, not just the dealers.
Audience:
• Primary: Alex Martinez, middle-class, late 20s to mid 40s, renter or
first-time home owner, watching the meth epidemic in Wichita Falls
encroach on his modest, relatively crime-save neighborhood. He
wants to know who these users are, who is supplying the drugs, how
is law enforcement solving the problem, how are these addicts
getting help.
• Secondary: Shirley Stanley, upper middle-class, 40s-60s, an
employer, who is thinking, these are my potential workforce, taking
another look at their business candidates, also their neighbors,
looking at average ―Joe‖ who walks his dog down the street.

22. Water – “Lifeline”
Topic: Focus on the multi-million pipeline, a guinea pig for the
nation, on solving the drought, a lifeline that could impact
health, economy, quality of life, and perception of hopelessness. Health
effects, pipeline, economic impact of the drought, Lake levels are
low, so water quality, health concerns. ‗Pros and cons of
pipeline, progress of the pipeline
Audience:
• Primary audience: Roger Reynolds, white, late middle
age, 50s, small business owner, Boy Scouts leader, church
deacon, sees the water issue as the overwhelming impact of city‘s
survival.
• Secondary audience: Stephanie Collins, mom, 30s, whose own life
may not have a huge impact on the city, but is concerned about the
quality of life for her young family, the trees dying in her old
neighborhood, soccer fields crisp and brown. Has endured far too
many hot summers that the prospect of no water frightens her.
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23. Heart of Wichita Falls
Topic: The city has an overwhelming sense of ―to much is given, much is
required,‖ with a tremendous number of nonprofits addressing critical issues
throughout the city, poverty, hunger, abused and neglected children. The list
goes on. The efforts seem to come as the need is seen, and successful events
emerge. The charitable nature of Wichita Falls permeates. Showcasing
nonprofits, timelines of their origin and impacts, crisis-to-nonprofit, concern-to-
annual event. Economic impact, how nonprofit dollars alleviate what
government would have to commit.
Audience:
• Primary audience: Pat Tucker, 50s, possible donor, an eager volunteer in
search of a purpose, community minded, want to help in any way
possible, but need to understand the need and the impact these groups
have on the community.
• Secondary audience: Ashley Miller, 30s, single mom, life is a
struggle, sees no way out, looks to the newspaper for resources for work
and cost savings, and instead finds a multitude of avenues where hope can
be found.
23

24. Heart of Wichita Falls
Topic: The city has an overwhelming sense of ―to much is given, much is
required,‖ with a tremendous number of nonprofits addressing critical issues
throughout the city, poverty, hunger, abused and neglected children. The list
goes on. The efforts seem to come as the need is seen, and successful events
emerge. The charitable nature of Wichita Falls permeates. Showcasing
nonprofits, timelines of their origin and impacts, crisis-to-nonprofit, concern-to-
annual event. Economic impact, how nonprofit dollars alleviate what
government would have to commit.
Audience:
• Primary audience: Pat Tucker, 50s, possible donor, an eager volunteer in
search of a purpose, community minded, want to help in any way possible,
but need to understand the need and the impact these groups have on the
community.
• Secondary audience: Ashley Miller, 30s, single mom, life is a struggle,
sees no way out, looks to the newspaper for resources for work and cost
savings, and instead finds a multitude of avenues where hope can be found.
24

25. Creating
the franchise

28. Franchise Topic Coverage Plan
What it is:
• A blue print
• A commitment
• A training standard
• A communication tool
What it isn‘t:
• A rule book
• Unchangeable
• Perfect
• Invisible

29. And…
it‘s not a big story
29

30. And…
it‘s not a beat
30

31. Franchise

33. 33

34. Franchise topic coverage
• Highly visible
• Uniquely local
• Credibly authoritative
• Immediately responsive
• Personally focused
• Sharply presented
• Provides solutions
• Powerfully ―told‖

35. Questions?

36. Example #1 – TC Palm
Our Indian River Lagoon
The lagoon is uniquely ours. It connects
us, flows through our communities. It‘s why
we‘re here. Prime destination for people who
enjoy outdoor activities, it‘s suffering from
impacts of nearby population growth.
Why the lagoon? It‘s a definitive body of
water and is impacted by all the waterways
and its health impacts all channels of the
community.
36

37. Example #2 – KnoxNews
Keeping A Watchful Eye
Many people in the community have told us
loud and clear that crime and public safety
are personal. The subject hits close to
home--from the parks they frequent to the
grocery stores where they shop, from where
they work to where they send their kids to
school. Every crime has a where. From
across East Tennessee to your own
backyard, we will pinpoint the information
you need to stay safe.
37

38. Homework
• Refine names and scope of topics
• Decide on two topics to focus on during
this class
• Write refined descriptions for those topics
• Revisit key demographics for those topics

39. Questions #1 and 2
Elements of a Franchise Coverage Plan
39
1. What is the franchise topic? (No more
than 3-4 words)
2. Define the franchise topic‘s scope. (How
would you explain to a reader/user what
your coverage is about in a way that they
see its value for their life?)

40. Questions?

41. knightdigitalmediacenter.org