The
Cambridge Evening News kept its readers updated on the Sally Geeson
murder story via its website and claims cross-promotion of the paper
helped boost sales of a special edition by 20 per cent.
Police
confirmed missing student Geeson had been found dead at 4.30pm on
Friday, 7 January , seven hours after the final edition deadline of the
Evening News. Journalists put the news straight on the paper’s website
along with a preview of a five-page special report on the story that
was to appear in the paper the following day.
The paper also
reported that the prime suspect in the case had killed himself by
jumping from a building with a website newsflash on Sunday which also
trailed another special report in Monday’s paper.
Editor Murray
Morse said: “We were determined to make sure we were breaking every new
angle on the story and that readers could rely on us to beat the
nationals for a story that was happening on our doorstep.
Related
“We had
plenty of new angles and exclusives within our normal deadlines but
when a big development broke outside our print times, we successfully
used the website to keep our readers informed.
“It is a
magnificent example of how the internet can be used to support the
newspaper, and has had a very positive impact on sales.”
The CEN’s circulation figure is 34,347 and the website gets an estimated two million hits a month.
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