THE Coleraine Times website has become a big hit with readers.
www.colerainetimes.co.uk was relaunched last April and is now a remarkably popular site for the latest news, sport and entertainment in the Coleraine borough.
The website is an additional service to our traditional reader base and it’s where we br
eak daily news and sport and carry updates on all the important stories.
Editor David Rankin explains: “Our website has become a tremendous asset for readers and it means The Coleraine Times now operates virtually as a daily newspaper.
“We break news and sport stories on our site and then develop them for our print edition which is out each Tuesday evening. The online figures show that there are an enormous amount of people logging on to find out the latest news.”
Official stats show that in 2007 our site attracted 42,424 new users who visited an incredible 405,506 pages.
David says: “Our digital newsroom at the heart of Coleraine is dedicated to providing news as it happens to our readers.
“My dedicated editorial team, headed by Una Culkin, Nichola Forgrave and Milne Rowntree, with Steven Crawford manning the sport desk, is focused on giving readers an up-to-the-minute breaking news and sport service.
“Picture editor and photographer Paul Nash - as well as a team of freelances - often e-mail in their pictures from a breaking news event and these are uploaded to our site at once.
“That has resulted in a series of scoops for my news team which has included live updates of the grounding the Portrush Lifeboat, the Katie Hannan, a major cannabis police operation in Coleraine and daily reports from the Paddy Fleming murder trial.
“In sport we were the first newspaper to bring readers the Irish Cup semi-final draw. We also broke the good news about Coleraine FC obtaining its domestic licence and also have had several exclusive splashes on local sports stars such as Jenna McCorkell, Alan Campbell and Richard Archibald.
“Of course last week we became the first newspaper in Coleraine to carry an e-mag version of our JJB Irish Cup final supplement. The response from readers has been fantastic.”
Remember too that our team accept submissions of both news and pictures from their readers both by email and by text message.
As well as a strong news and sport focus our website has sections for jobs, motors and property and we often feature picture stories from major news and community events.
You can see the website at www.colerainetimes.co.uk
The full article contains 430 words and appears in Coleraine Times newspaper.
