NewsBeat

February 2016 NewsBeat 23 Columbia-Greene Media's sports project W ith the Register-Star turning 230 years old the sports staff at Columbia-Greene Media wanted to create a sports-related project that showcased the local talent that has come through the area and decided on doing a Top 25 Athletes to Ever Come Out of Columbia County list. The sports department developed a list of roughly 100 candidates, narrowed it down to 25 and ranked them. The final group included an Olympian, NFL, MLB and NBA players, a women's baseball player who is in the Hall of Fame and many college athletes who still hold high school and collegiate records. Some are well known in the community while others have been forgotten about over time. The sports staff divided up the list and wrote stories ranging from 600-1,000 words on each athlete's career. Prior to its debut, a strip ad was run on the front page of the paper and it was teased to on Facebook and Twitter. Starting with No. 25, we released one story per day until unveiling No. 1 with the project spanning from Nov. 27 to Jan. 2. From the start, community engagement was phenomenal with phone calls, emails, texts, Facebook messages and faxes coming in from people both local and as far away as Florida, either asking who was No. 1; advocating for a parent, sibling, child or former teammate; or just saying they enjoyed arguing with friends over who they had in their own Top 5. Once rolling, the project didn't require any additional marketing or promotion. It took on a life of its own with word of mouth being a driving force behind its popularity. Daily Facebook posts of each story were picked up and shared widely. Research was the most time consuming effort related to the project — the sports staff dug through physical archives, microfilm and the internet. They also contacted colleges and professional teams for additional stats, information and photos. All in all, we began this project at the beginning of November and wrapped on Jan. 2. The stories are still picking up hits on the website (nearing 30,000) and are still being shared on Facebook (reaching more than 75,000 people). It all culminated with the creation of a 2-sided poster that contains photos of the Top 25 on the front and info for each athlete on the back, which we plan on selling and sharing the profits with a local sports charity. See the full list at: www.registerstar.com/sports/top_25 MEMBER NEWS ob Parks, longtime publisher of the Plattsburgh Press-Republican is retiring after a four-decade career in the newspaper business. Parks, 65, has served as publisher of the paper since 2000, leading it smartly into the digital era by introducing website and mobile-phone platforms that have attracted an audience from throughout the North Country and beyond. "I am retiring from a very good newspaper," Parks said. "The Press-Republican serves a great community in print and online, and that's a tribute to the dedicated staff, who take their mission to heart to serve the community every day." Parks began his newspaper career more than 40 years ago as editor of his college newspaper at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa., his hometown. His first professional job after college was sales representative for The Herald in Sharon, Pa., in 1975. Bob Parks retires from Plattsburgh Press-Republican B He later served in executive roles, including general manager and publisher, with other newspapers in Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, Kentucky and Connecticut. Twenty-five of those years were spent with the former Ottaway Newspapers. During his time at the Press-Republican, Parks served as a director on the NYPA board. Parks described the Press-Republican's comprehensive coverage of the Dannemora prison break by two convicted killers in June 2015 as one of his proudest times as publisher. The daring escape had the Plattsburgh area on edge for 23 days before Richard Matt was shot to death and David Sweat was shot and captured. "It was a highlight of my career, without a doubt," said Parks. "The entire staff came together and produced print and online coverage that kept people informed throughout the ordeal. "We provided essential and trustworthy journalism for a shaken community. "It made me extremely proud of our role as the local newspaper and the most reliable source on what quickly became a national story." Over the decades, Parks said, he has striven to "hold true to producing every day a newspaper that provides local information and editorials that are useful to readers. As long as newspapers continue to do that, they will continue to thrive." Parks said he and his wife, Linda, plan to continue to live in Plattsburgh and stay active in community affairs.

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