DCO press release
This is the release for press and websites on today’s launch of this site, Devon & Cornwall Online:
PRESS RELEASE from Syntagma Media Ltd.
Dated: 3 August, 2009
Subject: West Country Websites
From: Syntagma Media Ltd.
PO Box 536
Exeter, EX1 9ET
England
Publicity contact: Rhian Gibbings
Director of Advertising & Publicity
rhian@devoncornwallonline.com
Tel: 07791 804631
Editorial contact: John Evans
Managing & Editorial Director
john@devoncornwallonline.com
DEVON & CORNWALL ONLINE
Syntagma Media is launching Devon & Cornwall Online (DCO) on Monday, August 3rd 2009.
DCO is the first of four websites covering the West Country of England. To come are: Hants & Dorset (HDO), Somerset & Avon (SAO), and Glos & Wilts (GWO).
DCO is a new concept in hyperlocal websites. Covering Devon and Cornwall, it aims to fill in some of the gaps left after the coming retrenchment in local newpapers, and the recent retreat of commercial TV from the area of local news.
Nobody knows what the scene will be like when the recession/possible depression is over and the movement away from newsprint to online versions has run its course. One thing is certain, local journalism will never be the same again, nor, for that matter, local advertising, especially the “river of gold” — the classifieds.
DCO begins with wide coverage of niche topics, but will expand in a modular way into areas now exclusively undertaken by the press. As the press retreats, we are ready to grow.
That’s not to view the press as an enemy. I have a great fondness for the print economy having worked in it for most of my life. But certain aspects of it have passed their survival date, especially on a local level.
We aim to fill the gap with varied, affordable advertising solutions, and readable, often humorous, journalism.
The design is by Swedish web designer, writer and editor, Thord Daniel Hedengren, who also designed our Syntagma fleet.
John Evans
