Now let's really get down to business

If there is one constant about the newspaper industry, that would have to be change. Whether through technology, changing reader patterns or economic factors, how we prepare and present news, and even the type of news we cover, is subject to change.

It would be fair to say that the newspaper is a constantly evolving, organic product as we search out new content and ways to package it that entertain, inform, educate and provoke.

While always striving for improvement, we also make a whole new product from scratch every day.

It is this that makes this type of work so challenging and also rewarding.

Each morning, you come to work not knowing what your day will hold or what stories will fill the next day's edition.

That can be frightening and exciting.

It is also exciting to be able to reach out to the readers and advertisers and offer something new in the hope that it will better serve them - and that is exactly what we at the Chronicle are doing.

It is a bold step to launch any new business venture: there are threats and risks to consider, among the various opportunities.

And in the newspaper industry, launching a new product can be fraught with difficulties.

Is it what readers want? Will the business community support it?

But in Wanganui, there are compelling reasons to be optimistic, and the Wanganui Chronicle recognises the need for a business publication that reflects the local community and has strong reader interest.

On that basis, we will launch Business Extra on Tuesday, November 15.

Delivered free inside the Chronicle, this is a publication that will shine the spotlight on the local business community with a strong emphasis on local stories and columns.

Alongside those local features will be national and international business news, investment advice and consumer-based content from some of the best writers in the country.

Launching our first edition, business reporter Laurel Stowell takes a look at the inner workings of Mainstreet Wanganui, discovering the people behind the organisation, its objectives and how it achieves them.

In addition, we revisit the successful business awards with an overview plus some fantastic images, and catch up with some changes in the city's car dealerships.

Of course, we cannot do this on our own and will be relying on the support of you, the readers.

Tell us what you think of our new publication but, most of all, let us know what is happening.

We know there are many success stories out there waiting to be told, even if the people involved are reluctant to be thrust into the limelight.

Help us unearth the innovators and entrepreneurs who are breaking new ground and winning contracts, and setting standards nationally and internationally.

With your help and support we can continue to give you a newspaper we can all be proud of.

Feedback: editor@wanganuichronicle.co.nz