We love technology. We love media. We really love when those two join forces and create one amazing result. One of our media partners, the Journal Register Company, perfectly exemplifies this symbiotic relationship with its 'digital first' strategy.

CEO John Paton recently spoke with NetNewsCheck.com about how the Journal Register Co. has used its new online strategy (which includes SeeClickFix) to reinvent itself while simultaneously becoming "on par with the best in the newspaper industry."

Flashback to three years ago: the Journal Register Co. looked like "one of the newspaper industry’s worst black eyes" with its accumulating debt, delisting of its stock, and subsequent bankruptcy. Today, the company has completely transformed itself, "emphasizing content and sales while shedding printing plants and above all, focusing on building online readership."

Part of this transformation? Crowdsourcing with SeeClickFix.

Clearly they’ve [bloggers] played a role in expanding our content offerings and expanding our audience. As has our partnering with companies like SeeClickFix, which is a phenomenal success for us. SeeClickFix lets us do old-fashioned journalism about fixing a pothole here or raising an alarm about a dangerous intersection there.

With SeeClickFix, news outlets like the JRC can stay up-to-date on the issues that directly impact the communities they serve---engaging and empowering citizens along the way. What happens in neighborhoods affects individuals in very immediate, personal ways. Through our widget feature, media outlets can connect with their audiences over these concerns and allow residents to report community issues directly through their website--thereby making the site more interactive and relevant to residents.  Just look at the New Haven Register or the News-Herald.

News outlets can then receive email alerts about those issues being reported through 'watch areas' containing the counties, cities, or neighborhoods they cover. These publicly documented SeeClickFix issues can even serve as content for media outlets (see Gripe of the Day), creating new space for public debate, and even leading to investigation and resolution of those matters.

To learn even about the JRC and its growing digital strategy, check out NetNewsCheck.