Bloomberg launching new homepage, new story software

Bloomberg editor in chief John Micklethwait sent out the following message on Tuesday morning:

To All in Bloomberg Editorial & Research,

This week we launch a new version of our homepage. One of the main ideas behind the redesign is to increase the density of stories — so anybody who comes to the site can see more stories (and fewer pictures) straightaway. I have added a memo from Jed Sandberg explaining the changes. Here is the link (fifw NSN NSJZ2Q6TT7N <Go>). There will be more improvements over the next few months.

The gladiatorial Friday spectacle of Reto Gregori, armed only with a Swiss watch, trying to compel some two dozen editors from around the world to pitch both their BEST story of the week and an “unsung hero” in 10 tightly policed seconds is sadly coming to an end. From August 7th, our three regional executive editors — John McCorry, Heather Harris and David Merritt — will scour all our platforms and each chose three candidates for Best of the Week Proposals shin the following categories:

1. The most notable contribution from his/her region. That could be the most influential market-moving headline on BN, or the best photo, commentary from Bloomberg View of a BI research piece or a cluster of interviews on TV.

2. A story or group of articles that reflect the best example of collaboration and cooperation among our different platforms.

3. The most notable “unsung” story to celebrate work that sometimes gets overlooked.

Proposals should reach John, Heather and David no later than 12 p.m. Thursday (NY time). For cross-regional teams such as BFW, you should send the pitch to the regional EE where the news took place. The BEST list is not our only way of celebrating our successess — Bill Grueskin spotlights some of our best writing in his memos, many bureau chiefs around the world present awards, and there is of course this note. But the Friday meeting is still a useful focal point.

In other business, several teams have starting writing stories in the new COPY software, which allows the addition of deck headlines and inline images, such as photos and Toaster or G charts. Many of the stories in NI BNCOPY2 <GO> have examples. We intend to roll out this software to all the bureaus in the upcoming weeks. When the new COPY is fully implemented, many stories will contain two deck headlines and some will have at least one chart, graph or photo. Images and charges, like other content, always need an editor’s approval before being published. The Training team is putting together a course to help you.

For a complete list of our most memorable articles of the past week, click NI BEST INT <GO>, and for past Weekly Notes, see NI LESSON <GO>.

This will be the last note until Aug. 25. Hope you all have a great couple of weeks.