Small Florida paper tries to improve biz coverage

The Charlotte Sun Herald, a small daily newspaper in southwest Florida, is trying to improve its business coverage. David Dunn-Rankin, the paper’s publisher, explained the changes in Sunday’s paper.

Dunn-Rankin wrote, “We’ve never had a Monday Weekly Record for Sarasota County before and plan to start one this summer. A couple of readers who moved from Charlotte County to northern Englewood and North Port made this suggestion. For folks in Sarasota County who have never seen a Weekly Record before, this new section will list everything that legally happened in southern Sarasota County, such as births, divorces, bankruptcies and property sales.

“It’s one of our most popular features in Charlotte, and I’m glad the news team is able to now bring this to Sarasota. Thanks for encouraging us to add this.

“We are adding to Business a new column, ‘Ask Bob,’ which will allow small-business people to ask a question and get an answer to a problem related to running a business

“In Business, we are also adding a new Reader Poll, which will ask readers to respond to business-related questions. We are also adding a new feature called ‘Behind the signs’ that will tell a short story based on an area business’ sign. We are also working to have at least one story on the front of Business every day that will be kept short enough to end on the front page.”

Read more here.