Coda
Special Web presentation on eminent domain a first
Greg Bean 

My only real complaint is that on video, I look exactly like a bobble-head doll. If you take a look, I'm sure you'll agree with my assessment, and also agree that as a newscaster, I'm not quite ready for prime time.

For the past few weeks, we've been working at the newspapers on a remarkable project for our Web site, an in-depth look at the eminent domain controversy in Long Branch, N.J., and similar controversies in other areas of the state.

The project is the brainchild of Gene Lennon, who is in charge of our systems and production departments, but has also taken on the responsibility for revamping our Web offerings and making them more modern, useful and interactive. We've had our news stories, photographs and ads on our Web site, www.gmnews.com, for years, but it is time to move the ball down the field and provide our visitors with more interactive options. New elements in our effort, including videos, podcasts and slide shows, have been rolling out one at a time in recent weeks, and we've been happy with our initial results.

In some cases, those results have exceeded expectations, especially mine.

Not to toot my own horn, but at the location that allows readers to download podcasts of some of my selected columns or just listen to me speak to them on their home computers, more than 1,000 people have chosen to hear me opine about this and that. This is a great mystery to me, since I think my voice sounds like someone who's been scraping his vocal chords with sandpaper.

I can't think of any reason a person would subject themselves to it willingly, but there you are. This Web business is a surprising medium, and it looks like we're just going to have to accept the fact that people out there want more and more interactive options.

It was Gene Lennon's thought that because our newspapers, and the Atlanticville in particular, have invested so much time and energy in writing about the eminent domain controversy over the last few years, it would be a great service to bring a large portion of our work together in one place so that readers of our Web site could take a crack at the whole story.

But he didn't just want to offer links to the more than 150 stories, editorials and columns we've written. He wanted something new and unique in New Jersey journalism. He wanted to create a site where a reader could find out not only what was new on the eminent domain front, but what has come before. He wanted depth. He wanted perspective. He wanted video presentations. He wanted interactive maps. He wanted podcasts.

He wanted aerial photography. He wanted Web links to almost all the stories that have appeared in our newspapers and are currently stored in our archives. He wanted links to outside source material. He wanted scores of photos for slide show presentations, and he wanted all those photos identified with the pertinent information. He wanted me on camera recording an introduction to the project, thus the appearance of the Greater Media Bobble Head.

And he wanted it all yesterday.

To tell the truth, we almost hated to see him skulking into our offices or around our work stations in the past few weeks, because he always wanted something, and it always involved more work for us to get done in a big darned hurry.

But behind the scenes, he was working even harder than we were, creating this site and getting it ready to go live.

He accomplished that last week, and we made our special Web presentation, "Eminent Domain: Spotlight on Long Branch," available to Web readers right on schedule. And although we took the site - www.gmnews.com/eminentdomain - live with little fanfare other than a blurb on the front page, it has already had many, many hits.

We plan to keep this site going as long as the eminent domain controversy in Long Branch, and around the state, continues. We will continue to call on reporter Christine Varno, who has written about the situation for years in our paper the Atlanticville, and won several state and national awards for her work in the process.

We will continue to rely on our great staff of photographers, reporters and managing editors (especially Gloria Stravelli, managing editor of The Hub and the Atlanticville) to keep us abreast of the latest developments. We will continue to update our special Web presentation on a weekly and often daily basis.

With each new visit, readers will find links to the latest story that appeared in one of Greater Media's newspapers, and links to new source material. We'll update our maps, photos, columns and podcasts as the story continues to unfold.

Perhaps best of all, we have included a comments option on the site, which will allow visitors to post their own opinions about any or all of our material, or post their thoughts on the issues of eminent domain and private property rights as they conflict with the aims of local government.

It's our hope that this site will become the catalyst for, and the home of, a meaningful, interactive dialogue about this important issue.

As executive editor of Greater Media Newspapers, I am extremely excited and proud of this project, and I hope it is only the first of many we'll initiate in the coming years.

There are new horizons out there, folks, and we're moving toward them with great hope and expectation. I'd like to invite you to travel along with us on the journey. Take a look at our special presentation. Read, comment and let us know what you think.

Gregory Bean is executive editor of Greater Media Newspapers. You can reach him at gbean@gmnews.com.