Six months in, transition smooth

It’s been six months now since we launched The Eastern New Mexico News. In reality it seems like yesterday, but as they say, time flies when you’re having fun.

For those who aren’t familiar with the history, we created The News after combining the resources of the Clovis News Journal and the Portales News-Tribune. It created one newspaper with a broader reach and larger audience.

Our goal has been, and continues to be, to bring our readers a wider balance of news, sports and features from the geographic area we all know as eastern New Mexico.

Clovis and Portales remain our anchor communities, as that’s where the majority of our subscribers and readers reside. But the happenings in towns such as Texico, Melrose, Floyd and Fort Sumner — just to name a few — are still a priority to us.

Our biggest challenge has been how to balance news from Clovis, Portales and the surrounding locales. Not everything, of course, can go on page 1. There are days that I field phone calls from readers telling me we have too much Clovis-related news in the paper; other days it’s a claim we have too many Portales stories in the edition.

We’re always looking to find that delicate equilibrium. Many days it isn’t easy. Please know, though, that we’re making those tough decisions based on the news that we believe will have the highest impact with the most readers. It’s an imperfect science.

Some things are easier now than others. For instance, news related to Eastern New Mexico University appeals to the masses in all of the communities for the most part. Whether you’re a graduate of ENMU, have a child enrolled there or simply enjoy attending cultural or athletic events on its campus, news out of the college gets a lot of attention — and readers’ eyes.

But, putting all of our news under one big umbrella now has its tough days too.

How much interest in a court case in Roosevelt County carries over to Clovis residents? Does a suspected drug-related shooting in Curry County carry any weight with our Portales readers? Then, how big of a deal is it to the readers of our community newspaper if President Trump fires the country’s FBI director?

That’s the burden that falls on our editors on a daily basis.

At the end of the day, though, Clovis and Portales are only 19 miles apart. That’s shorter than a morning commute in a majority of the metropolitan areas across the U.S.

If I had to give a six-month litmus test, I’d say we’re on the right track. I hope, as readers, you agree. I’d love to hear your thoughts on our transition. Just shoot me an email with the good, the bad and the ugly.

Rob Langrell is the publisher of The Eastern New Mexico News. Contact him at: [email protected]