Stories about Waipā council’s proposal to build a third bridge over the Waikato River through long-standing Cambridge suburbs dominated The News’ online presence last month.
Website visits were up 28 per cent on February and 40 per cent on the same month last year fuelled by The News’ ongoing coverage of Cambridge Connections.
Some members of the public took the opportunity to check out the options inside Bridges Church. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
While our ever popular News in Brief was the top page, stories about the disastrous drop in session, the revelations of where the corridor for the third bridge would be and how residents saw it as a bolt out of the blue filled out the top 10.
The numbers show how the community have come to rely on The News for timely and accurate information, editor Roy Pilott said.
“Our senior writer Mary Anne Gill’s story from the drop in sessions on March 21 was filed online within an hour of its being called off, which shows we have the ability to respond to breaking news stories in between publication days.
Cambridge Connections has dominated this news cycle and we have received record numbers of letters to the editor about it.
“Having a powerful online presence is important but so too is the physical newspaper which we know is a ‘must read’ for most Cambridge households,” Pilott said.
Recent adaptations have been made to The News’ Cambridge App which include notifications of breaking news stories along with updated events.
The top five news stories for the month were: News in brief, Drop in session a disaster, Put it there! Corridor for third bridge revealed, Guests get the genuine product – our story about a Vietnamese delegation’s visit to Kaipaki Dairies – and the story about the crew at Cambridge Hospice shop – They’re doing us Proud.
