Introducing Herald-Leader NOW: Get late, local digital news and sports in a print-like format
When we surveyed our readers at the end of 2021, we got suggestions of all sorts. We’ve acted on many of them already – adding more reporters and editors to our newsroom, for example, and reimagining our Sunday newspaper to feature deeper stories and more local investigative journalism presented in visually stunning ways.
Last week, we launched a new product to address another suggestion that came up throughout that survey: “Extend the deadline so the e-edition carries last evening’s news. It’s very confusing for the e-edition to always be so far behind the online edition.”
Our new product, Herald-Leader NOW, does just that. It uses our e-edition format to help bridge the gap between the up-to-the-minute world of digital news and the curated nature of print newspapers that so many of our readers enjoy.
Herald-Leader NOW, which debuted on Tuesday, features all of our latest local news and sports from the day and night before, with no deadline. So when a game ends at 10 p.m., the story will be there in this new, dynamic e-edition. When the legislature or Urban County Council meet late into the night, the recap will be there.
And instead of having to dig through our website or social media channels to find the stories that are most important to you, they’ll all be presented in a curated format similar to a newspaper — with the latest or most important information first, and similar topics together. You can read Herald-Leader NOW each morning at this link: https://liveedition.kentucky.com/.
We’ll publish Herald-Leader NOW Tuesday through Sunday mornings, though we can also add a Monday special edition as late news warrants (as we’ve done this week to cover breaking news and stories from NCAA basketball Selection Sunday). You can get it emailed directly to your inbox by following the “Newsletters” link at the bottom of Kentucky.com and checking the box for Herald-Leader NOW.
The regular daily e-edition will still come out each morning, which is a digital replica of that day’s printed newspaper. To see updated news in the same format, you can access Herald-Leader NOW through Kentucky.com or through a link on the regular e-edition page. This NOW format also allows us to do special digital editions or mid-day editions as news warrants, and we’ll be experimenting in the weeks and months to come. We welcome your feedback.
Herald-Leader NOW provides us with one more new way to reach our readers with local news. Here’s a review of ways you can follow all the work of our expanding staff of Lexington- and Kentucky-based journalists.
Kentucky.com and Kentucky.com app: Our website and app are the places to go for the absolute latest news. Most stories are published there as they are completed, while some are scheduled to publish early in the morning. Check back throughout the day for updates. Digital subscriptions are available at account.kentucky.com/subscribe.
Herald-Leader NOW: Our latest digital edition is a hybrid between the print and digital models. It includes late-breaking local news and sports stories we completed the previous day and night, packaged in a newspaper-style digital format. It publishes Tuesday-Sunday mornings and other times as warranted.
Print: The Herald-Leader’s traditional printed newspaper publishes Monday-Friday and Sunday mornings. It includes local news, sports, opinion and national and international news, plus comics, puzzles, TV information and more. Print-digital combo subscriptions are available at account.kentucky.com/subscribe.
eEdition: The traditional eEdition is a replica of our newspaper, with the same deadline for local content. It reads exactly like the newspaper. We also include Xtra, with dozens of pages of additional national and sports content in the back. The eEdition is deliverable by email and accessible through our website and app. It publishes seven days a week, with an electronic-only version on Saturdays.
Facebook/Twitter/Instagram: Follow the Herald-Leader’s social media accounts to receive links to stories as they publish.
Newsletters: We have newsletters that feature the latest headlines each morning and afternoon, the biggest breaking news, and content catered to specific audiences — UK Sports, LexGoEat for updates on local food and dining, NextCats on UK recruiting, high school sports, crime and safety and more. Sign up for newsletters by following the newsletters link at the bottom of Kentucky.com.
News alerts: Want to know what’s happening ASAP? Opt in for push alerts to your phone (through the Herald-Leader app) or your computer (enable notifications in your web browser).
Thank you for reading the Herald-Leader, in all of our many print and digital formats, and thank you for supporting local journalism.
Peter Baniak is the Herald-Leader’s editor and general manager. Lauren Gorla is the Herald-Leader’s managing editor. You can reach them at pbaniak@herald-leader.com and lgorla@herald-leader.com.