Readers turned to these local newspapers for real-time safety updates and weekend reads

NiemanLab: “The Philadelphia Inquirer launched Inquirer Weekend in April, while readers looked to The Orange County Register’s coverage when a chemical tank was at threat of exploding in May…Other local newspapers saw traffic gains driven by round-the-clock coverage of major stories. In California, The Orange County Register got 1.3 million more web visits in May than in April, a 54% jump. (The Register is part of Southern California News Group, which is owned by Alden Global Capital.) Toni Sciacqua, Southern California News Group’s managing editor for digital, attributed the spike to a big story right before Memorial Day about a chemical tank at threat of explosion in Garden Grove, prompting an unprecedented evacuation. The team drew from its breaking news playbook for wildfires, pushing out constant, timestamped updates that included language like “as of 2 p.m.” so people would know what was new since the last time they read. The Register sent newsletters throughout the day, updated social media posts, and scoured social media and Google search trends for questions the newspaper could answer. “Lots of people were looking for whether this would impact Disneyland,” Sciacqua said. “The answer was no, but we did stories specifically answering that question and saw a lot of interest in that.”…In Augusta, Georgia, both The Augusta Chronicle and The Augusta Press saw traffic spike by more than 50% in April. The Chronicle is a Gannett publication, and it’s one of a few around the country to see traffic upticks of more than 50% in the last few months, along with Florida Today and The Courier-Journal…”