One full fiscal year

The main thing I hear from readers is appreciation for details on the business of WORLD. So, let’s play the hits. Here’s a quick update on our major new activities this fiscal year, from last July through this May. I’ve touched on each of these over the months, but I thought it would be helpful to lay them all out in one place.

In July and August, we added the final pieces to WORLD’s restructured editorial department. I say “final” in the sense that they filled all the spots we originally thought we would need to make the structure work.

The deadline we set for that restructuring was mostly self-imposed, but with two external dates in mind: (1) the planned August relaunch and redesign of WORLD Magazine under the leadership of executive editor Lynn Vincent and editor Daniel James Devine, and (2) the September launch of top-of-the-hour newscasts for radio stations.

Those plans happened on schedule.

We also launched in August the first of our World Journalism Institute training courses in Europe. In September, we established our Global Desk to expand our international coverage. In October, WJI held its first retreat for college journalism professors here in Asheville. Also in October, WORLD opened its first bureau for reporters in Washington, D.C., occupying leased space in a building next door to the Supreme Court. It’s a plum spot, also across the street from the U.S. Capitol.

After airing our newscasts on radio stations for a month or two, we released The Sift podcast in December. That podcast feeds updates as each top-of-the-hour newscast is aired, and the channel keeps the five most recent episodes in the feed so a listener can catch up quickly on the big stories of the day.

Throughout the fall, we continued the rebuild of our student news division, God’s World News, including the rounding out of our News Coach team, which in January launched Concurrently: The News Coach Podcast. You can find that in the same place you find all of WORLD’s podcasts.

I’ll emphasize that all I’ve listed represent new initiatives. It’s in addition to the excellent, everyday work that goes into our Digital news reporting, WORLD Opinions columns, and WORLD Watch video news for teens. Also: The World and Everything in It, Legal Docket, Effective Compassion, Lawless, and Doubletake podcasts; nine distinct weekly Roundup newsletters that cover everything from pro-life to religious liberty to arts and culture; and our publications for students, God’s Big WORLD, WORLDkids, and WORLDteen.

Keep watching this space. We’re making plans for even more in the coming fiscal year!