Blogging recently on Newsquest’s relaunch of its websites, I feel I was a bit harsh on the Lancashire Telegraph…

Since that review the site has cleaned up and, more importantly, sped up. But here’s my frustration: the newspaper is one of the best in the country when it comes to innovation in interactivity, and the new website does far too little to show that off.

So, here’s my attempt to redress that. I’ve added the Lancashire Telegraph to the Interactivity Index – a comparison chart of the features of newspapers around the world (more visualisation options to come). If you select it from one of the drop-down lists below you’ll see it scores an impressive 1200 points thanks to its use of RSS feeds, text updates, blogging, slideshows and impressive video. That score is higher than the Independent’s 1000 points, and The Mirror’s 800, and puts the site level with the also relaunched Hull Daily Mail (which is also an innovator with interactivity).

In the interests of fuelling local rivalry, I’ve also added the Lancashire Evening Post. There must be something in the water around those parts, because they do even better, scoring 1400 points, making it as ‘interactive’ as The Times (yes I know that’s a subjective term and some things are more interactive than others, but it’s as good a guide as any).

Any other nominations for most interactive regional newspaper?

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Last week I interviewed Mike Hill, Deputy Editor of the Lancashire Evening Post, for an article on changing tools and approaches in local newsrooms (due to appear on Journalism.co.uk). Mike has some interesting plans on using surveys beyond the simple reader poll (since reported here), and experiences of the weaknesses of geotagging, among other things. The interview can be heard here - it’s around 10 minutes.

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