I've been supportive of the way the Fiji Times has managed their online environments for some time. I love the convenience of being able to get a preview of business stories, for example, at 10 p.m. (Fiji time) the night before the paper comes out. I like the convenience of browsing through the main stories at 6 a.m. (Fiji time) before I get into the office.
Sadly, their publishing process is either broken or their management has mandated a change in scheduled publishing because no longer is the Fiji Times available the night before or, as far as I can tell, in the early morning. I first noticed the change about two or three weeks ago.
As I'm writing this on Sunday 12 October at just before 9 a.m, the Fiji Times website is still reflecting yesterday's news. Amazingly, even the Fiji Sun has published their Sunday newspaper by now.
Online newspaper publishing is about timeliness and accuracy. I hope the Fiji Times fixes whatever problem they're having so they can start again at giving their readers what they want. I'm probably not the only one who finds this change disappointing. A publishing schedule IS a website feature. Removing features that your customers/readers have become accustomed to is simply bad web business.
I hope the Fiji Times doesn't ruin what has become a top (and award-winning) news website in Fiji.
