One of the United States??? oldest sources of Catholic news and opinion joins the growing ranks of media organisations powered by industry-leading open-source newsroom software
PRAGUE, APRIL 30 – The National Catholic Register, a print subsidiary of EWTN News, the world’s largest religious media network, is migrating its content management system (CMS) to the Superdesk suite of publishing solutions. With work underway, the newspaper’s website is expected to be fully powered by Sourcefabric’s open-source headless CMS and native publishing extension, Superdesk Publisher, by August.
Founded in 1927, the Register is one of America’s most authoritative sources of Catholic news and opinion, producing online content daily and 26 print issues annually, with circulation to 40,000 households. Every month, NCRegister.com clocks some 2.4 million page views and nearly one million users. Register Editor-in-Chief Jeanette De Melo said the decision to move to Superdesk was to position the newspaper for future growth.
???We were looking for an open-source platform to meet our needs but appreciate that we didn’t have to build from scratch,??? De Melo said. ???Superdesk was a good fit because it is built specifically for the news industry. We like that it is being used internationally by news organisations and is meant to scale.???
She added: ???In our search for the next backend system for the Register, we wanted the possibility of autonomy – being able to support, maintain, and develop the site independently. While we will use Sourcefabric for our development and server needs now, we know we can take over with our own developers and servers in the future.???
Those objectives – independence, autonomy, and empowerment – complement Sourcefabric’s overall mission.
???Our goal at Sourcefabric has always been to provide journalists and independent news organisations with the tools they need to thrive both financially and editorially,??? said Sava Tati??, Sourcefabric Managing Director. ???Superdesk is the core product in our software portfolio, and we are thrilled to welcome the Register to our growing ranks of newsrooms powered by the news industry’s leading open-source newsroom software.???
The National Catholic Register was first published in Denver, Colorado, on November 8, 1927. In 1970, California businessman Patrick Frawley purchased the newspaper and moved it to Los Angeles. In 1995, a group of investors, along with the Legionaries of Christ, a Roman Catholic religious institute, bought the newspaper and moved it to New England. On February 1, 2011, the National Catholic Register was acquired by EWTN, which is headquartered in Irondale, Alabama.
Today the newspaper employs a team of 12 staff journalists and up to 30 regular freelancers, and operates from EWTN News bureaus in Washington, D.C. and Rome.
EWTN Global Catholic Network was founded in 1981. EWTn’s 11 global TV channels are broadcast in multiple languages 24 hours a day, seven days a week to over 350 million television households in more than 145 countries and territories. EWTN platforms also include radio services transmitted through SIRIUS/XM, iHeart Radio, and over 500 domestic and international AM & FM radio affiliates; a worldwide shortwave radio service; one of the largest Catholic websites in the US; electronic and print news services, including the Register, the Catholic News Agency, and several global news wire services; as well as EWTN Publishing, its book publishing division.
About Sourcefabric
Sourcefabric is Europe’s largest open-source software developer serving the news media industry. Headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, Sourcefabric z.??. is a nonprofit organisation that brings together journalists, business analysts, software developers, and communications professionals to create powerful tools that are open source. Sourcefabric’s products include Superdesk, professional live blogging tool Live Blog, and radio automation platform Airtime Pro.