Bringing readers closer

Our newsroom objectives talk about something called "emotional bond."

Well, the Christmas Day section presenting personal greetings from deployed troops around the world created "emotional bonds" that will last a long time. Think of the children, spouses and parents who awoke Christmas morning to read a holiday message from their loved ones from duty stations thousands of miles away. They won't forget that The Pilot cared enough to make it happen.

And that good idea was leveraged by putting it online and giving even more of our readers a chance to participate. From Christmas Eve through New Year's Day one of the greetings will be displayed at random on the front of Pilot Online each time the page is refreshed. Dozens of troops who missed the print deadline are sending their photos and greetings to share online.

Deborah Withey deserves credit for coming up with the concept and for a lion's share of the execution. It's a wonderful example of how we can use print and online to build our relationship with our community.