New Newsroom Web Site Goes Live

SALT LAKE CITY 8 February 2007 An updated and revamped Newsroom Web site goes live today after several weeks of testing.

The new site is a key tool for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to use in communicating with the news media, academics, other opinion leaders and members of the public interested in the Church’s doctrines, policies and activities.

The site had been in a beta (test) format since 20 December 2006. Since then, the Church had kept two Newsroom sites functioning as the new site was fine tuned. With today’s change, the old Newsroom site has been completely removed.

Information is presented in a more easily digestible format to suit not only journalists but also other researchers and members of the public who are looking to find factual material on the Church quickly and easily. Materials are written in non-Church language that can be readily understood, and the site addresses topics that are commonly raised by these audiences.

Sections of the site include “Commentary,” where the Church will sometimes respond to issues of the day or comment on news reports.

The site includes a much more powerful search engine as well as updated multimedia components. Included on the site is The World Report, a biannual audiovisual news report on what is happening in the Church around the world.

One of the enhancements to the site is an updated RSS feed, allowing subscribers to be notified whenever key parts of the site change. All users who previously signed up for RSS on the old Newsroom Web site will need to set up new RSS feeds.

For a short time, a feedback survey is available. Users are encouraged to submit suggestions, concerns or problem links. This will help in providing a Newsroom that is helpful to the public.

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Church Talking More Through the Internet

The latest Web site for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was launched today — part of a series of initiatives aimed at streamlining and improving the way the Church communicates through the Internet.

The changes made today to www.lds.org — a site aimed primarily at Church members around the world — include access to scriptures in multiple languages (now available in English, German, Italian, French and Spanish) and a substantially improved search engine and easier navigation.

New content management software will allow for more collaboration between Church headquarters departments to make information about the Church more accessible via the Web. Together, Church Web sites often already receive up to 12 million page views in a single week.

Meanwhile, the Church is continuing to develop sites and technology to meet growing interest around the world. Two existing Church sites — www.mormon.org and www.familysearch.org — specialize in, respectively, messages for people who are not members of the Church but who are inquiring about it, and resources for those who are undertaking genealogical research.

A new Newsroom Web site was launched in a beta (test) format in December and is expected to replace the current Newsroom Web site in February. Earlier this month, the Church launched the LDS Tech Web site, which includes a forum for technology discussions.

The first blogs by Church representatives are also starting to appear, on topics ranging from the Church and technology to the place of the Church in society.

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