Saving time and money, adaptations and permanent evolutions... It is at Corse Matin that Melody has shown the qualities of its CMS for the first time in the Regional Daily Press. Meeting with Matthieu Valéry, head of the Desk.
What led you at Corse Matin to work with a CMS like Melody?
It was a combination of events that led us to this choice. Until then, we were technically entirely linked to La Provence. Shareholder choices led us to extract ourselves from it. As a result, we had to change all our production tools. But we didn't have an IT department or a technical structure... So we had to outsource a maximum of things. By opting for Melody, we found many answers to our various problems.
At the time you decided to go with Melody, what were you looking for?
Maximum flexibility. Previously, we had tools that required us to have real in-house specialists. It was quite complicated on a daily basis. With Melody, we found maximum flexibility and responsiveness. As I often say, the Melody product that we implemented in March 2020 was ultimately very different from the product we discovered when it was introduced. And the one we are using today has evolved a lot more! Yes, it's a tool that evolves, that renews itself. I am sure that the one we will be using in two years will still be different.
"With Melody, we found maximum flexibility and responsiveness."
How did you get used to the tool? Was any training required?
Of course. Very quick training, in two days, for the editors, a little more tedious for everything related to the layout... As with every change, we had to remove some obstacles. Above all, some had to learn a new way of working. To change paradigm, in short, and eliminate old reflexes. Melody led us to go straight to the point, and this is fundamental for the print today. But we should continue to train regularly, as the product has changed a lot! There are things we are still discovering (laughs).
The implementation of Melody coincided with the first containment. Was this a coincidence, which made it possible to quickly see its interest?
Yes! We had two important coincidences. March 5, 2020: first edition of Corse Matin with Melody. On March 17, we were confined. Each one at home. And that posed absolutely no problem! A real revolution. We didn't have a choice, but everything happened very naturally, even though the tool was brand new for us. This would not have been possible with other systems. Fast-track training! The second set of circumstances? The municipal elections. For a title of Daily Press, it is perhaps the biggest piece (laughs)! And again, it went well.
Portrait of Mathieu Valery
credit Eric Buggea
"The tool is not an end, it's a means.
And Melody is a good one!"
Does this CMS really make it possible to have twice as many journalists on the ground?
That's strictly what I think. However, this must be followed up in terms of management and human resources. Time is freed up, so we have to think about what we are going to do with it. The tool is not an end, it's a means. And Melody is a good one. A revealing test was carried out at Corse Matin with the setting up of a publishing division. For a while, we got away from the idea of print or web content. We decided to make content by extracting ourselves from this logic; and it was up to the editors to distribute it between the media, to set the temporality... This experiment was a success in a certain number of aspects. In the long run, I think it's the right system. The two poles, writing and publishing, have worked very well. Thinking about the value of each piece of information according to its different channels and letting its tempo guide it... This is also what Melody allows us to do.
Has the automation of certain ad formats changed things in your operation?
Ah, for the adverts, we have changed everything, indeed! We started to adapt the page formats and their articles to the advertising formats. Nothing is set in stone, of course, and the balance can always be changed. But the production is simple, not heavy at all, very fluid.
Melody is also the variety of formats and channels...
Yes, with Melody, everything is possible, everything is possible. If you want to publish immediately on your site, it works very well. We choose everything, the publication channel or channels, the temporality... For us, the tool has allowed us to eliminate the pre-press, the pagination service, the traffic service as well, for ads... I don't know how we would do it today without Melody!
A good example of how to use technology to free human intelligence to go further, this is especially important for the investigative capacity of journalists.