Dupont sits in his downtown St. Petersburg, Florida office when
he worked for the St. Petersburg Times. This is a photo that Chuck Kennedy
took for American Journalism Review.

Ronald Dupont Jr.'s
Consultant Services

The Nut Graph

When he can weave it into his schedule, Dupont will consult for various newspapers. Over the years, many papers have asked him to speak to their departments, analyze their operations or help them sign new vendors. If you’re already familiar with Dupont, the services he is offering, as well as his contact info, are listed below. If you’re not familiar with Dupont, a short biography can be found at the bottom of this page.

Dupont’s Consulting Services

• Analyze A Newspaper’s Internet Operation – Depending on the timetable set, Dupont will interview key staffers in the Internet, news and advertising departments of the newspaper, then analyze how those departments interact. His report will include the projects and synergies that are working, as well as detailed suggestions on how to improve the Internet department’s interaction with the rest of the paper. The report will be more than just a technical review. In fact, very little will have to do with the technical side (unless that’s a major factor in a department’s under-performance). Rather, the report will focus more on how to better integrate the newspaper’s various departments with the Internet goals of the newspaper. Using Dupont to analyze a newspaper’s Internet operation will require buy-in from the newspaper’s top management so that he can freely interview key players at the paper.

E&P Cover Story Dupont was featured as the cover story in Editor & Publisher. For a list of stories about Dupont or ones in which he is quoted, go here.

• Critique A Newspaper’s Website – An oft-used judge by both the Newspaper Association of America and Editor & Publisher, Dupont will critique a newspaper’s Website, regardless of the circulation of the newspaper. His report will be constructive in nature. Yes, the weak points of the site will be highlighted, as well as its strengths. But Dupont will give counsel on how to improve the site, even offering tips on possible computer software, hardware and selected vendors. Dupont’s report will be commensurate with the circulation of the newspaper. Obviously, Dupont is not going to suggest large-newspaper solutions to a paper that can’t afford them.

• Choosing/Negotiating With A Vendor – Dupont has worked with or negotiated a contract with virtually every major newspaper Internet vendor on the market today. Some of those vendors include CareerBuilder, Switchboard, PowerOne (formerly PowerAdz and AdOne), AdPay, Accuweather, Legacy, AdExpedia, Print2Web, World Choice Travel, Town News, VideoAxs, Content Chameleon and Inside This Home, among others. Dupont also has negotiated groundbreaking contracts with AOL and eBay. A newspaper contemplating a new vendor or perhaps wishing to better implement the services of a vendor could use Dupont’s vast experience in this arena.

• Crash Course in Offering Community Internet Classes – Dupont pioneered the use of free community Internet classes in which people are taught how to use the Internet. The beauty to the class is that the newspaper’s Website itself is used throughout the 1.5-hour class as the teaching tool. In short, a newspaper gets hundreds of people to sit through a 1.5-hour commercial for the newspaper. Dupont is a professional speaker and has course outlines for beginner’s classes, as well as specialized advanced classes. While working at the small Charlotte Sun Herald, Dupont taught roughly 50,000 people in three years using his special method of education and entertainment, all the while promoting the newspaper and its Website.

• For Weeklies and Small Dailies: A Report on How to Have a Successful, Profitable and Editorially Significant Website on a Small Budget – This report is being written and will be ready soon. It gives practical advice on how small-circulation newspapers can produce Websites that enhance the newspaper online while earning a profit and having an editorial impact on the community. The report names specific vendors and contact names. For weekly newspapers with less than 2,000 circulation, this report will be free.

Contacting Dupont

• E-mail: flaron@mindspring.com
• Home Phone: 386-935-4982
• Work: 386-454-1297

Additional Links

• HTML Resume
• Microsoft Word Resume
• A List of Media That Have Written About Dupont or Quoted Him
• A List of His Speeches Over The Past Few Years

Why Dupont?

The contributions of Ronald Dupont Jr. to the newspaper industry’s Internet efforts are well-known. In the mid-1990s, just as newspapers were embracing the Internet, Dupont helped lead the small Charlotte Sun Herald to world recognition as it was named the best Website in the country by both the NAA and Editor & Publisher. His innovations at the Sun Herald included community Websites (then a new concept), customizable Web pages (also then a new concept) and Internet classes (attended by 50,000 people).

From there, Dupont moved on to Florida’s largest newspaper, the St. Petersburg Times, and took charge of the paper’s struggling Internet operation, which, among large newspapers, was producing one of the weakest Websites in the country. He led the newspaper’s Internet division to new heights, as it gained national prominence and outgrew all other newspaper Websites in the Sunshine State.

Twice nominated for the NAA’s “Internet Pioneer” award, Dupont is not as well known for his achievements in the newsrooms of newspapers. The youngest writing intern at the Palm Beach Post and the first junior college writing intern ever accepted by the New York Times, Dupont has worked for newspapers since middle school. A consummate newspaper man, Dupont has won state and national recognition for his photography, layout, news writing, feature writing and sports writing. In the early 1990s, he was named editor of the High Springs Herald and within five years, he helped double its circulation and lead it to a number-one ranking by the Florida Press Association four times.

When he left the High Springs Herald in 1995, he joined the Charlotte Sun Herald, the fastest growing newspaper in the country during the 1990s.  As its city editor, he cut overtime by 75 percent within six months and literally re-arranged the newsroom. The newspaper won 48 percent of all awards in its size class in the state competition, based solely on the work done during the 6.5 months he was city editor. (He was named Internet editor of the paper shortly thereafter.)

With a strong background in the newsroom and in Internet operations, as well as solid work on the business side of newspapering, Dupont is a regular public speaker across the country and is regularly sought by newspapers and newspaper chains for his insight.