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New year brings end to printed version of newspaper

  • Published
  • By Maj. Susan A. Romano
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  After six and a half decades gracing the hallways, vestibules, waiting rooms and break areas here, the Gulf Defender has completed its final press run and will no longer appear each Friday in newsstands on base.

This issue of the Gulf Defender is the last that will be printed as the Air Force transitions from newsprint to cyberspace.

Originally known as Tyndall Target, then Jet Scope, and finally the Gulf Defender, the base has produced a base publication to inform, educate, enlighten and often entertain readers about various issues that affect the base, its Airmen, their families and retirees.

Over the years, Tyndall has undergone significant changes to its mission, and the delivery of news is not immune to that change. From airframes to computers, technology has been the driving force behind how the Air Force conducts its operations and focuses its time, resources and manpower to adapt to burgeoning technology.

With the invention of the World Wide Web and the ever-present 24-hour news cycle, coupled with the constant demand for news and information, the Air Force is going to a Web-based information delivery system to provide Airmen with real-time information that can be instantaneously accessed. This will allow not only those at stateside bases to quickly access important information, but also deployed servicemembers and personnel on leave or TDY will have greater access to home-station news.

"Moving to online products allows the wing to be proactive by providing news as it happens, rather than waiting a week until the next base newspaper is published," said Brig. Gen. Tod Wolters, 325th Fighter Wing commander. "It gives us greater flexibility to inform the base populace on issues of most concern to our Airmen."

By using the Tyndall's homepage, (www.tyndall.af.mil) viewers can access current articles, commentaries, biographies, fact sheets, photos and videos that are useful as well as informative. Archived issues of the Gulf Defender are still available on the homepage, and visitors to the site will also be able to find a two-page "Web Defender" that will contain the weekly "Checkertail Salute" recognition program as well as commentaries from Tyndall commanders and other informational mainstays our readers are accustomed to seeing each week.

Transitioning to the Internet is in line with Air Force Smart Operations-21, according to the Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs chief. "Now more than ever, the PA career field needs to leverage technology and focus on key audiences, rather than continuing what have become unsustainable legacy processes," said Brig. Gen. (sel.) Michelle Johnson, SAF Public Affairs. "Web-based content provides a number of benefits, including allowing PA shops to refocus the time spent on layout and design to more relevant and timely content. Material can be drafted, reviewed and posted the same day online vice the current average of four to nine days."

Units are encouraged to contact the wing Public Affairs office with story ideas and photo opportunities that can be posted to the Web. E-mail should be sent to editor@tyndall.af.mil, and calls can be directed to (850) 283-4500.