Axiom news is becoming more closely integrated with a client, Community Living Ontario, to the benefit of both parties.

Peter Pula, executive editor of Axiom News which produces the web-based, stakeholder news site Community Living Leaders, is now attending weekly focus meetings of Community Living Ontario.

The meetings are designed to get the key players at Community Living “around the table to up-date each other on what we are currently doing and to help us to plan the work we are doing says Richard Van Dine, manager of communications for Community Living.

“Axiom provides us with a top-quality news service and bringing Peter to our focus meetings makes for a closer integration,” he says.

One of the strengths of the news program is its independence, Van Dine says. “Axiom is out there as another ear to the ground, with a different perspective. The way for us to take best advantage of this perspective is to have Peter at our focus meetings. He brings to us a fresh and new perspective on the field we are in.”

At the same time the focus meetings serve as an ear for Axiom, to keep the news service updated and ahead of the game, Van Dine says. “It enables Axiom to stay in pace with where we want to go.’

Pula says his presence at the meetings has been beneficial to the news direction process. “It gives us much greater insight into the issues at Community Living, keeps us focused on the priorities and identifies many more stories we can work on.”

The arrangement makes for a better alignment between the client’ strategy and news direction, he says. While the news service has the capacity for the creation of client editorial boards, the focus committee serves a similar purpose in bringing our editors to their executives, he says.

The key to success at the focus meetings is discipline, Van Dine says. “We are not there to debate the issues but to exchange information on the work we are currently doing while remaining focused on our long-range priorities.”

This information exchange often leads to the discovery of useful information, contacts or developments in one area that impact another area, he says.