The Newspaper Rodeo
Sunday, Oct. 2, was an exciting day at The Beaumont Enterprise.
After more than a week of being solely an online newspaper, we got back into the publication business, thanks to the presses at the San Antonio Express-News. We were still on generator power, and our pressmen were scattered and unavailable.
The edition was a published compilation of all the PDF files (online page snapshots) of what we would have published had we not lost power about 1:30 a.m. Sept. 24. We'd gone nine agonizing days without our hard work put to paper.
We only had a handful of newspaper carriers around, so part of the delivery job fell to us, and we were giddy about the opportunity. Newsroom employees who were supposed to have their first day off in two weeks came in just to take part in the delivery rodeo.
The newspapers arrived from San Antonio at 6 a.m. Sunday. The carriers hit the streets, filling newspaper racks where businesses were open and tossing the Enterprise into the yards of homes where there appeared to be occupants, regardless of whether they were subscribers. We handed out the newspaper for free.
I went to the back dock about 8 a.m. and loaded up my Nissan Pathfinder with hundreds of papers. My first site was Parkdale Mall, where everyone from FEMA agents to insurance companies to the National Guard set up tents for assisting those with needs ranging from food and water to financial assistance.
The group of people waiting in line at the FEMA station snatched up a stack of papers like seagulls on bread crumbs. "Y'all share!" I hollered as I got back in my car and took off for nearby neighborhoods, where I handed newspapers to anyone I saw, including police, firefighters, random residents and even a local TV news anchorman. This was cool.
At one point, someone on radio station KLVI, an AM station broadcasting continuous storm and aftermath coverage, sometimes regardless of proper fact-checking, started taking pot shots at The Enterprise, again. The guy behind the mic said that he'd heard that we were printing but were trying to make big bucks off it. Never mind that we'd been virtually a non-profit news organization for two weeks. Then he questioned what we would possible have to print.
My tires squeeled as I made a U-turn and headed for the station, where I pounded on the door and demanded to be put on air. I had newspapers in my hand. Subsequently, I got some on-air time and poked in some station digs myself, saying that we were finally "an accurate news source" for a station that had become a "fountain of misinformation."
Kick ass.
After that, I returned to the Enterprise, loaded up and handed out another 200 or so newspapers. I drove counterflow down a long line of motorists who had come to the mall parking lot for assistance. I handed them newspapers through their windows. Drive-by delivery boy. People seemed grateful.
The top newspaper headline read: COMBACK TIME
After more than a week of being solely an online newspaper, we got back into the publication business, thanks to the presses at the San Antonio Express-News. We were still on generator power, and our pressmen were scattered and unavailable.
The edition was a published compilation of all the PDF files (online page snapshots) of what we would have published had we not lost power about 1:30 a.m. Sept. 24. We'd gone nine agonizing days without our hard work put to paper.
We only had a handful of newspaper carriers around, so part of the delivery job fell to us, and we were giddy about the opportunity. Newsroom employees who were supposed to have their first day off in two weeks came in just to take part in the delivery rodeo.
The newspapers arrived from San Antonio at 6 a.m. Sunday. The carriers hit the streets, filling newspaper racks where businesses were open and tossing the Enterprise into the yards of homes where there appeared to be occupants, regardless of whether they were subscribers. We handed out the newspaper for free.
I went to the back dock about 8 a.m. and loaded up my Nissan Pathfinder with hundreds of papers. My first site was Parkdale Mall, where everyone from FEMA agents to insurance companies to the National Guard set up tents for assisting those with needs ranging from food and water to financial assistance.
The group of people waiting in line at the FEMA station snatched up a stack of papers like seagulls on bread crumbs. "Y'all share!" I hollered as I got back in my car and took off for nearby neighborhoods, where I handed newspapers to anyone I saw, including police, firefighters, random residents and even a local TV news anchorman. This was cool.
At one point, someone on radio station KLVI, an AM station broadcasting continuous storm and aftermath coverage, sometimes regardless of proper fact-checking, started taking pot shots at The Enterprise, again. The guy behind the mic said that he'd heard that we were printing but were trying to make big bucks off it. Never mind that we'd been virtually a non-profit news organization for two weeks. Then he questioned what we would possible have to print.
My tires squeeled as I made a U-turn and headed for the station, where I pounded on the door and demanded to be put on air. I had newspapers in my hand. Subsequently, I got some on-air time and poked in some station digs myself, saying that we were finally "an accurate news source" for a station that had become a "fountain of misinformation."
Kick ass.
After that, I returned to the Enterprise, loaded up and handed out another 200 or so newspapers. I drove counterflow down a long line of motorists who had come to the mall parking lot for assistance. I handed them newspapers through their windows. Drive-by delivery boy. People seemed grateful.
The top newspaper headline read: COMBACK TIME
posted by Brian Pearson at 7:53 PM
1 Comments:
Please tell me it actually read "COMEBACK TIME"....?
:)
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