Universal desk problems

He has a friend in Pierre Karl Peladeau.

 

I'll take nothing away from the news desk but I have to relate a story from a few years ago.

In those days, the Rocky Mount Telegram was Sunday AM, weekday PM, which meant if something missed the one deadline, it would be 36 hours before the next news cycle.

The one news editor was usually done with the front around 8 and would sit and watch television while we were banging away, since he had to stay to check pages once the press started. Well, about 11, we started hearing about a crash involving Princess Diana in Paris -- and the reports became more and more ominous.

He came to me and in a panicky tone said, "What do you think I should do? The front's already been approved." (The city editor had to approve all changes then.)

Well, I explained that I'd take the heat if he wanted to switch out something. He finally found a 12-inch hole -- but at the time, AP hadn't sent even an alert, let alone a first lede. (All the TV stuff was either Reuters or AFP, from what I remember.)

So in the middle of trying to get my own section out, I told him I'd write him 12 inches on Princess Diana -- a couple of graphs of the most updated info we had, plus a bunch of background -- if he'd get a thumbnail and headline ready.

Fifteen minutes later, he had the story, and stared at me like I had produced a gold bar out of my butt.

"How did you do that so fast?"

"Well, in sports, we do this kind of thing every day."

 

"And without 18 cheese or pepperoni pizzas, either, like on election night."

 

Great story, maumann.

 

Oh, we have 18 cheese or pepperoni pizzas, too.







We just buy them ourselves.

 

The days of being compartmentalized into small beat segments of a section are ending. We're all going to have to be generalists before long: Capable of writing a 30 inch story, taking our own photos, doing our own video for the Web site, paginating and editing other copy. We're also going to have to be able to cover the city council meeting or the shooting down the street or last night's ballgame at the drop of a hat.

I don't know if that's good for journalism, but that seems to be the direction we're heading in.

And yes, that was a great story, maumann.

 

Maybe at 20Ks. Not much larger.

 

Don't be so sure.

 

Good story Maumann. Remember that night well. What a nightmare -- redid our front at like midnight. Then I had to break the news to my wife when I got home. She got up and cried for hours while watching the coverage.

 

That's what kills me. Whenever election time rolls around news folks order 20 pizzas because it's a big deal and everyone is working at a frantic pace to get results and get out on deadline.

We do it every Friday for preps and every Saturday for college football and no one gives us pizza.

At my previous shop, it was not uncommon for the managing editor to snag me or another sports design guy to help out with pages for election coverage.

 

Pet. Peeve.

"Oh, those poor people, working so hard on election night. Let's order them some pizza! Hey sports guys ... if you want some pizza you can. And if one of you could do the Opinion Page ... we'd really appreciate it. Oh ... you have a game to cover? Can you do the page after your game?"

 

My first shop, I was a one-man sports crew. Used to come in at 11 a.m. every day and get crap from the news people for it. They never quite understood just how late I worked covering games. Election night rolled around one year and they all came in at 3 p.m.. Having been there since 11 a.m., I gave them crap, and they all started whining and complaining about how late they were going to be working that night. As usual, I wound up being the last one in the newsroom that night as well.