Blizzard 2011 grounds the Tulsa World print edition

At the least, the World should follow the example of the New Orleans Times-Picayune during Katrina: The August 30, August 31, and September 1, 2005 editions were not printed, but available online PDFs. JRoyal, is that what you mean by an electronic edition?

Hell, then you can go back and print copies to deliver on Thursday, plus for souvenir hunters.

 

It's not the printing, it's the distribution. And with papers bleeding, they are looking for excuses to cut corners.

 

Now they're giving subscribers an excuse to cut off the paper.

I don't care if readers don't get the print edition until noon, you should still put out a product.

 

Can't argue with you...
Some places are giving the e-edition away for free... Birmingham did it last month and the Freep is doing it tomorrow...

 

Northridge Earthquake, 1994. Freeways collapsed, roads were on fire, gas stations shut down, and the paper I worked at printed and delivered. Newspaper journalists have gone soft.

 

The macho "we get the paper out no matter what" ethic can suck my ass until the newspaper agrees to pay for any damage my car accrues going to and from work.

 

This. Possibly getting etting into an accident, injuring yourself and damaging your car, just to say, "Yeah, but Goddamit, WE DID OUR JOBS!!!" foolishness. Especially when half this fucking front page is about companies lahying off, consolidating, furloughing, paycuts.

Last year I played the role company man and walked 3/4s of a mile to work in two feet of snow and blizzard-like winds. The city editor and I were the only ones in the newsroom. Nine months later, I was told I was no longer needed.

It doesn't love you back. Not anymore at least.

 

We used to have PDFs available every day. Now we have an interactive e-edition. Some people like it more than the PDFs, some not as much. It's basically the same layout as the regular paper in a viewer similar to what you see a lot of magazines online using.

 

Pittsburg (Kan.) also had its e-edition go free today.

My paper managed to put out an edition about 8 years ago when the town had no power. We were allowed to go over and set up something temporarily in the neighboring town 20 miles away.

We printed a paper tonight, even though I couldn't get in, a layout person couldn't get in and one of the reporters couldn't get in. But we don't have the carrier issue because every single paper is delivered by mail.

 

I can understand the "put out the paper no matter what" cries — to an extent. But I wonder how many of the people saying that are writers, who are not under the same bad-weather pressure as deskers. I take a little pride in working a job in which I don't simply get time off when the weather's bad. But the similarities between myself and those in occupations like firemen and policemen end with that weather-related sacrifice. I hate to agree with Rick when it comes to anything related to work, but at some point, putting out the newspaper is not important enough to risk lives.

 

If you legitimately cannot get staffers to the office or printing complex to publish a print version, or distribution in the city blanketed with ice and snow, then it's stupid to try to do it anyway.

You're risking people, property and for what? A damn motto? "WE published!" Big deal. So you miss a day of print publication. Readers might not be able to find the damn thing in 18 inches of snow in their yard anyway.

Read it online. Those who can't, well, tough. Catch up tomorrow. Times change.

 

Agreed.