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Tough situation

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Cosmo, Jul 4, 2016.

  1. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    This is logistically impossible at this point, unfortunately. The magazines have already started to mail. In-home delivery window is 7-11/7-14.
     
  2. CD Boogie

    CD Boogie Well-Known Member

    Not sure why the suggestion to kill the issue altogether was even broached. This isn't naming him Sportsman of the Year and the having him outed as a child molester. Readers are understanding, especially if it's lauding someone in an article and then having him die in the most common of ways: a car accident. Hate to jump to conclusions, but was alcohol involved? And was alcohol or his fun-loving ways mentioned at length in the article? Definitely something you have to get ahead of on social media.
     
    reformedhack likes this.
  3. Big Circus

    Big Circus Well-Known Member

    @Cosmo, has the issue hit mailboxes yet? Curious to know what you wound up doing and what feedback you get. I run a membership association magazine as well, and have been mulling over how we'd react if something like this happened.
     
  4. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member

    This is almost comical. I sincerely doubt he has the power to keep the magazine from being published. That's a decision the publisher will make, hence the title of publisher.

    He needs to address this with the publisher. If it's published, he needs to do as much damage control as possible. Definitely call the family but it's not his responsibility to call advertisers. Advertising can do that and can gauge their reaction and relate that to the publisher.

    Pull everything, in this day and age? Yeah, good luck with that. I'll bet the story runs, full on, as is. Few publishers are going to eat $5K to $10K over such a situation these days.
     
  5. reformedhack

    reformedhack Well-Known Member

    Folks, go back and read the original post. It's a lead note about a tournament result. The golfer's death doesn't change the validity of what was published. It's only a minor oddity because he happened to die while the magazine was at press. This kind of stuff happens with surprising frequency for long-lead publications. It's happened to me. I'm sure it will happen again some day.

    As noted previously, it's not like the whole issue is about him. Some perspective here:

    • Yes, apprise the publisher. (Always share information with your boss).
    • No, there's no need to kill an entire press run. (Proportion, people. It's just a notebook item, and it's not incorrect.)
    • No, there's no need to bundle it with a separate note on a separate a piece of paper. (If you have time — and money — to do that, you have time — and money — to update the story.)
    • No, the advertisers don't need special notification. (Probably.)
    • Yes, be in touch with the family. (Because that's what decent humans do.)
    • Yes, note the news on social media. (Inoculate yourself from trolls.)
    • No, don't ruminate over it. (Really. Don't.)
    • Yes, keep internal notes about what you did, what worked and what didn't, and move on. (Deadline for the next issue is already just around the corner.)

    Sounds like Cosmo has it well under control.
     
    HanSenSE and Riptide like this.
  6. mediaguy

    mediaguy Well-Known Member

    Reformedhack is right. No need to do anything dramatic here. Follow up in your next issue with a respectful note that he passed away. As was mentioned, everything in initial note is correct and accurate. We're getting a little alarmist here.
     
    HanSenSE and reformedhack like this.
  7. JohnHammond

    JohnHammond Well-Known Member

    Advertisers might need to be notified if the initial reports the crash was alcohol-related were true and there are alcohol ads near the story.
     
  8. Cosmo

    Cosmo Well-Known Member

    Just to follow up ... since he was supposed to be in the field for our State Open, we memorialized him there and handed out ribbons for players and staff to wear in his honor.

    The kid's dad called and thanked me for the story. Said he was in his office when he had talked over the phone. As reformed noted, it was a six-graf short based mostly off tournament success, not an in-depth character dive.

    John's point is a good one, but we have no alcohol related ads in the mag.
     
  9. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    FWIW, we once did a little feature on a 6-year-old girl who won a "national" putting contest for one of our county editions in Florida.

    She died two days after the story came out of some sudden heart thing.

    Worst one was a college tennis player who was driving to the beach and died when a cinderblock fell off the truck in front of her and bounced through her windshield.

    So you never know.
     
  10. typefitter

    typefitter Well-Known Member

    This is the magazine writer's nightmare, and in a way it's just life (and death) taking its course. The world still turns between deadline and publication. Happened at Esquire with a Korey Stringer story. Luckily it was a nice story, but there was no stopping it. I mean, nobody saw a 27-year-old football player in his prime dying. Normally it's when you profile Hugh Hefner or someone that you really worry.

    Worst/most bizarre one I saw, which I've mentioned before: (Really nice) newspaper columnist writes a pretty scathing column about Payne Stewart. Paper and the column comes out the next morning, right along with the first TV reports of Payne Stewart's plane flying with frosted windows.
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2016
    reformedhack likes this.
  11. wicked

    wicked Well-Known Member

    That's brutal. No one caught that? It was an all-day thing, not like it happened right before deadline.
     
  12. typefitter

    typefitter Well-Known Member

    No, he wrote it the night before. Came out the same day as the crash. I knew what he had written, and I'll never forget waking up, turning on the TV with my cereal, and seeing the news of that plane. You wouldn't believe the calls to the newsroom.
     
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