Depressed

[Colton]

Apologies for the subject line, but it seems appropriate on a couple of fronts.

Watched our presses through their final run after 43 years of service Thursday night and, in truth, it was so sad. Watching the guys dutifully go through their steps as usual and then finish and shut it down was heartbreaking. Shaking hands and exchanging hugs as we said what will surely be our final goodbyes was heartbreaking.

Last night, I went and stood in the darkened pressroom several times. The realization of how many people have come through that department during my time there (26 of the 43 years of its existence), it was a bit haunting, almost as if I could hear the laughs we shared, etc. coming to life.

As I walked out before heading home before the sun came up this morning, I saw my buddy's ink-stained ballcap hung on its nail... and, yes, I admit, I lost it.

Wishing the 20 good people who lost their jobs to this outsourcing to a shop an hour away nothing but the best. They deserved so much better than this.

Thanks for listening to me whine, everyone.

 

[Tucsondriver]

I feel ya. Important to remember that people are the essence of what makes this business special. That we're people putting together a product about people for people. It's the part that gets lost when we worry about hyperlink this and tag that and UVs and page views and all that crap. And of course it all goes dark when the presses roll for the last time. RIP said shop.

 

[SixToe]

You're not whining, and don't think that way.

I always loved seeing and hearing the presses, talking with the guys, watching them operate the knobs, ink, controls and whatever else. The first few come out, they look and start adjusting. The ink is fixed, the alignment jiggled, just a few imperceptible bumps of this or that by the guy at the controls.

Before long it's perfect: crisp, new, heady with the aroma of ink, unsullied until you open the pages and turn them one by one, proofing everything from the date and page number to that head with the word "Public" you read three times and check again to make sure the "l" is in there. You laugh at the Dilbert strip, read tomorrow's Horoscope today and wonder how many people will do the same just a few hours after the mighty presses stop rolling, churning and singing.

Then the Internet ****ed up everything.

 

[JBHawkEye]

A couple of years ago, a writer from a paper that had its press operations moved elsewhere as a cost-cutting move (Gannett) came down to our newsroom to file his story from a game he covered here. Our presses had been running sections for the Sunday paper when he arrived.

When he walked in, he said it felt good to actually "smell the ink. I miss that."

Our pressroom guys are great to deal with. They love my department because we (usually) get done on time. So they're always accommodating if we need to stop to re-plate because of a headline error or something like that.

It's sad how many people I know who work at papers that print at another newspaper, and how those changes have affected their deadlines and their sections.

 

[slappy4428]

When my last paper closed, I stayed in the building as a stringer for the competition, The other paper only made two hires -- both had their purpose, neither was loved by their peers.
Tho I had been there for just over a year, I used to walk to my part of the building, sit in a chair that had been mine for 54 weeks, but someone elses for 26 years and feel the same angst and pain you did.

 

[WriteThinking]

When classes of school kids or members of community groups showed up for tours of newspapers, what, invariably, used to be the highlight, whether at a small paper or a major metro?

That's right: watching the presses run.

This isn't whining, Colton. It's giving the essence of our operation its due.

 

[apeman33]

When classes of school kids or members of community groups showed up for tours of newspapers, what, invariably, used to be the highlight, whether at a small paper or a major metro?

That's right: watching the presses run.

This isn't whining, Colton. It's giving the essence of our operation its due.

We don't bring those classes in for tours anymore. The press is 25 miles away. The staff works mostly after school now. What is there to see? Hey, kids, take a look at the incredible world of 100-percent commission, non-salaried advertising sales?

 

[WriteThinking]

When classes of school kids or members of community groups showed up for tours of newspapers, what, invariably, used to be the highlight, whether at a small paper or a major metro?

That's right: watching the presses run.

This isn't whining, Colton. It's giving the essence of our operation its due.

We don't bring those classes in for tours anymore. The press is 25 miles away. The staff works mostly after school now. What is there to see? Hey, kids, take a look at the incredible world of 100-percent commission, non-salaried advertising sales?

Note that I said "used to be the highlight"...Yeah, as technology advances and the industry changes, there's no doubt that something is being lost.

 

[flexmaster33]

ughh...sorry man. We have a press on-site at our shop as well, and I hope all the hard-working people that work on it can stay for a long, long time. A huge photo greets us at work everyday of the first press that stood in that same spot more than 100 years ago.

 

[HanSenSE]

When classes of school kids or members of community groups showed up for tours of newspapers, what, invariably, used to be the highlight, whether at a small paper or a major metro?

That's right: watching the presses run.

This isn't whining, Colton. It's giving the essence of our operation its due.

We don't bring those classes in for tours anymore. The press is 25 miles away. The staff works mostly after school now. What is there to see? Hey, kids, take a look at the incredible world of 100-percent commission, non-salaried advertising sales?

We do get the tour groups, usually 2-3 kids and some parents. Marketing magager pretty much has the routine down, and I usually try to have something to show them, like working on a photo in Photoshop, when they come by.

One day, though, I'd like to get into a screaming match with a reporter over something in a story , then come to blows just as the group wanders by ... of course, the reporter is in on the gag!

That said ... we shut down our press a few years ago. Every now and then, since they were temporarily storing the morgue in there, I'd go back and see it still threaded with that last run. (siiiiiggghhhh)

 

[lone star scribe]

I eavesdropped on one of those tours run by the marketing/advertising people in our shop. She ran the kids through every advertising office in the building, and when they got to the newsroom, I heard her say, "This is the newsroom. Not much happens in here."

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

That's what I always told a former boss who liked to be surrounded by his reporters, instead of having them out, you know, covering stuff.

But yeah, I hear ya.

Sad news about the presses. I raise my glass (of coffee).

-- 30 --

 

[SoCalDude]

One time our agate clerk lost a file, started screaming and cussing and pounding his keyboard ... just as a cub scout troop was walking past.

 

[apeman33]

When classes of school kids or members of community groups showed up for tours of newspapers, what, invariably, used to be the highlight, whether at a small paper or a major metro?

That's right: watching the presses run.

This isn't whining, Colton. It's giving the essence of our operation its due.

We don't bring those classes in for tours anymore. The press is 25 miles away. The staff works mostly after school now. What is there to see? Hey, kids, take a look at the incredible world of 100-percent commission, non-salaried advertising sales?

We do get the tour groups, usually 2-3 kids and some parents. Marketing magager pretty much has the routine down, and I usually try to have something to show them, like working on a photo in Photoshop, when they come by.

One day, though, I'd like to get into a screaming match with a reporter over something in a story , then come to blows just as the group wanders by ... of course, the reporter is in on the gag!

That said ... we shut down our press a few years ago. Every now and then, since they were temporarily storing the morgue in there, I'd go back and see it still threaded with that last run. (siiiiiggghhhh)

We don't even have that reminder. Shortly after the closed out press room, they took two parts over to the mothership to expand its press' capability and sold the rest for parts.

 

[Justin Biebler]

Sorry about your press Colton. I'll tell you what, we're printing five surrounding smaller dailiies at our shop and right now that's what's keeping us afloat.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Colton, apologize for nothing. You're fine.

We still get classes in the newsroom to see what is going on. I need to tag along with them sometime at this place because I still haven't seen the production, at least not more that a superficial view. It makes me particularly grateful for the previous stops, where we did talk with the press folks. Most were really accomodating and very decent people and knowing them and knowing that many went above and beyond the basic duties served as motivation to make things as easy as reasonably possible. There were times I couldn't help for reasons far beyond my control, but otherwise offer those folks a hand. They understand the art of communication and reciprocation.

Thanks for the reminder, Colton.

 

[HanSenSE]

Thanks for the story Sam. A good press crew is money in the bank. About two months after I started this gig in sports, the other half of the department quit. During football season. On short notice. So on the first Friday night I was a half-hour or so late. The paginator kept them off my back that first Friday, but on Saturday one of the guys came up and, nicely, asked what was going on. Word hadn't filtered back to them yet I was now a solo act. Never heard from them on a Friday again.

 

[dixiehack]

In some ways I like to think press rooms helped keep journalists a little more in touch with the average joe than most professionals. Probably a little easier to have concern for the working class when you basically have a small factory a door away.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

In some ways I like to think press rooms helped keep journalists a little more in touch with the average joe than most professionals. Probably a little easier to have concern for the working class when you basically have a small factory a door away.

I loved it when we still had a backshop back when things were still cut and pasted on to the section. They were all let go sometime around 1998 or 1999. Not to sound like an old fogey, but there was a sense of purity in seeing the columns come out and have everything pieced together... I remember being very sad when they were let go.

 

[JBHawkEye]

In some ways I like to think press rooms helped keep journalists a little more in touch with the average joe than most professionals. Probably a little easier to have concern for the working class when you basically have a small factory a door away.

I loved it when we still had a backshop back when things were still cut and pasted on to the section. They were all let go sometime around 1998 or 1999. Not to sound like an old fogey, but there was a sense of purity in seeing the columns come out and have everything pieced together... I remember being very sad when they were let go.

I kind of miss those days, too. Spent a summer during college working at the hometown paper doing cut-and-paste.

When I got here, our cut-and-paste shop was a union shop. One day all that was left to do was cut one paragraph out of a wire story. No one was around, the guys were working on getting some news pages done, so I took a knife and cut the paragraph. Shop foreman saw me do it, and just chewed my ass for about 10 minutes. I made sure to never do that again.

We had one guy who, as soon as the foreman blew the whistle for the first group to go to lunch, would put down the knife and walk away, no matter what was left to do. One day he did it with one paragraph to cut on my page. Someone else had to come over, cut the paragraph, and take the page back to the pressroom.