Speaking Personally: When press deadlines are at odds with news

Last week, the limitations of a weekly newspaper became glaringly obvious. That is not always the case but last week, the news moved too fast for this publication to be the first source of local information as it unfolded. 

 

As a general rule – news that happens on a Monday or Tuesday is reported, not that week, but on the next week’s news cycle. Most weeks, that works. I always say that, in our newsroom, we don’t do breaking news. We do better news. 

 

Last week’s announcement of a budget crisis in the Willow Springs R-IV school district was a perfect storm of inconvenient timing for our print deadlines. An announcement of the budget crisis came out on a Tuesday, Aug. 5., too late for the Aug. 6 paper. The Aug. 11 school board meeting, the first after the Aug. 5 announcement of a budget problem, cannot be in the Aug. 13 edition. The paper is printed on Monday afternoons. By the time I’m sitting in the school board meeting, the Aug. 13 paper will already have been printed. You will read our coverage in the Aug. 20 paper. 

 

See our news coverage on the Aug. 5 announcement on the front page. Print is at a distinct disadvantage for being the first with local news, but I pour out most of my time and energy to make sure this publication will have the best coverage. 

 

Sure, we could write and post stories online between deadlines, but we are first and foremost a newspaper – a print publication. Our subscribers and advertisers sustain us with their support of our print product. We will not give away our best stories for free online. 

 

I think you, our loyal readers, deserve better than that. But I could be wrong.

 

What do you think about our commitment to better news, not breaking news? Send your thoughts to editor@howellcountynews.com