Teamwork At Your Local Newspaper

Here's a copy of a note I sent out to our entire staff on Friday morning. Thought it might make interesting reading for folks who are interested in what we do down here at the newspaper. Ben

From: Holden, Ben - Columbus
Sent: Friday, March 27, 2009 10:10 AM
To: CLE - Broadcast
Subject: Teamwork

Now and then I like to joke that some folks think gremlins put out the paper. Most of us work during the daylight hours and when we leave for home much of what shows up as news in the morning paper has not been reported, edited or designed on pages. Such was the case yesterday with Alan's fine work on our new district attorney, who has decided not to seek the death penalty against Charles Johnston, the man who shot and killed three people last year at Doctors Hospital.

Alan interviewed D.A. Slater once earlier in the day for a story that was to be a sidebar to our package on Cpl. Mike Dahnke, the officer who shot Johnston. But when we realized Slater was making bigger news with the death penalty decision, we sent him back out for a more in-depth probe of the issue.

He got back to the office around 5:30 p.m., and belted out a new lead and a completely re-done story by 7:30 last night. Elizabeth Conner, our Night Editor, then did a fine job of editing and sharpening the piece, taking it from a relatively inconsequential sidebar to our A1 lead.

Holly Leach, our A1 designer, worked quickly to produce the main substance of the Page One design and layout that you see today, shooting off PDF copies for review shortly after 10:30 p.m. (Meanwhile, Elizabeth is contacting Alan to double-check the story edits for accuracy). Tim Chitwood's thoughtful re-telling of Cpl. Dahnke's heroism was the perfect complement to Alan's fine reporting).

The bottom line, from my perspective, is that anyone who loves newspapers and who is invested in this industry should take heart; with the pride and dedication that I saw last night, we are not only still alive, but we will continue to thrive.

Regards, Ben

-v-
Ben Holden
Vice President & Executive Editor
Ledger-Enquirer
(706) 571-8560 - Phone
(706) 576-6290 - Fax
www.ledger-enquirer.com
bholden@ledger-enquirer.com