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Larry L. Rose

August 29, 1999

In the path of the storm

It was not the big one of our nightmares, but Hurricane Bret showed us that local news coverage is no longer just local

The newsroom wasn't the same. Not because of the surfboards on the floor, the soaked clothes draped over things, the dry blankets and bedding everywhere, the four or five guitars, or the out-of-town media we accommodate during disaster coverage.
The newsroom was unusually crisp with energy and excitement.
Hurricane Bret was on the way.
Metro Editor Libby Averyt had positioned reporters and photographers across South Texas from Brownsville to Port Aransas to intercept the storm as it struck its first town. As Bret moved north on Sunday, the reporters moved north, filing reports of communities and residents reacting to the oncoming torrent.
We established press deadlines for the Monday paper on Saturday night, updated the times Sunday morning.
As Bret aimed for Corpus Christi, we huddled again, Managing Editor Deborah Fisher, Circulation Director Dave Gossett, Assistant Pressroom Manager John Buffa, and revised again. We locked in on times we thought would get us a newspaper before potential loss of electricity.
The first edition would run just after the storm made landfall, then a second edition would provide updates. Both press runs were risky, aimed so near time of landfall. We knew a power loss would prevent a second edition, so the first edition had to be as informative as possible.
We wanted to pack in stories of damage as well as triumph of the human spirit, and we looked for vignettes of people helping people.
But even the best hurricane coverage plans can go awry.
My first hurricane as a journalist was spent working toward a 2 a.m. deadline at the Sun-Sentinel in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. We wanted to provide the latest storm information while we were still able to print a paper. Our major competitor, The Miami Herald, had a deadline of around 10 p.m.
As the hurricane continued toward South Florida, Ft. Lauderdale appeared to be directly in its path. At the time The Miami Herald went to press, its front page headline and map had the storm aiming directly for Ft. Lauderdale. Hours later, around 1:30 a.m., the storm made a 90-degree turn, heading out to sea, and we were able to give our readers this dramatic change.
While carriers were delivering the Sun-Sentinel in the early hours of the morning, the hurricane turned around and before sunrise it slammed into Ft. Lauderdale. The Miami Herald front page looked right, our later edition page looked wrong.
That's why we stayed flexible at the Caller-Times and rolled our press deadlines along with the movement of Bret. Editors in the 116-year history of the Caller-Times may have handled hurricanes much the same way.
But this time, the paper's coverage added a footnote to company history.
Articles were filed for the newspaper's two press deadlines, but our reporters, photographers, editors and artists also were filing many, many times during the day to our Internet site, caller.com.
Caller.com became a source of hurricane news for media and people across the country. Page views rose more than 400 percent on Sunday and increased on Monday.
Online Editor Harold Ong had arranged with a Scripps Web site in Florida to carry caller.com in case we lost power. We'd file with laptop computers and cell phones from wherever we could make the connection.
Another technological twist, our new newsroom computer system, gave all reporters and editors access to the Internet and satellite images of the storm's movements.
Metro Editor Averyt was able to move people ahead of the action, staying in the storm's face, reporting such compelling articles as one by Mary Lee Grant. It carried comments from Falfurrias resident Omar Garza as a headline: 'No lights, toilet or food' with a subhead, "I wasn't scared though . . . the wind was only 120 mph."
Most of our feedback has been via e-mail and from across the country. One in particular shows how the bulk of local news coverage is no longer just local. We've always shared some Caller-Times stories with The Associated Press, which distributes them to newspaper and broadcast outlets around the country. But now people can get quick access to a much larger body of Caller-Times work through the Internet.
An e-mail from a New Hampshire writer: "I am a weather buff and I looked for a news source close to the (storm) area. I read about 10-15 papers every day. My experience with print and electronic media is big stories reveal the limitations of the news gathering organization. It is a real pleasure to find such a diamond among all the zirconia that passes for news outlets these days."
As Bret turned westward Sunday night, we put the final edition to bed with eight full pages of storm coverage and used a headline with double-meaning: "The Great Escape." A subhead noted that the city escaped the brunt of the storm and a photo showed a stream of traffic heading north on I-37. The page ended up on a number of out-of-town television reports.
And speaking of television: After a tour at the Ft. Lauderdale newspaper, I worked for The Miami Herald where I served one year as the paper's hurricane editor. It was interesting to examine how other newspapers and TV stations covered the storms. That was years ago, but I remember how good the Miami stations were. But I've never seen a stronger, more exhaustive, job of broadcasting a hurricane than I saw last weekend on KRIS, Channel 6 News. That was a two- thumbs-up performance.
A hitch in our plan came Monday morning as the storm passed south. Fairly calm weather was broken by heavy, trailing rain bands which flooded streets and hampered circulation.
Other departments pitched in and advertising account executives, business office personnel and others, including publisher Steve Sullivan and Chief Financial Officer Darrell Coleman, headed out in trucks to help deliver the Monday paper.
A final note. On Sunday afternoon, with coverage plan in place, press times set, such incidentals as food and water accounted for, the only thing left to do was keep everyone informed of changes in the storm and head off problems.
With Fisher, Averyt and News Editor Chris Neely working on getting stories, photos and graphics onto the Internet and into the paper ahead of deadline, the prudent thing to do was to get out of the way and let these and other talented professionals do their jobs.
They were very busy, busy beyond their expectations, for I never did get to hear those guitars being played.

Larry L. Rose can be reached by phone at 361-886-3749 or by e-mail at rosel@caller.com.

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