TODAY, WHEN I WALKED OUT THE DOOR into frigid 65o(F) weather I discovered a copy of the Sun -Sentinel, a newspaper published in nearby Fort Lauderdale, lying on the driveway.
It reminded me of the tactic Gannett used to introduce its first Today newspaper, Florida Today.
- In order to lure customers from the reigning newspapers, the Orlando Sentinel-Star and, to a lesser degree, the Miami Herald, Gannett blanketed Brevard County — EVERY residence in the county received a free copy of Today for two weeks.
TRUTH IN BLOGGING. I worked as a printer for both Orlando and Cocoa newspapers and was part of Today’s first edition. How I got to Cocoa is another story. I eventually worked for another Gannett newspaper, the Titusville Star-Advocate in editorial.
All the papers for which I worked, with the exception of Gannett’s Eau Gallie Courier, were full size “broadsheet” operations. The Courier, an overtime job for me in Cocoa, was a tabloid.
As a printer and later working in editorial, one of the “perks” was a free copy of the paper on which I worked. Back in the day (when we had AP, UP, and INS) I think the dailies sold for either 10¢ or 25¢; Sundays were 75¢ to $1.25. (The last time I touched a pica pole was 1972, so I don’t trust my memory 100%.) I got my start with newspapering pitching the Miami News; don’t ask when THAT was.
ANYWAY, “back in the day,” almost all newspapers included comics.
Black and white during the week (except for Today which ran color comics every day).
Sunday comics were in color. They also were pre-printed and inserted into the rest of the paper.
Once again, “back in the day,” color images were rarely seen outside of Central Florida. The Clearwater Sun, the Orlando Sentinel, and Florida Today — from the west side of I-4 to the east side of the coast-to-coast road was where papers were most colorful.
- Not only was color ink more expensive, the entire process was complicated.
ANYWAY, back to the paper on the driveway
The paper I found on my driveway was “almost” a broadsheet.
Narrower by what looks like 1.5 inches. The length also seems shorter. Not a lot, but noticeable to the eye and touch of an old hot type printer.
The paper came double wrapped in a slow-to-decompose material. (Rain threatened.) I don’t know if the motor route paper pitcher had to “bag” the papers. When I pitched the Miami News from a three-speed Western Auto bicycle I hated bagging papers, especially the fat Sunday editions.
Two things I always read when I worked for newspapers: comics and “filler” or ROP.
ROP means “run of the press,” or copy that could run anytime. Often nothing more than trivia, but trivia that could brighten almost any group.
Some people — I met many when Ann Landers and horoscopes went AWOL for a week in Ely NV — consier "news" to be a compliment to the sob sisters and the stars.
- In small towns, such as Ely, the paper’s biggest competition was the rumor mill.
I still enjoy the comics, but now I have perhaps 100 or more from which to choose on several Internet sites.
I KNOW tv and radio don’t/won’t/can’t provide detailed, in-depth reporting and even programs that pretend to present in-depth coverage are suspect — is the reporting accurate, unbiased, thorough? Was it ever?
Granted, there WAS “yellow journalism” even “back in the day." The supermarket tabloids prove that sensationalism sells.
It’s true: “Times they are a’changin’,” but “back in the day . . . “
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
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