Advertiser boo-boo

[poinographer]

Re: Advertiser boo-boo

I've been completely underwhelmed by the "breaking news" stories at the Advertiser.

It sure seems like someone sitting by the scanner and, as Ian made perfectly clear, checking the press release inbox. I was really hoping it would be first drafts of the fleshed-out stories that would appear the next day---things like court verdicts, government meetings, etc.

[mel]

Re: Advertiser boo-boo

People may find it useful to know where the traffic snarl ups are, how strong the winds are blowing, where the fire was a few hours ago, and when's the next time Go! Airlines is giving away $10 seats.

[LikaNui]

Re: Advertiser boo-boo

I've noticed the dramatic increase in their breaking news items too, as well as the overall lack of the majority of the items being anything newsworthy. I've also read some items early in the mornings, then seen them listed as "updated" later on, though the items appear identical to the earlier versions.
[/shrug]

[LikaNui]

Re: Advertiser boo-boo

Damn damn DAMN the Honolulu Advertiser!
Here it is, ten minutes before the airing of the Survivor finale, and the Advertiser already names the winner on their website! No spoiler warning.
DAMMIT.

[damontucker]

Re: Advertiser boo-boo

Damn damn DAMN the Honolulu Advertiser!
Here it is, ten minutes before the airing of the Survivor finale, and the Advertiser already names the winner on their website! No spoiler warning.
DAMMIT.

It's all a race to get things out first...

I've been saying it's a move to a digital world... I knew the results for most of the shows before they broadcasted them.

It's these live ones that get me sometimes...so yes...damn damn damn... LIKANUI... cause I never read the HA yet!

[buzz1941]

Re: Advertiser boo-boo

Back in the '70s, there was an editor at the Sun Press -- a pal of publisher Ken Berry -- who managed to turn in 40-50 bylined stories a week. Not only that, he did them all in a couple of hours on Monday morning. How?
Simple. He just typed his byline at the top of press releases and handed them to the typesetter. No rewrites at all, not even proofreadfing. Of course, Ken Berry said this was genius.

[Palolo Joe]

Re: Advertiser boo-boo

Damn damn DAMN the Honolulu Advertiser!
Here it is, ten minutes before the airing of the Survivor finale, and the Advertiser already names the winner on their website! No spoiler warning.
DAMMIT.

Maybe this time you'll learn not to check the Advertiser site before some big television event (i.e. Survivor, American Idol, tape-delayed sports, etc.)...

[pzarquon]

Re: Advertiser boo-boo

Bummer, Lika! I presume it was the "Sunday Finale: Yul Kwon Wins 'Survivor'" headline under "Nation/World" -- the automated wire updates -- rather than a locally posted "Breaking News" item. I'm pretty sure they don't filter those at the local level.

There's generally some discretion by local media outlets, after all, for major "tape-delayed" live events, from sports to "American Idol," but with newswires and tickers and feeds turning up in the oddest places, all of the Internet is a danger zone if you're trying to preserve the suspense for something 90 percent of the audience will know hours before you do. Heck, I'd even steer clear of HawaiiThreads if you want to be completely safe.

Not like the threshold for this stuff is clear, either. "Survivor" is one thing (where the winner actually leaked weeks ago, since they already taped and edited the program), the Olympics halfway 'round the globe is another. Watching even national outlets grapple with what got spoiled and what didn't was interesting.

[pzarquon]

Re: Advertiser boo-boo

The Advertiser continues to post press releases, verbatim, as "Breaking News" items. Most are cleaned up, but you'll still find pieces that include PR coordinates and everything. Here's Eddie Flores named salesman of the year by marketers, courtesy Dave Erdman, SMEI Honolulu (and not "Advertiser Staff" as bylined). And here's a commercial for Oceanic Cable courtesy Caroline Witherspoon of Becker Communications. Either someone's asleep at the switch, or their news standards have pretty much gone out the window.

[pzarquon]

Re: Advertiser boo-boo

Press problem delays Advertiser printing

Some portions of your Sunday Advertiser are going to be more than a little late this morning. The electricity at the Advertiser's Kapolei print plant went out about 11:30 p.m. and was restored about 12:50 a.m. But the presses could not be restarted until 6 a.m. At the rate of 50,000 copies per hour, the entire press run will be finished in three hours, or by 9 a.m. The Advertiser will go out to subscribers as soon as possible, but it may be as late as noon before all papers are delivered.

Of course, this "boo-boo" sounds like something outside of the Advertiser's control (unless the power outage was caused by the press -- Kapolei's power grid has been a bit overtaxed lately), but I thought it was worth a mention.

Saturday night is probably the worst night for a "press problem," considering the Sunday edition is their biggest seller. Interesting, too, is the note that two pages had to be removed completely from the sports section. I guess a halfsheet had to be pulled from a ten-page section. Did the outage gum up the works somehow?

[LikaNui]

Re: Advertiser boo-boo

The new press is, of course, computerized. And they're saying they haven't been able to reboot, after half a dozen tries.
Kinda sounds like what happened with HECO trying to restart their equipment after the earthquake, eh?
Advertiser says we should have our papers by noon. Or thereabouts.

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Advertiser boo-boo

Hmmm. Anyone want to bet that the Advertiser is thinking about backup power? I wonder if they have a transfer switch or if the outage was so big that it took out both circuits.

[Johnny Yen]

Re: Advertiser boo-boo

....the Advertiser is thinking about backup power?

They shudda thought of that when they designed that 300 jillion dollar plant in the first place.

Didn't think of that? Uhh..........you're fired.

talofa

[pzarquon]

Re: Advertiser boo-boo

I can't even begin to imagine what the power requirements would be of a press like that. I wonder if a generator with sufficient juice would ever be financially feasible. Or as expensive as the press itself?

One of the TV reports blamed a hapless rat. I hope it's that simple. Kapolei has had trouble meeting energy demands for a while. What if the Advertiser has to start running pieces suggesting folks on the Ewa plains turn off their home air conditioners at night?

[GeckoGeek]

Re: Advertiser boo-boo

Well the first question is is the plant fed with two circuits from different substations and a transfer switch? That way the only way the building would loose power is if it was the building's electrical system or both substations went out.

Beyond that, you'd hope the brains are fed by a UPS that can do a graceful shutdown.