Press checks

I used to like going out to the press room and grab a newspaper "hot of the presses" with wet ink sticking to my fingers as I looked through the pages. That was before our boss made it a requirement.

We now have to do so-called press checks, where someone sticks around each night until the first few copies of the paper come off the press to check it for mistakes. Usually, that person is me. The only fun part is that I get to say "Stop the presses!" if I find something wrong.

What's not fun is that we print several other newspapers, wraps and shoppers at our location, and the newsroom is required to check each one. Wednesday night I was in the press room more than in the newsroom, which makes it kind of hard to get any real work done.

The goal, I guess, is to make sure all ads are kosher so we won't loose any more revenue. Secondary, to make sure our headlines and stories make sense so we won't lose any more subscribers.

It's tough times out there for newspapers, and I guess we have to do what we can to survive.