The editor's blog

Are you watching?

I spend a little time every day browsing the internet. I'm not just playing around, I'm researching changes and innovations that we may want to know about or adopt for myrtlebeachonline.com. An oldie but goodie idea is on our website every day - a link to the state's Department of Transportation's local web cams. Where is traffic backing up? Is an accident blocking your route to work or other activities? Check it out. The cams regularly refresh the view. I think you'll find them useful.

Words we avoid

I frequently tell our news staff that we operate via guidelines and few rules. Our rules are basically report the truth and make the sources of information clear to the reader. The guidelines cover a wide variety of topics.

We violated one of our guidelines in Sunday's paper. A cutline on the Local section front contained a scatalogical reference as part of the description of the Homeless Night Out at Conway High School. I'm no prude. You see photos of visitors and residents alike in all manner of dress and circumstance. You read descriptions of news events that challenge and sometimes offend our sensibilities. That's life. But I also believe that the tone of your daily newspaper should hit a level of maturity that reflects the community it serves. Potty humor is funny to some but it doesn't belong in the newspaper as a rule. The same is true of curse words, racist labels and inappropriate slang.   

The daily miracle and your daily routine

I'm taking an informal poll. What do you regularly read in our newspaper and on our website? What time are you reading?

Newspaper journalists work in a 24/7 environment, producing news for the daily print version and breaking news and other content for our website. You can pick up the newspaper whenever it suits you to read or reread the print version. Afternoon newspapers are almost extinct but many of us save portions of the morning paper for evening reading or later. Our research shows us that readers use our website for different things throughout the day. You are looking for news updates in the morning and are more interested in things to do as the week goes by.

What do you look for and when do you look? 

Keeping secrets from you

"The balance between disclosure and secrecy can be difficult to strike . . . Yet there are many symptoms that the current government policies fundamentally skew toward secrecy in a manner that can only injure the public interest." David Stewart, president, Freedom to Write Fund, 2006.

Our ongoing reader research tells us that readers care most about how their tax dollars are spent. Decisions regarding public money that are made behind closed doors are frequently suspect. The doors are closed a lot and neither you nor journalists who are there watching on your behalf can know for sure what's going on or whether your best interests are part of the conversation. Local governments are in the process of setting new tax allocations between now and mid summer. If you want to know what's happening to your pocketbook, watch closely. 

Horsing around in Columbia

Each Sunday from January to June, our statehouse reporter Zane Wilson summarizes legislative action of local interest in a story on the Local front labeled "Week in the Legislature." She reports the day's biggest news events throughout the week and uses her Sunday column for updates or coverage of other issues moving through the capital process.

Sunday's lead topic was a bill that would have recognized the breed of horse called the marsh tacky as the state's official horse or state "heritage horse." In case you missed it, only a few hundred of these horses still exist. They were believed to be good sand and marsh horses and were ridden by South Carolina's famous Revolutionary War general, Francis Marion, known as the Swamp Fox.

Both Zane and the headline writer had some fun with the topic. The subhead noted the mulish argument on the House floor that preceded the demise of the bill. That refered to a move by a Greeleyville representative who wanted similar recognition for mules. Zane explained the "horse trading" that went on and told readers that the bill still has legs. It may get reconsideration Tuesday.

Zane used a conversational approach in Sunday's column that the headline writer used as well. Matching the tone of coverage to the topic is as important as the topic itself.

Tomorrow's coverage

We're deep into figuring out how to put Wednesday's newspaper together with news that has already happened and developments yet to occur. Some of the coverage is already on our website - the Rev. Jerry Falwell's death, for example.

Still to come are developments in the airport terminal saga with today's release of the consultants' report on how much the Myrtle Beach airport charges airlines versus airports of comparable size; the Horry County Council discussion and possible vote tonight on what's next regarding the airport and casino boats; what action, if any, the Horry County Board of Education will take tonight on choosing a new superintendent; how the Republican presidential debate being held tonight in Columbia will turn out.

And then there are all these motorcycles in the area and Brunswick County Schools are awaiting the report of a transportation study and the Georgetown County school board is considering its budget challenges. Well, you get the idea. Things are busy out there.

Our reporting and editing staffs are hustling to bring readers the latest developments and whenever possible, the why behind it all. Our design and graphic artist journalists are trying to figure out how to make it all come together visually. By early evening we hope to lock down decisions so designers can merge stories, headlines, photos, graphics onto the pages as they are completed through the night. Posting the top of the news on myrtlebeachonline.com along with headlines and photos occurs more quickly. Although technologically complex, changing the website means fewer moving parts, fewer elements to blend and far more opportunities to update and correct things as they develop. The relative permanence of newsprint demands that you make it as accurate as possible when the press prints that day's record of the news.   

How do we count them?

How many bikers show up for the spring bike weeks? Who has numbers you can count on and how do they arrive at the figures? Do you base the number on hotel occupancy? Police or chamber estimates? Your best guess?

Today's front page story about the beginning of the spring rallies said more visitors are expected this year. That projection is based on the number of visitors expected to fill area hotel rooms comapred to those that filled rooms last year. That may be the only quantifiable way we have to judge the number of bike visitors. What it doesn't include are people who don't stay in hotels or who drive into town for the day and don't stay overnight. How many are there really?

Those of us who live here probably base our best guesses on how hard it is to get around during the Harley and Atlantic Beach rallies or whether or not the noise levels seem higher or lower than years past or how much trash is piling up before crews can collect it in the morning.

It's important in our coverage because it helps readers understand the history of these events, their impact on our communities and the taxes we pay to host them. Our ongoing community debate is whether or not the rallies are good for us, good for our economy, good for our future. Now that economists at Coastal Carolina University have made capturing tourism numbers part of their ongoing research data, we've made progress toward more accurate numbers.   

Ordering, selecting the news

Among this morning's calls to the newsroom was a woman who vehemently disagreed with the decision to play Paula Deen's local appearance on page one. The caller didn't leave her name, only her complaint: putting coverage of a visit by the southern cook on the front page was "ridiculous" and that the world and Murrells Inlet and our area have far more important events going on that deserve such prominent play.

We look for stories that people talk about with family and friends, that perhaps include humor or serve to validate normal events and values that define our daily lives. Deen fans filled every seat Tuesday at the Pawleys Island Community Church for the chance to enjoy her wit and  hear her personal story of triumph over adversity. True, the coverage of her visit wasn't serious breaking news, the kind of story that almost always dominates our front page. In our view, it helped capture the rhythm of life in our community along with more serious subjects that played on page one today, such as the ongoing political smackdown over the Myrtle Beach airport and a thwarted terrorist plot at Fort Dix.

They're on their way

The arrival of our motorcycle visitors is imminent. Each spring we hold a series of newsroom staff meetings to talk about coverage plans, the logistics of getting our work done and the guidelines we'll follow on what we'll cover and by what method. Some reporters still remember all too well when U.S. 17 was shut down for more than an hour in the late 1990s because of traffic gridlock. Since then we make sure we have backup plans that will help us report news even if our staffers are stuck in their cars.

We cover the back-to-back biker events for our entire audience - residents who want to know how to avoid the bikers and their activities, residents who want to join in and visitors who look to us for useful tips and the daily documentation of sights, sounds and the news.

We always make sure we have maps of traffic and vendor hot spots along with daily listings of organized activities. A couple of times we've rented noise meter devices so we could report sound levels for our readers. Last year we began daily blogging by several staff members, a technique called mob blogging, which provided a method for several staffers to post news and updates throughout the festivals. We've also added video clips to our website and reader submitted photos along with our own staff photography slide shows.

We also take care to avoid the inevitable racial slurs and stereotypes that some folks can't stop themselves from hurling into the mix. Rumors always abound during these spring festivals. We reply on in-person reporting and credible facts from officials and participants as the backbone of our coverage.    

Breaking news

Blogs serve a variety of purposes. For example, I am using this blog to explain how we make decisions or to update you on changes under way with our website and our newspaper.

Sports staffer Kurt Knapek writes a regular blog on myrtlebeachonline.com about NASCAR, his particular passion. Kurt is a journalist of many talents - he reports, writes, edits, designs pages, copy edits, plans coverage and works with freelancers who call in stories and scores from our three-county coverage area.

He uses his blog, Pit Passes, to share his thoughts, opinions and to occasionally break news. Today's entry on his blog alerts readers that penalities from Saturday night's fight at the Myrtle Beach Speedway will be announced later today. Day by day we become more adept at bringing you the latest news as soon as possible and giving you the broader story in print. Newspapers used to be the sole source of news, then broadcast became the media of immediacy. Today, print journalists work on a 24/7 news cycle. Check out Kurt's blog for more breaking NASCAR news.