Milk the Story
(April 2, 2009) In the Eel River Valley of Northern California everyone is tied by blood or business. That was how New York Times columnist Dan Barry led a March 23 story about how the collapse of the Humboldt Creamery affects dairy farmers here.
The column was 1620 words long — almost as long as the first five stories combined that the Times-Standard devoted to the crisis in its first 11 days of coverage.
In one sense it isn’t fair to compare the coverage at a small town paper with that of the Gray Lady. The lowliest Times reporter is at the top of the profession and is backed with the best resources in the business.
So let’s compare the coverage with one of the smallest papers out there, the Ferndale Enterprise. On March 26, the Enterprise gave us a 935-word profile of Jose Alvarado, a 19-year employee of the dairy, now working 60-hour weeks as he worries whether he will continue to have a job. At home he’s got four kids, including a three-month old baby.
The Enterprise has published 18 pieces on the crisis. I know this, because I was able to read them on the Web. The Enterprise doesn’t publish its stories online. But it has posted its stories on the Creamery, because, it wrote, “of the importance of the story to our entire region.”
That’s a paper that gets it.
Back in 1991, I was a poorly-paid, inexperienced reporter for the Desert Sun in Palm Springs when the 7.5 magnitude Landers quake shook me out of bed at 5 in the morning. The top newspapers and TV networks flew in reporters from across the country. They were all far more seasoned than any of us and some came with star billing. But as the local paper, we considered the Coachella Valley and surrounding area our turf and no way would we let any national news organization put out a better story on the quake. The Desert Sun had the entire newsroom, including sports and the social columnist, on that story for what seemed an aeon.
When the CEO of your region’s biggest business goes on the lam, that’s a big story. And when you are a small paper and you get a big story, you sink your teeth into it and you don’t let go.
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FIVE Comments
Comment / By Capdiamont / April 2, 2009, 7:13 a.m.
“At home he’s got four kinds, including a three-month old baby. ”
kids maybe?
Comment / By Ryan Burns / April 2, 2009, 9:19 a.m.
Right you are, Cappy. It’s fixed now.
Comment / By Buggery / April 2, 2009, 11:30 a.m.
So wait, the NY Times sends out a reporter to write the first of a series of pieces on the impact of our nation’s economic crisis, he speaks with a well-known dairyman and just what about that 1,620-word epic was news?
Please, go read the piece, I did, three or four times. Vevoda and his family are getting hit hard. The other dairymen are getting hit hard. They are all struggling to pay bills.
There is nothing, absolutely nothing in that piece that gave us some new insight, a new piece of information regarding Ghilarducci’s financial shenanigans, how it happened, what happened and how it’s going to be fixed.
The only thing compelling, at least in Burstiner’s view, is that it was written by an employee of the august NY Times and therefore vastly outstrips the T-S in its coverage. I wonder where the NY Times writer got his tip?
Comment / By Benjamin Rush Payne / April 8, 2009, 7:41 p.m.
Great reporting,Ms.Burstiner.Whatever are you doing here? You should be polishing your craft with the likes of Cambell Brown,Matt Laur,and that crew. Your good,too good for this neck of the woods.Hope to see you anchor primetime.
Comment / By Glenn Franco Simmons / April 23, 2009, 1:31 a.m.
As one who has criticized Marcy, she is 100 percent correct in her analysis.
Caroline Titus has done an excellent job.
It is a sad day when out-of-the area media break the story of Humboldt Creamery’s filing for bankruptcy.
For full disclosure, I once worked for the Times-Standard, Caroline Titus, and I was the founding managing editor of The Eureka Reporter.
However, one has to give credit where credit is due, and this article shows what happens when there is a lack of competition.
In case you are interested, you can now subscribe to The Ferndale Enterprise online.