ELECTION RECOUNT BOTH GOOD AND BAD FOR PAPERS

By: Joe Strupp A Single-Copy Sales Bounce As Staffing Becomes Major Issue





Todd Gilman had planned to spend last week working around his Dallas home, getting his car repaired, and celebrating his son's third birthday. Instead, The Dallas Morning News political reporter ended up in Florida learning the ins and outs of state election laws, quoting angry voters, and battling "Nazilike" Palm Beach County officials.



"It's just been emotionally draining," Gilman told E&P by phone from the county where he's been stationed since Nov. 12 to cover the local presidential vote recount. "There has been no end point."



Gilman's experience mirrored that of hundreds of reporters who saw the traditional post-campaign relaxation time shattered after the presidential campaign went into overtime with recounts and legal challenges that forced many last-second trips to the Sunshine State. From the scramble for Florida hotel space to the reassigning of staff to the boost of newsstand sales, newspapers nationwide have been feeling the negatives and positives of the presidential election recount.



"There is a lot of energy and excitement, but I don't think any reporter likes being part of a pack," said Detroit Free Press reporter David Zeman, an investigative reporter who was shipped to Palm Beach without warning Nov. 10. "I couldn't find anyplace to stay, so I ended up at a Holiday Inn by the airport."



Since the morning after Election Day, when it became clear the final vote tally would not be known for at least several days, newsrooms have been on a surprise overdrive to keep tabs on the neverending process. "We're working flat-out," said Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. "People have had to cancel vacations, and we have half a dozen people in Florida, which is unusual."



At the Daily News in New York , Editor in Chief Edward Kosner painted a similar scene. "Most of the political staff had planned to take extensive time off," he said. "But most of them are working virtually around the clock."



Editors say the crush of post-election news has also forced many staffers to shuffle assignments so that all posts are covered. "Mostly, we're having to beef up our copy desk and design desk," said David Yarnold, executive editor of the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News. "We are juggling some assignments and letting some enterprise stories go by the wayside for now."



Yarnold cited a series on foreign high-tech workers abusing work visas that had to be put on the back burner because space was needed for recount coverage. "It was in the works for 10 months, and we have to hold it," he said. "It will run soon, but I don't know when."



In Florida, where newspapers have the task of covering a national story with local flavor, the challenge is hitting newsrooms even harder. "We've had canceled days off, we've changed assignments and have people working weekends who wouldn't have," said Donna Reed, managing editor of The Tampa Tribune. "We've also dispatched extra people to Tallahassee and shifted responsibilities around."



In Tallahassee, media people from across the nation have converged to cover the ongoing recount, making a place to stay almost as important as finding the latest scoop. With most hotels filled to capacity, reporters and editors were faced with another obstacle last Friday when hotel managers ordered them to leave to make way for football fans heading to town for the annual University of Florida-Florida State University football game.



"Some of the [media people] are having to go as far as southern Georgia to find accommodations," said Dennis Morgan, manager of the Doubletree Tallahassee, which had to give dozens of news staffers the heave-ho to make way for guests who'd booked rooms last summer for the game. "There are just a certain number of rooms available."



Bright spot: circ up



On the bright side, of course, is the single-copy sales boost most papers have seen. From Florida to California, newsstand sales remain high due to the neverending story. "We have put out more papers each day - and they have been selling," said Lisa Parks, vice president of circulation for The Kansas City (Mo.) Star, which declined to release specific figures. "They are up."



Closer to the recount action, Florida papers have felt the biggest sales boost by having the center of the story in their back yard. "We've had to dispatch people out to replace single-copy papers that are selling out," said Andrew Gentry, circulation director for the Florida Times-Union (circulation 173,867) in Jacksonville. "It is the highest demand for papers I've seen since Hurricane Hugo 11 years ago." Gentry said he saw a 41% increase in single-copy sales the day after the election, followed by increases of 1% to 6% in the week that followed.



At the Tallahassee Democrat (circulation 50,896), the daily press run increased by at least 20% in the week following the vote. "Nobody expected this to happen," said Greg Hafdahl, Democrat circulation director. "We have also bumped up newspapers [delivered for distribution] in hotels because there is so much media."







Joe Strupp (jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com) is an associate editor for E&P.







Copyright 2000, Editor & Publisher.