Papers Rally Readers -- and Open Their Own Coffers -- for Tsunami Relief

By: Joe Strupp The front-page headline in the New York Daily News today had nothing to do with city hall corruption, carnage in Iraq or any of the usual tabloid sensations that usually grace Page One.

The top story: Daily News readers had contributed more than $100,000 to the paper's tsunami relief effort in just one day.

"Stuff is really pouring in," said Eileen Murphy, the Daily News spokeswoman, commenting on the paper's relief effort that has raised nearly $250,000 so far. "When things like [the tsunami] happen, money just pours in and this is a way to formalize it, create a fund."

The Daily News is not alone among newspapers nationwide in soliciting money from readers or employees or both -- or even making contributions from company coffers -- for the numerous charities helping the tsunami victims. A quick check of both large and small newspapers found that nearly every daily is listing organizations to which readers can donate, and many are taking action themselves to raise funds.

Among the most prominent is the Tribune Co., which owns 13 dailies as well as other properties. Tribune on Wednesday launched a companywide employee matching program, in which all Tribune workers will be able to give to a variety of charities offering tsunami relief and have those donations matched by the company.

"The employee makes it out to the organization and sends it to Tribune, which matches it and sends it to the organization," explained Stu Vincent, a spokesman for Tribune's Newsday in Melville, N.Y. "We are also running a full-page ad in the next few days listing agencies that readers can donate to."

Gannett Co., not to be outdone, is extending its ongoing charitable matching program run by the Gannett Foundation to include donations for tsunami relief, according to Tara Connell, a Gannett spokeswoman. She said the foundaton also lowered the usual minimum donation required for a foundation match to $25 from $50.

In other cases, individual newspapers and some family owners are digging into their pockets for offerings. The San Diego Union-Tribune, owned by Copley Newspapers, plans to donate $100,000 to a tsunami relief effort, but has yet to choose which organization. "We hope to make it in the next day or so," Union-Tribune CEO Gene Bell said in Wednesday's paper.

The Lorton Family of Tulsa, Oklahoma, longtime owners of the Tulsa World, contributed $25,000 to the American Red Cross' tsunami relief fund, according to World vice president John Bair. The paper also launched Wednesday an employee matching program similar to the Tribune effort, which will provide up to $25,000 more in matching funds for the Red Cross, he said.

"Our family has had a long history of doing donations and it felt compelled to do so," said Robert Lorton III, World president. "It is a way to help out another human being."