Tampa Bay Times keeps publishing despite a Milton crane collapse cutting off access to newsroom
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$0 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*No charge for 4 weeks then price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/10/2024 (424 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
It’s a reflection of the news industry and modern world of work that Tampa Bay Times editor Mark Katches seems more relaxed than you’d expect after a crane pushed by Hurricane Milton’s winds gouged a hole in the building that houses his newsroom.
“It’s had zero impact on our operations,” Katches said in an interview on Friday.
The crane collapse in downtown St. Petersburg is one of the most visible symbols of Milton’s damage, so much so that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference at the scene on Friday.
The Times Publishing Co. used to own the damaged building but sold it in 2016, and the news organization is now one of several tenants there. The building was closed when Milton roared through late Tuesday and early Wednesday, in part because it has no backup generators, so no one working for the Times or anyone else was hurt, the editor said.
The Times is the largest newspaper serving the more than 3.3 million people who live in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area.
Most Times journalists covering the hurricane were working remotely on Tuesday night, or at a hub set up for a handful of editors in the community of Wesley Chapel, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside of Tampa.
Katches said he’s not sure when newsroom employees will be allowed back in the building. One hopeful factor is that the newsroom is on the opposite side of the building from where the crane fell, he said.
“I’m worried that we’re going to find a lot of ruined equipment” from water damage, Katches said.
Newsroom employees became accustomed to working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. “This is a newspaper that won two Pulitzer Prizes when we weren’t able to be in a building to meet,” he said.
He doesn’t expect a return to a newsroom for the foreseeable future. Still, he said he hoped the newspaper would eventually secure space where everyone would be able to work together again.
___
David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.