tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099437767970534324.post5008891619289385035..comments2023-11-05T06:26:51.316-05:00Comments on Gannett Blog: As newspapers move, R.I.P. for the old morguesJim Hopkinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16712746705871119746noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099437767970534324.post-39587607984354308072012-03-06T21:39:27.163-05:002012-03-06T21:39:27.163-05:00I tried to research photos and articles about the ...I tried to research photos and articles about the Apollo program from Florida Today, only to find out that the morgue had been completely trashed. No asking for volunteers to digitize, no attempt at all to save it, just trash it all. This on orders from a certain executive editor. This isn't even a case of finding "important" articles vs. yard of the week type of stuff, we are Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099437767970534324.post-29468906568024609522012-02-29T08:41:40.371-05:002012-02-29T08:41:40.371-05:00The Arizona Republic started the digital archiving...The Arizona Republic started the digital archiving effort with photos in its morgue but ran out of money for it and stopped well short of the mark. The photos are a valuable asset, given the paper's dominant role in the state and the state's history. Let's hope that the paper finds a way to save them if it ever moves from its building, which was completed in 1996.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099437767970534324.post-16036670250653585052012-02-29T00:28:05.239-05:002012-02-29T00:28:05.239-05:00I used to work at a Phoenix TV station. When we to...I used to work at a Phoenix TV station. When we totally updated our facility 10 years ago, everything old was put in a pile in the old newsroom, and was fair game. Old photos, publicity from the networks going back to the 60s, tapes, you name it. Upon cleanout day, the rest went into the dumpster.<br /><br />Margaret Mitchell had no idea how universal the phrase "A way of life, gone with theAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099437767970534324.post-24455089669941465642012-02-28T20:55:49.389-05:002012-02-28T20:55:49.389-05:00Anyone who wants a laugh should go to The Morgue h...Anyone who wants a laugh should go to The Morgue here and look at the summer of 2009. There's no nice way to describe what happened to the caretaker.<br /><br />I think I recognize a couple of my posts amid the wreckage.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099437767970534324.post-76741052800081383002012-02-28T20:48:24.430-05:002012-02-28T20:48:24.430-05:00Actually, our whole fucking building is a Morgue!!...Actually, our whole fucking building is a Morgue!!!! Most miserable goddamn place I've ever worked.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099437767970534324.post-48123402621043124992012-02-28T19:32:35.797-05:002012-02-28T19:32:35.797-05:006:13 Your last graph reminds me of my current fool...6:13 Your last graph reminds me of my current foolish boss, who thinks he's a savior. Bad mouths predecessors who were smarter and better managers and leaders than him. They had the sense to get out instead of ending up like the groveling lackey the current boss is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099437767970534324.post-41218781095676138342012-02-28T18:30:13.666-05:002012-02-28T18:30:13.666-05:00We also used the same archiving company that the R...We also used the same archiving company that the Republic used to archive our entire photo collection of prints and negatives and positives. Company called Digital Migration out of Phoenix. I believe they were working at multiple Gannett sites when they were do work for us at the Rocky Mountain news.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099437767970534324.post-45843061474094201722012-02-28T18:22:25.036-05:002012-02-28T18:22:25.036-05:00I relied heavily on the morgue when I was a report...I relied heavily on the morgue when I was a reporter, if only for context about people in the news and the history of my beat. It helped to know the references that my readers used among themselves when discussing the city. Eventually I had a bank of institutional knowledge that was a real asset. Now that the building and the files are gone, none of the new reporters can replicate that experienceAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099437767970534324.post-40241368538622922532012-02-28T18:18:05.628-05:002012-02-28T18:18:05.628-05:00The Arizona Republic library outsourced the scanni...The Arizona Republic library outsourced the scanning work to a local archiving company, so I believe most of the older prints have been scanned and saved to the newspapers database for resale.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099437767970534324.post-20012214086923666662012-02-28T18:13:01.481-05:002012-02-28T18:13:01.481-05:00Shortly after Gannett purchased our paper back in ...Shortly after Gannett purchased our paper back in the 1970s, the first couple of publishers tried to "clean up" the building by dumping older morgue files. Newsroom staffers rebelled, and much (but not all) of the old files were saved from the trash heap. Some eventually were donated to the public library.<br /><br />The Gannett mentality seemed to be: If it happened before we took overAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099437767970534324.post-16908099534758893812012-02-28T17:29:38.698-05:002012-02-28T17:29:38.698-05:00Look on eBay under the seller named "Historic...Look on eBay under the seller named "Historic Images." Thousands of original photographs are for sale. As for newspapers saved on film, that is not a good idea. I recently visited my library's archive and found the film to be brittle and in very bad shape. And I'm talking about film from the early 1960s. There's no money to be made in archiving newspapers, so sadly they willAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099437767970534324.post-62156210125886496672012-02-28T17:22:58.905-05:002012-02-28T17:22:58.905-05:00The damage has already been done. Most things prio...The damage has already been done. Most things prior to a certain date are "old news" rather than an archive to a lot of the newbies. Not all; some people I knew had a lot of promise... but some others should have just gotten a job flipping burgers for all their journalism-cum-marketing majors taught them.<br /><br />Sure, for a time there was a move to digitize everything, but even Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099437767970534324.post-79907008283499133282012-02-28T16:52:28.588-05:002012-02-28T16:52:28.588-05:00Google had a newspaper archiving project, but it w...Google had a newspaper archiving project, but it was not profitable for them and they dumped it with a bunch of other things last year. My guess is that sadly, a bunch will tossed by interns into the trash, along with microfiche machines. Some newsrooms have tried to donate papers to libraries, but it's anyone's guess for online editions - who is going to pay for basic server space, Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com