Snow job

It was with a mixture of jealousy and relief that I watched my old stomping grounds take a direct hit from the “Snowquester” winter storm that hit the Shenandoah Valley and other areas west of Washington on Wednesday.

Jealousy, because as a reporter you want to be where the action is, where things are going on. I always had more fun going out into poor weather talking to people who had to fight the elements, whether for work or pleasure, than I did sitting in a town council chamber. Relief, because I have done the biggest of the big storms in 1993, 1996, 2003, 2006 and 2010, so I was glad someone else got to take the reins on this one.

Or did they? I heard from a few folks at my old paper that a skeleton staff was left in place to put out the Thursday paper while everyone else was directed to stay home. Oh, and use a vacation day.

Events like this are the very reason people are still reading the paper. I’m sure sales will be better than any other usual Thursday in the last six months so you need to put your best foot forward. You need to show off what you can do. And you don’t do that by telling the reporters to stay home and asking on Facebook for readers to send you their photos and if they are good enough they might appear in tomorrow’s paper. I’m not sure where this directive came from, but it’s pretty misguided if you ask me. And if you don’t ask me, I still think it’s misguided.

Yes, tell the reporters if they are afraid for their safety or if child-care plans change because schools are closed and they WANT to take the day off they can. But don’t TELL them not to work and then dock them a vacation day. With modern technology allowing a newsroom to operate from a McDonalds and people already in place closer to their homes, you can get some coverage that's not within a mile of the office or done over the phone. This would add some more depth and perspective to the story.

But why would you want to do that when you can get your Facebook followers to give you plenty of free material? Of course, in many cases, you get what you pay for. With the ease of use of a lot of these tools more people than ever think they are photographers or writers, and are willing to give their stuff away for nothing. It makes it even more difficult for those of us who do this for a living.

When I started working on this entry I thought I would harken back to the February 2010 storm that dumped more than 30 inches of snow on Winchester. I think the city will end up with about half that from Snowquester, which is still a major storm in the Shenandoah Valley. If you wonder what 30 inches of snow looks like, here are photos of my car and my front porch as that Super Bowl weekend storm was winding down.

The Saturday morning of the storm I went around and got some photos for the paper. Yes, it was fun, but it was also to help the newspaper better cover the storm and try to gain a little more respect in the community. I was gratified when I walked into the Sheetz on Valley Avenue and there was a stack of Dailys there.

I struck up a conversation with a guy who was drinking a cup of coffee, and when he said he wanted to tell me something about my newspaper, I was ready to hear why we were No.2 in town, what we were doing wrong. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to hear him say how much more he appreciated our paper after being able to get copy that morning while the other daily in town was nowhere to be found.

It’s all about serving your readers. And telling your staff to not bother covering the biggest weather event over the past few years doesn’t do that. Asking your readers to give you their photos basically says you cannot add anything to the conversation. And when you no longer bring anything to the table, they will soon find a way to get along without you.