Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Like most of you, I was sound asleep at 8 a.m. on Sunday. Within 15 minutes, like most of you, I was standing on my porch with my roommates and my neighbors.
After the storm passed — but before the sirens sounded — my initial reaction was to head back to bed and catch a few more minutes of sleep before heading in to work on a typical Monday paper. Quickly though, as my roommates and I assessed the damage and tried to find flashlights, I realized what had happened.
A few phone calls, and the staff of The University Daily Kansan went into action. While many of you were picking up limbs and driving around surveying the damage, the reporters and photographers of the Kansan were trying to figure out how to publish a paper and update a Web site with no power and no Internet.
But, as could be expected, the staff of the Kansan stepped up and did a remarkable thing. After the power returned, this staff managed to cobble together the biggest paper of the semester on the biggest news day of the year. Not only was there a massive storm, there was also the minor matter of the Kansas Big 12 men’s basketball title — the first since 1999.
And through it all, in keeping with what is indicative of our generation, the Kansan published a running blog online at its Web site. We were able to answer questions through the site’s comments feature, even when all of the campus e-mail servers were down.
With a single dial-up connection, the Kansan was the first media outlet to break news of the cancellation of class, as well as one of the first media outlets to announce that the storm warning system was not working.
It’s a true testament to the power of the Internet that our Web site saw a record-level of traffic for a Sunday, even when a large portion of our audience was without power or Internet.
When it all came down to it, everything came together. With the help of friends and family, the faculty and staff of the School of Journalism and delivery drivers from Pizza Hut and Pita Pit, the Kansan was able to deliver photos and stories from the destruction that struck campus.
We hope you have seen the coverage and we invite you to share photos and anecdotes with us by sending an e-mail to editor@kansan.com. We’ll publish the stories and photos online at kansan.com, where you can find complete coverage of Sunday’s storm.
Publishing a daily newspaper is always an adventure, even when technology works perfectly and there are no natural disasters. When news breaks and technology malfunctions, however, the process becomes that much more interesting. The process is what drew me into the business and it’s what makes me get up and come into work each day.
Kealing is a Chesterfield, Mo., junior in journalism and political science. He is Kansan editor.
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