Dec 17, 1999 - 01:43 PM

News Outlets: Y2K Won't Stop Papers or Broadcasts By Anick Jesdanun Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - One newspaper will supply reporters with two-way radios in case Y2K kills phone service. Others have backup generators ready, while a TV station has arranged to broadcast directly on cable. News organizations covering Y2K and the arrival of the new year vow to keep publishing or broadcasting, even if power outages or other troubles strike.

That is not to say editors or news directors actually expect havoc on Jan. 1, when some computers might misread the year 2000 as 1900. The backup plans serve as insurance.

"Most papers have a contingency plan in place whatever the event might be," said Richard Wesnick, editor of The Billings Gazette in Montana. "You are committed to publishing a newspaper every day, and you go about doing that by any means."

The Muskegon Chronicle in Michigan rented a 500-kilowatt generator that can power the newsroom and printing press. Crews will warm up the generator at 11 p.m. on Dec. 31.

"It seems to me worthwhile insurance for a couple thousand dollars we're spending," editor Gunnar Carlson said. "If we do not publish for a day, we talk about tens of thousands of dollars in lost advertising."

The Oregonian in Portland ordered a set of two-way portable radios in case regular and cell phones fail.

Some papers will prepare inside pages ahead of time and wrap around a cover with post-midnight happenings. That way, if power fails, papers can still report developments from the rest of the world. Some chain newspapers can also publish at a sister publication.

And The Daily Times in Salisbury, Md., will have "doomsday pages" ready through Jan. 5 - 12 pages a day of timeless features and columns for use if editors can't get a fresh edition out. Erick Sahler, the assistant managing editor, said the paper has been saving wire copy since summer.

Broadcasters will rely on plans already in place for hurricanes and other natural disasters. Most have backup generators and alternative ways of transmitting, and frequencies set aside for internal communications.

KFDM-TV in Beaumont, Texas, already has a link with the local cable company to feed directly into the cable system if transmitters fail and the station cannot use the airwaves. The station can reach more than 70 percent of its regular audience that way.

Emergency management officials will rely heavily on the broadcast media if problems occur. John Koskinen, President Clinton's Y2K czar, said he is confident they can get the word out via radio and television.

The Associated Press has alternative ways of sending its stories, photos, graphics and audio and video feeds if its primary satellite distribution system fails. Several domestic and international bureaus have generators on standby, and other offices are ready to move if power goes out. The AP also has satellite phones, as well as an internal communications network that is separate from the public system.

AP and other news organizations have spent months testing their systems.

Many news organizations, including the AP, have also restricted their employees' holiday vacations to be able to station reporters at key locations, such as hospitals, 911 centers and airports.

The Palm Beach Post in West Palm Beach, Fla., will have a reporter on a plane during the century change.

For the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, getting a Y2K edition out could prove to be a familiar challenge. The paper won a Pulitzer Prize for its work covering the 1997 flood and fire that destroyed its own offices.

For the arrival of the new year, the Herald bought several weeks of newsprint, notebooks and other supplies and arranged for a grocery wholesaler to set aside food in case reporters get stuck at work.

"We've got a reputation to uphold," said Jeff Beach, city editor. "We were the paper that published without a newsroom for several months. We hate to have that jeopardized by computer problems."

-- Roland (nottelling@nowhere.com), December 17, 1999

Answers

KFDM-TV in Beaumont, Texas, already has a link with the local cable company to feed directly into the cable system if transmitters fail and the station cannot use the airwaves. The station can reach more than 70 percent of its regular audience that way.

Right. If power fails and they can't transmit they'll cable feed, so that more than 70% of the regular audience can't watch it becasue their power is out.

Great contingency planning

-- (4@5.6), December 17, 1999.

Ahem. Have newspapers put in a contingency supply of newsprint? Are their suppliers compliant? How about the computers that reporters write their articles on? And the computer systems that replaced presses? Do they have contingency plans for paper delivery -- or will Johnny Newsboy appear on his bicycle to wheel the paper from door to door?

Too many questions left unanswered.

-- Anita Evangelista (ale@townsqr.com), December 17, 1999.

Anita - for most newspapers, the answer to all of those questions is "yes".

-- bw (home@puget.sound), December 20, 1999.

No, the answer is "no."

Newspapers will NOT be ready.

-- (bart@piklim.net), December 20, 1999.

That may be the time they "get it" - when they are silenced by their own failure to verify suppliers, their own distribution, their own embedded processers, their own computers and servers and LAN's and satellites and radios and networks .... when their newprint dries up, paper can't be delivered, and when the presses stop....all for the lack of a two-penny embed.

Some, however, are planning for extreme troubles......

CNN, for example, has already prepared a "bunker" in Atlanta equipped to serve as supply and support, with food, power, water, and sleeping quarters for the whole staff (plus families!) for a month.....

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), December 20, 1999.