* An inside look at the news room

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The Citizen Newspapers
310B. North Glynn Street,
Drawer 1719,
Fayetteville, GA 30214

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An inside look at the news room

Close your eyes and try to imagine what the news room of The Citizen looks like. Don’t get scared. We won’t let Ben bite.

Do you picture a loud room filled with hustle and bustle, phones ringing off the hook and hat-wearing reporters (with those pieces of paper that say press tucked in the side) talking briskly and wittily with a cigar-chomping editor-in-chief?

If so, you are way off the mark and have probably watched too many movies.

Today, as I’m writing this, the news room is a quiet place. Kevin Wandra and I are discussing the NFL playoffs. Kevin is trying to get me to admit that New England will cruise on Sunday, but I refuse to bite. We have long since turned off my iTunes playlist, which regaled us with everything from Dewey Cox to Depeche Mode, and are working on our weekly blogs.

Everyone else has left the building.

The phones are not ringing on a Friday afternoon - at least not up here - and nobody smokes anymore. Although I’d love for Cal to be like J. Jonah Jameson in the “Spider-Man” movies - chomping on a stogie and barking orders at scared, little interns.

No scared, little interns around either.

It’s just a normal office building, although there is a Bon Jovi poster behind Kevin’s desk (feathered hair and all), a Jackson 5 poster near John Thompson (who actually saw them on the Victory tour) and a dozen Red Sox and Patriots posters in my corner (thanks to my mother-in-law, a regular subscriber to the Sunday edition of The Boston Globe).

It can get loud and crazy in here and though you wouldn’t now it by (and I think I speak for everyone when I call them this) our awkward looking mugs, but we can be a very wild and funny bunch. This is a place of gallows humor and we could probably make a couple of bucks as some “kids in the hall” type joke writers for late night shows. At least Bill Maher, as some of our humor can be a little HBO.

On Monday, things will be busy. The pages we have to fill will be on our computers and the keyboards will be clacking as we write the stories you will read on Wednesday (earlier if you visit www.thecitizen.com regularly). The phones will ring as people try to jockey their way on to our pages and we, as a staff, wil meet and present everything we have collected since Friday. We look at photographs and we push for which stories we think are important (poking fun at each other along the way - because who really reads Names and Faces anyway?).

Each week has a similar structure and by 5 p.m on a Friday, as we try to get our blogs up and make preview notes for the weekend sporting events, I take a look around at the office - the clutter on John Thompson’s desk, the maps around Munford’s - I am ready to close the book on another week and start helping write the next one.

A day in the life at the Citizen

Submitted by sniffles5 on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 6:10pm.

A day in the life at The Citizen.

8:30 Publisher Cal Beverly arrives at the Citizen's headquarters and unlocks the front door. Immediately disappears into the bathroom with the sports pages.

9:05 John Munford arrives. Fires up computer and logs into MySpace.

9:10 Emily Baldwin and Mike Boylan arrive together, giggling.

9:30 Ben Nelms asks Mike Boylan to "prooveread" his work. Boylan finds only 5 spelling errors, sticks a gold star on Nelms' forehead. Nelms is ecstatic.

10:20 Emily Baldwin logs into Citizen email system. Notices 27 complaints about bloggers getting their passwords reset unexpectedly. Deletes them all without reading.

10:45 Cal Beverly out of bathroom.

11:00 John Munford challenges Emily Baldwin to see who can burp the alphabet. Emily gets to "double G", John wimps out at "w". Munford sulks.

11:30 Boylan and Kevin Wandra tape podcast for the day. Over/Under on "Boylan Umm Count" is +14. Boylan logs 13 "ums" in six minute podcast.

12 Noon Emily Baldwin notices Citizen server is very sluggish. Shrugs and goes to lunch.

1 p.m. Staff meeting. Cal Beverly asks if anyone knows about the 175 password resets on the Citizen server this past week. Staff collectively shrugs.

2 p.m Mike Boylan writes 250 word article. John Munford writes 252 word article and looks smugly at Boylan.

3 p.m. Staff break for General Hospital. Ben Nelms idly wonders if amnesia is common in "real life".

3:30 p.m. Munford has been busily multitasking: monitoring police scanner and playing Tetris. Cal Beverly back in bathroom.

4 p.m. Kevin Wandra conducts phone interview with wrestling coach at local high school. Midway through the interview he realizes he doesn't have a clue as to which high school this coach works at. Idly wonders if "Hannah Montana" will be a repeat.

4:10 p.m. Cal Beverly out of bathroom. Takes call from Creator's Syndicate, who instruct him which columnists to run this week.

4:29 p.m. Father David Epps drops off weekly column 60 seconds before deadline. Mike Boylan idly wonders why Epps wears his bishop's robes during the week.

4:35 p.m. Cal Beverly asks John Munford to step into his office. Informs Munford it is inappropriate to sing "under my umbrella-ella-ella" in the office. Munford manages to look contrite.

4:59 p.m. Staff leaves as a group for happy hour at the Y-knot. Ben Nelms is turned away at the door for inappropriate attire.

Sniffles - very creative!

Submitted by Main Stream on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 7:44pm.

and much more interesting of an office, than the real one, I'm sure - no offense Cal.

You get an A+ for Creative Writing.

BTW - Dem. meeting at the Hwy. 54 Starbucks at 9 am tomorrow, if you're out and about gettin' bread and milk for the snow day.

Later!

Mainstream, sniffles, yardman, bpr, lilly, and other liberals :)

Submitted by kevin king on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 9:12pm.

I'll definitely be there. You'll know me because I'll be the black guy in the parking lot with loud music, saggy britches, being frisked by PTC's finest. By the way, PTC does have the best dang police officers I've ever known. Just had a face to face with one at my door tonight checking on my open garage as he caught teens pilfering in other garages. You cannot pay these folks what they are worth!!!!!

Hack

hey hack!

Submitted by Main Stream on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 11:36pm.

We'll be looking (listening) for you! I hope it's not too snowy in the am.

(gotta love those PTC police)

I'll be pumping vanilla Ice

Submitted by kevin king on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 11:45pm.

Rollin in my 5 point ohh. Rag top down so my hair can blow.......

Hack

Submitted by hutch866 on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 9:19pm.

Better polish up those golf clubs, I broke 120 today on just my fourth round of golf, I figure by the time I'm 60 I'll be below a hundred, maybe.

I yam what I yam....Popeye

good sniffles!

Submitted by sageadvice on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 6:54pm.

Except the quantity of unrequested password changes must have been just yours and mine. I think a lot more than you mentioned occurred.
They must be trying to catch the culprit at the paper, otherwise they would have had it fixed by now. I suggest they shut it down and fix it if they can't fix it running!
After all these people don't know east from west.
It has to be that bunch in Washington (FBI) doing this thing to us! They spy on everyone else!

Thing also posts so slow

Submitted by sageadvice on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 6:55pm.

it is creating many multiple posts!!!
Must have been made in the USA?

$nit

Submitted by hutch866 on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 6:57pm.

If you only push the post button once, it only posts once.

I yam what I yam....Popeye

hutch

Submitted by sageadvice on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 7:02pm.

How does one know?
No indication that it posted.
Not listed in comments as having posted!
How do you know?
Is the FBI scanning it before it posts?

$nit

Submitted by hutch866 on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 7:09pm.

If you touch the post button with your cursor it will turn a color, mine gets a orangish outline to it. When you push the post button it will turn a different color, mine turns blue, thats how you know it's working.

I yam what I yam....Popeye

hutch

Submitted by sageadvice on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 7:16pm.

I think I would have noticed a color change!

$nit

Submitted by hutch866 on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 7:20pm.

It's there, just trying to help, post multiple's all you want, don't matter to me. It's just the outline of the button that turns colors, but hey do what you want, I'll return the check.

I yam what I yam....Popeye

hutch

Submitted by sageadvice on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 7:28pm.

Why must you defend errors and stupid stuff all of the time?
Were you career military or a cop? (just some of them)
Being positive about ignorant and erroneous stuff is not problem solving nor progress!

$nit

Submitted by hutch866 on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 7:54pm.

He $ayS a$ he po$t$ multiple time$ yet again. Point out ju$t one $olution you ever came up with.

I yam what I yam....Popeye

good sniffles!

Submitted by sageadvice on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 6:52pm.

$Nitpicker$ -- "Don't know"