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Volume 83 April 2020 No. 10 INSIDE Tears in the newsroom: 118-year-old community Paulson: Truth & Trans- perancy vs. a virus newspaper covers tornado tragedy close to home Page 2 ANITA WADHWANI On a normal day, three editors The Tennessean, Nashville and three reporters are covering Daniels: Stand proud of March 10, 2020 high school sports, car accidents, In the hours after deadly storms court cases and fi res for the five-day- your role in a crisis swept through Putnam County on per-week newspaper that has deliv- Page 3 March 3, local offi cials set up a ered news to the people of Putnam News phone number to report the missing. County since 1903. The problem? There was only one On March 3, the Herald-Citizen’s Page 3 incoming line. three reporters and three editors Ad-Libs: The pitch should Anxious callers desperate for were working to cover the biggest be all about the benefi ts news about their family members natural disaster to hit the county in and friends turned to the Herald-Cit- the newspaper’s 118-year history. Page 4 izen, fl ooding the community news- In total, 18 people, including paper’s phone lines with pleas for fi ve children, died in three sepa- TPA Member Showcase help as the small news staff worked rate tornadoes that swept through Page 6 to report on the aftermath of deadly Cookeville and surrounding rural tornadoes. and suburban communities, leveling Obituaries “I had a call from a lady in 100 family homes and damaging Page 8 Texas saying she could not fi nd her or destroying 400 other structures. Photo by The Tennessean, Nashville mother,” said Kate Cook, city editor. More than 88 were injured. Footage from a drone above Putnam County, Tennessee shows the dev- Tracks “Folks were calling us saying the “I’ve never covered anything this astation caused by a tornado that ripped through the area on Tuesday, number was out of service. That was bad,” said Cook. “Never. I’ve never Page 8 March 3, 2020. Zinser: Key management all day Tuesday.” See TEARS Page 4 victories via NLRB Page 10 2020 TPA Our obligation to report remains fi rm Summer Fisher: Harassment bill We will always do the right nities. These stories must be told; fails by 5-4 vote thing, and that’s why it’s hard to YOUR if reporters aren’t there to bear Convention Page 12 make a living. witness, they won’t be. Talk about kicking us when PRESIDING Sometimes it is a horrible obli- rescheduled for we’re down. REPORTER gation. Mother Nature walloped Middle “A lot of people are hurting, but Sept. 24-25 Tennessee in the wee hours of CHRIS VASS our readers are depending on us,” Super Tuesday (does anyone even Jack McNeely, publisher of the Because of the uncertain remember the primary elections?). Herald-Citizen in Cookeville, told These are the moments when timeline and lingering effects Ferocious tornadoes claimed the me recently. newspapers fulfi ll their unique McNeely’s team had put the of the COVID-19 crisis, the lives of 25 people and left commu- Tennessee Press Association public service mission: Keeping the Cookeville paper to bed after the nities grappling with millions of has postponed the 2020 TPA public fully informed is a corner- primary elections, only to awak- dollars in property damage. Summer Convention by three stone of our First Amendment core en hours later to devastation in And just as that natural di- months, rescheduling it for values. Putnam County from EF3 and 4 saster’s effects were coming into Sept. 24-25. It will still be No one else has the responsibil- tornadoes. After checking on the sharper focus, Tennessee and the held at the Music Road Resort ity — the obligation — to record safety of his staff, he turned his nation suffered another blow — in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. team loose to do what newspapers this time a biological threat, a what happens in a community. If you made reservations for do best: blanket coverage of the microscopic foe whose effects have We do. We choose it every day. We June, please cancel them by disaster in print and online. been growing quickly across the write down and photograph and calling (877) 291-8532. His small staff has worked state. The coronavirus is a dual record what we see, hear, feel and Watch for TPA communica- overtime to give readers accurate, menace: Our public health and our touch. Diligently. Objectively. With tion on the new details. fi nancial security are at risk. no goal but to inform our commu- See VASS Page 9 Page 2 • The Tennessee Press • April 2020 Fighting a virus with truth and transparency As the scope and threat of the tional media have been measured coronavirus pandemic becomes GUEST and thorough in their coverage, (USPS 616-460) clear, people all over the world making the most of their on-air Published monthly by the hunger for two things: an effective COLUMN medical and scientifi c consultants. vaccine and truthful information Local newspapers and broadcasters TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION, INC. about the disease. The former may have devoted extensive resources to 412 N. Cedar Bluff Road, Suite 403 be more than a year away, but the reporting how the virus will affect Knoxville, Tennessee 37923 latter is critical to stemming the KEN PAULSON the communities they serve. Telephone (865) 584-5761/Fax (865) 558-8687/www.tnpress.com pandemic in the meantime. President Trump told the nation Sunshine Week, in March, governments, schools and the pri- in early March that “we are all in Subscriptions: $12 annually marked a time when people like vate sector. Governments at every this together” and that’s exactly Periodicals Postage Paid At Knoxville, TN me write columns about some level resist disclosure and scrutiny, what needs to happen: the gov- legislature’s wrong-headed move to but leaders are now saying: “Here’s ernment sharing what it knows POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Tennessee Press, limit access to public records, and what we need to do; here’s why truthfully and without spin or 412 N. Cedar Bluff Road, Suite 403, Knoxville, TN 37923 then try to make the case for great- we’re doing it; and here’s how you bravado, private and public institu- er access to public information and can fi nd out more.” tions engaging constructively with The Tennessee Press is printed by The Standard Banner in Jeff erson City, Tenn. transparency in government. Sports leagues and private America’s most pressing challenge We’re facing something far more businesses have been refreshingly and news organizations keeping Carol Daniels ..................................................................................................................................... Editor dangerous than any state legisla- transparent. How many emails have the public informed in a thorough Mike Towle .................................................................................................................. Managing Editor ture could conjure up. It’s a global you received that began “Out of an and even-handed way. Robyn Gentile .......................................................................................... Production Coordinator crisis worsened by governments abundance of caution . ”? There In the end, science will prevail in whose impulse is to hide, control are a lot of institutions making curbing this virus. Yet the path to and censor news and information. tough decisions these days, but that victory can only emerge from The Tennessee Press When a Chinese doctor shared they’re largely doing it in partner- true collaboration and collective is printed on recycled paper with colleagues his concerns that ship with the American people. sacrifi ce, fueled by a shared under- and is recyclable. a mysterious new virus might be More than anything, else, standing of exactly what we’re up emerging, he was reprimanded and though, this crisis reminds us of against. That can only come from TENNESSEE PRESS ASSOCIATION silenced. The doctor, Li Wenliang, how wise the fi rst generation of the free fl ow of information. Chris Vass, Chattanooga Times Free Press ...........................................................................President died last month of coronavirus. Americans was in demanding a free Daniel Richardson, Carroll County News Leader, Huntingdon .........................Vice President After China mishandled and hid press. Despite the inevitable accusa- Ken Paulson is the director of Darrell Richardson, Th e Oak Ridger ............................................................................. Vice President the virus from the public, the tions by some that the news media the Free Speech Center at Middle Joseph Hurd, Th e Courier, Savannah .................................................................................... Secretary epidemic dramatically worsened. were “hyping” this threat, tradi- Tennessee State University. Eric Barnes, Th e Daily News, Memphis .................................................................................Treasurer The Chinese government “is now Doug Horne, Republic Newspapers, Knoxville ...................................Immediate Past President leading a sweeping campaign to Carol Daniels .................................................................................................................Executive Director purge the public sphere of dissent, censoring news reports, harassing DIRECTORS citizen journalists and shutting Scott Critchlow, Union City Daily Messenger ..................................................................... District 1 down news sites,” says the New Keith Ponder, Th e Daily Herald, Columbia ..........................................................................District