THAT’S LIFE: Deadline for articles, photographs shifts

By Dianne Owens
Editor
Published: August 29, 2008

A few weeks back we shifted the process of “paginating” the pages of your Marion Star & Mullins Enterprise in Florence by our convergence partners at the Morning News. As I’m sure you’re all aware, your weekly newspaper is owned by Media General, Inc., based in Richmond, Va. (For more about the company, visit them online at http://www.mediageneral.com.) MG also owns the Morning News, Hartsville Messenger, Lake City News & Post, The Weekly Observer in the Johnsonville-Hemingway area and WBTW TV13, in addition to other television stations in the state.

Essentially, that simply means we’re all on the same team and we help one another out, extended family style. For instance, a story Naeem writes could appear in the Morning News or be mentioned on a TV13 newscast. And a story another of our convergence partners writes or publishes online at SCNow.com may make it into your Star & Enterprise. Shared information works both ways.

Paginating pages means that after covering the events that Naeem and I cover and editing the copy that is delivered to us by and for our readers, I get things ready and send them to the folks in Florence (called copy editors, page editors or page designers), for placement on pages to be published.

We have to get your news to Florence by a noon Friday deadline.

That being said, if there is “breaking” news, we will definitely turn first to our page on the SCNow.com Web site for publishing. Most likely, if breaking news happens between that noon deadline and about 2:49 p.m. on a Monday, it’s highly likely that information will be in the Wednesday newspaper. However, it is unlikely that other, more routine news, received by us after our Wednesday deadline, will make it into the Wednesday newspaper. Our deadline has been, for a while, expressed this way: “The deadline for submitted stories, announcements and photos is 5 p.m. Wednesday one week before expected publication.” We have to jiggle that deadline just a little to accommodate getting things to Florence.

Beginning today (Wednesday, Aug. 27) , our deadline for submitted stories, announcements, and photos is noon on Wednesday, one week before expected publication. Just as other Marion County corporations and businesses make adjustments to address market conditions, so do we. This is one such shift, but the good news is we continue to produce a high quality news product that you can be proud of. 

If you have any questions, call me at (843) 423-2050 or send me an e-mail at . We look forward to hearing from you.