Page 11 - BusinessWest December 21, 2020

remotely.
“A few people work only from home,
some are hybrid and come in half the week, and then there are people like myself, who work in the newsroom
all the time,” Livingston said of the environment at the Recorder, which is headquartered in downtown Green- field. “We wear masks when we talk to each other, and we practice safe-dis- tancing rules, but I miss that camara- derie, reporters just sitting around and swapping stories. I look forward to get- ting that back when things turn around eventually.”
That said, “I’m impressed with our hardworking staff,” Livingston went on. “They continue to generate coverage — that’s one good thing the pandemic did not stop. They’ve been great.”
Like all community newspapers with a wide coverage area, the report-
“I miss that camaraderie, reporters just sitting around and swapping stories. I look forward to getting that back when things turn around eventually.”
ers tend to stick to specific geographic beats, getting to know their communi- ties intimately. The pandemic has shut- tered municipal offices to the public and canceled annual events, making
a reporter’s traditional in-person con- tacts harder to come by.
However, “business hasn’t stopped in terms of what’s happening in town governments, which we cover pretty heavily,” she added. “Some of it’s done virtually, we’ve had annual town meet- ings in cars or a field, and people have been inventive about trying to be safe during this time. That has been noth- ing like being in person, but we’re doing the best we can with what we have right now.”
At the same time, readers’ reliance on locally generated news is more critical than ever, especially in a year when locals need to understand how COVID-19 affects them personally, yet messages from national media sources and (especially) the internet have ranged at times from sensationalized to misleading.
That reporters are delivering that news by communicating with team members remotely is all the more impressive, Livingston noted. “Our computer system allows us to work anywhere, and that’s really helpful.”
It’s a slightly smaller team these days, too, she added.
“We had some layoffs after a few months [of the pandemic], and the paper got smaller because businesses
are struggling and advertising is not their priority. But I’m impressed by the work ethic of the staff because we are down a few people, and hope- fully, when things change, we’ll be able to restock those positions. But they’ve picked up the slack, and I’m impressed.”
Moses sees a silver lining in this year’s shifts in the way people work, because the industry was already mov- ing in some ways toward more remote work, or at least asking questions about the best use of physical space.
“This has allowed us to accelerate where we were going anyway, so there are some positives to all this,” he said.
“Like everyone else, we’re always try- ing to find efficiencies, and I want to be able to draw on those efficiencies.”
That’s not to say publishing hasn’t been challenging this year; it certainly has. “No surprise there, but, thankfully, we’ve been able to manage through it, and as difficult as it’s been, everyone has stepped up pretty well, regardless of which part of the business they’re functioning in.”
The Recorder did eventually get to that series on suffrage over the sum- mer, examining the issue over a period of weeks, not only from a national per- spective, but also — and maybe more importantly — through the lens of local
history, local organizations, and local viewpoints.
That’s how the newspaper has con- tinued to handle COVID-19 as well.
“I’m reminded every day that, on
a whole range of subjects, whether or not they’re health-related, we’re help- ing readers manage through this, giv- ing them critical news they need, and trying to provide them the right local information they wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else,” Moses said. “That’s even more critical now.” u
Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]
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