Posted on: Sunday, December 19, 2004
AFTER DEADLINE
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By Anne Harpham
Advertiser Senior Editor
As many of our readers noticed, we had a mix-up involving the comics page last week, running comic strips intended for Friday, Dec. 10, on Thursday, Dec. 9.
However, some of our readers never did get the Dec. 9 comics in their paper. Some of the Friday, Dec. 10, papers repeated the comics from the previous day.
The original error, which resulted in the Dec. 10 comics running on Dec. 9, occurred when a page designer's computer crashed during the final process of outputting the comics page. In re-creating the page, the page designer imported the wrong image and sent the page out. The page had been checked by a proof-reader before the crash and the page did not get proofed again. If it had been, that would have provided an opportunity for the error to be caught.
Once we realized what had happened, the Dec. 9 comics were scheduled for the Dec. 10 paper and an explanation was written for the "Getting it Straight" column.
But for some readers, that was just as puzzling as the original error. They were seeing the same comics they had read the day before.
That's because out at our Kapolei press, the wrong comics page was put on the press running the Dec. 10 Island Life section. The error was caught during the run, but not before some 24,000 papers had been printed. The remainder of the 160,000-paper run had the right comics page.
We apologize to those who never did see the Dec. 9 strips of their favorite comics.
• • •
We heard from some of our online readers who encountered a delay in accessing our Web site on Wednesday, the day of monster surf on the North Shore.
There was a fair amount of national interest in the surf that day, and the Drudge Report included a link to our Web site, honoluluadvertiser.com.
That's when the deluge hit us, and we found out quickly just how much interest there was. The resulting spike in traffic caused delays in calling up the site, said Chris Kanemura, online content manager. By the end of the day, we had recorded more than 100,000 views of that particular story.
• • •
Every holiday season, newsroom staff members run up against a gift-giving dilemma. Gift-giving is a natural and pleasant part of the holiday season, particularly in Hawai'i, where generosity is imbued in everyday life year-round and is even more pronounced during the holidays.
The Advertiser, like most newspapers, has a written policy prohibiting the acceptance of gifts.
We know that most people who offer us gifts at this time of year aren't trying to influence us or how we report the news. Even so, the acceptance of gifts can create an appearance of favoritism.
Here's how our newsroom ethics policy puts it: "While giving and receiving such gifts, especially during the holidays is common and generally innocent, the practice may be misconstrued and become embarrassing to both the giver and receiver."
Sometimes gifts can be declined and returned to the sender with an explanation. Other items, such as perishable foods that cannot be returned, are donated.
So in this season of good cheer, a "No thank you" from us in response to gifts does not mean we are Grinches.
Anne Harpham is The Advertiser's reader representative. Reach her at aharpham@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8033.
