Sunday, October 25, 2015

Where is The Palm Beach Post printed? And shouldn't the newspaper inform their readers who that printer is?

Stay with me here. . .The Palm Beach Post reporter Kevin Thompson wrote an excellent article about a spectacular group of volunteers who've been working so hard for many years to produce a book about The Cottages of Lake Worth. Some time back a former Post reporter, Lona O'Connor, wrote an article about these splendid citizens and their efforts to promote our unique cottages in this little City.

The Cottages of Lake Worth group set up a GoFundMe account that includes more information such as the editor of the forthcoming book, Chris Felker, a former employee of The Palm Beach Post himself.

But. . .for some inexplicable reason, in an otherwise magnificent piece of work in the Post about this group and their soon-to-be-book, the reporter included this line:
The 10-chapter, 170-page book should be ready to print soon in South Korea.
Why is that important? You'll have to ask the reporter and the editor. Why couldn't the line have read like this:
The 10-chapter, 170-page book is expected to be ready for publishing soon.
That got me thinking. How many readers of The Palm Beach Post know where that newspaper is printed? Does The Palm Beach Post have a printing facility somewhere in Palm Beach County? No. The Sun Sentinel in Broward County is the printer of The Palm Beach Post.

Read about The Palm Beach Post in Wikipedia:
     [T]he Post downsized its newsroom by more than 30 percent in 2008 and 2009. At the same time it closed its printing press. The Post's print edition is now printed in Broward County by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and shipped north to Palm Beach County for daily distribution.
     As of 2012, the Post's average daily circulation was slightly over 88,000, well below daily circulation figures of around 165,000 at the turn of the century, according to BurrellesLuce. It is the 80th largest daily newspaper in the United States and the 7th largest in Florida.
For some perspective, Palm Beach County (depending on whether you include Lake Okeechobee or not) is either the first or second largest county in the U.S. east of the Mississippi River and includes 38 cities and a large unincorporated area but The Palm Beach Post is "the 80th largest daily newspaper" in the U.S.? The word "grotty" comes to mind.

And The Palm Beach Post can't even print their own newspaper. But did you know The Cottages of Lake Worth is having their book printed in South Korea? Give me a break.