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Some N&R advertising clients also fax or email over ads to be placed in the paper and then leave on Fridays...so if there's a question about their order you can't get an answer. If authorization is needed - you can't get one. Why do professional / business people do that?
It wouldn't bother me so much if I didn't want to be sure I was doing right by the customer.

Do you really think this will divert the truckers off of the bypass?Think not. They will say to the people , we changed the signs what more do you want. Can't wait to hear the residents and the northern part of this loop, especially where it intersects with lawndale and battleground.

I never took the bypass anyway.... although anyone still can, I suppose.

The bypass just seemed to take too long. Cutting through town only slowed me down about 5-10 mph, which was a nice break.

I nearly fell asleep on the wide expanse of the bypass a couple of times -- and cars would race by me at easily 100 mph as I went only 70 or 75.

Also, about your coverage of transportation... WRAL had a full-time reporter devoted to transporation (Taft does a lot of other things) and if a press release came in at 4:56 p.m. he would have had their cell numbers of everyone to call or known their names and tracked them down at home through the phone book. Weather and traffic. Two big things that TV does for a reason: people care. And, people care so that translates into RATINGS, which translates into money.

That, I think, is where the fundamentals of newspapers break down.... no one thinks that way. It doesn't have to all be that way, but NO ONE thinking that way is a problem...

I do hope you check out Taft's reporting of the story. It was well-sourced, clear and concise. He stayed till long past his work day ended to make it that way. He has the contacts - official and in the community - and he certainly knows how to work the transportation beat. That we put such a fine reporter on that beat is indication of how important we think it is.

I read Taft's story before I wrote my comment. He did a fine job.

But my point goes more to the overall approach of newspapers and their sourcing for certain topics that are not high-brow, but really matter to viewers or readers... covering what roads are open or closed or what road projects -- including pesky potholes and frequently-run stopped signs -- are most dear to readers never got a reporter a big break or clips that moved them to the Charlotte Observer or some other big paper or a tidy (gasp) 4 percent raise...

Overall, I'm trying to say there continues to be a disconnect between what gets a reporter ahead (and a raise) and what connects with viewers or readers. I can not recall ever being a reporter and having any other reporter or editor remark that their story would sell papers or generate widespread interest that would help drive overall readership... In fact, any remarking about increased readership would be mentioned about 'folks at City Hall' or 'the fat cats who run Big Tobacco' or 'the N&O will be embarassed we got this scoop in Raleigh'...

The reverse is complety the case in TV -- for better or worse. Some element of that thing is needed at newspapers... not complete... but some. And reporters are not the ones to be the judge at this point. The situation is so dire that direction from an 'assignment desk' is needed to decide stories that ring true with buyers of the product.