Say what you want about newspapers today, but the Napa Valley Register showed it gets the paper out even when an earthquake damages its home.
KGO-TV in San Francisco offered a great report on this journalistic success:
Read the Register's ongoing reporting HERE.
This is the latest in a long history of newspapers rising above their own impact from tragedies to report on them - from the New York Daily News in 1977's blackout borrowing lights from the Superman film crew to the Times-Picayune in New Orleans and the Biloxi, Miss. Sun Herald literally wading through post-Katrina flood waters to publish.
Countering the earlier gruesome New York tab covers we showed you, Sports Illustrated offers a positive cover shot, promoting what is the best sports story of the month, young Mo'ne Davis.
The Little League pitcher from Philly cannot only play with the boys, and better than most, but she has a cool, calm demeanor few at her age can display.
Consider this, she is the first little league player of either sex to grace the S.I. cover and the youngest person ever, with a 13-year-old Tracy Austin (below) holding the previous record back in 1976. (Mo'ne is one month younger than Austin was then).
Not to mention her team is among the few big city clubs to make hay in the Little League World Series.
See her on the mound tonight. No, don't tell me about the SI jinx.
Is this news coverage or offensive exploitation?
Today's front page
The protests and outrage in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Mo, in the wake of the shooting of an unarmed man at the hands of police also includes some of the worst violations of press freedom in many years.
First, the fact that police will not release the name of the officer who is accused of shooting the man, Micheal Brown, during the incident on August 9 is an outrage. Cops claim that the officer has received death threats and revealing his identity would endanger him.
Such concerns are likely at hand when any suspect's name is released, but that does not stop law enforcement in most cases from doing so. Also, in this instance, the accusation against someone sworn to uphold the law and in a position of power makes the information even more important for news outlets to report.
That will likely not last as at least one anonymous internet group has posted what it claims is the officer's name on Twitter. The local ACLU has also filed a formal request for the name.
In addition, with the heavy police and law enforcement presence in the small town, word that two reporters were ordered to stop recording, arrested and detained in a public restaurant also smacks of overkill and abuse of power against the press.
There is also video online of police tossing tear gas near a television crew and later taking away their lights in an area that appears to have no protesters or other need for such extreme measures.
As this story continues, those who cover news and speak out for press rights must not accept such actions and must continue to demand full accounting of the facts and full access for reporters.
During my 15 years or so covering media, one of the journalists I have been lucky enough to know is Linda Deutsch, the legendary Associated Press reporter whose career at the news co-op spans more than 50 years and includes covering most of the big celebrity trials, from Manson to O.J.
What you may not know is she is a major Elvis fan and was an original Elvis Presley Fan Club president. I learned this years ago when I did a story on Deutsch for Editor & Publisher and we discussed the King as I am also a major fan.
Her Elvis history is getting some attention today as she sits on a panel of fan club presidents in Memphis, Tennessee, as part of the annual Elvis Week, the week-long commemoration of his death on Aug. 16, 1977.
Linda's panel hit the stage this morning. The king would have been proud.
Robin Williams' hometown newspaper offers up a big front page today:
