June 26, 2007
Up until that moment, I was unaware of the explosion that killed two South Routt teenagers.
How is it possible that such a major news story can slip past the newspaper unnoticed for 36 hours? Before I explain why it happened, let me frst say that it should not have happened.
This particular incident is happened in Rio Blanco County and the Rio Blanco County Sheriff's Office was the lead investigation agency. We make emergency calls to police, sheriff and fire departments every weekend. Rio Blanco was not on that call list, but is now.
A number of people said to me on Monday that they were aware of the incident on Sunday, but simply assumed the newspaper also was aware. Sadly, we were not.
There's no magic in newsgathering. Just because something happened, the newspaper does not automatically know it happened. Many of our news stories still start with a phone call from a reader saying, "hey, did you know..."
We're going to review our policies for weekend news coverage in the wake of this incident. And I hope that if you see news, you'll give us a call at 871-4233/871-4207 or 871-4221.
Also, I have my cell phone with me at all times and my home phone is listed in the book. A few people said they did not want to bother me. Whe it comes to news, I want to be bothered.
Scott Stanford, Editor
sstanford@steamboatpilot.com
(970) 871-4221/(970) 291-9278
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