It's the end of an era, but as breaking news pops on phones, the paper will continue to deliver insightful reporting
Today we delivered the last edition of the Journal Sentinel to be printed in Milwaukee County.
Starting tonight, our newspaper will be printed in Peoria, Illinois.
Deadlines to make the print edition will be earlier for our news staff so that the paper can be delivered to your home first thing each morning.
That means the newspaper will become entirely what it mostly has been:
A place to find great in-depth enterprise reporting of stories most important to people in Wisconsin.
A place where expert beat reporters answer key questions and keep you in-the-know about public policy, elected representatives, schools and education, businesses and opportunities, arts and entertainment, sports and more.
A place where investigative reporting exposes wrongdoing while also highlighting best practices and potential solutions, so the public can demand better.
The morning paper won’t include late-breaking news or results from the previous night’s games. But our “e-edition” — an electronic version of the print Journal Sentinel — now offers two sections with late world and sports news in a traditional newspaper format. These extra sections include later news stories and game results than we’ve historically published in print, such as extra-inning West Coast baseball scores or the latest from the war in Ukraine.
More: How to read the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's e-edition print replica
The best way to deliver breaking news and sports today is through digital and mobile devices, and our print subscribers have access to everything we offer online. It’s easy to log in and sign up for mobile alerts and newsletters so you don’t miss any stories of greatest interest to you. Online we offer live chats with fans during games, video interviews and stories, stunning photo galleries, interactive maps and graphics. In print, we’ll continue to deliver insightful reports on the most important issues and challenges we face – stories that matter for much longer than a day.
I love newspapers.
I love holding what I’m reading in my hands, carrying it from one room to another, sharing sections, seeing a summary of the day’s most important stories – history recorded in the moment.
My first job was delivering a paper printed in Milwaukee, at 4th and State. I wound up working for decades with the children of some of the pressmen, compositors, electricians and machinists who printed the papers I threw as a boy.
When I called Production Chief Gary Hall to ask to hold the presses for a big late-breaking story, or when he called to ask the newsroom to close early due to an incoming blizzard, we spoke in shorthand. Gary’s father was a Journal pressman and his grandfather arranged lead type in the Journal composing room.
One of my favorite “hold the presses” stories comes from recently retired baseball writer Tom Haudricourt. In October 1995, still years before folks had smartphones or high-speed Internet, Tom covered the 16-hour debate and vote in the State Senate that led to the building of a new domed Brewers stadium. At around 2 a.m., Sen. George Petak of Racine decided to vote for the stadium bill, giving it the majority needed to pass. The pressroom waited. Tom filed his story, gathered all his stuff and got some coffee for the drive home to Milwaukee’s North Shore.
“As I trudged up the steps to my front porch around 5 a.m., I could barely believe my eyes,” he said. “There was my copy of the Journal Sentinel, hot off the presses, with my ballpark story on the front page ... I’ve never been more impressed or proud.”
That was our pressroom in action.
Today, of course, you get an alert and the story on your phone just minutes after the vote.
But some things haven’t changed as much as we might think. One night in March, I checked out “31 Days of Oscar” on Turner Classic Movies. They were playing Marty, the Ernest Borgnine Best Picture from 1955.
Early in the movie, Marty heads to a tavern to find his friends. It’s crowded and everyone in the bar is looking through the afternoon paper. Marty and his best friend grab a booth, drink their beers and stare at stories in the paper while half-listening to what the other person is saying.
It's just like you see in bars today with people and their phones.
While technology continually changes, we remain much the same, still interested in what’s new and how it might affect us.
The Journal Sentinel will continue to deliver that news to you, to the best of our ability, with all the tools we have available.
Thank you for subscribing.
More: How to stay up to date with all the latest news from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Email Editor George Stanley at george.stanley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @geostanley.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Journal Sentinel stops Milwaukee printing, delivers latest news online
