Command performance
By Bill Kisliuk
November 8th, 2009
November 1st, 2009
October 25th, 2009
October 18th, 2009
October 11th, 2009
With apologies to Humphrey Bogart: Of all the daily newspapers in all the little towns in all of the country, he walks into ours.
No, the commander in chief did not literally walk into the Register newsroom on Thursday. But he dominated it nonetheless, as our newsgathering force — photographers, reporters, editors, page designers, Web geniuses — poured energy into George W. Bush’s stop in the Napa Valley.
It’s the natural thing for us to do, even though when the president visits Napa, it is almost certain he is not going to make real news. He might go for a bike ride, eat a gourmet sandwich, hobnob with the moneyed class or ride in a black SUV.
If nearly anyone else did those things, it would not be newsworthy. But the leader of the free world was here, and that’s a big deal. Napa County may be about 500,000 times the size of the Rose Garden outside the White House, but we are the site of about 1/500,000th as much presidential news.
On Thursday, we planted reporters and photographers in the press pool, outside the Upvalley estates where the action was rumored to be centered and with protesters downvalley.
But we couldn’t be everywhere. Thanks to the many people who called or wrote in with updates.
We also want to bring your attention to a new Register feature to highlight other events around the valley, ones that don’t require members from a zillion law enforcement agencies to block off the valley’s major traffic arteries.
The feature is Faces and Places, and it runs on page B4 on Sundays.
If you recently attended someone’s first or 90th birthday party, saw talented hula dancers doing the Hookie Lau in an American Canyon foyer, watched a man commute by horseback on Highway 29, snapped photos at a fundraiser or mixer or festival — or even if you happened to have a camera when you were in Pope Valley and saw that someone pasted an “F” in front of the word “Lake ” in a Lake County directional sign — send us an image and info describing who, what, where and when.
We will publish as many items as we can. Bring your images and brief write-ups to our office at 1615 Second St., mail them in, e-mail them to bkisliuk@napanews.com or, best of all, use our form at www.napavalleyregister.com/facesandplaces.
If the president happens to be in town, maybe he’ll get a glimpse of you in action.
Final note: When the newsroom is grappling with late photos and stories, as were during the president’s visit, the people likely to feel the pain are the boys in the press room who are waiting for us to make deadline. They may have a lot of ink on them, but we don’t spill much ink about them. Thank you to John Hawkley, Dana Rogerson, Tim Williams, Mike Butts, Tom Hansen and the new kid, Stephen Sandtner.
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MarshaMarsha wrote on Jul 21, 2008 11:18 AM:
Did anyone besides reporters, law enforcement, or Harlan Estate toadies actually SEE the president??? Love to hear from you, and seeing a helicopter or speeding motorcade doesn't count. "
gatekeeper wrote on Jul 21, 2008 9:29 PM:
Bill,
Are you coming to BMII? "
Bill wrote on Jul 21, 2008 10:03 PM:
glenroy wrote on Jul 23, 2008 12:47 PM:
misfit wrote on Jul 24, 2008 10:46 AM:
glenroy wrote on Jul 25, 2008 6:10 PM: