Who says journalism is dead???

[133724]

Deaf Photog and Blind Editor Overcome the Odds Together

NEW YORK When the Amish schoolhouse shooting erupted on Oct. 2, 2006, near Lancaster, Pa., photographer Andy Blackburn of the New Era was at home watching TV, hours before his usual late-afternoon shift. But when he saw a breaking news report about the tragedy — which left five girls and the shooter dead — he jumped into his car, raced to the scene, and secured the next day's Page One photo of police removing the killer's body bag.

Back in the newsroom, Managing Editor Pete Mekeel was directing staffers from his third-floor office at the afternoon paper. "It was the hardest day I ever had," recalls Mekeel, who has been at the New Era since 1974. In all, the 41,000-circulation daily delivered seven pages of coverage that would earn it three awards, including the Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Newspapers, the Eugene Pulliam National Journalism Writing Award, and the Religion Communicators Council's Wilbur Award.

But what makes this great reporting even more remarkable are small details about these two key players: Blackburn is deaf, and Mekeel is legally blind.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003585581

[Bobbieo]

1. I think the spirit of journalism is very much alive -

It is the medium - the daily newspaper - that is a dying breed and that is sad.