This Popular Mechanics article on how the New York Times gets put together is some nerd’s dream (me…
Tomorrow morning, most readers will think nothing of the fact that the paper was at their door at the same time yesterday and the day before that and the day before that. They may also think nothing of the fact that, at the moment they bend down to pick it up, some of the stories in the print version have already been updated on their phones and tablets, and new stories have been added, too: the score of a double-overtime game that ended too late, or news out of India that broke overnight. And all of these stories, the total daily and nightly output from all the desks at the Times — news from Washington and Ukraine and Sacramento and St. Louis and Staten Island and Mexico City, reviews of movies that open tomorrow and of TV shows that aired last night, opinion pieces, recipes, weekly sections on home design and science and real estate and style and books — feed a larger world of news that never stops consuming. The growing universe of digital news outlets includes a great many amalgamators, recyclers of other people’s reporting. Some report their own stories, but it is the Times that provides by far the most coverage of the most subjects in the most reliable way. The Times is a monster, a sprawling organization, the most influential print newspaper and digital news site in the world.
This Popular Mechanics article on how the New York Times gets put together is some nerd’s dream (me) (it’s me) (mine). My favorite part: “In a previous era, after the last page was sent to the printer, an editor would ring a bell, walk toward the door, and holler “Good night!” to mostly no one, because there was no one left to yell at.” When I finished editing an issue of my college paper, I would play “She-Wolf” and dance around a bit, which is basically the same thing, right?