News Gets Through Despite Blackout

(CBS/AP)  The big blackout is an even bigger story, which set news media of all types – including the Internet – scrambling to keep their audiences informed, while dealing with technical obstacles ranging from no power to no phones – the tool which is the backbone of so many news stories.

For some, backup plans made after previous blackouts and after Sept. 11, 2001, paid off as stations were able to stay on the air, while newsrooms stayed on the story.

The three major TV networks all had backup power in place.

Dan Rather was the only ''big three'' anchorman not on vacation. With CBS's diesel generators functioning, he broke into normal programming about 4:30 p.m. and did the ''CBS Evening News'' from the studio.

The studio used by CBSNews.com completely lost power, but the staff was quickly shifted to a location in the CBS Broadcast Center, which had power thanks to a backup generator. As a result, there was virtually no interruption in the Web site's operation.

NBC trumpeted its own advance planning as anchor Brian Williams laid out the situation in his opening remarks on the ''NBC Nightly News.''

''It is only thanks to emergency generators and a whole lot of scrambling here that we are able to say this Thursday night, Good evening from NBC News headquarters in midtown Manhattan, where we are in the midst of what appears to be a colossal and history-making blackout,'' said Williams.

In Washington, ABC broadcast a special ''World News Tonight'' report anchored by Ted Koppel. Network spokesman Jeffrey Schneider says backup generators were working in New York and the control room was functioning, but the network decided to go with a ''more secure'' operation in Washington.

The Fox News Channel continued to function from New York with backup power, according to Fox spokesman Rob Zimmerman.

Newspapers struggled to put out smaller editions as their operations went dark.

In Cleveland, The Plain Dealer lost all power, and 15 reporters and editors were sent 25 miles south to the Akron Beacon-Journal, said Alex Machaskee, publisher and president. He planned to use the Beacon-Journal's press to publish a 24-page paper with only eight pages of news.

The Detroit News also had no power, and planned to print an eight-page paper with no ads out of the Battle Creek Enquirer's printing plant, said Mark Silverman, publisher and editor. The paper sent staffers to Howell, Mich., about an hour west of Detroit, to set up shop in a hotel. Plans were much the same at the Detroit Free Press, which is run under a joint operating agreement with the News.

''We do have a contingency plan, but in terms of a power outage like this, not really,'' said John X. Miller, public editor of the Detroit Free Press. He did not know why the paper's backup generators did not kick in.

The New York Times had auxiliary power at its 43rd Street headquarters, and also made up for lost power by reducing the size of Friday's paper. Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis says the paper's printing plant in Queens was knocked out, sending the edition through a double run instead at a plant in Edison, N.J.

The Toronto Globe and Mail was conducting its front-page story meeting when the power went out.

''We decided what the front page story would be,'' said Edward Greenspon, editor in chief.

The newspaper prints at six plants across Canada, and only the one in Toronto went out. The paper's normal five sections were to be reduced to two, totaling 28 pages, Greenspon said.

Despite losing power at its New York headquarters, The Associated Press was able to maintain its news services by shifting key operations to other bureaus.

''The Associated Press continues to file its full news report in audio, video, text and photos,'' said AP President and chief executive Tom Curley. ''This includes ongoing developments in the power crisis.''

Services that normally are based in New York were rerouted to AP bureaus in cities not affected by the outage, including Washington, Atlanta and Philadelphia.

Overseas, news of the blackout played almost continuously on Britain's 24-hours news stations, Sky and BBC News 24. Cameras trained on New York City's crowded streets played back live images of the thousands of workers walking home.

On Broadway, the show did not go on.

Twenty-two shows - 19 musicals and three plays - went dark. The luckiest show in town was "Say Goodnight Gracie," which did not have a Thursday evening performance.