Corrections or additions?
This article was prepared for the April 2, 2003 edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Between the Lines
Don’t say we don’t practice what we write about. As
a result of this issue’s cover story on disaster preparedness, the
boss has scheduled a meeting to discuss our own emergency plan. One
suggestion, only half in jest, is that our evacuation plan should
be to assemble at the Hyatt, where we can be refugees in relative
comfort. We shall see whether that idea survives Thursday’s meeting.
Any employee can instigate the conversations that will make a company
aware that it needs to plan for the unexpected. Maybe Bart Jackson’s
account of how corporations are getting themselves ready for any emergency
will help jumpstart the planning process in your company. See page
16.
Another information source, this one provided by New Jersey’s Office
of Emergency Management (OEM), is online at www.state.nj/njoemccc,
with advice on how to cope with road closures, report the discovery
of anthrax, determine which travel locales are unsafe, keep children
informed without spooking them, and protect Fido during a natural
disaster. Helpful links include one to the Rutgers Cooperative Extension
(www.rce.rutgers.edu), which has collected research on America: The
Healing Process," "Parents’ Guide to Talking to Their Children
About War," and "Investing for Your Future in Uncertain Times."
scheduled for delivery Wednesdsay, April 16. As we compiled the directory,
we found job counts were down, except for the pharmaceutical industry,
which reports 19,211 workers in Central New Jersey, an increase of
four percent over last year. So it is not surprising that our directory
lists six employment agencies and 16 executive search firms that focus
on pharmaceutical, medical, or scientific positions. We asked three
people who head these boutique firms for career advice that can apply
to any industry (see page 48).
Top Of Page
To The Editor:
What’s `Route 1′
Really All About?
I am prompted to write because of Richard K. Rein’s
editorial talking about the Trentonian, Times, Packet and Topics —
much less the up-and-coming West Windsor-Plainsboro News (U.S. 1,
March 19). While I think you had apt descriptions for some, I was
surprised you chose to be critical about your brethren.
I would add that the Packet is less interesting to Princetonians since
they decided to treat West Windsor and Montgomery with equal attention.
Who ARE those people, anyway? The fact that my wife and I will be
moving to Rocky Hill and Stonebridge hopefully in December makes me
a bit more curious about Montgomery.
Still, your comments prompt me to make a few comments about Route
1. I have never quite understood what market you are serving. There
is little sports or financial or hard news — done I am sure with
a purpose. Still, I flip through it quite rapidly trying to understand.
I KNOW you have subscribers, freebies, and advertisers so you must
be on to something that hasn’t hit me yet.
As for your calendar of entertainment and events, I guess I’m just
not that curious about "what to do on Thursday." I may be
curious about what lectures or concerts or what else are coming up
this week or next but I don’t think most people make plans for Thursday
or Saturday. They seek out events of interest first, I would suspect,
then fit it into their schedules.
And so at best I take a quick glance at the way you list them by days
in hopes I might see something to interest me. But I can’t be bothered
by going over each item by days. It may be a space problem to do it
by category but it makes more sense to me. Likely you have done some
research to support your format.
I’d be curious what your demographics are and any other good thoughts
about what seems to be an obvious success notwithstanding my general
lack of interest.
Herbert W. Hobler
Passport Communications
Princeton
answers. As for our day-by-day listings of upcoming events, as opposed
to category-by-category listings, we get more positive reactions to
our day-by-day format than to any other regular feature in the paper.
Go figure.
As for the lack of hard news and sports, the explanation can be found
in the demographics. Most of our readers are the office denizens of
the greater Princeton business communities and they arrive here from
dozens of different residential communities and school districts.
We concentrate on the things that bring our people together —
business news and the rich social and cultural life that exists (for
some more than others) after work and on weekends.
And Hobler’s letter is especially appreciated for two other reasons.
First it reminds me of yet another nickname for U.S. 1 newspaper,
in addition to the "U.S. Fun" that I mentioned in the column.
Nineteen years ago, when the idea for this paper first popped to mind,
"Route 1" was one of the first names suggested. But my focus
group (friends and people I ran into on the street) were hopelessly
divided on how to pronounce the name — "rout" or "root."
I envisioned that 19 years later I would still be dithering over the
pronunciation. As it turns out, I still am, since lots of people still
refer to U.S. 1 as "Route 1" — pronounced "root"
more often than "rout."
Hobler’s letter also raises the question of why one newspaper writer
should be critical about his "brethren." The fact of the matter
is that you rarely see one newspaper reviewing another or anyone in
the media publicly criticizing anyone else. That’s because of a delicious
little irony that we might pursue at another time: We in the media
can review plays and the arts, we can second guess coaches and quarterbacks
on Monday mornings, and we can call public officials to task for their
failure to anticipate a snow storm. We can all dish it out in huge
portions, but some of us can’t take it.
We received word of one inaccuracy in our March 19 overview of the
journalism scene: We described the Town Topics as a free circulation
weekly. In fact, we have been told, "fully half" of the paper’s
circulation is paid, not free. That may not be hard news exactly,
but — to paraphrase a headline from the Frolics — it is news
to us.
Corrections or additions?
This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com
— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
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