Binghamton newspaper covers shooting tragedy despite cutbacks, language barriers

Like many newspaper editors these days, Calvin Stovall has been working with a reduced staff and a tight budget. But when a gunman opened fire at an immigration center in his town of Binghamton, N.Y., population 45,000, the Press & Sun-Bulletin editor didn't let the cutbacks stop him and his reporters from doing their job. "It is easy for us to get hung up on that," said Stovall. "But we have had the people we needed to cover the story."

Since Friday's shooting, the paper's staff have been working around the clock to cover the story properly, with extra print and web content that includes a focus on the 13 victims, who include eleven immigrants, their English teacher, and an office worker. Local translators have helped the staff overcome language barriers in interviews, and journalists from papers also owned by Gannett Co. Inc. have joined the staff to help with coverage.

Stovall told Joe Strupp of Editor & Publisher that the tragedy points to why journalists do what they do: "The industry is really going through a lot right now, we know we play a very important role and this is a reminder of the very important role we play." (Read more; read the paper's Web coverage here)