Monday Briefing: Wholesome happenings (mostly) keep websites popping
Despite what most people think, newspaper reporters are not ghouls.
Most of us don’t get a charge out of sad news, like fires, car wrecks, drownings and the like. To many, it’s the worst part of the job.
There’s really no worse night’s sleep for a reporter than the hours before having to cover a morning funeral, especially if a victim or victims’ family has been complaining about coverage — names that were spelled wrong, details not fully provided by police or whomever, etc. — leading up the event.
We do it because our editor told us to. In other words, it’s part of the job.
And things have been busy, so to speak, in the TimesReview Newsgroup’s coverage area over the last few months, especially the weekends.
That’s why this weekend was so welcome. No one was hurt, maimed or worse. We had a few DWI arrests but hope those who were caught end up being all the safer behind the wheel because of it. (There’s a glass-half-full way to look at it.)
The best part of all, business wise — of course, bad news is good for a media group’s bottom lines — is that site traffic was good.
Yep, the websites were humming along all weekend, despite it being beach weather.
For the curiosity seekers, here were our most-read stories that posted Saturday or Sunday, in order:
Shelter Island fireworks called off, twice
Jason Kidd nabbed on DWI in Southampton Town
Video: 1 minute from the all-classes Greenport HS reunion
Guest Spot about on North Fork becoming like the South Fork
3 busted for DWI Saturday night in Riverhead
Arcade store returns to Greenport
Photos from the Mattituck street fair
Seniors feud over financials at Calverton community
It was nice for a change to see people flocking to stories about street fairs, fireworks and high school reunions, as opposed to car crash photos.