After lunch Sunday I went with about six other students out to McLean, Virginia for a tour of USA Today. After a lengthy subway ride and transfer to metro bus we arrived at the stunning 1,491,000 square foot Gannett-USA Today headquarters. The glass-walled building is made up of two office towers connected at the bottom by an airy atrium.
The complex boasts a fitness center, masseuse, grill, salad bar, deli, two Starbucks, a bank, a gift shop, and a travel agent. The scale of the building and quality of the décor create an impressive image.
The purpose of my visit was to sit in on USA Today’s 4:00 editorial meeting. In this meeting the editors of the different sections of the newspaper discuss their biggest stories, and the front page editor decides what will make it on A1. Several editors who are in Boston for the Democratic Convention joined us by phone. Representatives of USAToday.com, Gannett News Service, and the Gannet Live (TV) also attend the meeting so that they are aware of what is going into the paper. This meeting is also when newspaper tie-ins to additional web coverage are proposed.
Perhaps the most interesting story tossed around at the meeting was the controversy over the Al-Jazeera sign. Al-Jazeera rented a skybox at the convention and hung a sign in the Fleet Center so that it would show up in with their coverage. The $30,000 sign was taken down early last week. Initially no one took responsibility for the missing sign which was replaced by a JohnKerry.com sign. Later convention spokeswoman, Peggie Wilhide, admitted that the Democrats had the sign. She told USA Today reporters, “We’re going to get it back to them. It’s stored in a place that’s closed for the weekend.”
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The Georgetown buses don’t run on weekends, so just out of curiosity I calculated how much I walked yesterday going back and forth to church and USA Today. It came out to about 5.5 miles. I’ve found that I don’t really mind the walking–especially when I’m not hauling camera equipment.