Countdown 2000
As the clock counts down to 2000, newspapers heard both good and bad news at NEXPO'97.
The bad news first: "The newspaper business has a somewhat different problem than other groups in that we have a large number of industry-specific, third-party products we use every day," said Kurt D. Dahl, vice president of information technology for The Seattle Times.
To make matters worse, "no silver bullet" can address all products, warned NAA consultant David R. Lightfoot, president of Chesapeake Resource Group of Annapolis, Md. Lightfoot emphasized that newspaper managers must immediately embark on a systematic plan to resolve problems that most computers will have handling dates in the new century. Because newspaper contracts commonly cover the year ahead, solutions must be available well before the Year 2000 begins.
He cautioned that no single repair can resolve problems on the many different computers that rely on outdated, two-digit date codes. He urged publishers to establish procedures for every department to identify and resolve problems, to contact vendors and to track NAA's task force that hopes to share solutions.
After all that, there's actually good news? Well, relatively speaking, newspapers don't have all that many systems to worry about. Compared to, say, the banking industry or government, the 2,000 to 5,000 newspaper systems that need checking and possible repairs to avoid the "Millennium bug" remains small.
Still, the task remains intimidating. At The Seattle Times, 195 pre-press systems alone need testing--"a daunting task for our small staff," Dahl said.
Thankfully, some solutions are arriving. Data Dimensions Inc. of Bellevue, Wash., unveiled an online service allowing newspaper-production staffers to track and share information on systems (http://www.data-dimensions.com). A charter subscriber, The Seattle Times, urged others to join.
Meanwhile, other vendors used NEXPO as a backdrop to educate customers on the issue. The recently renamed Atex Media Solutions of Bedford, Mass., for instance, unveiled its own dating standard and held show-floor seminars.
Others look to new systems. The problem offers an opportunity "to replace aging systems without the usual return-on-investment justification," Lou J. Franconeri, vice president of operations at the St. Petersburg Times, observed during NEXPO's general session.
Some, though, questioned whether the industry would fall prey to its own mentality. "Tell me about the next deadline, not next week's," was how consultant David M. Cole characterized the worrisome mind-set at many newspapers.
Mark Toner, Presstime staff writer, e-mail, tonem@naa.org; phone, (703) 902-1684; fax, (703) 902-1690 and Elise Burroughs, Presstime executive editor, e-mail, burre@naa.org; phone, (703) 902-1678; fax, (703) 902-1690.