On newstands now: The storm that changed the Adirondacks
I’m just leafing through our hard copy of the latest Adirondack Explorer magazine, (cover story: The storm that changed the Adirondacks) looking at some pictures of the Irene flooding that are pretty familiar, and many that I’m seeing for the first time, including aerial views of the former Duck Hole Pond and the former Marcy Dam Pond, and views of (and from) new slides on Wright Peak, Saddleback, Mt. Colden, Avalanche Pass and Cascade.
The magazine’s coverage combines the backcountry side of the incredible force of the flash flooding, as well as the human side of the damage to homes and businesses in the communities that took the brunt of the water.
Besides the great photos, the Explorer staff has mapped Irene’s track, and provided a sort of blow-by-blow account, with photos and another map, of the progressive devastation. There are updates on community recovery, and as well as stream restoration. And, of course, there’s a “how you can help” list of places to donate to continuing recovery efforts.
So the November-December issue is a keeper just for the Irene coverage. And then you can page through and read the REST of the magazine, as ever filled with hikes, excursions and controversies.
Tags: adirondacks, irene
Martha,
Did they have to pay for this advertisement?
As a member of NCPR I don’t expect the space for news to be used to advertise for other outlets?
Who bit you today Paul? Brian quotes other regional media every Sunday. What’s the big deal?
Actually, I had the same reaction as Paul. This reads like an ad. It’s not a matter of citing regional news sources, which Brian does and lots of journalists do in blogs. But read the post. It reads like an ad.
Jim, this just struck me a something quite different. I actually like some of the content in the explorer but this seems like an look at the title “on news stands now”. What is it that the news paper sellers used to say? Extra, Extra, read all about it!!
Martha, I agree. The coverage of Irene in the Explorer is very good, with some useful graphics about how and where the storm hit (the rainfall variability was surprising.) Since I don’t work for NCPR and so can’t be accused of favoritism, I’ll also recommend Brian Mann’s article in Adirondack Life for its firsthand accounts.
Headlines are headlines and need to be taken with a grain of salt.
The Adirondacks is more, much more, than just the so called “High Peaks.” So while they may have changed some, overall the Adirondacks did not change much and some areas didn’t change at all.
@Paul: you’re not seriously going into high-dudgeon mode over this, are you? Big storm — affected us all — interesting pictures — mentioned in the blog, not the news section… I think an apology to Martha might be in order. After all, you did just snarkily accuse her of shilling for other media outlets. Ae you really going to stick with that?
Paul, lighten up dude!
As the author of Adirondack Life’s lead article on the Irene storm, I can cheerfully say that Adirondack Explorer also nailed this story.
In fact, the two magazines create great book-ends, offering very different and complementary accounts of the flooding and response.
Broadly speaking, it’s kind of remarkable how vibrant and diverse our region’s media culture is.
The fact that we have two strong magazines digging into big stories, as well as a half dozen really good newspapers, on-line journals, blogs, etc.
Not to mention three very different and strong public radio stations…all serving the region in very different ways…
It’s an embarrassment of riches, I say.
–Brian, NCPR
Martha, thanks for the compliments. Putting out the Explorer with our small staff is always a challenge, but Irene ratcheted up the difficulty. Brian did a great job summarizing the storm for Adk Life as well–not to mention his NCPR reports. Paul & Will, what is the big deal about Martha’s offering her opinion in a blog about anything at all? Isn’t that what most bloggers do?
I agree, Phil, it’s not a big deal. But the post does read like an ad. And The Explorer is an advocacy publication, promoting a particular agenda and point of view on land use issues in the Adirondacks. Surely, you don’t dispute that and nor would Dick Beamish, I bet. So it seems odd for someone at NPR to write a post that reads like an ad for an advocacy publication.
Will, Martha was not endorsing our editorial positions; she was just complimentng our Irene coverage. I grant that we take strong editorial positions, but so does the Post-Star. In our news stories, we strive for objectivity. Again, this is no different from the Post-Star or other daily paper.
It is different. The Explorer was founded by Mr. Beamish with a particular agenda in mind that he intended to promote through his publication. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, I think it’s great. But it is different from a newspaper like The Post-Star, or many others, where the paper’s stance on particular issues may change over time, depending on the readership and the staff at the paper. We will never see The Explorer advocating for more development in the Park or for protecting property rights in disputes with paddlers. But The Post-Star has taken very different editorial positions over the past 20 years, just because of having different editors.
Such a silly and sour reaction to this post.
Martha wasn’t giving general praise to the Adirondack Explorer, and she certainly didn’t mention anything having to do with advocacy of any sort.
She was recognizing and bringing to our attention a specific issue of a publication with news and information about a specific topic that is important to the North Country.
Most of us are happy to have quality sources of information brought to our attention like this. Thank you Martha.
A quick illustration of my point: I was the editor at The Malone Telegram from about 1990-1993. My predecessor in the job was John Sheehan. As you can imagine, the paper’s stance on the APA and land use issues in the Adirondacks changed dramatically. Could that happen at The Explorer? No.
Will, I won’t quibble with your characterization of the Explorer as an advocacy publication. You are right that Dick founded the Explorer to promote the protection of the Park’s natural resources and our editorials are consistent with that mission. My main point is that we strive for objectivity in our news pages, just as daily newspapers do.
Phil, the explorer is a good publication but I think it lacks objectivity on coverage of some topics.
One example is the coverage related to navigation rights. There were many cases in the coverage of this topic where you did an excellent job of stating the legal case on one side of the issue, using attorney quotes etc. But on the other side you did very little work in finding the opposing legal opinion despite the fact that it is very well documented.
Or look at the August “ATV” piece you have online. You have many many quotes from different environmental groups related to what they feel is the problem with ATV use. These run throughout the piece. Then at the end you have one small quote from an ATV supporter. Now, I don’t care much for ATV’s, and I like that story, but it is advocacy to the n’th degree.
Paul, all I can say about the navigation-rights stories is that we always made an effort to get the other side. As to ATVs, we have run stories and debates in the past about the pros and cons of ATVs. The point of the most recent story was to point out that ATV trespass is still occurring on the Forest Preserve, despite the ban against them. Our reporter went out into the field and documented the damage. That said, we did devote eight paragraphs to an ATV advocate.