Tampa Bay Times keeps publishing despite a Milton crane collapse cutting off access to newsroom

It’s a reflection of the news industry and modern world of work that Tampa Bay Times editor Mark Katches seems more relaxed than you’d expect after a crane pushed by Hurricane Milton’s winds gouged a hole in the building that houses his newsroom.

“It’s had zero impact on our operations,” Katches said in an interview on Friday.

The crane collapse in downtown St. Petersburg is one of the most visible symbols of Milton’s damage, so much so that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference at the scene on Friday.

The Times Publishing Co. used to own the damaged building but sold it in 2016, and the news organization is now one of several tenants there. The building was closed when Milton roared through late Tuesday and early Wednesday, in part because it has no backup generators, so no one working for the Times or anyone else was hurt, the editor said.

The Times is the largest newspaper serving the more than 3.3 million people who live in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area.

Most Times journalists covering the hurricane were working remotely on Tuesday night, or at a hub set up for a handful of editors in the community of Wesley Chapel, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside of Tampa.

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Katches said he’s not sure when newsroom employees will be allowed back in the building. One hopeful factor is that the newsroom is on the opposite side of the building from where the crane fell, he said.

“I’m worried that we’re going to find a lot of ruined equipment” from water damage, Katches said.

Newsroom employees became accustomed to working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic. “This is a newspaper that won two Pulitzer Prizes when we weren’t able to be in a building to meet,” he said.

He doesn’t expect a return to a newsroom for the foreseeable future. Still, he said he hoped the newspaper would eventually secure space where everyone would be able to work together again.

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David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder.