Turning The Corner, But Into More Harder Uphill Climbs, For Newsline
Written by Pio Sioa
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Newsline has been dusting ashes and wobbling weakly back onto the road, ever since our inglorious head on clash with fire on 23 September 2007. What a crash!
If only we could turn around and say, “You should see the other guy”.
It would have a least provided us with some wee comfort we could humour ourselves with.
We were however thrown into a complete loop where we ended up with only skeletal remains of our once budding attempts to become a respected information provider for the nation.
In our determination and resolve to get back on our feet, we tried to fashion ourselves after the mythological Phoenix – a bird.
Out of the fire rises the Phoenix they say.
According to legend the bird is reborn and restored once again into a big and strong and magnificent one for the eyes of mortals to behold.
If Newsline is a modern day Phoenix, big and strong and magnificent are grossly exaggerated terms to describe our so called ‘rise’
But yes we have made a comeback. Last Friday was when we finally managed to put out our 3rd issue for the week. Took us about 4 months from the day we were restricted to our Sunday Phoenix issue only, after the fire.
Our Wednesday issue is our second one and was re-launched just before the start of the holiday season.
With the re-launching of our Friday edition, we are now back to three Newsline issues a week - Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.
So perhaps in terms of achievement and gutsing it out, our comeback so far is an achievement worth celebrating.
We may not yet be strong or magnificent, but we are on the road back, albeit leaving behind a strong trail of ashes to retrace our path back to where we came from.
The Newsline Phoenix is a heavily patched up bird, with large blotches of bare skin lying exposed and vulnerable to the elements.
We have persevered this far mainly because of the strong outpouring of public support and encouragement, urging and stoking our resolve along.
Newsline feels indebted to Laulu Tevaga and his staff at the Government printing for agreeing to print all our issues.
We hold our breath every time we go to press that there are no sudden breakdowns at the printing presses. So far, the machines have held up pretty well..halleuia.
This is where our Newsline Phoenix is most vulnerable to the elements right now. Our priority from the start was to get back to our three issues a week.
We have achieved that. The next hill looming directly in front of us now is the rebuilding of our new offices and printing plant at our old location at Malifa.
Our savings are enough to build an open Samoan fale. Unfortunately with all the rain and the flooding around Apia, Newsline could end up a victim of drowning.
We have been fortunate so far as a bird rising from the fire, but a fish rising from a drowning is too much of a swallow perhaps even for a fish.
Maybe it is better to wait until our hurricane season is over. We can do with the easy breeze and a bit of dust in the absence of expensive air conditions or electric fans. It is a start.
If you are the praying type and you are reading this, throw Newsline a few Hail Mary’s while you are at it. Deeply appreciated.
Our greatest discovery since the scramble to steady our course without going belly over, was the setting up of Samoalivenews.com, in partnership with the Samoalive website.
Local news about Samoa are posted on Samoalivenews.com for Samoans around the world to access freely.
In doing so we were hugely surprised and made to feel so blessed, knowing that our service is providing homesick Samoans scattered all over the globe with the opportunity to become closer to their loved ones here in the country.
Everything is there in seconds for them to read and see at the touch of a computer button.
Articles, photos and video clips posted on Samoalivenews.com are clicked on from everywhere in the world by Samoans. Some of those clicks originate from some faraway parts of the world where you can never imagine a Samoan being there.
The website is home to them. More so with the opportunity, to comment or react directly to national issues that they feel very seriously about, whether negatively or positively, that could impact on their loved ones at home.
Whenever Newsline posts news articles about Samoa, literally hundreds and hundreds click in religiously everyday to read and keep themselves informed.
As a news provider the experience is very rewarding.
The surging popularity of our Samoalivenews.com website has unfortunately caught the vulturous attention of our major local radio stations like Magic FM and SBC.
For the past several months now we have been recording some of the news bulletins they have read out as theirs, taken directly from Samoalivenews.com., word for word.
An acknowledgement would have offered some consolation and professional courtesy to where it came from.
Surely a slaving farmer can still be angry, yet be in a position to salvage some small joy, if the thief who stole his taroes own up and compliment him on the quality of his hard labour. Odd but still something at least.
Anyway, Newslinenews.com is committed to this new service that has been a very satisfying and rewarding revelation.
The outlook is promising so we are fully committed to serving our global readership to the best of our knowledge and with what little we have available to us for now.
The marriage between Newsline the newspaper and Samoalivenews. com the website, is a connection bridge where no Samoan is ever far from where the heart lies - home.
Now if only we can get our Newsline Samoan home built?
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