Media Relations
William Woods University

The most inspirational stories to be told come about when hope and courage transpire in the most tragic of situations. The epitome of inspirational stories comes from The Joplin Globe newspaper staff who, only minutes after a EF-5 tornado struck their community, worked together to meet deadline.

In honor of their loyalty to their careers and their community, the William Woods University student staff of The Talon newspaper and The Hoot magazine will host a documentary, “Deadline in Disaster,” at 7 p.m. Nov. 8 in the William Woods University Library Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

 

After the horror of the EF-5 tornado on May 22, 2011, journalists from all over the United States gathered in the extirpated streets of Joplin to answer America’s questions about what had just happened. One of these journalists was Beth Pike, working for CBS News. Arriving a few hours after the tornado hit, Pike saw first-hand the destruction of the tornado.

 

Also on site was Scott Charton, a former Associated Press correspondent and owner of Charton Communications and Consulting. He was so inspired by the courageous acts of The Joplin Globe staff that he decided their story was worth telling in a documentary.

 

The day after the tornado struck the Joplin community, Charton and Pike found that The Globe newspaper, against incredible odds, had been published as usual.

 

After the tornado hit, staff of The Joplin Globe had climbed out of the ruins of their homes and witnessed the debacle surrounding them. Even with their community crumbled, staff members found their way to the newsroom late that evening—all except page designer, Bruce Baillie, whose life had been taken by the storm.

 

Relying on their own experiences and the stories they could gather from people they had spoken with on the way to the newsroom, the staff pulled together and completed their articles by midnight—only an hour after their normal deadline.  The Joplin Globe was in print by the next morning.

 

“People were begging for information. They needed to know what happened, which is what makes this story so beautiful,” said Pike. “The Joplin Globe had family members fighting for their lives; their homes were sitting in ruins; they had so much going on, but they had a duty just like firefighters and nurses. People relied on the media to know the needs of the people.”

 

Charton noted that about one-third of the Globe’s newsroom employees lost homes in the storm. One of them was Jeff Lehr, who usually reports on courts and law enforcement.

 

“I was watching a network newscast as the correspondent on the scene turned to Jeff to talk about how his professional family at the Globe was personally affected. Jeff lost not only his home but his vehicle, and his cat was missing. He was sopping wet and still shaken from riding out the tornado as debris whirled around him, but Jeff set about surveying block after block of Joplin’s devastation,” Charton said.

 

“Then he hitchhiked to the Globe’s downtown office several blocks away. That’s where his editor, Carol Stark, told him to sit down and ‘just write,’ and Jeff turned in one of the best pieces of deadline first-person writing I’ve ever seen.”

 

Charton added that such selfless actions are not unusual among journalists, but their courage and dedication are usually unheralded.

 

“This film offers a big reassuring hug to hardworking newspaper people everywhere. It shows their work matters, and they do that work diligently, even in times of personal crisis, loss and sadness,” Charton said.

 

Globe staff not only acted on their duties as journalists, but on their duties to their community. Wally Kennedy spent at least three hours at the hospital before finding his way to the newsroom. For three hours, he handed out blankets and water bottles, and helped in any way he could. His house had not been damaged by the tornado, and his first inclination was to help.

 

“The Globe staff worked very hard for their community,” said Pike. “One of The Globe staff members, Emily Younker, wrote an article called Faces in the Storm–she made it her job to call each and every family who had lost someone. She wrote a short biography about each member who died and included their picture, when possible, with their biography, which was published in the first few weeks of the storm’s aftermath.”

 

Within days of the storm, Pike and Charton made contact and began working on the documentary.

 

“We wanted to do this documentary because it’s so important for people to see what the staff of The Joplin Globe did for their community,” Pike said.

“I hope students understand the value of newspapers, and why we need to keep buying subscriptions. It is vital for communities to have a local newspaper, not only in disasters, but as a way to ensure democracy and good health of our community. After this disaster, the community truly rallied around its hometown newspaper, and the newspaper rallied around its community. Newspaper subscriptions went up after the storm. Its role is not just covering disasters, but safeguarding the community.”

After Chip Cooper, a Saturday Business columnist for the Columbia Daily Tribune, watched the documentary, he said, “I was deeply touched by the wrenching stories of death and survival, but, strangely, it was the courage, professionalism and integrity of the Globe staff that brought tears to my eyes.”

 

Charton and Pike, along with co-director Stephen Hudnell, will be on hand to lead discussion and answer questions after the documentary is shown at William Woods.  

 

“Deadline in Disaster” was produced by Missouri Press Association, in collaboration with Orr Street Productions in Columbia. It was directed and edited by Pike and Hudnell, EMMY Award-winning journalists and documentary filmmakers who own Orr Street Productions. Hudnell was director of photography and Pike and Charton were the producers.

 

"The magnitude of the Joplin tornado was a once-in-a-lifetime event, and we were only able to capture these stories because Doug Crews and the board of Missouri Press Association had the foresight and willingness to go out on a financial limb to make this film," Pike said.

 

For more information and to see the trailer of the documentary, visit http://www.deadlineindisaster.com. Through the site, viewers may make a donation to help complete funding for the production cost or purchase copies of the documentary.

 

Copies are also available for sale on DVD and Blu-Ray through the Missouri Press Association.

 

For more information about the event at William Woods University, contact Mary Ann Beahon, director of university relations and adviser to the student publications, at (573) 592-1127 or maryann.beahon@williamwoods.edu.

CUTLINES:
Scott Charton
Beth Pike
Stephen Hudnell films the high school's destruction for the documentary 'Deadline in Disaster.' (Photo by Beth Pike)