Tampa Bay Times editor Mark Katches displayed an unexpected calmness following the incident where a crane, pushed by Hurricane Milton’s powerful winds, caused significant damage to the building that accommodates the newspaper’s newsroom.
“The incident has had no effect on our operations,” Katches stated in a conversation on Friday.
The crane collapse in downtown St. Petersburg serves as a prominent illustration of the destruction caused by Milton, so much that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis held a press event at the site on Friday.
The Times Publishing Co. previously owned the damaged structure but divested it in 2016. Currently, the news organization is a tenant among several others within the building. The premises had been closed when the hurricane struck late Tuesday into early Wednesday, primarily due to the absence of backup generators, ensuring the safety of Times employees and others in the building, according to Katches.
Serving over 3.3 million residents in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, the Times stands as the foremost newspaper for the region.
On the night the hurricane hit, most of the Times’ journalists were working remotely or from a designated hub established for a select group of editors located in Wesley Chapel, which is approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Tampa.
Katches mentioned that he was uncertain when staff members would be permitted to return to the building. A positive aspect he noted was that the newsroom is situated on the opposite side from the area affected by the crane’s fall.
“I am concerned that we will discover considerable water damage to our equipment,” he remarked.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the newsroom staff became adept at remote work. “This is a newspaper that earned two Pulitzer Prizes while we were unable to convene in a physical location,” he added.
Katches does not anticipate a return to the newsroom in the near future but hopes that the newspaper will eventually find a suitable space for collaborative work again.
