Their sense of pride and accomplishment gets them through their hectic days. And whether they read it from cover to cover and love it or scream at it over breakfast, it doesn't matter because they still read it. To think that more people than the population of the town I live in rely on something every single day that I helped put together is amazing to me. To Hoffman, working for a small-circulation paper, in an area where there is only one local daily paper, is one of the perks of the job. I like the idea of putting together a product every day that will be a source of information for people.
Most small papers are understaffed and overworked, and many are plagued by high turnover rates.
In the case of the Times-Standard, there are many college graduates from Humboldt State University who wish to remain in the area and are happy to work for the local paper. But sometimes there just aren't enough bodies to fill the positions, and the staff of the Times-Standard has found itself overworked on many occasions. There are many problems. There are nights when only one person looks over the copy before it goes to press, and nights when one person lays out the entire paper by himself. But for being understaffed and overworked, the newsroom staff is committed to getting the paper out, not matter what problems arise.