ROUND TOP REGISTER TAKES A BITE OUT OF THE BIG APPLE
The Round Top Register and the New York Times have been locked in a torrid circulation war for several months. The same day, Jodi Cohen, the New Media editor of Editor & Publisher Interactive, touted the Register in herInfobytes column as a prelude to an article published in the magazine on August 24th.
Considered by many to be the media capital of the world, New York is alleged to be a huge city with thousands of people and many buildings over four stories high. According to the Round Top Register editor Chris Travis, the media attention creates a good opportunity for his small newspaper to expand its distribution.
"New York City has lots of people who spend time reading newspapers and looking at interesting things on the Internet. It’s perfect for us, a virgin territory. There’re bound to be people up there who are starving for a quality publication."
The city of New York currently hosts a number of other newspapers. A partial list would include the Amsterdam News, Albany Times Union, Bergen Hackensack Record, City Sun, New York Daily News, New York Observer, New York Post, the aforementioned New York Times, Newark Star Ledger, Riverdale Press, USA Today, Village Voice, Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post.
When asked if he thought his plans were too ambitious considering the existing competition Travis replied, "No way. Look what kind of impact we’re had on our current distribution area. Why, our new salesman just got back from Brenham, and he said several of the people he talked to had already heard of the Register! Brenham’s almost twenty miles away! With this drought, we’re the only thing still growing in Fayette county.
"New York City will be a piece of cake!" Travis declared.
The piece by Times columnist Matt Mirapaul, while generally laudatory, implies that certain aspects of the Register’s reportage are suspect. He goes so far as to state "First time visitors to the Register’s site could be lured into believing that its articles and interviews are all part of an elaborate tall tale." He suggests that certain reports published in the Register could be "...a fabrication of Travis’ fervid mind."
Despite these spurious attacks, Mr. Mirapaul, a journalist of some measure, compliments the Register’s site.
"Real or not, the Register conjures a palpable sense of place through its consistently folksy tone and thick-as-cornbread slices of rural life."
Mr. Mirapaul calls the Register a "...web-based Prairie Home Companion for the Lone Star State..." and adds that "While Garrison Keillor’s whimsical meanderings may provoke a few wry smiles, Travis’s material can produce beer-belly laughs."
The Times also interviewed Mayor Dave Nagel, who when asked if everything printed by the Register is truthful and accurate replied that Travis is "...the kind of guy, if you give him enough rope, he’ll use all of it."
Ms. Cohen of Editor & Publisher notes in her column that "...for all its fun and games, there’s a serious side to this charmer of a newspaper. Legit interviews with real elderly Round Top residents uncover interesting and compelling stories of yesteryear - complete with photos of women in their stylish ‘40s bathing suits."
Ms. Cohen states that Travis "...believes newspapers should look at what’s neat about human beings, not just what’s not so neat..." and adds "...which is probably why his newspaper and Web site do so well." However, despite the generally positive nature of her report, Ms. Cohen titled her column "A Weird Little Newspaper.
These continuing attacks by highly placed New York media stars come on the heels of similar statements by an honored Texas publication. The week before the New York articles, highly regarded Texas Monthly magazine selected the Round Top Register among their Top 100 Internet Sites. The Register was one of only seven media sites named.
Nonetheless, this astounding honor was tainted by the magazine’s assertion that the Register is "Texas’ quirkiest Web publication."
These sly insinuations come from powerful Texas and New York journalists who use adjectives like "fervid", "quirky", "weird" and "palpable;" words that decent, clean-living Americans have to look up in the dictionary.
Such covert attacks might cause the casual observer to wonder what such large and powerful media companies have to fear from a small, quarterly publication from a town recently dethroned as the "smallest incorporated town in Texas."
Editor Chris Travis has his own theory.
"They’re all out to get me because I’ve got them on the run. They know the Register is a media empire in the making. Why, just last week we put some papers out in Greenvine and Sublime. Our subscriptions are probably over a hundred by now. Heck, the Round Top Service Station even bought an ad! And they’ve never advertised before.
"This paper’s growth is like a runaway truck.
"All the other media biggies are out to crush the life out of us before we get going, but we’re not scared. Folks in Texas are used to fighting against the odds.
"As a matter of fact," he continued, "I am besieged by a thousand or more of the media and have sustained continual bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours but I have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise we will be put to the sword if our newspaper is taken - I have answered the demand with a cannon shot. I shall never surrender or retreat." says Travis.
"I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due of his own honor & that of his newspaper. Victory or death!"
An unverified report claims that the editor was seen later in the day facing his wife, their 15-year-old
son, a nervous salesman and a black dog in the front yard of their Round Top residence. The source stated
that Travis was gesticulating and drawing a line in the dirt with a long sword.
