Where did the newsracks go?

Okay. This post has got to be a little different than others. Normally when I find an interesting article I leave a link here and you can go read it for yourself. But the problem this paper, the Palo Alto Daily Post, doesn't have a website or many newsracks now.

Actually they do have them, as they were plucked from their normal spots along side another newsracks and delivered to their front door by Palo Alto City workers . Acting on complaints from longstanding competing papers, the city ordered that 27 freestanding post newsstands be removed from downtown sidewalks.

It's an obvious violation of city law, which requires that a hearing be had prior to such action.

Post Editor and co-publisher said in this mornings post, "This is a first Amendment battle. The U.S. Supreme Court says you can't have a free press unless you have freedom to distribute, and the city took that freedom away from us today."

He is pretty mad.

So, after that whole debachle, the Daily Post staff spent the night replacing all of those newsracks and promise to keep doing it.

This paper has a fire lit under it. Many have speculated that it would fall flat on its face in no time, especially since they have no website and face stiff competition in the Palo Alto Daily News. Though it is worthy to note that Price was one of the people who created the Daily News and sold it for $25 million. The guy has an idea of what he is doing.

But since their inagural edition they have raised their circulation and at the end of the day when I pass their racks, they are empty, along with the Daily News. And frankly it is surprising, since the times of exsisting only in those metal boxes that line city streets is suppose to be long gone. It's refreshing to see a newspaper, with a newspaper mentality.

One thing to think about though, is the city can remove their newsracks all they want, but they would have a hard time removing their website if they had one.