Copyright © 2018 Albuquerque Journal
The failure of complex electrical systems at the offices of the Albuquerque Journal caused two long power outages Sunday evening and Monday morning and delayed the delivery of Monday’s edition to most subscribers of New Mexico’s flagship newspaper.
For most subscribers, Monday’s Journal – which included Business Outlook and the NCAA Tournament brackets – was scheduled to be delivered with this morning’s newspaper.
“The Journal suffered a plantwide power outage from about 5 p.m. until 11 p.m. Sunday. After power was restored, we were able to print about 16,000 copies of Monday’s edition,” said Brian Fantl, chief operating officer and senior vice president of the publishing company.
“At about 3 a.m., power went out again and it took until noon to once again have power. We apologize for any inconvenience this outage has caused.”
Sunday evening, while electricians dealt with the technical problems, Journal news and sports reporters worked on laptops under dim emergency lighting to make sure the latest reports were ready to go into editing system software once power was restored and publication of the Journal could continue.
During one period late Sunday night, only the light of an unusually bright flashlight was available to illuminate the newsroom.
The Albuquerque Journal, which traces its history to when the Journal Publishing Co. was founded in 1880, publishes 365 days a year.
Some copies of Monday’s Journal were delivered as far as Santa Fe and Los Lunas, but deliveries to most Albuquerque subscribers were unable to be made Monday morning, after the second outage stopped the presses about 3 a.m.
Before power was lost the second time, Journal editing staff was able to move the day’s news onto the Journal’s website, ABQJournal.com, so some readers who did not receive the print edition on Monday were able to access the day’s news from their computers and smartphones after power was restored.
The Journal’s internet service and email also were down during the outages, but emails eventually began arriving Monday afternoon.
