The Web edition (www.northscape.com) demonstrates the power of the Internet in 1990s-style journalism and gives a glimpse into the role the newspaper's online service played during the terrible floods.

One year ago, Ryan Huschka, Northscape.com's online leader, sought refuge from the Grand Forks Herald's flooded and soon-to-burn newsroom and fled 210 miles out of town to his father-in-law's basement in Minot, N.D. Here he began redownloading parts of the site to keep things working.

Tony Lone Fight, now at Charlotte.com, also fled the flooding journalism offices with a personal computer and modem under his arm to a school in Manvel and began sending stories via the Internet to Minot. On the hard drive was the latest version of Northscape.com, the Web site of the Grand Forks Herald.

It was the third time in as many days that Huschka, Lone Fight, and the Herald staff had to practice journalism on the run - a step ahead of a raging flood that deluged Grand Forks and a fire that destroyed much of the city's downtown.

It was the stuff of newspaper legend - overcoming incredible obstacles to keep the public informed in the midst of the region's greatest natural disaster in more than a century. The Pulitzer judges agreed, awarding the Grand Forks Herald its prestigious Public Service award.

But journalistic legend 1990s-style includes a new twist. The hard drive tucked under Lone Fight's arm carried information and technology that kept thousands of flood victims abreast of news and crucial information via the Web.

As Grand Forks' newsroom refugees set up shop in a schoolhouse seven miles away and arranged for production and printing help from the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, Huschka and Lone Fight struggled to maintain the paper's online presence.

"I was able to work on my father-in-law's computer and keep the Northscape.com site up and running," Huschka said. "Our site kept thousands of fleeing community members aware of their families and the conditions of the disaster. It also allowed us to communicate with the public beyond our geographic newspaper distribution. It was especially important because our residents were forced to evacuate."

While the Web site was key to getting news to evacuees, it was also responsible for changing coverage. Early on people were in shock and seemed to need to know how bad conditions had become.

But soon the shock began to fade, people's thoughts turned to one question: "How is my home?" Lone Fight knew this because of the countless emails he read each day.

"People only care about one thing now. 'How is my home?' That's all they care about," Lone Fight reiterated at the nightly Northscape staff meetings.

"Of course that was the hardest type of news to get. Media access was limited and there are thousands of homes in the city. But it did spawn a number of projects including having a reporter go street by street and reporting on each group of houses. I'm not sure if we would have realized how important that information was if we hadn't had the thousands of emails to bring the point home," added Lone Fight.

"Not only did the newspaper continue to publish under horrendous circumstances and forged through numerous challenges to get news to the community," said Mike Jacobs, editor of the Grand Forks Herald, "we also realized the powerful role the Web played and how it allowed us to continue to serve our community while many people were fleeing out of state."

The Herald staff posted frequent news updates - including some of the first video coverage of the downtown area - to Northscape.com, often ahead of the print publication cycle. Knight Ridder New Media helped launch a message board eventually used by hundreds of people a day looking for loved ones and letting relatives and friends know of their status. With help from InfiNet, Knight Ridder's Internet service provider, Knight Ridder New Media also set up an 800 telephone number so that community members and users of the site could access the Internet in the aftermath of the floods.

"When the newspaper building burned, so did the Internet access point," said Chris Jennewein, VP Technology/Operations, Knight Ridder New Media. "When I look back at the entire episode, it's an excellent example that demonstrates the power of the Web and how new media technology can serve the public."

To mark the anniversary, the Web site provides complete coverage of last year's disaster and heart-wrenching stories of how residents coped with nature's turmoil and the Red River Floods. Coverage includes a collage of sections: River Cities Rising, Restarting the Cities Heart, Flood Archive, 200 Days of Recover, Come Hell and High Water - The Story of the 1997 Red River Flood (the online version of a book the Herald published recounting the stories of the flood) and numerous photos.

"The Real Cities' Northscape staff has experienced firsthand the connection between new media and the ability to affect people's lives," said Ken Doctor,VP/Editorial, Knight Ridder New Media. "It's a reward unparalleled in their careers - it's an example of our company mission played out in real time, and it's the reason we're here."

In July 1997, Northscape.com, received recognition from the online community by winning a Digital Edge Award for Public Service in the category of less than 75,000 circulation.

Northscape.com is the online service of the Grand Forks Herald and is a member of the Real Cities network. Knight Ridder New Media, located in San Jose, Calif., is a division of Knight Ridder and maintains 40 Web sites and Internet products. Knight Ridder is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with products in print and online. The company publishes 31 daily newspapers in 28 U.S. markets, reaching 9.0 million readers daily and 12.6 million on Sunday. Knight Ridder has investments in two newsprint mills and is headquartered in Miami, Fla.

Contacts:

Cynthia Funnell National Communications Manager Knight Ridder New Media (408) 938-6076 cfunnell@newmedia.kri.com

Patricia Colby (408) 293-8600 ext.325 pcolby@pacifico.com