It was all that and more, numerous readers – some who threatened to cancel their subscription – told us Wednesday in often angry telephone calls and e-mails.
The genesis of their understandable anger: the absence Wednesday of a story about the political firestorm over a comment by Sen. John Kerry that President Bush and others branded as disrespectful of U.S. troops in Iraq.
The story had been all over the news Tuesday, and readers were justifiably upset that The Pilot didn’t publish at least a brief about the brouhaha involving the Massachusetts Democrat.
“The biggest ‘October Surprise’ delivered by one of the Democrats’ stars isn’t worth reporting?” asked Tom Filkins of Manns Harbor, N.C.
“Were you hoping this story would have no ‘legs’ and would disappear before you had to print a detailed piece that might turn the election away from your anointed candidate?” asked Barbara Joy of Virginia Beach.
“The Virginian-Pilot editors are going into hyper mode to try to support the Democrats,” e-mailed Dan Evans of Chesapeake, who labeled the paper “so far left that you are barely readable.”
“Why not be honest with your readers,” said Robert Graham of Virginia Beach, “and rename the paper to the ‘Virginian-Democrat’?”
And so on and so on, conspiracy theories abounding.
Here’s what Kerry said before a group of California students on Monday: “Education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”
Bush termed Kerry’s remarks “insulting” and “shameful.” Kerry explained that his comment was a “botched joke” – that he meant to refer to Bush’s intellect, not that of U.S. service members in Iraq. Finally, with the matter threatening to undermine Democratic hopes of reclaiming the House and possibly the Senate, Kerry on Wednesday apologized.
Although PilotOnline.com carried Associated Press stories of the flap on Tuesday and Wednesday, The Pilot’s first print coverage was its Thursday front-page package, which included local reaction.
What happened?
It wasn’t a conspiracy, no political bias on the paper’s part, insisted both Denis Finley and Maria Carrillo, Pilot editor and managing editor, respectively.
“We just blew it,” said Finley, who was not surprised by reader reaction, especially with the midterm elections mere days away. As a reader, Finley said he, too, would have questioned the paper’s motives.
Finley and Carrillo said they were not involved in the news decision, but they “assumed” the Kerry story would appear Wednesday. Assuming, Finley conceded, is “a bad thing to do.” Typically, the night crew selects most of the news stories that go inside the Nation & World section.
Copy editor Ryan Tipps was the wire editor Tuesday night and was responsible for selecting stories from the Associated Press and other wire services to run inside the Nation & World section.
Tipps said he saw the Kerry story on the AP budget but didn’t think it was worth picking up. It “kind of registered [as] the same old partisan he said/she said” story, he said.
Although Tipps eventually saw the story (“I can’t remember specifics”) and knew that AP had “a few” updates – or write-thrus – it never occurred to him to pick up the story. Nor did he consult news editor Judy Le or others for a second opinion – something, in hindsight, he says he should have done.
Especially since the story gained traction and momentum as the day and evening progressed. Especially since omitting the story would likely result in the conspiracy/bias charges being leveled against The Pilot.
Le said that the story “wasn’t listed prominently” on any of the budgets she saw, and that it was “never discussed at all.”
“We just want to be fair, and sometimes we make mistakes,” Le said.
The Kerry story was listed Tuesday as one of the headline stories with AP. And interestingly, a TV monitor – usually set to CNN, where the Kerry story was featured prominently Tuesday – is in the copy editing/layout area and was on that evening.
Finley said that the newsroom may explore having someone monitor national/international TV news – as we now do local TV news – to better ensure that the paper is on top of developing stories.
Some complaining readers saw the Kerry story as front-page news. Others, conceding Kerry may have truthfully botched a joke, would have been content just to see it – period.
Here’s how some other papers initially treated the story Wednesday:
The Daily Press ran a brief on A10, while the Richmond Times-Dispatch had a 2-column, 13-paragraph story headlined “Bush-Kerry feuding while neither is running” on Page A11. The Washington Edition of The New York Times led with the controversy in a front-page story about the Iraqi war. Meanwhile, The Washington Post ran a front-page promo to an inside story.
