Dennis Yonan was probably the first from The Courant’s newsroom to learn of the shootings at state lottery headquarters last year. Yonan, who runs the photo lab, heard a police car race by his Newington house, less than a mile from the scene of the fatal shootings. He turned on his police scanner, started running a tape recorder and called the office with news that something serious was going on.
Four photographers were dispatched.
Deputy State Editor Lynne DeLucia and Assistant Managing Editor Michael Regan, meanwhile, independently dispatched the same two reporters, and then DeLucia began deploying the rest of the troops.
The efforts of dozens of people ultimately resulted in a Pulitzer Prize last week for coverage of breaking news, the newspaper’s second Pulitzer.
The joy, however, was mitigated by awareness that The Courant had received journalism’s highest honor because of a shooting spree that left five people dead, five families bereft, co-workers traumatized and a tranquil New England community lashed by violence.
The newspaper had to explain, give context and show compassion in covering a tragedy that had occurred in its own backyard, Publisher Marty Petty told the staff at a cafeteria gathering to celebrate the award. Her comments began with a moment of silence for the victims of the gunman, lottery worker Matthew Beck, who also took his own life.
“These families and friends are our neighbors, and we must face them in the days that follow,” Petty said of the challenge of reporting responsibly on the aftermath of a wild shooting that, yes, did happen here.
The awareness that the newspaper is both a part of and apart from the community must have colored the coverage and was noticed by at least one of the editors who chose The Courant as a finalist in the breaking news category, George Benge, executive editor of the Asheville Citizen-Times in North Carolina.
“I was very impressed by the serious tone of the coverage and the responsible tone of the coverage in writing about horrific events,” he told me last week.
The Pulitzer’s breaking news category often involves reporting on horrendous events. Last year, unfortunately, was full of them, including shootings in Arkansas and Oregon, a plane crash over Nova Scotia, tornadoes, hurricanes and the shooting of two guards at the U.S. Capitol.
Benge, who has worked in Detroit, Dallas and Miami, as well as smaller communities, cited The Courant’s “passion and compassion,” “thought and restraint.”
As the person who generally receives reader complaints, I don’t usually hear such reactions. In fact, the week after the lottery shootings I was bombarded by complaints that the photos from the scene and of some of the funerals were too intrusive. Those who called identified with the families of the victims and thought they would not have wanted such photographs of themselves or their loved ones on the front page.
Many of the people who covered the lottery shootings also knew or identified with the victims. Hilary Waldman had covered lottery President Otho Brown. Lisa Chedekel had followed the career of former New Britain Mayor Linda Blogoslawski Mlynarczyk, a woman her age. Lyn Bixby had heard gunman Beck’s employment grievances the previous year and received a voice-mail message from him the day before the shootings.
Mark Pazniokas, who usually covers federal court, was at the scene for two days and uncomfortably felt himself drawn into the story as a participant. The first day, he had to tell lottery vice president Frederick Rubelmann III’s predecessor that Rubelmann was among the dead. “You were in a position where you were breaking the news and then you had to report the story,” he said.
The second day, a woman who wanted to leave a rose where Brown had perished but not where the killer died suddenly handed her rose to Pazniokas and asked him to place it. He asked what she wanted and left it between the two spots as she directed. “I’m just standing there stunned, and the photographers were furious because it ruined their shot,” Pazniokas said. “I didn’t know what to do.”
Pazniokas identified with Rubelmann as a man his age with two children and could not help being emotionally engaged. “A lot of us were relieved when Marty asked for the moment of silence.”
Editor Brian Toolan had worked at The Courant a month and was in Los Angeles at the time of the shootings. He was in frequent telephone contact with Managing Editor Clifford L. Teutsch, intent that the shootings receive major attention. “I didn’t want to underplay the story. It was a big event,” he recalled.
He was gratified that the Pulitzer went to the entire staff and for what newspapers do best: “be quick and be deep.” The prize was “a just reward for great coverage,” he said, but “we have to remember what we won for.” He and Teutsch immediately knew “we had to acknowledge the loss and the scope of the tragedy.”
The day the award was announced, I left work with Dennis Yonan, the photo lab director who heard the first police cars race by his Newington house. He said he wished The Courant would give the money that accompanies the Pulitzer Prize to the families of the victims.
He never had to make the suggestion. An advertisement about the award the next day concluded with an announcement of the donation.
