In the week just past, the news media demonstrated their place, their vital role in a free society at a time when the unthinkable became reality, shattering buildings and lives as well as the sense of well-being of a country.
Whether on radio, on television or in newspapers, journalists sought to help the citizenry know, if not always understand, what was going on around them.
No question, in the wake of the fatal attacks of last Tuesday, television once again demonstrated its powers. It brought us all to the center of events. Video images rolled past, at times mesmerizing us as they displayed the present and flashes of the immediate past.
At the same time, newspapers worked on their related, if different role to bring depth, context and insight to bare facts.
Reporters, photographers, artists, page designers and editors gathered their resources to lay out as much as possible in one place.
Readers could survey the boggling range of information, study a diagram, put names to weary or grieving faces and read compelling stories of humanity. They could respond to photographs in their still, often chilling candor.
Such events “test what newspapers are about,” said Peter Bhatia, executive editor of The Oregonian. Throughout the week, Sandy Rowe, editor, repeated two themes she wanted reporters and editors to keep in mind as they put together each day’s newspaper: comprehensive and useful.
She emphasized the importance of the tone of coverage, which she expected to demonstrate a sense of responsibility by avoiding overblown adjectives, by being cautious with references to possible or apparent suspects.
Editors reconfigured news and feature sections to accommodate the growing volume of reports and photos. Previously completed work became irrelevant.
Staff members rearranged their days. John Harvey, the senior editor in charge of the National/International desk, urged cooperation as staff members worked especially long hours, many in jobs outside their usual routine. The emphasis was on teamwork. Pride of authorship had no standing.
Publisher Fred Stickel signed off on significantly boosting the number of pages in the newspaper. On Wednesday morning, readers found 23 pages without advertising in the main section and more in Metro, as well as a four-page special Editorial and Commentary section, and still more space in Business and Living.
The newspaper delivered that edition at no cost to Sunday-only subscribers in the Portland area and each day printed tens of thousands of additional copies for the expected demand at newsstands.
As busy as readers have been, some telephoned their appreciation. June Thompson of Northwest Portland said the coverage had been thorough. “I just feel like I knew everything that was going on, so that’s the test.”
Others offered suggestions. One said The Oregonian needed to put more positive stories, such as China’s offer of help, reported on Friday, on Page One.
The largest area of complaint was the editors’ decision to use a photo in Wednesday editions of a man who jumped or was swept from one of the New York towers. Newspapers across the country used the photo.
The Oregonian used it inside the main section as one of a group of eight disaster scene photos.
More than 20 readers said they were offended, that they did not want small children to see it, that the newspaper showed disrespect for the man.
The Oregonian is conservative when it comes to such photos. In this case, Bhatia and Rowe said, the photo captured the undeniable nature of events.
The newspaper has a duty to “convey the true horror” of what had happened, and the ramifications, Rowe said. To not use the photo would be “editing in a way that didn’t really serve readers . . . To protect readers from the reality of something so morally offensive is not part of our role.”
