-Caveat Lector-
Don't Hold the Presses
John Bryan
SF Weekly, July 21-27, 1999
On Sunday, July 18, many San Franciscans were probably a bit
surprised to learn that John F. Kennedy Jr. had apparently died
under mysterious circumstances in a plane crash off the coast of
Massachusetts.
These good, trusting souls had not recently watched
television or listened to radio. They had put their trust in [the
city's major daily newspaper] the San Francisco Examiner
as a reliable source of major news.
The "Four Star" Saturday Examiner contained not a single
word about the death of JFK Jr., even though NBC broke the story
at 5 a.m. on Saturday, and at least one newsroom television set
was tuned to the local NBC affiliate.
Shortly thereafter, the Examiner received a "First Alert"
from the Associated Press notifying them that a major story was
rapidly forthcoming, two AP staffers say. (Transmissions into the
Ex[aminer] come through satellite dishes; translating these
signals into type takes less than five minutes.)
At about 5:30 a.m., AP sent a bulletin announcing the
mysterious loss of the son and namesake of the Democratic
president assassinated in Dallas in 1963.
AP then moved the JFK Jr. story one paragraph at a time, as
is the wire service's custom. The Examiner had the complete first
story on hand by 5:35 a.m., AP staffers say.
As part of the publishing process, "paste-ups" of the pages
of the Examiner are laser-scanned and the digitized result is
sent by satellite to printing plants, in this case to the [joint]
Examiner-Chronicle plant on Army Street.
Official Examiner logs show that Page 1 of the Saturday
"Four Star" was completed at 6:42 a.m. --well after an
authoritative story on JFK Jr.'s disappearance was available--
and immediately transmitted to the Army Street plant, where
pressmen printed the edition. It hit the streets sometime after 7
a.m.
The issue contained not a single word about the Kennedy
tragedy.
Because of the relationship between the Chronicle and
Examiner --they are in a Joint Operating Agreement, or JOA,
meaning they have separate news operations, but combine their
business efforts-- the usual 12-hour news cycle occupied by an
afternoon paper is considerably longer on weekends in San
Francisco.
There are four papers printed by the Chronicle and Examiner
on a standard weekend.
The "Four Star" Saturday Examiner contained not a single
word about the death of JFK Jr., even though NBC broke the story
at 5 a.m. on Saturday.
The Chronicle distributes a Saturday paper, normally printed
shortly after midnight Friday. The Examiner publishes an early
"bulldog" edition of its Sunday paper that is distributed on
Saturday; this fat paper also is printed shortly after midnight
Friday, and generally contains many timeless feature stories and
little "breaking" news.
The only "fresh" paper on the streets from about 7 a.m.
Saturday until about 7 a.m. Sunday, then, is the Examiner's
Saturday "Four Star."
The Saturday morning Chronicle went to camera about 1 a.m.
and contained no word of the Kennedy plane crash, which
apparently occurred about 7 p.m. Friday night, West Coast time,
but was not confirmed and reported by news media until some 10
hours later.
The Examiner's Sunday "bulldog" edition, put out late Friday
night, contained not a word about JFK Jr.'s mysterious
disappearance, which had yet to be generally reported by national
news media.
The official search for the airplane began at 12:30 a.m.
Saturday. At about 2 a.m., President Clinton had been notified
and the Air Force Civil Air Patrol joined the search. Clinton
called the Kennedy compound near Martha's Vineyard to offer his
help and sympathy at about 4 a.m. Washington newspapermen were
aware of these activities. And the JFK disappearance hit
television and the major wires shortly after 5 a.m. Saturday.
Why did the Saturday Examiner fail to report a single word
about the disappearance of JFK Jr. -- a huge story by any
reckoning?
Examiner Executive Editor Phil Bronstein says that by the
time AP's bulletin reporting Kennedy's missing plane arrived in
the newsroom it was too late for the lone makeup editor on duty
to do anything with the news.
The front pages of Saturday's Ex --one for home delivery
editions, the other for street sales-- had been finished and
moved to the production department by 3:30 a.m., Bronstein says.
The makeup editor on duty saw the Kennedy bulletin when it
arrived, Bronstein says, but it was too late to push a new front
page through production and get it to the printing plant in time.
" think it's safe to say it would have been impossible,
certainly virtually impossible, to get anything in the paper,"
Bronstein says.
Saturday deadlines are earlier than weekdays, he notes, and
the Ex is best able to react to breaking news when it has some
inkling that a story will be developing late -- such as the
jury verdict in the Rodney King beating case.
Although the Saturday front page may not reach the printing
plant until about 6 a.m., he says, "that doesn't mean we can
change it until 6 a.m."
In general, Bronstein says, the Ex> has been aggressive
about hustling breaking news into the earliest possible edition.
In this case, time simply ran out.
I called Examiner workers (many old friends) and asked them
what the hell happened.
Was this one of the more colossal screw-ups in Hearst
history?
Copy Editor Jessica Sitton told me that no editorial staffer
saw the NBC news break at 5 a.m., and that no editorial staffer
saw the AP advisory, bulletin, or story. She said that no
editorial staffers received phone calls from Hearst headquarters
instructing them what to do.
She said that "there was not a single journalist" in the
Examiner offices at 5:30 a.m. All had gone home, she said.
I spent five years as a Hearst reporter, editor, and
columnist both in San Francisco and Los Angeles. There were two
absolute rules that I was instructed to follow. Failure to do so
was sure cause for immediate discharge. The rules:
1) Thou shalt be sure at least one editorial staffer is
present to handle emergencies all through your "news cycle." This
would mean from 1 a.m. Saturday, when the Saturday Chronicle hit
the camera room, until early Sunday morning when the first "true"
Sunday paper was produced by Hearst.
2) Thou shalt always stick around to check out the first
printed copies of the edition for which you are responsible. Thou
shalt correct major errors, and insert late-breaking stories of
great importance (like the disappearance of JFK Jr.).
No attempt was made to alter the Saturday Ex, although it
went to camera 42 minutes past its traditional 6 a.m. deadline.
No "extra" edition was printed, even though front-page
replates were made the last time a truly great man died on the
Saturday watch. (His name was Herb Caen ["Mr. San Francisco"].)
Assistant Composing Room Chapel Chairman (shop steward)
Jerry Grigsby said that when he comes to work at 8:30 a.m.
Saturday morning, he usually finds a fresh-printed copy of the
Saturday "Four Star" on his desk. This week there was none.
When he saw the paper, he was not surprised there was no
mention of JFK Jr.'s death.
"They're vastly understaffed in Examiner editorial," Grigsby
says. "They only had two people in there Saturday morning, one
holding down the news desk and watching the wire, and one to
answer the phones. They had all their television sets on, as
usual."
"No one really gives a damn about the Saturday 'Four Star,'"
said another composing room employee. "They treat it like a
shopping news, a throwaway.
"Everyone is expecting to be laid off when the Examiner buys
the Chronicle, and they're all angry and sneaking off the job
early. Editorial is totally demoralized."
After the San Francisco Chronicle announced on Page 1 a few
weeks ago that it was formally "up for sale," rumors have grown
steadily that the deal is already done, that the JOA will be
abandoned, and that separate editions of the afternoon Examiner
will be scuttled in favor of a new morning "Examiner-Chronicle."
These rumors are at this point unconfirmed.
But if a new combined paper does come to pass, will it cost
50 cents like the Chron, or half that price like the Ex?
Considering the kind of service the Hearst Corporation gave
us on what is probably the story of the year, I'd suggest 2
cents. Or less.
Copyright (c) New Times Inc
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