THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 4, 1996 TAG: 9608030010
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LYNN FEIGENBAUM
LENGTH: 88 lines
``Will we ever feel safe again?''
That headline topped last Sunday's Virginian-Pilot. And even if you didn't unfold your newspaper, its intent was clear.
The white letters, stark against a black banner, were flanked by two photos labeled ``Olympic park bombing'' and ``TWA Flight 800.'' Also visible, in a photo below the headline, was a policeman yelling for people to evacuate the Olympic blast site. The lead story was an analysis of domestic terrorism.
Charlie Callaway of Virginia Beach felt the presentation ``smacked of sensationalism'' and inspired anxiety.
``There was enough drama already,'' said Callaway of the Atlanta bomb blast that left two people dead and 111 injured. ``. . . It was horrible enough without trying to raise this specter.''
Other readers had similar objections. ``That's not a newspaper headline; it's a tabloid headline,'' Mary Ann Pezzullo wrote from Duck, N.C.
``It's not reporting the news; it's sensationalizing the news. And worst, it gives `aid and comfort to the enemy,' terrorists whose goal is to make us feel unsafe, constantly looking over our shoulder, not trusting one another, fearing to venture forth from our homes. When we feel that way, they've won.''
OK, we get the point. It was a scaremonger headline. Or was it? Isn't that what we were all saying or thinking? That, after the Olympic blast and the TWA crash and the Oklahoma City bombing, terrorism had come to the United States?
Maybe, but to judge from these readers, and from the ensuing Olympic mood, a different sentiment was emerging: The show must go on. Centennial Olympic Park reopened Tuesday to a fanfare of flowers, U.S. flags and a determination not to let the bad guys get us down.
That, perhaps, is the kind of grit that some readers would have preferred to see in their newspaper.
But The Pilot wasn't alone in dramatizing the mood of the moment last Sunday. ``Buoyant spirit is wounded'' bannered the Richmond Times-Dispatch, rather obliquely, while the Daily Press in Newport News proclaimed, ``Evil act of terror.''
Something else was reflected in these approaches - the problem of newspaper deadlines.
The Atlanta bomb went off at 1:20 a.m., more than an hour after The Pilot's Friday-night deadline. Thanks to a fast-working editor and a slow press start-up, 100,000 copies of The Pilot had the bombing story on Saturday morning, although - for expediency - it was on the bottom of A1. About half our metro readers did not get the story.
Other dailies were faced with the same problem. ``Stop the presses!'' was probably heard all along the East Coast that night as papers hustled to ``replate'' and get the bombing story in print.
For their Sunday editions, newspaper editors were faced with a story that TV had been playing, and replaying, for more than 24 hours. Hence, the various second-day angles.
The Pilot devoted its entire front page last Sunday to the Olympic bombing, including five photos of the blast and a bloodied victim, plus that white-on-black headline. There was nothing subtle about the page.
And, while only a handful of readers complained, there wasn't anything subtle about their reaction, either.
Bombs away! Speaking of alarmist headlines, several readers got a jolt from Wednesday's Daily Break banner, ``BATTLESHIP SUNK BY AERIAL BOMBS!''
If you looked hard, you'd see - in much smaller type - ``75 years ago'' above the headline. The story was about the sinking of a German battleship in 1921.
Kathryn Foose of Virginia Beach was momentarily alarmed. Her first thought, she said, was, ``Oh my goodness! What else has happened?''
In light of all of the bombings that have been going on recently, she felt we could have done without this headline. I'll agree - it didn't work.
Fair to equestrians? Nay. Readers have been calling all week about our Olympic coverage, mostly to ask why we didn't write more about this medalist or that sport.
Several callers were particularly annoyed because Tuesday's story on women's gymnastics failed to mention that Dominique Dawes won a bronze medal for the United States.
Horse lovers were among those speaking out. Their biggest gripe was too little coverage of equestrian events. And what there was, they said, showed we didn't understand the sport.
Jane Prinz of Virginia Beach, a gold medalist at the U.S. Pony Club national games in 1986, pointed out that this is one of the few sports where men and women compete against each other on even ground. Yet at least one photo, she said, labeled the event as a men's program.
Another caption identified a competition as equestrian jumping when, she said, the rider was outfitted for dressage. Apparently, that's like mixing up platform diving with figure skating.
We hear the message: It's time to get some horse sense.
by CNB