THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 9, 1997 TAG: 9702080029
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J5 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Public Editor
SOURCE: Lynn Feigenbaum
LENGTH: 88 lines
The verdict vs. the speech - TV and newspaper editors around the country grappled with that quandary Tuesday night. And, while O.J. Simpson may have been a loser in a California civil court, he won top spot the next day in many U.S. newspapers.
The Virginian-Pilot was one of them. ``O.J. MUST PAY'' proclaimed a big, bold banner headline Wednesday. Along with a large Simpson photo and pullouts, that story consumed at least two-thirds of our front page, plus two inside pages.
The loser was the State of the Union speech, which Clinton was delivering when the late-breaking Simpson verdict unwittingly upstaged it.
In The Pilot, Clinton's speech was just an ``oh, by the way'' presence, complained one reader. It was a column and a half of type, with highlights in tiny print.
In all, more than three dozen readers called to voice disapproval of the O.J. dominance.
``I am very disappointed the paper chose to have that as its central story, and as big as it was, and virtually nothing about the State of the Union address,'' said Nancy Leard of Norfolk. ``. . . It's embarrassing.''
Other readers echoed the same refrain - The Pilot had its priorities wrong and stooped to tabloid journalism, and besides they were ``sick and tired'' of hearing about O.J.
``I'm not a Clinton fan,'' said Charles B. Abrams of Norfolk. ``I'm a diehard Republican, just to the right of Rush Limbaugh, but I think the office of the presidency of the United States demands more respect than what you've given him.''
Why lead with Simpson? For deputy managing editor Nelson Brown, it was an easy call.
``The O.J. court verdicts will be debated forever,'' he said. ``This is a historical trial - 50, 100 years from now, history books will tell about these trials. No one is going to remember the State of the Union address.''
Also, this particular State of the Union speech was preordained, no surprises, points out night news editor Denis Finley. In fact, many of the major points had run in a sizable graphic on Tuesday's front page.
The Simpson story has ``captivated the country for two years,'' added Finley. ``It cuts across racial, political and socioeconomic divides. It's more than just a tabloid murder case.''
Most large U.S. newspapers led with the Simpson verdict, according to The Associated Press. That included late editions of The Washington Post.
``Editors correctly guessed that the public cares more about the soap opera that everyone has been involved in for the last two years,'' said Rich Noyes of the Center for Media and Public Affairs in Washington.
But some papers - swayed by ``civic consciousness,'' as AP put it - gave more prominent play to the president. Those included The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Salt Lake Tribune.
Other papers compromised. While Simpson dominated the front page of The San Diego Union-Tribune, the two stories ran side by side. But this is not an option favored by The Pilot, which prefers to choose the biggest story of the day and play it accordingly.
My own feelings about verdict vs. speech: The Simpson trial was the big news of the day. But The Pilot could have given better play to the State of the Union speech, enough so readers wouldn't have felt shortchanged on a serious national issue.
But not all readers shied away from the Simpson story. On Wednesday, individual-copy sales of the Pilot were up about 2,000 over the norm. And Pilot Online editor Mark Edelen reports that on-line readers favored the Simpson story 4-1 over Clinton's State of the Union.
Different readers, different verdicts!
Cross words. If you judge by reader call-in numbers, neither Simpson nor the State of the Union address can hold a candle to the humble crossword puzzle that runs each day in The Daily Break.
More than 100 readers called the public editor's office last weekend, and several dozen more throughout the week, because Saturday's puzzle was unworkable. A Florida company that transmits the puzzle to the Pilot electronically had sent the wrong grid, so the squares and clues didn't match up.
Complicating matters was that the puzzle looked OK, at first glance, so many readers tried to work it out. Their frustration was evident in phone messages.
``It's a mess,'' said one caller. ``The downs are up and the ups are down, across, whatever.''
Another caller imagined how columnist Guy Friddell would react. ``He'd say, `What in the blue blazes is wrong with this crossword puzzle?' ''
After the first flurry of reader calls, editors scrambled to get a correct version of the crossword. (You see, it does pay to complain.) It ran the next day, Sunday, in the MetroNews section.
MEMO: Call the public editor at 446-2475, or send a computer message to
lynn(AT)infi.net