When Gerald Ford died as our news editors were pushing deadline, there was no question they needed to tear up Page One to display this news prominently. We know what to do when a former president dies. But how we play obituaries for other nationally prominent figures is not so clear cut. One reader’s beloved icon may mean nothing to someone else. This morning we had a photo of Ingmar Bergman on Page One, referring to his obituary inside the A-section. Yesterday in our afternoon news meeting, we debated whether to do this– with a couple of our staffers shrugging their shoulders at the relative significance of the filmmaker’s passing, while one editor advocated running a complete story about him prominently on Page One.
This morning I’m kicking myself a little, thinking the great 49ers coach Bill Walsh deserved mention on Page One also. And someone in our morning meeting today suggested we could have created a three-person refer on the cover to include talk show host Tom Snyder as well. I remember in February getting a phone call from Wichita radio star Johnny Western, who was troubled that we had failed completely to make any mention anywhere in the paper of the passing of Frankie Laine. Johnny was diplomatic with me on the phone, but I still feel bad about that.
When I worked in Missoula in the early ’90s, I remember the news editor there (who happens to be my husband now) deciding that the death of "Brady Bunch" star Robert Reed was a Page One story. Some of us cringed at the time, and my husband cringes about his decision whenever I tease him about it now, but I’ll bet if we looked back to find that day’s edition, Mike Brady’s obit may be the most memorable thing we reported in the paper that day.
– Theresa