Last Updated: May 26, 1999
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Stories from the McVeigh verdict
Stories from the McVeigh verdict
A Wire Content Committee Report
By Peter G. Johnson
Pity the poor wire editor.
On the day a jury in Colorado returned its guilty verdict against
Timothy McVeigh, newspaper wire editors were inundated with a plethora
of choices from every wire service.
An enterprising editor could have crafted a masterpiece by combining
the lede of The Dallas Morning News with the exhaustive detail of The New
York Times, the color and descriptive writing of The Philadelphia Inquirer,
the legal analysis of the Chicago Tribune and the trial recap of The Washington
Post.
Or that editor could have used The Associated Press mainbar and gone
home early.
Either way, the newspaper’s readers would have been well served.
That’s what a panel of five editors concluded after analyzing the coverage
of the McVeigh verdict provided by the major wire services on June 2. ASNE’s
Wire Content Committee reviewed each mainbar that moved that day, paying
particular attention to the first 10 graphs.
The work was universally strong. The committee did like some stories
better than others, but the differences were slight and usually a matter
of personal preference or professional judgment.
"The committee did not find any bad journalism,’’ said Ray Moscowitz,
editorial director of Nixon Newspapers Inc. "Overall, looking at writing
quality and the sophistication of reporting, there was a lot of solid work
done under pressure.’’
There were some flaws, however.
Some stories were marred by overly wordy ledes. Some neglected to include
reaction from survivors or buried it deep in the story. Some were slow
to get to what happens next.
There also were some standouts.
The New York Times mainbar by Jo Thomas — despite a 49-word lede — and
the Dallas Morning News report by Arnold Hamilton were deemed the best
of the best by the committee. Each was graded A.
The A team
The Times’ story was distinguished by the depth of reporting and the
level of detail. For example, Thomas painted this scene from inside the
courthouse as spectators waited to hear the verdict:
Victims of the bombing and members of their families squeezed together
to make room for each other on the crowded benches. One clutched a crucifix.
Another held a lucky coin. One woman knelt to pray. A hush fell over the
room when McVeigh walked in. "He looks like such a nice boy,’’ one spectator
murmured sadly.
Then there was this description of the clothes McVeigh was wearing when
he was arrested, description that was not new but that was lacking in other
stories:
When he was stopped, 75 minutes after the explosion, McVeigh was
wearing a t-shirt inscribed with the motto: "The tree of liberty must be
refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Instead
of fruit, the tree above those words bore droplets of bright red blood.
On the front of the shirt, President Abraham Lincoln appeared on what looked
like a "Wanted" poster; under it was the Latin phrase his assassin, John
Wilkes Booth, is said to have shouted: "sic semper tyrannis,’’ or "thus
always to tyrants.’’
Readers of any newspaper with enough newshole to carry this story would
have gotten a very good, very complete report on the verdict.
Equally good, but in a fraction of the space, was the News mainbar.
The committee praised Hamilton’s story for its clear, concise writing
and a crisp, clean structure that propelled the story forward very rapidly.
"There is a real rhythm to the writing,’’ said Chris Peck, editor of
The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash., and vice chair of the Wire Content
Committee. Peck said Hamilton’s article "told a story, not just the facts.’’
Hamilton’s lede set the tone. It was lean and to the point:
Timothy McVeigh, a decorated Army veteran turned anti-government
zealot, was convicted Monday of mass-murder and conspiracy in the truck
bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building.
The first 10 graphs of Hamilton’s story succinctly told everything a
reader would need to know: the news, the impact, the reaction and what’s
likely to happen next.
Best of the rest
Close behind these two stories, in the committee’s view, were articles
by the Associated Press (both p.m. and a.m. versions), the Philadelphia
Inquirer and the Washington Post. The committee gave each a B+.
The committee found some of the most descriptive writing in the Inquirer’s
story by Gwen Florio. Consider these graphs that set the courtroom scene:
As he had throughout the trial whenever jurors were present, McVeigh,
29, sat stone-faced, staring into space. Only his hands, clenched together
and pressed tightly to his lips betrayed emotion.
...Jury members fixed their gazes at a blank spot on the wall behind
McVeigh’s head. One juror, a thin blonde woman in her 20s, showed the reddened
eyes and cheeks that bespoke tears.
...In the rear of the courtroom, victims’ relatives squeezed by the
dozen into benches meant for 10, and clasped hands tightly down the line.
Good as it was, however, the description of the scene delayed reporting
some of the news. Florio’s story
didn’t begin to tell the reaction of survivors or victims’ families
until the 10th graph. And, curiously, there were no direct quotes from
any of the families.
The committee also liked the Washington Post’s mainbar by Lois Romano
and Tom Kenworthy for its straightforward lede, its thorough wrapup of
the case against McVeigh and its good detail. Witness this graph:
A teary-eyed Roy Sells, who lost his wife, Leora, in the blast, told
reporters that when he heard the verdict he said to his wife in heaven,
"Honey, justice has been served.’’
The Post story was clearly structured with the news, the reaction and
what would happen next covered within the first 10 graphs. The Reno (Nev.)
Gazette-Journal picked this for its mainbar because "it provided the mix
of breaking news, color from the courthouse and context that we needed,’’
said Ramon Bracamontes, assistant managing editor.
AP’s efforts also drew praise from the committee. Craig Klugman, editor
of The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne, Ind., and chairman of the Wire Content
Committee, described both the p.m. and a.m. versions as "good, efficient
AP writing. Newspapers that rely solely on AP were well served.’’
Among those who did use AP were The Birmingham (Ala.) News, the Pensacola
(Fla.) News Journal, The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., and the Cincinnati
Enquirer. Vickey Williams, national editor of the Birmingham News, said
she used AP because it had the "most to-the-point lede. Best top four graphs.’’
The committee was impressed with the quick turnaround of the p.m. mainbar
by Steven Paulson. The sixth-lede writethru moved within 5 minutes of the
bulletin announcing the verdict and was reasonably complete.
Subsequent versions added more detail and quotes, concluding with the
13th-lede writethru, which moved 71 minutes after the bulletin. This story
was clear and complete — or nearly so. In both of its mainbars, AP said
McVeigh was convicted on 11 counts of murder and conspiracy but it never
detailed those charges, as most papers did.
Despite that flaw, the committee felt the AP stories held up well against
the competition. The a.m. version by Michael Fleeman was praised for its
breezy writing style and solid structure; it got to what would happen next
right away and provided reaction from survivors in the fourth graph.
Other observations
Surprisingly, not all the stories reviewed by the committee included
reaction from survivors or families of bombing victims, what the committee
considered the human dimension. The Los Angeles Times and The Kansas City
(Mo.) Star, for example, curiously emphasized the reaction of the attorneys
in the case over the survivors. This, in part, helped explain their lower
scores.
On the other hand, the Los Angeles Times story was the only one to include
the names of the eight federal agents killed in the blast — the kind of
detail that newspapers can and should supply.
While the committee gave L.A.’s story a B, the Anchorage (Alaska) Daily
News thought it was the best-written and used it as the mainbar.
Besides its straight news mainbar, the AP also offered an optional lede
for papers looking for a more featurey, second-day approach. The committee
applauded AP for providing a choice but felt this story did not work as
well.
The Detroit Free Press’ story was the only other paper to take a second-day
approach. The piece by Tim Doran was well written and focused on what would
happen next. Editors looking for something other than a straight news story
would have been well served by this. The Lexington (Ky.) Herald Leader,
for one, liked this approach and combined Doran’s lede with elements of
Florio’s story for its mainbar.
Another story that stood out from the crowd was the mainbar from Scripps
Howard News Service. While most news services packed their stories with
details and description, Karen Abbott and Lynn Bartels of the Rocky Mountain
News wrote a lean account built upon snappy one-sentence paragraphs. Their
staccato-style writing covered the news quickly and efficiently and moved
along at a brisk pace.
The three mainbars that received the lowest scores from the committee
were by Reuters, the Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram and the Houston Chronicle.
In all three cases, the committee felt the writing was routine and matter-of-fact.
As a result, none of the three adequately captured the drama of the event
or the sense of magnitude/history.
Legal sidebars
The editors’ committee also reviewed sidebars that loosely fit the category
of legal issues related to the verdict. Frankly, it was harder to compare
these sidebars because they took so many different forms. Some analyzed
the defense and prosecution strategy; some looked ahead to the penalty
phase or the trial of Terry Nichols; some contrasted the McVeigh trial
with the O.J. Simpson case. Nevertheless, the committee identified several
first-rate pieces.
Once again, Jo Thomas of the New York Times wrote one of the standout
stories. Her assessment of the trial was comprehensive and supported throughout.
It also began with a punchy lede:
When everything was said and done, Timothy McVeigh, the loner who
liked to travel fast and light, was still alone. No friend, no family member,
no stranger came forward to give him an alibi for the Oklahoma City bombing,
and he did not take the stand in his own defense.
A little wordy (50 words) but, in this case, that didn’t seem to detract
from the story.
In contrast, a 55-word lede on a Washington Post analysis was virtually
impenetrable and left the panel of editors wondering just what was the
point:
In the 221 years since the 13 colonies declared their independence,
Americans have fought on their own soil to escape a king and to shatter
and restore the union. There has been vigilante violence, violence against
Indians, agrarian uprisings, criminal violence, racial and ethnic violence,
family feuds, lynchings, urban riots, serial killings and political assassinations.
In addition to the New York Times analysis, the committee gave an A
to a Kansas City Star sidebar that looked ahead to Terry Nichols’ trial.
The Star article, by Matthew Schofield, was well written and well organized
with an inviting lede:
If the federal case against Timothy McVeigh was a slam dunk, the
case to come against the man alleged to be his co-conspirator appears to
be rolling around the rim.
Schofield wrote with authority about the differences in the case against
Nichols vs. the case against McVeigh. The story, one editor said, gave
readers a sense that they could talk as experts on the subject.
Two sidebars by John Hanchette of Gannett News Service also won praise
and each was graded A–. One story explored the questions left unanswered
by the McVeigh trial; the other looked at possible defense strategies in
the penalty phase.
Both stories were authoritatively written and based on fresh reporting.
As one editor said, "The reporter clearly knew his stuff.’’
The committee also applauded Hanchette for approaching the story from
a different angle with his unanswered-questions piece.
The scene sidebars
The committee did not evaluate all the sidebars that reported the scenes
from either Oklahoma City or Denver. There were just too many.
But the committee unanimously agreed that a piece by Rick Bragg of the
New York Times led the pack. Bragg’s lede was loaded with powerful imagery
that grabbed the reader by the throat and refused to let go:
After the explosion, people learned to write left-handed, to tie
just one shoe. They learned to endure the pieces of metal and glass embedded
in their flesh, to smile with faces that made them want to cry, to cry
with glass eyes. They learned, in homes where children had played, to stand
the quiet. They learned to sleep with pills, to sleep alone.
Monday ... the victims of the most deadly attack of domestic terrorism
in U.S. history learned what they had suspected all along: That justice
in a far-away courtroom is not satisfaction. That healing might come only
at McVeigh’s grave.
Bragg’s piece may have been the best but it was far from the only compelling
scene story. As with the mainbars and legal sidebars, the choices were
plentiful and the differences miniscule.
Pity the poor wire editor who had to choose among them.
Johnson is night managing editor of The Cincinnati Enquirer.
