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To Our Readers Frank Bridgewater |
Timing of Saddam story
influenced front-page designThousands of isle residents awoke Sunday to find a front-page story in the Star-Bulletin print edition about the capture of Saddam Hussein. The headline was smaller than the main headline on the page, and several readers called to ask why the Saddam story had not been played more prominently.
The simple answer: If we had taken the time to give the Saddam story the display it deserved, as we did for yesterday's paper, we would not have been able to publish it at all.
Word of the capture began circulating after midnight, when the Sunday paper was already on the press. When the first story moved across the news wires, carrying unconfirmed reports of Saddam's capture, we decided that the quickest way to get it onto Page A1 -- and into as many newspapers as possible was to keep it short and to rearrange the page as little as possible.
The news conference at which U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer confirmed that "we got him" took place at about 2:10 a.m. Hawaii time. About 30 minutes later, the newsroom sent the updated story to the press to replace the earlier one.
We could have redesigned the entire front page, using a complete package of stories and photos. But that would have taken much longer, and either the press run would have ended before we were finished or delivery would have been much later than normal.
So while the story broke so late that not all papers had it, by keeping it short and simple, we were able to get it to as many readers as possible.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Frank Bridgewater is editor of the Star-Bulletin.
Call him at 529-4791. He can be reached at: fbridgewater@starbulletin.com or write to
500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-210, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813.