'Des Moines Register' a Victim of Plane Crash's Bad Timing

By: Joe Strupp The Des Moines Register on Tuesday might have just been the victim of bad timing.

When readers picked up the paper Tuesday, the bottom of the front page had the tragic story of a small plane crash Monday night in Indiana, with occupants bound for nearby Ankeny, Iowa. With no identities known, and ownership of the plane linked only to a nearby investment company, the late Associated Press story appeared as a basic breaking news report near deadline.

For those who then turned to the front of the business section, the story on Two Rivers Marketing in Des Moines' East Village was the first item to greet them. A typical local-firm-makes-good piece, the article highlighted the work of company founder Tom Dunphy and his staff and their plans for a new, modern home office.

It wasn't until hours later that editors, and eventually Web readers, would find out the two stories were linked. After deadline Monday night, word came that four of the plane crash victims, including Dunphy, were employees of Two Rivers Marketing.

"What are the odds?" Register Business Editor Lynn Hicks said Tuesday. "When I heard this morning, I thought this is not a company we do much coverage of. This was a feature that could have run any day."

Hicks said the business section closed at about 11 p.m. Monday night, about four hours after the plane crash occurred. But he said when editors received the first AP reports of the crash, there was no indication the occupants were linked to the feature story.

"If there was, nobody contacted me," Hicks told E&P. "I went home close to 8 p.m. and I didn't hear anything about it." Editor Carolyn Washburn could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.

Night City Editor Audrey Burgs said she received a tip at about 11:30 p.m. that the plane had possibly been leased to Two Rivers Marketing, but could not confirm it before the 11:55 p.m. front page deadline. "I did everything I could to try to nail it down," she said.

Throughout the day Tuesday, the Register was updating its Web site with new information on the plane crash, while also posting a link to the feature story. The Web version of the feature story did not appear to have been changed in reaction to the crash. But an editor's note with the Web version explaining what happened was posted.

"The Register's business section on Tuesday featured an article (below) about Two Rivers Marketing's new building in Des Moines' East Village," the note states. "Late Monday night, four employees of the firm were killed in a small-plane crash in Indiana."

Hicks said he had two business reporters following the story Tuesday, while the news section had another two staffers on it.

Wednesday's print edition also carried a paragraph in the lead story on the crash that stated: "The cover of The Des Moines Register's Tuesday business section included a feature on Two Rivers Marketing's new offices. At press time, it was not known that people associated with Two Rivers Marketing were aboard the plane."