Newspaper Editors Criticize TV Sniper Coverage

By: Joe Strupp Editors gathered here this week for the annual Associated Press Managing Editors conference criticized the non-stop, wall-to-wall news coverage of the Washington-area sniper by broadcast and cable outlets, claiming newspapers are taking a more responsible approach to the story.

"It tends to come across as sensationalistic," said Ed Jones, incoming APME president and editor of The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., referring to broadcast and cable reporting. "The volume of it becomes overwhelming. It's almost like turning over all of your A section to nothing but the sniper."

Other attendees said newspapers can take a more measured approach because they have the luxury of a daily deadline and, in most cases, larger reporting staffs than their broadcast counterparts.

"I get a sense as a news consumer that the paper is more credible," said Tom Callinan, editor of The Arizona Republic in Phoenix. "I think TV could wait more for news to happen. It is being overdone."

Carl Hunnell, editor of the News Journal in Mansfield, Ohio, agreed. "TV is trying to take 15 minutes of news and stretch it into a three-hour window," he said. "That is not necessarily good journalism."

Some editors, such as Karen Magnuson of the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, were not surprised that broadcast and cable outlets would play up the story, especially since it is resulting in higher ratings. However, she said most people still look to newspapers for in-depth coverage. "Newspapers have a lot more folks in the newsroom," she said. "People expect them to be the best source of information because of that."

Indeed, newspapers have been credited with breaking most of the behind-the-scenes sniper stories in recent days, including the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch disclosing that tarot cards had been left at other shooting locations and The Sun of Baltimore revealing that the sniper requested a $10 million ransom.

With the APME meeting being held less than an hour's drive away from the last sniper attack, the issue is on the minds of nearly all those in attendance. Although the editors admit they are keeping in closer contact with their newsrooms because of the story, few say it is distracting them from the convention.

"I think it ads an element to the conference," said Hunnell. "We are having a meeting of 300 editors not far from the biggest story in the nation. It helps remind us what we're about; it adds to the conversation."

Jones confirmed that the sniper story had not kept people away, citing an increase in attendance from about 200 at last year's event -- which was held about a month after the Sept. 11 attacks -- to about 320 this year. "There are some who have been reluctant to leave their newsrooms," he said. "But most are staying on schedule to be here."