Total Recall p.10

By: Dorothy Giobbe AN UPSTATE NEW York publisher yanked her weekly paper off newsstands because of an editorial saying Lake Placid didn't need another Olympics.
Catherine Moore, publisher of Ogden Newspapers' Lake Placid News, halted delivery of the July 26 edition and ordered a full recall of all 4,000 papers. The newspaper's single delivery truck couldn't retrieve all of the papers, however, and a small number made it into the hands of readers.
The editorial was revised on her direction. The editorial page was replated, and the company's own press ran off 4,000 copies of the new front section (the second section was not affected). The paid broadsheet resumed normal delivery later in the day. Moore put the cost at about $200.
Lake Placid, home to an Olympic Training Center, hosted Winter Games in 1932 and 1980. This summer, area organizers traveled to Atlanta to drum up interest in bringing the Winter Olympics back to Lake Placid in 2022.
The Olympics provide an enormous boost to the economy of the host city. However, organizational and construction costs associated with the Games can strain local resources to the bursting point.
That was the thrust of the original News editorial, written by managing editor Shir Filler. Headlined "LP Doesn't Need The Olympics," it read, "Having the Olympics return in 2022 would almost guarantee even more of a loss of Lake Placid's unique qualities than is already occurring daily.
"Already trails get overused, parking is a headache and there's even pedestrian gridlock on weekends. How much worse would all this be if the Olympics came back?"
Filler's revised editorial, as directed and approved by Moore, reflected a distinctly different view.
Headlined "The Secret Of LP's Appeal," it said, "Having the Olympics here would be a wonderful boost for the local economy for years to come, and it's terrific that our delegation to Atlanta got such positive reinforcement down there for their efforts."
Moore said she ordered the rewrite so that the News' position on the Games could be "clarified a little more."
"I feel that we stand very strongly for the Olympics," Moore said. "We are an Olympic paper in an Olympic area. I want it to be clear as a bell."
Filler said the incident was the result of "poor judgment on my part and poor communication." The intent of the editorial wasn't to discourage an area Olympic bid, she said, but to highlight the area's special qualities.
"All I was trying to say was that in all the discussion of the Games, we shouldn't lose sight of the things that make Lake Placid great," she said. "My wording in the editorial was a little ambiguous on that point, and the headline may have been a little harsh."
Filler is new to the Press, and the Olympic editorial was only her third or fourth for the paper. She acknowledged being "still a little green at this" and likened the situation to a "trial by fire."
"I didn't feel like I was commenting on the Games one way or the other," she said, "and I don't feel like I've been silenced."
The story was first reported by Matthew Smith, a reporter at the daily Plattsburgh Press-Republican, who quoted Moore as saying about the editorial, "When I read it, I said, 'This is absolutely wrong. I want it rewritten.' I ordered my driver to get them off the stands."
?(Front Page carries upbeat story (bottom left) about local business officials heading to Atlanta to lobby for Lake Placid as an Olympic venue. During delivery, the publisher recalled the entire press run because of an editorial complaining about the crowds and traffic the Games would bring. She ordered a pro-Olympic editorial, a replated editorial page and a reprint of the front section on all 4,000 papers.) [Photo & Caption]
?(Editorial, above, went out in all 4,000 copies of the weekly Lake Placid News-but only after the first press run, carrying an editorial chilly to another Lake Placid Olympic, was recalled during distribution. Ordered by the publisher, the new editorial reflects the paper's support of an Olympic deja vu.) [Photo & Caption]