bin Laden death puts weekend news crews into high gear

The weekend staff working Sunday night, May 1, was putting in extra effort to get a decent report of Osama bin Laden's death into the Monday morning paper. This meant ripping up part of the front page and making room on another for whatever we could into what would be an Eastern Iowa keepsake.

The same was going on across the nation in newspaper offices because, at times like this when people want to have something to hang onto that is this important to American history, that morning newspaper will be an important part of the full array of television, print and digital news coverage of this event.

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In fall 2001 I put together a plan for how the newsroom I was responsible for at that time, The Gazette's Iowa City newsroom, would respond if Osama bin Laden were caught. I never got a chance to refer to those plans before moving to the editor's position. Moreoever, the journalists working the newsroom Sunday night knew what to do.

The press start was delayed so we could get the fullest report into the morning paper. This promises to be a busy week as coverage of this milestone in the U.S. fight against terrorism.