Douglas E. Jessmer

The San Antonio Express-News ran a story Jan. 28 that I’ll bet the editors wished they hadn’t sat on. Here’s why:

Nell and Wallace Crain, a couple who were featured in an Express-News Page 1A story and photo on “the secret to a happy marriage,” died between the writing of the story last summer and its publication in the San Antonio Express-News on Monday. The deaths were not mentioned in the report.

The Express-News apologizes to family and friends of the couple, and to our readers, for the egregious omission.

Read the entire correction here.

This happened to me once with a photo, early in my career, in West Virginia. The sad part is that the man who died between the time we took the photo and the time we published it… was the husband of one of our employees. Somehow, no one did the math, and I was too new to know. So…

On behalf of The Record-Delta of Buckhannon, W.Va., this blog regrets that error.

Thank you.

UPDATE: From Poynter’s Romenesko blog…  Monday’s front-page San Antonio Express-News story featuring a couple who had been married for 67 years failed to mention the two died late last year — months after they were interviewed by reporter J. Michael Parker. Editor Robert Rivard writes in a memo: “J. Michael Parker has retired after a career with the Express-News that spanned more than 27 years. He has left by mutual agreement. …His departure is directly linked to the events of the last week and the editors do not want to suggest otherwise. Performing to standards and protecting the reputation and integrity of our news coverage is an essential obligation each one of us is obliged to share. Other actions were taken with editors who shared to a lesser degree some responsibility.”

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At about 11 p.m. this past Thursday night, I did something that I’ve never done, as long as I’ve been in the newspaper industry — I delivered newspapers.

Some of you might think, “my, how far the mighty have fallen.” Well, one, I’m not really all that mighty, but two, I volunteered. And if you get a chance to deliver a route, or help with part of a route, you might want to volunteer. It’ll give you some insights as to who’s reading your newspaper, and even possibly when and why. It also might give you an idea about what sort of content your newspaper should deliver.

Granted, I’m not going to make a habit of this. I pitched in when we needed someone to drive the paper, and — what the hell? — I stepped up. Never done it. Never thought about doing it. Thought it was drudgery, in fact, loading racks in the early-morning hours, like maybe it was beneath me. What kind of snob am I, and what sort of student of journalism am I, really?

Continue reading ‘Delivering the news: Your future may depend on it’

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