Panama City (FL) News Herald chief copy editor Ray Glenn's

memo re war coverage

Oct. 31, 2001

Deskers:

There are a few items that we must take care of immediately:

No one on the copy desk is to leave any night without checking with Camera Room personnel to make sure your pages have been received. This means you MUST PERSONALLY SEE ALL YOUR PAGES AFTER THEY HAVE BEEN PROCESSED. If they are in the queue but not processed, they have not been received as far as I am concerned. Also, do not call Lawrence, Jerry, Flip, Harold or anyone else and ask if your pages have been received. You will be responsible for your own pages.

Per Hal's order, DO NOT USE photos on Page 1A showing civilian casualties from the U.S. war on Afghanistan. [Note: "Hal" is News Herald executive editor Hal Foster.] Our sister paper in Fort Walton Beach has done so and received hundreds and hundreds of threatening e-mails and the like.

Also per Hal's order, DO NOT USE wire stories which lead with civilian casualties from the U.S. war on Afghanistan. They should be mentioned further down in the story. If the story needs rewriting to play down the civilian casualties, DO IT. The only exception is if the U.S. hits an orphanage, school or similar facility and kills scores or hundreds of children. See me if there are any special situations.

There was a head bust on an attacks page today because the headline was not spell checked. This is a violation of a direct order to SPELL CHECK ALL HEADLINES. This will not be tolerated under any circumstances. USE SPELL CHECK EVERY TIME.

Failure to follow any of these or other standing rules could put your job in jeopardy.