CENTENNIAL SUNDAYS
CENTENNIAL SUNDAYS: The toughest tragedies were man-made
Team touched down just hours after OKC bombing
One of the most memorable 鈥� and toughest 鈥� of the F-Jet trips was that which covered the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed 187 people and injured 684.
Publisher T.H. Lang decided within an hour of reports of the bombing that Journal staffers should head to the scene. A group of reporters and photographers was quickly assembled, and the team arrived just hours after the bombing.
Technology and production editor Donn Friedman was among those who went.
鈥淲e landed on the tarmac of Oklahoma City, and there were no rental cars available so we ended up with the last limousines. We took them into downtown Oklahoma City, and there was still smoke rising from the buildings,鈥� he said.
鈥淭he city was still in shock and we walked by banks, and there was broken glass throughout downtown. And as we walked through the town, people were just milling about, and it almost looked like a zombie apocalypse. There was dust in the air, and there were sirens going off in the distance.
鈥�(Photographer) Jim Thompson and I walked almost straight to the Murrah Building, and we saw the rubble.鈥�
A daycare center was located in the building, and several toddlers and infants were among the victims.
鈥淲e saw parents on the street, just people in tears everywhere. And there wasn't much of a perimeter, so we walked almost right to the building," Friedman said. "Suddenly we saw firemen and policemen running from the area and running from the building saying, 鈥楪et back, get back, get back. There's another bomb.鈥�"
Emergency personnel cleared the area but found no more explosives.
鈥淲e worked for six or so hours, and as it got to be about 7 p.m., we realized we had to get the film back to sa国际传媒官网网页入口," he said. "There wasn't a way to transmit all the photos, so Mr. Lang grabbed us all and I took all the film. 鈥� But before the plane left for sa国际传媒官网网页入口, Tom Lang wondered whether some of the team should stay behind and continue to cover the story.
鈥淗e pushed everybody else except for reporter Steve Brewer and me off the plane, and said, 鈥楽teve's going to write the live story; you guys go report.鈥� So, we wrote on special computers and we had brick cellphones, the giant cellphones, and we had little boxes that connect the cellphones to the computer. The second we landed in sa国际传媒官网网页入口, we transmitted the stories back to the newsroom and I ran all the film back in. We were able to process the film and get pictures in the paper for the next day.鈥�
Meanwhile, the rest of the team stayed and continued to report.
鈥淚 believe Journal reporters and photographers stayed there about 20 days following up,鈥� Friedman said.
In all, 12 Journal staffers covered the story. The teams were usually shuttled from sa国际传媒官网网页入口 to Oklahoma City aboard the jet. Among the passengers on one of the return trips was a group of North Valley firefighters who pulled one of the few survivors from the rubble.
Back in the newsroom, photo sparks debate
As editors in the newsroom sorted through the national stories and images the day of the bombing, one photo stood out. An Associated Press photo showed a firefighter carrying a limp toddler from the wreckage.
The Journal policy was not to publish photos of dead bodies. Staff did not know whether the child was dead or alive, but after much debate, the newspaper decided to run the photo because it 鈥� more than any other image 鈥� brought home the horror of the event.
The Journal did not know at the time it would become a symbol of this tragedy 鈥� the most widely published image of the bombing鈥檚 aftermath. It turned out the child was alive at the time the photo was taken but later died at the hospital. The child was one of 19 children killed; the car bomb exploded directly below a daycare center on the second floor.
Powerful impact on staff
Weeks after the bombing, the Journal published a story quoting several of the Journal staffers who covered the bombing and its aftermath.
The article reported how covering this disaster affected them like no other story they had ever written. Several said the fact this disaster was an act of terrorists, not a natural disaster, made it more tragic and painful. The journalists with young children had a particularly tough time coping with the tragedy they saw.
Reporter Phill Casaus spent five days working the story. Upon his return, he was looking forward to seeing his wife and 6-week-old daughter. The story quoted him: "They鈥檙e saying that the four kids they still have not found inside the daycare center are infants. For me, that鈥檚 hitting me where I live.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the type of story that was heartbreaking from the start, and now it鈥檚 just a prolonged sadness for everyone involved.鈥�
Friedman, a father of a young son at the time, said he was driving into the Journal parking lot a few days after he returned and heard the theme song for Barney on the radio. The announcer said it was being played at one of the children鈥檚 funeral services.
鈥淚 just broke down. I hadn鈥檛 cried much before that, but for some reason, that day. 鈥︹��
Reporter Steve Brewer said deadline pressure that first day helped put distance between what staffers were seeing and what they had to get done. But, 鈥淚 still see the people with ghosts in their eyes. They had this haunted look,鈥� the story quoted him as saying.
Photographers said that viewing the scene behind the lens of a camera helped serve as a slight barrier, but wasn鈥檛 enough.
Photographer Jeff Alexander pointed to the symbolic photo of the firefighter carrying the injured child, saying he was actually glad he did not take that photo. 鈥淚鈥檓 glad I was spared. Yet I know if I had been there at that moment, I would have taken that shot.鈥�
Reporter Carla Crowder returned to her desk at the Journal after covering the story for four days and found a message on her desk. 鈥淎ll it said was, 鈥楽ister didn鈥檛 make it.鈥欌�� The story quoted Crowder as saying, 鈥淚t was from the man in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 who we had been in contact with. His sister was missing in the building. When I saw the message. I just lost it. I had to go into the bathroom so nobody would see me crying.鈥�
Journal team at Ground Zero after 9/11
An sa国际传媒官网网页入口 F-Jet team was among very few journalists who were at Ground Zero just days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. Their photos and stories are gripping and capture the devastation and grief at the very heart of the attack.
The story deserves its own page and will be published in a later Centennial Sundays package.
Karen Moses is a former Journal editor. Reach her at kmoses@abqjournal.com.
Coming June 21: 100 years ago on June 20, the first edition of the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 was published under the ownership of the Pepperday/Lang family. The next edition of Centennial Sundays will feature a sit-down interview with publisher William P. Lang about the legacy and future of the Journal.
