Presses Roll Early

Papers scramble with extra editions

By Aileen Jacobson | STAFF WRITER

September 12, 2001

Extra editions rolled off the presses at many newspapers nationwide yesterday, including Newsday, as both newspapers and magazines pulled out their full resources for special coverage of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

"We had a lot of photographers on the scene, and many are coming back with injuries and covered in debris and dust," said Ken Chandler, publisher of the New York Post, which he said distributed about 70,000 copies of a special edition yesterday and would print "significant extra copies" today.

"We just grabbed everybody we could," including entertainment and sports reporters, said Anthony Marro, editor of Newsday, which published 25,000 copies of a 24-page extra yesterday and planned to add 50,000 to 60,000 copies to its usual weekday run of 610,000.

The New York Daily News didn't print its afternoon commuter edition, said spokesman Ken Frydman, because its presses are in New Jersey and roads to New York were cut off, but the News expected to distribute papers today. A New York Times spokesman would not disclose the paper's plans, but said its Web site displayed only tragedy-related stories.

"Everybody's so upset. We've basically scrapped our regular edition," said Susan Ollinick, spokeswoman for People, which put its entire staff of 302, plus 276 stringers nationwide, on the story for the next edition, which was scheduled to be printed today.

U.S. News & World Report, based in Washington, D.C., will put out a special issue that is to close tonight for sale on Friday and then put out its regular edition for Monday distribution, said spokesman Richard Folkers. "Washington is a virtual ghost town right now," Folkers said.

Because much of Washington was empty, The Washington Post distributed its 16-page special edition yesterday mostly to convenience and grocery stores in suburban areas, said vice president and business manager Ted Lutz.

Among other newspapers to print special editions yesterday were the Orlando Sentinel, the Chicago Tribune, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Kansas City Star, the Detroit Free Press, St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Houston Chronicle, The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.), the Austin American-Statesman (Austin, Texas), the Daily Breeze (Torrance, Calif.), the Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.), the Tampa (Fla.) Tribune and the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The Wall Street Journal, which evacuated its offices at 9:15 a.m. yesterday because of their proximity to the World Trade Center, operated out of a New Jersey office, said Steven Goldstein, vice-president of Dow Jones, the parent company. The newspaper's Web site, WSJ.com, normally a subscription service, was made free as of 10 p.m. yesterday because of concern that not all print subscribers in Manhattan would be able to get today's paper.