My life as a journalist, the last few days:
"Is the pope dead?"
"Is the pope dead?"
"The pope died!"
Remake page of Friday's paper, big 90-point headline POPE JOHN PAUL II DEAD, ten minutes later discover AP won't confirm death, CNN says reports he's dead, then takes it back, Pope not dead.
New headline, "POPE NEAR DEATH."
"Is the pope dead?"
"Is the pope dead?"
"Why won't the pope die?" (Journalists have a peculiar pitch-black gallows humor, honest.)
Cranky wire editor: "He's doing this ON PURPOSE!"
"If the pope dies Saturday, what do we do with our Sunday package?"
"Is the pope dead yet?"
Anyway, the pope is gone, rest in peace. I'm not a very religious man myself but he was a dignified fellow who always stood for peace, even if I don't agree with the church on a lot of its positions. He suffered a lot this last decade with stoic grace, I felt. And now I know what our Sunday front page will be like.
No comments:
Post a Comment