Staffers of the Capital Gazette have put out a Friday edition, as promised, just a day after five of their colleagues were slain in the paper’s Annapolis, Md., newsroom.
The Friday headline on the paper’s front page reads, “5 shot dead at The Capital,” in big, bold, black letters, with 10 staffers on the byline. Photos of the five staffers who were killed appear across the top.
— Capital Gazette (@capgaznews) June 29, 2018
Surviving journalists vowed Thursday that they wouldn’t be deterred from their journalistic mission because of the shooting.
“I can tell you this,” Gazette reporter Chase Cook tweeted after Thursday’s deadly rampage. “We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow.”
I can tell you this: We are putting out a damn paper tomorrow.
— Chase Cook (@chaseacook) June 28, 2018
After the shooting was over Thursday, Gazette employees gathered in a parking deck at the nearby Annapolis Mall, where Editor Rick Hutzell led a discussion punctuated with hugs and staggered expressions.
“We’re trying to do our job and deal with five people” who lost their lives, said reporter Pat Furgurson, whose wife and adult son were with him at a mall.
“You’d think something like this might happen in Afghanistan, not in a newsroom a block away from the mall.”
– Pat Furguson, reporter, Capital Gazette
He said his colleagues were “just people trying to do their job for the public.”
“You’d think something like this might happen in Afghanistan, not in a newsroom a block away from the mall,” he said, reflecting on what appeared to be one of the deadliest attacks on journalists in U.S. history.
Police said the gunman, identified as Jarrod W. Ramos, explicitly targeted the newspaper.
The five Gazette staffers killed in the attack were identified as Wendi Winters, John McNamara, Gerald Fischman, Rebecca Smith, and Rob Hiaasen.
Winters was the special publications editor. McNamara was a writer. Fischman was editorial page editor. Smith was a sales assistant. Hiassen was an assistant editor and columnist.
Surviving members of the paper’s staff said there was no hesitation about whether to produce a Friday edition.
Hearing the confirmation of names I was given hours ago of those lost, it's all too real now. Almost feel guilty spending the last few hours with @MikeMorea1 putting a sports section out.
— Bob Hough (@bobhoke74) June 29, 2018
High school sports editor Bob Hough said he and a colleague were working on the sports section from his home Thursday evening.
“I don’t know that there was ever any thought to not putting something together,” said Hough, who wasn’t at the office when the shooting broke out.
Hough said they were doing a full five-page section in collaboration with the design team based at the Baltimore Sun that always lays out the pages.
Continuing to cover story with Capital journalists Chase Cook and Pat Ferguson. Thanks to our @baltimoresun colleagues who are here too. There will be a Capital Friday.
— Joshua McKerrow (@joshuamckerrow) June 28, 2018
But he tweeted that he “almost feel(s) guilty” when he heard the confirmation of his slain fellow staff members, and that it’s “all too real now.”
Photographer Josh McKerrow edited photos on a laptop in the garage deck.
“It’s what our instinct was — to go back to work,” McKerrow said. “It’s what our colleagues would have done.”
He also tweeted confirmation of a Friday paper.
We stand in support of the journalists and staffers at the #CapitalGazette
The Associated Press Media Editors share in the shock and sadness surrounding the horrific events at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland. #apme https://t.co/xyK8xfs7MI— APME (@APME) June 29, 2018
The Associated Press Media Editors (APME) have promised to help Capital Gazette journalists as they recover from the deadly attack at their Maryland office.
“We stand in support of the journalists and staffers at the #CapitalGazette,” the APME tweeted. “The Associated Press Media Editors share in the shock and sadness surrounding the horrific events at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland.”
In a statement Thursday, the APME also called on newspapers across the country to help the victims of the shooting so they can continue to cover their community and fight for freedom of the press.
