In today's paper you'll find much reflection on the events of Sept. 11, 2001. For many of us working in newsrooms at the time, it was the biggest story ever. America was under attack.
Rules we usually follow were thrown out. The 50-50 advertising vs. news content split was forgotten. I was working at the Ottawa Sun in 2001 and for the first time in that paper's history we put out an afternoon edition, as did the Toronto Sun. They were packed with the most up-to-date news and photos, carried no ads and were handed out free on downtown streets.
While newspapers are obviously in business to make money, that was a day when journalism totally trumped revenue.
Day after day, we ran pages and pages of news on the attacks. The number of pages was determined by how much news we felt we had to get into the paper, rather than by how many ads had been sold, which is how it usually works.
On each anniversary of 9/11, editors struggle to decide how much and what type of coverage is appropriate. We try to be sensitive, informative and educational with our choices. When we write about security and Canada's preparedness against an attack, we often have readers accuse us of feeding into the hands of terrorists by "fearmongering."
No one can deny the terrorist threat remains, which is why we have troops in Afghanistan, which is why we continue to write about and analyze 9/11. Lest we forget.
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I'm sure many readers were as surprised as I was to read in Friday's paper that University Health Network had rejected a donor who had planned to give part of his liver to save the life of a little girl, because he gave an interview to the Sun.
Kailey Simmons will celebrate her first birthday Sept. 19, the day David Guest, 28, of Tiverton, was supposed to have part of his liver removed for transplant. Guest was disappointed when told he had been rejected not for medical reasons, but because he talked to the Sun about becoming Kailey's donor.
Guest said he was so touched by our original story on Kailey that he wanted to do something. Kailey has biliary artesia, a liver disease that destroys the ducts carrying bile to the small intestine which ultimately leads to organ failure.
He contacted reporter Kevin Connor to say he had been through all the tests and was a match and he even had a date for surgery. Connor confirmed the information and wrote a follow-up story on the Good Samaritan. Then the hospital stepped in.
A hospital spokesman said they must ensure donors are involved for altruistic reasons and remain anonymous, which ensures they have the opportunity to back out without worrying about outside influences. The policy wasn't made clear to Guest or our reporter, who worked on the donor story for three days with the hospital's knowledge. While the hospital has legitimate reasons for its decision, some readers have called it "inhumane" "disgraceful" and "shameful."
"I am appalled and outraged a child in desperate need of a life-prolonging organ may be denied a willing donor's help because bureaucracy outranks benevolence," wrote one man.
A few readers even accused us of being irresponsible in printing the donor story. But it was because the Sun drew attention to Kailey's case that a donor was quickly found.
The hospital assures us that Kailey is still going to get the life-saving transplant she needs so badly. We hope so. And when it happens, we'll tell you all about it.
