Times-Delphic Responds to Attacks with Special Issue by Lisa Gildehaus As reporters and journalists across the nation snapped into action to help the public make sense of what was occurring, the Times-Delphic responded with a special edition of the newspaper on September 12. "Everyone was so shocked, but because we're journalists, we felt we needed to let the students know what Drake would do and how Drake graduates living on the coast were doing," stated Deanna Truman-Cook, JO'03, Times-Delphic executive editor. "We immediately started watching TV and asking each other, 'What stories can we do?' It was shocking but we had a responsibility to ourselves and to Drake students to let them know what was going on." The issue contained a story about the community forum held on Drake's campus, as well as local angles, including "ROTC Students On Alert" and "Graduates Give Firsthand Account from East Coast." The issue left no doubt that, although New York and Washington D.C. were a thousand miles away, these events would touch the lives of everyone. Kathleen Richardson, journalism instructor of "Reporting and Writing for the Web," tried to find a positive aspect in the tragedy through her students' responses. "Every year I try to find a project with one theme for the class, and the terrorist attacks certainly gave it a focus this year. It's a good opportunity for students to understand deadline reporting. We try to find angles that the local media might have missed. At first, our stories were tailored to a college demographic. Since then, we've done other articles, like the safeguards being put in place to protect against agricultural chemicals falling into terrorist hands." Truman-Cook found pride in both the responses from her team of journalists at the Times-Delphic and from her colleagues across the nation. "I think the coverage since the attacks has brought honor back into this profession. Journalists used to be seen as people who meddle in other people's lives, but now it's a noble profession again. The coverage we did at the T D, the fact that we put out an issue the next day and stayed at the office until 6 a.m. laying out the paper, helped me learn what a demanding field this is." Lisa Gildehaus, JO'93, is an independent filmmaker and writer.
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