Ex-mayors and giraffes

“Improper, not illegal” was the first draft of yesterday’s front page headline when managing editor Gary Graham left the office last night. Graham said that he later reconsidered and called back to the newsroom to request it be changed. We wanted to “play it straight without trying to characterize a nuance in what the FBI said,” he said, and the headline was changed to the more straightforward “No federal charges.”

The new headline doesn’t advance the story as much as we would have liked, but it’s far less problematic. The statement “improper, not illegal” without attribution is in itself misleading, because the FBI didn’t say outright that West’s actions weren’t illegal, just that there wasn’t enough evidence to pursue charges under a federal corruption statute.

On another note, Graham commended reporters Karen Dorn Steele, Bill Morlin and Mike Prager for their professionalism at the press conference.

Minutiae

The overline “Playground prescriptions” on page B1 should actually be “Playground pro scriptions”, reporter Jim Camden pointed out. The students are being subjected to new rules, not having pills doled out.

Also, page one rumors that video from West’s press conference is posted on our site are not true (we’ve got audio , though). And the giraffe photo in today’s page one rail actually goes with the teaser to Ben Shors’ South Africa blog, not the Daily Briefing teaser. Nevertheless, those of you who came here expecting to see wildlife, I’ve included an AP photo of Lenga, an adorable baby giraffe from a zoo in Franfurt, Germany.