A clarification from the Kansas City Star:
Today’s issue of Parade, featuring a story on former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was printed before her assassination Dec. 27 and doesn’t mention her death. Link
The magazine interviewed her before her death and placed the resulting article online before it appeared in print on January 6. But no doubt some readers were shocked to see a cover story about her that read as though she was still alive. This is the second time Parade’s publishing schedule has resulted in a story running after major events had occurred. A February 2007 edition of the magazine included an article that said Barbaro was “in improving health.” By the time the issue was inserted in newspapers, the horse had died.
Here’s the editor’s note from Parade’s website:
The assassination of Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto on Dec. 27 occurred after PARADE’s Jan. 6 issue went to press.
Bhutto’s murder adds more danger and confusion to the already chaotic situation in this region. Pakistan is vital to U.S. security interests and the global fight against terrorism. In late November, PARADE sent Contributing Editor and best-selling author Gail Sheehy to Pakistan to interview former Prime Minister Bhutto as she campaigned through the country. Bhutto told Sheehy that she had long been a target of terrorists as well as the Musharraf government. She knew she could be murdered at any time.
PARADE’s Jan. 6 interview with Bhutto is one of the last interviews of her complex life.
After her assassination, PARADE immediately posted the entire interview online, and Sheehy appeared on network and cable TV news shows to discuss her face-to-face conversations with Bhutto.
Thanks, Mark and Ernest! UPDATE: The Associated Press has a story about the debacle. It begins:
An interview with Benazir Bhutto before the former Pakistani prime minister was assassinated was important enough to keep on the cover of Parade magazine, the magazine’s publisher said Sunday — even though the publication had already gone to print when Bhutto was killed.
Randy Siegel said Parade went to press on Dec. 21 and was already on its way to the 400 newspapers that distribute it when Bhutto was killed in a Dec. 27 shooting and bombing attack at a campaign rally in her country.
The Web version of the story was updated, Siegel said, but it was too late to change the magazine. He said the only option other than running the outdated article would have been asking newspapers not to distribute the magazine at all.
“We decided that this was an important interview to share with the American people,” he said.
One thing not mentioned in the story is the cost of pulping the issue, which undoubtedly was a factor in the decision.
