Small Paper, Big Story   

Struggling to stay on top of issues with a staff of two reporters, a sports editor and one photographer has always been challenging for Graham Williams, editor of the Union, South Carolina, Daily Times. But when the Susan Smith story broke last fall, he found himself in one of the toughest battles of his career.

His 7,000-circulation daily suddenly had to compete against newspapers from around the country, not to mention radio and television. His reporters, used to exclusive coverage of Union's everyday events, had to learn overnight how to cope with a national story and work amid crowds of colleagues.

When Susan Smith went to the police last October 25 claiming that a man had stolen her car with her two small boys in the back, Williams expected a speedy end to the ordeal. The carjacker would be found, he figured, and with luck, the children would be returned.

But as days passed and police developed no leads, locals began to grow suspicious. Then, hours after Susan Smith and her estranged husband David appeared on television begging for the return of their sons, Susan confessed to drowning her children in a lake. The story made headlines across the country.

Williams had few resources to devote to the story. An afternoon paper in a town of 10,000, the Daily Times operates with only four news staffers – a general assignment reporter, a lifestyle reporter, a sports editor and a photographer.

The morning after the story broke, lifestyle editor Anna Brown asked Williams if she could cover the Smith case. Williams agreed.

"Anna would come in in the mornings and do obits. Soon as she was done, she'd run down to the sheriff's office. My sports editor was doing sports, and my [other] reporter was doing everything else," Williams recalls. "Luckily, we didn't have a lot of weddings at that time."

While Daily Times staffers were being stretched to their limits, their office was becoming increasingly packed with out-of-town reporters eager to borrow equipment. The office phone was ringing off the hook with requests from other media. Brown soon discovered that reporting for the local newspaper in a town where everybody knows everybody else placed her in a delicate situation. Whereas a national paper could afford to hound a reluctant interview subject like David Smith day after day, she felt that she couldn't.

"I'm just not the type who's going to go to the Winn Dixie [the supermarket where Smith works] and hunt him down," she says.

Chris Burritt, who covered the story for the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, says the Daily Times could be faulted for not reporting the tragedy more rigorously.

"If you were so inclined, you could criticize the paper for not pushing every piece of information they had...," he says. "Things eventually got out, but not as fast as they could have, and not from the local paper."

Williams defends his newspaper's reluctance to "go digging around for dirt." He says of the national press corps, "When the story's over, [they] all can go home. We live here."

But sometimes being local did pay off. Some key players in the story were more willing to talk to a familiar reporter than to an outsider. For instance, Shirley McCloud, the woman whose house Susan Smith ran to after the alleged carjacking, said she did not want to talk to the press. But the Daily Times was able to get her exclusive story.

The Daily Times also benefited commercially from its hometown status. In spite of intense media competition, the Daily Times' circulation went up, reaching a peak of 9,000 on the day of Susan Smith's confession. None of the local readers interviewed for this article were unhappy with the Times' coverage.

Times Circulation Manager Don Cody says he has already received about 20 new out-of-state subscriptions, and he expects circulation to rise again when Smith's trial begins in July.

As tragic as the story is for the people of Union, Williams says it has ultimately been good for the newspaper. "It's shown the community we can cover the story just like anybody else."