The group briefly debates the merits of fronting a story about Harrah’s, a large casino operator, acquiring Caesars Palace, against an article about an immigrant-smuggling ring at Los Angeles International Airport. The quick consensus is for the Harrah’s story, which bumps the smuggling story to the first page of the California section. Wolinsky then lists the stories that have made the cut, and most of the staff files out.


With the decision made, the tone of the meeting shifts from tense but respectful to collegial. There is still the question of which photo to run; there is a sense among those still in the room that the relatively grim stories on the front page should be balanced with a lighter photo, an “upper,” as someone puts it. They roll through the possibilities again: photos from Iraq of civilians wounded in a car bombing the day before; Lord Butler leaving a press conference; protests in Peru; Bangladeshi flood victims; a memorial at the anniversary of an accident at the Santa Monica farmer’s market; the Lakers’ general manager giving a press conference about the team finalizing its trade of Shaquille O’Neal to the Miami Heat. No one seems to fall in love with any of them, and there’s discussion of what might break later that they could slot in. Someone mentions that US Olympic Swim Trials taking place in Long Beach, to which Wolinsky responds, laughing, “A bunch of guys in Speedos? That’ll work!” They look at some of the photos again; to a picture of Bastille Day, he responds, “Bastille Day! That only happens once a year!” Both are nixed. After a few more moments of discussion, the assembled staff settles on the Lakers press conference photo. (Several of the other photos appeared elsewhere in the paper the next day.)


Wolinsky concludes on a sardonic note, noting that “Unless the [Fleishman-Hillard] story is completely made up, in which case we go into the drink, they’re sunk,” and adding that if it isn’t true “They’ll own us — we’ll be the LA Times office of Fleishman-Hillard” — the only time I saw him express any concern about the implications for the paper of a story.


Back in his office, Wolinsky mentions that the Powell story was a bit of a sleeper for page one consideration. On his decision to place Powell above the uranium story, he notes that “Clearly, the Powell thing is a better story.” Baquet drops by his office to comment on the decision, saying the uranium story is really “reaching into the [Butler] report” to find the one thing favorable to the White House. “It would have been perverse” from a news standpoint, Baquet says, to put it on page one, deadpanning that it’s something “the Washington Times would do.”


A few moments later, in his office, National Editor Scott Kraft notes that there are several dynamics in play in the meeting. Often, he says, Wolinsky will ask about stories that editors hadn’t pitched. And while there’s always a bit of discussion in the meeting (he described the debate over uranium as “a bit more than usual”), “nobody really jumps on the table,” in part because things will continue to change as stories are finalized or late news breaks.


Just before 6:00, I’m back in Wolinsky’s office, and I ask him how the meeting played out against his idea of the page going in. “It ended up exactly what I expected,” he says, checking over his own notes.


The 6 p.m. meeting is the final organized check-in of the day. The design team has a mockup of the page, with the Lakers photo slotted in, and the page is divided up as it will eventually appear (including a small headline at the bottom of the page next to the Butler Commission story teasing the uranium article on page 9). The staff also sees the list of stories that the Washington Post has put out over its wire; they’ll have to wait until 7 PM, when the New York Times does a television show detailing its top headlines, to learn what’s in its other major competitor.


John Arthur runs the meeting (which is much more sparsely attended), with Wolinsky to his left, then Baquet, and representatives of the sections around the table. The meeting is quick, and the tone is light; informed that the Fleishman-Hillard story is up to 100 column inches, Wolinsky comments, “Jesus!” As the section representatives discuss their stories, Wolinsky and Baquet make comments — suggestions for issues to clarify, points to emphasize, angles to work. Wolinsky, playing with his glasses, comments that “I wanted to read the uranium story,” but the copy isn’t in yet. Baquet asks that the story on gay marriage feature the angle that with the defeat of the federal amendment for the time being, it’s likely to remain a prominent issue for states — a point that makes it into the fourth paragraph of the story (the New York Times noted it only in the final sentence of its article, and the Washington Post piece on the topic ignored it entirely).


The meeting moves into banter about the Lakers trade of Shaq to Miami. Wolinsky and Bacquet both say they’re very happy with what’s on the front page, then second-guess themselves a bit about placing the Harrah’s story on A1. Wolinsky briefly revisits the decision to place the uranium piece inside and carry the British intelligence report on the front page, but decides to stick with the layout as-is.


From here, the page is largely in the hands of John Arthur. If major news breaks, he’ll call Wolinsky and Baquet to discuss changing the page; he is also responsible for a final read-through and will make final tweaks to articles.