There they were, dominating the front page, wayward-looking denizens of a cryogenics lab, on stage, guitars and microphones in hand.
"ZEPPELIN FLIES AGAIN" read the Dec. 11 headline, in capital letters for emphasis.
The large photo depicted the renowned rock band's first concert in almost three decades, held at London's O2 Arena.
Instead of a story, the picture was accompanied by a terse "who, what, where, when" factoid caption, with a teaser to the full story inside the paper.
Readers noticed, though not necessarily appreciatively.
"Until the original four Beatles get back together, please relegate news of a yesteryear rock band to the Scene section. A Led Zeppelin revival IS NOT front-page news!" wrote Kenneth C. Fisher of Roseville in his e-mail.
"Is there not enough news relevant to the human condition to report? … While I have disagreed with The Bee's bias in the news section, it has at least looked and felt like a large metropolitan newspaper," Fisher continued. "This is painfully no longer the case. The depths to which The Bee has obviously fallen in such a short period of time is amazing. I would assume you and your colleagues share my pain."
Other readers wanted to know whether the paper was making a permanent major detour, questioned the editors' news judgment and criticized the huge play as "ridiculous."
The explanation is really quite simple. "It was, unfortunately, an incredibly slow news day," explained Joyce Terhaar, the paper's managing editor. "It wouldn't make the cut on a busy news day."
As it was, she said, the Led Zeppelin reunion story and photo was "the best and most interesting we had to offer readers that day."
A look at the rest of Dec. 11's front page confirms her view. It was a baby boomers' bonanza.
Vying for attention was a story headlined "Surprisingly, more Americans growing old without disabilities."
And it was right under the Led Zeppelin picture!
The main news story was a snoozer about a state audit finding problems with California's largest workers' compensation insurance carrier.
Among the problems, according to a front page fact-box, "more than 2,000 of its 13,400 desktop computers did not have anti-virus protection. It is unclear why."
Why not just substitute this riveting line: Z-Z-Z-Z-Z-Z.
The two other front-page stories were decent: an article about a former CIA officer involved in the capture and questioning of the first al-Qaida terrorist to be waterboarded and a preview of the NCAA Women's Volleyball Final Four at Arco Arena.
And speaking of the front page, several readers have complained recently about what they see as dumbing down of national and international news.
"I have noticed lately that substantive national and international news stories appear to be buried in the back pages of the front section of the newspaper," reader Pamela A. Milchrist of Sacramento said in her e-mail.
"What were once the bulk of 'breaking news' stories are now part of the 'Washington Digest,' 'World Digest,' 'National Digest' bullets of information. In place of substantive stories that require critical thinking, The Bee now seems to headline human interest stories, local and state information stories and graphics to cover the front page."
"I strongly object to this change of practice in reporting the news."
Another unidentified reader sent a similar, though earthier, message:
"In today's (Dec. 13) paper the section labeled 'World Digest' has TWO stories about happenings in the world. TWO! The first is a story titled 'U.S. gets its way in climate talks.' It's THREE paragraphs! The second is titled 'Caribbean hammered by storm' and its TWOparagraphs! … This is 'World News' for a dumb-ass!
"I shouldn't have to buy a separate newspaper to learn about World News, but I guess I'm going to have to since The Bee doesn't understand what a global perspective is."
There's no doubt front-page priorities have changed, though it's not something that has happened only recently.
Part of the reason is that, unlike several years ago, there are fewer stories on the front page, many days only four.
And there is a much greater emphasis on providing a mix of stories, which translates into more nontraditional and local stories landing on the front page.
That's fine, when those stories are regional in scope or characterized by watchdog or public service reporting that readers can't find anywhere else. Or when the storytelling is particularly well done.
But too often, as other readers have pointed out, there's an over-emphasis on human-interest features – or weepers – marked mainly by tugging on heart strings.
"I want to see NEWS on the front page instead of flimflam," said Carol Veder's e-mail. "Page 14 in today's Bee (Dec. 20) has an article: '$70 billion in war funding approved.' Now that is (a) giant topic and belongs on page 1."
Another reader, Tom Jones of Davis who describes himself as a "long-suffering Bee subscriber," asks: "Does The Sacramento Bee aspire to be a serious newspaper or a local gossip rag? Recent front-page stories lead me to doubt your commitment to providing serious news."
Many national and international stories, Terhaar explained, have been in the competitive news cycle of television, radio and the Internet for many hours and are often old news by the time The Bee arrives on its readers' doorsteps a day later.
"Those stories we tend to move inside (the paper)," said Terhaar, because by the next day, "we're not offering anything that's new."
At least for now, she said, "we still get the best national and international stories out front."
Part of the problem is a lack of space inside the A-section, where national and international stories could receive consistently good play.
Given today's downward advertising revenue trends and different front-page priorities, don't look for that to change.
The Public Editor deals with complaints and concerns about The Sacramento Bee's content. His opinions are his own. You can contact the Public Editor by mail at P.O. Box 15779, Sacramento, CA 95852; or by calling him directly at (916) 321-1250.
