By Barry Schrader
Chronicle Columnist
Feb 11, 2009
It was 3 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2008, and the Daily Chronicle news operation had wound down for the day; most of the staff either out on assignment or headed home. But what happened that day and hour will remain seared into the memories of everyone connected with the Chronicle, and I assume many others in the DeKalb area and on the Northern Illinois University campus, for the rest of their lives. I wasn’t there to witness the tension and emotion that ran so high that day, but two weeks later decided there should be a permanent record of the tragic events, so asked the staff if I could interview each of them on video as an oral history project. Some of them were in their first jobs as professional journalists, about the same age as the older students at NIU. It was a very emotional and shocking experience for everyone involved, whether inside that newsroom or out at the campus where the shootings took place. I wanted to capture the feelings and reactions of those closest to the events as things unfolded. The tapes will be turned over to the NIU archives and Joiner History Room where they can be perused by future journalists and historians. Now, as I replay those interviews and recall those horrendous hours and days, I realized that nearly half of those news people interviewed have either left DeKalb for other jobs or changed careers. I wonder how much the impact of that day had on their decisions to move on. One of the most succinct statements was given to me in writing by then Chronicle production superintendent, Bruce Bieritz, a 29-year newspaper veteran, who recalled it this way: “Anyone in the newspaper business lives for days like today (Feb. 14). While being tragic in nature, the events of today are in itself exhilarating in nature from a news standpoint … To be sitting in the editorial area when this tragic event unfolded was one of the most impressive things I have ever seen.