It was Tuesday, April 20, Sue Deans' first day at the Denver Rocky Mountain News.

A veteran journalist and news executive, Deans was attending the morning news meeting as the new assistant managing editor for the Sunday edition when Judy Wiley burst into the room.

An assistant city editor, Wiley had heard about the 11:21 police scanner report of a shooting at Columbine High School from Randy Lynch, a Littleton resident who monitors emergency services scanners as a hobby and is a regular News tipster.

Wiley quickly sent two photographers and two reporters to the site ­ about 20 miles away ­ and now her news brought an abrupt halt to the meeting as the editors ran into the newsroom.

Within a matter of minutes, more staffers were sent to the area and a News photographer boarded a helicopter for aerial shots of the scene. As the seriousness of the situation became more clear, many more reporters and photographers were sent to Columbine and decisions on how to present their coverage were being formed.

"I didn't know who anybody was and I didn't know the computer system," recalls Deans, former editor and vice president of The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C., "so I was asked to call other newspapers in places that had covered school shootings to find out what advice they had for us."

Deans' findings helped set the tone for the News' coverage ­ a tone that clearly distinguished the newspaper from its local rival, the Denver Post, and major national media outlets.

From Scripps sister newspaper, The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, and papers in Portland, Little Rock, and three or four other cities, Deans was told:

• Treat the situation as a disaster, not just a crime;

• Devote as much staff as necessary to cover it thoroughly;

• Put the victims first and don't glorify the gunmen;

• Consider the entire community as a victim and let them know what they personally can do to help;

• Focus on reporting what happened and don't rush to judgment on why it happened; and

• Help lead the community in the healing process.

It was quickly decided that an Extra edition would be put together for downtown street sales that afternoon. The first three pages of the morning newspaper were revised with coverage of the shootings. The headline read: "HORROR" in two-and-a-half-inch letters, with a red "EXTRA!" across the top of the page.

Every department at the News is accustomed to quick turn-around when an extra is warranted. In recent years, they've impressed readers and media peers with their lightning fast response to two Super Bowl victories, a visit by the Pope, the verdict in the Oklahoma City bombing trial and a long list of other major stories.

"We have a history and a culture of dealing with big breaking news stories; we know how to handle the big ones," says editor John Temple. "That gave us a lot of confidence at the onset. We just kicked our systems into gear."

On this day, the Extra was revised about 5 p.m. to include new information that as many as 25 bodies might still be inside the school. The death toll was later reduced to 15, including the two gunmen who were found to have committed suicide.

As the magnitude of the tragedy became apparent, Temple asked Deans to serve as a "conscience" during the process of putting out the News, to think as a reader might and alert the editors to any breaches in sound ethical judgment and good taste.

One of the first debates was whether to use an aerial photo by Rodolfo Gonzalez of the scene that showed a dead or injured person lying on the ground while police and students hid behind a nearby van.Photo director Janet Reeves felt strongly about the power of the photo to convey the horror of the story, but others were concerned the photo might be a shocking announcement about a loved one to a family not yet officially notified.

"The discussion went off and on about that picture for at least two or three hours," says managing editor Jack McElroy. "This was a case where we might not have reached the same decision if our communication wasn't so open."

The decision was made to use the photo on an inside page of the Wednesday edition. After publication, the identity of the victim was made known to the newspaper and reporter Katie Kerwin McCrimmon was assigned a story about Dan Rohrabaugh and his family.

First, McCrimmon called the victim's mother. "I was as apologetic as I could be," she recalls, "and she was incredibly kind. She said, 'It gave me some peace (to know he hadn't suffered inside the building); I've been carrying the newspaper around with me all day.' I said we'd like to do a story about her son and I was given permission to come but told not to bring a photographer."

McCrimmon visited on Thursday, without a photographer. "This was typical of how we handled assignments," she explains. "People set their own limits and we abided by those."

Another first-day debate arose over the page one headline for Wednesday's paper, which included 23 full pages of news about the shootings. With its tabloid format, the News doesn't have space for wordiness and editors felt pressure to find the headline. Temple chose a single word, "Heartbreak," for the main headline with the subhead "2 student gunmen terrorize Columbine High in deadliest school shooting in U.S. history."

"We made a conscious decision to go with a headline that identified us with what the community was feeling rather than a statement about what had occurred," says McElroy. "I think that was the first thing that began to define the direction we were trying to take with our coverage."

And while the Denver Post went with "High School Massacre" for its first-day coverage, Temple cautioned reporters and editors to use the word "massacre" sparingly.

"We didn't want to wear out the meaning of the word," Temple explains.

The News continued to distinguish its coverage on Thursday, the second day, with the page one headline "United in Prayer" and a letter from News publisher Larry Strutton that announced the newspaper's creation of a memorial fund with a $25,000 gift. Strutton pledged the newspaper's support in helping the community recover.

Strutton was a sustaining presence in the newsroom throughout the early days. "It wasn't like he was there to interfere or question our judgment," says McElroy. "He was there to provide the muscle of the publisher if we needed it. If we needed an ad moved to another page or we needed to go up another 4 to 8 pages, he was there to get on the phone and make it happen."

Scripps reinforcements also boosted morale. As long days blurred together, the 50 to 60 staffers assigned to the story experienced fatigue. Most were also emotionally drained from the horror and anxiety they witnessed. Supplemental staffers from The Commercial Appeal, Albuquerque Tribune and Naples Daily News provided much-needed support.

Temple used a "whiteboard" to keep lines of communication open and maintain focus during the critical first two weeks. He'd simply stand in the center of the newsroom and chart each edition's course on the board, explaining decisions and asking for feedback as he went along.

"The first whiteboard meeting seemed to be a breakthrough for us," McElroy says. "We were getting tired and frazzled and it helped people understand what we were trying to accomplish together."

Reporter Michael Sprenglemeyer, who recently joined the staff from Scripps' Ventura County Star, says the sessions made him feel part of a team ­ and proud of it.

Seeing the personal toll the tragedy was taking on his staff, Temple made counseling sessions available.

"Covering this story has been rough on the staff," Deans says. "Many of them have teenage children, some who attend Columbine or who have friends there. It is impossible not to get emotional about the horrible deaths and suffering of so many people, but reporters, photographers and editors would find it difficult to do their jobs if they let their emotions come through while they are working. The counseling sessions helped them cope."

The sessions have, in the weeks and months since the tragedy, set the staff on a course for recovery.

A minimum of five staffers continue to work full-time on Columbine related articles and the newspaper's top managers continue to meet with community leaders to discuss issues relating to resolution and recovery. Follow-up sessions have been conducted with every News department to discuss ways to improve the paper based upon the lessons of Columbine.

Tangible changes are evident throughout the newsroom. Morning planning meetings are now held at a big table in the center of the newsroom with the whiteboard. The board makes it possible for staffers to check in at any time during the day to see what's coming in the next day's newspaper. A media monitoring station with six TV sets, a phone, a computer, a VCR and a good radio has been built adjacent to the meeting area. To facilitate breaking-news assignments, a map has been posted showing where every staff member lives; a directory of their phone numbers has been updated. Emergency computer queues with universal access have been created so there's no confusion where to look for information on major stories. A computer with independent Internet access has been set-up so work will not be disrupted by a network outage. A format for filing notes to a common queue including time, day, information source and the person filing the note has been created. A disaster coverage plan is in the works that will call for more improvements, such as the designation of dictation phone lines and the development of a phone tree to quickly notify staff members.

The list will continue to grow.

"There were disagreements in the newsroom about our coverage and we made some mistakes," Temple says. "But I think the newsroom is a lot stronger because of what happened. People feel like they saw how tough it can get and they survived. The shared experience has made them closer."

Deans, in her role as newsroom conscience, says, "I think the newspaper has handled a difficult situation well. We have told people in the community what they need to know. We have gathered information that may help the community learn what might have caused two young men to go so very, very wrong. We have helped the community grieve and treated the dead with honor and respect. And we still will continue to enable the community to talk about this tragedy in a constructive way, so that perhaps such a thing will not happen again."