The Press: Chicago's Big Six

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As science-and-medicine reporter for Hearst's Chicago Herald-American (circ. 522,005), Hugh S. Stewart, 59, was a cautious, low-keyed newsman. In his seven years on a staff that works for the gaudy effect, he seldom wrote a sensational story. But last August he hustled in with a tip that stirred up the city room. Stewart said he had located a woman who was going to give birth to sextuplets later in the month or early in September. Two other papers were about ready to break the story. "I can't even reveal my sources to you," he told the Herald's city desk, "so I ask you to accept my word." The Herald-American knew just what to do with the story. It splashed an eight-column streamer across Page One: MOTHER HERE EXPECTS 5 OR 6 BABIES. Under his byline, Stewart wrote that "Obstetricians, using stethoscopes, have detected the heartbeats of six babies." The mother's and doctor's names were not given because "obvious critical medical and psychological problems necessitate such protection."

Delaying Action. When the paper hit the streets, the rival Tribune, Daily News and Sun-Times burst into action. Squads of reporters started checking hospitals, obstetricians and medical associations. They ran down endless phone tips on the identity of the mother. Stewart fanned the fire with teasing details. The mother, he wrote in follow-up stories, would be 32 on Dec. 2, already had three children, was well-to-do and wanted no publicity.

When September and October passed without the births, Stewart had an explanation for his editors: "The mother's blood pressure went up and the doctor gave her a drug to correct that condition, knowing that this drug would cause a delaying action in the birth." He cleared up one point. "Latest X rays show that there are not six babies but only five. That is definite." By a new calculation, the births should occur by Dec. 27, except that the drug had postponed them another 21 days. By then, Harry Reutlinger, managing editor and a veteran of 36 years on the paper, and Executive Editor Edward C. Lapping were getting even more suspicious than their readers. Last week they called in Reporter Stewart and ordered him to produce the mother—or else. Sadly, Reporter Stewart admitted the awful truth: the story was a fake. He was fired out of hand.

Misgivings. On Page One the paper confessed: "Seasoned and mature editors [have] been duped . . . The Herald-American apologizes to its readers for being misled . . . by a seasoned, mature newsman [who] had 'cracked up' and fallen for the lure of a false newsbeat."

Ex-Reporter Stewart was deeply penitent. He got his tip, he explained, from his twelve-year-old niece, a Girl Scout who had picked up the story at camp. He said the story was confirmed by the camp leader. After Stewart had written the first few stories, he had misgivings, but could not muster up enough nerve to tell his editors. Said he: "They were right in firing me. I was awfully goofy."