The Press: Magnificent Obsession

As the roll call on the Alaska statehood bill began on the floor of the U.S. Senate last week (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS), a shy, round-faced man in the press gallery hurriedly placed a long-distance call. His party was 3,300 miles away: the daily News-Miner in Fairbanks, Alaska. In his flat monotone, Publisher Charles Willis ("Bill") Snedden pridefully described his tory in the making to Managing Editor George Sundborg.

"I told George the instant it passed," said Snedden later, "but damn it, he winked or signaled to someone, and the word got out to...