Newspapers: Being Nonchalant About Smoking

In many Florida papers the story outranked and outspaced the riots in Panama. The Los Angeles Times gave it 44 running ft. of coverage in a single issue. John Connors, the Miami Herald's two-pack-a-day science writer, handed himself a cruel and inhuman assignment: stop smoking. The Detroit Free Press set Reporter Barbara Stanton behind a hotel tobacco counter to see if local smokers were still buying. They were. The Houston Press offered $200 for the best letter on "Why I Quit Smoking" and $25 for the best letter on "Why I Won't...