And the wall came tumbling down

If you have U2's "Achtung Baby" put it in your player now and read on...

I love the Atlanta Journal, or what is left of it. I was proud to work for a Southern newspaper that "Covers Dixie Like the Dew.'' Alas, the Journal years ago melted into its morning counterpart, the Constitution, and the combined edition simply goes by AJC. At least they're still putting a sheet out.

In November of 1989 the "evening'' Journal was still trying to attract afternoon readers, and to that end it would run bold banner headlines on its front page to entice newsstand buyers. Rarely were there any significant updates from the morning Constitution; it was more a reshuffling of content.

On the morning of Nov. 9, 1989 -- 20 years ago today -- as production editors were girding for the Journal's street edition, a military plane crashed into an apartment complex north of Atlanta. As I recall, the pilot parachuted to safety and there were no deaths on the ground, just a fiery crash captured by an alert AJC photojournalist.

The photo -- an impressive image of the burning complex -- occupied the top half of the Journal's cover, along with a screaming double-decker headline about the crash.

One problem: There was a significant world event unfolding in Europe. The Berlin Wall was coming down.

I was working in the sports department that morning and wasn't aware of any news discussions that took place. No doubt there was a major conversation involving Local vs. World. All I remember is that even though the world won a monumental victory that day, World lost out to Local in the Journal. Stripped above the masthead -- giving it the best ride it could given the crash play -- was this "streamer" type:

BERLIN WALL COMES DOWN; SEE STORY BELOW

Symbolically at least, communism and newspapers were all but finished.