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Jan / Feb 2010Vol 40 Number 317$4.00

Debate over red-light cameras heats up

sjreview.org

Will taxpayers be burdened

withanother stadium?

SJR Jan-Feb 2010:z-Issue Template 3/16/10 12:08 PM Page 1

FEATURES6 Suburban Journals: Looking for subscribers /

Roy Malone

8 Former owner Bick faults journals / Roy Malone

10 Here we go again: Will taxpayers have to pay for anothernew stadium for rich owners? / Fred Lindecke

11 Debate over red-light cameras heats up / Rick Stoff

14 Jobs With Justice: A decade of helping workers / Eileen P.Duggan

16 Book review: My Times in Black and White by Gerald M.Boyd / George E. Curry

17 Boyd’s memoir includes Post-Dispatch days / Ted Gest

19 The future of ink on paper / Jian Leng

20 A tribute to the venerable Underwood No. 5 / Hal Steward

24 Lucile Bluford 1911-2003, famed Missouri journalist,fought racial injustice / Robert W. Tabscott

COLUMNS3 Letters

Thankful / Margaret B. HaaseProgressive? / Daryl Heller

4 Off the recordPost-Dispatch rankingIllinois revises Freedom of Information and Open MeetingActs

Dallas Morning News breaks a taboo / Charles L. KlotzerEuropean court overrules British court in Anheuser-Buschcase

Southeast Missourian charges for political lettersThe synergies work out for KXEN and WGNU /Frank Absher

KFUO: End of a St Louis treasure? /Robert W. Tabscott

5 Media misled public on Massachusetts election /Charles L. Klotzer

9 Politics & MediaWould a white Obama have gotten more votes? /Terry Jones

13 Sports & MediaMcGwire’s stupid confession / Joe Pollack

15 Ad & PRNewspaper ad dollars continue to shrink / Rick Stoff

18 Radio HistoryFarmers loved those early radio guys / Frank Absher

26 Media NotesMedia, Media Awards. AD/PR, AD/PR Awards, Books,Invitations, In Memoriam

28 Sources Say. . .Guild-Post negotiations get tenseBeacon shines light on raceWeinberg—Hired Gun

EditorRoy Malone

Editor/Publisher EmeritusCharles L. Klotzer

IllustratorSteve Edwards

DesignerFrank Roth

Media/PoliticsTerry Jones

Art/Sports/MediaJoe Pollack

Ad/PRRick Stoff

Radio HistoryFrank Absher

Board of Editorial AdvisersFrank Absher Jim KirchherrLisa Bedian Roy MaloneEd Bishop Tammy MerrettDavid Cohen Avis MeyerDon Corrigan Michael MurrayRita Csapo-Sweet Steve PerronEileen Duggan Joe PollackDavid P. Garino Michael D. SorkinTed Gest Rick StoffWilliam Greenblatt Lynn VenhausDaniel Hellinger

Board of DirectorsRobert A. Cohn Michael E. KahnDon Corrigan Charles L. KlotzerJohn P. Dubinsky Roy MaloneGerald Early Paul SchoomerDavid P. Garino Dr. Moisy ShopperRay Hartmann Ken Solomon

The St. Louis Journalism Review8380 Olive Blvd

St. Louis, Mo. 63132Phone: (314) 991-1699 • Fax: (314) 997-1898

e-mail: [email protected]

www.sjreview.org

January / February 2010 Volume 40 Number 317

SJR The St. Louis Journalism Review (ISSN: 0036-2972) is publishedmonthly, except bi-monthly in December/January and September/October,by The St. Louis Journalism Review Inc., a non-profit corporation. Subscrip-tion rates: $25 (10 issues), $44 (20 issues) $62 (30 issues), $80 (40 issues),$98 (50 issues),. Foreign subscriptions higher depending upon country.Periodical postage paid at Washington, Missouri and additional mailingoffices. Please enclose stamped, self-addressed envelope with manu-script.Copyright © 2010 by The St. Louis Journalism Review. No portion of thisjournal may be reproduced without the express permission of the pub-lisher. Indexed in the Alternative Press Index. Allow one month for addresschanges. Postmaster: Send address changes toThe St. Louis Journalism Review8380 Olive Blvd.St. Louis, Mo. 63132.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 73-85160

JAN/FEB 2010 ST LOUIS JOURNALISM REVIEW | 2


Thankful for free speech and SJRI don't know where I have been,

but today I picked up your issue#316 and began reading. Some twohours later I wonder how I could nothave been a subscriber??I'm not certain who sent me the

issue, but I saved it to read about myfellow “hero”—Gephardt. How fortu-nate I am, I continually remindmyself, to live in this community offree speech, innovative ideas andinspiring discussion. We take this

environment so much for granted.Thank you all for your contribu-

tion, and you “Betcha” I want to be apermanent subscriber. Gratefully.

Margaret B. HasseWebster Groves

Don’t have to be progressiveAlthough I do “believe in indepen-

dent, forceful journalism” and agreewith the SJR mission, please knowthat one does not have be a progres-sive (in the terms of the current polit-

ical definition) to “share the burdenof maintaining an open society.”I do mean this in a light-hearted

jest, but please do understand thatthe “progressive” slant of a publica-tion with the mission of the SJR attimes does make me chuckle. Andplease do not sell my name toACORN!

Daryl HellerClayton

Post-Dispatch rankingIn the listing of the top 20 daily

and Sunday newspapers, the St.Louis Post-Dispatch was ranked15th in Sunday circulation with acirculation of 401,427. All of the top20 papers lost circulation over lastyear. With a loss of 5.2 percent, thePost ranked 13th in losses amongthe top 20.The New York Times with a Sun-

day circulation of 1,400,302 had thelargest circulation and with a loss ofonly 2.6 percent over last yearranked 19th.In daily circulation, the Post was

not included among the top 20. TheWall Street Journal had the top spotwith a circulation of 2,024,269. Ex-cept for the WSJ, which had anincrease of 0.6 percent, all of the top20 papers lost daily circulation overlast year.

Illinois revises Freedom of Infor-mation and Open Meeting ActsFollowing the scandal of Illinois’

former governor, Illinois revised itstransparency laws, reports TheNews Media & The Law.The new rules:* The government now has five

working days to comply with therequest instead of seven.* Requesters do not have to wait

until their appeal is denied to file alawsuit and can do so as soon as theoriginal request is denied.* Governmental bodies must cite

and explain why information fallsunder an exemption; before theywere only required to say whichexemption.* Requesters are now entitled to

attorney fees in all successful chal-lenges to public records denials.The journal quotes Donald Cra-

ven of the Illinois Press Associationalthough the revisions signed byGov. Patrick Quinn were more pro-cedural than substantive, the newlaw “puts into place a much stronger

commentary

3 | JAN/FEB 2010 ST LOUIS JOURNALISM REVIEW

off the record

letters

letters


freedom of information act thanexisted in Illinois before.”

Dallas Morning Newsbreaks a taboo“Some editors at The Dallas

Morning News have started report-ing directly to executives outsidethe newsroom who oversee advertis-ing sales,” reports The New YorkTimes (Dec. 4, 09).This new policy will apply to edi-

tors in sports and entertainment seg-ments, who will report directly to thegeneral managers who are responsi-ble for ad sales. They will retain “astrong reporting relationship to theeditor and managing editor,” says amemo sent to employees.The Times reports that advertis-

ing managers have also beenassigned to work in several otherareas like health, education, traveland real estate.

Charles L. Klotzer

European court overrulesBritish court in Anheuser-BuschInBev press caseThe European Court of Human

Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg acted tosafeguard press freedom in Britain,according to the Financial Times(FT) (Dec. 16, 2009) by denying Inter-brew, a part of the Anheuser-BuschInBev brewing group, the right todocuments that had been sent tojournalists across Europe.The brewer claimed these were

confidential documents that reveal-ed that the company was consider-ing a bid for South African Brew-eries. The company also claimedthat the documents had been tam-pered with and that the anonymoussource, who distributed the docu-ments had doctored some details.The brewer went to court, accordingto FT, “seeking orders to prise docu-ments from five news organizations,including the Financial Times,which was the first to report fromthe leaked documents.”British courts found in favor of

Anheuser-Busch InBev, “judging itreasonable to force the news gather-ers to help the brewer pursue the per-son who breached its confidence.”The ECHR disagreed, arguing that

the brewer’s arguments were “insuf-ficient to outweigh the public inter-est in the protection of journalists’sources.”

Southeast Missourian chargesfor political lettersThe paper has changed its letters-

to-the editor guidelines, reports thePublishers’ Auxiliary. The guide-lines now include a paid election let-ter, which carries a charge of $25 forup to 150 words. Previously, writesthe Auxiliary, “the guidelines dis-couraged letters about candidatesfor public office.” Ballot issues willcontinue to be treated as letters ofgeneral public interest.

The synergies work outfor KXEN nd WGNUWhat could possibly persuade the

owner of a local AM radio station tobuy another AM radio station, thisone with very low power? It hap-pened in St. Louis not too long ago,and believe it or not, the people whoforked out the money are pleasedwith their decision.After Chuck Norman passed a-

way, the owners of KXEN bought hisradio station, WGNU, which has adaytime signal of only 450 watts butcovers a major portion of the St.Louis area. In the past, Norman hadsold blocks of time to anyone whowanted to be on the radio.But BDJ Radio Enterprises oper-

ates religious-formatted KXEN, andmany people assumed religion wouldfill WGNU’s airwaves, too. Contem-porary Christian music did for awhile, but that was simply a way tofill the time until CEO Burt Kaufmanand COO Dirk Hallemeier refinedtheir concept of the “urban forum.”“As we were putting together the

weekday schedule we wanted tobring in hosts who were already es-tablished in the community, con-nected in the right places and in theknow,” says Hallemeier. “We wantedto avoid the guy who just pops offwithout really knowing what he’stalking about.”From a financial perspective, the

purchase made sense to BDJ Radio.WGNUmakes enoughmoney from itsweekend religious shows to paymostof the bills, so the owners can pullprofits from the weekday barteredshows, just like Chuck Norman did.Burt Kaufman says the business

model is very different from othercommercial stations: “There’s some-thing about our particular brand ofradio. It’s a very evenly modulatedbusiness. Our income levels don’t hiteuphoric highs or abysmal lows, and

the expenses are very predictable.”Operating the two stations out of

a single location provides someeconomies of scale as well. The twostations’ tower sites are adjacentpieces of land in Illinois, and Kauf-man says the value of WGNU’s towerreal estate made the purchaseworthwhile.He also believes AM radio is not

dead. “Five years from now I see AMholding a good share of the radiobusiness but not as much as it hastoday. AM will have to do some moreadapting. Will there be as many AMstations in five years? Almost cer-tainly not,” Kaufman said.With KXEN’s 50,000 watts, both

men see a continued customer baseof religious groups, who are seekingthat kind of audience. WGNU simplyprovides its owners with a secondsignal, which will make the packagemore attractive if it listed for sale.And the addition of WGNU to theirportfolio gives the company the abil-ity to provide a local forum and hirelocal announcers.In the words of CEO Kaufman,

“We’re determined local broadcast-ers.”

Frank Absher

KFUO: End of a St. Louis treasure?It was in the late 1940s when the

row houses along South Broadwayacross from the future Busch Sta-dium were scheduled for demoli-tion. One of the units at the end ofthe block was the Eugene FieldHouse where the author had writtenhis famous children’s stories, aplace worthy of preservation.When he learned of the plans to

raze the building, Irving Dilliard, edi-tor of the editorial page of the St.Louis Post-Dispatch, launched acampaign to save the historic site.Few thought he could garner enoughpublic support, but he did and whilethe rest of the block was leveled, theField House survived and remains asone of St. Louis’ enduring treasures.Such endeavors have not alwaysbeen successful.I came to St. Louis 40 years ago

and along with being a Presbyterianminister, did stints at radio and tele-vision stations and wrote op-edpieces in the Post. For my listeningpleasure, I set my dial on 99.1, whereit has played night and day for years.The station has not only providedcultural enrichment but an immer-sion in the history of classical music.

off the record


continued on page 25



Reporting on politi-cal and social e-vents involves more

than being aware of per-sonal preferences andputting them aside. Thereporter must also put a-side the public’s assump-tions and conclusions, nomatter how pertinent theyappearIt appears to this writ-

er, the “conventional wis-dom” that the stunningupset by Scott Brown inMassachusetts was an e-lectoral reaction to the potential con-gressional stalemate and a verdict on theObama administration, fails to distin-guish between the facts what causedBrown’s election and the reaction to theelection.No matter how dramatic the effects of

the election turned out to be both onpending issues up for a vote and thepolitical destinies of candidates in bothparties, the vote itself may reflect noth-ing more than the electioneering by thesenatorial candidates. After all, Brown’svictory, while an upset, was by only fivepercentage points.While the media made some refer-

ences to the campaign itself, by and largethey failed to explain what caused theupset thus feeding the misconceptionthat Massachusetts voters judged na-tional politics and assumed that theirvotes reflected a national consensus.Take the respected Christian Science

Monitor. In evaluating the election, theyquote Todd Domke, a GOP strategist,“Domke thinks Obama should acknowl-edge his errors. . .” and the paper quotesJeffrey Barry, a political scientist atTufts University, “The election was allabout the economy. And it’s the reces-sion that Barack Obama now owns.”The New York Times quotes the Dem-

ocratic senator of Virginia, James Webb,“The election was a referendum on bothhealth care and the integrity of the gov-ernment process.”A quite different perspective is pre-

sented by Dr. Nassir Ghaemi in an analy-sis in Psychology Today. “Scott Brownand the Republicans did not win theMassachusetts race; Martha Coakley andthe Democrats lost it.” Ghaemi is anauthor and professor of psychiatry atTufts Medical Center in Boston.Ghaemi offers an array of causes why

Coakley lost.• Uncertainty among senior politi-

cians and when none came forward torun, “a mid-level state bureaucrat with acharisma of a door-pin” volunteered.• In repeated debates, “Coakley a-

voided answers and remained as boringas possible.”• While Coakley had to campaign to

win the primary, Brown had been basi-

cally unopposed.• Brown campaigned

hard for months, boughtads on the air, drovearound the state in hispickup truck, logging200,000 miles. Coakleyhad no ads. She took atwo-week vacation overChristmas and New Year.When the polls began toshow some strength forBrown, writes Ghaemi,she had only two weeksleft. She did not cam-paign, “she went to Wash-

ington D.C. and asked for money fromthe DNC.”Many other flaws in the Democratic

campaign can be cited.Moreover, Ghaemi questions the re-

peated media claims that Massachusettswas heavily Democratic. “We forgot thatthis ‘safe’ Kennedy seat had been Repub-lican for a century until JFK won it,barely, in 1952. In fact, the seat had beenDemocratic only when held by aKennedy.” And, “Massachusetts has hadmostly Republican governors for thepast 20 years. Massachusetts is not apurely Democratic state.”Democrats assumed they owned the

senate seat.A review of the election reveals that

Brown’s victory was hardly a judgmenton policies by Congress or by the WhiteHouse.As Nate Silver, the numbers guy,

points out on his FiveThirtyEight site,many factors contributed to the loss, but“A fairly large number of voters, it ap-pears, actually turned away from Coak-ley; it was not just a matter of undecidedones turning toward Brown.”Of course, it is in the interest of oppo-

nents of the current administration toportray the election as something differ-ent than what actually took place. IfDemocrats would be in the same situa-tion, they would have acted similarly.The media did report that Brown was

gaining ground on Coakley. We must as-sume they traveled with the candidates.Thus, they should not have been sur-prised at the outcome.But after the election, the media uni-

versally called it a “stunning upset.” Wedid so, too, in the beginning of this col-umn. Most likely, SJR readers acceptedthat description without hesitation. Thisis now the accepted version of what hap-pened.The media knew the candidates, fol-

lowed the campaign, and most likelyexpected a Brown victory based on theflawed campaign run by the Democrats.It just was easier to manufacture a

sensation than stick with the facts. It isnot only the election itself, but also themedia analyses that will have a lastingeffect on the future of this country. �

Media misledpublic on

Massachusettselection

Electionmisunderstood:Scott Brown didnot win,Martha Coakleylost.

Charles L. Klotzeris the editor/publisher

emeritus of SJR.

Ch

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es

L.

Klo

tzer



For decades, the Suburban Journals, a chain of freeweekly newspapers ringing St. Louis, was a formi-dable force and among the most lucrative in the

nation among urban weeklies. That was then.Today, the Journals are a question mark and the pre-

sent owner—Lee Enterprises—won’t talk about them.They are suffering from the same economic pressuresfacing most newspapers—a drop in ad revenue and cir-culation and increased costs.A switch to paid circulation from free distribution,

appears not to have paid off. “The executives did notthink the response would be as low as it was,” said onead rep.The Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis trace

their beginnings to 1922 and evolved as two indepen-dent weekly chains. The 33 suburban weeklies weresold together to Ingersoll Publications in 1984, toPulitzer Inc. in 2000, and they came to Lee in 2005 whenLee bought Pulitzer Inc.In November 2007, Lee said the Suburban Journals

were a group of 40 publications with a circulation ofmore than one million each week. These included 31separate newspapers distributed free to nearly 660,000

households. Also, 360,000 homes received a SundayJournal and 64,000 homes in St. Charles Countyreceived a Friday edition. The group also included sev-eral specialty publications, including the Ladue Newsand the quarterly St. Louis Best Bridal Magazine.The Journals, like the Post, have been making deep

cuts in staff and other expenses over the last few years,including 50 layoffs at one time in September 2008, justafter layoffs a month earlier and the closing of a printingplant in Berkeley with 42 jobs cut. An unofficial esti-mate is that more that half of the Journals’ employeeshave left under Lee’s ownership.The St. Louis Business Journal reported that in one

layoff, described by a former employee as like “a realityTV show,” employees were sent to a conference area and“one room was safe and one room was those let go. BobWilliams (the publisher) fired us in a group setting.”There has been a reduction in the number of editions

and the closing of offices to consolidate operations. TheJournals’ main office is on the third floor of an officebuilding at 14522 South Outer 40 Road in Town andCountry. Another former ad rep said, “We had 37 (edi-tions), I think we are down to 22. It was like the joke

SuburbanJournals:

Looking forSubscribers

By Roy Malone



around the office. We never really knew how many Jour-nals we had.”

Going for broke

A big move came in November 2008 when the Jour-nals switched from free distribution to paid circulation,offering one year of home delivery for $19.99. The ideawas to improve revenue and cut waste and printingcosts. Also, advertisers believe a newspaper is morelikely to be read when it is paid for rather than thrownfree on a lawn.Many in the news industry questioned this move of

asking readers to pay for what they had been receivingfree. They said it was going against the trend of howweekly newspapers operated—by free distribution.Then-publisher Bob Williams said at the time, “This

is an idea that has been discussed at the Journals foryears” and was necessary because of changing eco-nomic conditions. The Journals, he said, would find outin which communities to increase coverage, which top-ics to cover more extensively, and be able to deliverpapers to readers living in multi-family dwellings orgated communities.In recent Post-Dispatch ads,

the Journals were trying for moresubscriptions by offering freeCardinals baseball tickets witheach new subscription.Executives of the Journals and

Lee would not take any questionsdespite repeated requests forthem to comment on their opera-tions and future strategy. Theseinclude Tom Wiley, who recentlyreplaced Williams as publisher ofthe Journals, Kevin Mowbray,publisher of the Post who alsooversees the Journals, and DanHayes, Lee’s public relations manin Davenport, Iowa.Even editors, columnists and other employees said

they couldn’t talk. Some are fearful of losing their jobs,the way Todd Smith did. He was terminated even thoughhe took a bullet for the company while covering theKirkwood City Hall meeting Feb. 7, 2008 that eruptedinto mass killings by an irate citizen.

By the numbers

Others familiar with the paid-circulation model didprovide some information. The free distribution wassaid to be about 500,000 before the Journals went topaid subscriptions. The latest figures show circulationat 108,846. But only about half of this number is in paidcirculation said a person who deals with the subscriberfigures. The rest are newspapers still thrown randomlyon lawns or distributed in other ways, such as atSchnucks or other stores.For a time, staffers for the Journals contacted by SJR

said they did not know where papers were being circu-lated and advertisers were often clueless about the cir-culation. Those who doubted the paid-subscriptionmodel would work say the executives didn’t know theSt. Louis market and were reluctant to tell advertiserswhat the circulation had fallen to. Meanwhile, newsprintprices were going through the roof in 2008.The Journals, published on Wednesdays, are printed

by the Post-Dispatch and delivered by Post carriers.

Free weeklies like the Webster-Kirkwood Times, theCall newspapers in south St. Louis County, and theLeader newspapers in Arnold and Jefferson County havebenefited by the reduced competition from the Jour-

nals. They are all heavy into pro-viding local news.Pat Martin, who operates the

Leader newspapers, said the Jour-nals have “kind of pulled out ofJefferson County,” in that theyhave reduced coverage of citycouncil and school boards meet-ings and have fewer ads. “It madesense for Pulitzer to buy the Jour-nals (who were competitors) butwhen Lee got them they didn’tseem to know what to do withthem.... free distribution is theway to go. Advertisers want pene-tration.”The Journals have been appre-

ciated over the years by providingstories on local events, high school sports, features onpeople, recipes and calendars for events. A lot of this isbeing continued but with a smaller reach. The Post-Dis-patch also eliminated its zone editions that coveredlocal communities. The Journals in St. Charles Countyseem to be faring best, said Journal staffers.One conservative reader, Donal Mahoney, said he

likes his Journal better than the Post-Dispatch in onerespect: “In general, when I finish an issue of the Jour-nal I am not angry. Can’t say that about the Post-Dis-patch. . . . I find no leaning left or right in the Journal onanything, in its reporting or in its columns.”There are many good writers, editors, photographers,

designers and support staff at the Journals, crankingout news, features and columns. Often the front pagesof the editions in the same locale have a similar, orgeneric, layout. One writer, Steve Pokin of the St.Charles County edition, had a scoop in first disclosingthe sad case of Megan Meier, 13, of Dardenne Prairie.She committed suicide after being bullied and tauntedthrough messages on her MySpace profile. It became astory read around the world.In our requests for an interview, SJR wanted to know

what’s the plan for the future of the Suburban Journals?Mum’s the word for now.

Roy Malone is a longtime reporterwho retired from the Post-Dispatch

and is editor of SJR.

Journals’ CirculationSt. Charles County 22,453Wentzville Journal 9,969North County Journal 9,599West County Journal 15,416South County Journal 18,581Jefferson County Journal 8,829Collinsville Herald 5,606Granite City Press-Record 4,533Monroe Clarion Enterprise 3,860St. Clair Journal 10,000Paid and Unpaid Total: 108,846

Many in the news industryquestioned this move of ask-ing readers to pay for whatthey had been receivingfree. They said it was goingagainst the trend of howweekly newspapers oper-ated—by free distribution.



“They ruined my newspa-pers,” said Frank C. Bick,during an interview at his

luxurious home in west St. LouisCounty.When he says “They,” he means

Ingersoll Publications, Pulitzer Inc.and Lee Enterprises, three newspa-per corporations who were succes-sive owners of the chain of weeklynewspapers on St. Louis’ south side,that his father and he built up overseveral decades. They were sold toIngersoll in 1984 along with a chainof weeklies on the city’s northernside and Illinois built by the Donnellyfamily.Bick said the subsequent owners

of the Suburban Journals didn’t“know anything about publishingfree newspapers.” He said he and theDonnellys (James and Robert) “gottop dollar” on the sale and he becamewealthy.

Journals’ history

In 1922, Bernard H. Nordmann launched the 39thStreet Neighborhood News and later published otherfree community papers in parts of South St. Louis.In 1933 Frank X. Bick purchased the Cherokee News

and renamed it the South Side Journal. Thus began afierce competition with the Neighborhood News untilthey merged in 1970 to form St. Louis Suburban News-

papers.Bick’s

son, FrankC. Bicklaunchedthe SouthCountyJournal in1961 andeventuallybuilt Sub-urbanNewspa-pers toinclude 10papers inSt. Louis.In the

northernarea of thecity andcounty,the Jour-nals’ rootstrace to1935 when

Arthur M. Donnelly bought the Well-ston Local and renamed it the Well-ston Journal. The Donnelly familylater expanded into other parts ofNorth County and in 1957 launchedthe St. Charles Journal. The familyalso started papers in the Metro Eastarea and the company grew to 25newspapers.In 1975, after competing for four

decades, the Bick and Donnellygroups merged their ad operationsinto the Suburban Newspapers ofGreater St. Louis.In 1984, Ralph Ingersoll II of New

Jersey bought 33 of the Bick andDonnelly weeklies as a group, foldingtheir operations into his SuburbanJournals of Greater St. Louis. In1990, after a failed attempt to operatea daily newspaper, The Sun, Ingersollwas in debt and forfeited the Subur-ban Journals to an investment com-

pany, Warburg Pincus, which then formed the JournalRegister Co. to take control of the Journals.In 2000, Pulitzer Inc., bought the Suburban Journals

for $165 million. The Journals had been the main com-petitor for Pulitzer’s Post-Dispatch.In 2005, Lee Enterprises bought Pulitzer Inc., getting

the Post-Dispatch, Suburban Journals and other publi-cations in the deal.

Friendly competitors

Bick said he and James Donnelly were friendly com-petitors and “we both knew suburban newspapers.”They had ads from large food stores, pages of classi-fieds, and newspapers that when rolled up you couldbarely wrap your hands around, Bick said. They mademillions whenever the major newspapers went onstrike. Neighborhood news was a main component oftheir papers.“I was very conservative and opinionated. Made some

enemies,” Bick said. He supported political candidatesliked Gene McNary and was on the St. Louis Countypolice board for 15 years. Donnelly stayed out of politicsand didn’t take public positions. When they sold toIngersoll as a group we “got top dollar,” Bick said.Bick said of the current Suburban Journals: “They’ve

got to get someone to run it who knows what they’redoing.”He said Ralph Ingersoll “threw out the classifieds”

when he got the Journals. The Post knew nothing abouta free paper, he said, and Lee’s switching to paid circu-lation “was a stupid thing. . . . they’ve lost it.”Then he thought for a moment about the changes

that have taken place in the media since he retired.Newspapers today, he said, “are a terrible investment.”

Roy Malone

FormerownerBickfaults

journals

Frank C. Bick



Did a significantnumber of whitesshift their 2008

presidential vote fromBarack Obama to JohnMcCain solely or primar-ily because the Democ-ratic candidate is anAfrican American?The initial answer to

this question was prob-ably not. That conclu-sion was based onusing the nine mostaccepted predictivemodels for forecastingpresidential elections.Averaging their esti-mates gave the Democ-ratic candidate 53 per-cent of the two-partyvote. Obama received53.7 percent, so, it appeared, he per-formed about the same as would havebeen expected for any candidate fromhis party.

The models, however, are based oneconomic conditions and the incum-bent party’s presidential popularityprior to the fall campaign. They do notincorporate events after Labor Day. Inmost presidential contests, that usuallymakes little if any difference. But, onecan argue, there were at least threemajor departures from the norm in2008.First, the extraordinary financial cri-

sis, labeled the “economic meltdown,”occurred in mid-September. That madethe already weak economic numberseven more salient. Second, Sarah Palinwas imploding as the Republican vicepresidential candidate, drawing waymore attention—in this instance nega-tive coverage—than had been normal forthat spot on the ticket. Third, GeorgeBush’s favorable ratings, which hadaveraged in the 35 percent range earlierin 2008, were down to 25 percent byOctober.

Would not the cumulative effect ofthese developments, all of which poten-tially benefit the Democratic candidate,translate into an even larger winningmargin? Since they did not, is that indi-rect evidence of racially based votingamong some whites?Hard to say. Inferring individual

behavior, such as racial attitudes affect-ing presidential votes from aggregatedata confronts a logical barrier knownas the ecological fallacy. A more robustanalysis requires evidence collecteddirectly from individuals.

A group of seven scholars, most affil-iated with Stanford University, have done

just that, and in an arti-cle published in themost recent issue ofPublic Opinion Quar-terly, they conclude that“anti-African-Americanracism appears to havebeen an important com-ponent of the 2008 elec-tions, perhaps consider-ably reducing Obama’sshare of the vote.” Theyestimate that, if Obamahad been white, hewould have receivedabout five percentagepoints additional sup-port.

They improve theability to measure whiteattitudes toward AfricanAmericans by using

“Affect Misattribution Procedure(AMP),” a considerably more subtlemethodology than standard surveyquestions. Developed by one of the arti-cle’s authors, B. Keith Payne, a 2002Washington University (St. Louis) Ph.D.now teaching at the University of NorthCarolina-Chapel Hill, the techniqueexploits the Internet probability sampledeveloped by Knowledge Networks.Under that firm’s procedures, if you arerandomly selected for the sample and donot have Internet access, they provide it.That eliminates both the opt-in andsocioeconomic biases typically associ-ated with Internet surveys.With AMP, “respondents look at a

series of Chinese ideographs and sortthem into those that are more pleasantand those that are less pleasant.”Before each ideograph appears on thecomputer screen, there is a “very fastflash of a photograph of an African-American male or a Caucasian male,which respondents are told to ignore.”Randomizing the order in which thephotographs precede the ideographsallows researchers to determine if theirracial composition affects pleasantnessratings. For about half of the whites, theAMP battery “revealed anti-African-American sentiments.”

Using the AMP as one measure ofrace attitudes and a battery of the morestandard questions measuring sym-bolic racism (e.g., “Do you agree or dis-agree with the following statement: gen-erations of slavery have createdconditions that make it difficult forblacks to work their way out of thelower class”) as another, the studyreaches the same conclusion: a whiteObama would have had a landslide, notjust a victory. �

They estimate that,if Obama had beenwhite, he wouldhave receivedabout fivepercentage pointsadditional support.

Terry Jones isprofessor of political

science atUM-St. Louis

Would awhite

Obamahave gottenmore votes?

politi

cs&

media

/Terr

yJo

nes



Sports pundits havehad a lot to say aboutthe news that Shahid

Khan, a multi-millionairefrom Champaign-Urbana, Ill., is readyto buy the St. Louis Rams, assuming asale occurs.In their early reporting, they

either avoided altogether the possi-bility that Khan will demand that thetaxpayers buy him a new football sta-dium, or they got right up to the sub-ject, but stopped short by guessinghow he will address the Rams’ leaseat the Edward Jones Dome.Here are the unadorned facts

about a new stadium.As a result of an ordinance passed

by an initiative petition drive in St.Louis in 2002, if any city taxpayermoney is to be spent on a new foot-ball stadium, it must be approved bya city-wide referendum.As a result of a charter amend-

ment passed by an initiative petitiondrive in St. Louis County in 2004,before any county taxpayer moneycan be spent on a new football sta-dium, it must be approved in a coun-ty-wide referendum.So if Mr. Khan wants the taxpay-

ers to build him a new stadium, he’sgoing to have to win referendumcampaigns in both St. Louis and St.Louis County.The taxpayers of the state of Mis-

souri, St. Louis and St. Louis Countywill not be finished paying for theJones Dome until 2022. The totalcost will be $720million ($24millionannually for 30 years).As a means of luring the Rams

here from Los Angeles, the Ramswere given a very favorable lease interms of how much they make from

the operations of the Jones Domeand how little they pay to use it.One troublesome condition in the

lease is that the Jones Dome mustalways rank among the top eight sta-diums in the National FootballLeague. The penalty for failure to dothis is that the Rams are free tomove. The next assessment date onthe quality of the Jones Dome is the2014 season.The St. Louis sports media have

already commented at length, in awarm-up for the lobbying campaignfor a new stadium, that the JonesDome can never be brought up tosnuff, and, therefore, the team willbe free to leave St. Louis after 2014.So here we go again. It will be the

same thing as the drive to have thetaxpayers build a new stadium forthe St. Louis Cardinals. It will be thesame thing that has happened in cityafter city across the nation, wherewealthy owners of professionalsports franchises think they have anentitlement to a new taxpayer-financed stadium.Just put this down in your book.

The threat to the taxpayers will bethat if they don’t buy Mr. Khan a newstadium, he’s going tomove the teamto East St. Louis. Mayor Francis Slaycan be counted on to run with thatone, because that’s what he did toget the Cardinals a new taxpayer-subsidized stadium.

Corporate welfare

The state of Missouri gave theCardinals $45 million. St. Louis

County floated a $45 million bondissue, gave the money to the Cardi-nals, and county taxpayers are nowin the processing of paying $108 mil-lion to retire those bonds. The city ofSt. Louis exempted the new stadiumfrom property taxes for 25 years, andrepealed the 5 percent tax on Cardi-nal tickets. This cost the city $5 mil-lion in lost revenue in 2006, and theamount has been going up every yearas the Cardinals raise ticket prices.The Cardinals signed a contract to

build Ballpark Village, an office/condo/entertainment complex, northof the new stadium. But they can’tfind investors, even though the stateand city are ready to give it a $200million subsidy. The deadline forputting up the first building in Ball-park Village was August, 2009, or theCardinals would have to start payingtaxpayers $3 million a year.Rather than pay the $3 million,

the Cardinals simply had Slay andthe Board of Aldermen move thedeadline back to 2014. So the primeland in downtown St. Louis just sits,now known as Softball Park Village,because the Cardinals put a parkinglot and a softball field in the space.The other page in the shakedown-

the-taxpayers playbook is to trumpetthe jobs, economic development andincreased tax revenue that will beproduced by the new stadium.But this one is going to be a little

hard to sell after taxpayers have beenable to see what happened afterthose two great economic engines—the Jones Dome and the new Busch

continued on next page

By Fred Lindecke



“Critics of red-light camerashaven’t proven their case,”was the headline on an edi-

torial in the December 16 St. LouisPost-Dispatch. It discounted com-plaints commonly made by critics ofticketing cameras, such as question-able safety benefits and the lack of theConstitutional right to presumption ofinnocence.“Some critics want to put a stop to

the use of red-light cameras in Mis-souri, but they have some seriousexplaining to do,” the editorialargued. “It’s no laughing matterwhen some joker blows through ared light and endangers others. Andthere’s nothing funny about saddlingtaxpayers with the costs of policeofficers enforcing traffic laws whenan automated system has proveneffective at doing the same thing.“Public safety is what’s behind

the installation of red-light camerasin the city of St. Louis . . . (but they)still cause sputtering and resent-ment among some critics.”The Post editorial did not address

the potential misuse of camera en-forcement for revenue generation—another common complaint aboutautomated enforcement deploymentsaround the world. According to theSt. Louis 2010 Annual OperatingPlan that is posted on the city’s website, red-light camera revenues forthe fiscal year are expected to total$2.8 million, more than one-third of

all income from fines and forfeitures.The Post-Dispatch is not among

the media across the U.S. in report-ing about the growing complaintsover automated ticketing technol-ogy. UPI moved a story in Januarythat reviewed proposals in variousstates to ban red-light cameras. USAToday reported that the cameras“are facing growing public backlashover the perception that rather thanserving as safety devices as claimed,they are being used unreasonably bycash-strapped local governments tohand out fines.”In November, voters in College

Station, Texas, and Heath and Chilli-cothe, Ohio, passed initiatives thatbanned automated traffic enforce-ment. “Taking into account the sixother cities that have voted in thepast on the issue, the score stands at9 to 0 against traffic cameras,” said aWashington Times editorial. “Themessage could not be more clear:Americans don’t want traffic cam-eras.”A February editorial in the Wash-

ington Times called speed cameras“a misuse of police power to raiserevenue for big government.” It com-plained that Maryland localities wereabusing a new power to post speedcameras in school zones by “sud-denly discover(ing) school zoneswhere none previously existed—

Stadium—were built.After the Jones Dome was built,

the St. Louis Centre mall next doorfailed. The only economic develop-ment around the Jones Dome hasbeen a new gambling casino, andthat was built with gambling money,not due to Jones Dome stimulation.After the new Busch Stadium

opened in 2006, the city of St. Louisraised taxes three times, it raisedwater rates, it furloughed employees,it cut trash collection, it leased partof Forest Park to find money for parkmaintenance, and the city’s premierconvention hotel across the streetfrom the Jones Dome went broke.Slay said that for every $1 the tax-

payers invested in the new BuschStadium, they would get $4 inreturn. Where’s the money?None of this will stop the cam-

paign for a new football stadium.My advice to Mr. Khan? Start now

making campaign contributions toMissouri politicians. Hire a consul-tant to do a study showing that hun-dreds of millions of dollars in newrevenue will be produced by a newstadium, and make sure the consul-tant produces a slick volume of thestudy to give to the media. Createplenty of artist concepts of the newstadium to be shown on televisionafter every press conference youhold.But Mr Khan, you still have to

hope this is enough to get you pastthose two referendums. I was a mem-ber of the Coalition Against PublicFunding for Stadiums. We were thegroup that conducted the initiativepetitions that produced the new lawsin 2002 and 2004 in St. Louis and St.Louis County.The propositions passed by 55 to

45 percent in St. Louis and 72 to 28percent in St. Louis County.You can be certain there will be

organized opposition to taxpayerspaying for a new football stadiumwhen they haven’t even finished pay-ing for the present one. There will beopposition to throwing away scarcetax resources on a football stadiumwhen so many legitimate publicneeds are going wanting.Perhaps you might just want to

forget about Missouri and go directlyto Illinois. Perhaps by the time youare ready to demand that Illinois tax-payers pay for a stadium in East St.Louis, Illinois will be out of the debthole it is in now. �

Fred Lindecke is a retired St. Louis Post-Dispatch political writer who has been tellingthe “Stadiums Story” in a way that the local

media won't. continued on next page

continued from previous page



including locations where no onewalks to school . . . a high-volumeroad where the speed limit is set toolow for the traffic conditions.”

No decrease in accidents

The Chicago Tribune reported inDecember that “collision recordscompiled by the Illinois Departmentof Transportation indicate that acci-dents increased at many city (Chi-cago) intersections the year afterred-light cameras were installed. Infact, slightly more intersections sawan increase than a decrease.”The Tribune noted that Chicago is

collecting $45 mi-llion annually incamera ticketsand soon will havecameras at a na-tional-record 189intersections.In December,

the Tribune quot-ed state Rep.Angelo Saviano ofElmwood, “thechief author of the2006 Illinois lawthat green-lightedsuburban red-lightcameras.” Savianohas now proposeda new state lawthat would bancameras from is-suing right-turn-on-red tickets.“By some esti-

mates, up to 90percent of infrac-tions flagged bycameras involvefailure to makeproper stops be-fore turning righton a red light. While illegal, suchmaneuvers rarely lead to seriousaccidents,” The Trib explained.“Saviano said the practical impact ofthe cameras has become distorted.”Saviano said, “It went from a

safety issue to a revenue issue. Thebottom line is people can’t afford topay the gosh darn fines. They aregrumbling.”Illinois Rep. Jack Franks of

Marengo, a co-sponsor of the 2006law, said he filed a similar bill. “I wasa proponent of (cameras) early on,but they’re not being used asintended. I want to take away theprofit motive and protect our citi-zens from overreaching govern-ment.”

Growing backlash

In a February editorial, the subur-ban Chicago Daily Herald argued thatthe bills would not sufficiently regu-late red-light cameras. “In a compre-hensive 2009 report, the Daily Her-ald found serious flaws in the wayred-light cameras are placed andinfractions are enforced. The place-ment is usually based on volume atan intersection rather than on datainvolving accidents or safety, and theoverwhelming proportion of ticketsare written for rolling through rightturns on red rather than the much-more dangerous practice of runningstraight through a red light.“Until these more significant is-

sues are addressed, red-light cam-eras will remain an unfair, inconsis-tent, ineffective and inappropriatemeans of enforcing red-light laws.”According to a recent story in the

Seattle Times, “Intersections whereSpokane installed red light camerasin 2008 in the name of safety saw anincrease in crashes and injuries inthe first year of the controversialprogram.” At the three intersectionswith cameras, collisions increasedfrom 32 to 38 and injury accidentsincreased from 11 to 14.A Spokane police officer told the

Times that it is typical for accidentsto increase in the first year of cameradeployment. The Times also recentlyreported that the Spokane cameras

issued 5,690 tickets that produced$419,000 in revenue.In an editorial, the Naples

(Florida) Daily News recently calledfor a moratorium on additional red-light camera placements in CollierCounty: “We believe the cameras gobeyond the mission that we believecitizens supported in advance of thecameras’ debut in May. Red-lightrunning by motorists plowingstraight through intersections . . .became, in our mind, a pressing pro-blem worthy of an aggressive solu-tion. Now we see a majority of thosemotorists caught by the camera arebeing fined for making a right turnon red—even after coming to a com-plete stop, where the infraction is

failure to observethe white-paintedstop bar ratherthan the intersec-tion itself. Thecameras wereinstalled as evi-dence-collectiondevices, not ‘got-chas.’”A February

opinion piece inthe WashingtonPost, titled “Shud-der Speed,” saidmotorists contest-ing camera ticketsin MontgomeryCounty, Maryland,are convicted 99.7percent of thetime. “Like a So-viet election, youthink, a sham, ajoke, and you, thechump in the pa-rade. There’ssomething thatdoesn’t smellquite right aboutthese tickets.”

The Post-Dispatch editorial con-cluded, “Responsible municipal offi-cials, meanwhile, should be held ac-countable for how they enforce thelaw. But they also should be permit-ted to pursue promising technolo-gies for keeping our streets safe—including the use of red-lightcameras.” �

Rick Stoff has written about red-lightcameras in SJR since 2007. Since then the

media nationally has given more attention tocomplaints that the cameras are more of a

cash cow for citiesrather than for safety purposes.

continued from previous page

By Steve Benson, Arizona Republic, Jan. 27



The latest—butcertainly not thelast—chapter of

the Mark McGwiresaga returned to hit usupside the head inJanuary when the for-mer steroid-stuffedslugger decided hewanted to work againfor the Cardinals andTony La Russa. I guessa decade of spendingmore time with thefamily was sufficient punishment, andhe can echo Willie Nelson and be “onthe road again.”Frankly, I was surprised that the Car-

dinals and Bill (DeWallet) DeWitt signedMcGwire as batting coach. Perhaps thatwas the price necessary to sign themanager for a few more years, or per-haps Ari Fleischer suggested it as partof his high-priced advice.Ari Fleischer? A press secretary for

President George W. Bush. Bush oncewas a partner with DeWitt in the TexasRangers. Fleischer now runs Ari Fleis-cher Sports Communications, half-owned by the giant IMG organizationthat probably has influenced sportsmedia and marketing more than anysingle entity. And after working for andmaking up stories for Bush, beinginvolved with athletes, commissionersand club owners will be a stride into thesunlight.Fleischer also represents the Bowl

Championship Series and has workedfor the NFL, the Green Bay Packers, andother sports organizations whose pri-mary aim obviously is to promote thepublic good. It’s certain that he earnedhis no-doubt-considerable keep fromthe Cardinals and probably MajorLeague Baseball as well with the way heorchestrated McGwire’s latest round ofself-flagellation. With football facing alockout in 2011, Fleischer may be busyfinding more clients. A new client isTiger WoodsIn 2005, McGwire told Congress “I’m

not here to talk about the past.” In2010, his statement (composed byFleischer?) was, “It’s time for me to talkabout the past,” but McGwire wasquoted by the Post-Dispatch’s JoeStrauss as saying, “I want to comeclean. I want to move on after this.”Sure he does.My beef with McGuire is not that he

took drugs. A large number of athletes,in every sport, took—or take—drugs.My disdain and contempt for him arebased on the fact that he lied and hascontinued to lie about his drug use andhis reasons for it. If he thinks peoplewill believe that he took drugs only tohelp cure injuries, well, he’s even stu-pider than he’s appeared for the last

decade.There’s also an

over-weaning arro-gance and hubris inthat attitude, whichangers me even more.Fleischer did a good

job orchestrating theDay of Confession, fol-lowed by the Week ofAtonement, afterwhich McGwire fled toCalifornia, to returnwhen spring training

begins in Florida. Fleischer had plentyof time to set his key figures—McGwire,of course, a group of hand-pickedsports writers who were orgasmic overthe opportunity for an interview, and lit-tle Bobby Costas (who has shrunk con-siderably in my eyes, and also is repre-sented by IMG) to wrap it all up on theMajor League Baseball TV Network,where majority ownership belongs to—SURPRISE!—all the major leagueteams. He had a weekend (Jan. 9–10) forhis operatives to travel, and all was inreadiness to make the announcement.He even got a break with acceptableweather.

The Associated Press got the newsrelease first, sent it out Monday after-noon before McGwire was made avail-able to speak to a hand-picked list ofwriters, and then to make his first TVappearance. The media response waspredictable.In St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch

sports columnists played good cop(Bernie Miklasz) and bad cop (BryanBurwell), pitching forgiveness and con-demnation, respectively. Bill McClellanoutwrote both of them with a less rever-ent approach a few days later.The New York Times, as is its wont,

did a serious analysis. The New YorkDaily News columnist Mike Lupica wentin a different direction, writing, “If MarkMcGwire can get back into the goodgraces of baseball then so can BarryBonds (who broke McGwire’s single-season record by hittting 73 home runsthree years later). Maybe the only dif-ference is that Bonds is much tooproud—or defiant—to cry and beg forforgiveness the way McGwire did. Eventhough it is still a little murky whatMcGwire was asking to be forgiven for.”And that’s a very good question.

Lupica also pointed out, “The guy suredid do a lot of crying, before he ever gotto Costas. It was reported in the St.Louis paper (both Miklasz and JoeStrauss) that he cried on the phone. Itwas reported in USA Today by Mel Anto-nen that he cried on the phone. TimKurkjian (ESPN) reported that McGwirecried on the phone with him. Everybody

Writers who donot have a seasonin the sun willwant McGwirewhenever theCardinals visittheir city, or they'llwant McGwirewhen they visit St.Louis. He is boundto be a majordistraction in anycase.

Joe Pollack is a formerSt. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist

and operator of the blogwww.StLouisEats.typepad.com

McGwire'sstupid

confessionsp

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media

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ePollack




JobsWith

Justice:A

decadeof

helpingworkers

By Eileen P. Duggan

St. Louis Jobs With Justice is inits second decade of working forhealth care reform, fair wages,

adequate public services and positivemedia coverage for its efforts. It alsosupports union workers and hasbecome a union shop itself.The non-profit group joined with

the St. Louis Newspaper Guild, Local47, in the summer of 2008, when itnegotiated its first contract for a bar-gaining unit of five employees.Jobs With Justice is dedicated to

economic justice through a networkof community, religious, student andlabor coalitions in more than 40cities.“From a management perspective,

we wrote our policy to recognize anyunion,” said Lara Granich, directorof St. Louis Jobs With Justice.“We’re open to any union. We have abetter staff and a better work envi-ronment when we have a strong orga-nization. It makes a much strongerplace to work in.”Now that JWJ is a union shop, “I

think we all carry our heads a littlehigher knowing that we walk thetalk,” said Granich, who started as avolunteer with St. Louis JWJ when itformed in 1999 and became a paidemployee in 2001.The JWJ employees chose the

Newspaper Guild as their union be-cause it represents the national JWJorganization, the dues percentagewas favorable, and because the Guildis less involved in working for indi-vidual candidates than many unions,said JWJ organizer Aaron Burnett,the unit’s shop steward. “We wantedto find a union that everybody couldrelate to within the organization.”As a former vice president of the

American Federation of State,County and Municipal EmployeesLocal 2730, Burnett said, “I canappreciate the benefits, wages andhealth care” that come with unionmembership. He worked for the Mis-souri Department of Mental Healthbefore joining JWJ more than threeyears ago.When Lee Enterprises recently

dropped health insurance benefitsfor many St. Louis Post-Dispatch re-tirees, JWJ joined the Guild mem-bers’ protest, as they have severaltimes over the years.“This attack on their retirees is a

perfect example of corporations beef-ing up their profits by turning theirbacks on the talented people thatmade their company great,” Granichsaid. “It’s also an important illustra-tion of how every citizen, no matterhow good their current insuranceplan, has a stake in health care re-

form.”Last November St. Louis JWJ cel-

ebrated its 10th anniversary. Theaction-oriented agency organizesand participates in such activities aspicket lines, contract rallies andother actions or demonstrations foreconomic and social justice.

Accomplishments

The first decade accomplish-ments that St. Louis JWJ claims are:• organizing the 2005 sit-in by Wash-ington University students to gainfair wages for campus custodiansand nonprofessional workers.

• working to pass the increase in thestatewide minimum wage in 2006.

• defending that increase for tippedemployees against subsequentmultiple attacks in the legislatureand courts.

• organizing community support forJustice for Janitors, an effort thathas raised the working conditionsfor janitors throughout the metro-politan area.

• organizing a statewide voter educa-tion effort that successfully de-fended Affirmative Action in 2008against out-of-state interests at-tempting to ban it through initia-tive.JWJ got positive press for its

anniversary celebrations and activi-ties, but being union compatriotswith the newshounds of the Newspa-per Guild doesn’t necessarily guar-antee news coverage.“For the 10th anniversary, we’re

real happy with the media’s willing-ness to look at what we’ve beendoing,” said Granich. In general, thelikelihood of media coverage de-pends on the willingness of re-porters and editors to listen to realpeople’s stories that reflect real pol-icy issues, she said.

Limited coverage

“When we present reporters witha real person with a story to tell,that’s something they value,”Granich said. “But in the straight-upunion issues, we feel disappoint-ment in the media’s desire to justcover conflict. When [unions] winimportant gains without going onstrike, we can’t get coverage to saveour life.”Promoting JWJ’s efforts for

health care reform has been a realchallenge, Granich said, with themedia tending to focus on a few con-tentious scenes from some town hallmeetings.

Lara Granich continued on page 21



“In retrospect, itwas wonderful.Between the two

newspapers, householdpenetration was justawesome. Almost any-body who could readdid read at least one ofthe two papers. Ourcost per thousand wasso low—we had a greatproduct at a very rea-sonable price. Anybodywho was a retail adver-tiser just had to look atthe newspapers,” reminisced DelSchwinke.Schwinke was a former advertising

salesman for the old St. Louis Globe-Democrat and then advertising managerat the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Thosewere the golden days,” he said. But, heacknowledged that few if any in thenewspaper business realized how goodthose days were until they became amemory.The Newspaper Association of Amer-

ica (NAA), estimates the newspapershare of U.S. advertising spendingslipped from 23 percent in 1993 to 18percent in 2005, the most recent yearposted on its website. Newspaper ad rev-enues totaled $49 billion in 2005—about$13 billion less what the share mighthave been at the 1993 rate.The broadcast television share of the

pie fell from 20 percent in 1993 to 16percent in 2005, a shift of about $10.8billion to result in a $44 billiontotal. Radio grew slightly, from 6.9percent to 7.2 percent for a totalof $19.6 billion. Magazines dippedfrom 5.3 percent to 4.7 percent—about $12.8 billion.Where did the lost revenue go?

The NAA charts showed cabletelevision with nearly 2 percent ofnational ad spending in 1993.Cable’s share more than quadru-pled in the next dozen years to 8.7percent in 2005 for a total of $23.7billion.Internet advertising was not

tracked by NAA until 1997, whenit was charted at $600 million fora 0.3 percent share. That share grewnearly 10 times over the next eight yearsto $7.8 billion and 2.8 percent of alladvertising.Traditional media have lost not only

advertisers to alternative marketingvehicles—they also have lost readersand viewers.A recent poll showed 55 percent of

people over 64 years of age are reading anewspaper every day but only 23 percentof the 18–34 age group do so, Schwinkesaid. “Being a former newspaper guy, itis hard to look at these figures. I occa-sionally teach a class at Washington

University. These well-educated students, ifthey do read a newspa-per, it is online. And ahuge percentage ofthem are not reading itat all.”Schwinke sold ad-

vertising for the Globefrom 1964 to 1978,when he joined thecombined ad depart-ment selling the Globeand Post. After thedemise of the Globe, he

remained at the Post until 2000, leavingas its advertising manager. He now isdirector of retail services for Geile/LeonMarketing Communications.The slow decline of newspapers

picked up steam around 2000 with thebroad acceptance of cable television andthe Internet, he said. “It has gone to allthe fragmented media. You can watch500 channels of cable TV without gettingoff the couch. The newspaper was areach vehicle in the good old days. Nowadvertisers can be very specific in tar-geting their audiences. I can reach themthrough Twitter, Facebook, onlinemedia or some other specific media.That's the name of the game.”He believes radio has held its own

because it is a targeted medium. “Youknow exactly what the audience is andtheir demographics and psychograph-ics. In the golden days of the newspaper,all of those people read a paper.”

The NAA logged a 17.7 percent de-cline in print newspaper advertising in2008, the largest and only 10th declinein annual revenues since 1950.The Magna advertising agency, which

produces one of the industry’s leadingspending forecasts, predicted in Janu-ary that all U.S. ad spending will in-crease at an annual rate of 2.3 percentfrom 2010 through 2015. It forecaststhat three categories of online advertis-ing will increase at rates of 7.6 percentto 10.8 percent annually. Local TV will

Traditional mediahave lost not onlyadvertisers toalternativemarketingvehicles—they alsohave lost readersand viewers.

RIck Stoff, a formerSt. Louis Globe Democrat

reporter and editor,now practices public relations

at his own firm,Stoff Communications

Newspaperad dollarscontinue to

shrinkA

d/P

R/

Ric

kSto

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Gary Ford Del Schwinke



By George E. Curry

More than three years ago,Gerald M. Boyd, one of mybest friends, died of lung

cancer at the age of 56. He had beenpromoted to managing editor of theNew York Times, the highest posi-tion an African-American journalisthad ever attained at the nation’smost influential newspaper. But hiscareer at the newspaper abruptlyended in 2003 when it was discov-ered that reporter Jayson Blair,another African American, wasa serial plagiarizer.At the time of his death, Ger-

ald was finishing up his mem-oir. His wife, Robin D. Stone,has seen the project to comple-tion, and the result is a booktitled, My Times in Black andWhite: Race and Power at TheNew York Times (Lawrence HillBooks).Gerald wrote a revealing in-

sider’s account of an AfricanAmerican’s quick rise to thesecond-highest ranking editor-ial position at the Times, andhis sudden fall from grace as aresult of his close associationwith Howell Raines, a deeplydisliked white executive editor,and being unfairly linked toJayson Blair, a fraud mas-querading as a black reporter.I knew Gerald all of his pro-

fessional career, dating back tothe early 1970s when we bothworked as reporters for the St.Louis Post-Dispatch. We livedacross the street from eachother in St. Louis, played cardstogether, enjoyed flag footballon weekends, started the St.Louis Minority JournalismWorkshop together in 1976,helped establish the GreaterSt. Louis Association of BlackJournalists and spent longhours together, covering thecampaigns of elder GeorgeBush and Jesse Jackson.One of the most striking

things about Gerald’s memoir ishow he naively believed that with hissterling accomplishments—cover-ing the White House for the Times,leading two series that won theTimes Pulitzer Prizes, studying as aNieman Fellow at Harvard—he wouldbe judged on the basis of his talent,not his race.Boy, was he wrong on that one.His first clue should have been

the conversation he had with JimmyGreenfield, who handled newsroomadministration at the Times.

“I really enjoyed your clips—they’re so well written,” Greenfieldtold Gerald. “Did you write themyourself, or did someone write themfor you?” Gerald replied, “Of courseI wrote them myself!”Gerald explained, “Later, I

thought I should have told him howoffensive his question was. I wouldunderstand the context: the Timeswas a place where blacks felt theyhad to convince their white peersthat they were good enough to bethere. It was my first exposure to the

racial culture of the paper, the uglyunderside of life at the Times.”It wouldn’t be Gerald’s last expo-

sure to the ugly underside of thenewspaper.After Gerald became an editor,

Soma Golden, the newly mintednational editor, proposed that Ger-ald become Atlanta bureau chief.The book recounts that Golden toldhim, “You are perfect for the job.You can cover the South as a blackman, bringing nuance that no whitereporter could.”

As proud as Gerald was of hisrace, he wanted to cover the news asa reporter, not as a Black man.But he didn’t decline the offer of

Howell Raines, the newly appointedexecutive editor, to become his man-aging editor, the No. 2 position in thenewsroom. Raines told him, “You aresuch a great partner, I’m so glad Ipicked you.”However, Raines expressed a dif-

ferent opinion after the Jayson Blairexplosion caused their forced resig-nations. In 2004, Raines wrote a

long article about the Times inthe Atlantic Monthly. Referringto Raines, Gerald said:“He portrayed the staff as

mediocre, the publisher as lack-ing backbone. He was equallyharsh in his comments aboutme. ‘I also wanted to see, asArthur (Sulzberger, Jr., the pub-lisher) himself needed to, whatGerald Boyd could do in thehigh-demand situation,’ he re-vealed, reducingmy selection toa question mark. My career atthe Times was one of measur-able accomplishments that noone could deny. Yet, Raines’ de-piction was of amanaging editortrainee. This was even morepainful than the dozens of inac-curate descriptions of me asJayson Blair’s mentor.”After their dismissals,

Raines wrote Gerald a lettersuggesting that they meet fordrinks. “I never responded tohis letter,” Gerald said. “I wastired of being betrayed, tired ofthe Times, tired of him.”Gerald was savvy enough to

know that in order to move upat the Times, he needed some-one to serve as a sponsor. How-ell Raines was one of those per-sons, pushing for Gerald tobecome managing editor. Theflip side of that equation, how-ever, is that when you become atandem, as he and Raines were,you begin a downward trajec-tory whenever your partner

flames out.When Raines was kicked out of

the door, Gerald was pushed out,too. In fact, he went to his gravewondering why the Times didn’t findanother spot for him. In the end, hepainfully realized he had cared morefor the New York Times than theTimes had cared about him. �

George E. Curry, a former reporter forthe Post-Dispatch and Washington

correspondent and New York bureau chieffor the Chicago Tribune, is a syndicated

columnist and public speaker.



St. Louisans steeped in localmedia lore will be interested inreading the late Gerald Boyd’s

description of what the Post-Dis-patch was like in the eyes of a youngblack journalist back in the 1960sand 1970s. The newspaper’s editor-ial page may have taken the liberalpoint of view on civil-rights issues,but in its professional ranks, it wasan almost wholly white operation.Boyd won a Post-Dispatch schol-

arship offered to minority Universityof Missouri journalism students,but only after a “terrified” visit to beinterviewed by three top editors,Arthur Bertelson, Evarts Graham Jr.and Robert Lasch. The first step wasworking as a copy boy in the sum-mer of 1969 (coincidentally thesame time that I started as a Post-Dispatch reporter.)Long before the days of comput-

ers, Boyd recalled that reporterstyped stories on “books,” sheets ofpaper that produced several copies.Boyd says Bertelson advised him to“learn everything you can aboutcomputers. They will change jour-nalism and everything else.” Boydadmitted, “I did not believe him onebit.”Three years later, Boyd was a

summer reporter at the newspaperwhile still a Mizzou student. Appar-ently he didn’t get much respect atfirst, quoting a former editor asusing a four-letter word to welcomehim to the newsroom. The next year,he was relegated to the night staff ofthe then-afternoon newspaper, call-ing police stations and coveringfires.“Here I was on the staff of one of

the ten best newspapers in the

nation, one with a fierce reputationfor tackling important issues likecorruption and city blight, and I wasdialing for deadheads and dead-beats,” Boyd recalled.Boyd was advised by then-P-D

training director Carl Baldwin thatjournalistic talent matters but that“office politics and connectionsplayed a part in how a career pro-gressed.” Boyd said “those wordsstuck with me.”Boyd told what it was like work-

ing for a “clearly progressive” news-paper that lagged on racial issues,such as its long practice of using the“Mr.” honorific when naming men instories, with the glaring exception of“criminals and blacks.”In Boyd’s Post-Dispatch years in

the 1970s, the paper “had no blackeditors and seemed in no hurry toappoint any,” he writes. “The ab-sence was noticeable and the ex-cuses predictable. No qualifiedblacks could be found anywhere.Black reporters really did not aspireto the editing ranks. After a while,these excuses ran hollow.”Despite this lapse, which was

common at U.S. newspapers, thePost-Dispatch did hire talentedblack journalists. Boyd notes sev-eral he worked with, includingRobert Joiner, George Curry, FredSweets and his sister, Ellen, LindaLockhart, Jim Ellis, and Sheila

Rule, who Boyd married. (One tellingpoint was that other Post-Dispatchjournalists, seeing that Rule wasblack, assumed erroneously thatshe must have been hired via theUniversity of Missouri scholarshipprogram.)Boyd’s own talent was recognized

by then-P-D editors like Jim Mill-stone and Charles Prendergast. Hewas promoted to cover City Hall andlater was sent to the P-D Washing-ton bureau. (His city hall experi-ences are described in a bookexcerpt appearing on the St. LouisBeacon Web site, www.stlbeacon.org.)Eventually, when he was offered a

New York Times job in 1983, Boydwas given a counter-offer by thePost-Dispatch, talking even to pub-lisher Joseph Pulitzer Jr., who toldhim, “This is your home. You grewup here. I’m not losing you to theTimes or anyone else.” Still, Boyddid leave, and the rest is history. �

Ted Gest is president of Criminal JusticeJournalists, based in Washington, D.C.,and affiliated with the Center for Media,Crime and Justice at John Jay College of

Criminal Justice. He formerly was a reporterand editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

and U.S. News & World Report.

Ted Gest was covering federal courts for thePost-Dispatch while Gerald Boyd was across

the street covering City Hall.

Editor's Note:In his book, Gerald Boyd was

critical of Jon Landman, theTimes’ current culture editor. Hesaid Landman was a master ofoffice politics who celebratedBoyd’s ouster and was a man of no“decency and integrity.” Landmanwrote an e-mail to two editors ayear before Jayson Blair resignedsaying, “We have to stop Jaysonfrom writing for the Times. Rightnow.”In response to Boyd’s criticism,

Landman was quoted in the NewYork Observer as saying: “Nobodyshould forget that Gerald left awife and son and many friendswho cherish his memory, which Iam not about to smudge with aposthumous quarrel. The lastword is his.”

Boyd'smemoirincludesPost-

DispatchdaysBy Ted Gest

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For decades,farmers were ahuge block, andtwo men in St.Louis becamecelebrities duringtheir respectivereigns on theradio.

Frank Absher is aSt. Louis radio historian.St. Louis radio historyis available online atwww.stlradio.com

Radio

His

tory

/Fra

nk

Absh

er

When it came tolife in the early1920s, radio be-

came a medium for themasses with what is nowcalled “block program-ming”—specific showsaimed at specific audi-ence segments. For de-cades, farmers were ahuge block, and twomenin St. Louis becamecelebrities during theirrespective reigns on theradio.Charley Stookey,

who was the host of TheFarm Folks Hour onKMOX, recalled thetough task of pitchingan early program idea:“When I suggested aprogram starting at5:30 a.m. to the man-ager of KMOX in the fallof 1932, he asked if Ithought anyone wouldlisten at that unearthly hour.”Writing for The Greater St. Louis Mag-

azine in 1969, Stookey told of a programthat first aired Oct. 3, 1932. It lasted 90minutes a day, from 5:30—7:00 a.m. andwas aimed at farmers. Music was pro-vided by station organist KenWright andthe Ozark Mountaineers.

The rural audience was quick torespond, and they remained loyal. “Dur-ing December 1934,” Stookey wrote,“(the show) drew 50,282 pieces of mail,an all-time record for KMOX.”Charley Stookey took himself seri-

ously as a radio personality, and hebounced among several stations here,including KXOK, KWK and KSTL. Hisfocus was entertainment, and whereverhe worked, he was quick to generate

publicity for himselfand his program. Buthe would also maintaina high visibility in thefarming community,and his work was oftenheard on the ColumbiaCountry Journal,which was broadcast bythe CBS Network.Unlike Stookey, Ted

Mangner knew a lotabout farming. His 24-year career as KMOXFarm Director began in1944, and there wasless emphasis on en-tertainment and moreemphasis on reportingfarm news and informa-tion. Under his over-sight, the early morn-ing program becameknown as the CountryJournal.He owned a farm

near Salem, Ill., and apress release from the station said he“tries many of the newest methods onhis own acreage.”Mangner was truly a hands-on farm

broadcaster, reportedly traveling morethan 25,000 miles some years to seekout and report stories of interest tofarmers. Kay Marshall, who was his

assistant at one point, remembersreturning from her lunch breaks andfinding Mangner napping in the office tocatch up on sleep after hosting the earlymorning show. By the time she return-ed, he was ready to go back to work plan-ning the next day’s program.Farm programming has faded from

the major stations, but in its heyday, itwas a major producer of advertiserincome. �

Farmerslovedthoseearlyradioguys

Charley Stookey Ted Mangner



Recently I read about CushingAcademy, a New Englandprep school that decided a

traditional library is no longer nec-essary. “When I look at books, I seean outdated technology, like scrollsbefore books,’’ said James Tracy,headmaster and chief promoter ofthe bookless campus.Having accumulated a collec-

tion of more than 20,000 books,the 144-year-old school hasdecided to get rid of them. Insteadof stacks, they will have lap-top-friendly study carrels, andbig flat-screen TVs projectingdata from the Internet. Inplace of books they will have18 electronic readers.The revulsion I felt for the

bookless “learning center” wasreinforced when I tried to imaginewhat our annual faculty books cel-ebration (at Washington University)would look like if there were noactual books to display, no books topick up, no pages to turn, no dustjackets with inviting blurbs. Whatwould happen to the pleasure ofwalking around the room discover-ing books you did not know you werelooking for?Still, the question remains. Will

there be future “bookless” celebra-tions of faculty books? Currently,electronic books account for only 2percent of the annual $35 billionbook market, and sales of electronicbooks are doubling each month asoverall book sales decline. Accordingto the CEO of Amazon (which makesthe $259 Kindle electronic reader),when Amazon customers have achoice between digital and physicalversions, they choose the digital ver-sion 35 percent of the time.This is an impressive statistic,

given that there are only about a mil-lion Kindles in use. As the price ofelectronic readers goes down—Sonyintroduced a model that sells for$199 last summer—and charges fore-books remain less than for paperversions, the electronic book willeventually replace the physicalbook.

History of books

This is not the first time that bookformats have undergone change. Thehistory of the book spans more than5,000 years, and includes three dis-tinct forms. Fredrick G. Kilgournotes (The Evolution of the Book,1998) that the Sumerians inventedwriting on clay tablets around 4000B.C. when an urban civilization arosebetween the Tigris and EuphratesRivers south of present-day Baghdad.

As cities joined to become city-state coalitions and kings consoli-

dated their power, records were nec-essary to track trade, administration,and government. The earliest ac-counts were simply signs impressedwith a stylus onto variously shapedclay tokens. Later, impressions ren-dering words and phrases werepressed into small rectangular claytablets. For 2500 years clay tabletswere the format for books. Papyrusbegan to replace clay in the sixth cen-tury B.C., and by the second centuryA.D. the clay tablet was the first bookform to become extinct.The second book form also arose

along a river, the Nile. Just as inMesopotamia, the growth of ancientEgyptian royal administration re-sulted in a complex bureaucraticsystem that required written rec-ords. The earliest existing papyrus-roll books date from about 2000 B.C.Papyrus rolls inscribed with a writ-ing system that European scholarscalled hieroglyphics were importantcontributions to evolution of thebook. For 1500 years all Egyptianand Greek books were papyrus rolls.But the Nile valley was the only placein which the papyrus plant grew inabundance, and manufacture ofpapyrus paper nearly exterminatedthe plant. This second form of thebook—the papyrus-roll—was replac-ed around the sixth century B.C. byparchment (animal skin), and thenby modern writing paper (the latterhaving been invented by the Chineseabout 2000 years ago).The third form of the book, the

codex, is structurally the same as ourpresent book, being composed ofleaves of papyrus, parchment, orpaper, bound together between twocovers. Beginning in the fifteenthcentury, the book shifted from hand-written copies to printed texts. Print-ing, which began some 1200 yearsafter introduction of the codex, is themechanical production of multiple

copies and is the origin of the bookform we use today.

The first printed books werecreated by pressing ink-covered,carved wooden blocks againstpaper, but Gutenberg inventedmetal cast type between 1439 and1445. Gutenberg’s method of typecasting lasted about four cen-turies, and was followed by a longseries of technological improve-ments.

Electronic books

Computers enabled thenext major shift in book pro-duction. Like the clay tabletand the papyrus roll, elec-tronic manipulation of infor-

mation enables production andstorage of the extensive and com-plicated records required by na-

tional and global administration andcommerce. The computerized elec-tronic book began in the 1960swhen images on CRT screens re-placed printed images. In 1971 Pro-ject Gutenberg began convertinginto electronic form many classictexts that were beyond copyrightprotection.

But it is difficult to cuddle upwith a computer screen for a longread. The development of an elec-tronic reading device as easy to readas the printed book, and a simplemethod to download electronic textsinto the device were the last obsta-cles to evolution of the electronicbook as the latest book form.So, although many of us struggle

to make sense of the change, wecontinue the evolution: from claytablets to scrolls to books to Kin-dles. But even those who cling to theidea that the physical book is syn-onymous with literature should waitbefore proclaiming that the end ofthe world is upon us. The director ofour Center for the Humanities, Pro-fessor Gerald Early, has had a Kin-dle for two years, yet I note that hebuys the same quantity of hard-copybooks as previously.

Even if physical books eventuallygive way to electronic readers, phys-ical books will continue to be pro-duced for many years to come. Hard-copy books may become much moreexpensive than digital downloads,but the physicality of a book is amuch more beautiful information-storage device than an electronicmachine, and provides a dimensionof pleasure unequalled by the digitalalternative. �

Jian Leng is associate director for TheCenter for the Humanities at Washington

University in St. Louis. This article first appearedin the Center’s monthly publication called The

Figure In The Carpet.



In the 1930s when the college boysstarted coming into journalismwith their ability to touch-type,

newspapering began to change.But when I entered journalism

there was no school or anyone elseto to teach me to touch-type. Sotoday I still hunt-and-peck on myUnderwood No. 5 model typewritermanufactured in 1928.My late friend, Michael Henry

Fidelis Mahoney, who was BingCrosby’s press agent, and also thefirst press agent for the Del Mar racetrack, never learned to touch-type.He went through a career writingsports for the Boston Globe, NewYork Sun, and Dallas Morning Newsbefore taking up public relations.And he did okay.Another was my friend William

Strand of the Chicago Tribune, whoin the later days of his career becameeditor of the Fairbanks (Alaska)News-Miner. He was a great war cor-respondent in Europe during WorldWar II, and his stint as a Washingtoncorrespondent was legendary.Mahoney and Strand wrote mar-

velous prose on Underwood No. 5’s,as did Dennis Warner of Melbourne,Australia, who was for many yearsthe Far East correspondent for theLondon Express and the MelbourneHerald. He wrote 15 books on a No.5—also without knowing how totouch-type.Oh, did I mention that I’m writing

this article on an Underwood No. 5,which I have had now for the greaterpart of 50 years?Then there was Joe Stone, a leg-

end in Kansas and California jour-nalism. He and I wrote each otherdaily on our No. 5s for 30-plus years.He not only wrote stories for news-papers and columns on his No. 5, healso wrote television screenplays.His brother, Milburn, played the

role of “Doc” in the long-running TV

show “Gunsmoke.” One of Joe’sscripts won his brother an Emmy.I have sometimes considered that

Joe might never have become such asuccessful wordsmith if he had nothad a No. 5 to give him what I call his“rhythm of prose.”When it became more expensive

to repair a No. 5 than to buy a ser-viceable used one, I bought JoeStone a replacement No. 5. He wasstill using it when he died at the ageof 90 in 2003. Soft desert breezesfloat today over his ashes in the Bor-rego desert in southeast California.

A machine to care for

As to the cost of having an Under-wood No. 5, it is becoming more andmore expensive. It has become diffi-cult to find someone who is actuallyqualified to repair one. The averagerepair shop, even if it has a qualifiedtechnician, charges about $150 to toclean, adjust and generally service aNo. 5. Unfortunately, some repairshops aren’t up to the task of doingright by the machine.In spite of this attachment by

many for the No. 5, there are thosewho don’t have an appreciation ofthat bond. In 1963, when I was areporter for the old San Diego Union,someone decided to do me a favorand replace my No. 5 with a newRemington.So one day I came into the city

room and there at my desk sat thisnew Remington. Without regard fordecorum, I exploded. I was probablyheard in Hawaii!And who had been assigned to

commit such a high crime and mis-demeanor? None other thanmy long-time friend Ken Zumwalt, the news-paper’s feature editor. (Ken and I hadknown each other in Germany whenhe was editor of the European Starsand Stripes and I was commanding

officer of the Army’s SchweinfurtSub-Area in Northern Bavaria.)Better judgment prevailed, but not

without difficulty, and my No. 5 wasreturned. It caused some embarrass-ment. You see, my typewriter hadbeen given to Goodwill Industries bythe newspaper. Now, someone had toask the Goodwill folks to give backthe typewriter. They did, and in re-turn Goodwill received a brand newRemington as a replacement.So, those who believe there can be

no romance and adventure in a type-writer are mistaken. There are a veryfew who think I should have neverbeen permitted to come near a type-writer of any kind. They includesome who have read what I’ve writtenand consider it less than literature.In recent years, No. 5s have

become quite valuable because ofcollectors and those who want toreplace their worn-out machines.This development has brought outfortune’s fools from their dark cor-ners. A case in point:Jerry Goodrum, a distinguished

writer of an endless number ofsuperb magazine and newspapertravel articles, took his No. 5 into ashop to have it serviced. A couple ofdays later he was called by the shopand told it had been dropped and bro-ken into an endless number ofpieces. They said it couldn’t berepaired, so the shop would replaceit with a new typewriter.Jerry suspected he was being lied

to and that his No. 5 had been stolenand sold to someone for a high price.But there was no way he could proveit. So my friend Jerry, a splendid andbrilliant writer, lost his incompara-ble typewriter. He continued tobelieve it affected the quality of hiswriting.In my own case, after all these

years, I’ve produced books, magazineand newspaper articles, speeches



JWJ’s work is not all picketingand serious labor negotiations. Onegood bet for media attention is theagency’s annual Scrooge of the Yearfund-raising party that is held eachDecember. Guests campaign vigor-ously for their “candidates” for theaward, naming “one of the moredespicable characters or individualswho has really fought against work-ers,” Granich said. Each voter do-nates one dollar per vote cast.The 2009 winner was Steve

Robins, president of G. S. Robinsand Co., a chemical supply businessin St. Louis, for asking workers for$10,000 in concessions, includingeliminating health care coverage forpensioners, while the companyposted a 94 percent profit increase in2008 and more than 100 percentincrease in 2009.The event raised $2,994, Granich

said. Previous Scrooges includedContract Cleaners Association, Wal-Mart, and former Post-Dispatch pub-lisher Terry Egger.JWJ’s funding also comes from

dues paid by members, includingindividuals, unions and communityand religious organizations.This year, JWJ plans to continue

its focus on health care reform. Nowthat Congress’ health care reformbills seem to be stalled, JWJ plans acontinued push to get legislators towork out and pass a strong final bill.Other efforts include:• Continued defense of the minimum

wage. JWJ is fighting House BillNo. 1792, introduced in January,which would exempt workersunder the age of 20 from the stateminimum wage.

• Solutions for state and local bud-gets in crisis. “JWJ will be workingfor budget solutions that preservethe public services and publicwork that make our communitiesgreat places to live,” Granich said.Those efforts would include sup-port for a streamlined sales tax onInternet purchases and support forretaining the St. Louis city earn-ings tax.The local chapter also plans to

host one of two sessions of the stateJWJ coalition’s Building Jobs withJustice Leadership DevelopmentProgram to train leaders in the keyconcepts and skills of communityorganizing. The spring session wasset for March 12–14 in Kansas City,MO. and the fall session will be heldSept. 10–12 in St. Louis.Because other local labor-related

events, opportunities and issuestend to arise, JWJ maintains a Soli-darity Calendar, available at www.unionvoice.org/stljwj/all-msgs.html

Eileen P. Duggan is a freelancewriter/editor and a publications specialist.

and letters to editors on my No. 5.Will my creative well some day dry

up? I don’t think so, as long as thatmystic current flows from my mindthrough these keys and onto a sheetof paper.Let me continue to pound this

Underwood No. 5 until the greatpincher closes around my heart andchokes off life. When that happens,nature will have told me conclusivelyit’s time to quit.But what will happen tomy Under-

wood No. 5?

My other typewriter

In 1965 when I decided to circlethe world on assignment for the Cop-ley News Service, I had to leave myUnderwood No. 5 at home and replaceit with a portable Hermes 3000.It turned out to be a good decision.

During the next six months, the Her-mes typed out stories on the cleanli-ness of Singapore, the civil war inCeylon (Sri Lanka), the squalor ofCalcutta, the heat and insurgency inAden, the mystery and romance ofCairo, the oppression in Hungary,and the sights to see in Vienna. Itsribbon lasted the entire trip.My great fear was that my Hermes

might be stolen. But it wasn’t. I keptit within my sight except when it wassecure in a hotel room, a ship’s state-room or under the watchful eye ofattendants I employed to protect it.The Hermes never failed me. I had

no need to have it serviced or toreplace any keys or fix problems hav-ing to do with with matters such askey tension. And although thataround-the-world trip was 44 yearsago, I still have that Hermes type-writer. It’s only used these dayswhen my Underwood No. 5 goes intothe shop for servicing.Now then, I ask you, how could I

forsake my Underwood No. 5 and myHermes 3000 for a mere computerkeyboard? �Editor’s Note:The Hermes is an example of

Swiss manufacturing quality. It wasfirst introduced in 1936 but modifiedas model 3000 in 1958. It is light-weight and durable and comes in arange of colors; Hal Steward’s isgrey. Original models cost around$50; Steward paid $140 in 1958 andtoday’s models go for $450 and up.Antique dealers pay a good sum foran older Hermes in good condition.Steward’s is not for sale.

Hal Steward, of San Diego, says he’ssemi-retired at age 91. He was born in East St.Louis and started his writing career as editor ofhis high school newspaper. In World War II he

was an army combat correspondent and amajor on the staff of Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

He retired as a lieutenant colonel. He hasworked on a number of newspapers, has writ-

ten numerous magazine articles and books,and has been a subscriber to SJR.

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Thanks to the generous support of many of our readers, who have earned various honorary titles, and which we call the true MediaElite in our community, the St. Lous Journalism Review has managed to survive and now embarks on its 40th year of continuous publica-tion.

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who watched the Costas interviewsaw what happened there. But thequestion that doesn’t go away is whyhe was so broken up if all he wasdoing was taking ‘low dosages’ ofsteroids to heal.”And it was Tom Hanks, as man-

ager Jimmy Dugan in “A League ofTheir Own,” who told one of his play-ers, “There’s no crying in baseball.”If the Cardinals, and their organi-

zation, think this will end the Mc-Gwire Madness, they’re amazinglyfar off base. Spring training bringslots of sports writers looking forsome time in the sun. They all willwant to talk to McGwire or aboutMcGwire; the arrival of bloggers as aforce, 24-hour radio and the never-resting news cycle of the 21st cen-tury brings no respite.Writers who do not have a season

in the sun will want McGwire when-ever the Cardinals visit their city, orthey’ll want McGwire when they visitSt. Louis. He is bound to be a majordistraction in any case. Of course,out-of-town writers, not exposed toAri Fleischer, nor to home-town loy-alty, may ask some of the questionsthat have yet to be answered.(Private conversations sound like

a dicey thing these days, and St.Louis media may be facing only thetip of the iceberg. It was confirmedin the sports pages that Cardinalstaffers—PR office types, or maybethe general manager—had been lis-tening in to at least some of theMcGwire interviews without men-tioning that there was a third-partyeavesdropping. A couple of weekslater, Bill McClellan pointed out thatsome unidentified listeners alsowere hanging on the line for somereporters’ conversations with peo-ple involved in a police board inves-tigation.)Questions? Yes, I’d like to ask

McGwire the name of his supplier,and the names of the drugs. If he willnot reveal his supplier, I’d ask why,and I’d print his answer. He report-edly said he did not remember thenames of the drugs. How come he isso sure they were small doses? If hedoes not remember the names ofdrugs he took for many years, itsounds as if he was taking stupidpills, not steroids. �

grow at a 2.3 percent rate and local

radio will grow at a 0.4 percent rate.National newspapers are expected

to lose revenue at an annual rate of6.2 percent while local newspapersfall 4 percent and magazines fall 2.7percent. The Magna forecast calls fornational media spending to increaseat a 2.8 percent rate while localmedia grow at a rate of 0.4 percent.

PR efforts are changing

“Things are changing underneathour feet,” said Gary Ford, assistantprofessor in the Webster UniversitySchool of Communications. “Wenever thought that a newspaper in amajor metropolitan area would beunder pressure, reducing its newshole, reducing its physical size. Insome markets the newspaper isreducing its frequency of publicationor completely going out of business.“It is sad, but is part of the con-

tinuous evolution of technologyovertaking the old and bringing inthe new.”The shrinking size and impor-

tance of traditional news media havechanged the work and requisiteskills of the public relations busi-ness, said Ford, a former managingeditor of the Kansas City, Kansasnewspaper. He has been practicingand teaching public relations in St.Louis for more than two decades.“Fifty to 60 percent of what PR

people used to do involved trying topresent your message to a certainaudience. Pitching the media was abig part in earning your way intonews coverage,” he said. “Now, beatreporters, people who are actuallyexperts in certain areas, are hard tofind, so pitching stories is really dif-ficult. There are fewer reporters. Thenews hole is smaller. The interest inbusiness issues is less than it usedto be.”Through the recent economic

downturn, Ford has seen moreemployer interest in hiring youngpeople who can work in new mediaplatforms such as Facebook andTwitter. Event marketing is growingin popularity as a vehicle deliveringtargeted audiences.The growth of digital media has

brought benefits to the public rela-tions and advertising businesses, hesaid. “To measure the effectivenessof our PR efforts in the past, wewould use circulation figures andmaybe a multiplier to help determinehow many people might have seenthe paper. We counted up the num-ber of impressions a story couldhave gotten and used that to justifyour measure our success.“With digital media, we can get

SPORTS AND MEDIAContinued from page 13

AD/PRContinued from page 15

hard numbers on the people whoactually read the piece. With certaintypes of blogs, websites and somesocial media sites, we can tell exactlyhow many people opened the storyand how long they paused over it. PRpeople have to be aware of a wholemultitude of media channels that areavailable. The metrics are so greatnow that a lot of decisions on how toeffectively spend money are pullingaway from the traditional mediabecause there is no real sense ofaccuracy in how the money is beingspent. ”While the trends may be good for

marketers, the former newsman inFord fears the consequences forsociety.“We can segment a market so

much easier now,” he said. “It isexciting that there are other ways todeliver the message, but it is trou-bling because there are really no eco-nomics that will support the formalprocess to vet news, to provide thatcheck and balance of editing andsource verification. At some point,will the evolution of media get to TV?Will we see consolidation there andend up having one video news sourcein each market? I don’t know.” �

Join Ed Bishopfor conversations about

journalism and media

Every Monday

7 p.m.

KDHX (88.1 FM)



In 1919 Chester A. Franklin, a re-cent college graduate and son of aColorado newspaper editor, set-

tled in Kansas City, to publish anewspaper, The Call, that would bedevoted to “the aspirations of andchallenges before the Black commu-nity.”Since the end of Reconstruction

in 1877, at least 64 black newspa-pers had been inaugurated in theShow-Me State. But most of themhad short runs. The first such ven-tures were in St. Louis. The new cen-tury saw the advent of the localArgus and The American, which arestill being published. There are noblack dailies in Missouri.Franklin had high standards for

his paper. Through theyears, he was able toattract bright, youngcollege graduates to hisstaff. One was RoyWilkins of St. Louiswho came in 1926 andbecame news editor.The results were im-pressive, “a masterfullyexecuted journal,” asdescribed by severalKansas City editors.Wilkins later becameeditor of the NAACP'spublication Crisis, butbefore he left The Callhe hired and trained ayoung protege—LucileBluford.Bluford's family had

moved west from NorthCarolina, settling for atime in St. Louis andthen moving to KansasCity. Her father taughtat Lincoln High Schoolwhere she was to gradu-ate first in her class in

1928. She went on to the Universityof Kansas where she studied jour-nalism and played an important roleon the student staff of the DailyKansan.She joined The Call after her col-

lege graduation. She had been a sum-mer intern at the paper during hercollege years and had caught theattention of Franklin and Wilkins.Her solid work as a police reporter,photographer and skilled writer earn-ed her the position of managing edi-tor after Wilkins’ departure in 1937.She was scarcely more than 26 yearsold, but already she could do it all.Still, Bluford wanted to polish her

skills at the graduate school of jour-

nalism at the University of Missouri.She was emboldened by the land-mark 1938 U.S. Supreme Court deci-sion mandating that African-Ameri-can Lloyd Gaines be admitted to theUniversity of Missouri Law Schoolbecause the state was not in compli-ance with the separate-but-equaldoctrine that flowed from the 1896Supreme Court decision in Plessyvs. Ferguson. Separate-but-equalwas supposed to mean that if youhad a white Harvard, you had to havea black Yale. Of course, it neveroccurred. After he won his case,Gaines mysteriously disappeared,thought to have been murdered.In the 1930s, the Journalism

School of the University of Missouriwas considered to be one of thefinest in collegiate circles, drawingstudents from throughout the nationand the world. All were welcomedwithout restrictions. All, that is,except African Americans.So, Bluford, as a graduate of

Kansas University, laid her plans toapply for admission. Because therewas no space for declaration of racialidentification on the enrollmentform, she met all the prescribedqualifications and was accepted.Arriving at the university for the

fall term in 1939, she took her placein line to register for classes. As sherecalls it, “There were student candi-dates from every nation and race, butthere were no blacks.” Quickly, anofficial of the university intervenedand escorted Bluford to the office ofthe registrar where she was informedthat there was an unfortunate mis-take. “We do not accept blacks atthis institution,” the registrar said."But the Gaines decision allows

me entrance,” asserted Bluford."The Gaines decision is null and

Lucile Bluford 1911-2003,famed Missouri journalist,

fought racial injusticeBy Robert W. Tabscott

Lucile Bluford



void,” was the reply.

She sued Mizzou

Following her blunt rejection,Bluford turned to Wilkins, her men-tor. His advice was to file suit againstthe university. As with the Gainescase, the incomparable Charles Hus-ton, chief counsel for the NAACPLegal Defense Fund, took the chal-lenge.During the litigation, the Missouri

Legislature, as it had done in re-sponse to Gaines, appropriatedfunds to establish a journalismschool at the all-black Lincoln Uni-versity in Jefferson City for one stu-dent —Lucile Bluford. She refused toattend.After losing several court deci-

sions for admission to Missouri Uni-versity, Bluford withdrew her case.But in 1941 the state supreme courtfinally ruled in her favor and said theUniversity of Missouri had to admither because no equal programexisted at Lincoln. In response, theSchool of Journalism closed itsgraduate program claiming most ofits professors and students wereserving in World War II.For Bluford, there were weightier

matters to attend to, and her resolvehad been tested and strengthened.She became a civil rights activistwith a belief that education was thekey to advancement and equal treat-ment in society. She was promotedto city editor, managing editor and,finally, to editor and publisher of TheCall. She helped make the paper oneof the largest and most importantblack papers in the nation.You might say that Bluford’s

career in American journalism is

nearly a mirror image of that of theindomitable Ida Wells, the first blackwoman editor in the United States,who fought tirelessly and coura-geously for human rights and jus-tice, which resulted in federal legis-lation establishing anti-lynchinglaws in the country.From the day she assumed the

editorship of The Call, Bluford stoodher ground against violence, injus-tice, discrimination, segregation andpoverty. She stood firm in her sup-port of quality, integrated educationfor all children, while defending affir-mative action and the rights of wo-men. She was a judge in the PulitzerPrize competition; and, as a witnessto the century, was proclaimed a firstcitizen of Kansas City and was con-sidered The Dean of Missouri’snewspaper editors.Eventually the University of Mis-

souri honored her. In 1984, a yearafter her nephew, Guion S. BlufordJr., became the first African-Ameri-can astronaut in space, she receivedan honor medal for distinguishedservice from the School of Journal-ism.In May 1989, the University of Mis-

souri bestowed upon Lucile Blufordthe honorary doctor of humanitiesdegree. The citation read in part:“Fifty years ago, this universityrefused you admission because ofthe color of your skin. Today, we rec-ognize that the young journalist weturned away was and is a tireless rolemodel who used newsprint to fightfor equal opportunities for all.”The Board of Trustees added:

``You fought valiantly to integratethe University of Missouri as youwere to fight for integration for allareas of American life. We are embar-

rassed that you lost the battle at thisuniversity but today we are proud toadd you to our list of laureates—atlong last.”Bluford was asked why she

accepted the degree. With a smile,she said: "Because, you see, I earnedit.'' She also said it was "not only formyself but for the thousands ofblack students'' the university haddiscriminated against over the years.The State Historical Society lists

her among Famous Missouri Jour-nalists, saying that "In both in herpersonal life and her career, sherefused to remain quiet about racialinjustice.''Lucile Bluford died in 2003 at the

age of 91. She had worked at the Callfor 70 years. A public library inKansas City is named after her, andit was recently reopened after a $1.3-million upgrade. �

Robert W. Tabscott is a Presbyterianminister and founder of the Elijah Lovejoy Soci-

ety, a historical research center in WebsterGroves.

KFUO-FM began broadcasting inSt. Louis in 1948. It is one of the old-est FM stations west of the Missis-sippi River. Its studios are on thecampus of Concordia Seminary inClayton and owned by the LutheranChurch Missouri Synod. The formatof KFUO has been classical musicand across six decades the stationhas been a cultural bridge in thecommunity, keeping patrons in-formed about the arts and humani-ties, the Zoo, the Symphony, theBotanical Gardens, the Art Museum,Opera Theatre, the stage and dance.And while I never met them per-

sonally, thanks to KFUO I knowDavid Robertson, music director ofthe Symphony and the opera star

Christine Brewer. I have loved Clas-sic Kids, Joy, and Saturday live per-formances of the Symphony, theMetropolitan Opera and Sunday atthe Garden. There is no way to put apremium on a treasure. The lateWilliam Woo, editor of the Post, saidthat inspiration for his writing camewhile listening to KFUO and Mozart.When word came that KFUO was

being sold to a Christian radio com-pany, I was shocked. I could not be-lieve that the Missouri Synod woulddo such a thing to the community.The requiem for the station meansthat we will have no fashion thatbrings the community together. TheSynod has broken faith with St.Louis.No public bidding for the fran-

chise was offered and a gag orderhas been placed on the station’s per-sonnel. It was a privately done dealfor several million dollars. The Fed-eral Communications Commissionmust approve the transaction. Apetition is on file with the federalagency protesting the secretivetransaction. Insiders contend that itis all over and nothing can be donebut lament the loss.We do not need nor do we want

another Christian broadcastingenterprise. And I wonder why thewealthy gentry has not used itsinfluence to thwart the sale. Morethan that, where is the Post-Dis-patch and the spirit of Irving Dilliardto arouse public opinion? �

Robert W. Tabscott

off the recordContinued from page 4



MEDIA

Focus/MidwestRyan L. Nave was named the new

editor of the online magazine byRoland Klose, who resurrected anonline version of the printFocus/Midwest that ceased publica-tion in 1983. Nave is a professionalfreelance journalist and formerwriter for Illinois Times and otherpublications.

Perfect Sense PublishingBrian Russel joined the firm as

an assistant and Amber Collier as anadvertising representative.

Stanford UniversityPam Maples, former managing edi-

tor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,has been named Innovation Directorat the John S. Knight JournalismFellowships at Stanford University.After leaving the Post she had joinedNewsy.com, an online site that deliv-ers world news from various mediato web sites.

Suburban JournalsPublisher Bob Williams left the

journals to join another subsidiaryof Lee Enterprises, Inc., the South-ern Illinoisan in Carbondale.Williams was replaced by TomWiley, a Lee executive, who was incharge of the Suburban Journalsand Daily Journal in Park Hills. Leeannounced that the current pub-lisher of the Illinoisan is leaving tobecome executive director of the Illi-nois Press Association.

MEDIA AWARDS

Missouri ProfessionalCommunicatorsThe Twenty-Ninth Virginia Betts

White Quest Awards will include aLifetime Achievement Award to AvaEhrlich and it will issue Awards forExcellence in Communication toJohn Beck, Jeannette Batz Coop-erman,Robert Duffy,Susan Killen-berg McGinn, Carolyn Marty, Pat-

rick Murphy, Alvin Reid and LeisaZigman.The event is scheduled for Sat.,

April 17 at Ces & Judys Le ChateauVillage 10405 Clayton Road. Recep-tion 11:30 a.m. Lunch at 12noon. Cost $50, R.S.V.P. by April 9.Proceeds support scholarships forjournalism and communication stu-dents.

SIU-E AlestleThe Alestle, Southern Illinois

University-Edwardsville’s studentnewspaper, won honorable mentionin general excellence plus four addi-tional awards during the annual col-legiate media workshops of the Illi-nois College Press Association.Sports Editor Allan Lewis won firstplace in the category of sports newsstory for his examination of moneyin Division I sports. PhotographerDerrick Hawkins won first place inthe feature photo category for aphoto taken during the annualMarch Down event at SIUE. Thepaper took third place in its divisionin the photo essay category. Photog-raphers Sean Roberts and DerrickHawkins won for their photo essayabout fire damage at SIUE’s CougarVillage Apartments. Copy ChiefKen-neth Long received an honorablemention in the column-writing cate-gory. Editor-in-Chief Karina Swankaccepted the awards on behalf of thestaff members from the 2009-2010academic years. Tammy Merrett-Murry is the program director forAlestle.

The St. Louis Chapter of the Soci-ety of Professional Journalistsinducts seven to Hall of FameThe Chapter honored seven men

elected to the St. Louis Print Hall ofFame at a luncheon March 11. Theinductees are Eric Mink, Ray Hart-mann and Mark Vittert. Theremaining 2010 inductees, Paul Y.Anderson, Carlos Hurd, JosephPulitzer III and Murat Bernard“Chic” Young, were honored post-humously.Mink began his print career in

1973 at the “Midwest Motorist” mag-azine. He joined the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1977 and became its TVcritic in 1979. In the 1980s, heappeared regularly on local radioand on NPR’s “All Things Consid-ered.” In 1993, he became TV criticfor the New York Daily News.Returning to St. Louis in 2003, Minkedited the Post’s op-ed page.Hartmann founded Hartmann

Publishing in 1977 and producedthe Riverfront Times. He then soldthe paper and bought St. Louis Mag-azine, where he served as CEO. He isa member of the weekly panel on the“Donnybrook Show” on KETC-TV.Mark Vittert’s financial support

made possible the birth and opera-tion of the Riverfront Times and theSt. Louis Business Journal.

St. Louis Post-DispatchTom Uhlenbrock, formerly a

travel writer for the Post, won fiveawards including a grand prize, fromthe North American Travel Journal-ists Association for stories thatappeared in 2009 in the paper. Thegrand prize was for the body of hiswork. Uhlenbrock joined the Mis-souri Department of Natural Re-sources recently writing about stateparks and historic sites.

AD/PR

BrightonAnheuser-Busch executive Tom

Shipley was appointed vice presi-dent of the company’s InteractiveMarketing. Shipley began his careerat Anheuser-Busch in 1989, andheld a number of positions in salesand marketing including seniordirector of Industry Developmentand senior director of BudweiserMarketing. Most recently, Shipleyserved as senior director of DigitalMedia & Marketing.The agency appointed Colin Pen-

nington to the public relations teamand Stephanie Bishop to the onlinemarketing team.

Fleishman-HillardThe agency promoted Danielle

Hurtt to vice president and directorof marketing. The agency is a unit ofOmicom Group Inc. Hurtt will alsochair the agency’s Brand Counciland will direct the firm’s marketingactivities within the OmnicomGroup.

Marketing Matters, Inc.The agency will provide advertis-

ing and consulting services for sta-tions WARH-FM (106.5) and WXOS-FM (101.1).

Media Financial ManagementAssociationThe agency named Larry Rubin

partner-in-charge of Rubin Brown’smedia and entertainment servicesgroup.

people people people people people people people people people people people

MediaNotes



St. Louis Chapter of the PublicRelations Society of AmericaJill Haynes was elected 2010

Chapter president. Other officerselected are Jeanne D. Howard,president-elect, Bryan C. Daniels,secretary, and Nancy Schnoebelen,treasurer.

SuddenlinkThe agency promoted Patty

McCaskill to chief programmingofficer. Peviously, McCaskill wasvice president for programming forCharter Communications. Beforeher work with Charter, she wasfounder of McCaskill Communica-tions Consultants.

AD/PR AWARDS

BrightonThe agency won first place in the

National Agri-Marketing Associa-tion’s Gateway Region competitionfor developing a social marketingsite.

The Vandiver Group, Inc. (TVG)Cassandra McCloud, a Senior

Account Executive, has received thefirm’s 2009 Employee of the Yearaward.

IN MEMORIAM

Roberta “Millie” Wolff, 93, diedFeb. 12. She was active in the Mis-souri Press Women and was a fre-quent contributor to newspapers inSt. Louis and Palm Beach, Fla.Ruth Jacobsen, 84, died March

9. She was the first woman executiveat Fleishman-Hillard public rela-tions firm and created special eventsfor clients.

INVITATIONS

Widening Literary HorizonsWinnie Sullivan, executive direc-

tor of Penultimate Press, and MarieSnyder, UMSL assistant teachingprofessor of French and German,will discuss how readers discovernew authors from around the globe.They describe how publishers andliterary translators select thosevoices. The event is part of the Mon-day Noon Series at UMSL, 12:15 to1:15, April 5, at the 222 J.C. PenneyConference Center. Light refresh-ments served. Free to the public.

The story of EllenEllen was born a slave on a Ten-

nessee plantation in 1860 and lived

in the Missouri Boot Heel until herdeath in 1953. Meet one of the mostinteresting women known to greatgranddaughter Loretta Washing-ton, who will present the story ofEllen and other short stories of lifegrowing up in the 1950s Boot Heel ofMissouri. The event is part of theMonday Noon Series at UMSL, 12:15to 1:15, April 26, at the 222 J.C. Pen-ney Conference Center. Lightrefreshments served. Free to thepublic. Loretta Washington will alsobe featured at the 2010 St. LouisStorytelling Festival, April 28-May 1.

Washington UniversityLiterary Calendar

This literary calendar is compiled bythe Center for Humanities at Washing-ton University and excerpts are pub-lished with the center’s permission. Allevents are free unless otherwise indi-cated.

Saturday, March 20• You are invited to join The Mys-tery Lovers Book Club as they dis-cuss Maisie Dobbs by JacquelineWinspear. 1O a.m., SLPL-Caron-delet Branch, 6800 Michigan Ave.,752-9224.

Sunday, March 21• The Society of Children's BookWriters & Illustrators invites writersliving in St. Louis to critique groups.The St. Louis City group meets thethird Sunday of each month. 1:30p.m., SLPL-Buder Branch. For moreinformation: Jessica Saigh at [email protected].

Tuesday, March 23• You are invited to join the After-noon Book Discussion Group fortheir discussion of The WinthropWoman by Anya Seton. 2 p.m.,SLCL-Grand Glaize Branch, 1010Meramec Station Road., 994-3300.• You are invited to a signing anddiscussion with James McGrathMorris, author of Pulitzer: A Life inPolitics, Print and Power. 7 p.m.,Left Bank Books CWE, 399 N.Euclid, 367-6731.• As the Page Turns Books Discus-sion Group invites you to join themas they discuss Chris Lynch'sFreewill. 7 p.m., SLCL-Weber RoadBranch, 4444 Weber Road., 994-3300.• Join the BT Book DiscussionGroup. Registration required; stopby the circulation desk or call 994-3300 and ask for Trudy to sign up. 7

p.m., SLCL-Bridgeton Trails Branch,3455 McKelvey Rd.

Wednesday, March 24• Join the Bookies to discuss Heirto the Glimmering World by CynthiaOzick. 2 p.m., SLCL-OakBendBranch, 842 Holmes Ave., 994-3300.• You are invited to join the CentralBook Discussion Group for theirdiscussion of any book by PenelopeFitzgerald. 4 p.m., SLPL-CentralLibrary, 1301 Olive St. Call PopularLibrary at 539-0396 for details.• St. Louis County Library presentsauthor and illustrator Uri Shule-vitz, who will discuss and sign hisbooks. 7 p.m., SLCL-Samuel C.Sachs Branch, 16400 BurkhardtPIace, Chesterfield, 994-3300.

Thursday, March 25• St. Louis Public Library invitesyou to a discussion of Sea of Pop-pies by Amitav Ghosh. 7 p.m.,SLPL-Schlafly Branch, 225 N. EuclidAve., 367-4120.• Authors@Your Library presentsAnne Perry, who will discuss andsign her book The Sheen on theSilk. 7 p.m., SLPL-Schlafly Branch,225 N. Euclid Ave., 367-4120.Cosponsored with Left Bank Books.

Saturday, March 27• Join a Writer's Workshop to en-hance your craft skills through meet-ing with peers. 1O a.m., SLPL-BadenBranch, 8448 Church Rd., 388-2400.• Join the Cabanne Book Group todiscuss what you are currently read-ing. 1 p.m., SLPL-Cabanne Branch,1106 Union Blvd., 367-0717.

Monday, March 29• St. Louis County Library invitesyou to join author Howard FrankMosher as he discusses his novelWalking to Gatlinburg. 7 p.m., SLCL-Headquarters, 1640 S. LindberghBlvd., 994-3300.

Tuesday, March 30Left Bank Books is pleased to

present author Laura SkanderaTrombley as she discusses andsigns her book Mark Twain's OtherWoman: The Hidden Story of HisFinal Years. 7 p,m,, Left Bank BooksCWE, 399 North Euclid, 367-6731.Left Bank Books and Mad Art

Gallery invite you to celebrate theanniversary of Penny Arcade withauthors of the book, The SplendidMagic of Penny Arcade, JerryHolkins and Mike Krahulik. 7 p.m.,Mad Art Gallery, 2727 S. 12th St.

people people people people people people people people people people people



sourcessay...

Guild-Post negotiations get tense

Negotiations between the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and its largest union, the NewspaperGuild, turned acrimonious recently with bothsides making threats to strengthen their bar-gaining positions.After about three dozen bargaining ses-

sions, the company told a federal mediator itmight declare an “impasse” to negotiations byMarch 1. But that date came and went withoutsuch a move. The mediator began meetingwith each side separately and then shuttlinginformation back and forth. As SJR went topress, the situation was uncertain.The Post, owned by the Lee Enterprises

newspaper chain since 2005, proposed asalary cut of 10 percent and a one-weekunpaid furlough for the first year of a new con-tract, plus furloughs in the second and thirdyears. Also, the company wants to freeze pen-sion benefits, eliminate health benefits foremployees when they retire, and curtailseniority rights to allow the company to firesome union employees at will.Guild officials say they want to get a new

contract and there is no impasse in bargain-ing. The Guild seems ready to accept somewage cuts and has proposed tying wages to thePost's revenue. If the company declares animpasse it would impose its last best offer onGuild employees. The Guild says it would filean unfair labor practices complaint with theNational Labor Relations Board to force thecompany back to the bargaining table andrecover lost wages.That's not all. The Guild has approved

spending as much as $500,000 from its well-heeled treasury to conduct a corporate cam-paign against the Post and Lee Enterprises.This would see efforts aimed at hurting cor-porate finances and engaging in public cam-paigns to pressure the company back to thebargaining table. Negotiations started last Mayto replace the contract that expired in June.In February, the Guild put out a hard-hit-

ting newsletter with an open letter to Lee'sCEO, Mary Junck. It asked why the anti-unionLee chain, which operates smaller newspa-pers, wanted to buy the much larger Post inthe first place and “take on an insane debt topurchase a unionized paper in a pro-unioncity whose people react badly to being toldwhat to do by carpetbaggers. . . . Imagine oursurprise when we discovered that your goalwas to turn the Post-Dispatch into justanother Lee newspaper.”The Guild sent a contingent to Lee's annual

meeting Feb. 17 to protest the company's con-tract proposals. But the meeting was aimed atshowing stockholders how well Lee is cuttingcosts to deal with losses in advertising andrevenue during the economic downtown. Acompany report said that in March 2009 thegoal was to eliminate cash costs by $100 mil-lion for 2009, but “the final tally was $147mil-lion.” The goal for cost reduction in 2010 wasset at $54 million. When Lee dropped healthcare for some retirees in December, it saidthis resulted in a $30-million saving.

Beacon shines lighton race

In a reversion tonewsprint, the Beacononline news publicationin February put out a20-page tabloid thatfocused on racial issuesin Kirkwood. It markedthe second anniversaryof the shootings at Kirk-wood City Hall by anirate citizen which leftseven dead, includingthe shooter, Charles"Cookie” Thornton.The publication was

a joint effort by journal-ists Bill Freivogel andLinda Lockhart, both ofwhom live in Kirkwood,and two students fromthe School of Journalism at Southern IllinoisUniversity-Carbondale, writer Jacyln Bren-ning and photojournalist Anthony Souffle.Freivogel is director of the journalism schooland Lockhart works for the Beacon.The project, called Kirkwood's Journey,

delves into the attitudes and events inMeacham Park, a black enclave in Kirkwoodwhere Thornton lived and harbored feelingshe was wrongly treated by city officials. Theeffort sought to dispel myths but also docu-ment the realities of racial differences in theaffluent suburb and the way blacks have beentreated. It reported on efforts since the shoot-ings to increase understanding and produce amediation agreement with the help of the Jus-tice Department's Community Relations Ser-vice.The Beacon's report was part of its series

called Race, Frankly aimed at increasing dia-logue on racial matters.

Weinberg—hired gun

The St. Petersburg Times found the tableswere turned when it became the subject ofinvestigation by other journalists. The Timeshas long investigated the Church of Scientol-ogy and the church decided to hire someinvestigators of their own--three veteranjournalists.One was Steve Weinberg, who has taught

journalism at the University of Missouri andwas once executive director of the Investiga-tive Reporters and Editors group. He said hegot $5,000 to edit the report on the church."My role was more limited, and I can cer-tainly use the money these days,” he told theWashington Post.The reporters paid to do the investigation

are Russell Carollo who won a Pulitzer Prizein 1998 for the Dayton (Ohio) Daily Newsseries on medical malpractice in the military,and Christopher Szechenyi, an Emmy-win-ning former television producer who hasworked for the Boston Globe's Web site. He'sa former producer for 60 Minutes


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