Science break-through gets no Post coverage

By Peter Downs

On Nov. 22, 1999, Washington University's public affairs office sent out an embargoed press release tipping news organizations to a story that could be part of the biggest local-news story of the coming decade.

Television news programs carried the story once the embargo was lifted-the St. Louis Post-Dispatch did not.

This story had everything a reporter could want. It was a human-interest story offering hope to thousands of people with crippling injuries, and a science story about one of the most exciting new fields of research. It was a business story about a major employer's multi-million dollar investment in a new business opportunity. It had an economic-development angle about efforts to turn St. Louis into a national center for life-science industries. It was a sports-type story, down to trash talk from competitors, as the Washington University team races teams in other cities to become the first to discover and profit from new cures. It had a legal angle, as everything else about the story-the hoped for therapy and all the business and economic development opportunities it would generate, might be illegal in Missouri. And it had a political angle, as it has the potential for splitting the conservative movement and redefining the debate over abortion.

The Washington University story concerned research on stem cells, the kind of cells that give rise to every type of cell in an organ, if one goes back early enough in the development of an embryo, give rise to every cell in the body. It was this type of research that Science magazine hailed three weeks later as the "breakthrough of the year."

Specifically, a group of Washington University researchers led by Dr. John McDonald found that they could restore partial mobility to rats whose rear legs had been paralyzed by a blow to their spinal cord simply by injecting them with embryonic stem cells. Theirs was the first report in a refereed scientific journal of a therapy that showed promise for repairing spinal cord injuries when given more than a day after the event that caused the injury.

Dr. Steven Kirshblum, director of spinal cord injury services at the Kessler Institute, said the Washington University research was the first reputable study to provide "hope to those already injured, and not just to those who might be injured in the future."

Kent Waldrep, former vice chairman of the National Council on Disability and co-author of the Americans with Disabilities Act, said it was the first published research "giving us a good look at what we can do to restore function" to people paralyzed from old injuries. Waldrep himself has been paralyzed for 26 years from a football injury he suffered in 1974.

Even Dr. Evan Snyder, a Harvard researcher who questions both the quality and significance of the work at Washington University, predicts stem cell research will yield therapies for spinal cord injuries that will be available to the public in as little as five years. Snyder is a competitor to the Washington University scientists.

The news

KSDK (Channel 5) medical reporter Kay Quinn emphasized the science and the human interest in the Washington University stem cell story. "Our viewers deserve to hear about the breakthrough things in our own backyard, as well as the stuff that immediately benefits them," she told SJR. McDonald's research "is cutting edge stuff right here that could really change the lives of people with spinal cord injuries all over the world," she said. "That is what tweaked my interest."

Her report included an interview with a guy who had been disabled in a car accident. He now works with other people who have been disabled.

Another way to look at the story is to put in the context of other things the university is doing. The Washington University affiliated hospital chain, BJC Health System and Health South are spending $24 million in a joint venture to build a new rehabilitation hospital on Forest Park Boulevard. to focus on new therapies for spinal cord injuries. A BJC spokesperson said the goal of the venture is to become such a well-known center for the best and latest therapies for spinal cord injuries patients within 500 miles of St. Louis will make it their number one choice for treatments. To have the first scientists to develop and patent a therapy for restoring lost physical abilities and functions goes a long way toward establishing that kind of reputation.

Meanwhile, civic and political leaders, including the Regional Commerce and Growth Association, Civic Progress and the Post, are trying to promote St. Louis as a "Silicon Valley" for life science industries.

Included in those efforts is a decade-old plan for a biology "technopolis" in the area bounded on one side by Barnes-Jewish Hospital and the Washington University Medical Center, and on another side by St. Louis University hospitals.

Al Wiman, health reporter on KMOV (Channel 4), who also interviewed McDonald, placed the stem cell research in the context of other things the university was doing to become a center for rehabilitation therapies, things that "I think are more practical," he told SJR. He rightfully emphasized that McDonald's results were preliminary. "They were only on some rats in a glass box. From mice to men is a long way," he said.

Indeed, gene therapies offer a good example of just how far that distance is. As scientists discussed recently on National Public Radio's "Science Friday," "the exciting results with animals in the 1980s have given way to disappointing results with people in the 1990s. After nine years and 320 human trials in the United States, scientists can say only that at most, gene therapies have helped five people, and killed two others."

The abortion angle

Within the Washington University press release, and in personal interviews, McDonald stoutly claimed that further research into this potential cure for spinal cord injuries is blocked by federal restrictions on expending federal funds on human embryo research. The appropriations bill passed on Oct. 20, for example, bans the use of federal funds to either create a human embryo for research purposes or in "research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death." Since any therapy involves the use of millions of cells, some of which survive transplantation and some of which die, that prohibition seemed to block the use of federal funds on stem cell research.

In practice, said McDonald, any university would require that researchers set up an entirely separate lab with separate equipment, paid for out of private funds, to do such work, so that they could show that no NIH funds were used anywhere in that research.

In November, the National Institutes of Health released proposed guidelines that would allow funding of human embryonic stem cell research, depending on the source of the cells. It would be okay, for example, to use embryos that a fertility clinic was going to discard anyway. That would let federally funded researchers use stem cells produced by Geron Corp., which, though produced from identical cells in a laboratory culture, ultimately derive from a human embryo.

There is certain to be a Congressional challenge to the proposed regulation. Richard Doerflinger, Associate Director for Policy Development at the National Council of Catholic Bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities is lobbying Congress and issuing papers against the rule. A spokesperson for the Missouri chapter of the National Abortion Rights Action League said they expect that embryonic stem cell research will be the next big battle after so-called partial birth abortions. Such a battle has the potential to split the conservative movement, as such traditional conservative icons as paralyzed war veterans and football players line up to support research that could cure their disabilities.

The local angle

Even if Congress backs the NIH guidelines, however, it may not help Washington University. David Smith, counsel with law firm Reed, Smith, Shaw & McClay LLP in Pittsburgh, Pa., said the NIH regulation says that federal funds may be used on embryo research, subject to state laws, and state restrictions most often are found in abortion control statutes.

Missouri law could bar human embryonic research, stating as it does that the life of each human being begins at conception, after which the unborn child is entitled to "all the rights, privileges and immunities available to other persons, citizens and residents of the state." Even the possibility that the law may bar such research will be enough to steer companies away from St. Louis, putting a damper on civic dreams for dominance in life sciences.

Perhaps the most far-reaching consequences of the research on the abortion debate, however, are on the philosophical question of when a human life begins. Scientists now know, for example, that cancers produce embryo-like bodies that grow just like an embryo up until a certain point, when it is diverted to a cancerous growth. University of Wisconsin scientist James Thomson showed that cells just like embryonic stem cells from such growths.

They can produce any cell in the human body, just like an embryonic stem cell, and it might be possible, if morally repugnant, to grow a human being from them, just as with stem cells. Is everyone who seeks treatment for cancer then a murderer?

Animal experts have produced live animals from embryos engineered from skin cells. Is everyone who shaves then a mass murderer?

As bizarre as such questions may seem, science is pointing out that the notion of the unborn is far more arbitrary and elastic than we had realized.

How many news stories do that?

The Post has not touched the stem cell story, so far. Virginia Gilbert, team leader of the life-sciences team, told SJR that Bill Allen is the reporter the story would fall to, but he was detached from the team for November, December and most of January to write about Cahokia Mounds.

The stem cell story is such an important story in St. Louis, however, that surely we will see it again, both in television newscasts and in the Post.

Peter Downs is a St. Louis free-lance writer.

KMOX and KMOV begin sharing reporters

By Frank Absher

KMOX radio and KMOV (Channel 4) have announced an informal arrangement to share news operations to produce their respective daily broadcasts. News directors Steve Hammel (Channel 4) and John Butler (KMOX) both say that their individual operations can greatly benefit from the agreement.

Under the agreement, reporters from both news operations can contribute to newscasts on either station. The overall effect will be to sharply increase the staff resources to Channel 4 and KMOX.

Steve Hammel minces no words when he says: "It will give our viewers and their listeners a better news product. There will be extra sets of eyes and ears gathering the news."

Boiled down to the basics, the pact means you'll be hearing Channel 4 reporters and anchors on KMOX and KMOX reporters on Channel 4 whenever a news situation dictates. It's unlikely any radio reporters would appear on camera, however. John Butler says it's more likely one of his reporters would be on-site at a breaking news story and be ready to report before a KMOV crew could get set up.

"Say we've got a major breaking news story. We go on the air on KMOX, do our hit. Channel 4 has their chopper up over the scene and they're shooting the scene. They can tap in to a report from Brian Kelly or Kevin Killeen or whoever we have there," Butler says.

Both news directors say they've heard stories about the way things used to be in the newsrooms when both stations were owned by CBS. Story leads and background info were often shared via the common phone system between news desks, but no one dared mention that fact to KMOX General Manager Robert Hyland, whose strongly negative attitude toward television was legendary. (CBS still owns KMOX. Channel 4 is owned by Belo.)

Hammel says the sharing arrangement won't necessarily be limited to breaking news stories. "This is very helpful when there are major, planable events. For example, for the Pope's visit we used every person on our staff. And I still was asking our people 'What isn't being covered?' This is a way to increase our decent-sized staff. This isn't anything where there's a plan afoot to use fewer of our folks."

John Butler says the new operational agreement protects the two stations. "Let's say a notification is sent to the media about a press conference in St. Charles. It used to be that notifications were mailed or phoned into the newsroom. Now there's the fax machine and even e-mail. Inevitably what'll happen is the system will break down and the notification doesn't get to the station's assignment file. Now we have two news desks sharing these files."

Butler also notes the agreement will serve both stations when a story with local implications breaks in another city. Each news director will now have the option of consulting with the other and assigning a single reporter to be on-site and handle the reporting needs of both stations.

This doesn't mean another revenue stream for all the reporters, though. Even though both newsrooms are AFTRA shops, there's no provision in the agreement for additional fees for the reporters.

Both news directors indicated there had been no problem with the two corporate owners as the agreement was hammered out. KMOX news director John Butler says that's because Channel 4 is a CBS affiliate.

"There is a very close relationship that is being fostered by and promoted by our corporate people to close the ranks with our CBS brethren in town," Butler says.

Similar agreements are in place or are being developed in other markets, but Butler says St. Louis is unique because of the extent to which the two stations will be working together.

"Here I am. I can put four, maybe five people on the street on a major story, Butler says. "Channel 4 can field seven people. Now we've got a dozen people out there. And it's all one big CBS report."

Steve Hammel says it's a case of simple mathematics: "KMOX is the powerhouse radio news operation. KMOV has a long tradition of journalistic excellence. The sum of the parts is certainly greater than the value of the individual entities."

'Being a journalist has become more difficult in this era of corporate media'

By Ed Bishop

Charles Jaco is probably the best-known journalist in St. Louis right now. A veteran NBC and CNN foreign correspondent, he arrived in town exactly five years ago to take up duties as a talk-show host on KMOX radio. It seemed a little odd at the time. Why would a man with a Masters degree from the Columbia University School of Journalism and years of experience reporting from every corner of the planet want to do late-afternoon drive time in the Midwest? Odd or not, Jaco has created the best broadcast news programming in town and has become known for his insight, humor and a skepticism bordering on cynicism.

Jaco was reared in Poplar Bluff. He went to the University of Chicago where he majored in English. After college, Jaco got a job in a steel mill. There he became fascinated with union politics and began writing articles about unions for the Chicago Reader, an alternative weekly newspaper. He also wrote freelance stories for Rolling Stone and Esquire.

Two years later, he landed a full-time journalism job at WXRT-FM. From there he went to NBC radio in New York and after that to NBC radio in Washington, D.C. While in Washington, he began covering Latin America-mainly civil wars or what Jaco calls "bang-bang news."

Finally, in 1988, he wound up at CNN in Miami. He was one of CNN's major reporters for the Gulf War. But, after six years of working for Ted Turner, for whom he doesn't exactly feel warm and fuzzy, Jaco moved to KMOX.

His first novel, "Dead Air," was published in 1997. "Live Shot" came out last year. Both are suspense stories with a reporter as the protagonist. But they're more. Both have an edge, and that edge is aimed squarely at corporate media. In fact, one of the reasons Jaco moved to St. Louis was to have time to write about the stuff that had clearly been building in him for years.

Recently, Jaco sat down with SJR to talk about those things, why he moved to St. Louis and St. Louis media in general.

SJR: Would it be fair to say that the height of your journalism career was reporting on the Gulf War for CNN? I mean, did it define you?

Jaco: It defined me in terms of the public's perception. It wasn't the first war I ever covered, but it was the first time I did it live on world-wide television. I remember very clearly coming into Saudi Arabia in a C141 and looking out the window. There was this monster sand storm. And I remember it crossing my mind that nothing in my life was ever going to be the same again. I didn't know how. I didn't know if I was going to be shipped home in a box. I didn't know if something was going to happen to me that would be like a Zen satoris. But I knew I would be different.

SJR: Have you done stories you found more interesting?

Jaco: I can think of a number of stories I found more interesting. The Ethiopian famine in '85-I was one of the first reporters over there. I had a little baby die in my arms. I survived a plane crash. Riding with Cuban tank commanders during the civil war in Angola in many ways was a lot more interesting than the Gulf War. Going in with the Contras in the war against the Sandanistas was more interesting.

SJR: Why St. Louis? With all your experience you could have landed anywhere.

Jaco: There were a number of reasons. For one thing, I was an only child and my mother wasn't doing well. She lived in Poplar Bluff, and her health was failing. I decided to come back and look after her. She was a widow.

Number two: I had always wanted to write novels. This business of running around all over hell's half acre was wearing a little thin. It wasn't giving me time to write. So everything came together. KMOX made a most generous offer-more money than Ted Turner ever paid me, which parenthetically isn't difficult. Plus it was a new thing: I had never done talk radio. Actually there wasn't a great deal of upside to being a foreign correspondent.

SJR: But don't you miss the excitement of being a foreign correspondent?

Jaco: Not really. If I had never done it, I probably would be sitting around moping about how I should have done this and that. So I've done a lot of the things I always wanted to do. I've been in the mountains of Iran. I've traveled within the deserts of Jordan by camel. I've covered a war in Mozambique. I've been beaten up by dictator's thugs. After a while, though, a kind of sameness sets in. It's no longer an adventure. You're never home. You're rootless. You're running all over the place.

SJR: But isn't writing your novels about those things sort of reliving those things?

Jaco: No. It's really bringing a lot of other things to the table-a parody of big media for example. Although that's hard to do when it keeps descending into self-parody ever faster each day. In "Live Shot," I wanted to fill people in on what Cuba really is and what it's about by telling a good story rather than being didactic and fact-based. More people know about whaling from reading "Moby Dick" than reading some treatise. Novels are sometimes the most powerful form of journalism.

So, no. Writing the novels isn't really a rehashing of those times. Actually, being here on KMOX is the most satisfying thing I've ever done because I get two hours a day on a large commercial radio station to commit journalism-and where are you going to find that? Maybe in three or four years the newness will wear off of this and it'll be time to move on. But right now I like this.

SJR: Besides the obvious difference of the visuals, what's different between television and radio?

Jaco: Television is much more collaborative. A TV story is the product of five or six people. Radio is you and your producer. Also, when you watch television, it's a group medium-generally you watch television with another person. With radio you usually listen by yourself. And I think the biggest difference between television and radio is that radio is a one-on-one connection with the listener. It's much more personal.

SJR: As you know, KMOX had a reputation for being very conservative, very South St. Louis. You seem to be left of your listeners. How does that work for you?

Jaco: I don't know how people get the perception that I'm left of my listeners-I'm doing journalism. So, if listeners are to the right or to the left or standing on their heads, it is really of no consequence to me. I don't really consider myself left of the audience and, frankly, I didn't know what KMOX was before I came here. It's not my problem if Bob Hyland liked to suck up to the rich and powerful in this town. I have a set of marching orders from my program director that are really simple: Is it accurate and is it balanced?

Although being a journalist has become more difficult in this era of corporate media when all anyone is concerned about is profit rather than what's on the air. The chairman of CBS has said repeatedly that he looks at a radio station as nothing more than "an advertising platform." And at KMOX, like every place else, you're going to hear a ton of talk about sales and advertising and maximizing opportunities and damn little talk about programming. So, welcome to the 21st century. That's the way broadcasting is these days.

SJR: Are you expected to appear unbiased?

Jaco: As nearly as possible. Of course, we both know that bias is in the eye of the beholder. The best you can be is fair. And I think I am.

SJR: Does that leave you some room to express your opinions?

Jaco: During the Friday program at 3 o'clock, during "Last Call." That's kind of like the op-ed page of the newspaper. The rest of the time it's not exactly my opinion but rather my opinion informed by my experience. On the Elian Gonzalez case, for example, my experience is that right-wing Cuban exiles in South Florida have run U.S. policy toward Cuba for 40 years, and now they're trying to kidnap this child. I can say that because of the experience I've had in Cuba.

SJR: How difficult is it to deal with listeners who don't have that much experience and who express opinions you think are outlandish?

Jaco: Everyone has a constitutional right to be a horse's ass and an idiot. But, if someone has an uninformed and stupid opinion, that will generally take care of itself. Listeners will recognize that. Our audience is not stupid.

SJR: How do you feel about following Rush Limbaugh?

Jaco: His audiences at stations around the country have proven to be very fickle; they are loyal to him and not the station itself. I mean we could break in with the news that a president has been assassinated and the dittoheads would call up complaining that we had cut Limbaugh off.

SJR: How do you put your show together? Explain the process of picking topics and guests.

Jaco: Remember, if you take one person's idea, it's theft. If you take a number of people's ideas, it's research. We do a lot of research. I have a producer, Peggy Cohill-the hardest working woman in broadcasting. She is astonishing. We'll decide what's going on during a particular day, what's in the papers, what's on the wires. We'll decide if it meets the who-gives-a-shit test. It can be anything-national, international, local. It depends on what's important and what's current. We go for what's happening at that moment. Then we find guests from as many sides as we can possibly corral. There's no real formula. We've thrown out shows five minutes before we've gone on the air. I remember when the Senate dumped Ronnie White, we went on the air 20 minutes after the bulletin and managed to get a guest right away. We didn't want to let it go until the next day. We wanted to get it as it was happening. We're totally flexible. That's why there's a disconnect between the promos on the air and what's really on the air. The audience is smart to pick that up; they know what's going on. Now, sometimes we miss stuff. We can't be everywhere at once.

SJR: What kind of things would you like to try here at KMOX in the future that you haven't done already?

Jaco: Uh, no. I mean yes and no. I can't come up with a laundry list. I've always wanted to go into space. I was one of the finalists for the "journalist in space" program and then the Challenger blew up. I would certainly like to do more live programs from the site of large events. But I'm not sure this year's political situation will qualify for that. I think a lot of people are just fried over the whole thing.

SJR: Assess St. Louis media-radio, television, newspapers. Do you feel energized by the local media?

Jaco: It's not any more pathetic than anyplace else. I mean, local TV news here is neither better nor worse than local TV news elsewhere. Most local TV is pretty bad. My feelings about the St. Louis Post-Dispatch are well known. This used to be one of America's great newspapers and now it's probably not even the best newspaper in Missouri. I simply think that (Editor) Cole Campbell and his group of cultists...it's like the paper has been taken over by the Scientologists or the Moonies or something. I find that business about a newspaper having to do "public good" so offensive that it sets my teeth on edge. You're a reporter. Someone else, the public, can decide the larger issues of the "public good." And to make all this stuff a litmus test for the true believers in the newsroom is pathetic. It's a shame, too, because they've got some damn fine reporters there. (Public journalism) is weak-minded driven. I mean, he's simply having his reporters march in lock step because he doesn't trust them to go out and get the stories they should. But they're like other newspapers around the country-they have a declining circulation base. So they have to do something to reinvent the newspaper. Might as well try public journalism.

SJR: Do you think St. Louis news consumers are demanding enough?

Jaco: No. No, I don't think they're demanding enough. I'm not saying they're stupid at all. I'm just saying they're not as demanding of their media as people in Philadelphia or San Francisco or New Orleans.

SJR: Do you think St. Louisans are as well informed as people in other cities?

Jaco: I think they're as well informed because there are so many sources of information around these days that to be ill-informed you'd have to make a conscious choice that you're not going to pay attention to anything. I do think St. Louisans feel marginalized in a lot of ways. And correctly so. Which is a shame because the city has got some world-class things about it.

SJR: Do you enjoy living here?

Jaco: Oh yeah. I do. What's not to like? The cost of living is low. The neighborhoods are nice. The people are very, very friendly. At the same time, of course, the city is dying, and I don't think there's any way around that-the region is stagnating economically and socially. It's all the inbreeding over the years. Ninety percent of the people who live here were born here. That means you don't get a lot of new blood. I actually find the city a fascinating case. Because of the historical lack of leadership it maybe that the city's problems will be solved when it finally goes out of business. And that train wreck is probably coming in the next decade.

LETTERS

Poynter scholar objects to book review

SJR: Your attacks on Jay Rosen, a leader of the civic journalism movement, have reached a new low and call into question your fairness and credibility.

I refer to your review of Rosen's book, "What Are Journalists For?"

The reviewer writes: "For anyone with an abiding curiosity about the public journalism movement and its doctrine, this book is a must, at least in the sense that 'Mein Kampf' and 'Das Kapital' are musts for anyone seeking to understand the ideologies they set forth."

Are you equating civic journalism with fascism and communism?

The comparison to Hitler's work is particulary obnoxious as Rosen is a devout Jew. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and accuse you of gross insensitivity rather than anti-Semitism. Rosen, and your readers, deserve an apology.

Roy Peter Clark

Senior Scholar

The Poynter Institute

St. Petersburg Florida

Defending the Post-Dispatch

SJR: "Campus politics are every bit as mean and manipulative as the variety found in city halls and state capitals." Chicago Tribune (Feb. 5, 1991)

Your recent lead article "News media drops ball on higher-education controversy" underscores the Tribune's quote with a vengeance. Your criticism of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Sue Thomson is, however, off the mark.

The Post is one of the few newspapers that actually assigns a reporter to higher education. The Sun-Times does not and the Tribune has done so only recently. Given the scope of higher education in the St. Lous area-University of Missouri, Southern Illinois University, Washington University, Harris-Stowe, Webster, St. Louis University, the community colleges, State Boards-etc., the Post does a more than adequate job of covering higher education.

As for Sue Thomson, I have always found her to be a very professional and fair reporter. Her articles are well researched and balanced. She also brings a lively style to an otherwise dull subject.

What is really bothering the Rev. Doc. profs. is that no one outside of the academy cares about the petty and Byzantine politics that infect universities and colleges. One should always remember when dealing with higher education that the infighting is so vicious because the stakes are so small.

Jack R. Dyer

Southern Illinois University

OF NOTE

Kudos

Congratulations to the West End-Clayton Word, whose Barbara Huck provided readers with a succinct, easy-to-understand piece on urban sprawl in the Dec. 30 issue.

Huck used an extensive interview with Washington University urban design expert John Hoal to explain why unchecked, unplanned urban growth is detrimental to the entire region.

The Word managed to inform its readers without establishing a new, vague, weekly section, and apparently without calling groups of people together to discuss the problem.

-Frank Absher

Local satellite

Last year a bill passed through Congress that broadened the accessibility of local TV broadcasts in local markets by allowing satellite providers to handle such programming. The Satellite Home Viewer Act (SHVA) has brought more options to your electronic companion.

Robert Mercer, senior manager of public relations for DirecTV a satellite provider based out of El Segundo, Calif. explained it this way:

"The act enables DirecTV, Echostar, and other digital satellite TV services to deliver signals of local network affiliates into local markets. Before the bill, we couldn't; it was against the law. And it was a way in which cable companies and networks could protect their respective markets from additional competition. Companies like ours could only deliver network signals from other markets-for example, Los Angeles and New York-to customers who lived outside the service area of their local affiliates."

So how do cable companies and network affiliates feel about the change? Andy Morgan, communications manager of charter communications, a large St. Louis-based cable company, shared with me the statement that the company put together shortly after the act went into law.

"What you won't hear from the direct-broadcast satellite companies is that the SHVA law does not provide for all local channels and does not include all areas. More importantly, there will be an additional charge for receiving these local channels. Certainly this will all intensify competition in the marketplace. Though we at Charter are not threatened by competition; in fact, we welcome it, because we know our product is a better value. It is up to the consumer to decide which product is best for him or her; but it is up to us to make sure the consumer has all the facts before making a decision."

Echoing these sentiments with a slightly different slant is Deb Seidel, regional director of communications for AT&T Cablevision (formerly TCI), another large St. Louis cable company.

"As far as we're concerned, we've always considered ourselves in a competitive environment with satellites, regardless of the local channel element; and so it will not change the way that we do business. We believe we give our customers value in many ways, including the fact that we're available for them 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year with customer service. We also believe we provide valuable programming for them, and we're partners in the community through our 'Cable in the Classroom' program as well as other ways in which we contribute. As a sidenote, being a local company we hire local people, which also benefits the community."

Arguably, the local affiliates would have less to be concerned about than the cable providers in terms of competition. To the former, the name of the game is get the programming out there, regardless of the medium. KSDK (Channel 5) Community Relations Director Lisa Bedian says that the SHVA is a good thing.

"It makes our signal available to viewers who get reception via satellite. Therefore it's more accessible to more viewers in the metro area as well as in outlying regions in the bi-state region."

-Barry Kepp

Daughter of kudos

Kudos also to management of the Pasta House Company. They made corrections of a grammatical error on their billboards, blacking out the apostrophe on our's. Brickbats to yours truly who, in the last issue of SJR, Americanized the spelling of a word on the billboard, thus misquoting a direct quote ("linguini" should have been "linguine.")

-Frank Absher

Extra, extra

In Patrick Buchanan's book "Right from the Beginning" Extra magazine reveals that Buchanan describes how he published FBI smears of Martin Luther King as his own editorials in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat in the mid-1960s.

"We were among Hoover's conduits to the American People," he boasted.

(We had to quote Extra on the book because we could find no one who had read Buchanan's book.)

-Charles Klotzer

Shifting gears

KMOX has come up with an excellent utility man in the form of McGraw Milhaven. So far he has displayed no obsession with getting his photo in the Ladue News or his name in the local gossip column. Instead, he's succeeding the old-fashioned way-by working hard and turning out a quality product.

Milhaven has sat in as a substitute host for just about every shift on the station and has done a better-than-adequate job, showing that he's definitely in line for a promotion if management ever decides to switch some hosts around.

-Frank Absher

You paid for it

In a debate on subsidies for sports teams, an editorial in USA Today (Jan. 28) points out that the $720-million deal which St. Louis cut with the Rams is only part of the story. Taxpayers pay directly or indirectly for local bonds that build stadiums that cover a sixth of their cost. Deductions for business entertainment expenses cover 17 percent of the $300 price for luxury seats. And there is federal aid for fixing schools, providing police and improving neighborhoods for communities that tapped out their own borrowing on stadiums.

You've paid for it, says USA Today, whether you wanted to do it or not.

-Charles Klotzer

MEDIA ON MEDIA

By Frank Absher

City life

How does a station manager react when someone tosses a brick through the station's glass doors? When it happened at CBS-owned WBBM-TV in the heart of Chicago, the GM shrugged it off. Hank Price said, "It was just life in the big city. We have over the years come to expect this sort of thing." (Electronic Media, 1/17)

Smacker

There's not a journalism school in the country that can prepare reporters for every possibility. Randi Kaye, a female reporter for WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, was in the middle of a stand-up outside the Metrodome when a passer-by walked up and kissed her. The man later returned and apologized, but he denied any external influences, claiming that he was completely sober. (Broadcasting & Cable, 1/3)

Bickersome

What do you get when you mix local news and a soap opera? You get the nightly news on WCVB-TV in Boston. There, the husband/wife anchor team of 18 years, Chet Curtis and Natalie Allen, are getting divorced. The announcement of a separation was made in a station editorial during the 6 o'clock news one night in December. The two, who met at the station while they were both married to different people, are continuing to team up for news broadcasts at 5, 6 and 10. (Electronic Media, 12/20/99)

Try again

The Federal Communications Commission will take another stab at forcing affirmative action standards on broadcasters. The move comes after the U. S. Supreme Court determined in 1998 that the commission's previous guidelines were unconstitutional.

The new rules appear to have been written carefully to work around the Supreme Court's decision, while still pressuring broadcasters to hire minorities and women. No quotas will be set, but broadcasters will be strongly encouraged to seek out minority employees when job openings are advertised, an effort the commission calls "broad outreach."

Reports will be required showing how a station advertised its job openings and detailing how many applicants the ads generated. A spokesman said court challenges to the new rules are possible. (The New York Times, 1/21)

Yes!

After what seems to be unquestioned adherence to the ministrations of consultants, two major television station groups have announced they will no longer hire outsiders to tell them what to do. Gannett (which owns KSDK (Channel 5) here) and Hearst-Argyle say they will use their own corporate people to help fashion their news product. (Broadcasting & Cable, 1/10)

Yeah, yeah

The new man at the top of the National Cable Television Association doesn't have much experience as a cable TV watcher. Robert Sachs admitted that before he became the group's president he watched DirecTV. His excuse: He couldn't get cable at his summer home in New Hampshire. (Electronic Media, 12/13/99)

Off target

Black Entertainment Television (BET) has turned down paid advertising for the White House anti-drug initiative, saying it wants more money than the ad agency buyers offered.

A spokesman for Muse Cordero Chen says they had a $4.4 million budget for African-American media. BET was to get $800,000. The network's management demanded a buy of $5 million, saying they have a significant reach in the minority community.

Under the anti-drug effort, media are expected to offer one free ad for each paid ad. BET executive vice president Louis Carr said the $800,000 buy was a clear case of tokenism, discrimination and prejudice. A spokesman for the anti-drug program noted that the budget for the African-American target audience is the largest of all minority budgets.

Rush out

It may be hard for his army of fans to believe, but Rush Limbaugh is not the top network radio personality in the country. According to the latest RADAR information, Paul Harvey continues to ride the top of the ratings. His shows are in five of the top 10 network ratings slots. (R&R, 12/17/99)

Thrill

There's good news for anyone curious about what goes on behind the scenes in a local television news operation.

TLC (The Learning Channel) has produced a series of hour-long specials showing newsrooms in three different markets-Miami, Denver and Los Angeles. The Miami station, WTVJ, is to be featured on TLC during the month of February.

Producer Neil Cohen said, "Viewers get a voyeuristic thrill by getting to peek into these places." (Broadcasting & Cable 12/20/99)

Same ole

If the news you see on the TV has a sameness in its look, you're not imagining things. And the situation may soon get worse.

CBS, NBC and Fox have signed a news sharing agreement that provides the three with the ability to share coverage of routine stories such as press conferences. One crew can be assigned and act as a pool for all three.

But the pact goes beyond the no-brainer coverage to offer its cooperative members a back-up in case one of them misses a breaking story. The newly created Network News Service would share such coverage with all affiliates of the member networks.

The service is not being forced upon network affiliates, but is being offered to them as an option for newsfeeds. There would be no cost to the local stations, but they would give up market exclusivity. This is already the case with CNN newsfeed affiliation, which can have multiple subscribers in a television market. (Broadcasting & Cable, 1/3)

Top dog

A St. Louis Internet radio operation is one of the top-rated sites in the U.S., according to figures just released by Arbitron.

WWW.93x.com is ranked ninth in the country in the most recent cumulative listening figures with a monthly audience of 32,400. This total represents the number of different people who listened to the site's music during October 1999. (Radio World, 1/19)

Tuning out

Radio station owners are facing an interesting dilemma: Revenue forecasts show an upward trend, but listenership is declining.

The Communications Industry Forecast, compiled and published by Veronis, Suhler & Associates, predicts an increase in advertising revenues between now and 2003. It cautions, though, that the medium has seen a decline in listeners that will continue. In 1998, according to the report, the number of people listening fell 2 percent, and that trend is expected to continue. In addition, the amount of listening done by individuals is predicted to fall.

The report says the amount of radio listening in the home is dropping. The favorite place to listen remains in a car.

HERE

By Ed Bishop

On the surface the change of editors at St. Louis magazine seems strange. City magazines are supposed to be, well, urbane. They're filled with photographs of local celebrities and columns about fine food and spreads on women's fashions and amusing literary essays that can be savored on slow Sunday afternoons. They run in-depth profiles on artists and symphony musicians. They carry slick, full-color ads for things like custom-built homes and Waterford crystal.

Once in awhile, city magazines will surprise you and publish hard-hitting investigative journalism. But even those pieces have a fairly high level of sophistication about them.

And, if Harper Barnes, the editor who's leaving St. Louis magazine, is anything, it's sophisticated-not to mention literary, smart and urbane. Harper seemed like the perfect editor for Ray Hartmann's city magazine.

On the other hand, urbane isn't the first word that comes to mind when you think of Richard Byrne, the new editor. Rich is best known in St. Louis for the edgy, sometimes over-the-top media column he wrote for the Riverfront Times for years. His style is irreverent, fast and loose, even vulgar when compared with Harper's. Rich is more rock 'n' roll and wrestling than symphonies and oil paintings. The change seems strange.

But, looking beneath the surface, it could be a great move.

For more than a decade, city magazines have had one overwhelming problem-nobody reads them.

Dozens of well-established city magazines have gone under in the last 20 years. They're very expensive to publish, very complicated to produce and very difficult to distribute. What's worse, city magazines reflect a life style that hasn't been current since the 1950s. Let's face it, most people who live in St. Louis-or any mid-sized American metropolitan area, for that matter-don't sit around sipping Beaujolais nouveau while they read their Marcel Proust. We're more shave-your-hair-into-the-shape-of-rams'-horns-and-dye-it-blue-and-gold kinda folks.

Like her sister magazines, St. Louis magazine was going nowhere. Apparently, it was doing all right financially but not great guns. Apparently, it had a solid subscriber base, although that was slipping. It was fairly interesting most of the time. But it wasn't shaking the Richter Scale in St. Louis media.

Why not take a chance?

Maybe Byrne can create something new, something never thought of before, something that will reverberate with readers. I'm pulling for him.

The great pitfall, of course, is advertisers.

For a little more than a year in the early 1990s, I was the editor of a Pulitzer publication called St. Louis People, a version of a city magazine. I tried to make it edgy and interesting. My philosophy was no celebrities. I had my writers only do articles on ordinary people who had done extraordinary things. I also tried to use writers who would go for the jugular, not write puff pieces. I thought it worked pretty well. The advertisers didn't. It didn't help that the people selling ads weren't getting much help from the corporate bosses. But they weren't and it folded.

I also spent a lot of years at the Riverfront Times. I got to watch Hartmann up close and personal. Ray has an uncanny ability-he has a genius, a genuine genius, for shaping advertisers to editorial content, rather than the other way around. If Hartmann collaborates with Byrne on a new kind of city magazine, I wouldn't bet against them.

And nobody has to feel sorry for Harper Barnes either. He walked away on his own two feet. No one fired him. I'm sure he could have stayed at the magazine if he had wanted to. But he has plenty of other important things to do-like meeting those novel deadlines that publishers are so picky about.

THERE

By Charles L. Klotzer

The AOL/Time Warner/EMI mergers have been covered practically by every media and broadcast outlet in this country if not in the world. Even the threats of conflicts of interests, undue influence upon news, and incestuous promotions have been explored, although fleetingly.

What is left to say?

What has not penetrated to the public, in our view, is how this merger may affect day-to-day life. The average person cannot escape using one or probably several of AOL/Time Warner/EMI offerings every day.

The very idea that one business concern has contact and influence over the minds of every citizen should stir up the concerns of every legislator.

Are we exaggerating? The following partial list of businesses owned or partially owned by the merged conglomerates provide the answer. Ownership is a tangled mess next to impossible to delineate for the outsider. We make no claim that the list is complete or even accurate in every detail. It has been assembled from various sources and clippings. Look it over and find how many of these enterprises touch your life.

CNN NEWS GROUP

CNN Interactive

CNNfn

AllPolitics

CNNSI

CNNenEspanol

CNN/Sports Illustrated

HBO (10 channels)

HBO

Cinemax

Comedy Central

HBO Home Video

HBO Home Satellite

HBO Direct

HBO Multichannel

TIME INC.

Asia Now

Asiaweek

Baby Talk

Book-of-the-Month Club

CNNSi

Coastal Living

Cooking Light

Entertainment Weekly

Fortune

Fortune Business Report

Health

In Style

Life

Little, Brown and Company

Mad Magazine

Money

Money Daily

Parenting

ParentTime

People

People en Espanol

People Daily

Progressive Farmer

Southern Accents

Southern Living

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated For Kids

Sunset

Teen People

This Old House

Time

Time Daily

Time Digital

Time for Kids

Time Life

Time Life Books

Wallpaper

Warner Books

WARNER BROS. (51,200 Films and Titles)

Warner Bros. Online

DC Comics

Entertaindom

WB Television Network

Kids WB

Warner Bros. Animation

Warner Home Video

Warner Bros. Studio Stores

NEW LINE CINEMA

New Line Cinema

Fine Line

New Line Auction

New Line Online Store

WARNER MUSIC GROUP

(6 plus labels, 1 million copyrights)

Atlantic Records

CD Now

Ear

The D.A.V.E. (Direct Audio Video Express)

Elektra Records

Ivy Hill/Warner Media Services

Kinetic Records

Maverick Records

Reprise Records

Rhino Records

Sire Records

TotalE

Columbia House Records

Warner Bros. Publications

Warner Bros. Records

Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

Warner Classics International

WAMO

TIME WARNER CABLE

(34 clusters, 13 million customers)

Mapquest

NY1

Road Runner

LOCAL CABLE SITES

Berkshires

West Valley, CA

Southern, CA

Bakersfield, CA

Tampa Bay, FL

Georgia

Terre Haute, IN

Mid-South

Maine

Kansas City, MO

Lincoln, NE

Albany, NY

Binghampton, NY

Corning, NY

Elmira, NY

Ithaca, NY

New York, NY

Syracuse, NY

Greater Raleigh/Durham/Fayetteville/Goldsboro,NC

Charlotte, NC

Wilmington, NC

Northeast, OH

Western, OH

Cincinnati, OH

Columbus, OH

Sayre, PA

San Antonio, TX

Austin, TX

El Paso, TX

Houston, TX

Milwaukee, WI

TURNER BROADCAST SYSTEM (TBS)

TBS Superstation Franchises

TBS Superstation Original

Turner Network Television (TNT) Original Films

TNT Specials

TNT Franchises

Cartoon Network Original (CNO) Series

CNO Franchises

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) Original

TCM Franchises

Turner Sports Programming

Turner South

TNT Europe

Cartoon Network Europe

TNT Latin America

Cartoon Network Latin

America

TNT & Cartoon Network Asia, Pacific

Rough Cut (Movies)

Atlanta Braves (Baseball)

Atlanta Hawks (Basketball)

Atlanta Thrashers (Hockey)

World Championship Wrestling

The Goodwill Games

Boomerang (Spring 2000)

Joint Ventures

Cartoon Network Japan

Court TV

MISCELLANEOUS

Castle Rock

Central Florida News 13

Hanna Barbara

Mutual Funds

Oxmoor House

Telepictures Production

Time Warner Digital Media

Weight Watchers

Who Weekly

Your Company

EMI RECORDS

Beatles

Frank Sinatra Records

AOL

AOL Europe

AOL Instant Messenger

AOL Movie Fone

Compuserve

Digital City

ICQ

Netscape

Oxygin Meida

Spinner.com

Winamp

CO-OWNED

Columbia House

Comedy Central

Music Choice

Road Runner

EVERYWHERE

Sharpened clause

The controversial broadcasting practice of offering air talent employment contracts with non-compete clauses has caught the attention of Missouri State Senator William Clay.

The senator introduced Senate Bill 569 recently in an effort to ban the practice in Missouri. It has the backing of the national performers' union, AFTRA (the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), which is mounting campaigns to eliminate the practice in several states.

Clay said, "On-air personalities work hard to get to the positions they're in. Why shouldn't they be allowed to go into free market and shop their expertise?"

Opposition to Clay's proposal comes from the Missouri Broadcasters Association. Their argument is that broadcasters aren't the only ones subjected to the non-compete restrictions, and an officer of the group questioned why Clay didn't target other industries like computer companies, banks or beauty shops. Clay's response: "Nobody from banks or beauty shops approached me."

-Frank Absher

News hole

The St. Louis Journalism Review believes in competition. This would be a better place to live if the St. Louis Globe-Deomcrat and the St. Louis Sun were still around. So we believe St. Louis will miss the 5 p.m. newscast on KDNL (Channel 30). It was eliminated in early January.

Channel 30 is in the process of eliminating the jobs of some anchors, reporters and producers. The station says the reason for the cutback is economic. But the station had already created an environment where success was unobtainable.

Granted, the station faced many obstacles. It had to create, then quickly expand a news department where none existed before-that meant hiring a lot of people, building a newsroom, buying expensive equipment and vehicles. It is the only UHF station in a VHF market-without cable, its signal is more difficult to tune in. With cable, it appears on a different channel number on each system. It was also preparing to take on three television stations, each with 40 years of news producing experience.

Those significant obstacles could have been overcome as they have been elsewhere. Television stations in other cities found themselves with a new network affiliation and the same challenges. The difference is that in the other cities, the obstacles were turned into opportunities.

The seeds of the latest cutback at Channel 30 were sewn in those early days; first, with the decision to do only two newscasts per day when the other stations were adding or expanding morning and mid-day programs, second, the station skimped on equipment buying industrial-grade, instead of the sturdier broadcast-grade machinery. Then the station ran through a handful of general managers and another handful of news directors. Sets changed. Graphics changed. Philosophies changed. The staff grew cynical. The viewers tuned out.

Through earlier layoffs and the current cutbacks, it is becoming clear to us that the current owners of Channel 30 are conceding that they cannot compete and are essentially giving up.

That's bad-bad for the community, which benefits by the competition, and bad for the staff, which was comprised of some of the city's best writers, reporters and photographers.

It is our hope that Channel 30's ownership situation is soon resolved and that the station's new owners take their commitment to news and their responsibility to the St. Louis community more seriously.

-Ed Bishop

Panic attack

It was a dark and stormy night. . . .

Maybe. Or maybe not. Depends on what television station you were watching at 10 o'clock on Dec. 14, a night that was chill and blustery; us older types, with an eye on the sky, would feel a possibility of snow.

Well, KSDK (Channel 5), using John Fuller, in the absence of perky Cindy Preszler, warned of major problems by the morning rush hour, with high winds, falling temperatures and snow, maybe up to two inches. On the other hand, KMOV's (Channel 4) Kent Erhardt dismissed reports of impending disaster as nonsense.

"Don't worry about a thing," he said, pointing out that the ground temperatures were well above freezing and that if there were any snow, which he doubted, it would not stick.

As they say, less is more, and maybe that holds true for meteorologists too. On Wednesday morning, the streets were slightly damp, but neither lawn nor sidewalk displayed a snowflake.

-Joe Pollack

Tough questions

Some very tough questions for presidential candidates have been raised by Morton Mintz, a retired investigative reporter for the Washington Post and a former reporter for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat and the St. Louis Star-Times. They are the kind of questions that no reporter has asked publicly so far. Here are his questions:

"As a candidate for public office will you take campaign contributions from oil companies-like Exxon, Mobil, Arco and others-which cheated taxpayers out of billions of dollars owed for oil pumped from public land?"

"If elected, will you investigate drug pricing by companies like Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Novartis and others, which charge Americans more for drugs that in other countries they sell for much less?"

"Do you support ongoing efforts in Congress to rewrite bankruptcy laws to benefit the credit card companies that ceaselessly entice consumers to assume more debt?"

Mintz's questions were written for Tom Paine, a journal of opinion, and appeared Jan. 5 on the op-ed page of The New York Times, as a paid advertisement.

A prolific writer, Mintz is best known as the reporter who broke the story about thalidomide, the drug that caused horrible defects in children around the world. He has written a half dozen books, including "At Any Cost: Corporate Greed, Women and the Dalkon Shield" (1991); He also wrote "The Therapeutic Nightmare:" A report on prescription drugs, the Men who Make them and the Agency that Controls them," 1965. Another book was "America, Inc.: Who Owns and Operates the U.S." which was written with Jeffry S. Cohen in 1971.

Mintz, a graduate of the University of Michigan, served three years in the Navy in World War II. Then he came to St. Louis and began his newspaper career on the old Star-Times. Later he worked for the Globe-Democrat. He spent 30 years of his 50-year newspaper career on the Washington Post, chiefly as an investigative reporter. He was offered promotions to city editor but always turned down the offers. His wife calls him the "last angry man."

-Selwyn Pepper

Re-employed

Al Arno, the advertising salesman who was arrested for boarding a school bus in Kirkwood and yelling and throwing things on students-and fired by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch-has gotten got his job back.

The St. Louis Newspaper Guild appealed the firing and an arbitrator ruled in late December that Arno should be returned to his position.

Arno lost his cool the afternoon of Sept. 16, when someone on the school bus threw white paint, or correction fluid, from a bus window. It splattered Arno's car. He stopped the bus, got on it and yelled at some of the students, who were also yelling at him. He was accused of throwing the contents of a trash can on them, spitting and throwing water from a bottle and soda from a can.

Police were called and watched as one student hit Arno on the head with a book bag. Arno went on to work and was later cited by police for municipal misdemeanor assault charges, mainly because of parents' complaints and the news coverage of the incident.

The Post played up the story, including allegations Arno used racial slurs. He denied it and the bus driver did too, in a deposition. The incident became grist for other media, including radio talk shows. An NAACP official was quoted as saying Arno should be held on hate crime charges.

Despite his being the Post's salesman of the year in 1998, and receiving a $5,000 bonus, Arno was fired. Dozens of letters saying he was treated unfairly were sent to the paper and to his lawyer, John A. Kilo.

The arbitrator's report said "Mr. Arno was under a great amount of employment-related stress'' and was fired "not for just cause."

Even though Post officials tried to establish that Arno had showed racial bias in the past, they came up empty-handed. The racial allegations were not part of the arbitration case.

Mike Hammett, the Post's director of industrial relations, said the arbitrator held that Arno's actions were a dischargeable offense, but ruled that he suffered from medical problems. Hammett said the company had acted properly, but agreed to abide by the arbitrator's ruling.

Arno lost about four months of back pay and benefits. After firing Arno, the Post retained the services of an outside professional to conduct a stress management program for six weeks.

Spun off

Here's an interesting concept, given the mega-radio-owners in today's deregulated broadcast universe. Does any owner actually specialize in a format? If so, who owns what?

Radio World magazine recently published an Interep study that broke down the large corporations and found some definite trends. When looking at national listener share of a particular company's holdings, Infinity owns All News (87.4 percent), Oldies (56.3 percent), Modern Rock (40.6 percent) and Country (30.4 percent). Clear Channel now owns Rock (42.2 percent), Urban (43.5 percent), CHR (49.4 percent), Classic Rock (32.7 percent) and Adult Contemporary (41.1 percent). It should be noted that the Clear Channel numbers include newly acquired AMFM stations, and some of those stations will have to be spun off.

Interep noted that format changes and the almost constant stream of station sales will mix these numbers up fairly quickly.

-Frank Absher

Bye bye birdie

Anyone who reads the St. Louis Post-Dispatch knows about the Weatherbird. He's been around for years, gracing the paper's front page. The paper has run numerous articles on the history of the Weatherbird and the artists who draw him.

So you'd think they have a pretty good reference file on the bird's history. The Post is the only home the Weatherbird has ever known. The most recent article on the history of the bird appeared Sunday, Dec. 20. Problem is, the article completely left out one of the bird's artists, Oscar Chopin.

To its credit, the paper printed a small correction two days later. Still, it makes you wonder. If they can't even get stories about their own paper right...

-Frank Absher

What's in a word

And it appears that the median is the message...

No, Marshall McLuhan is not in error, but a letter to the editor about "Imagine St. Louis," points out, "The light rail runs down the middle of the highways. Yes-the light rail serves as the medium."

If that was a direct quote from the letter-writer, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch editor should have not allowed him to look so foolish, just as the photo department should not have made an honor-winning policeman look foolish by having a cigarette in his mouth for a Page-one picture. More egregious, in terms of medium-median would be that a Post editor did not know the difference, or changed the correct word to the incorrect one by a rush to erroneous judgment.

It's difficult to tell because in the same "Imagine" section, on the next page, a discussion of the function of the newspaper points out, "This is the roll most people are comfortable with newspapers playing." Onion roll, no doubt.

-Joe Pollack

CHANNELS

Channel 5 fires news director Tim Larson

By Tripp Frohlichstein

After more than six years as news director at KSDK (Channel 5), Tim Larson is out. He was fired on Jan. 21. The station has a policy of not discussing specifics on personnel matters so official details of the termination are unavailable. Stories circulating within the newsroom, however, tell of some sort of conflict of interest relating to Larson and a cover story. Word is he left quickly after being fired. There is also speculation that his firing could be an excuse for management to put a fresh face to lead the newsroom. Recently, several reporters' contracts have not been renewed. Also there has been less than a cordial relationship with IBEW Local 4. On top of that KMOV (Channel 4) has made inroads on Channel 5's longtime lead.

A new news director could smooth over personnel matters, work with the union and inspire the newsroom staff to take a bigger lead over Channel 4.

Larson first began his career at Channel 5 in July 1992 as assistant news director. He was promoted to news director in October 1993. Longtime Channel 5 assistant news director Mike Shipley will act as interim news director. The station has already begun its search for Larson's replacement. Shipley has certainly earned the job for his long-time loyalty to Channel 5. The question is, does management want to bring an outsider in to change newsroom management's approach?

• • •

The NFC championship game garnered one of the highest ratings in St. Louis television history up to that time. The Nielson rating service measured an average 53.5 rating (a rating point is equivalent to about 11,200 homes-so that would mean about 600,000 homes tuned in the game) and a 76 share (a share point is the percentage of homes tuned in to a particular station compared to all homes using television during a specific time period). At its peak, between 6:15 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., as the game approached the final gun, KTVI (Channel 2)'s rating soared to 61.2 with an 82 share. It is likely the numbers will be even higher for the Superbowl, no doubt pleasing KDNL (Channel 30), which is carried the game.

• • •

Okay, so it's a little late but I thought it was worth a look back at some of the best, most important and most influential St. Louis television news personalities during the last half of the 20th century.

These people belong in the St. Louis Television News Hall of Fame. Some of the people mentioned may not necessarily be "the best" but have, for whatever reasons, made their mark in local TV (such as longevity-or is that survivability, creativity, uniqueness). So they deserve credit for their contributions. My apologies to those who have been inadvertently overlooked, as no doubt many have. Reader suggestions for additional "nominations" are welcomed. E-mail the St. Louis Journalism Review at [email protected].

For anchors, Julius Hunter and Karen Foss top the list. The venerable Hunter has maintained his popularity for nearly three decades and is a big reason Channel 4 threatens Channel 5 for the ratings crown.

Unlike some other past (and present) anchors, Hunter also showed he can report as well as read. I was reminded of this when I dug up some old pictures of Hunter in Rome covering former St. Louis Cardinal Carberry after the Pope had died during the late 70s. He worked tirelessly churning out reports for the St. Louis audience and bringing them the St. Louis angle of an international story.

Karen Foss also continues to be a mainstay of St. Louis television and is the single most important reason Channel 5 has been number one for most of the last 20 years. Foss remains strong because of her credibility and seeming understanding of the stories she reads. In the beginning of her successful St. Louis career, perhaps jealous competitors used to joke that Foss should be called Karen What-Color-Will-My-Hair-Be-Tonight Foss. But time has proven those snipes wrong. It is her credibility, not her good looks, that have enabled her to keep a large audience of followers.

Channel 4 also can boast other fine anchors including Max Roby (famous for his line before reading the final story, usually a humorous item, "And that would be all the news if it just hadn't been for..."), Spencer Allen (who also anchored at Channel 2), Larry Conners (who also anchored at Channel 2), Steve Schiff, Dan Gray (now at Channel 5), Russ Mitchell, Robin Smith and Patrick Emory (now at Channel 30).

When he first started at Channel 4 in the early 1970s, Emory had a major impact on the style of news in St. Louis. Emory could legitimately be called the first real personality-driven anchor in this market.

Channel 5 has given us several other Hall of Fame anchors including Foss' one-time partner Dick Ford (now at Channel 2), Deanne Lane, John Roedel, Huel Perkins, Chris Condon, Bob Chase and Stan Stovall.

Channel 2 has had, er, let me think... oh, yes, those guys I mentioned above. Susan Kidd also makes the Hall of Fame. Although her stay in St. Louis was brief, the strong anchor had a significant impact in drawing viewers to the station. Finally, there's Mandy Murphy who was promoted, too early, from a consumer reporter to anchor. She wasn't ready at the time but has since turned into a fine anchorperson.

As for Channel 30, lets just say they haven't had news on long enough.

When it comes to weathercasters in the early days, there were people like Diane White, Cliff St. James, Pat Fontaine, Jim Bolen (who was the utility infielder of television also anchoring both news and sports), the irrepressible and entertaining Ollie Raymand and That's-All-From-Here Howard DeMere. All weather pioneers, they were the "entertainment" portion of newscasts in the earlier years. They were replaced by a new breed, most with their meteorology degrees. Perhaps the top weathercaster of the modern era is Dave Murray.

First with Channel 5 and now Channel 2 (with a stint at "Good Morning America" in between), he remains the best at his craft, whether judging his forecasting skills or presentation skills. Murray was the first of the regularly scheduled meteorologists. A close second would be Mike Nelson, the former Channel 4 prognosticator who was also a great forecaster and presenter. Also of note are Trish Semi-Retired Brown, Ron Yaros, John Fuller (for his longevity if nothing else) and the late Bob Richards. We haven't had many top notch sportscasters over the years. But we have had some, led by the man who influenced sportscasting in St. Louis more than any other-Zip Rzeppa. He literally changed the face of sportscasting from a rather staid style to a flamboyant, filled with highlights style. His presentation, along with his Zippo awards, helped catapult Channel 2's ratings in the mid-1980s. Channel 5's Mike Bush is the best to come along when it comes to overall talent. He knows his stuff and delivers it better than anyone. Other sportscasting notables include the almost always sweatered Tim Van Galder, Doug Vaughn and Paul Alexander (as a sports reporter) from Channel 4; Frank Cusumano, Ron Jacober and Jay Randolph from Channel 5, "Easy" Ed McCauley and Greg Gizinski from Channel 4. As for reporters, perhaps the best television reporter of all was Dennis Riggs. Riggs understood how to be a journalist and he understood the visual nature of television. More than anyone else, he knew how to make those two factors work together. Although an aneurysm ended his broadcasting career early, he will be remembered as top notch.

Here are just some of the other better (or popular) reporters that come to mind-from all stations: Sandy Gilmour, Betsey Bruce, Don Marsh, Tom O'Neal, Al Wiman, Mike Owens, Steve Jankowski, Paul Shankmann, Jamie Allman, Matt Meagher, Jill Farmer, Aaron Mermelstein, John Auble, John Pertzborn, Roche Madden, Deanne Lane, Paul Brown, Jody Davis, Andy Banker, Phil Rozen, Herb Humphries, Chuck Neff and pharmacist Max Lieber (who was successful on Channel 2 and Channel 4 until legal troubles halted his television career).

In the public affairs arena, the late Parker Wheatley deserves his place in the local television news Hall of Fame. For many years, he toiled to bring his audience information and a variety of views on major issues.

Looking back, I tried to get a feel for the best general manager (or owner) at each station. I would vote for Spencer Koch (still GM) at Channel 2. Allan Cohen (also still GM) at Channel 4 ties with Tom Battista who was responsible for changing the style of news in St. Louis and pioneered (nationally) the all-electronic news gathering process which today is common to all the stations in the country. Then there's Bill Bolster (not always well liked but very effective) at Channel 5, Michael Hargrove at KETC (Channel 9), Ted Koplar at KPLR (Channel 11) and Barry Baker at Channel 30. The best local television columnists were St. Louis Post Dispatch critic Eric Mink and St. Louis Globe Democrat scribe Pete Rahn.

• • •

Channel 2's promotion department should be commended for their creativity. In their effort to promote Fox programs, Kathryn Hansen and staff come up with ideas that make you want to open her package and read the release. One example? A tin of Altoids relabeled as Allytoids to promote Ally McBeal.

• • •

Boy was I sorry to see Channel 30 drop to one newscast a day. It doesn't even seem to make sense and proves to St. Louis audiences the ABC affiliate isn't serious about news. This is really a sad time for the people at Channel 30, some of whom do an excellent job. Look for the other stations to pick up some of the best of the Channel 30 people, like Phil Rozen, at their earliest convenience. Even if some new owner puts in a real effort, it will be a long time before the station will gain enough credibility for people to even want to try them out.

• • •

Channel 5, "the people you knew." A good line from Post TV columnist Gail Pennington. New faces are appearing, with seemingly less experience than the likes of Jeff Fowler (I admit I miss his face on weekends). One school of thought says with Channel 4 on the doorstep (and remaining stable-note the signing of Julius Hunter for four more years), this is a mistake as people will turn to what is familiar to them and what makes them comfortable-a St. Louis market trait. The other school of thought says Channel 5 became too staid and familiar, therefore boring. The changes there might give the station's newscasts a new, much needed, breath of life. Only time, and ratings, will tell which is correct.

• • •

Is it a newsroom's job to promote a cause or simply report on it? The lines were blurred on Channel 5 when the station told viewers that a police officer from Colorado who was involved in the Columbine incident (he was at the high school early on during the tragedy) would be in St. Louis giving a lecture. The anchor noted groups such as police officers "are encouraged to attend." Who is encouraging them? How does Channel 5 know this is the right audience. That sounds as if that line was contained in the news release and the person writing the story simply copied it from the release. To keep objectivity, it should have been written that the sponsoring organization says groups such as police officers are encouraged to attend. That way, it doesn't sound like a Channel 5 endorsement.

• • •

It is important for reporters to know where they are. Part-time Channel 5 reporter Tara Lynn on Jan. 21 told early morning viewers she was reporting from Crestview. That's CrestWOOD. St. Louisians get upset enough when reporters mispronounce names of streets and communities. It's even worse when they get it wrong altogether.

• • •

Despite Channel 5's troubles, you have to admire the station's continued efforts with Volunteer 5. The program, which finds volunteers for groups representing worthy causes, has remained a consistent force for more than seven years now. I can think of no other station with a community project continuing for that long (the stations do, of course, continue to find ways to help the community-they just keep changing them). The station claims more than 2.2. million volunteer hours have been contributed by people in the region. Turned into 40-hour weeks, it's equivalent to more than 1050 years of volunteer time. Channel 5 says the airtime spent per week would be worth $20,000 if sold as commercial time.

In TV it's here today, gone tomorrow

By David Cohen

When I was 5 years old, a disc jockey on my favorite radio station disappeared. One day he was there, the next his time space was filled by someone else. There was no word on where my favorite had gone. No mention on the air, nothing in the newspapers. That was my first exposure to the transient nature of radio and television.

Broadcasting has always been a mobile profession. Those who populate the jobs in the industry are peripatetic. It is not uncommon for a reporter, producer, photographer or news director to present a resumé showing job changes on an annual or biannual basis. It is how the broadcasting establishment works. Smaller markets serve as a training ground for the larger markets.

At one time, St. Louis was one of the larger television markets. However, as the country's population has shifted, so has our city's ranking. We are now the 21st largest television market. When I moved here in 1986, St. Louis was number 15. That slippage-owed more to the growth of cities such as Tampa, Phoenix and Sacramento than the somewhat stable St. Louis population-has resulted in subtle changes to the business of television.

One change is that St. Louis is no longer a destination for many broadcast journalists. It has, for some, become another stop on the career train.

A second example of the change is that the economics of the market are different. Advertising changes.

No longer a Top 20 market, St. Louis sees less national advertising. Some national advertisers will not purchase air time in smaller markets, turning their money instead to syndicated shows, network television or to demographically targeted cable networks. Local advertising fills the void, but usually with more effort and at a lower price. Network compensation to local stations-money paid by the networks to stations to carry their programs-is also dictated by market size. While compensation is tied to long-term contracts, the networks have been reducing compensation levels as these pacts are renewed. So, as an example, a station that received $5 million per year from the network as a station in the 19th largest market may get only $3 million per year as a station in the 21st largest market. When revenues get squeezed, budgets get cut or do not grow.

Since personnel costs are the largest line item in a newsroom budget, cutting the cost of those personnel becomes a prime goal. Newsroom managers can achieve that goal by keeping a lid on salary increases or by replacing higher cost people with those earning less. One of the larger broadcasting companies researches and publishes an annual "confidential" survey of salaries in each television market in the country. That survey is widely distributed to station owners. It breaks down the pay rates by job category and market size. In smaller markets, average wages are lower. So as the city's television market size drops, it becomes a goal of station ownership to match salaries against the average in their category.

That creates a challenge for those who have chosen to make St. Louis their home. Double-digit wage increases become more difficult to obtain, and coming to agreement on smaller increases is more spirited.

Television stations also do a lot of audience research to identify the popularity of their reporters and anchors. A newsroom favorite may not rate well among viewers. Sometimes, viewers are unable to differentiate one reporter from another. When it comes to negotiating pay, economics and popularity weigh as heavily as skills.

The job evolution process in a television station is not necessarily tidy, but it follows somewhat of a natural course. The people who have come to St. Louis to work in the area's television stations left jobs elsewhere. They came here to earn more money, or to become an anchor, or to be a producer in a larger market. Some have returned home, to the city they grew up in, after learning their craft working in a series of smaller markets.

Most of the time these changes are gradual. Sometimes television stations go through major personnel changes which overnight alter the look of the station. We have experienced this at every television station in St. Louis. Sometimes the changes are positive, and sometimes they are not and the stations become well-deserved targets.

Viewers get comfortable with the people they see on television. When old faces disappear or when new faces arrive there is a period of discomfort. It is natural to wonder why changes are necessary or to make fun of the newcomers' pronunciations. Here in St. Louis, we have been fortunate to have been exposed to highly skilled reporters and anchors and to see the work of the teams of producers and photographers who work alongside them. Many of those who have come from other cities have adopted St. Louis as their home. Many others have left for other, sometimes greener pastures. Sometimes they went on their own-sometimes they were pushed.

Yes, we will miss those who departed. Some left for the wrong reasons. But it is important to remember that just as they filled someone else's shoes someone will fill theirs.

Mystery surrounds Larson leaving KSDK (Channel 5)

By Alex Posorske

What exactly happened at KSDK (Channel 5) on Friday, Jan. 21?

In terms of straight facts, all that is known is that long-time News Director Tim Larson was fired, rather abruptly. Sources at Channel 5 mutter rumors that his firing was a result of a conflict of interest over a story or some sort of compromising of a source.

But nobody seems to want to say anything.

When Larson was reached on the phone, within three seconds his response was, "I can't comment."

Asked again, he said, "I just can't comment," and immediately ended the conversation.

SJR had no luck with Channel 5 Public-Relations Manager Lisa Bedian either.

"It's been a long standing policy at our station not to talk about personnel matters," she said when questioned on the reasons behind Larson's termination.

Bedian was willing to share information about Larson's background and the future of the news director position at Channel 5.

But every time the conversation steered toward Larson's quick send off, she would respond with the Channel 5 mantra.

For the record, Larson came to Channel 5 in 1992 as the assistant news director after previous stints in Detroit and Cincinnati. He took over as news director at Channel 5 from Cliff Abermats in October 1993.

The firing of Larson breaks another link in the chain of reminders of what Channel 5 used to be. Back in the early part of the last decade, when Multimedia Co. owned the station, Channel 5 dominated the St. Louis market more than any other station in a major market nationwide.

But since Gannett bought out the station five years ago it seems to have been a slow downhill slide as KMOV (Channel 4) has gradually inched upwards.

Some sources also said that Larson's firing was an excuse for the management at Channel 5 to bring in more new blood and change the look of the station. Six months ago the station started making personnel changes. But apparently, no one is quite sure what is going on down at "Television Plaza" right now.

Assistant News Director Mike Shipley has taken over on an interim basis, but the station does not seem to have any long-term plans for him. Bedian said that the position is open and that applications are currently being accepted.

SPORTS/MEDIA

Super Bowl means super media hype

By Joe Pollack

First-time Super Bowl teams always show a huge excess of everything, including coverage, civic nonsense and all possible hoopla. In pro football, or pro football writing, nothing exceeds like excess.

The Rams, a great surprise to everyone in the community, certainly deserve some adoration and adulation. The turn around was spectacular, regardless of whether or not they beat Tennessee, and the team and coaching staff both deserve all the congratulations they will get.

But it seems slightly abnormal when the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, supposedly battling excessive expenses at every turn, sends 26 people to Atlanta for a week's worth of coverage on every possible level, and that does not include newspaper executives who may go for the weekend as a public relations or ad-selling gesture. Of course, KTVI (Channel 2) sent 13 people.

And Bernie Miklasz notably and nobly stood up on Jan. 24 to the adolescent, gloating, trash-talking and highly non-professional attitudes shown by many of the Rams during and after the victory over Tampa Bay. Billy Jenkins, for example, showed all the worst of non-playing excessiveness by taunting Trent Dilfer, the injured Titans quarterback who was not even in uniform, but standing on the sidelines.

Apparently, some of the bad feelings continued in the tunnel between the field and the locker rooms, and there was some pushing, shoving and maybe punching involving players on both teams. It was bad enough that the police got into it, and a report was filed. The New York Times mentioned the fracas and possible police action and media reaction three days later.

Post coverage seemed muted, though the newspaper devoted lots of space to a New York Rangers hockey player picked up with a prostitute and some drug paraphernalia on the East Side.

At least the situation was not buried and denied, the way Clayton police responded after an incident involving a member of the Rams at J. Buck's one evening.

Obviously nothing else has happened besides football, though it would have been nice to have seen some coverage of the Iowa caucuses, especially the participation of John Ashcroft, who served as a surrogate for George W. Bush while sucking up to Gary Bauer and other Pat Robertson disciples of the Christian right. Ashcroft's support of Bush is interesting in terms of the Missouri senator's prior statements about abortion. He speaks strongly against it, in any situation, while Bush remains wishy-washy as ever.

• • •

NO WONDER THEY BACKED OFF: Bill and Nancy Laurie, the latest Sam Walton relatives to try on the St. Louis Sports Tycoon crown, have decided against buying the Vancouver Grizzlies, an NBA franchise guaranteed to lose money in large amounts. The Walton Family didn't reach its financial position by losing money, even in small amounts.

Seattle, which apparently has more sports-interested millionaires than any other city in the nation, is home to John McCaw, who wanted to sell to the Lauries for $150 million or so. But the deal had more twists and turns than a small intestine, and the Lauries showed some smarts in turning away.

The Post, for whatever reason (maybe everyone covering the Rams, or maybe no department members who understand basketball), covered the introduction and aftermath of the story from the business department, with Christopher Carey pursuing the story. At one point, he found a glorious quote in the Vancouver Sun, attributed to Stan McCammon, a McCaw aide.

"I think we're getting closer to understanding what the options might be as they relate to certain concerns, and so, in a sense, it's a little bit status quo," he said.

That certainly clarifies the situation, and at the same time, qualifies as one of the best quotes of the entire millennium.

• • •

The John Rocker situation, sickening and frightening as it may be, does create a few questions, like where were the Atlanta sports writers? I find it hard to believe that Rocker's ridiculous thinking suddenly occurred when the Sports Illustrated reporter spoke with him. Was he polite and did he keep his mouth shut in the locker room and on the field all summer, or were the Atlanta writers protecting him?

The Cincinnati writers let Marge Schott hang on her own verbiage.

Let's see if baseball takes the same stand on a player it did on an owner.

It's always interesting to realize how unthinking many athletes are in regard to the media. I remember when MacArthur Lane popped off in a Philadelphia locker room one day, blaming Bill Bidwill's girth on the fact he wore his money belt all the time and calling the Cardinals' owner several other uncomplimentary, unprintable things.

By the time the team plane landed in St. Louis, local writers were busily asking Lane to expand on his remarks. I was working for the team, and the next day Mac came into my office, dumbfounded. He never gave a thought to the speed of communications, or the fact that once a story was out, everyone was free to deal with it.

There was precedent for Mac's action. Earlier that season, Bob Broeg had caused some hard feelings when he compared some of the Cardinals' running backs' speed and maneuverability to those of Aunt Jemima. A comparison to Dolly Madison, while more politically correct, was no less accurate.

And one day, Mac was in my office when Bob Burnes came in, spoke, and held out his hand. Mac declined, and after a few false starts, said he preferred not to talk to someone who made the Aunt Jemima comparison.

Burnes protested that he was not guilty, and I backed him up, both of us identifying the real culprit. Mac stammered a little, apologized and added, "Well, I guess I shouldn't have just had lunch with Mr. Broeg."

Student reporters embarrass Schnucks

By Don Corrigan

When Webster Groves High School student reporters began their undercover story on teen smoking, they never dreamed it would get a "promo" on KSDK (Channel 5). But St. Louis TV news got the scoop on their reporting project after an incident at the local supermarket.

Reporters on the Echo student newspaper received television news coverage after their investigation hit a snag at the Schnucks Supermarket at 8650 Big Bend Blvd. A manager at the grocery took issue with their reporting, asked for their camera and destroyed film for the story.

"Seizing reporters' film and destroying it is definitely wrong and is certainly a First Amendment issue, which is why TV news probably picked it up," said Donald Johnson, a faculty member at the high school and adviser to the Echo newspaper.

Reporter Mike Owens of Channel 5 covered the incident on Monday, Jan. 10, as the lead story on Channel 5's 10 p.m. newscast. The following Tuesday morning, the phones in student newspaper adviser Johnson's office were ringing with more press inquiries.

Also on that Tuesday, Jan. 11, Schnucks' spokesperson Marie Casey said supermarket officials regretted the incident. Casey said the store co-manager, Jane Cooper, would meet with students for an apology and a gift of five rolls of film. Casey added that free developing would be provided.

"Schnucks regrets this unfortunate incident," said Casey. "Our store's co-manager has acknowledged that she did not handle the situation well."

Mark Goodman, an attorney and the executive director of the Student Press Law Center (SPLC) located in Arlington, Va., lamented that incidents involving harassment of the student press are all too common. SPLC documents such abuses in its quarterly reports. Its staff advises students on their legal rights as journalists.

"This is not a problem confined to the student press," said Goodman. "All news organizations get this kind of harassment in trying to cover sensitive stories. But the student press take a lot more abuse. There's a feeling out there: 'Well, these are just kids pretending to be reporters. This is play journalism.' "

Goodman can cite plenty of "play journalism" by students that later became big news in the mainstream press. He can also point to legal costs incurred by organizations and companies that failed to recognize that student journalists have First Amendment rights.

Echo reporting students were involved in an undercover reporting project in which under-age students attempted to purchase cigarettes at area stores. Twelve stores were entered and six sold cigarettes to the minors, according to adviser Johnson. One of those stores selling to minors was the local Schnucks, according to Echo editor Amy Cook and project reporters, Hilary Johnson and Katie Zach.

"I was a little surprised when the girls came into the Echo office with six packs of cigarettes and asked if they could get reimbursed," said adviser Johnson. "I didn't want them doing anything illegal, and in retrospect, I wish I had told them not to actually purchase cigarettes if the offer was there.

"They came up with the idea of checking out the stores, but it's only a small part of their centerspread on the tobacco problem," said Johnson. "There are also stories on the new city ordinance on tobacco sales, an article with 10 ways to kick the habit and a survey on how many kids are smoking at the high school."

Johnson said the six stores selling tobacco to minors will be named in the story. Johnson said he told the students it was only fair to go back to those six stores and get comments from managers about their policies and what happened with the sales to under-age purchasers.

When the students approached store co-manager Jane Cooper at Schnucks for comment, the incident involving the camera and destruction of film ensued.

"According to the students, Mrs. Cooper told them that fake IDs must have been used to purchase the cigarettes," noted Johnson. "When the reporters tried to leave the store, she reportedly told them, 'We're going to settle this right here.' That's when she demanded the camera, got the film out and cut it up."

Goodman said the SPLC always advises students not to engage in illegal activities as part of a story. He said undercover stories-such as those involving purchase of tobacco or alcohol by minors-can always present problems.

"We advise that in such stories the students stop right at the point of purchase," said Goodman. "Another option is to tell law enforcement what you are doing, so they are aware of your project. There can be problems with this, however, because reporters don't want to get into the position of doing undercover work for police.

"I think the Webster students can be praised on a number of counts," added Goodman. "They were right to surrender the film rather than to engage in a big confrontation. And they were doing the right thing to return to the grocery to try to get its side of the story before naming it as a business that sold cigarettes illegally to minors."

Casey, spokesperson for Schnucks, said the store regretted the camera incident and was also investigating the allegation that cigarettes were sold illegally to minors.

"As far as any illegal purchases of cigarettes go, we are issuing a statement to all stores asking clerks to seek identification for anyone who looks age 27 or younger on cigarette sales," said Casey. "Identification must be provided showing that purchasers are 21 years of age.

"Schnucks is investigating the situation of the alleged cigarette sales to the Webster Groves High School minors," added Casey. "If it's discovered that a clerk did not use proper procedure in selling tobacco products, there will be a reprimand."

As SJR went to press, the Echo reporting on teen tobacco was slated to appear in the paper's Jan. 31 issue. The Echo planned to name the businesses that have violated laws on selling tobacco to minors, according to Johnson.

"The problem of illegal sales to minors is a part of what this story project is all about," said Johnson. "The administration here at the high school has been supportive of the project. I told principal Pat Voss right away what was going on when I heard about the sales to minors and the Schnucks incident.

"I frankly expected that there might be some concern about all this hitting when the district has a tax issue coming up," added Johnson. "But I haven't had any pressure from any administrators about this project. Pat Voss said that we have to go about business as usual-we can't second guess ourselves all the time because there is a tax hike coming up on the ballot."

SPLC's Goodman said that school districts are not always so supportive of their school newspapers and the student reporters. Districts do not like student publications giving local businesses a black eye. And some administrators expect high school newspaper advisers to rein in such projects before they get into print.

Goodman cited a similar high school reporting project on tobacco and minors in Blue Springs, Mo., that resulted in attempts to censor the school newspaper. The adviser to the school paper was subsequently removed and the students responded with litigation against the district.

"School districts need to have some backbone and support students when they are doing good hard-hitting journalism," said SPLC's Goodman. "Unfortunately, in the aftermath of the 1988 Hazelwood ruling by the Supreme Court, many school districts give into the temptation to quash anything that could be controversial."

New mag editor signals change in content

By Matthew Hathaway

In the span of just over a year, Richard Byrne has gone from reporter and media critic for the Riverfront Times to academic to freelance foreign correspondent. But it's his latest transformation to editor of St. Louis magazine that might seem the most out of character.

Nationally, city magazines tend to offer an odd coupling of progressive politics and foppish reporting on style and fashion. A profile of an unsung community activist might be followed by a review of a tony condo development complimented by glossy Rolex and Tiffany ads. That's the nature of a city magazine, and St. Louis magazine isn't any different.

That Byrne, a mainstay of local alternative journalism and longtime critic of the mainstream press, would find himself in the number one post at a city magazine is more than a little surprising, even to him.

"If you would have asked me a year ago, I would say no way would I be working in this direction," he said.

Byrne left St. Louis after receiving a Pew grant to study international journalism in Sarajevo. When the fellowship was over, he quit the RFT and stayed on in the Balkans working as a freelance correspondent. His return to St. Louis coincided with Harper Barnes' decision to step down as St. Louis Magazine editor after nearly three years.

One of Byrne's conditions for accepting the position was that he could move the magazine to, what he called, "a newsier look." But this change will have to be accomplished on a smaller budget, one that Byrne himself had to slash after taking the job. In addition, the managing editor position has been eliminated after the magazine's number two, Julia Hanna, recently stepped down.

Although he took the top position at the struggling city magazine in mid-December, his editorial influence probably won't be evident until the March edition. He's keeping most of his new ideas for the magazine under wraps for the present, but readers are likely to see a younger, edgier St. Louis magazine.

Byrne plans on shortening regular features, giving Joe Pollack a high profile back page column and recruiting some younger writers. Fashion, style and celebrity stories will still be important to the publication, although expect to see more hard-hitting editorial creeping in the magazine during the next several months.

"There is a very specific form to city magazines and I think you really need to master the form before you can start tinkering with it," Byrne said. "What I'm not going to do is eradicate what our present readers like, but what you are going to see is a lot of change in the front of the book."

He added: "If I'm going to take a buzz saw to anything, I'm taking a buzz saw to editorial to lower [the age of] the demographic."

Despite the magazine's lagging circulation, especially among younger readers, Barnes says that the decision to step down as editor was entirely his own.

"My three-year contract was up in August, and I had never planned on staying more than three years anyway," Barnes said. "But I think that if I wanted to stay longer, I could have." He added that he wanted more time for writing, both for the magazine and an upcoming book.

However, Barnes says there was some difference of opinion with the owner over the magazine's direction. "I think Ray Hartmann wanted to make the magazine more edgy and I tried to make it more literary."

AM/FM

In Nashville old-tyme radio still going strong

By Larry Hoffman

A weekend trip to Nashville for a professional conference yielded nuggets of radio-related happenings, not the least of which was a visit to the historic home of the Grand Ole Opry, Ryman Auditorium, a 19th century church with timeless charm and perfect acoustics. It wasn't until I spotted TNN uplink vans outside that I realized our 6 p.m. arrival was related to a live telecast, in addition to the decades-old radio version carried on clear-channel WSM-AM (650 AM).

The audience was treated to a typical warm-up routine by the WSM announcer, and the show quickly got under way. A glance at the program was a pleasant surprise, mainly because the group's expectations were for generic country acts, mostly unknown, and other side shows.

Divided into individually sponsored half hour segments, the Opry kicked off with the blindingly sequined Porter Wagoner, warming to the crowd and serving to introduce one outstanding act after another on the Ryman's century-old stage.

Titan fever was pervasive this night before their loss to the Rams, with local fans calling their opponents a "four letter word," and this columnist keeping a low profile.

Among the acts were Charley Pride, Lorrie Morgan, Ricky Skaggs, "Little" Jimmy Dickens, an ailing but spirited Skeeter Davis, and the amazing Melvin Sloan Dancers, a square dance troupe. Each act had its own combination of backup musicians and the high energy level continued for two and a half hours. The 7:30-8 p.m. segment was televised on TNN, though the entire evening was beamed over WSM, complete with classic live commercials for Martha White baking products and Goo Goo candies, among others, lending the aura of a time warp to the presentation.

The previous night, the conference's evening entertainment featured budding country artist Mary Sue England at the legendary Wildhorse Saloon, a former TNN television venue.

The Wildhorse also houses the studios of WSM-FM, which gave an amusing weather forecast calling for "not more than one tenth of an inch of ice." Fortunately, it never materialized.

The Opry wrapped up its month-long engagement at what "Little" Jimmy Dickens called the "Mother Church" of country music and returns to the newly renovated Grand Ole Opry facility next week. This famous Nashville destination delivered a highly recommended evening of live performances which covered a wide range of country music flavors from mainstream to bluegrass to gospel.

• • •

Local Parkway Central middle school student and music fan Philip Fasano, Jr., was in the right place at the right time as his family prepared to board a sightseeing helicopter on Maui during Christmas break. Ahead of the Fasanos in line were an unassuming couple in their late teens, correctly identified by Philip's mom Judy as Top 40 sensations Britney Spears and N'Sync's Justin Timberlake. The duo was very friendly and approachable, and posed for photographs with family members.

Britney said she was in Hawaii to see the N'Sync concert and is a friend of Timberlake. In anticipation of her upcoming European tour, the American tabloid press had already linked Spears in an alleged romantic entanglement with Britain's Prince William who, according to published sources, she has never met.

• • •

To the local scene: A few personnel changes occurred in local radio during SJR's year-end hiatus. Longtime radio promotions and marketing whiz Judy Martin, J.C. Corcoran's executive morning show producer during the heady Gannett days, left the market for Dallas and 102 FM.

Martin told SJR she'll miss her broad base of St. Louis friends and contacts in the biz, but is looking forward to working for a well-positioned station in a new and exciting market. She recently ended her tenure here with Sinclair's triplet of the Point, the Rock and the River.

• • •

Another change involves recently departed KTRS Program Director Steve Moore who has taken up temporary residence at KMOX for programming projects, including recent Rams special broadcasts and contests. Program Director Tom Langmyer told SJR Moore was expected to be with KMOX for a short time as he considers his options for a permanent position, most likely outside the market.

• • •

After Moore left KTRS, the station dropped Mike Siegel's satellite-fed talk show and expanded all weekday shifts by one hour in most cases. This means George Noory's already interminably long evening show has just gotten even longer. More power to him if he can carry this off night after night.

• • •

It was a fortuitous coincidence that Clear Channel CHR clones KSLZ-FM (107.7 FM) and Tampa's WFLZ-FM were located in the cities represented in the NFC playoffs. Cross promotions went well, though WFLZ morning show clowns Froggy and Fester, who appeared at a mobbed Union Station rally before the final playoff game, phoned the MJ & BJ morning show after the Tampa Bay loss to report they were hightailing it out of town after destroying their room at an unnamed downtown hotel. Bad form, guys-and ultimately a Clear Channel liability.

• • •

Grover Washington's death shortly after the last issue's publication deadline evoked memories of two outstanding and intimate shows at Westport Playhouse in the mid-late 1990s as part of the Hennessey tour. The legendary jazz saxophonist and his talented entourage gave impassioned and inspiring performances which will serve as lasting remembrances for those in both devoted St. Louis audiences.

• • •

Returning to the Bucs-Rams playoff coverage, former sports staffer Mike Kelly was pressed into service in place of CBS football broadcaster Howard David and turned in an outstanding game without much advanced notice. However, the only place the CBS broadcast "cleared" in St. Louis was the KMOX control room due to KSD-FM and Clear Channel's ownership of Rams play by play broadcast rights. Following the game, veteran KMOX newscaster Bob Hamilton likened a burst of snowfall, which started as fans exited the TWA Dome, to confetti. A timely, well-placed quip. Though nothing compared to the confetti that fell in the Georgia Dome following the Rams' triumphant victory.

• • •

In a late January program, NPR's usually well-balanced "Diane Rehm Show" carried what I consider to be misleading and scientifically unvalidated statements by Robert C. Atkins, MD, author of the recently released book "Dr. Atkins' Age-Defying Diet Revolution."

Atkins drew direct connections between mercury poisoning, allegedly induced by high mercury blood levels caused from the presence of silver dental fillings, and numerous debilitating and ultimately potentially fatal diseases. He restated views found on pages 218-19 in his book tying multiple sclerosis, cancer and heart disease to mercury toxicity.

When questioned about opposing viewpoints, Atkins told Rehm and the radio audience that the American Dental Association was not being truthful in defending the use of the 160-year-old material, and urged listeners to detoxify their bodies by having all such fillings removed and replaced by alternative materials such as resins and ceramics. The ADA, whose position was not represented on the show, unequivocally supports the safety and use of dental amalgam (silver filling material), citing the complete lack of scientific evidence to the contrary.

The ADA goes further in saying that it is unethical for its members to remove otherwise serviceable fillings from non-allergic individuals for the purpose of causing abatement of various diseases.

The ADA's media liaison told SJR that the association had received reaction to the show via its website, and that WAMU-FM/Washington, DC, the station of origin for the "Diane Rehm Show," may be contacted to present the opposing position on a future edition of the program.

RADIO HISTORY

By Frank Absher

Although no one today has even heard of him, Chester J. Gruber was one of the biggest radio stars ever in St. Louis. But few people knew him by his given name when he hit the height of his popularity in the early 1930s. To his listeners, Chester was known as Tony Cabooch.

His act was like nothing else on the airwaves. Chess was 39 years old when his program on KMOX was picked up by CBS and broadcast over the entire radio network. The year was 1930, and hometown corporation Anheuser-Busch heard that another company was courting Gruber for a program based in New York. Gruber told an interviewer he received a telegram while on a train headed to New York. Quoting a St. Louis Globe-Democrat account: "It was from Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis. They told him to sign no contracts until he had seen them. The result was Tony's return here and his contract for $500 a week for 26 weeks."

The "Anheuser-Busch Antics" went on CBS in May 1930, with the first program introduced by St. Louis Mayor Victor Miller. It was the first regularly scheduled network show to originate in St. Louis. And Chester Gruber was the star, providing the voices of at least 15 different characters, including Singhi the Chinaman, Casey the Irishman, Sam Green the cotton-field worker, Abe Cohen, Vittor (Tony's brother), Lena the parrot, Reginald Tweed from England, Ole Olson from Sweden, Haba Daba the tribesman and Alvin Larsen the sailor.

Gruber's dialects would surely have made him the target of the political correctness police today, but in the days following Vaudeville his entertainment represented the transfer of America's interest from local theaters to radios in the parlor. Prior to his KMOX debut, Gruber had spent 12 years on the stage refining his acting dialects. His popularity was such that in his first 14 weeks on KMOX (before the network show) he received 42,000 fan letters.

And the name Tony Cabooch was something Gruber grabbed while dining in one of the city's many restaurants. Again from an article in the Globe, "He heard a waiter cry out to the chef, 'Corn a bif a cabooch.' Which translated meant 'An order of corn beef and cabbage.' The phrase stuck in Gruber's memory, and when it came time for Tony to appear his last name was Cabooch."

Gruber described Tony as "just a downtrodden wop who hasn't got a cent, but he wants to help everyone on earth. He is funny and always human." In Tony's own dialectic words "I'm all a time goan work a hard for pleez a you an' eff I'm can make a you laugh joost a leetle bits, den dat makes a me feel happy an' I'm hope a you was forget a you trouble."

No records have been found to indicate how long the show ran on KMOX and CBS. The local program had been heard Wednesday and Friday evenings at 6:45, sponsored by F.C. Taylor Fur Company. The twice-weekly broadcasts continued at the network level Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 9.

Kincaid decision set aside for now

By Don Corrigan

An appeals court in Cincinnati has agreed to reconsider a 1999 decision in the college censorship case Kincaid v. Gibson. That initial court decision, which applied the logic of the U.S. Supreme Court's Hazelwood high school journalism case to a college situation, drew the ire of many free-press advocates.

A little more than a decade ago, the high school press took it on the chin with the Supreme Court's infamous Hazelwood decision. The federal appeals court in Cincinnati struck a similar blow against the college press with its Sept. 8, 1999, Kincaid decision.

In the 1988 Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier decision, the U.S. Supreme Court said the content of a student newspaper at a public school could be censored by a school's administration for the most arbitrary of reasons, including the potential for mere "embarrassment."

In a footnote to its Hazelwood decision, the high court stated: "We need not now decide whether the same degree of deference is appropriate with respect to school-sponsored activities at the college and university level."

In the Sept. 8 ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, two of the judges on a three-judge panel decided to apply the logic of Hazelwood to a college media case involving Kentucky State University (KSU).

The ruling outraged organizations representing university journalists, professors of journalism and the national press. Student media groups urged the full appeals court to reconsider the decision. Late last year, 22 judges did just that.

The judges, who make up the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, voted to vacate the ruling that students' First Amendment rights were not violated when KSU administrators confiscated 2,000 copies of the college's yearbook.

Judges also agreed to reconsider the Sept. 8 decision to dismiss the students' claim that KSU officials had acted illegally when they demoted a student publications adviser to a secretarial position. The adviser was demoted after she refused to censor a letter critical of the administration in the student newspaper.

The court's latest decision means that the original three-judge panel's ruling has essentially been thrown out. Attorneys for both sides must now argue their cases again before 13 Sixth Circuit judges, including the three sitting on the original panel.

Such rehearings are quite rare, according to student press attorneys close to the case. They are optimistic that the dangerous precedent of applying Hazelwood to college press situations will not be affirmed.

Background On Kincaid

The case decided Sept. 8 by the federal appeals court involved KSU's 1994 yearbook, which was seized by the vice president of student affairs at KSU. The official, Betty Gibson, confiscated the university yearbook and withheld the publication from distribution.

Two students filed a lawsuit against KSU arguing that their First Amendment rights had been violated. One of the students served as editor of the Thorobred yearbook. The other was a school newspaper reporter who argued that he had paid a student activity fee which entitled him to a yearbook copy.

Legal counsel for the university contended that the yearbooks were withheld because of "poor quality" and not for any reasons of "ideology or any opinion in them." Gibson reportedly objected to the theme and title of the yearbook and pictures of current events unrelated to day-to-day happenings at the university. She also took issue with the color of the yearbook's cover.

A lower court ruled in 1997 in favor of university officials and against the students. In that ruling, a district judge held that the yearbook was not a public forum and that the officials had a right to okay its content before distributing it.

In September 1999, appellate judges Alan E. Norris and James L. Ryan echoed the reasoning of the lower court, maintaining that college publications were bound by the same restrictions placed on high school newspapers by Hazelwood.

Enunciating the appeals court's opinion, Judge Norris stated: "It is no doubt reasonable that KSU should seek to maintain its image to potential students, alumni and the general public. In light of the undisputedly poor quality of the yearbook, it is also reasonable that KSU might cut its losses by refusing to distribute a university publication that might tarnish, rather than enhance, that image."

Judge R. Guy Cole Jr. strongly disagreed with the other judges' decision to apply Hazelwood to a college case. Wrote Cole: "It is worth emphasizing that the Supreme Court in that case was addressing the scope of the First Amendment in the context of high school student publications," he wrote. "I believe that there is reason for courts to afford colleges and universities greater deference than they do high schools."

Shocking Language

Mark Goodman, executive director of the Student Press Law Center (SPLC), said that the appellate court must affirm basic First Amendment rights for students. He said failure to get a remedy in the rehearing will prompt an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Goodman termed the language of the Sept. 8 decision as "shocking."

"The judges in the majority did not even give a justification for how and why Hazelwood should apply to the college press. It's probably the most offensive lapse in their decision-making," Goodman told SJR. "To me it shows that we have not done enough to fight the Hazelwood decision. "There's always a 'trickle-up-effect' whenever there is a curtailment of First Amendment rights at any level.

"This latest decision may well affect more than the college students, but also faculty expression and the freedom to bring films and speakers onto campus as well," explained Goodman. "Administrators who feel certain speech is unpopular or politically divisive may put the clamps on."

At a Poynter Institute meeting in January composed of SPLC board members and professors with the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Goodman said the Sept. 8 decision is an affront to free expression on at least four counts:

• The decision holds that students have no legal ability to contest the removal of a media adviser who is removed for failure to carry out censorship orders by administrators.

• The decision holds that colleges are on an approximate level with high schools when it comes to free speech issues.

• The decision gives administrators arbitrary power to censor for "quality" reasons; an adverb gone astray can be a cover for clamping down on campus expression that causes university officials a degree of discomfort.

• The decision makes no legal distinction between a yearbook and a newspaper, a theater performance, art shows, film programs, speakers on campus and faculty speech.

"If we don't have intellectual freedom on our university campuses, where are we going to have it in our society?" asked Linda Putney of Kansas State University. "This original ruling is extremely damaging to the role and purpose of a university as a place for free exchange of ideas."

Putney also chided Kentucky State University officials for justifying confiscation of the yearbooks for not representing the school colors.

"What a stupid thing to get hung up on-the color of the yearbook," said Putney. Some people want yearbooks to simply be used as university PR tools. The best yearbooks are journalistically-oriented, open forums."

At the Poynter Institute meeting in St. Petersburg, Fla., Putney urged educators to go back to their campuses and rally students and colleagues against both Kincaid and the 1988 Hazelwood decision.

Indiana University's David Adams presented the Poynter Institute group with 10 ideas that can help a student publication protect its autonomy. Among his points for consideration:

• Wean your student publication from institutional financial support as much as possible.

• Emphasize the public forum role of the publication in a statement of purpose and in policy papers.

• Stress at every opportunity that it is a student-run operation, not a publication controlled by the adviser.

• Insist that student staffers know media law, especially in the areas that directly affect their work.

However, Louis Ingelhart of Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., took strong exception to some of the points made by Adams.

"The First Amendment doesn't guarantee freedom of the press, it guarantees freedom of expression," said Ingelhart. "It doesn't say it guarantees freedom of expression in an appropriate forum."

Ingelhart urged educators not to "buy into" the language of judges who have written the Hazelwood and Kincaid decisions. He said the decisions were poorly written and misinformed about the intent of the First Amendment guarantees.

"Let's get off this thing about trying to get publications off of school subsidies," added Ingelhart. "Almost all college newspapers have subsidies and always will. If you put emphasis on the importance of subsidies, you'll destroy freedom of expression for student publications."

Ingelhart said free expression for student publications should not be tied to their roles as open forums, nor divvied out in some fashion according to the percentage of subsidy provided by school administrators.

MEDIA/POLITICS

City, county cooperation not new

By Dennis R. Judd

In my last column, I talked about the numerous attempts to achieve metropolitan reform in the St. Louis metropolitan area. St. Louis long ago became famous not only for its political fragmentation, but also for how many times reform failed-1926, 1959, 1961, 1989, 1990. Over the years, this record of failure has provided plenty of fodder for urban scholars and for the press.

It may come as a surprise therefore that St. Louis actually has a record of some success in achieving metropolitan governance. These successes have generally escaped attention because most people focus upon the attempts to achieve a comprehensive consolidation of governments in the metropolitan area. But the many smaller, less spectacular achievements are worthy of note.

One significant example is St. Louis County, which has undergone fundamental governmental reform since World II. In a referendum in March 1950, St. Louis County voters approved a "home rule" charter for the county. That charter brought into existence the basics of its current governmental structure, with an elected county executive, 11 departments, and a seven-member council. The previous government had become inadequate in a county that was urbanized at lightning speed, with the number of municipalities rocketing from 41 in 1940 to 84 by 1950. The county's government consisted of a three-member county court that adopted a budget, determined tax rates and legislated basic policy, plus a plethora of elected officials who presided over their own very independent patronage systems. Courthouse politics was byzantine and corrupt.

The new charter adopted in 1950 allowed the county to begin providing necessary urban services and regulations. The process had started even before charter reform, but fitfully. The county had already adopted subdivision regulations and a comprehensive zoning ordinance for the unincorporated areas. After reform, the county adopted a building code, it gradually began to provide a full range of services in unincorporated areas and to contract services with the multitude of tiny municipalities that had sprung up in the 1940s, many without adequate tax bases or administrative structures. The county, in addition, built a system of parks (32 county parks by 1964) and a county library system.

Not wanting to jeopardize their proposal, those who had drawn up the charter in 1950 kept the multitude of elected offices and their patronage systems. But over time, these were lopped off, one by one. In 1954, following a shooting incident between two county deputy sheriffs, county voters approved a referendum to replace the sheriff's office with the Saint Louis County Department of Police. (Over time, this would evolve into coordinated police standards, training and dispatching services, and the 911 emergency system.) Following a scandal over mixed-up tax bills, the assessor and collector of revenue fell next. In 1966 the highway engineer became an appointed office. Later, in 1968, voters approved a more comprehensive amendment to the charter, this time eliminating most of the elected administrative officials, the prosecuting attorney, and replaced them with appointed officials. In 1970, voters again supported a significant reform, this time approving a constitutional amendment allowing a referendum procedure, whereby a majority of the county's voters could, if they wished, vote to transfer municipal services to the county.

There have also been significant examples-believe it or not-of city-county cooperation. A far-reaching consolidation of services involving both the city and the county occurred in 1954 with the creation of the Metropolitan Saint Louis Sewer District. This reform was borne out of equal measures of desperation and disgust. By the mid-1940s, there were 42 special districts in St. Louis County supplying sewer, drainage, water and fire protection. Many of the sewer districts had completely inadequate facilities that allowed brown water and sometimes raw sewage to be regularly spilled. Parts of the county had no sewers at all, but still relied on cesspools. New subdivisions regularly overloaded existing systems. The sewer district showed that comprehensive city-county reform was palatable, if the motivation was high enough.

The Zoo-Museum District provides another example of successful metropolitan reform in the St. Louis area. By the late 1960s the St. Louis Zoo was in trouble. The five cents in property tax it got from the city of St. Louis wasn't nearly enough to keep up the escalating costs of a modern zoo.

Howard Baer, the president of the St. Louis Zoo Board, worked with the St. Louis Art Museum to persuade the Missouri legislature to authorize a Zoo-Museum District.

A tax proposal was put on the ballot for the April 6, 1971 election, to allocate four cents of property tax for the zoo and the arts museum and up to one cent for the Museum of Science and Natural History. It passed easily in the city and narrowly in the county, but even a narrow victory demonstrated that county residents were willing to pony up for something of regional value.

In the early 1980s, the Missouri legislature agreed to raise the maximum tax for the Zoo-Art Museum District from four cents to eight cents, and for the Museum of Science and Natural History from one cent to six cents. The legislature also added the Missouri Botanical Garden to the list, authorizing it to seek up to four cents per $100 valuation, if the voters approved. It didn't take long for leaders in the city and county to get a tax increase on the ballot. And in April 1983, voters in both the city and the county did approve a doubling of the rate for the zoo and art museum (to eight cents), approved increasing the Museum of Science's takes from one to four cents, and they approved the same tax rate for the Garden.

Once again, the vote was close in the county, but a majority of county voters were, once again, willing to show that they had, at least to some degree, a regional perspective.

There are two other notable examples showing that voters in St. Louis County are capable of a regional perspective. Years ago, county voters agreed to a 3.75 percent tax to support the Convention and Visitors' Commission and the Regional Arts Commission. In April 1990, voters in the county approved an additional 3.75 percent tax increase for the TWA Dome-by a two-to-one margin. The more than $6 million thus raised was more than enough to provide the county's $6 million share of the stadium's bond issue.

The next test of the county voters' regional attitudes will come soon. A proposal is being floated to ask city and county voters to support downtown development by taxing themselves again. Do voters in the county actually identify with St. Louis' downtown enough to tax themselves for it? Do they consider it a cultural treasure akin to the zoo and art museum or a sports stadium?

If you want to find some answers to questions such as these, you should consult the excellent sources I pirated for this information. Jon Teaford's book, "Post-Suburbia" (Johns Hopkins Press, 1997), contains a wealth of information about metropolitan reform in St. Louis. An even more detailed and marvelously written book will soon be available. Later this spring my colleague, E. Terrence Jones, will publish "A Mosaic of Governments: Why St. Louis Has So Many," through a new St. Louis publishing house, Palmerton and Reed. It will appear as the first book in a series on St. Louis and Missouri issues. St. Louis has needed a press like this for some time. You should be sure to buy a copy of Terry's book when it appears. It provides a truly unique perspective on the little-known history of metropolitan St. Louis.

Ashcroft aide tries to intimidate reporters

By Steve Perron

At least one veteran St. Louis television reporter is warning colleagues to "keep an eye" out for an aide to Missouri Sen. John Aschroft. The alert follows a testy and bizarre encounter between reporters and the aide during a recent Ashcroft appearance in St. Louis.

In mid-January, the reporters were at St. Louis city public school headquarters to cover a meeting between the senator and School Superintendent Cleveland Hammonds. The meeting was private, but Ashcroft was scheduled to meet with the press afterward.

As the reporters waited, they were discussing whether to place their microphones and tape recorders on the table or assemble them on the podium. That's when the senator's aide, Joe Messmer, instructed the reporters that they were to "crowd around the senator," holding their mikes in their hands, for the full duration of the news conference. His tone was described as "hostile."

The reaction of the reporters and camera crews could best be described as "perplexed." Here they were, waiting in the school-board meeting room, with tables, chairs and a podium; a perfect setting for a news conference. But this aide was insisting, and in animated fashion, that they "crowd around the senator with microphones in hand."

The television reporter mentioned earlier, a woman who has been on the air in St. Louis for some 25 years, informed Messmer that she and the other reporters would be placing their gear on the podium, and that if the senator wanted to do the interview, he could do so there. Messmer mumbled something about what he "would do to the media in the future."

When Sen. Ashcroft arrived for the interview, he was told about Messmer's actions. He apologized and was very gracious with the media, going to the podium for the news conference.

So why the bizarre demand by Messmer? Reporters on the scene noticed camera crews that were not members of the St. Louis media. The speculation is that they were there to shoot material for campaign commercials. Wouldn't it be nice to have a shot of the senator surrounded by a crush of media? Wouldn't that make him look "important?" Again, this is just speculation. But in any event, it is speculation which was prompted by the rash and uncalled-for behavior of the senator's aide.

Private individuals, and, to a lesser degree, public figures, do have the right to exert some control over their contact with the media. A public figure has the right, for example, to state up front that he or she will not take questions on a certain topic. He or she has the right to refuse to answer questions, knowing that the media will report that. But they cannot be allowed to manipulate the media in such overt fashion, at least not without a fight. And as the business of politics becomes more and more about "image" and less and less about "substance," journalists must be ever more vigilant and on guard against being used and abused by politicians.