New Times trumps old times at RFT

By E.F. Porter

Sure, the Riverfront Times has changed since founder Ray Hartmann sold it 18 months ago. It has changed for the better. It will continue to change. For the better.

And if its old loyal, liberal-left, counter-culture constituency doesn't like it, well, that's just tough cheese.

Such is the message confident, defiant and perhaps just a touch defensive, but belted it in close harmony if not perfect unison-from the editor, Safir Ahmed, his managing editor, Roland Klose, and his boss, Michael Lacey, il editore-di-tutti-editori of New Times, Inc., the chain of so-called alternative weeklies of which the RFT is a link.

The palmy days of guerrilla journalism spawned by the civil rights and anti-war protests of 30 years ago were great good fun, but they're over, they say. The mission now is thorough investigative coverage of any subject the mainstream daily press has failed to report, and let the chips fall where they may.

The difference, Ahmed says, is largely one of journalistic professionalism and maturity. The protest press of the time, the RFT and scores of other alternative papers were hatched and did not have the time or the staff to check the facts. It could only deride or howl in outrage and it reached no one save those who already agreed with it.

"People say we used to be more leftist and ideological. The complaint is we've lost our political soul, that we no longer support the little guy, the artists, the small theatre groups," Ahmed says.

"And they're right. There was a time, because of lack of resources that's all we could do: rail against the Vietnam War, the rape of the environment, racial injustice. But I'm tired of that shit.

"We have the same people-(staff writers) Melinda Roth and D. J. Wilson are still with us. The only thing that's changed is we're no longer charging up the hill against the corporate establishment.

"We're no longer interested in preaching to the choir. I want our paper to be read by businessmen and carpenters and housewives, and you can't reach them with nothing but opinion."

Klose, Ahmed's second-in-command, agrees. A typical issue of the RFT in the Hartmann era would carry a propagandistic cover story-on cockfighting, say-that had been planted by a liberal advocacy group such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the Coalition for the Environment, the abortion rights people, the animal rights people. They had a story to tell, and the RFT would tell it in an entirely predictable way.

The rest of the book would be given over to a music and film reviews, opinion columns and maybe a canned feature bought from a small syndicate, or a story reacting to the coverage of some local issue by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch or-while it was still alive-the St. Louis Globe-Democrat. The reactive stories displayed an irreverent viewpoint but they rarely provided new information, Klose noted.

"We never delved into the opposing view and a lot of people liked that," Klose said. "But if those people want the old RFT to come back, it ain't coming. The agenda now is journalism."

Lacey's position is eerily similar. "We've been at it so long that to us the people on the left are as full of shit as the people on the right," he told Columbia Journalism Review last year- and reiterated to SJR last week. "We had an agenda when we started, but we grew up. We still have a goal in mind but it's a journalistic goal, not a political goal."

It would be hard to dispute Lacey's credentials as an advocacy journalist. He got his start putting out an alternative paper in Phoenix in reaction to the killing of four anti-war protesters at Kent State University by the Ohio National Guard 30 years ago. That paper, the Phoenix New Times, is today the flagship of a fleet of 11 weeklies spanning the country from Miami to San Francisco; four of them bear the New Times name.

Lacey acknowledges he has imposed a format on his stable: One long feature on a topic the local dailies have overlooked or avoided, plus several smaller stories, often about the local cultural scene. But within that framework, Lacey insists, Ahmed has a free hand.

Lacey said an essential element of the New Times paradigm is good pay, good working conditions, challenging work and adequate resources. "Instead of trying to exploit the freelance market, we go in and try to hire the most talented people we can find, give them full salaries and benefits and time enough to research a story," he says. What the New Times chain is at pains to avoid are the ennui and disaffection that infect the newsrooms of most dailies.

"In almost any (daily) city room you visit there's an atmosphere of depression." Lacey says. "We're interested in creating a good working environment."

Nothing pains Lacey more than to be compared to Gannett. "My understanding is Gannettization means dumbing down of content, cutting budget and staff and tailoring the content to public opinion surveys and TV news. What we've always done has been just the opposite. We've increased the number of bodies. The news budget at the Riverfront Times is up 40 percent and there have been four editorial hires, three reporters and a copy editor."

Lacey is almost equally impatient with the suggestion that he and his co-owners will sooner or later sell the chain to a bottomliner and take the money and run. On the contrary, he says, he hopes to bring up his kids to be serious journalists and to forestall at least for a generation, the Bourbonesque decadence that smote the houses of Patterson, Bingham, Field, Chandler and Pulitzer.

How does the RFT's new-found objectivity sit with its readers? It's a little hard to tell. Doctrinaire militants, of course, are disappointed. One locally famous environmental activist, while refusing to be quoted lest she jeopardize any lingering opportunities to plant her propaganda in the RFT, made clear she feels jilted.

But many in, or on the fringes of, the local newspaper scene are apparently only moderately unhappy. "Like most readers, I'm a creature of habit; I liked the old Riverfront Times," says Bill McClellan, the Post's top columnist. He says he especially misses the columns, all of which Ahmed abolished.

"William Stage wrote a column I liked; I enjoyed Richard Byrne (who covered the news media) even though he accused me of plagiarism-groundlessly. I miss Jeannette Batz's column, especially since there's such a dearth of female columnists in St. Louis. I guess in that sense, the paper has gone down," McCllelan says.

"The long cover stories are often very good. I always intend to read them but it's like the New Yorker. You put it aside intending to get to it later, but you don't always. I guess it's better journalistically than the old formula, but it's going to take a while to get used to it."

Norman W. Pressman, a lawyer and newspaper groupie who edited the student paper when he was an undergraduate at Washington University and published a tabloid during a Post strike in the 1970s, says he hasn't even noticed many changes, though he too misses the columns, especially Byrne. He said he likes the long cover stories.

Fred Faust, a former Post business reporter who now publishes a newsletter on gambling, is equally undismayed. "My impression is the changes are pretty minor, though I miss the columns, especially Byrne. The cover stories are still liberal-leaning, which I like, though some of them could use a little more editing. But that's not new."

One reader, begging for anonymity, said he likes the long articles because, like those in New Yorker, they give him something to read while enthroned in response to the call of nature-a mild antidote to constipation.

Ahmed vigorously defends his decision to eliminate the columnists. "I'm opposed to opinion columns as opposed to reporting columns. I may reinstitute columns but I want a media critic who does more than just watch the 10 o'clock news. I want a media critic who calls up people. Yes, I want him to be provocative, but I want news."

And it is possible to be both reportorial and opinionated, Ahmed maintains. It was the media columnist at the New Times weekly in Los Angeles who disclosed that the Los Angeles Times was splitting the profits from a special supplement on the new stadium with the stadium developers. The story made the wires.

"But opinion alone is worthless," says Ahmed. "It's all over the Internet; it's a growth industry."

Complaints about story length-or more precisely that stories are longer than they need to be for what they convey-infuriate Ahmed. "Ever read a magazine? Ever read a book? It's the most stupid, obnoxious criticism I've heard. If you mean boring, a 10-inch story can be boring.

"I'd rather hear that we're too long than that we're inaccurate. We don't do follow-ups like a daily newspaper so we have to be right the first time. And we almost always are. I can't remember the last time we had to run a correction."

This is in accordance with New Times doctrine, Ahmed continues. "We see eye to eye on doing well-written, well-researched stories. A feature writer can spend a month on a story. We want our writers to report from a position of authority, not just regurgitate quotes, many of them beside the point, as is typical of the Post-Dispatch."

Neither Klose, Ahmed's lieutenant, nor Lacey, his commander, is quite so argumentative. Without actually saying so, Klose appears receptive to the lament that the cover stories tend to be ponderous and prolix. Without saying so, he appears ready to acknowledge that writing could be more disciplined.

Under the current arrangement, editing is divided among himself, Ahmed and assistant managing editor Cliff Froehlich, Klose says. Klose edits the work of D.J. Wilson, C.D.Stelzer and Bruce Rushton; Froehlich, Eddie Silva and William Stage, and Ahmed edits Laura Higgins, Melinda Roth and Jeanette Batz.

Lacey is more revealing. "Yes, I think the stories in the Riverfront Times are too long. But I'm not editing the paper; Safir is.'

E.F. Porter is a former St. Lous Post-Dispatch reporter.

Search for Post editor begins

By Dawn Grodsky

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Publisher Terrence C.Z. Egger is beginning a national search to replace former Post Editor Cole Campbell, who stunned the newspaper's staff and the journalism community with his unexpected resignation April 5.

Campbell left the paper 10 days later, moving to St. Petersburg, Fla., where he became a fellow for the Poynter Institute.

Egger said it should take anywhere from two to six months to hire a new editor and that it will be that person who determines what direction the Post takes and whether it continues practicing public journalism.

"There have been adjustments in the paper already that make sense, and I support that. But I don't think we'll redo the entire newsroom until the new editor is in place. His handprint will be on what it will be," Egger said.

Four editors are running the paper in the interim, Executive Editor Richard Weil, Managing Editor Arnie Robbins, Editorial Page Editor Christine Bertelson and Deputy Editor Virgil Tipton. One of the changes already made was moving the People page from A2 to the Everyday section.

Campbell is a leading proponent of public journalism, a controversial movement within the industry that encourages reporters to be problem-solvers rather than observers, and changes the newspaper's traditional role to that of a community forum. During his three and half-year tenure at the Post, Campbell initiated many changes unpopular with newsroom staff, including replacing the Sunday News Analysis section with Imagine St. Louis and reorganizing reporters from traditional beats into teams.

While Egger did not say that with Campbell's departure public journalism was dead in St. Louis, he did confirm that the Post is not specifically looking for a replacement with Campbell's dedication to the movement.

"Our criterion is someone who really understands journalism. There is no substitute for the hard-breaking news the community relies on the newspaper for," he said. "We want someone to continue to make sure reporters cover their beats, feature writers understand their subjects and columnists are in touch with the community. I won't put any label on that."

He said three current employees have expressed interest in the top newsroom job, and that he's talking to 10 or 11 candidates from outside the Post. Egger said his goal is simple: "To find the best person we possibly can. Someone who clearly has solid newspaper experience and is proven in a metro market."

He said the new editor must understand the Post's emphasis on local news while still balancing its role in national and international coverage. Egger added the person would need to have solid organizational skills and be a diplomat, able to smoothly run a staff where deadline pressures can cause egos to clash.

"They'll have to work well with people, and have proven they can motivate and lead a newsroom. Obviously this is a huge, high priority. Our search won't stop until we find the best person possible," Egger said.

Egger said of the 13 or 14 promising applicants, he has either had a "very preliminary" conversation with them or has heard they are interested in the job. "The list of people now is pretty solid," he said.

While popular Post columnists Greg Freeman's and Bill McClellan's names have been tossed out as possible replacements by readers, Egger said it would be highly unlikely for the new editor to come from a non-supervisory rank.

"Never say never, but it would be a stretch if they don't have a proven track record of significant leadership in a newsroom of a similar size," Egger said.

Egger said specific goals for the new editor would be, "First and foremost to establish the best possible organization of the staff to deploy our good people in the market so they can cover it best." Second would be making sure that the paper is successful and that circulation increases. "The product they're putting out, that readers judge it as valuable, that it is on target and meaningful, that they want to pick it up every day. And tied to that clearly, is circulation, as it would be with any editor worth his salt."

Egger declined to discuss specifics of Campbell's departure, saying he wanted to concentrate on the future. But SJR reported in its April issue that Egger had pushed for the resignation due to declining circulation, reader discontent and the steady erosion of top editors, reporters and designers. Campbell joined the Post in the summer of 1996, replacing long-time Editor William Woo.

Egger said he is eager to get on with finding the right person who will shape the direction of the newspaper into the 21st century. "This is all pretty exciting. Right now, I want to find the time to get after this search with a little less distraction," he said.

African-American organization calls for Post-Dispatch boycott

By Don Corrigan

Division between blacks and whites in St. Louis is frequent fodder for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorials, which often bemoan the lack of progress on the region's racial front.

The Post takes a "zero tolerance" stance toward actions and language that serve to widen the racial rift. So, the unwelcome scene inside and outside of Kirkwood City Hall on Tuesday night, April 24, must have been a source of both discomfort and dismay for the St. Louis newspaper that counts itself as a progressive voice on race issues.

Protesters outside Kirkwood's city hall carried signs denouncing the Post for racism. Throughout the evening of the trial of Post employee Albert Arno, black demonstrators hoisted placards denouncing the Post for racial injustice and for employing Arno, whom they labeled as a racist.

Inside Kirkwood City Hall, a largely black audience hoped to see Arno, 54, convicted on six assault charges and one disorderly conduct charge in the municipal court proceeding. They were disappointed and angry when Judge Stephen O. Smith, after almost four hours of testimony, announced that he would take several days to render a verdict in the Arno case.

Arno, who has worked 21 years in advertising sales for the Post, pleaded not guilty to the charges in December. Each charge carries a penalty of up to six months in jail and up to a $1,000 fine.

A South County resident, Arno boarded a school bus on Sept. 16, 1999, on Quan Avenue in Kirkwood after a student threw a bottle of correction fluid or white paint on his car. About 25 students were on the bus at the time of the incident.

Kirkwood police arrived on the scene of the bus incident shortly after 4:15 p.m. to find a "chaotic situation." While police tried to calm the situation and listen to accounts of what happened, one youngster threw a backpack in Arno's face, cutting him. Police handcuffed the student and took him into custody. He was charged with assault.

Demonstrators outside Kirkwood's municipal court were angry that Arno was let go by Kirkwood Police after the school bus incident, despite accusations that he was abusive. They noted that the youngster who threw a backpack in Arno's face was led away in handcuffs and charged with assault.

Kirkwood police concede that they have been criticized for taking away the juvenile in handcuffs while allowing the irate driver, Arno, to leave after questioning. But police said Arno was cooperative at the scene of the Sept. 16 incident, while the school bus kids were doing a lot of screaming. They noted the assault against Arno was witnessed by officers, while the accusations against Arno were disputed and not entirely clear.

Bedlam On The Bus

At the April 24 trial, more than a half-dozen students testified about the incident in which Arno boarded the bus several times and was allegedly abusive with the children.

Shereva Edwards, 14, testified that Arno spit on her and used the term "bitch." Edwards said she did not recall his using any racial epithets against the students.

"Slobber was all over my glasses," said Edwards. She said Arno seemed ready to fight the students after one yelled at him. "One of them said something, and he said, 'Well, come on.' "

Another 12-year-old Kirkwood North Middle School student said she was scared when Arno got off the bus and went to his car. She said fellow students popped the emergency door on the back of the bus to escape, "because we saw him opening his trunk. . . We got off because he could have been getting a gun for all we knew."

Grace Cantilo, the mother of 12-year-old Britany Cantilo, said her daughter arrived home after the ordeal in a terrified state. She said her daughter was "shaking and crying" after the experience.

"He spit on my face and I had soda on my hair and water on my shirt," testified sixth-grader Britany Castilo. Castilo said that she did not hear Arno use racial slurs while he was on the bus.

Students testified that Arno got on the bus at least twice. They said he exchanged profanities with students after demanding who threw the paint on his car. Some said he threw water on them from a water bottle and took a soda can from one boy and sprayed it on them.

The youngsters provided differing testimony on whether Arno used racial epithets such as the N-word. At least three said they did hear him use the term, but Arno has adamantly denied using any racial slurs.

The bus driver, Richard Stange, testified that he did not hear Arno use the N-word. Stange, who drives for Laidlaw, has been a bus driver for 14 years. He said that when Arno asked the students who threw the material on his car, "bedlam" erupted and the students began calling Arno an S.O.B.

According to the bus driver, Arno never threatened anybody, never touched anyone and "no one was in danger." He said Arno dumped over a can of trash on the bus "out of self-defense," as a kind of buffer between himself and the students, who seemed like they were going to advance on him.

"I felt like they (the students) were trying to intimidate me, so I would not find out who threw the paint on my car," testified Arno. Arno said he nearly lost control of his car and almost hit a tree after his car was hit by the substance, which he said "sounded like gravel" hitting his vehicle.

Our Children, Inc.

Protests outside Kirkwood City Hall were organized by Our Children, Inc., a group headed by Lizz Brown, a radio talk show host on WGNU-AM. Members of Brown's group packed the courtroom, which was standing-room-only almost one-half hour before the proceedings.

The audience was admonished by the judge on several occasions not to talk, cheer or hiss during the trial. Many in the audience did display skepticism during the testimony of the bus driver and Arno with sighs and laughter.

"Here's the plan," explained radio personality Brown to her group before the trial. "We want people inside and we want people outside with the signs. Half of you are going to go in the back of city hall and half out front. And everybody understands that nobody talks to the press."

Members of Brown's group carried signs calling Arno a "Racist Child Abuser" and calling for a boycott of the Post until Arno is fired from his position at the paper.

Arno did lose his job at the Post shortly after the incident, which happened on company time. However, after Newspaper Guild protests, an independent arbitrator ruled that the newspaper had to reinstate him in December.

On her morning radio show, "Wake Up Call," Brown congratulated those who protested outside Kirkwood City Hall and who attended the trial. She said the Kirkwood judge has a record of ruling immediately after cases are presented, but was afraid to rule so quickly on the Arno case on Tuesday evening.

"Of course, the judge wouldn't make a decision with 200 people there," said Brown. "But the prosecution made the case and he (Arno) should be convicted."

Brown said it should have been clear to everybody at the trial that the bus driver was "testilying" and that Arno was a "race-raging man." Brown said the bus driver was a deaf, 70-year-old man who was not qualified to drive a school bus. But she said the driver was the only person Arno's attorney could muster to testify in his defense.

"This isn't rocket science," insisted Brown. "The judge could have made a decision (on Tuesday night). The people deserved a verdict."

Fallout For The Post

As SJR goes to press, Judge Smith has just issued a verdict in the Arno case. Arno was found guilty of one count of disorderly conduct and seven counts of assault. He must pay a fine of $2,750, with no jail time.

But some blacks will continue to be upset that the case was handled in a small suburban city's municipal court. They believe Arno's actions constituted a hate crime and belonged in a state or federal jurisdiction. Some have asked the FBI for an investigation into the incident.

"This should be a state case, at the very least, and it should involve charges with harsher penalties, noted Brown. "We are disturbed that this is being handled as some little municipal case."

Some whites, on the other hand, believe the case has been trumped up as a "racial incident," and that Arno has suffered unjustly. They point out that the "bedlam" would never have happened at all if a youngster had not thrown an object from the window of the bus, hitting Arno's car. They also insist that Arno's "crimes" against the kids were "equal opportunity"-he shouted and allegedly threw things at both black and white children on the bus.

While no one defends Arno's boarding the bus and taking the matter of his damaged car up directly with the kids, Arno defenders contend that he would have boarded the bus with his complaint whether it had been filled with only white kids or only black kids. Therefore, they argue, his impulsive actions cannot be attributed to racism.

The varying "takes" between blacks and whites on the Arno case have aired on radio talk shows, in classroom forums at schools and in newspapers' letters columns. They were also apparent in the court room in Kirkwood on April 24.

As SJR reported in its November 1999 issue, those varying "takes" are also apparent in the newsroom of the Post itself. Some black staffers feel that the paper has soft-pedaled the Arno story and that he never should have been allowed back in the newsroom. Some white staffers feel that Arno's original firing from the Post was a case of "guilty until proven innocent," and that he has been the victim of a "racial lynching."

The fallout from the Arno case puts the Post in a credibility crisis as it seeks to be a healing voice on racial matters in St. Louis. There are misgivings on both sides of the racial divide as to just what the Post's mission is, or should be, in the thorny thicket of reporting and editorializing on racial issues.

LETTERS

A clarification

SJR: I caught up with E.F. Porter's review of my book, "What Are Journalists For?" in the Dec./Jan. issue of SJR. Most of it was fair commentary and reasoned critique, and I learned from some of the reviewer's objections. Yet even the most dedicated antagonist might shrink from comparing my book to Hitler's "Mein Kampf." (Both, said Porter, are essential reading for those who want to grasp the ideologies the authors promote.)

Mainly I am writing to correct one factual error and some misreadings. First, I do not claim that the term "Fourth Estate" was coined in 1959, as Porter charges. The term I trace to that year defines the press as the "fourth branch of government"-which is different.

Second, I do not claim, and Porter could not find any passages claiming, that the press is "largely the cause" of current troubles in democracy. That is not a view I hold, or have ever held. I do believe that the press is implicated in democracy's troubles, which is itself an arguable point.

But Porter doesn't argue with that, only with a more extreme version that almost every journalist would reject, as I reject it. These shades of meaning matter because the book offers many quotations from respected editors and reporters (David Broder, E.J Dionne, Robert MacNeil, Mike O'Neill) saying pretty much the same thing: we're implicated. It's harder to argue with respected colleagues like these, easier to paint the professor as an extreme press basher. So Porter took the easy route.

Porter writes that, "We really cannot tell, for example, whether Rosen would say newspapers had a duty to organize the protest at the recent WTO conference in Seattle, or whether they ought to have helped organize a vigilante force to assist the Seattle police." Really? The book offers this passage, from one of the first pieces I wrote about public journalism's outlook. "Toward specific proposals, particular candidates, the political agenda of this or that interest group, the journalist's traditional pledge of neutrality remains intact. This pledge is important; it separates 'doing journalism' from 'doing politics,' and keeps the press from trying to dominate the scene." In fact, a minimally attentive reader would have no trouble realizing that a street protest against the World Trade Organization, organized by a newspaper, is not my idea of public journalism, and never was. Here again, it is easier to raise doubts about an extreme version than to argue with the idea as presented.

Finally, and characteristically for the St. Louis Journalism Review, Porter misconstrues my point about the press as a player in civic and political life. Pointing to what he calls "an obvious flaw," Porter asks: "If editors and reporters become players in the civic drama, what happens when the civic improvement types with whom the newsfolk have gone to bed turn out to be venal, corrupt and self-dealing?" A reasonable question. But one of the most prominent themes of the book-prominent to the point of redundancy-is that journalists are already players, of a kind, meaning: already implicated as actors in politics. And I am not alone in that view. In a quotation from chapter one, Mike O'Neill, former editor of the New York Daily News says: "Now we are deeply embedded in the democratic process itself, as principal actors rather than bit players or mere audience."

Porter may disagree with that. But then it would be harder to denounce public journalism for urging journalists to "get involved," since the real message of the book would be clear: they're already involved, whether they believe in public journalism or not.

Thank you for commissioning the review, which as I said, was generally thoughtful and well within the bounds of vigorous debate.

Jay Rosen

New York University

Urban-sprawl radio

SJR: I read the recent article on radio journalism and agree that most music stations have eliminated local news. Where local news may still have some significance are outer suburban stations such as KWRE/KFAV in Warrenton. Both of these stations are primarily music stations. KWRE is a "traditional country" format on AM and KFAV is a "hot country" station on FM.

I'll admit up front that I am employed on the air part time at these stations. It is more of a labor of enjoyment than a supplemental income.

Since the metro area has grown west, KWRE/KFAV could be considered "stations of record" in the Westplex (St. Charles, Warren, Lincoln and Franklin counties). Those stations employ a small staff that does local news gathering including having actualities on the air of as long as 30 seconds (not 10 second sound bites). By the way, KWRE/KFAV has also won Missouri Broadcasters awards for news coverage. KWRE/KFAV also continues to break stories. A recent small airplane crash in O'Fallon was broken on a Sunday night by yours truly from a telephone tip and by calling local law enforcement agencies, and I'm not even a news person.

KWRE/KFAV also emphasizes regional public affairs and even does editorials (whether or not you agree with them is up to you) and a "Person on the Street" feature. Granted, the stations don't have the "reach" or budget of the larger St. Louis stations, but in many ways they serve their purpose sub regionally the way KMOX might throughout the greater area. Hopefully this may be a trend as core cities shrink, for better or worse, the public may be served by sub regional stations in the outer parts of the metro area.

Terry Moses

KWRE/KFAV

Warrenton, MO

Cole slaw

SJR: Some wag suggested that Bill McClellan be the next editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Bill emphatically declined. He intimated that he might be decapitated if he stuck his neck out.

Also in his article he made a reference to Madame Defarge. The only one I know who fits that description is Christine Bertelson. When she was chosen by the departing Cole Campbell to be the editorial page editor, Bill said he knew her as a nice quiet lady who minded her own business.

Was he wrong! The first thing she did was to force out about nine people. SJR suggested that she was the first girlfriend of Cole Campbell who immediately charged over to your paper and warned the editor not to besmirch the reputation of his lady love. The editor of SJR promptly made slaw out of Cole and he departed.

Now the Post is sending a delegation of four to scour the country for the next victim. The delegation consists of Richard K. Weil, Jr., Arnie Robbins, Christine Bertelson and Virgil Tipton. Virgil Tipton? The last time I heard of him he was annoying drivers on the highways to write a story about driving. How did he get from there to the august position of deputy editor? Watch your step Virgil. You are dealing with a belle dame sans merci.

Harry C. Schulte

St. Louis

Editor's note: The opinions expressed in this letter are not necessarily those of SJR.

Thinking without a tank

SJR: Enclosed is a copy of the catalog of courses presented this year by The Poynter Institute. It is being sent to you in the hope that it will help to clarify the role of Poynter and correct two misimpressions in the April 2000 issue of SJR.

The story by Willliam Mulvey and Matthew Hathaway about Cole Campbell's appointment as a Fellow describes the institute as "a Florida-based journalism think tank." The phrase "think tank" commonly connotes an ivory tower remote from practical consideration. While thinking certainly is done at Poynter-and will be done by Cole Campbell-the institute is a school for working journalists, very much grounded in the real world of journalism.

Secondly, your account states that, "The institute is a champion of the public journalism movement and its members have frequently defended Campbell's theories and initiatives." Heaven knows where you got that. Poynter has been a forum for periodic discussion of the public journalism movement, just as it has been and will be a center of examination of any trend or development meant to improve or alter journalism. Poynter has taught seminars in community journalism, which encourages serious news coverage of local community issues and thus bears some similarity in focus to civic or public journalism. But the institute neither teaches nor advocates public journalism; it has not in my experience been asked to defend Cole's views on the subject; and some of us have been openly critical of aspects of civic journalism, especially those in which profit-making companies accept foundation funds to conduct journalism.

I'm thankful for SJR's effort to contact me the day the story broke about Cole's departure from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, grateful that you included my statement and regretful that you were on such a tight deadline that I was unavailable to speak with Mr. Mulvey or Mr. Hathaway. Perhaps if that had happened these clarifications would not have been neccessary.

James M. Naughton

President, Poynter Institute

OF NOTE

Satellite radio

Don't expect any major immediate impact, but June could prove to be an interesting precursor for the radio industry. That's when satellite radio is expected to become a reality.

Sirius Satellite expects to have its first satellite airborne June 28, with a second bird going up in September, and a third a month later. If they're successful, it'll be a surprise to some observers. It seems the company has a poor track record when it comes to hitting its goals, having originally projected the beginning of its operation for 1994.

If Sirius is successful, the new satellite radio system, which allows listeners to pick up hundreds of digital radio stations in their cars, may be operational by the end of the year.

-Frank Absher

That's 'B' as in billions

Who says newspapers don't make an incredible amount of money?

Knight-Ridder, second-largest publisher in the nation, and the Times Mirror Company, recently purchased by the Chicago Tribune for $8 billion, both more than doubled their profits for the first quarter over a similar period in 1999.

Knight-Ridder, based in San Jose, Calif., and publisher of the Miami Herald, the Kansas City Star and the Belleville News-Democrat among its 31 newspapers, earned $161 million in the first quarter, with per-share earnings of $1.74. A year ago, Knight-Ridder reported earnings of $62.9 million, or 65 cents per share.

Times Mirror earned $112 million, or $1.73 a share; last year, in the same period it earned $49 million, or 58 cents per share. Interestingly, despite these announcements, Times Mirror stock dropped .625 to $98.93 the next day. Knight-Ridder stock fell a quarter a share, to $47.81.

-Joe Pollack

Clutter.com

There is more clutter on the radio today, and the dotcom evolution is partly to blame.

That's the conclusion of Empower MediaMarketing, which monitored radio stations in 16 markets. It concluded clutter, like radio ads and promotional announcements, increased 20 percent in San Francisco, which has a large concentration of computer-related businesses. Other major clutter increases were noted in Chicago, Miami, Detroit, Philadelphia and Washington.

Among radio's different formats, alternative rock stations saw the largest average clutter increase, 13 percent.

-Frank Absher

TV land

Contrary to what you may have believed, we Americans are still a fairly predictable lot. Two recent events show that we still want or need our news media.

On a Friday in mid-April, the stock market went into a brief swoon, with both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ numbers taking a dive. The following Monday the market showed a fairly substantial recovery. What did we do?

We rushed to our television sets and turned on the financial news channels. Broadcasting & Cable Magazine reports "hundreds of thousands" of viewers tuned in to CNNfn, CNBC and Bloomberg television. CNBC set a record for viewership on Monday, April 17, and CNNfn, along with CNN, saw an increase of more than 50 percent in some time periods.

A week later we flocked to the TV sets again as word spread of the justice department's actions in Miami's "Little Havana." On Saturday, April 23, there was a threefold increase in viewing of the cable news channels. The New York Times cites Nielsen Data Research numbers showing CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC had markedly higher viewership for the day. Fox News Channel registered its second-highest viewership ever. CNN's audience was the second-largest this year and MSNBC's viewership day ranked 10th highest in its history.

The numbers were fairly significant for the news operations: CNN pulled an average 1.1 million households, Fox News Channel, 463,000 and MSNBC, 451,000.

-Frank Absher

Biting the hand

Lawrence K. Beaupre, editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer during the Chiquita Banana flap two years ago and removed from his post because of it, has sued the Gannett Company, which owns the paper, charging it with undermining him during the battle, then failing to keep promises about pay and promotions when he moved from the newspaper to the company's Washington headquarters.

Beaupre also contends that Gannett plotted to oust him in order to avert a lawsuit by Chiquita, failed to provide him with adequate legal representation and did not inform him of all aspects of the settlement, which he signed.

He was editor in 1998 when the paper published a series of articles questioning the business practices of the tropical fruit giant. Gannett then renounced the stories, printed a front-page apology, paid Chiquita some $10 million and fired Michael Gallagher, lead reporter on the series. Later, Gallagher pleaded guilty to stealing e-mail messages and was placed on probation.

Beaupre, who has worked for Gannett for 32 years, is now on administrative leave.

-Joe Pollack

Against their will

In spite of a gallant effort by broadcast associations, implementation of the new Equal Employment Opportunity rules will apparently not be delayed. The Federal Communications Commission turned down a delay request from the State Broadcasters Associations, even though the lobbying group has appealed the rules in federal court.

The original Equal Employment Opportunity rules were overturned in court following an appeal by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Some broadcasters feel the new set of rules is too similar to the old requirements and will also be overturned. They contend that the new rules pressure them to hire employees based on race or gender, which was one of the reasons the old rules were deep-sixed. The commission responds with the argument that the new rules are guidelines and punishment for non-fulfillment is not likely.

-Frank Absher

Hell freezes over

Did hell freeze over? Gossip maven Jerry Berger just wrote a column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about the most recent Arbitron survey for St. Louis without fawning over J.C. Corcoran.

In fact, he didn't even mention Corcoran once in the article. In the past, he's always managed to find some obscure demographic in which Corcoran could conceivably claim success, which usually generated laughter among all those who knew how ridiculous the claims were.

We'll have to see if this becomes a trend: Truth in gossip reporting (at least where radio ratings are concerned). What a concept!

-Frank Absher

Up in smoke

Cigars may not be the hot item they were a couple of years ago, but Marvin R. Shanken isn't giving up. The man who founded The Wine Spectator and added Cigar Aficionado is watching his ash grow longer as cigar buffs drift away like smoke through the window.

In an effort to attract aficionados and not just cigars, Shanken has dropped the size of the latter and increased the size of the former. He also added a subtitle, "The Good Life Magazine for Men." The magazine, founded in 1992, hit its circulation peak with 384,000 in 1997 and has since dropped under 300,000.

-Joe Pollack

Correction

In the April issue of SJR, we reported in our story about the sale of the Suburban Journals ("The $265 million question: Will Pulitzer, Inc. buy the St. Louis Suburban Journals?") that the Journal Register Company was losing large amounts of money. That statement was incorrect. In fact, the company is profitable and it has been reported by analysts to be in a strong position in the market. SJR regrets the error and apologizes for the negative impression left by the mistake.

The story also contained a case of mistaken identity. SJR reported that Robert Jelenic, president and CEO of the Journal Register Co., which is selling the Suburban Journals, had once been general manager of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. However, Jelenic never did work for the daily paper here. SJR confused him with Thomas Tallarico, the Post's former general manager who left to work for Ralph Ingersoll when he launched the St. Louis Sun in 1989.

Long-time Post reporter Phil Sutin notified SJR of the error. He also pointed out that the Post zoned editions have existed a lot longer than the 1980s. The story cited several sources who said that was when they began. Sutin said the zone editions were beefed up in 1984 and that may have been where the confusion lay.

Finally, Sutin notified us that Tallarico, who stopped working for Ingersoll when the Sun folded in 1990, died April 10, 1999, while playing golf, according to the Post's obituary.

SJR regrets the errors.

HERE

By Ed Bishop

It's difficult to know what is in a person's heart. If it weren't, the Albert Arno case would be a lot easier.

Arno is the St. Louis Post-Dispatch salesperson who stopped a school bus from Kirkwood North Middle School after someone on the bus threw a bottle of correction fluid on his car. When Arno boarded the bus, all hell broke loose. Apparently Arno spit on the children, called them names and then threw trash from a trash can at them. Arno says he simply went on the bus to find out who threw the correction fluid and had to defend himself against verbal and physical threats. Eventually the police came and Arno was charged with disorderly conduct and misdemeanor assault.

What makes this bizarre incident really complicated is that many of the children on the bus were African Americans. Two of them testified in court that Arno used the word "nigger" during the melee. Arno says he didn't.

Lizz Brown, an attorney and radio host on WGNU, is adamant that the incident is a clear-cut case of racism. She has organized a group called Our Children, Inc. and they are calling for a boycott of the Post. They want the Post to fire Arno and the state to charge him with a hate crime. She believes that Arno is a racist.

Arno's friends and defenders say he isn't a hateful person and certainly not a racist. They think Arno simply lost his cool and would have acted the same way even if the bus had been full of white children. His friends say that Arno was under a lot of personal pressure at the time. They say that Lizz Brown is simply a demagogue who is using the school-bus incident to fan the flames of racial tension and to draw attention to herself, to build herself up as a leader in the black community. Some of them say quietly that Brown is the real racist.

Most white people, especially suburban white people, feel that most of the legal and social impediments to African Americans have been removed from our society. That racist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan are extremely marginal. That it's time to move on from racial arguments. That folks like Al Sharpton are simply grandstanding and actually hurting the growing consensus about race.

Most black people don't see it that way. They believe racism is only better masked today than it was 30 years ago. That even thoughtful whites have moved on from the problem of racism too soon. Just imagine, they say, if it had been a black man who boarded a bus full of white kids and spit and threw trash on them while calling them "honky" or "whitey"-how would the good citizens of Kirkwood reacted then?

I have no doubt that Arno is more a symbol of this hidden racism than an actual practitioner. He's a stand-in for all the people who fled to the suburbs to build their all-white communities with their solid tax bases, leaving poor whites and middle-class blacks to struggle with deteriorating schools and infrastructures in the city and inner-suburbs. He's a symbol of all those people in the suburbs who believe that if you're poor it's your own fault and thereby justify terrible brutalities to be perpetrated against African-American children through the mechanism of poverty. He's the stand-in for every person who ever complained about the high price of gasoline while choking our highways driving 30 miles home from work to his or her all-white subdivison.

A few weeks ago nearly every white person in the metropolitan area was outraged when Quincy Troupe called the people of St. Charles County racists. Maybe it is a mistake to believe that everyone or anyone in St. Charles County is an overt racist. But you have to be blind not to see the structural racism in the St. Louis area. And, although it's difficult to know what's in someone's heart, sometimes their actions reveal their secrets.

The problem with all this-and the Arno case is a perfect example-is that it doesn't get us anywhere. It might make good media copy or rallying cries but, in the end, it only makes us more bitter.

And what about the kid, white or black, who threw the bottle of correction fluid, perhaps endangering Arno's life? That child's action has been lost in all of this. What does that say about us?

THERE

By Charles L. Klotzer

It is somewhat dated but flattering nevertheless. Kristie Bunton devoted portions of her doctoral dissertation to examining the St. Louis Journalism Review, specifically 38 issues from 1988 to 1991.

A summary of her conclusions have been published in "Holding the Media Accountable: Citizens, Ethics and the Law" (210 pp., Indiana University Press, Cloth $39.95, Paper $16.95) edited by David Pritchard, professor of journalism at the University of Wisc.-Milwaukee.

Here we will review only the 22 pages which deal with SJR. A full review of the book will be published in a forthcoming issue.

Bunton is an excellent and logical writer. She first distills guidelines for media self-regulation and then applies them to SJR's performance. If one accepts these guidelines, one must agree with her conclusions.

Media reviews should be judged, claims the author, whether its content (1) explains the way journalists cover the news, (2) criticizes the way journalists cover the news, and (3) proposes change in the way in which news is covered.

Before we examine these guidelines more closely, Bunton's critique of other evaluations of media reviews deserve a closer look. She discounts other evaluations as being "assertions" rather than being based on evidence. As an example, she faults the assumption "that readership of a review is a measure of its impact." As another example, she wonders how a leading journalism reference guide lists SJR, without offering any evidence, as one of journalism's "core" publications and why they call it "a lofty-thinking, intelligently written, and occasionally muckraking example of regional journalism watchdogism" (William B. Griffith, "Ethics and the Academic Professional," p. 75). She conjectures that it is probably SJR's longevity which induces these accolades.

Assertions, then, are equated to judgments without any facts to back them up, unsupported by evidence. Again, I agree. But what if Bunton's guidelines themselves are similarly flawed? If they cover one section of journalism while failing to address other, possibly more crucial, aspects of how the media deal with news?

If that is the case, then the evidence collected is limited to the area staked out by the guidelines.

Indeed, the claim that Bunton's guidelines are all-comprehensive to evaluate media reviews is really an assertion, not a fact, because it omits vital aspects of journalism.

Bunton examined 55 articles between 1988 and 1991 and found that SJR "provides relatively little content that might contribute to self-regulation as it has been defined in this chapter." And, further on, the author finds "the self-regulatory content it did publish most often stopped at explaining why news was covered in a specific manner by St. Louis journalists. Relatively, few articles critiqued the way in which news was covered or proposed changes in journalistic norms."

The author's evaluation totally focuses on professionalism, targeting the sins of commission, but utterly failing to address the sins of omission, such as news which is being overlooked, inadequately presented, or self-censored. It is that dark corner of journalism, of ferreting out the forces within or external to journalism which suppress news, which has been the principal obligation of SJR throughout its three decades of publishing.

Yes, SJR is also concerned about the use of anonymous sources, invasions of privacy, how to improve coverage of the suburbs, the excessive time allotted to trivia on broadcast news, and the myriad of other journalistic concerns, but foremost SJR is devoting its limited energies to openness, fairness, accessibility and truthfulness.

Before listing a few of SJR's accomplishments, let me jump ahead and plead guilty to her charge that my motivation in publishing SJR was not only to review the professional aspects of journalism, but also to affect society at large. "Many scholars and journalists," she writes, "may focus on media criticism as a means to preempt external regulation and/or achieve better journalism, but Klotzer seemed to regard media criticism as a means necessary to achieve his larger goal: social reform."

Bunton quotes an earlier explanation of mine for publishing SJR:

The media control what we know, and here is a source of influence and reform. Reporters are the final link in the publishing process. Thus collaborating with reporters to establish a watchdog over the media would not only establish peer review of the print and broadcasting industry, but would also propel social consciousness and responsibility into the heart of decision-making. . . . In retrospect, it is obvious that watching the media from a professional point of view was only one aspect of the media reform movement. The second and equally strong motivation was to reform the social process in which the media play such an influential role.

I believe it's up to the reader to categorize whether the following examples fall under the rubric of professional journalism or of social reform or possibly both.

• Way back, SJR revealed how a St. Louis Post-Dispatch investigative reporter was a secret informer for the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee.

• SJR exposed a publisher of a leading St. Louis African-American newspaper for collaborating with the FBI and planting articles suggested by the FBI.

• SJR revealed the Joint Operating Agency between the former St. Louis Globe-Democrat and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch which was unknown even to some Post editors.

• SJR needled the Post into adding a warning to its horoscope column that it should only be read for entertainment.

• SJR reported on a revolt of Globe-Democrat staffers who were upset about its policies.

• SJR critiqued the Post's sports staff for being all male and all white. (As a result the Post hired an African- ....

EVERYWHERE

Whining

The American Society of Newspaper Editors had its annual meeting a few weeks ago, and the editors sat around and wrung their hands about the frustrations of hiring and keeping minority reporters to achieve the ASNE's well-publicized committment to having newsrooms that reflected the ethnic demographics of their communities by 2005.

They stayed in hotel rooms that cost several hundred dollars a day and whined about the problem, but never once, in a 14-paragraph New York Times story, did anyone suggest raising salaries or providing better leadership to attract and to keep good staffs, regardless of background and of age.

Meanwhile, the Freedom Forum (formerly the Gannett Foundation) and the Knight Foundation (of Knight-Ridder) were pledging about $5 million to bring more minorities into journalism and to improve high school newspapers-more jobs for administrators, no increase in salaries for struggling reporters.

At least the ASNE recognizes one of the problems. As N. Christian Anderson III of the Orange County Register said, "As we looked at this issue, we found kids are not being exposed to journalism in high school because high school newspapers are fading away."

No one discussed political and social attitudes by high school principals and administrators that have discouraged young journalists. Right here in River City, think about the Hazelwood case.

On a national level, minority employment rose from 11.5 percent to 11.8 percent, using a work force total of 56,200 journalists. The Times did not reveal the source of the figure. While black journalists fell from 5.4 to 5.3 percent, Hispanics rose from 3.5 to 3.7, Asian-Americans rose from 2.3 to 2.4 and Native Americans increased from 0.1 to 0.5.

Will Sutton, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, pointed to "a crisis of confidence in the newspaper industry" and said that a vicious cycle was being created-fewer black reporters mean less coverage of news to interest young blacks, and therefore less overall interest in newspapers.

The saddest news of all is the fact that if the industry is to meet its goals, and given current hiring and retention rates, half the new hires for the next 24 years will have to represent minorities.

-Joe Pollack

April Fools

The April Fool's Day spoof seems to have hung on far longer in newspapers than in other segments of society. It's been years since someone gave me a phony telephone message, and I was a very young St. Louis Globe-Democrat sports writer when a colleague told me to go to the morgue and look up information on a professional wrestler named Loof Lirpa, who was supposed to be challenging Lou Thesz. That's how long ago it was.

But college newspapers keep the game alive, and St. Louis University students showed what they thought of the city's major daily with the publication of the St. Louis Post-Disgrace, which included a front-page box saying that Post Disgrace editor Clueless and St. Lous University president Larry Beyondme had exchanged jobs.

If the students feel that way, it indicates something about public journalism in the eyes of tomorrow's journalists, to wit:

"Over the past months, the staff of the Post-Disgrace has noticed the front page becoming cluttered with overbearing news and facts, nearly 250 words in the past issue.

"In an effort to ease the eye of the reader and in the process further dumb down American society, the staff has determined it will increase the number of inside teasers and the size of headlines and photos.

"'It's a revolutionary idea to ask the people what they want,' editor Clueless said. 'And the people have spoken. They want less news and more personalized stories on how the St. Louis Rams affect their lives.'"

As emphasis, three-fourths of the next page was covered by a picture of the Arch. The headline was, "Placement of blue neon sign atop the St. Louis Arch is the latest in SLU's attempt to grow and expand," and the cutline explained: "Due to the absurdly large photo and headline, the 100-word story written regarding this issue was scrapped. If anyone wishes to discover the truth of what is really going on here, form a focus group of 10-12 average St. Louis citizens and ask them." The byline was, "By Imagining Large Photos, Post-Disgrace Imagineer."

-Joe Pollack

Amateurs teaching amateurs

Time was when schools and colleges of journalism produced journalists. Now they seem to be in the business of churning out managers, as shown in "Managing Newsroom Employees," a pamphlet recently published by the Media Management Center at Northwestern University.

As a long-time newspaper reporter, working in most parts of several newspapers while deftly avoiding becoming a supervisor, I began to mumble profanities even while reading the small type at the beginning of the pamphlet, whose very title brings immediate trouble. Newsroom employees don't need to be "managed."

Those good enough to be hired need to be left alone to do their jobs, challenged to do more and better work, praised to the skies when they do something right, bawled out when they do something wrong.

Written in third-grade style, the pamphlet, immediately, and rather innocently, tells where it is coming from and why it is going in the wrong direction, all to no good end. It comes from the Editorial Leadership Initiative, funded by the Robert R. McCormick (Chicago) Tribune Foundation, and from the Media Management Center at Northwestern, founded by Knight (Knight-Ridder).

The Initiative "is an on-going program to educate newspaper editors about the newest thinking in the business of journalism. Its mission is to raise the management literacy and abilities of senior editors so that they can better effect the strategies of their organizations while preserving and strengthening the values of journalism." No mention is made of the hiring process, which is the key to building a newspaper, or a championship sports team.

Errant nonsense-this is not about writing, or editing, or reporting, it's about "management literacy" and "the newest thinking" and, most telling of all, "the business of journalism."

The problems the pamphlet lists are the same that existed when I was a rookie sports reporter at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, and they were present at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch a decade later when I got there and two decades later when I left and during the tragic reign of Old King Cole Campbell, who tried to institute change and failed miserably because, as Meredith Willson's lyrics in "The Music Man," said so perceptively, "You gotta know the territory."

No one in university management programs seems to realize that reporters are individualists who will listen to, and accept criticism from, people they respect. They will work hard but they need motivation, from people they respect, and they hate performance reviews, like everyone in every job in the nation.

Sharon Peters, Ph. D. (that title makes her a better reporter and brings immediate respect, doesn't it?) talks to common problems like those in the paragraph above, but she never mentions the need for respect and the difficulties caused by incapable supervisors. Senior editors on second-rate newspapers never make mistakes. If the reporter disagrees, it's because he or she is too stupid to understand. Peters provides anecdotal evidence of how she solved personnel problems, but is never able to consider that perhaps the problem is the supervisor and not the worker.

It's a Good book for bad managers because it justifies bad behavior.

-Joe Pollack

CHANNELS

Channel 2 cameraman sues bodyguard

By Tripp Frohlichstein

Elliott Davis, KTVI (Channel 2) "You Paid For It" reporter, is accustomed to people "slamming doors in his face." He isn't accustomed to the governor doing it.

The result was a fascinating story in which Gov. Mel Carnahan showed ineptitude in handling the media and then appeared to lie about it. On April 12, Davis was in Jefferson City doing an on-camera stand-up for a story about state spending on airplanes. As Davis rehearsed, Gov. Carnahan drove up. On the video tape you can hear Davis' surprise as he told cameraman Larry Washington, "It's the governor. That's the governor!"

Davis is then seen walking toward the governor's car. Davis paused at least six or seven feet away as the governor began to get out of his car. The governor saw Davis and walked toward him, hand outstretched. As he shook hands with him, Davis can be heard saying, "Hello, Governor." He went on to say, "Governor, let me ask you a question. Does the state have too many airplanes?"

As Davis asked the question, Carnahan suddenly put his hand on the camera lens. Then, the governor's highway patrol bodyguard quickly intervened and pushed Washington back from the governor. You can hear Washington saying, "I'm not doing anything." Eventually, says Washington, he was pinned against a hangar wall.

Washington is suing the governor and state Highway Patrol Sergeant Elbert Marshall for damages. One former aide to Carnahan expressed surprise, saying that the governor had never done anything like this before. But the story gets stranger. The governor talked to the Associated Press, forgetting videotape usually doesn't lie. He said, according to Channel 2, "Elliott Davis and the cameraman rushed at the car and stood right there, pushing the microphone in my face to where I could hardly get out of the car."

Actually, that was not even close to what the videotape showed. The story took a new twist in an interview when Carnahan aide, Marc Farinella, told Channel 2, "The governor did indeed feel that he was being obstructed, or, uh, er, uh, the uh, either the cameraman or the reporter were, uh, er, delaying or in the way of where the governor needed to go."

Just watching Farinella make the statement was interesting. He made little or no eye contact with the reporter and seemed unsure of what he was saying. The perception a viewer might come away with is that he wasn't comfortable with the story he was telling. Besides, the tape (recorded as Washington was being shoved backward) briefly showed Carnahan walking toward Davis and apparently trying to grab his microphone, not heading for the plane.

A week later, Carnahan issued an apology to Davis and Washington. In a letter, dated April 21, addressed to Washington (with an identical letter going to Davis), Carnahan wrote, "I want to express my regret to you about the incident at the Jefferson City Municipal Airport on April 12. My public statements about this encounter are a reflection of how I felt as the events were occurring. If you feel that any of my statements reflected poorly on you, I am sorry. Please know it was never my intention to diminish your reputation. I have never intended my description of the incident to be perceived as a criticism of your actions. I understand it is your job to get the interview and that's what you were trying to do last week."

But the day the apology was issued, Jerry Nachtigal, Carnahan's press secretary, still contended the governor felt Davis was blocking his path. This incident could have quickly ended with a faster apology from Carnahan. A simple (assuming this is true), "I was running late and I reacted poorly. I apologize to Channel 2, Elliott Davis and Larry Washington for my actions" would have virtually ended the matter.

When asked why it took nine days to issue an apology, Nachtigal said the governor's office wanted to see the video. He added there were several different points of view to consider; the governor's, the news crew's and security's. Nachtigal acknowledged he had not seen the videotape himself.

Nachtigal still criticized Davis, saying it was a questionable practice to show up with cameras running. He said he would tell me more off the record but I declined.

One reason the apology finally came may have been a letter to Carnahan from Chet Pleban, the attorney representing Washington. In the April 17 letter, Pleban reminds Carnahan that he was quoted in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article on April 16 suggesting the reporter rushed up and put the camera in his face to "where I could hardly get out of the car." He went on to say, "I put my hand up to sort of make my way and to indicate I didn't want the interview right then." Pleban's letter goes on to say, "The videotape completely contradicts your apparent position that Mr. Washington was the aggressor in this matter and refutes the public statements. . . attributed to you. Clearly the evidence demonstrates you were the aggressor. . . . Your apparent public position is a thinly disguised attempt to divert attention away from your behavior to the potential detriment of Mr. Washington. . . . Your purpose was to put yourself in the best light without regard to the truth. . . . Mr. Washington expects you to do the correct thing by setting the record straight and informing the public that he is not guilty in connection with this matter. If you were having a bad day, like we all do, and you acted inappropriately, then just say so and stop blaming others for your misdeeds."

Pleban says KMOX radio reported the governor's office's response to his letter at that time was no apology, no retraction, no regret. Pleban said this suit was filed because Washington was not only physically injured (although he lost time at work, Pleban acknowledged the injuries were not life-threatening) but his reputation was injured as well.

"This isn't about money," Pleban said. "This is about inappropriate behavior not only on April 12 but thereafter in spinning it around to suggest that Larry Washington was blocking his path. We know Washington wasn't blocking his path" from the video tape.

As for Washington being pushed by the highway patrol sergeant, Pleban said, "The highway patrol has a duty to protect the physical well being of the governor, not his political well being. And that's what happened."

Although Davis accepted Carnahan's apology letter to Channel 2 concerning the incident on the air, Pleban sees it differently for Washington. He says it was a letter of regret, not apology.

"Of course he regrets it," said Pleban.

You can bet senatorial opponent John Ashcroft is licking his chops over this one.

• • •

KDNL (Channel 30) hit a new low on its 10 p.m. April 19 broadcast and lost me as a viewer (except when I have to watch it as a critic for SJR). After running the opening story on severe weather, the second story was a long piece on Channel 30 reporter Paul Brown and his wife, KTVI (Channel 2) anchor Mandy Murphey. The topic? They are expecting a baby soon. The couple has lost three babies in previous pregnancies. The story looked at both dealing with their loss and the excitement of a new baby.

This might have made an acceptable soft-news story much later in the program. Whoever decided to make it the second story-and, had it not been for severe weather, it would have been the lead story-showed poor judgment.

The public is interested in seeing the news that affects them, not an emotional story focusing on two media stars.

Even the story, though sometimes sweet, sometimes maudlin, was incomplete. Paul Brown talked but Mandy Murphey did not. Channel 30 confirmed Channel 2 wouldn't give their okay on her being interviewed (How silly is that?), missing an opportunity to promote Mandy on another station.

Although we saw pictures of the couple, it was odd to not hear from both of them on their feelings.

I want news that is relevant-especially in the first 10 minutes. While I wish the couple well, airing this story the way it was done by Channel 30 was simply inappropriate. No wonder its ratings are about as low as they can go.

Will they get lower? Maybe. At press time the station was promoting a concept that sounds quite gimmicky. It is going to broadcast the 10 p.m. news in May (yes, sweeps month for the Nielsen ratings) from a different viewer's home each night. Maybe it will turn out to be a brilliant move but on the surface-well, what do you think?

• • •

Murphey and Brown had their baby, Natalie Anna Brown, on April 25. Channel 2 says she expects to be back on the air in June. In Channel 2's press release, it was noted "Both Mandy and baby Natalie are said to be doing fine." No word on Paul.

• • •

The announcement that Steve Hammel will leave KMOV (Channel 4) to become news director at WJLA-TV in Washington says a lot about Hammel. As a frequent visitor to Washington, I have been impressed with the news operations there, including WJLA-TV. The ABC affiliate is having rating problems. Hammel replaces Jim LeMay who resigned after what the Washington Post called a "tumultuous 21-month stint in which he shook up the news staff but was unable to move the station out of the ratings cellar." Some have expressed their concern for Hammel's future before he even starts the job. One person noted at WJLA-TV, "it's a revolving door for news directors."

As news director, Hammel has certainly helped Channel 4 move from a distant second place behind KSDK (Channel 5) to a contender in his years here since 1993. Whatever might be going on at WJLA, only top-notch people are qualified to run stations in our nation's capital, where there is a great deal of scrutiny. After all, even the president checks out the local newscasts.

Hammel will find that unlike the St. Louis Post Dispatch, the Washington Post spends a great deal of time reporting on local media. In St. Louis, he could do much of what he wanted without fear of criticism in the mass (print) media. In D.C., Hammel will be under a microscope. No doubt, he can handle it.

• • •

Channel 4 reporter Kathryn Jamboretz moves to KPLR (Channel 11) as an anchor to replace Sandy Miller. Jamboretz started in June 1994 as a reporter and went to the University of Colorado. This is her first anchoring job. She is scheduled to start on May 4.

• • •

This was so embarrassing, I won't name the Channel 2 anchor who talked about the fire at one of St. Louis' landmark restaurants which he called "Rigalli's." It's Rigazzi's.

Hammel leaves Channel 4 at crucial time

By Tim Nuell

KMOV (Channel 4) News Director Steve Hammel has spent the last seven years of his career trying to lead his troops to a ratings victory over KSDK (Channel 5).

But now, with the big payoff perhaps within reach, Hammel is leaving Channel 4 for a similar job in Washington, D.C.

"I was not looking to move," Hammel says. "I got a phone call out of the blue from the general manager at WJLA-TV."

Hammel will leave in early May to take over as both news director and vice president of news at WJLA, an ABC affiliate. Since he's headed inside the Beltway, it's only fitting that Hammel assess his time at Channel 4 by asking the question politicians often pose, "Are we better off now than we were four (or in this case seven) years ago?"

"I think we're in excellent shape (at Channel 4)," Hammel says, citing the most recent November sweeps period in which Channel 4 tied Channel 5 in the 10 p.m. news slot for the first time in more than a decade. "We've got a great team here."

Channel 4 is now faced with the challenge of keeping its ratings momentum under Hammel's assistant, Marty VanHousen, who has been named acting news director. Allan Cohen, Channel 4 general manager, says he has the luxury of being able to take his time finding a permanent replacement.

"I've been inundated with resumes, and I'm also blessed with a very fine candidate in house," says Cohen, who is quick to acknowledge he'll be replacing "the best news director I've ever worked with."

While some Channel 4 staffers say that the station is heavily targeting the May ratings period in its quest to finally knock Channel 5 off its ratings perch, others at the station say just the opposite. And Cohen is publicly downplaying the significance of the upcoming sweeps.

"It's a marathon, not a sprint," Cohen says of the ratings race. But the two TV news ratings leaders are limping into the May book, both having recently lost their long-time news directors. Channel 5 is also battling a viewer boycott resulting from its labor dispute with IBEW Local 4.

At Channel 4, Cohen insists May will be "business as usual. I have an extremely strong bench."

For Hammel, however, May will bring many changes. He'll be settling into the nation's capital just as the November political races are heating up and heading to the finish line.

"Politics in D.C. is more of a local story than it is anywhere else in the country," Hammel says, fully aware that critics often bemoan the lack of political coverage on local TV news. "(But) I don't think there's added pressure (in D.C.). I think there's a responsibility for TV to do better journalism period."

On a personal level, Hammel will be making his move with mixed emotions. While Washington is a short drive from his family on the East Coast, he says he can't help but be a little blue about leaving St. Louis.

"I feel like I'm leaving my second family," Hammel says. "I'm going to miss a great group of people."

In SJR

10 Years Ago:

The St. Louis Sun ceased operations seven months after its first edition hit the streets. Owner Ralph Ingersoll II said publicly that the paper had failed because of consumer resistance, but he said privately that local advertisers had not supported the paper.

WSNL-FM in St. Louis was searching for a part-time announcer to cover two six-hour weekend shifts. It was paying $7 an hour.

Cable subscribers in the City of St. Louis were being told their basic cable service costs would increase to $18.32 per month.

Five Years Ago:

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch launched its new Internet service, called POSTnet, in St. Charles County. The paper said the effort was designed to use the county as a laboratory for developing Internet services.

KMOX Program Director Tom Langmyer said the station's new news director would have to develop a more aggressive staff, improve writing skills, become more proactive and break more stories. He was seeking a replacement for long-time news director John Angelides.

In a recent survey, college newspaper advisers concluded that the nation was producing journalistic wimps who were afraid to tackle controversial subjects.

Lawyer says Arno will appeal verdict

By Don Corrigan

St. Louis Post-Dispatch ad salesman Albert Arno was found guilty on May 1 of disorderly conduct and seven counts of assault. Kirkwood municipal judge Stephen O. Smith assessed Arno a total of $2,750 in fines and $176 in court costs. Arno has until June 6 to pay fines and court costs.

Arno's defense attorney, John Kilo, said he was "completely surprised" by the verdict. Kilo said he and his client are now considering an appeal of the court case.

The convictions came almost a week after Arno was tried in a bench trial in Kirkwood municipal court. The case was tried in a packed courtroom while demonstrators marched outside with placards denouncing him as a "racist child abuser."

"I think the judgment speaks for itself. I really don't have a lot to say," said Stephanie Tueth, who prosecuted the case on behalf of the city of Kirkwood. "I was very pleased with the kids who gave testimony in the courtroom. I thought they did quite well.

"I don't ever recall a packed house like that for Kirkwood municipal court," noted Tueth, who has worked as a prosecutor for Kirkwood for two years. "But that was okay. People have a right to see what's going on in our court rooms."

The Kirkwood North Middle School students who testified against Arno said that he boarded their school bus several times on Sept. 16 on Quan Avenue in Kirkwood. Arno boarded the bus after a student threw a bottle of correction fluid or white paint from the bus onto his car.

Two of the 10 students who testified said that Arno, who is white, used the N-word against black students on the bus. Other students and the bus driver, Richard Stange, said they didn't hear or couldn't recall hearing a racial slur.

In his testimony, Arno admitted to being highly agitated during the bus incident, but he adamantly denied using racial slurs. Arno said he boarded the bus to find out who threw the object that hit his car. He said he did not assault, or even touch, any of the children.

"At this point, we plan to appeal the decision," said Kilo. "The city simply did not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. The common thread of the student testimony in court was that it was inconsistent and contradictory. The city did not meet the burden of proof.

"The bus driver, who vindicated Mr. Arno, should have been afforded much more legitimacy than these kids," added Kilo. "He had no reason to shade his testimony. He did not have a vested interest, as did some of the kids, in diverting attention from what instigated this event in the first place.

Kilo said his client, Arno, "has been victimized from the beginning of the incident when an object hit his car, to the very end when a student smashed him in the face and cut him with a book bag in the presence of the police." Kilo said that victimization continues with people calling his client "a racist" in the media.

"The publicity surrounding this case is all out of proportion to the actual facts of what happened," said Kilo. "It's been driven by outside forces who have their own spin to put on it. It's clear from the testimony that race was not an issue in this matter. It's crystal clear."

Lizz Brown, who heads the predominantly black Our Children, Inc., said her group was not happy with the punishment meted out to Arno.

"It's not enough," said Brown. "We believe he should have to do jail time. When you have an adult boarding a school bus, and assaulting children, and just getting a monetary fine-it does not send an appropriate message.

"Our group has not given up on appropriate legal action against this man who is a racist child abuser," said Brown. "We still feel this belongs in a federal court as a hate crime. It's the clearest case of a hate crime."

Brown said her group will continue its demonstrations outside Post advertisers until Arno is terminated. Demonstrators with Our Children, Inc., stood outside a Schnucks Supermarket earlier this year with placards denouncing the Post.

"Absolutely we will continue to protest the Post-Dispatch's continued employment of Arno," said Brown. "Arno is a racist graduate of the multi-cultural diversity program that was given to Post employees. He passed the company program, even though he is a racist.

"The Post has big problems," said Brown. "The newspaper is in no position to tell the community about race problems when it employs a racist child abuser who has been convicted on assault charges."

Post Publisher Terry Egger couldnot be reached for comment as SJR went to press.

Random thoughts on random articles in RFT

By E.F. Porter

To Riverfront Times editor Safir Ahmed, the most irritating aspect of recent criticism of the weekly is that it has been (he maintains) sweeping, generalized and unsupported by specific reference to the paper's actual performance.

"There's been no discussion of content at all," he said. "The St. Louis Journalism Review has been critiquing a newspaper without discussion of its content."

He is always ready to listen to substantive criticism, Ahmed said, the proof of which is his liberality in running critical letters to the editor.

Accepting Ahmed's challenge, the author of this piece herewith offers thumbnail commentaries on a quasi-random selection of the cover stories the RFT has produced in the past year.

Quasi-random, we say, because they were picked at random from Ahmed's non-random selection of the RFT's best cover articles since Ray Hartmann sold the weekly to the New Times chain in the fall of 1998.

These comments are, by the way, entirely personal, biased, subjective and unilateral-something like restaurant or film reviews-and do not necessarily reflect the view of the St. Louis Journalism Review, or anyone else.

April 7, 1999-An account of the activities of Randy Grim, a saintly soul who rescues stray and feral dogs and boards them until they are sufficiently healthy and socialized to be adopted. The piece was so full of fascinating lore about both the stray animal situation in the metropolitan area and the very nature and behavior of Canis familiaris that an interested reader could overlook the fact that it might have been delivered a bit more succinctly.

June 30, 1999-A fast-paced, smoothly organized piece, the peer of the finest magazine writing in America today, on Ellen Reasonover, the woman who spent 16 years in jail for murder after being framed by the prosecution and the police. Stories about gross miscarriage of justice are invariably good copy, but are often made more complicated than necessary when reporters allow lawyers to throw sand in their faces. This one, while packed with details, avoids that problem. A minor flaw: Failure to obtain comment from the prosecutor, now a judge. Why is this miscreant still at large, let alone on the bench?

November 3, 1999-Article on Shaw's Garden director Peter Raven and his cozy relationship with Monsanto and its gene modification program. Though it makes him seem a bit like a sort of botanical Elmer Gantry, the article fails to lay a glove on him. But the major shortcoming is its inadequate explanation of what gene modification is all about and why so many scientists-and governments, too-are so frightened of it.

January 5, 2000-A-10,000-word article on Kellwood, a St. Louis- based apparel manufacturer which camouflages its operations behind a gothic tangle of intermediaries, subsidiaries, labels, trademarks and sub-sub-sub contracts with scores of sweatshop operators in the U.S. and in the undeveloped world. The story gives the appearance of being better reported than it was edited. It drones on, weakening the impact of what it reveals. It includes no description of working conditions within the sweatshops, leaving the reader with a vague sense that he is expected to wax wroth over the Kellwood's greed and duplicity without being told precisely why. It's a common fault in RFT social message stories.

Consider this sentence: "That same year (1992) Kellwood adopted a policy of business conduct but didn't ask its contractors to comply until 1995, after the U.S. Department of Labor made a sweep of southern California garment contractors and found 11 Kellwood contractors violating wage and hour laws."

Eleven out of how many? And what, pray, was the nature of those violations? Were they technical and trivial or were they outrageous and appalling? We are left in the dark.

January 19, 2000-A juicy, gossipy-but frustratingly inconclusive-piece on the Queegish and possibly corrupt rule of Beej Nierengarten-Smith, headmistress of the sculpture garden at St. Louis County's Laumeier Park. Again, the story probably would not have been damaged and might have been improved by a little compression. Also, the reader is left to wonder about her side of the story, if she has one. Would have been considerate, furthermore, if we'd been told how she pronounces her first name; probably not B.J.

February 16, 2000-An article on Illinois's new super-maximum security prison at Tamms with lots of contradictory statistics-illustrating the aphorism (though that was probably not the object) that you can make numbers tell you anything if you just torture them long enough. The best part was an assemblage of astonishingly eloquent comments from the inmates, who come across as either sensitive souls or master manipulators.

April 12, 2000 -A long expose´ of the city's foot-dragging and ineptitude in dealing with lead paint in its superannuated housing. The shortcoming of the account was its neglect of the rather fascinating medical aspects of lead poisoning: How does it affect the human system? What are the symptoms? The account suffered, conversely, from flinging around technical terminology without translating it. It would have been helpful to the reader to have explained, for instance, that 10 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood is a proportion so small as to be quite outside ordinary comprehension -that is, roughly equivalent to a jigger of vermouth in 10 railroad tank cars of gin.

April 19, 2000-An expose´ of the financing scheme for the proposed Cardinals baseball park which reveals, in a nutshell, that it would result in a net shortfall in tax revenue to the city of St. Louis of about $12 million a year. How this would come about makes interesting reading and some of the quotes of Cardinals suits are worthy of Louis XIV.

Devotees of the RFT of the Hartmann era may be heartened to discover it's not entirely lost its ability to slant. Consider this passage: "They (the Cardinals management) say that questions of tremendous importance to the taxpayers shouldn't be answered publicly."

Now, it's improbable that that even approximates what they actually said. More likely, the phrase, "tremendous importance to the taxpayer" is an editorial apostrophe inserted by the writer in the grand old tradition of the advocacy press-and in flagrant violation of the rules of conventional journalism.

AM/FM

Savard named new radio voice of Rams

By Larry Hoffman

After much behind the scenes wrangling, the St. Louis Rams named their principal play-by-play announcer on May 1. KMOV (Channel 4) veteran Steve Savard, himself a former NFL player, was introduced on J.C. Corcoran's Breakfast Club on KLOU-FM (103.3 FM). But the "official" announcement wasn't made until Corcoran pulled off a hilarious stunt with finesse.

The pre-announced time arrived and Corcoran dialed the number of the person who was supposed to be joining the broadcast team. What followed was the introduction of local sports freelancer Brian McKenna, who went through the motions of being welcomed and reacting to the news. Savard was in the studio the entire time and was introduced shortly after the call with McKenna ended. But Corcoran got an ironic bounce out of the prank when callers to McKenna and KLOU said KTRS-AM (550 AM) reported McKenna was the choice shortly after the first, intentionally misleading announcement. One could just imagine Kevin Slaten doing the morning show on KTRS with a walkman tuned to KLOU, ready to rip whoever was selected. Slaten was fleetingly in contention for the job, according to sources close to the selection process.

Savard will be teamed with long-time color commentator Jack Snow, replacing Mike Bush, who resigned after the completion of the football season. Besides being an NFL veteran, having played with the Dallas Cowboys, Savard made stops in Billings, El Paso and Hartford prior to arriving at Channel 4 six years ago. In 1998, he joined the Voice of the Rams broadcast team (then on KSD-FM, 93.7 FM) as a host of the pre-game and half time shows. The Rams first pre-season game is August 5 against the Oakland Raiders.

• • •

KTRS program director Kipper McGee told SJR that following Art Bell's retirement from his unique syndicated all-night show, the station would carry his replacement, Mike Siegel. Siegel had formerly done afternoons on KTRS and has filled in recently for "Nighthawk" George Noory.

Other programming changes noted by McGee include the addition of the Kim Komando Computer Show from 3-5 p.m. Saturdays. Komando is a national columnist who has the unique ability to provide solutions to highly technical problems while at the same time reducing them to understandable terminology. Westar is the syndicator and the program originates from Phoenix.

McGee also noted that the station was seeking a "fresher direction" in its voice imaging and would not be renewing with the legendary Charlie Van Dyke following his contract's June expiration date. Sharing the duties after that time will be CNN's Nick Michaels, and voice artist and Pittsburgh air talent Jim Merkle.

• • •

Perennial one-of-a-kind personality Asher Benrubi (Smash) moved to afternoons on KLOU on May 1, vacating mornings on KSD-FM. One morning in April, while still on "Mix 93.7," Smash featured a live appearance by the talented and inspirational Rick Recht of the Rich Recht Band. Recht performs Jewish music in a contemporary fashion, and is enjoying continued popularity of his CD release "Tov" from 1999. Smash lent some insight into his own upbringing by describing Passover seders conducted in Spanish by his father.

Recht is touring the country this year and his performance itinerary can be accessed on the band's website: www.richrecht.com.

• • •

KWMU-FM (90.7 FM) has announced some programming changes. The station will now feature a Sunday night show dealing with computers and technology from 7-8 PM.

Moving to Sundays at noon is "Zorba Paster On Your Health," a very informative feature by the Madison, Wisconsin-based physician.

• • •

Vintage Vinyl's Steve Pick was the expert I consulted after hearing the evocative closing track of the very well crafted movie "High Fidelity," based on Nick Hornby's novel.

"My Little Red Book" couldn't have been a more perfect selection as the movie's credits rolled, yet for some reason, the rendition of the Bacharach/David song by Arthur Lee and "Love" is not on the sound track. Pick is credited with identifying the song's artist and for leading me to the group's exhaustive discography in a website that has more than you'd ever want to learn about "Love."

The strange thing is that as a kid who grew up in St. Louis, I wasn't even supposed to have ever heard of the song. In the summer of 1966, when "My Little Red Book" was released, the only rock station in town was KXOK (then at 630 AM-WIL had gone all news by then), and they never touched anything that wasn't in the top 36 ("top 6+30, of course!")-the song never made the top 40 despite being featured in Woody Allen's movie "What's New Pussycat?"

I spent most of that summer in Wisconsin, and thanks to progressive statons such as WERL in Eagle River and WOKY in Milwaukee, "My Little Red Book" jumped to the fore as I walked out of that film. Now that the group was identified, I located an exhaustive and fascinating 1999 article on the newtimesla.com website. I recommend the article to anyone who is interested in the now-incarcerated singer, guitarist and founder of the pioneering though now-obscure band "Love," Arthur Lee.

• • •

Some classic storytelling filled a long rain delay during a Cardinals-Brewers home game, thanks to the availability of Brewer's broadcast team member, former Cardinal and comedian Bob Uecker. Hearing Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, and Uecker reel off legendary tales of player and team antics both on and off the field was about as good as it gets. Good enough to remain in the car after reaching one's destination.

And also good enough to rebroadcast during a sports replay show the following Sunday night.

Both Shannon and Uecker were members of the championship 1964 Cardinals, who beat the New York Yankees that year in the World Series. Uecker told a particularly hilarious story about a fishing expedition with Cardinal first baseman Bill White during spring training in St. Petersburg. His back to back yarns, each one funnier than the one before, make this piece of tape the kind of "keeper" that should be heard on KMOX for years to come.

Richly textured baseball stories were also plentiful as CNBC commentator Tim Russert featured the always-riveting Bob Costas during a whirlwind tour to promote his new book "Fair Ball." Costas couldn't resist telling the classic cheesecake story which involved Jack Buck, Mike Shannon, and the late Bob Starr in a riotous broadcast from 1978. Costas told Russert he used that one during his only appearance on the "Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" a month before Carson's retirement in 1992. Costas weaved the story through actual play-by-play events in his inimitable fashion. That story alone would be worth the price of what sounds like a "must-have" book.

• • •

Finally, another shot of instability crept into the ranks of KYKY-FM (Y-98FM) with the departure of longtime promotions "lynchpin" Mary T. Kelly. Kelly has taken a position as Sales Promotions and Events Manager at KTVI (Channel 2), effective mid-May.

Kelly replaces Kathleen Heinz who has left the station. Y-98 has suffered other defections recently, including the loss of production whiz and air talent Craig Cornett, most likely to Clear Channel and KSD-FM.

RADIO HISTORY

By Frank Absher

He is, apparently, the only man alive who can remember being on the radio in St. Louis prior to 1930. As Roy Queen tells it, he hitched a ride on a freight train to get to St. Louis for an audition for a job as a musician on KMOX.

Queen lived in Iron County, Missouri near Possum Hollow. The general store owner there had heard an announcement on the radio that KMOX was looking for talented people and told Queen about it. It was March 29, 1929. The young guitar player was 16-years-old.

"I went into KMOX that morning scared to death. It was on the mezzanine floor of the Mayfair Hotel. There were about 20 people there, and when it came my turn, France Laux, the program's announcer, said 'Now here's a little chubby boy from Pilot Knob gonna sing his little song entitled "I Can't Give Up My Good Old Rough and Rowdy Ways."

"And brother, my hands were sweating. I finally got started and I just kind of shut my eyes and forgot that I had that microphone in front of me. After the show was over the manager, who was a woman then, asked France who that kid was who made the funny noises in his throat when he sang. France said it was 'that little chubby boy over there with the overalls on.'

"Her name was Frances McIntire, and she asked me to come into her office. She asked me if I had something in my throat to make those yodeling noises. I told her the good Lord had given me that."

The KMOX general manager hired Queen on the spot, offering him $40-$50 a week.

"Well," Queen says, "I had to pick myself up off the floor because I'd just quit a sawmill job at Potosi that paid me a dollar a day and board."

Later, KMOX brought in a female musician from Chicago who played the banjo. Cousin Emmy was teamed up with Queen in the 5:30 a.m. slot five days a week. Queen says it didn't work out, so he offered to get a band together. McIntire gave him the go-ahead.

"We got so good that we fed the network through WBBM's facilities in Chicago," Queen says. "The International Heating Oil Company was the sponsor, and the show was called 'Roy Queen and the Ozark Mountaineers.' "

KMOX moved its studios to the Mart Building in 1932, and the facilities were a radio performer's dream. There was a huge performance auditorium that gave them the ability to originate different shows.

"We started what they called the 'County Fair' on KMOX," Queen says. "When we moved to the Mart Building they wanted to start a barn dance. It fizzled out because we couldn't find any talent."

It was in the midst of bad times for everyone. The country was suffering through the Great Depression.

Roy Queen gave in to the impulse to wander, leaving KMOX for a chance to play with Bob Wills in Texas, and KMOX hired a young man named Charley Stookey. Queen worked the circuit in Texas, later splitting with Wills and returning to the KMOX studios. Wanderlust was rampant. Charley Stookey had hit the road with the band he'd developed (Shucks Austin and Skeets and Frankie) and the station was glad to see Queen. He was teamed up with Pappy Cheshire, a vaudeville veteran out of Kansas.

The result was a show known as "Uncle Dick Slack's Barn Dance." Dick Slack owned a furniture store in East St. Louis, and he had a knack for choosing the popular radio shows to sponsor. "I asked Uncle Dick (the Jolly Irishman) if I could use the show to announce my engagements where I'd be playing," Queen says, "and he said it was okay as long as I promoted his store at the engagements. He got so big that he built the building at Natural Bridge and Union."

Queen says he ended up working with about 40 performers on the show, but it wasn't as costly as one might think. "You know what union scale was? Seven dollars a night, and that's for four hours. Most of the folks were being paid $35 a week. A lot of them came in for the publicity, just to be on the radio. I actually made more money with my personal appearances."

Roy Queen left KMOX in 1948, but he stayed on the radio in the St. Louis area as a disc jockey on WIL, KXLW, KMOX (again) and KWRE over the next several decades. He is now retired at age 87 and living near Bixby, Missouri.

SPORTS/MEDIA

Corrupt Olympics is an ongoing story

By Joe Pollack

That quadrennial international scandal known as the Olympic Games will be upon us soon, so make sure your purses are clutched tightly and the buttons on your wallet pockets in place and your fanny packs firmly attached to your fannies.

The Olympics are a mess of heroic proportions, and have been for more than a century, or since they were revived in the 1890s. Events have been added and subtracted, with ballroom dancing receiving the classification of "Olympic Sport," joining the Marathon and the Decathlon.

Activities that don't demand quite that level of skill participate as observers, or on a non-medal basis. And we now have the Triathlon, which demands no specific talent or skill, but only the conditioning, strength and endurance to swim, run and bicycle, all on the same day. Next, perhaps, is a round-the-world race in which participants drive cars, boats and planes.

For much of the 20th century, the games were billed as amateur events, and to a slight extent, they were. Of course, from the days when they competed in Athens, good amateur athletes always have received money under the table, from sponsors or friends or the clubs or nations they represented.

But cheating and scheming and conniving by athletes were non-existent when compared with the non-players, older and out of shape but with connections (either political or social or financial) who served as lawyers or business managers or presidents. They travel the world in first-class accommodations paid for by someone else, and they dine, live and sleep (either alone or with somebody) in the luxury of the most fabled of Sultans. And if they need a high-paying, low-working job for a relative, or scholarship help for a child, or medical help, all they need do is ask a representative of a city trying to become a host, or a television sponsor, or anyone else who wants a key vote.

Money talks, of course, and television, spending Sultanic riches, talks loudest. That's why pornographic images of nubile adolescent and pre-adolescent girls in gymnastic or figure skating competition always garner the most prime time. Better than anyone, television knows that sex sells.

Frank Rich, writing recently in The New York Times, spoke of the murdered Jon Benet Ramsey as an icon of child pornography, and so are girl-child athletes.

As far as reporters are concerned, Olympics provide continuous news-for the years between the sporting events, there are crime stories of all sorts, from drug sales and abuse to bribery to influence peddling, and then there are denials of guilt, followed by admissions of guilt, plea bargains and tear-streaked requests for forgiveness and absolution.

And then it all begins again.

We have a few months before the scandal-ridden Australian games are upon us, and two years before the scandal-ridden Salt Lake City games begin, and open wounds and large debts remain from Atlanta and other former sites, all equally scandal-ridden. And a friend who has attended most Olympics in the last three decades tells me that the Atlanta games were the worst-run he has ever seen in terms of planning and execution, not in terms of money-making.

Olympic scandals usually are as wide-ranging as the various venues of the games themselves. They are all over the map. Out front in Australia is a ticket boondoggle. Australian Olympic types opened ticket sales, collected lots of money, then discovered that the tickets were unavailable, having been allotted to television and politicians and sponsors and Olympic officials.

Travel companies had booked trips and hotels and the like, only to discover it was refund time-but a lot of money had been drawing bank interest that went to Olympic officials.

Australians, slightly naive because of their location so far from everyone else, were shocked but they probably will face many more before the games begin.

We're still not at the bottom of the Salt Lake City mess, though Tom Welch, the former president of the 2002 Olympics, got a payoff of more than $1 million after he suddenly resigned his job in the wake of accusations of domestic abuse. The Salt Lake City Olympic people also were accused of paying large bribes to acquire votes for their bid. What's large? Well, free health care given by the state's largest private health insurer? And how about almost a million bucks in goods and services to 14 International Olympic Committee members, some of whom have since moved hungry family members to Sydney, Australia, for government jobs there?

Any questions? Of course not. Voila!

Some of the bribes were urged by the U. S. Olympic Committee to honor "promises" previously made. The U. S. Congress, another bunch with totally clean hands, soon joined the fray, investigating Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the IOC and finding him innocent of any wrong-doing. Samaranch then declared that he would investigate any bribery charges, which is like asking the fox where the chickens went.

Marc Hodler, a Swiss member of the IOC, has talked of bribes from Atlanta, Nagano and other Olympic sites, and the offer of cars from Fiat during bidding for the 1997 world ski championships in Italy. Later, when Hodler was asked again, he placed both hands over his mouth and said, "Muzzle imposed by the president."

Congress listened to Samaranch for a while, and agreed to do nothing. Of course, I don't know what Congress could have done, but it's good of that deliberative body to consider it, and some of them undoubtedly will be looking for tickets soon.

I don't know what the results will be. Ratings and commercial sales are good and that seems to be all televison people care about.

Dick Schultz is executive director of the U. S. Olympic Committee, but don't expect any help or investigation or clean hands from that direction. Schultz got his experience in American college sports, first as the head of the Big Ten Conference, then as head of the NCAA, the finest possible training ground.

What to do? Well, for openers, the Olympics will make perfect subject matter for Bob Costas' next book. He's been there, he's a good reporter with clear vision. The Lords of Baseball obviously will merely ignore his most recent book, "Fair Ball, a Fan's Case for Baseball," but the Olympics will have a different appeal, and maybe one with more effect.

• • •

And speaking of baseball, praise is due the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for increasing the space given to non-Cardinal baseball games. Full stories of games in both leagues add to a fan's joy.

MEDIA ON MEDIA

By Frank Absher

Dino-mite

There are a lot of dinosaurs in the media business, and now at least one cable channel has found a way to capitalize on them. The Discovery Channel scored big points with viewers with its three-hour special called "Walking With Dinosaurs." Nielsen says a total of 6.2 million households tuned in to the first showing of the program, giving it the highest numbers of any non-sports event on cable this year. The show outdrew several of the broadcast nets for the evening. (Broadcast & Cable 4/24)

Sexy TV

It's not your imagination. The Parents Television Council says the past 10 years have seen a tripling in the levels of sex, violence and profanity on television. Their report compares prime time programming in 1989 and 1999. References to kinky sex increased 357 percent, and genitalia references increased 650 percent. Reacting to the report, some members of Congress are calling for hearings on TV program content. (Electronic Media 4/3)

More $$$

1999 was also a good year for Infinity (formerly CBS) radio. The just-released list of the nation's top-grossing radio stations finds the company in six of the top 10 spots. The top billing station in the country again last year was sports/talk WFAN in New York, grossing nearly $61 million. In second place is the company's WXRK, an alternative rock station in the Big Apple that brought in $53.3 million. Six of the top 10 billers are in New York, three are in Los Angeles and one is in San Francisco. (Radio World 4/12)

$$$

There's some pretty significant ad revenue growth to report among the nation's cable TV networks. ESPN tops the revenue producers with slightly over $1 billion in 1999 income, up 28 percent from 1998. Nickelodeon is in the number two slot at $795 million, up 19 percent. The biggest increase was registered by E!, which saw a one-year revenue growth of more than 66 percent. (Ad Age 4/10)

Targets

It's getting even easier for advertisers to target certain viewers via the tube. AdTV is offering a service that runs audience-specific ads on Guide Plus cable program guides. About one-third of the screen runs the ads with the help of a chip that's already been installed on more than 2 million sets. A company spokesman says ads can be targeted by ZIP codes or even triggered by the last show a viewer watched. (Electronic Media 4/3)

Niche TV

Niche programming was invented by radio. Soon it will be used to compete against radio. Lee Abrams, president of XM Satellite Radio, says today's radio stations are so formulaic that listeners will flock to his service, which will offer 100 different music formats, beamed to car radios via satellite. He talks of '50s and '60s radio: ". . . they were nuts. They were eccentric. They were out to lunch. It was great radio. We're going to bring that. . . back to the radio dial." (Radio World 3/15)

COMMENTARY

Cole Campbell had a tragic flaw

Now that he's gone, it's easier to look at Cole Campbell with a more objective and dispassionate eye. In many respects, the most recent editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has overtones of a Shakespearean tragic hero. Like Macbeth and Othello, to name just two, Campbell was done in by his own hubris, both professional and personal.

He was ill-equipped for the job and for the resulting place in the community and the profession. He seemed to have an almost religious fervor about his ideas, his philosophy and he seemed to expect his staff to follow blindly. People who asked questions were told that they obviously were not intelligent enough to understand the situation. Campbell shone-or thought he did-when he stood at the front of a room with a flip chart at hand. Lectures on journalism, not decisions on news, were apparently a strong point.

And he was big on focus groups, which veteran reporters always have thought were a cop-out, a chance to let someone else make decisions that he should have made, and to blame mistakes on someone-anyone-else.

As in any unsuccessful situation, others must share the blame for the travesty that surrounded and the tragedy that engulfed the Post over the years of his term, or reign, or dream, or nightmare. First and foremost, of course, there's Michael Pulitzer, who reportedly was the prime mover in the hire, and who obviously looked for leadership in all the wrong places. Close behind Pulitzer is Bill Boggs, a newspaper consultant from Massachusetts who reportedly praised Campbell to the skies. People from the Poynter Institute saw Campbell as a savior, a man who could stroll calmly up the James River and, with a few detours, follow it to the Mississippi on his way to St. Louis. Besides, if Poynter didn't think that Campbell spoke the party line, followed party gospel and was ready to execute the apostates, would it have hired him now?

Well, maybe so, to avoid looking like even bigger fools, and to give Campbell a place in sunny Florida to regain his balance and admire the bikini-wearing bathing beauties. Besides, I'm told this is not a lifetime appointment and it also allows Poynter to boast of having two former Post editors, both from the South and both, in one of that area's lesser traditions, bearing two last names.

Over the last three or four managing editors, the Post has been sinking steadily through the ranks of American newspapers. For most of its history, it was in any list of the top 10; its editorial stance was quoted often, as was its take on national and regional issues. When that ranking and respect go to such as the Kansas City Star and the Dallas Morning News, it's time for the Post to wake up and smell the coffee.

Unfortunately, the aroma of money means a lot more these days, and probably will continue to, or even increase, under Campbell's successor.

Campbell came from a medium-sized paper in a medium-sized city-a city that has a huge naval base, but which ranks far behind St. Louis in so many things, from cuisine to culture, from pedants to philosophers. The Norfolk Virginian-Pilot is a paper of modest stature. I wrote book reviews for it while I was a young sports writer with the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, and I often visited with its movie/television critic (one man wore both hats) on media junkets to Hollywood or New York.

Campbell obviously knew nothing of St. Louis' own personality, its quirks and peculiarities, and if he made an effort to find out, he failed. Perhaps his overriding hubris convinced him it made no difference, that the moment people heard his gospel and saw the Post with his imprint, the believers would come out of the woodwork. I know it was a long time before Campbell learned the names of his reporters, if he ever did. He'd been at the paper about nine months when there was one of the many retirement parties that sprinkled his years like chocolate chips in cookies. We chatted for a couple of minutes, and he went off to sit, for most of the party, on a backyard bench. People talked, of course, though they were too polite to point fingers.

"I write for him two or three times a week," snarled someone with a regular byline, "and he doesn't have the foggiest notion who I am."

He obviously didn't read the paper every day-too many mistakes-a perennial problem he could not solve, and which remains even without him. Senior editors have about as much background in the city as do television reporters and producers, and they know about as much.

He hired and promoted people who followed his party line and therefore had the same bad habits, who thought pictures were more important than news, who imposed absurd conditions like "No posed pictures," who turned all authority for story sizes and page layout to artists who were neither trained in news nor tested in judgment. The story with the best photos or design led the paper. Substance was pushed so far behind style that it became as extinct as the spittoons that used to dot the newsroom floor. Writing memos and attending meetings were the most important tasks of any day, leaving reporters without time or energy to write real news stories.

At a senior editors' meeting last fall, someone commiserated about the injury to Rams' quarterback Trent Green.

"Trent Green?" mused one of the new, senior editors. "What department is he in?"

Campbell talked of energizing the readers, of letting them set the agenda instead of putting reporters and editors in that role. But he and the newspaper actually set the agenda by picking the topics for the "Imagine" section, and filled the blank space with letters to the editor, some of whose names became as familiar as the voices of many callers to sports radio programs.

One of the last times I saw Campbell was on New Year's Eve at Powell Hall. As thousands-maybe millions-of people wondered and worried about what would happen when the clock struck midnight, he attended the concert and was part of the celebrity entertainment, wearing a sign that said "Volvo," to commemorate the car that is parked in the lobby. It doesn't move, either. The situation reminded me of a television engineer I once knew who was nicknamed "Kelvinator," because the one-time refrigerator manufacturer had a slogan, "No moving parts."

Thankfully, no problems occurred that evening, or at least not anything that was newsworthy.

And then there were activities that embarrassed Pulitzer, the corporation, the city and maybe some of the staff. That hubris might have rung down the final curtain on the tragedy that was the Post career of Cole Campbell.

And the process of looking for leadership begins again.