Shame on you, Mr. Corrigan. In your latest eagerness to condemn public journalism, you have lifted blatant factual errors from other publications-without sharing with your readers the corrections published by those news organizations.

To wit: The Pew Center for Civic Journalism never funded a project at the News & Observer in Raleigh, as you asserted. E&P published a correction in April 2003, within hours of misreporting that in an Alan Wolper column. Yet you-either purposefully or sloppily-lift this error for your July column. Nor did the Pew Center fund any civic journalism project to the tune of $170,000. That was noted in the April 28, E&P. Shame on you for ignoring these corrections.

Shame on you, furthermore, for falsely reporting that the Pew Center "subsidized" with $14 million 120 newsroom projects. That was a reporting error the Associated Press corrected in early June.

Really, now, do the math: That would amount to $116,666 per project. Surely that number should have raised a red flag with any responsible journalist or his editor.

Mr. Corrigan, you have made a career out of bashing civic journalism initiatives, with very little original reporting-and never once calling for comment the object of your wrath.

There is much wrong with contemporary journalism. But, I fear a significant problem is professors who are teaching journalism students how to get it wrong-not how to get it right.

Jan Schaffer,
Executive Director
Pew Center for Civic Journalism

Mindless trash
SJR: Because we are basically a one-newspaper town, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, which is often accused of liberal views (quite inaccurately), strives to present conservative opinions in its op-ed section and political columns on the theory of being more balanced and to appease its conservative readers.

This would be fine, except that the editors of that paper have no idea how to accomplish this feat.

It would be a good idea if we could read well-reasoned conservative columnists who could bring thoughtful insights and research of current political ideas, but instead we are treated to mindless trash. This is evident in the rantings of writers like Cal Thomas, Mona Charen, etc., who have no credentials other than spewing far-out, extreme rightwing comments without any credible rationale.

This was illustrated several weeks ago with a prominent article by one Amy White, billed as a political speech writer, who took up most of the page doing a hatchet job on Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Clinton was described as a mother who "marginalizes motherhood as a career and advocates only for children outside the womb," etc. Amy White also accuses Mrs. Clinton of "sacrificing the truth when it suits her purpose, and when she lies, she is intractable in her deceit."

It is clear to me that Amy White is a dysfunctional political hack. Why on earth would anyone with an ounce of common sense print this trash from someone who has no credible credentials and have such a piece prominently printed by the Post?

On the same page was a silly column by James Lileks lambasting the French people. He ridiculed the work of French troops in the Congo where they are trying to preserve some peace and prevent mass killings (contrasted with our attitude in Liberia) and concludes "the painful fact is that no one expects much of them anymore beyond good food, bribery and honeyed hypocrisy."

It is clear that Mr. Lileks is totally ignorant of current events and history and is a clueless jerk mouthing off stupid comments.

The recent addition of someone named Mallard Fillmore to the comic strip features more of the same diatribes and defies any reason why it should be printed there.

It appears to me that the editors of the Post are clueless on what it takes to present balanced reporting. The above examples are the height of ignorant bad taste. Maybe the editors have decided a Jerry Springer approach will bring out more circulation, but it merely shows deterioration of this newspaper in its reporting.

Isaac E. Young,
Attorney

Thanks
SJR: Thank you for that beautiful tribute to Lew (Green) in SJR.

As you must know, Lewis was a great admirer of (Irving) Dilliard and would have felt extremely honored to have had his named linked with Dilliard by someone he respected so highly.

Lewis enjoyed his work more than anyone I know, and one of the jobs he enjoyed most was helping to launch and counsel SJR. One of the periodicals he enjoyed most was SJR, indomitable watchdog for the people. He would grab it the minute it arrived to make sure I didn't lose it.

Again, thank you for such a fine article, one which only you could have written.

Louise Green

Off the Record
Bad hours, bad pay
Nearly two-thirds of the students in journalism school today are women, but in the actual workplace, less than one-third of people employed in journalism are women.

Boston Globe writer Mark Jurkowitz cited figures in a recent American Journalist Survey comparing the journalism profession to other professions in terms of employment statistics. The survey noted journalism runs counter to the general trend in which half of the jobs, both managerial and professional, are occupied by women.

Many people cite the 24-hour culture of the news environment as a deterrent to women, many of whom bear the bulk of child-raising responsibilities in their families. And, the University of Indiana's Lee Becker, himself a professor of journalism, says many of the female students in the journalism curriculum end up going into public relations, possibly because it offers more reasonable work hours.
-Frank Absher

Annoyance vs. freedom
Fax machines overflowing with advertisements and worthless transmissions are as annoying as all the junk e-mails people receive every minute or so. Therefore, taking the complaints of private citizens and businesses seriously, the United States government has outlawed the transmission of unsolicited faxes ... and is starting the war against junk e-mails. Similar laws apply for junk mail and free community newspapers, and the "no call" list for phone solicitations certainly went over well with the public.

But, people are sacrificing their own, and limiting others,' freedom of speech and First Amendment rights because they don't want to be bothered. When companies can no longer send faxes to their customers-because the former rule of prior contact has been negated by the government-and when acquaintances can be sued for sending faxes to other individuals, Americans have a problem.

While most people don't like to waste the paper and ink involved in receiving insignificant faxes, it doesn't hurt to take the time to glance over the faxes and discard them. The cost of some paper and ink is significantly less than the loss of citizens' rights.
-Erica Burleson

Hair loss
Irony or sardonic humor? Let's hope it was the former on Sunday morning, Aug. 17, around 10 a.m. on KMOX radio. The CBS news anchor first read a story about a man who was killed while repairing a roller coaster. He caught his hair in some gears and was dragged 40 feet and scalped before he died.

The next story was about another man who was hurt when his hair was caught in elevator doors when they closed.

Immediately following those stories, a commercial began with the words, "If you are losing your hair ... " No kidding. It was a commercial for Avacor. Truly an odd moment in radio.
-Tripp Frohlichstein

Numbers crunch
Media consumers tend to shop for a news source that fills all their needs. Today, their choice is the largest it's ever been, and a recent survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press explains why people choose the media they do.

The survey conducted in June and July of this year sampled opinions of 1,200 adults, and two of its findings appear to be completely contradictory: Respondents said it's good for the media to be pro-American, but war coverage should be neutral, not pro-American. A summary of the study doesn't see a contradiction, saying "These views are largely unrelated." There is no further explanation.

Nearly half of those surveyed (46 percent) said some news organizations have become too critical of the United States. As might be expected, when respondents are broken down by their media preferences, Fox News viewers have much stronger attitudes about pro-American coverage.

Sixty-five percent of this latter group feels some news outlets are too critical of the United States. Just how influential is Fox News? Some may say the network exerts more influence than any other, but when compared with rival CNN, Fox comes up short in the influence department. Pew asked where viewers are most likely to turn for national and international news, and 27 percent cited CNN while 22 percent go to Fox.

Just how does a media organization remain pro-American yet neutral in its coverage? It appears that neutrality is in the eyes and ears of the beholders. Republicans (46 percent) think the press is not supportive and too critical of the current president, but 44 percent of them think the coverage is fairly balanced. Meanwhile, Democrats (47 percent) think coverage of the president has been fair, and 38 percent think the press has gone too easy on the administration.

Age also makes a difference in perception. Most people under 30 (58 percent) are very comfortable with news hosts expressing opinions, but people over 50 (46 percent) are uncomfortable with blatant political opinions being expressed by the hosts.

The entire study is available online at http://people-press.org.
-Frank Absher

Not fair or balanced
Fox News recently lost a court battle in which it tried to prevent a satirist, Al Franken, from using the phrase "fair and balanced" on his book cover. The news organization argued that the use of the words was prohibited as they were trademarked to its news programs, which is entirely untrue and impossible because the words are so commonly used. Evidently, the news organization's main objection was to anyone suggesting its news wasn't fair and balanced-odd, especially since most people do make the assumption that Fox News is not fair or balanced.

Fox even went as far as to say that Franken was not funny, but the judge saw humor and artistic value in the man's work and told Fox that Franken's book was "fair criticism," adding that the organization should learn how to take a joke. And, Fox must learn to take a joke or at least learn to take its own position seriously-William Randolph Hearst knew what he did and admitted to creating, and weighting, the news.

-Erica Burleson
Affluent TV
We've all heard about how well reality TV delivers lots of warm bodies to advertisers. But, what about advertisers who want something more than just a warm body?

Magna Global says there's one show that outdraws all the others in number of 18- to 49-year-old adults with incomes in excess of $75,000. It's "Will and Grace."

Other programs drawing well from upper incomes include "ER," "Friends" and "Scrubs." Those shows are in the NBC Thursday lineup, and Broadcasting & Cable points out that NBC's Thursdays are the most profitable nights in television.
-Frank Absher

Saving money
U.S. Sen. Jim Talent, R-Missouri, got plenty of press ink in his successful 2002 battle against incumbent Democrat Jean Carnahan when he echoed the Bush Administration line on the urgency to invade Iraq because of Saddam Hussein's ongoing nuclear weapons program.

Now that the scavenger hunt for imminent WMDs and nukes is stretching into its fifth month, some state citizens feel we should find out if the Bush Administration lied with its claims about WMDs; if our elected officials were poorly served by U.S. intelligence services on the WMD issue; if the administration was hoodwinked by our "Iraqi allies" who made outrageous claims about WMDs to get us into Baghdad. Talent recently sent out a letter to constituents who are unhappy with his vote against a Congressional investigation of the Weapons of Mass Destruction debacle in Iraq.

Talent towed the GOP line and told Missouri constituents an investigation is a waste of time: "My point is this," declared Talent. "Neither the supporters nor the opponents of the effort in Iraq, or of the broader war on terrorism, are basing their positions on pieces of intelligence about Saddam Hussein. Neither side will change its view about the war whether it turns out that Iraq did or didn't buy uranium from Niger."

Yeah, why spend money investigating whether American boys and girls are sent to war based on fabricated WMD stories or lousy intelligence assessments of nuclear threats. If we're going to blow millions on investigations, let's make it worth our time and spend it on investigations of fishy real estate deals in neighboring Arkansas.
-Don Corrigan

Cable decline
It's not a good time to buy stock in cable companies. Recent survey information from J. D. Power shows viewers are very satisfied with service from their satellite providers like Dish Network and DirecTV. Cable subscribers expressed less satisfaction with their service, programming and fees, according to a recent article in Broadcasting & Cable.

Equally gloomy information, compliments of TelevisionWeek, shows the financial value of cable systems around the nation is declining. Comparable sales values this year, as opposed to previous years, show a per-subscriber valuation of $4,027. This high mark for 2003 compares with values in excess of $5,000 in the past. One broker also noted the lack of big money and serious buyers in the marketplace.
-Frank Absher

Bad PR
They're not even trying to be subtle anymore. We've all known for decades that Congressmen are on the payroll of big corporations, representing their best interests over ours. But, in the past, our elected representatives at least gave lip service to putting the people first. Apparently, that's no longer the case.

Last week, SJR got an e-mail news release from the office of Rep. Todd Akin (R). The headline read: "Boeing Wins Small Diameter Bomb Contract." The release went on to speak glowingly of Boeing and how it beat out Lockheed-Martin for the contract to make "precision guided weapons that can strike from a range greater than 40 miles."

The thing read like Akin was Boeing's public relations director.

But, if that's his function, the folks at Boeing better have a chat with him. Near the end of the release Akin is quoted: "The smart munitions produced at the (Boeing) St. Charles plant were critical to our successes in Afghanistan and Iraq." Any more success like that and the U.S. might have to change bomb makers.
-Ed Bishop

Early Edition:
Balanced vs. equal
By Ed Bishop
During a lecture about balanced reporting a couple of years ago, a student raised his hand and asked if balanced meant equal. Frankly, I had been stumbling around trying to explain the concept. As often happens, the student's question cut straight to the chase.

"Good question," I said. "No, it doesn't mean equal. It means proportional."

I went on to explain that the amount of space in a newspaper-or time on television news-about a particular aspect of a news story has to be in proportion to its importance in the story. This can be a tricky thing to do. I think I used as an example a story about a man who had just been found guilty of murder but who still maintained his innocence; the jury's verdict would be given slightly more play than the man's claim of innocence for a number of reasons. We went on to discuss those reasons, making the point that balanced reporting can't be achieved by some formula.

I'm so naïve.

Currently newspaper editors and television news directors are obviously using a formula-balanced news means equal play. And it's distorting news coverage big time.

For example, last week, President Bush came to St. Louis to speak to the national convention of the American Legion. Several hundred people gathered outside the Convention Center to protest the war in Iraq. They were joined by a handful of supporters of the war. But local television news departments gave nearly equal time to both protesters and supporters and ran video pictures that left the impression that each side had equal numbers. Even the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran a small photograph inside showing the same number of supporters and protesters.

Now I'm not saying that most St. Louisans are against the war in Iraq. Nor am I saying the nation's sentiment about the war isn't divided, with an edge going to the supporters. What I am saying is that this particular protest was not reported in a proportional way and therefore the reporting was not balanced.

It seems that journalists are so afraid of criticism that they will destroy perfectly sound journalistic concepts to avoid those angry calls and letters.

Part of the problem is that the big corporations which have bought up the nation's newspapers and television stations are overly sensitive to public opinion-most corporations are. Beyond this sensitivity, political conservatives have buffaloed journalists with their endless charges of liberal bias. A charge like that is as good as reality to publishers and station managers who are actually corporate middle management.

Also, let's face it, there's another problem. Journalists have become wimps. They want to be loved and admired. They no longer see themselves as folks who bring the public the sometimes-hard-to-swallow news but as "change agents." Too much psychobabble. Too many consultants. Too many seminars. Probably too many naïve journalism professors.

It's interesting to note that as newspapers and TV news have gotten kinder and gentler, more and more people have turned away from them. Newspaper circulation continues to fall. The number of people watching network news continues to decline while the percentage of people who use the Internet as their primary news source, although still relatively small, continues to shoot upward.

---

In late August, both Managing Editor Roland Klose and staff writer D.J. Wilson left the Riverfront Times. Editor Tom Finkel says Klose chose to leave, wanting to take some time off. Wilson, on the other hand, was let go. Finkel says the changing personnel at the weekly does not signal a change of content or format.

What it might signal though is internal instability at the New Times paper: three editors-in-chief in three years, two managing editors, numerous staff writers-turnover at warp speed.

---

Maybe Eric Mink was in New York too long. His current columns on the op-ed page are much too insightful, intelligent and leftist for a lot of folks in this town. His office phone must have been ringing off the hook after his column comparing fundamentalist Christian nuts with fundamentalist Muslim nuts. They might even be breaking out the tar and feathers in certain parts of the second congressional district.

Yahoo!

If the Post had about 10 more fearless guys like him it would be a lot more interesting to read.

Channels:
The surprising Tim Ezell
By Tripp Frohlichstein
In a once-a-month format, you can cover only so much. Lots of people like Frank Cusumano, John Pertzborn, Andy Banker, Paul Shankman and Doug Vaughn who deserve to be written about don't get the space they are due.

Watching KTVI (Channel 2) news the other morning, I decided one person who deserves some ink is Tim Ezell. The slightly goofy Ezell does a great job of informing while entertaining. He is perfect for the morning audience.

Channel 2 News Director Brad Remington once told me to watch how Ezell seems to do his thing so effortlessly, yet he actually works very hard on all of his bits. So, I watched more closely, and by gosh, Remington was right. Ezell knows his facts, knows what to ask and manages to turn even weak spokespeople into good ones. You have to admire the gangly 34-year-old who has been at the station about five years. He'll try just about anything and covers a wide variety of topics from adopting pets to Irish line dancing.

He's also an excellent writer. A piece on America he performed around the Fourth of July was quite funny. He told us, in his mock dramatic fashion that America has "thrown caution to the wind, thrown tea in a harbor and thrown Leona Helmsley in jail." The two-minute piece was excellent and tied around the VP Parade.

In another bit, we see Ezell finishing a story live and then learn what really happens afterwards. The police handcuff him, put him in a patrol car and take him back to jail. We then see him in a jail cell playing his harmonica. Another inmate asks if he's Tim Ezell. He excitedly responds he is until the inmate says, "You wear those dresses on TV don't you?" Ezell's expression changes to fear as he backs up in his cell. Ezell uses his face well, a la Jim Carrey. It's laugh-out-loud material.

Ezell regularly gets his guests to try cereals and see what they think-and makes it enjoyable TV every time.

Sometime Ezell gets plain silly. But, you have to admire him for trying things and Channel 2 for letting him experiment.

---

I was sorry to see Jill Farmer leave her consumer reporter role at Channel 2. Farmer leaves the station for the best of reasons-to spend more time with her kids. But, viewers will miss her.

Why? Many consumer reporters make their names by confronting interviewees in order to add drama to the story. People used to fear Ellen Jaffe and Jody Davis, to name a couple. Instead of confrontation, I always felt as if Farmer wanted to give me information.

I think Farmer was perceived differently as a fair and balanced reporter (not that Jaffe and Davis weren't fair-but they were more aggressive in their style) trying to tell consumers things they should know to improve their lives.

Farmer says, "Working in St. Louis TV for 10 years has been a great experience. But, my daughters are growing up so quickly; it is time to spend more time at home." She leaves a big void in St. Louis television as she fills one in her family.

---

It was a sad day in late August when I learned of the death of Herb Humphries. I had the privilege of working with Herb at KMOV (Channel 4) during the 1970s and '80s. Technically, I was Herb's boss. Realistically, he was mine. He was also a teacher and mentor.

Herb was a dedicated "old style" newsman who taught me more about news than any other reporter, Herb had the ability to turn out solid stories ranging from hard news to harebrained features.

With Herb's passing, another pioneer of television (and in his case radio, too) news is gone.

---

You have to admire Channel 4's Dr. Ira Kodner, one of the actual doctors on the station's medical team (he doesn't just play one on TV). His honesty and integrity showed in an early July report.

A study critical of doctors' ability to diagnose various diseases had been released. Usually, doctors shy away from reports critical of their profession ... or at least make excuses. Not Kodner. He faced it head-on and told viewers the statistics concerned him.

It was very impressive and a great show of upright journalism. I'll trust anything he says.

As an aside, Channel 4 is to be commended for the whole concept of several professionals reporting on health issues. People interested in health news should tune to Channel 4, which now dominates in that category, as it used to when Al Wiman reported on medical issues. Wiman moved to Channel 5 and now holds a position with the Webster University administration-Webster publishes The St. Louis Journalism Review.

---

When Hermann, Missouri's, Bill and Claudia Walkenbach won their share of the $260 million Powerball jackpot in early July, the task of interviewing them fell to KSDK (Channel 5) reporter Jeff Small.

On the 6 p.m. news on July 10, Small showed viewers his live interview skills are, shall we say, lacking.

While the Walkenbachs weren't very talkative, a good reporter knows what questions to ask and how to draw information out of a subject. Small did neither. He never asked things we all want to know such as how much did they spend and how did they pick their numbers. He did not follow up on their answers and seemed to be at a loss for what to ask next.

When Bill Walkenbach referred to clearing up some sort of rumor relating to their son and the winning ticket, Small never followed up on what sounded like it might have been an interesting sidelight to the story. When asking how they might spend the money, they replied with short statements that begged for more questions.

Suggestion to Channel 5 news management-teach Small how to do live interviews that will help viewers know more than when the interview started. Because, in this case, I knew nothing more at all and was most disappointed.

---

Channel 5's Jack Wang needs to work on his live reporting skills. Announcing a verdict in the case of Reverend Brian Kuchar, Wang said in his report that Kuchar was found guilty on counts 1, 2 and 6. So, now you know.

---

July is considered the least important Nielsen ratings period since summer viewing habits are different than the rest of the year. Rating periods are used to set advertising rates at television stations. Since people watch less TV during the summer, this period is mostly ignored. Therefore, we will not put the complete ratings in this issue.

Despite the period's relative lack of importance, though, Channel 5 pushed the month with special series and cover stories. The approach appears to have worked as the station again won the ratings race in the evening and late night news broadcasts.

But, Channel 4's 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts all gained slightly over last July. Channel 4's audience increased for the eighth straight ratings period in a row at 6 p.m. and for the sixth straight book in a row at noon and 10 p.m. over the prior year's ratings. Channel 4's ratings at 5 p.m. have either increased or remained even for the last eight reports.

While Channel 4 rose slightly at 6 p.m., Channels 2 and 5 saw significant drops compared to July 2002.

Channel 5 also produced a one-hour documentary looking back at the great flood of '93, for which it should be commended.

Channel 4, though falling back to second in the late news race, did claim the number one spot at noon by six-tenths of a rating point. (A rating point equals about 11,700 homes in the metro area. St. Louis is currently ranked the 22nd largest metro area.)

The noon victory is a credit to long-time anchor Robin Smith along with newcomer Lyra O'Brien (weather) who have overcome the once-dominant Jennifer Blome-Art Holliday tandem at Channel 5.

Another reason for the lead might be a complaint that I have often made about Channel 5's live interviews at noon. The interviews are often confusing. I turned it on recently and heard an interview with a doctor conducted by Art Holliday. The doctor said he was engaged in a "longitudinal study." I haven't a clue what that might mean. Is it different than a latitudinal study?

In any case, Holliday should have asked what that meant. He didn't. The doctor went on to talk about more things I didn't understand. So, I did what any confused viewer might do ... I switched to another station.

Jargon can be a big problem because if viewers don't understand what they are hearing, they are likely to quickly get frustrated and lose interest. Channel 5 anchors at noon still need to learn this lesson. This problem is all too frequent at Channel 5. Perhaps Channel 5 producers could also help by reminding their guests to speak English.

In the early morning, Channel 2 continued to stretch its lead over now third placed Channel 4 and is closing the gap between itself and number one Channel 5 compared to last July.

At 9 p.m., Channel 2 continued its growth year over year, but KPLR (Channel 11) grew more, actually narrowing the gap slightly-ironic considering the change Channel 11 is making by adding Rick Edlund (see below).

---

On July 8, there was a long police chase that ended violently on Lindbergh Boulevard in front of Chaminade High School when a suspect slammed into a van. I heard about it on KMOX radio, so I turned on Channel 2 at 5 p.m. I guess the station has me conditioned into assuming that when that kind of story happens, Channel 2 will have it.

Not this time. Only Channel 5 had pictures of the horrendous accident along with some other highlights of the lengthy chase, including the suspect going the wrong way on highway 270 and the sideswiping of a police car. Channel 4 had nothing from the sky. Channel 2 had aerial aftermath pictures only. All stations had pretty much the same interviewees.

Sometimes it's skill, and sometimes it's luck. Whatever it was, Channel 5 won the coverage of this breaking local story hands-down.

---

Although July 4 was more than two months ago, there were a few television news events worth noting.

Channel 5 didn't have its act together at noon that day. Going into each commercial, it ran graphics depicting community events for the holiday. Several, however, had already occurred. One typical graphic showed the Vinita Park parade starting at 10 a.m.-two hours earlier. I can only assume that the station ran the same graphics earlier. Still, it was very sloppy.

At 6 p.m., Channel 5 ran a truly useless sound bite. That day, a six-year-old girl had been tragically killed after falling off a float and being accidentally crushed by the float during the Webster Groves holiday parade. A witness said, "I could see her mom was very very upset." No kidding. Now that's a blinding flash of the obvious. Editors should use better discretion in the sound bites they choose to use on the air. If it contributes nothing, as this one did, drop it.

For what it's worth, judging by the pictures, Channel 5 was well behind Channels 2 and 4 in covering this story. How can you tell? Because Channel 5 had pictures of the trailer that had carried the float. Channels 2 and 4 had pictures of the float when it was still on the trailer.

On the night of the 4th, I noticed a particular irony. Channel 4 for years virtually owned coverage of the VP Fair, now Fair St. Louis. Located next to the fairgrounds, the station prided itself on the specials it produced and the live fireworks coverage.

This year, Channel 4 was the only station that did not air the fireworks live. It promised to show the finale but was in sports when it came. I assume the station showed the finale later (on tape) in the broadcast.

So, who did the better job of live fireworks coverage between Channels 2 and 5? Although Channel 2 was ambitious with more cameras, including a live chopper, Channel 5 wins by a starburst.

Channel 2's coverage suffered from three significant problems. The biggest one was that for about the first 15 minutes, the station had a large white banner that stretched across the bottom of the screen telling viewers they were watching Fair St. Louis on Channel 2. It obscured some of the fireworks and was simply in the way. It became very annoying. Someone finally recognized that fact and pulled the banner toward the end of the show.

As for the chopper shots, the signal was often poor, but the producer chose to stay with the chopper shots too long, even with static, as opposed to giving us alternative pictures. The signal problem may have been the fireworks themselves interfering with the microwave signal back to Channel 2's receiver.

The sound was the other problem. While crystal clear on Channel 5 (taking its feed from KEZK radio), Channel 2's sound was often dominated by static.

Those problems, combined with Channel 5's almost flawless coverage, made Channel 5 easier to watch and gave the station the clear win.

Ironically, it almost didn't happen this way.

"We didn't exactly plan our fireworks coverage the way it turned out," said Channel 5 News Director Mike Shipley. "Our plan all along was to provide our viewers the last few minutes of the display, including the finale. The tail end of the fireworks show would be going on right at the start of our newscast, and that's what everyone wants to see. But, when the concert ran long, pushing the start of the fireworks back to 10, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision to carry the entire show live. I'm glad it worked out that way; we've received a lot of good feedback."

Proof that sometimes spontaneity is better than lots of planning.

---

I admire Channel 2's candor. In putting out its news release for the Rams schedule, headlined "KTVI, FOX 2 THE HOME OF THE RAMS," the station listed every game, including the games not on Channel 2. Neat.

---

Former Channel 5 anchor Rick Edlund begins anchoring at Channel 11 on Sept. 8. He started at the station on Sept. 2. He will also be managing editor for the newscasts. It could be tough for Edlund, who will co-anchor with the talented Kathryn Jamboretz.

Channel 2's product from 9-10 p.m. is probably the best newscast in St. Louis now, and the ratings continue to improve. So, Edlund and Jamboretz are going to have a tough time. What they do have going for them is a half hour vs. an hour program. Many people complain that, although they think Channel 2 is doing a great job, it is just too long. We'll see.

---

Channel 4 has added Ellen Chang as a general assignment reporter.

Chang will be a reporter during evening newscasts, Wednesday through Sunday, beginning Sept. 10. Chang previously worked in Reno, Nev., and Davenport, Iowa.

"Ellen brings great versatility to the News 4 Team," says Marty Van Housen, Channel 4 news director. "She is an excellent reporter and a great writer, which will quickly be evident to KMOV viewers." If he's right, cool.

In July, Channel 4 announced the hiring of Richelle Carey to co-anchor the weekday morning news with Marc Cox. Carey's previous experience includes work in Tyler, Waco and Houston, Texas.

Channel 4 also added Virginia Kerr as a weekday reporter and co-anchor for its Saturday morning news. She's paired with Ray Preston. Kerr has worked in Spokane, Wash., and Missoula, Mont.

---

Margie Ellisor, Martin Kilcoyne, Randi Naughton, and Elliott Davis have all renewed contracts at Channel 2. Ellisor also began anchoring the 5 a.m. news, taking over for Sandy Miller who asked to be reassigned to spend more time with her family. Ellisor also took over Jill Farmer's Contact Two position.

---

Remember Jody Davis, the consumer reporter for Channel 5 many years ago? He also worked as an anchor in Quincy, Ill., as well as a reporter for a now defunct cable news operation. Well, he has moved from reporter to manager and is the new news director for WENY in Elmira, N.Y.

Another Channel 5 personality from yesteryear, Stan Stovall, is getting a new job. Stan is going to NBC affiliate WBAL in Baltimore. He starts in September as the Monday-Friday morning anchor. He worked at Channel 5 from 1975-1978 and 1983-1986. He also spent 13 years anchoring at another Baltimore station. Unconfirmed rumors had him talking to Channel 2 about replacing the eventually retiring Dick Ford.

---

Aug. 29 marked Channel 5 anchor Dan Gray's final broadcast on the station. He had been with Channel 5 since the early '90s. Locally before that he was with Channel 4 and Channel 5 again before that.

The station allowed him to say thank you and goodbye, which he did choking back tears. Where will Gray end up? He said on the air he'd like it to be St. Louis. Dick Ford's replacement? Ford wants to reduce his Channel 2 schedule so that just could happen.

Meanwhile, Channel 5 had yet to hire Mike Bush's replacement as sports director. Bush is now the only male evening newscast anchor.

---

Correction: Last issue, the ratings for Channel 4 and 5 for 2003 were inadvertently reversed. We regret the error.

Sports Media
Expanding to nowhere
By Joe Pollack
It's difficult to watch your friends get old. It's even worse to see them begin to shrivel up and suffer as their faculties begin to fail.

The Sporting News was a mentor and a model, and though it was merely black ink on white paper, with columns of words and figures, it seduced a boy from Brooklyn more than 60 years ago and kept the relationship alive for several generations. It provided the spark that drew me to newspapers, starting with sports.

Like many lovers, however, it changed through the years. A severe diet took it from broadsheet to tabloid during World War II. In search of more action on a year-round basis, it dallied with football, first as a section called "The Quarterback," and then brought it inside the paper, as if to a hungry bosom.

Through the years, it toyed with other sports-basketball, hockey, even auto racing-as if making up for a single-minded, almost-shallow youth. Then, like a person of a certain age using makeup in an effort to appear young, it turned to more color and slick paper.

Where it once was loyal to the thousands of people who supported it in cities and towns everywhere, it abandoned them by dropping the statistics that once had allowed me to keep up with every player in the Dodger system, all the way from Ebbets Field to Cairo, Ill., in the Class D Kitty League.

I read sports sections in many of the New York papers, and when we needed more, my baseball-happy friends and I gathered at the newsstand-candy store run by the father of a grade school and high school friend. It was a couple of doors north of our high school, Erasmus Hall, on Flatbush Avenue. Joe Schifrin's dad didn't seem to mind as five or six of us gathered to ravish the Sporting News every week.

When I enrolled at Mizzou a few years later, and discovered the need for a research paper in English comp, I had a brainstorm. I wrote J.G. Taylor Spink, the publisher of the Sporting News, and asked for his help in research. I got it-in a package of books and reference materials and a subscription to the paper-and earned a B+ on the research paper. He also invited me to visit in the paper's office at 2018 Washington Ave. I did, and he offered tickets at old Sportsman's, and I used them. A couple of years later, when he spoke during Mizzou's Journalism Week, I was first to ask and was assigned as his campus "guide" for the few hours he was at Mizzou, joining Bob Broeg on the podium.

In the spring of 1951, the Mizzou baseball team played the team from Fort Leonard Wood, and the Tigers had a young pitcher named Dick Atkinson. I covered the game for the Columbia Missourian, sent a couple of paragraphs to the Sporting News, saw it in print (even without a byline), swelled with pride, got a check for $5 and still have it-somewhere so safe even I can't find it. I did bits and pieces for the paper for many years, covering Super Bowl locker rooms, writing book reviews, etc. I never was a full-time baseball writer, so I never had a chance at the job I always coveted, being a baseball correspondent. And now the position doesn't even exist, a major blotch on the Sporting News' history.

It would bother me a lot if the paper ceased to exist, too ...

---

He doesn't seem like a man who tends to panic, but Tony La Russa certainly seemed in that role during one real disaster, and one incident that came very close to being a disaster, in Pittsburgh in mid-August. With Cardinal ownership apparently unwilling to spend money on anything besides a new stadium, the manager has been hamstrung for the entire season by a third-rate pitching staff that also has had injury problems.

Behind Matt Morris and Woody Williams, who are genuine major-league starters, and Steve Kline and Jason Isringhausen, who can do it in relief, are a bunch of proven rag-arms. The myth of the "crafty old left-hander" is a foundation pier of traditional baseball wisdom, almost an urban myth, going back at least as far as men like Ken Heintzelman and Ken Raffensberger, who pitched in my youth. Now we have John Franco and Kent Mercker and Jeff Fassero and Pedro Borbon Jr. Only the names are different.

La Russa seems to vacillate between having too much faith and not nearly enough of it in his relievers, and the Pittsburgh episodes of Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 12 and 13 are perfect examples. On Tuesday, taking a comfortable (even for the Cardinals)10-5 lead into the ninth inning, Kline was on the mound. He retired the first two batters before Jeff Reboulet looped a soft single into center field. The Cardinals still had a five-run lead and there were two out, but Kline was gone, despite having thrown only nine pitches and offering a brief, but vigorous, appeal to La Russa, who immediately rejected it.

Next came right-hander Esteban Yan to face the right-handed hitting Reggie Sanders, who had been hammering all Red Bird pitchers as if he were taking batting practice. Yan hit Sanders with his second pitch, putting two men on base (but still a five-run lead), and he was gone in favor of Pedro Borbon Jr., a second-generation pitcher and one whom the Cardinals acquired from the independent Atlantic League, a level only a notch above the River City Rascals and the Gateway Grizzlies.

Borbon threw two strikes to left-handed hitter Matt Stairs and then missed by making a waste pitch too good. Stairs slapped it into left field. That made the game 10-6, with two out and two on, but that was enough for La Russa, who rushed Jason Simontacchi into the game to get the final out in a 10-6 victory.

Four pitchers threw a total of 16 pitches during the game, far fewer than they threw in the bullpen and in on-field warm-ups. Absurd.

And, in case that was not entertaining enough, La Russa repeated the following night, using Yan, Kline and Borbon again, for more pitches and a less successful outcome. Yan was first, replacing the hapless Fassero in the sixth, getting two outs but allowing a run on two hits and again hitting a batter. Kline came in, retired the side and pitched a scoreless seventh. Cal Eldred worked the eighth, allowing two runs on back-to-back homers by Calvin Wilson and Sanders (there he is again!). That put the Pirates ahead, 5-4, but the Cards rallied to tie it in the top of the ninth.

Once again, Borbon entered the breach, and once again, he failed, though La Russa deserves an assist with some weird strategy. With two out, Jason Kendall doubled. Brian Giles was walked intentionally, a good move. But La Russa then had Borbon walk Sanders, an extremely rare move because it not only loaded the bases, but also pushed the winning run to third base.

And once again, Borbon threw two strikes but was unable to waste the next pitch. It was too fat, and Randall Simon grounded a single to left, scoring Kendall with the winning run.

It looks like a long September and a stay-at-home October for the Birds.

Media/Law
Differing opinions
By Ken Jones
Sometimes differing opinions can shed light on a complex issue. St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch sent me a letter objecting to a column I wrote in June. The column concerned prosecutors who comment on whether criminal defendants have confessed to a crime. It referred specifically to the case of Rev. Bryan Kuchar, who was arrested last year on charges of sexually abusing a young boy.

I cited an ethical rule governing Missouri attorneys that prohibits comments regarding "the possibility of a plea of guilty to the offense or the existence or contents of any confession, admission, or statement given by a defendant or suspect or that person's refusal or failure to make a statement."

McCulloch objected to my column and said he never made any comment to the media on Kuchar's statements to the police. His letter states: "Those newspaper articles that discussed the Kuchar case and Kuchar's statements to police clearly cited documents filed by prosecutors, rather than directly quoting me or any other prosecutor."

But the St. Louis Post-Dispatch article did quote McCulloch directly as stating: "Frankly, he's been very cooperative with officers and this investigation."

McCulloch's letter also states: "I recall being the only prosecutor to make any remark on television about the Kuchar case, and I did not comment on his statements to police. If television reporters quoted from public records filed by my office without specifying that the information came from court documents rather than an interview, then your complaint is with them. Their lapses of journalistic practice should not be transformed into an ethical violation on my part."

But a tape of an April 11, 2002, interview McCulloch gave to KTVI (Channel 2) shows that he did comment on Kuchar's statements to police: McCulloch: "He has corroborated the allegations of the victim. Yes." Reporter: "He's not denying them?" McCulloch: "No, no. He's corroborated everything."

McCulloch also objected to my column because he says the Missouri ethical rules in fact permit prosecutors to comment to the media on confessions if they are part of the public record in the case. I based my column on my belief that the specific provision barring comment on confessions takes precedence over the general provision that lawyers can comment on anything in the public record.

In addition, there is a June 1997 ruling by the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel-the Missouri Bar office that regulates attorney conduct-that supports my belief. The office issued the following Attorney Misconduct Admonition to an unidentified prosecutor: "Attorney's Conduct: Attorney was prosecuting attorney. Attorney made several comments to the local news media concerning a robbery and murder. These comments included confirmation that the murder suspect had confessed. Resulting Action: Attorney received a written admonition for violation of Rule 3.6. The pretrial statements that were published in the local paper violated this rule dealing with trial publicity."

But as there is no Missouri court opinion on the issue, McCulloch's interpretation of the rule is as reasonable as mine.

The purpose of my column was not to focus on McCulloch but to raise important free press and fair trial issues and to draw some attention to my belief that prosecutors around the state are unaware of the ban on comments about confessions. McCulloch's response shows that he recognizes these are important issues too, even though we differ on interpretation.

Media/Politics
Post makes impression
By Terry Jones
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's July 27-31 series on flood-plain development was a superb example of metropolitan journalism. It took an issue which affects the entire region; examined its multiple aspects-economic, environmental, political-clearly and deeply; and illustrated it with excellent graphics. To its credit, the Post made the substantial investment in staff resources to produce such a study.

All this work might enable the paper to break into "The 2003 Civic Strategies Urban Journalism Awards," a list maintained by Otis White. He's an Atlanta-based consultant who produces both a monthly column in Governing magazine and a more frequent e-mail service (www.civic-strategies.com).

White's prevailing standards for sorting the wheat from the chaff are "Does it help us understand this city or region?" and "Does it point to an emerging urban trend?" The flood-plain series certainly scores high on both.

As of mid-summer, the current frontrunner on the White scale was a Seattle Times series ("The Big Squeeze") on growth and congestion in the Pacific Northwest that ran episodically between December 2002 and this June. Other top contenders are "Cities of Ideas: Prosperity and Its Price," a fascinating 20-part series run by the Austin American-Statesman during most of 2002, and "Boomtown Burdens," a six-part analysis on growth and development published by the Charlotte Observer in March.

White's overall scorecard, based on daily readings of the nation's major metropolitan newspapers, has the following current standings: Los Angeles Times (82 stories), Dallas

Morning News (71), Washington Post (56), San Francisco Chronicle (52), and Seattle Times (43). Nipping at their heels are the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (42), the Baltimore Sun (40), the Atlanta Journal and Constitution (37), and The New York Times (37).

---

After having had a blockbuster campaign season in 2000, St. Louis's television stations had to settle for a just-above-average dollar performance in 2002. Instead of 2000's three hotly contested races (Bush-Gore, Ashcroft-Carnahan and Holden-Talent), there was just one (Carnahan-Talent). Nevertheless, according to estimates compiled by the Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG) and published by the Alliance for Better Campaigns, the St. Louis market finished 16th in the country, six slots above its 22nd standing in population.

Kansas City, helped by having a highly competitive U.S. House race on its Kansas side as well as the Carnahan-Talent face-off in Missouri, had an even better relative standing: 19th instead of its normal 33rd ranking.

Overall, St. Louis stations aired 18,873 political spots in 2002, receiving an estimated $14,216,711 for them. Kansas City had even more-19,142-but, because of its smaller market size, reaped slightly less from the campaigns: $12,905,391.

In St. Louis, KSDK (Channel 5) was the big winner, grabbing almost half of the dollars ($6,759,654 or 48 percent) even though it played less than a third (5,707 or 30 percent) of the spots. Its generally larger audience, especially on local news, is a magnet for political advertising allocations. KTVI (Channel 2) showed even more spots (5,863) than Channel 5 but received much less ($2,897,002) for them. Other dollar returns, by station, were $3,512,267 at KMOV (Channel 4), $641,715 at KDNL (Channel 30), and $406,073 at KPLR (Channel 11). The CMAG methodology monitors satellite transmissions to collect its data, thus limiting its coverage to over-the-air stations rather than cable outlets.

Even though political campaigns are money makers for the television stations, their campaign coverage remains pitiful. A University of Southern California study of the most-watched evening newscasts in the 50 largest markets, a group including both St. Louis and Kansas City, examined each broadcast between mid-September and the election.

Among the more disturbing findings are (1) more than half the broadcasts had no stories about any campaign; (2) there were four campaign ads on the newscasts for each campaign story; and (3) just 28 percent of the campaign stories contained a quote from a candidate and, when they did, the average soundbite was 12 seconds.

---

In its coverage of the ongoing home rule saga in the City of St. Louis, the Post continues to not quite state the facts clearly and precisely. In an Aug. 1 story, the Post notes that "until eight months ago, any changes to those offices (i.e., county positions like license collector and treasurer) had to have statewide approval." Two days later, the Post reports that "without the approved change in the Missouri Constitution nine months ago (i.e., passage of the "Home Rule Amendment"), any alterations to the seven county offices would have required a statewide vote."

The articles certainly suggest and all but say that such changes formerly required a ballot measure voted upon by the state's electorate. Not so. Because they were statutory provisions and not constitutional elements, the state's legislative process (passage by the General Assembly and signed by the governor) was all that was needed to make changes in county office status.

Radio History
Original KXOKer
By Frank Absher
Bob Hille is one of the few people still around who was on the staff of KXOK the day the station signed on.

"KXOK went on the air with a really impressive staff. We had a full studio orchestra. We had a classical quartet which included the man who played first cello with the Symphony. We had Skeets Yaney and the hillbillies in the morning. Eddie Arnold was a young kid who played with them. I went on as a student announcer, which meant I was literally working for nothing. When I finally got a job that paid, which was in April of 1939, I made $40 a week, which was pretty good money in those days.

"The biggest name talent," according to Hille, "was a young man named Paul Aurandt. He now goes by 'Paul Harvey.' Paul was kind of the second fiddle on special events. Allen Franklin did most of the really special events, as well as being program director.

"We had a very big studio set-up, including one studio with a full organ. The night before we went on the air, the union came up with the idea that we couldn't do it because the organ had not been made by a union shop. Ray Hamilton, the manager, had to hire a guy to come in and sit down and put a hot soldering iron on every connection in the organ."

The KXOK studios were on the fourth floor of the Star-Times building at 12th and Delmar, occupying the part of the building that faced 12th. The other side of the building housed the paper's linotype operation, which caused a lot of noise and vibration. Hille says, "All three studios were mounted on springs, which was fairly innovative at that time. We had a disc recording set-up that was designed to escape the vibration from the linotypes. They mounted a Presto recorder on legs that ran down about three feet to a huge concrete block. The block was set on top of a large, inflated truck inner tube that kept the vibrations out.

"We did a lot of remotes. We were at dance halls practically every night. I remember we carried a live broadcast from the big circus that was playing at Kiel. Allen Franklin bribed the charioteers who were racing to stage a huge crash right in front of his broadcast position. Allen was really good."

One might assume today that the Star-Times' owners would realize their radio station would cannibalize some ad dollars from the paper, but in those days, more than money was at stake. "They were watching that combination down the street, the Post and KSD (at 12th and Olive). And there was a different group of advertisers, those who couldn't afford ads in the newspaper."

As a night announcer, Hille was required to do the station breaks, news cut-ins and commercials. "If a half-hour program was on the air, you sat and, theoretically, studied your script, which is a laugh. Almost all our commercials were done live, since there were few recordings. Those would have to be done on disc, which was expensive. We did 15 minutes of news at 6 and again at 10 and a sign-off news at midnight."

Later, after he was hired as a full-time announcer, Bob Hille was made host of a daily remote at various grocery stores where he would conduct a live quiz with shoppers. The program was sponsored by Forbes Coffee Company. After a while he hosted a daily half-hour luncheon show at the Forest Park Hotel, which would feature celebrity guests.

There were seven or eight radio stations serving the St. Louis audience in the late 1930s, and Hille says the big difference in the stations was determined by whether the station had a network affiliation. "NBC was split into the Red and Blue networks at that time. We had the Blue. KSD had the Red, which was the premier. KMOX had CBS. KWK, with Mutual, was not as big. So that made KSD an even bigger competitor for KXOK, and in this case, the competition was accelerated because of the personal competition between the newspapers' publishers.

That competition even spread to talent raids. In 1951, Bob Hille was hired away from KXOK to work as an announcer at KSD and KSD-TV.

AM/FM
Jazz from outer space
By Lynn Venhaus
The small, dedicated audience that listens to WSIE of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville has noticed some major changes at the station. The music is now from a satellite service JazzWorks, which means the music is chosen by someone in another town. Gone are the local weekday announcers, including Leo Chears, whose jazz announcing has been cherished in the market for decades. In their place, we hear the same voices heard by people in other markets where JazzWorks is heard.

Chears and some of the other jocks have been relegated to weekend work, giving the appearance they've been demoted. General Manager Frank Akers explained the situation by saying, "WSIE has two job classifications. One classification is a 'temporary' one for times the radio station needs extra help. Both Ross Gentile and Leo Chears are in this category; although, the 'temporary' position has lasted for several years. The other classification is for Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville professional staff. Ross and Leo do not have college degrees, so they do not meet the basic requirements."

Akers also told SJR the move was not based on economics: "WSIE's costs for operations will actually increase. In addition to hiring a new host (7 a.m. to noon, professional staff), we are hiring a full-time news producer."

So, if the move wasn't made to save money, why were the old announcing staff removed from daily work and stashed on weekends? Akers acknowledges there were some problems with a couple of disc jockeys. "The behavior of some former and current employees harmed the station's reputation ... but had little to do with the changes." His bosses had simply asked him to make some recommendations regarding the future of the station.

He also admits consideration has been given to selling the station outright, but if the station is sold, Akers is confident the university would find another venue for training broadcast journalists.

---

Tucked away on the serene, manicured grounds of the Concordia Seminary in Clayton is one of our region's under-appreciated gems, KFUO (99.1 FM), otherwise known as Classic 99.

Classic 99 is the only St. Louis station to be nominated for a prestigious Marconi Award this year, and is competing for the Best Classical Music Station against formidable operations in San Francisco, Dallas, Milwaukee and Raleigh, N.C. KFUO won the award in 1999; this is its second nomination.

Dennis Stortz, director of broadcast operations, will travel to Philadelphia for the awards ceremony Oct. 2, which is part of the National Association of Broadcasters' convention. "It's a pretty incredible evening. It's the Oscars of radio. It's a lot of fun," he said.

Award or not, the small operation happens to be one of the region's biggest radio success stories. Owned by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, KFUO is the oldest FM station in St. Louis. It also has the distinction of being the longest continuous operating broadcast facility in the U.S. in the same location.

The staff is stable as well, with some employees having worked there 20 and 30 years. "It's a great place to work," Stortz said. "It's a commitment. Many employees like that."

Stortz has been at KFUO for 28 years. He started as a staff engineer in 1975. "I had opportunities along the way to assume a leadership role," he explained, adding that he's been fortunate to help build the station into a player in the market, along with a dedicated, loyal staff. Over the years, KFUO's been commercially successful and remains the only classical musical station in the market.

What sets Classic 99 apart are its community outreach efforts, both on-air and off-air. The station is not merely content to play the music of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, but also educates area youth on the classics, even providing instruments, and presents performances in its Education Initiatives program. In addition to the local schools, it also partners with St. Louis arts and music organizations.

"We try to maintain a high level of community involvement and community associations. We work with the St. Louis Symphony, Opera Theatre, and so forth," Stortz said. "We have a great relationship with the Symphony. We work with them through the whole season, and we sponsor a concert in May."

With the educational initiatives, "we reach out into the community, try to educate and spread the word," Stortz said.

The program began in 1995, and since then, a station employee has gone into local classrooms, reaching 11,000 students. Tricia Oates is the current director.

Stortz said its program is now needed more than ever, as music education is frequently the target of budget cuts. "Music education is clearly on the wane. We're happy to provide the service. It's a community service. We're their voice," he said.

The station features "Classic Kids" on Saturday mornings, putting a friendly face on classical music for the kids. It also presents "Young Heroes in Music," targeting talented African-American students.

Besides the Symphony, the station helps promote other concerts, such as Premiere Performances sponsored by the University of Missouri-St. Louis. KFUO also supports concerts at the Missouri Botanical Garden. "From the Garden Live" takes place in the fall and spring. "It's been fantastic," Stortz said. "It's no charge to the public. We have both national and local groups."

---

Well-liked country music deejay Billy Greenwood is returning to St. Louis soon after spending a couple years in Nashville. An ecstatic Greenwood's been hired by The Bull (93.7 FM) to be the afternoon drive guy for the 2 to 7 p.m. shift. Program Director Mike Wheeler is thrilled to have the former WKKX (KIX 106) jock in his stable.

"Billy is the top of the food chain in afternoon drive talent. We consider him the perfect complement to the Craig Cornett morning show and the final piece of the puzzle for the 93.7 The Bull," Wheeler said, adding that no start date's been set, but it's expected to be sometime in September. "We're working with Clear Channel Nashville to make sure its needs are met before Billy comes home."

---

Two new reporters are working in the KTRS (550 AM) newsroom. Bill Marsh is a Mizzou grad with a fabulous pedigree-his dad is Don Marsh-but he's making it on his own as a good writer and interviewer. Ani Savtcheva, originally from Bulgaria, is a Fulbright scholar from Syracuse University. She's contributing a keen news sense, good writing skills and fine voice.

The White House selected KTRS as the local radio pool station for the past two visits by President Bush.

After two 90-day extensions, Frank O. Pinion has signed an 18-month contract to continue The Large Morning Show in the Afternoon. He'll be on The Big 550 until February 2005 at least.

---

The Mall's Steve Shannon and D.C. Chymes were suspended for two days, Aug. 27 and 28, returning to their morning show Aug. 29. The latest brouhaha stemmed from the duo's complaints about 104.1 FM's poor signal strength. Some listeners say they get mostly static and interference in certain parts of St. Louis city and county, and the pair read e-mails and took calls about it on their Aug. 26 show. Emmis management was not amused. The bad-boy jocks, who've built their reputation by stirring up controversy, were previously at 96.3 FM (K-Hits) and 106.5 FM (KIXX and WKBQ) before moving to WMLL last fall. They are now syndicated to 35 other stations from 5-9 a.m. weekdays, but local from 9-10 a.m.

"The Steve and D.C. Show" is the first of Emmis' local shows to be simulcast on the Sirius Satellite Radio Network, starting Sept. 4. You have to purchase a Sirius receiver from an electronics store to get the national service in your car or home.

---

If you fell asleep listening to KXOK (630 AM) on a transistor radio during your youth, take a walk down memory lane at the legendary station's tribute website, www.630kxok.com. The site, put together by Mike Anderson, is a work in progress featuring surveys, memories from both listeners and radio professionals (see Frank O. Pinion with a head of hair circa '67), a look at the 2001 reunion in words and photos, aircheck links, photos of Johnny Rabbitt and Radio Park in its heyday, and more can be found there for a kicky blast from the past.

On the www.stlmedia.net website, the chatroom every Thursday at 7 p.m. is set aside for KXOK reminisces and discussion. "Oldie Carl" is the moderator.

---

Former St. Louis radio jock Todd Newton, who was once the wildly popular Rikk Idol, is definitely making a name for himself as a television host out in Hollywood these days. He's currently the host of the Fox "Performing As" talent show shown at 7 p.m. on KTVI (Channel 2) and the game show "Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck" on the Game Show Network. With his engaging, glib personality, the hard-working Newton is a good-guy success story. Newton, 33, left his hometown to work for the E! Entertainment Channel in the mid-'90s after becoming a hot commodity on the contemporary hit station WKBQ (Q106.5 and Q104). He's been host of "Hot Ticket" and "Hollywood Showdown," too. And to think a mere decade ago he was broadcasting live from Stagez nightclub. The Oakville grad and his wife, Silver, a television producer, have a two-year-old son, Mason.

---

The spring Arbitrons were very kind to KMOX (1120 AM) and WSSM (Smooth Jazz 106.5 FM). Number one again with the 25-54- and 35-64-year-old listener category and with an 11.7 share, the "Voice of St. Louis" continues to hold the national record for all Arbitron-rated radio markets in the country for consecutive number one performances, with 109 in a row. The streak dates back to the early 1970s. But the spring book's counting of more than 600,000 listeners is the highest in years for KMOX. General Manager Tom Langmyer attributes KMOX's resurgence to recent programming moves and more focus back on the community.

WSSM leaped from 14th to fourth place overall, very high for a jazz station anywhere.

KWMU (90.7 FM), St. Louis's National Public Radio station, reached its highest audience ratings in Arbitron's Spring 2003 book, with a weekly listening audience of 170,500, which is up 4 percent from a year ago. The station had a 35 percent increase in percentage of St. Louis radio listening audience, with a 3.2 share, and the average weekly time spent listening was up 19 percent, to 7.9 hours.

Overall, the market's 1-14 stations stack up like this: KMOX, 11.7; KEZK, 6.1; WIL, 5.3; WSSM, 5.0; KSHE, 4.9; KMJM, 4.7; KPNT, 4.6; KSLZ, 4.2; KYKY, 3.8; KIHT, 3.8; WVRV, 3.8; KATZ-FM, 3.6; KSD, 3.6; and KTRS, 3.5.

In morning drive, KMOX is in first, followed by KEZK, with KSHE and WIL tied for third.

In the 18-34 category, KPNT (105.7 FM) is the leader.

The spring ratings cover listening from March 27 to June 18.

---

Former KSDK (Channel 5) reporter Ruth Ezell has joined the KMOX newsroom.

Late Edition
The revolution we were waiting for has arrived-virtually
By Charles L. Klotzer
They are not marching in the streets.

No store windows have been crashed.

No one has been arrested planning a coup d'etat.

But millions are marching.

Upon a given signal they man the barricades and shoot.

They gather their resources bit by bit, and once a critical mass is reached, they steamroll the opposition. The revolution is spawned by the Internet. For several years it has been growing in strength. It now triumphed in the congressional reaction to FCC's decision to lift again restrictions on media ownership and in the phenomenal rise of presidential candidate Howard Dean.

In the '90s, Joan Blades and husband West Boyd made a fortune with their winged appliance computer screen savers. That was not enough for them. So they compiled a list of 300 and started a web site, MoveOn. It was launched on September 18, 1998.

Separately, Eli Pariser, who opposed the U.S. drive to go to war against Iraq, founded 9-11 Peace.org.

Pariser's site signed on half a million subscribers and then joined the Blades-Boyd effort as "MoveOn Peace."

MoveOn claims that by now it has enrolled two million activists. Their organizers say they were shocked by the incredible response.

In the 2000 election they raised $2 million; in the 2002 election they raised $3.5 million.

When the FCC made its decision to sell out to the media conglomerates, "More than 750,000 messages from angry citizens and groups clogged the FCC's mailroom and e-mail servers" reported the Columbia Journalism Review (July/August 2003, p.5). Bloomberg News reported that the FCC received millions of e-mails protesting the new rules. Many of the media reported that the FCC as well as members of Congress were deluged with e-mail messages.

But no one, as far as we could find out, credited MoveOn and other like-minded web sites for their success attained in face of opposition by the media industry, including the New York Times.

Among the few who heralded MoveOn's contributions is Howard Kurtz, Washington Post staff writer.

Although President George W. Bush supports the FCC decision, the U.S. House passed a provision "that would prevent a single company from owning enough television stations to reach more than 35 percent of the nation's viewer," reported the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (July 30, p. A10). Also a bipartisan group of U.S. Senate Commerce Commission members are tying to roll back FCC's action of June 2.

While both conservative and liberal groups opposed the FCC decision, none of them have an internet mass following equal to MoveOn's.

Or take the ascendancy of Gov. Howard Dean.

In June, MoveOn had the first on-line primary among its subscribers. Dean won 44 percent of the 318,000 votes cast, with the other eight Democratic contenders splitting the balance. Some critics charge that the contest was tilted in Dean's favor.

Dean, too, became a devotee of the Internet. More than half of the $7.5 million Dean raised in the second quarter came over the Internet.

In the Texas redistricting fight, 11 Texas State Democrats have thwarted the passage of a Republican-led plan which may add 5 to 7 seats to House Republicans and may ultimately install Tom Delay as Speaker of the U.S. House.

MoveOn has raised $400,000 in one day to pay for the expenses of the Texas Democrats who escape to another state whenever a session is called, depriving the Senate of a quorum.

When Al Gore challenged the administration for its foreign and domestic policies, it was MoveOn followers which packed the audience.

MoveOn and similar Internet efforts are changing the political landscape. They are more powerful than television, because its audience can react easily and immediately by sending e-mails or donations and inform their friends of their actions.

The Internet strategies have drawbacks. It is reported that only about half of U.S. households have Internet connections. Among minorities and the poor the figure is much lower.

Nevertheless, as Joe Conason of Salon sees it, "MoveOn creative activists are seeking ways to answer right-wing money power with grass-roots people power."

MoveOn.org describes itself as "an issue-oriented, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that gives people a voice in shaping the laws that affect their lives. It engages people in the civic process, using the Internet to democratically determine a non-partisan agenda, raising public awareness of pressing issues, and coordinating grassroots advocacy campaigns to encourage sound public policies."

These Internet campaigns have no political bosses, no committeemen or women, no local chapters or national conventions. But their influence has been proven and for once it empowers people on the receiving end of policies to assert themselves and collectively and peacefully change policies.

Features
He has a bite
Editorial cartoonist John Sherffius went from being a Republican to a commie, pinko Postie
By Joe Pollack
A newspaper columnist usually works with enough words to make a point, describe a scene, provide basic information to a reader, perhaps even reach a conclusion or take a stand along the way.

A classic editorial cartoonist has-at most-only a handful of words with which to comment on a triumph or a tragedy, a right or a wrong, or perhaps to toss bouquets at a statesman or brickbats at a politician.

The dart, or the bludgeon, is revealed in the drawing.

John Sherffius, who just completed his fifth year as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial cartoonist, is a 41-year-old Californian who grew up in the San Fernando Valley. Although the Post's editorial stance is barely to the left of center, many St. Louisans have labeled him as a wild-eyed, long-haired, bearded, bomb-throwing radical. Some of the labelers are St. Louisans who considered it a communistic-atheistic coup when the St. Louis Globe-Democrat threw in the towel after deciding, in true capitalistic fashion, that money was more important than making political points.

They'd have been taken aback at a recent Clayton lunch when Sherffius eased into a chair. He's of slightly more than medium height and slender with bright brown eyes and light brown hair that is rapidly leaving a wide empty area. He furrows his brow when he thinks, and while he speaks pleasantly, sometimes eagerly, he is obviously a man who feels more comfortable with a drawing pencil in his hand.

Besides, he reports that when he first registered to vote, in California, he considered himself a Republican. Over the last two decades, he has moved-or has been pushed-to the left.

He works with bold lines and sharp angles that often look like the elbows and knees and shoulders of Bob Fosse dancers. Effective and striking, if not always subtle.

And yet ...

"No matter how simple everything is, or I think it is," he said with a wry smile, "there's always someone out there who calls and says, 'I'm pretty smart. I went to college. But I just don't understand what you're driving at.' And there's nothing you can do about it."

Sherffius, who is an omnivorous reader, gets to The New York Times early in the morning and can think while he takes a morning run. He has an advantage in his West Coast perspective, which is helped along by the fact that his wife, Stephanie Simon, is the Midwest correspondent of the Los Angeles Times. That adds another newspaper, and another geographical area, to his newspaper reading.

The Sherffius family lived in Brooklyn, down the block from Vic Tayback, who later gained fame as the diner owner in "Alice."

Like a lot of Americans, family members spent time in and around Los Angeles during World War II and settled there afterwards. Young John attended Birmingham High School in the San Fernando Valley-excellent preparation for St. Louis summers-then went to Cal State-Northridge and on to UCLA, where he majored in psychology as well as art.

"I always had been interested in art," he said, "though I was never sure I would make a career of it when I finished school."

But, he worked for a number of small newspapers as an artist and designer in Orange County towns like Torrance and Ventura before coming to St. Louis.

His early influence, in a natural rhythm, was Paul Conrad, the long-time, superior cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times, a man whose work was simple, usually rather obvious, and strong in his response to the goings-on around him.

And that's what an editorial cartoonist does. He responds. He counter-punches.

But, as Sherffius points out, "Good execution makes the ideas come out simply and easily understood.

"The fewer words the better, as far as I'm concerned."

That puts Sherffius in the company of those cartoonists he respects and admires because, when he listed people like the late Herb Block (Washington Post), Jim Borgman (Cincinnati Enquirer), Signe Wilkinson (Philadelphia Daily News), Jeff MacNelly and Tony Auth, he did not include some of today's editorial cartoonists whose use of dialog boxes and lengthy conversations makes them more like columnists than artists. Nor did he discuss their drawing abilities.

Sherffius sits in on the daily meetings of the editorial page staff because, while his work does not necessarily have to be in conjunction with an editorial for the next day's paper, he says he does try to make it relevant to what's in the newspaper, but also has a handful of ideas in reserve in case the idea-or the story-falls through or is deemed unacceptable by a ranking editor-something that happens from time to time, but not very often.

And most important, he understands that all news is relative, that a major story of today is a much less important one tomorrow and vice versa.

"In an ideal world," Sherffius said, "with me doing six a week, I'd do a couple (cartoons) on something local or statewide, a couple on national subjects, a couple international or universal. But, breaking news drives the cartoon; you can't wait four or five days to find the right execution because by then it's all over."

First Amendment victory:
ACLU stops Bush from hiding protesters
By Don Corrigan
Not all veterans in St. Louis on Tuesday, Aug. 26, were in town for President George W. Bush's "stay the course" speech before the American Legion. Veterans For Peace had their own message to deliver to Bush against a growing quagmire in Iraq.

That message was almost muted, if not effectively silenced, by local law enforcement and the U.S. Secret Service. Only an "emergency action" insured the free speech rights of the anti-war veterans and other Bush protesters, according to Denise Lieberman of the American Civil Liberties (ACLU).

"What we initiated on Tuesday morning (Aug. 26) absolutely made the difference in insuring the First Amendment right to free speech against government actions," Lieberman said. "It was the difference between the protesters being forced into a so-called Designated Protest Zone (DPZ), or being allowed to assemble peacefully to express and to have their grievances heard."

The ACLU went to court on behalf of the Instead of War Coalition, headed by Bill Ramsey, to get a court order to prevent law enforcement from herding the demonstrators away from the Aug. 26 site of the presidential visit. Bush spoke to the American Legion at America's Center, and then attended a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser for Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., at the Renaissance Grand Hotel on Washington Avenue.

"When the demonstrators learned that they were to be herded to Baer Park, they checked it out and saw that there was an entire convention center between them and the president on Washington Avenue," Lieberman said. "We went to court because there has been a history of four presidential visits in which protesters have been ordered to a Designated Protest Zone or face arrest.

"This has resulted in viewpoint discrimination and very obvious violations of the First Amendment," added Lieberman. "The protesters are herded away, while the supporters of the administration with their signs are allowed a chance to get close to the president and to news media access."

On Tuesday, Aug. 26, attorneys for the Secret Service and local law enforcement appeared to back down on their plans to enforce a DPZ for protesters. They told the federal court in St. Louis that the DPZ was set aside as a convenience, but that there were no plans to keep the protesters away from Washington Avenue.

Bush protesters, familiar with previous visits, had no doubt that the last-minute ACLU action made the difference in allowing them to get their message across. Wilson "Woody" Powell, executive director of Veterans for Peace, said the U.S. citizens and members of the American Legion need to see that there is dissent and that it is okay and reasonable to oppose the president's policies in Iraq.

Among the signs held by about 300 demonstrators against Bush were: "Bush Lied," "We Found WMDs, They're In The White House," and "Restore Veterans Benefits." Protesters held a mock hearing and trial of a Bush puppet over charges that he justified the Iraqi invasion with falsehoods about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

"I'm quite sure if veterans are made aware of what the president has done, they will oppose him," said Powell of Veterans for Peace. "Bush has exploited our troops in a war that didn't have to happen. He was fixated on going to war, even as he acted like we were interested in U.N. inspections for weapons in Iraq.

"Bush took us to a place where we are totally unwelcome, where we will lose a lot more lives and treasure," Powell added. "His actions will only encourage more terrorism."

Injunctive Relief
"We were pleased that the ACLU was able to get the authorities to back off on enforcing a Designated Protest Zone," said Ramsey of the Instead of War Coalition. "But we don't want to have a showdown and go through this every time the president visits. We want to get permanent injunctive relief, and we don't have it.

"Tuesday was very confusing," Ramsey added. "Neither the police nor the U.S. Secret Service would take responsibility for arranging the Designated Protest Zones. They seemed to be pointing the finger at each other. We would like to know who is responsible, so we know who to go after."

Ramsey said representatives of the local police argue that DPZs have been created as a convenience for the demonstrators. He said representatives for the Secret Service argued that a safety area, free of protest, has to be created for the president, and the size of the area needed is constantly changing as the president visits various locales.

"My best guess is that the Secret Service and law enforcement backed off because they want to avoid a definitive decision on the issue," Ramsey said. "They don't want to establish a precedent, because they are afraid it might be used all over the country where they have a history of isolating demonstrators."

Ramsey said the peaceful protest on Washington Avenue on Aug. 26 shows that free expression rights don't have to be compromised in the name of security. He noted that at past events where there have been incidents of civil disobedience, they have always been non-violent.

"We just wanted to get a message out," Ramsey said. "And that is that the Congress and the American public were lied to in order to get us into war. It will happen again, if the people are not allowed to raise their voices against government lying. Our message is also that a deadly occupation is inconsistent with our principles and with promoting democracy."

U.S.: A free speech zone?
Constitutional scholars argue that the First Amendment makes the entire United States a free speech zone. Nevertheless, the Ashcroft Justice Department has instructed local police authorities around the country to isolate protesters in Designated Protest Zones and to prosecute those who step out of the boundaries.

The DPZ policy has been put into effect from Tampa to Portland, from Phoenix to Philadelphia. Some local police have complained that they feel the DPZ policy is wrong, but that it has been justified to them as part of the provisions of the Patriot Act in the new post-9/11 environment.

In Tampa, three demonstrators were arrested, including two grandmothers, at a Bush rally when they held up protest signs outside the DPZ. In Pennsylvania, a protesting steel worker was arrested when he stepped out of a DPZ when Bush came to the Keystone State.

The retired steelworker was later acquitted after a county detective testified that the Secret Service had told local police to remove citizens carrying signs critical of the president or Bush policies.

In St. Louis, the local ACLU is representing several demonstrators who refused to move to DPZs at previous Bush rallies. One of those arrested was Ramsey at a Bush rally last year in St. Charles.

Ramsey was with protesters outside the Family Arena in St. Charles on Nov. 4. He opted for arrest rather than moving to a DPZ more than a quarter mile away at a parking lot for the Katy Trail. Arrests at Bush visits in St. Louis also have taken place on Jan. 22 and April 16 of this year, when demonstrators refused to move to DPZ locations out of sight of the presidential appearances.

In May of this year, several members of Congress protested to Attorney General Ashcroft that the DPZ policy was getting out of hand, and that there was a troubling irony in the U.S. fighting to bring freedom overseas while curtailing it at home. The legislators urged Ashcroft to drop prosecutions of those who have defied enforcement of DPZs.

"We ask that you make it clear that we have no interest as a government in 'zoning' Constitutional freedoms, and that being politically annoying to the president of the United States is not a criminal offense," the legislators wrote to Ashcroft. Letter signers included Loretta Sanchez of California, John Conyers of Michigan, James Langevin of Rhode Island and Ron Paul of Texas.

"This prosecution smacks of the use of the Sedition Acts 200 years ago to protect the president from political discomfort," the legislators continued. "It was wrong then and it is wrong now."

Post labor negotiations move at glacial pace
By Joe Pollack
Like Congressional deliberations, labor negotiations are composed of long periods of tedium interrupted by brief sounds of argument, complete with raised voices and, occasionally, bad language.

A Disclosure Statement: As president of the Newspaper Guild's Local 47, I headed the St. Louis Post-Dispatch team in contract negotiations with Pulitzer, Inc. in 1991 and 1994-95. Progress has been slow with this year's negotiations, but I stopped in to visit a few weeks ago, in hopes of writing a story about the settlement. Not only was there to be no such story, but I discovered that most things have not changed a bit.

Committees representing the two sides still meet in the Holiday Inn on North 9th Street, just west of the Convention Center. Richard Lowe, an attorney with the Nashville-based firm of King and Ballow, and the Post's Mike Hammett lead the company team, with other department heads or executives also on hand. Executive Secretary Herb Goodrick and Tim O'Neil, a reporter who succeeded me as president of Local 47, do most of the speaking for the Guild, along with Jeff Gordon, a sports writer who is first vice-president, and Greg Cancelada, a business reporter. The 14-member committee also has other Post employees, with ad sales, circulation, accounting, creative services, custodial and electronic media all represented, and all speaking from time to time, especially when a particular contract paragraph affects a specific job category.

And, yes, the process works paragraph by paragraph. At the beginning, some months ago, each side gave the other a proposal that would have changed the existing contract in major areas.

The company asked for an open shop, with employees not required to join a union (about a dozen different unions represent employees today), with a "management rights" section expanded to provide unilateral control over most disciplinary functions and a demand that employees pay a large share of hospitalization insurance premiums, all at no increase in salary for the life of the contract. But, it is just a beginning position.

The union asked for strong job protection, major wage increases and enlarged areas of jurisdiction, improvements in the health and pension plans and so on. Same sort of position.

Neither side expected-nor expects-to win all its bargaining points. The piles of chips sit on the table, and the negotiators often argue fiercely over what seems like minutiae, but each brick of the contract is carefully balanced, carefully put in or taken out of the wall that protects, and contains, both sides.

Whether for good or for ill, the existing contract has an "evergreen clause," which means that the contract remains in force, with wages and other provisions still determining how the two sides work. A "no strike, no lockout" clause also keeps both sides at the table. The current contract has been extended since March.

Tactics haven't changed much, either. Over the last decade, the tall, slender Lowe seems to have mellowed a little; he's more restrained in his use of sarcasm. Hammett can be more argumentative when he is trying to make a point, and he sometimes gets excited but calms down rapidly. Across the table, which has a moat-sized gap in the middle, Goodrick is bulldog-like when it comes to repeating his own proposals, or objecting to one from management. O'Neil, soft-spoken and rarely excited at the sessions, speaks softly, an Irish lilt to his arguments, though. at one point, his dander went up and he told Lowe, "If you think you're just going to pound us, you're going to get blood on your hands."

Gordon, whose family background gives him a solid labor grounding, was a member of the raucous Mizzou cheering section known as the Antlers. His vagaries in temperament show the influence of both.

Both sides play their cards very close to the vest, and the tactic slows things. No one wants to make a careless statement, especially if it seems to be a concession. So, there's lots of paperwork to read and consider. On the night I was there, management submitted a counter-proposal for a section dubbed "miscellaneous." The union requested time for a caucus; its committee adjourned to a nearby room. Who goes depends on the mood of the day and the size of the committee. The Guild gathered, went over the 17-line paragraph line by line and returned to the main meeting room.

It's rare when either side sits down and says, "Good. We'll accept it."

Instead, there's a great deal of "We'll take it under advisement," or "We'll get back to you on that" or "We'll give it due consideration" or "We'll give you a counter-proposal at the next meeting."

There is discussion of the phrases in the paragraph, but both sides stay clear of outright acceptance. Outright rejection is infrequent, too.

Unfortunately, while Goodrick seems eager to bargain verbally, Lowe seems uninterested-so far. Meanwhile, Hammett accused Goodrick of failing to even submit a proposal, or a counter-proposal, or even a counter-counter-proposal. Goodrick sought verbal, across-the-table bargaining, but to no avail. Still, Lowe and Hammett can look forward to receiving a flurry of written proposals at the next meeting, scheduled for Sept. 8.

Congress also gets into the discussion. There is debate over the definition of the word "professional," in terms of overtime pay, and as the Guild sought assurances about the definition and Post policy, Lowe shrugged and said everything in that area would have to wait for others, like the Internal Revenue Service, the National Labor Relations Board and, eventually, perhaps, the courts. Lowe pointed out that recent debate seems to show that some columnists and cartoonists, for example, could be deemed professionals.

"Not here," retorted O'Neil.

There were discussions of several other items that, on the surface, appear to provide major advantages for management and a loss of emotional-or worse-security for reporters, ad sales representatives and others covered by the contract. In most of his arguments, Low insisted there were "no immediate plans" for any of these restrictions, but when pressed by Goodrick, his standard response was that the company "needs the space" to perhaps make these decisions. Medical coverage, for both current employees and retirees, is a major stumbling block at the Post, as it is in an overwhelming number of contract negotiations around the nation.

And, as has come up hundreds of times in my own experience at negotiations, Post editorial policy was brought into play. Goodrick pointed out that the newspaper's editorial position through the years had supported unions and collective bargaining, criticizing a Wal-Mart attempt to quash pro-union radio advertising only a few weeks ago.

Hammett shrugged, as is his habit, and repeated his mantra that corporate policy neither affects nor is affected by editorial policy.

Then, the two sides packed up their folders and briefcases and walked wearily into the humid August night.
Guild's Herb Goodrick plans to step down
By Joe Pollack
Herb Goodrick, executive secretary of the St. Louis Newspaper Guild for more than a decade, will be retiring because of ill health as soon as a successor can be found.

Goodrick told a group of St. Louis Post-Dispatch employees, members of the Guild's negotiating committee, in a brief meeting Oct. 25 after the regular bargaining session between the Guild and Pulitzer, Inc. He said he would stay on until a new executive secretary was hired and that he would continue to take part in the bargaining sessions.

Goodrick, who led negotiations for the Post and for other groups affiliated with Local 47, reported that his doctor had told him he should give up the stress of his job, stress compounded by the difficult negotiations now going on. A search committee will be formed, under the leadership of Tim O'Neil, president of Local 47, which also has members at KSDK (Channel 5), the St. Louis Review and the Labor Tribune.

Oldest black newspaper in St. Louis on last legs
By Benjamin Israel
The Argus, the oldest African-American newspaper in St. Louis, which once played a pivotal role in St. Louis politics, may be dead. At press time, the weekly had not published an issue since the July 24-30 issue and a sign on the Argus office door at 4595 Martin Luther King Drive read, "We're on vacation; printing will resume in three weeks."

Publisher Eugene Mitchell declined to be interviewed for this story, saying only that the reporter should call him back at a later date when he "might have a deal to announce."

Mitchell, a retired surgeon and grandson of one of the Argus' founders, is reportedly trying to sell the 12-page paper that features columnists like former University of Missouri curator Malaika Horne and sportswriter Charlie "Tuna" Edwards.

The Argus has had far less copy, fewer ads and a lower circulation than the St. Louis' other African-American newspaper, the American, for more than a dozen years now. However, from before World War I to the 1980s, the Argus was the dominant newspaper in the African-American community.

Brothers Joseph E. and William Mitchell founded the Argus in 1912 as a tool for the political advancement of Negroes. Under their guidance, the Argus played a major role in changing the political landscape of St. Louis.

Donald Suggs, publisher of the St. Louis American, attributes the decline in the Argus in part to "the decline of the black press in general" as many of the most talented black journalists work in the mainstream media. The historically under-funded black press now must compete with the wages of the better-funded mainstream media.

Distribution of African-American newspapers also has become more difficult, Suggs said, because readers spread out farther in the metropolitan areas.

After discussions with Riverfront Times founder Ray Hartmann in the 1990s, Suggs said he decided to invest in hundreds of racks for free distribution of the American throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area.

The American now distributes more than 68,500 copies at 820 locations, including about 60 Schnuck supermarkets. The distribution is many times the circulation of the Argus.

Despite its larger staff, Suggs said, the American, like all newspapers, has been hit hard by the decline in one of its most important sources of revenue: employment ads. And, employment ads have virtually vanished from the Argus.

Suggs said he is sorry to see the Argus' troubles.

"Dr. Mitchell has always been very community oriented," Suggs said.

Mitchell has been trying to carry on a long and distinguished family tradition. The Mitchell brothers grew up on a farm in Coosa, Ala., and J.E. left for St. Louis in 1904.

According to a series by historian Herman Dreer in the Argus in 1960, J.E. worked as a "houseman" and attended night school. He participated in Republican Party politics and became a protégé of a white politician, J. Ray Weinbrenner.

In 1906, J.E. Mitchell was among the founders of the Western Union Relief Association, a small insurance company.

William Mitchell and his wife Nannie came to St. Louis in 1908, and he studied the printer's trade as part of the brothers' plan to found a newspaper and increase the political power of the black community.

Initially, the relief association owned the Argus, but the brothers took full control of it in 1914. In its early days, William Mitchell would make the plates for the paper and walk them to a church-owned printing company down the street and return with the printed papers in a wheelbarrow.

The brothers built a distribution network and sold copies throughout the black community of St. Louis, eventually developing a subscription base throughout Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas and Mississippi.

The Argus was by no means the first Negro newspaper in St. Louis-the Negro World was founded in 1875, and the National Tribune and the Freeman's Journal started publishing within three years. All three folded by 1890.

By 1908, when the Mitchells starting laying the groundwork for the Argus, other papers had come and gone. At that time, St. Louis had at least three black-owned and oriented newspapers: the Advance, the Palladium, and the Central Afro-American, while another African-American paper, the American Eagle folded in 1907, according to George Everett Slavin's 1969 doctoral dissertation "A History of the Missouri Negro Press" on file at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

However, one might say the Argus' roots in journalism go back farther because in 1915, when the Advance folded, the Argus hired Phillip Murray who had been a reporter with the Advance since 1885.

Most of the early Negro newspapers followed Booker T. Washington's lead and spent much of their copy trying to get their readers to abandon dance halls and gambling houses, work harder and behave like ladies and gentlemen in the face of discrimination. J.E. Mitchell instead wanted the Argus to work with the NAACP and fight for civil rights and increased political power.

After Weinbrenner was elected sheriff in 1908, he appointed J.E. Mitchell as deputy sheriff. When he was re-elected in 1912 with heavy African-American support, J.E. Mitchell asked him to appoint more African-American deputies. Weinbrenner refused, and, according to Dreer, told Mitchell, "I don't owe the Negroes anything."

Weinbrenner explained to Mitchell that he depended on ward organizations for money and organizational support for his campaigns, and even in the four wards with black majorities, the ward committeemen were from other ethnic groups. He rewarded the committeemen for their support with jobs, and the committeemen decided which individuals would get the jobs.

As a result the Mitchell brothers called other prominent African Americans to the Argus office to form their own political organization, the Citizens Liberty League.

In 1914, the League ran several African Americans for office but only one of its members, theater-owner Charles Turpin, won office. Turpin unseated a white incumbent justice of the peace (later called magistrate) in a majority African-American district.

Turpin did not take office until August 1915 because some African-American voters' ballots were not counted until after a court battle. Turpin then became St. Louis' first African-American elected official.

Under J.E. Mitchell's leadership, the League showed, by the way it handled the election and court battle, that it was a force the Republican Party had to reckon with.

In 1920, the group had enough clout to elect Walthall Moore as the first African American to the Missouri General Assembly, Robert Scott as the first African-American ward committeeman and Mrs. J.R. Madison as the first African-American ward committeewoman and to strike a deal with the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Arthur Hyde.

When he took office in 1921, Hyde honored his commitment to the League by doubling the number of African-American police officers in St. Louis, allowing them to wear uniforms for the first time, making sure African Americans could serve on juries in Missouri for the first time and providing African-Americans with other jobs as well.

In 1925, the Argus, for the first time, endorsed a Democrat for office, mayoral candidate John Igoe, because his opponent, Republican Victor Miller, refused to denounce the Ku Klux Klan. This election began the Argus' role in moving African Americans out of the Republican party. In the 1930s, Mitchell joined with Jordan Chambers, who was instrumental in helping move the black community into the Democratic Party, a process that was not complete until the 1940s.

There was a point in the 1930s when the Argus was associated with the Democrats while the American, founded in 1928, was closely aligned with the Republicans. Through the late 1930s, African-American voters and office holders in St. Louis were almost evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.

The Argus evolved into a comprehensive newspaper that covered sports, crime, social events, church news and features without skimping on political news. It outdid the dailies in covering the early civil rights movement like the Lloyd Gaines suit against the University of Missouri Law School and the 1930s movement called "Don't Shop Where You Can't Work."

The Argus remained the leading African-American newspaper in St. Louis well into the 1980s. At press time, its future was cloudy at best.

Guild moves backward at Journals
By Benjamin Israel
The Newspaper Guild has challenged the results of a decertification election at the Warrenton-Wentzville office of the Suburban Journals. The complaint to the National Labor Relations Board states that Journal managers illegally promised reporters, photographers and advertising sales executives a 5 percent raise if they rejected the union, said Herb Goodrick, executive secretary of the St. Louis Newspaper Guild.

The Guild lost the decertification election with a 7-7 vote. The union needed a majority vote to stay certified.

The Guild also lost a representation election at the Journals' South office 10-2 after nine of the people eligible to vote signed cards asking for the election.

The Guild has not yet challenged that election.

The losses came just over a year after the Guild lost three representational elections by one vote each at the North County, Jefferson County and South offices.

At last year's election, the South office split with nearly all the people on the news side voting for the union and the advertising side voting against, said Joe Harris, a sportswriter at the South office. Harris worked on the Guild campaign last year and was a vocal opponent of the organizing drive this time around.

Harris said the difference this year came because Jeff Parra, newly hired as publisher for the South office before the first election, gained the trust of the news staff over the last year.

"I feel comfortable talking with him," Harris said.

Parra told the staff before the last election that while negotiations went on, the old status quo would be frozen and management could not improve pay or benefits, Harris said. In the intervening year, Harris said, his pay has risen 13 percent to a little more than $11 an hour, while the cost of his medical benefits went down and coverage improved.

Harris is single and the benefit package may have not improved for married employees with children. Everyone at the Journal outside of the former Warrenton-Wentzville bargaining unit received a 5 percent raise. The rest of Harris' raise came from a merit raise.

"I feel like I'm being rewarded for my hard work," Harris said.

In addition, Harris said, union organizers were absent during the last weeks of the union drive a year ago, "and that left a bad taste in my mouth," Harris said.

Guild organizer Jay Schmitz had a death in his family shortly before the 2002 elections.

"They could have sent Herb Goodrick or somebody," Harris said.

Unlike the North County office, the South office has not downgraded news, Harris said.

Meanwhile, Goodrick said, a Guild sponsored boycott of the Suburban Journals continues. He said about 6,000 households have requested signs for their yards stating that they don't want Suburban Journals delivered.

"The boycott is simply protesting Pulitzer's union busting," Goodrick said. "Considering the elections, there's even more reason to boycott."

Commentary:
Al Kerth: A different view
By Robert Tabscott
How sad and revelatory was the Al Kerth story, as it appeared recently in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. But even more curious is how many people have asked-who is Al Kerth? What makes him the focus of three days of front-page coverage in the paper? Good questions. Not many good answers.

I first met him in 1977 as a member of the Danforth Leadership Laureate program. Participants were drawn from across a broad social grid, and over a year spent a weekend each month studying the formidable subject of "The St. Louis Region and the Search for a Usable Future." I date my inclusion and commitment to the community from that experience.

There were 50 of us chosen. Some say it was the best aggregate of liberal, critically minded talent ever assembled in the history of the seminar. Al Kerth was a rather nondescript member among an array of gifted personalities, though it was wildly rumored that Albert was "hot property" and destined for the ranks of Civic Progress, power and glory, and God knows what else.

And why not! On the surface, he was young, tall, handsome, glib and cushioned from worry by the muffling security of wealth and the coddling of rich and positioned providers who used him as he drew on them to do their private bidding and help his own public image. A marriage of convenience. In other words, Al Kerth did not invent himself-he was the creation of others and his rise was meteoric with wonderful perks. He had a blank check from the Danforth Foundation for his schemes, the ear of Civic Progress execs while drawing a hefty salary to support his growing appetites.

Initially, the Danforth Leadership Program was serious about developing connections focused on public issues and neighborhood projects in matters of racism, education, affordable housing, community health, transportation and jobs.

But, as time would tell, Al Kerth was not interested in that aspect of the continuing search for a usable future and, as far as I can tell, seldom lent his powerful persuasion to those seeking funding for "controversial projects." No, his priorities were more grandiose-regional light rail, the celebration of the Lewis and Clark trek, a re-enactment of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 2004, Forest Park Forever, a professional football team and new digs for the Cardinal baseball boys. All big ticket items.

For the sake of clarity, Al Kerth was certainly not the first to propose those exotic schemes which were outlined years ago by ambitious dreamers. But advocacy by the lesser breed in St. Louis does not go down well with the faceless power brokers. Shadow governments do not curry to opinions from the proletariat.

Maybe Kerth had a hand in the removal of the L.A. Rams to St. Louis, but if I remember correctly, it was former Senator Thomas Eagleton who brokered that deal.

None of this is intended to diminish Kerth's public persona as a premier hustling promoter. He had an entourage of followers. I recently had a conversation with a bright, attractive young woman Kerth had hired to lead one of this project programs. When I indicated that I knew him and was shocked by his death, she burst into tears, "I loved him," she sighed. "He was my inspiration." We quickly shifted the conversation to other things.

The story of Al Kerth is, in many ways, a portrait of St. Louis. Once considered-in the 19th Century-as the Paris of North America, today the city, unable to annex, lies by the Mississippi River like a beached whale. I was in Boston recently, studying the subscription of that great metropolis by the sea, when a colleague made the cryptic observation that St. Louis has outlived its purpose. Once a vibrant gateway, a commercial thoroughfare to the West, fur trade transportation, education, commerce and industry, time has passed her by.

If Kerth suffered from manic depression, which smears the lives of its victims, then St. Louis languishes from what Sigmund Freud described in his "Civilization and Its Discontents" as societal depression that eats away at the heart and soul of a community. Both conditions are realities and, if not treated, are predictably fatal.

It is told that depression is an illness about which we know very little. We do know that manics are often considered the yeast in our society, but the disease is manifestly one of incubation wherein reality is invented, twisted backwards, wrapped in pride, narcissism, hubris and fanciful appetites and the inability, as Robert Burns knew and wrote, "to see ourselves ... " Depression is self-inflicted, and it is about character. Unfortunately, Al Kerth did not mingle with those who might have really told him the truth about us and the world in which we live. And, as such, his life, as it is with many, is an American tragedy.

I have the idea that Al Kerth didn't really believe all the things he promoted and, at some point, no longer believed in anything at all. If that is true, he must have felt that he had lost the old, warm world, paid too high a price for living too long with phony people and illusions. He must have looked up at an unfamiliar sky through dying leaves and shivered as he found what a grotesque thing a rose can be and how raw the sunlight upon a barren street-a world where poor, shackled ghosts drift fortuitously by.

Like F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Great Gatsby," Al Kerth believed in an orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then; it eludes us now. But, no matter. Tomorrow we will run faster and stretch out our arms further until one fine morning ...