October/November 2008 by Bill Babcock

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sjreview.org

or ed

by Roy Malone

Mixed reviews for TV backpack journalism

October/November 2008 Vol 38 Number 309 $4.00 Post staffers fear more layoffs (pg.10)

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October/November 2008 Volume 38 Number 309

FEATURES Editor Roy Malone

TV stations try backpack journalism / Roy Malone

Editor/Publisher Emeritus Charles L. Klotzer

The backpack story / Roy Malone

Illustrator Steve Edwards Designer Frank Roth

Post layoffs cause fear, anger among staff / Repps Hudson, Roland Klose, Roy Malone

Debate offered WU Student Life chance to show off— and they did / Joe Pollack

The top-censored stories highlight the role of corporate America

Radio History Frank Absher Ad/PR Rick Stoff Art/Sports/Media Joe Pollack Media/Politics Terry Jones Board of Editorial Advisers Frank Absher Jim Kirchherr Lisa Bedian Roy Malone Ed Bishop Tammy Merrett David Cohen Avis Meyer Don Corrigan Michael Murray Eileen Duggan Steve Perron David P. Garino Joe Pollack Ted Gest Joe Sonderman William Greenblatt Michael D. Sorkin Daniel Hellinger Lynn Venhaus Board of Directors Robert A. Cohn Michael E. Kahn Don Corrigan Charles L. Klotzer John P. Dubinsky Paul Schoomer Gerald Early Dr. Moisy Shopper David P. Garino Alberta Slavin Ray Hartmann Ken Solomon The St. Louis Journalism Review 8380 Olive Blvd St. Louis, Mo. 63132 Phone: (314) 991-1699 • Fax: (314) 997-1898

COLUMNS 3

Letters

Off the Record KMOV loses Sunshine suit against Metro / Tom Sullivan Local media fails to cover Feds move on racial tensions / C.D. Stelzer The show does not go on / Joe Pollack Photojournalism Hall of Fame inductions / Terry Ganey Art drives the vote in Missouri / Sue McCullum Those newspaper endorsements / Frank Absher KMOV’s series on race / Eileen P. Duggan The word once spoken / Robert W. Tabscott

Tired of the campaign for president? / Charles L. Klotzer

Sports and the media Post-mortem on Cards, Linehan / Joe Pollack

Ad / PR Fallacies in the media / Rick Stoff

Thirteen argumentative fallacies / Rick Stoff

Politics & Media The election’s race factor / Terry Jones

Book Review “Not a White House tell-all” by Scott McClellan / Reviewed by E. F. Porter

Radio history KIX 104: A fun ride before the crash / Frank Absher

Sources say . . . TV must run untruthful political ads Heads roll as Channels 2 and 11 combine news Journals no longer free Dave Sinclair hits Post for outsourcing

Media notes

e-mail: sjreview@sbcglobal.net www.sjreview.org

SJR The St. Louis Journalism Review (ISSN: 0036-2972) is published monthly, except bi-monthly in December/January and July/August, by The St. Louis Journalism Review Inc., a non-profit corporation. Subscription rates: $25 (one year), $44 (two years) $62 (three years), $80 (four year), $98 (five years),. Foreign subscriptions higher depending upon country. Periodical postage paid at Washington, Missouri and additional mailing offices. Please enclose stamped, self-addressed envelope with manuscript. Copyright © 2008 by The St. Louis Journalism Review. No portion of this journal may be reproduced without the express permission of the publisher. Indexed in the Alternative Press Index. Allow one month for address changes. Postmaster: Send address changes to The St. Louis Journalism Review 8380 Olive Blvd. St. Louis, Mo. 63132. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 73-85160

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commentary

letters SJR “Better Than Ever” There are very few publications that I read cover to cover the day they arrive and then pass on to my wife with stuff circled. Your publication is one of them, and your September issue is better than ever. I spent most of my life in Chicago as an editor of one thing or another, and here I am reading in your Sept. issue about a KC ex-con reporter with delight. Terrific piece. Those you serve who spent their journalism lives here have to be applauding even if you can't hear them. I've been a subscriber for little more than a year when I was lucky enough to find a copy in a De Paul Hospital waiting room and copied the address and subscribed. As a result, I don't know if you have already done a profile piece, ala your Holliday and Blome article in this issue, on Tim Townsend, who covers religion in the Post. I spent much of my life working in the

Catholic press before I made it to the Sun-Times, but I must say that I've never read anyone who covers religion as well or in such depth and with such objectivity as Tim Townsend. His piece today on the synagogue with the new Torah is unbelievably well done as was his piece a month or so ago on the Ethiopian Church that opened in Vinita Park. He had no party trying to cover Archbishop Burke but did as good a job as anyone could with the little access that he had. Although religion is not a very "sexy" subject, readers might be interested in what makes Townsend tick. I think he brings to the job an master's in divinity from Yale or Harvard but his probing of contemporary issues goes beyond that. Many Catholics in St. Louis mumble about the Post's coverage of all things RC, but Townsend is not the problem, and I'm no cafeteria Catholic. He's simply very good at what he does and knows the difference between writing a report and a column, both of which he does well. Just a sug-

gestion from a curmudgeon who carps about much but loves to laud what he perceives as excellence. Donal Mahoney St. Louis

Remembering Selwyn Pepper As I completed my reading of the September edition of SJR, I noticed the brief mention of the death of Selwyn Pepper. While I haven’t been in contact with him since moving west almost ten years ago, I have fond memories of Selwyn at the old Sunday morning SJR breakfasts. I loved my conversations with Selwyn and welcomed his insight. Selwyn was long retired from the Post-Dispatch at that point, but with his long love of the news, he was always up to date on what was happening and who was making it happen. I took the opportunity and thanks to the Internet, I was able to locate and read some of the stories he had continued on next page

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letters written about the mine disaster in Centralia, Illinois. It is easy to see why the judges awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his work. Selwyn was a brilliant writer, truly an artist with a typewriter. His stories brought the tragedy—many years later—back to life with vivid descriptions and a visual touch that are so often missing in today’s writing. Perhaps we have been spoiled by television, where we expect to see what Selwyn so aptly described. David Cohen San Jose, California

Suggestions for KFUO What a pleasure to discover Iowa Public Radio Classical during my recent travels. The station plays varied, interesting, uncut pieces all day throughout Iowa. Commentary by the announcers, one female, is crisp and informative. In contrast, KFUO’s play list is repetitive and rarely surprising. They often butcher longer pieces by eliminating movements. Self-congratulatory interviews, musicals, movie music, and now even a jazz show round out the fare. Meanwhile, announcers tell us over and over that they have been named one of the top five classical music stations in the country. I understand the difference between publicly funded and commercial radio. KFUO must pay the bills, and I’m grateful for the presence of any classical music on the radio. But how refreshing to hear the real thing blowing across that fresh, sweet Iowa air. Can’t Missouri do the same? Edmund de Chasca St. Louis

You don’t have to look far for news in St. Louis Get your copy of SJR for the single-issue price of $4 at any of these locations: Left Bank Books 399 N. Euclid, St. Louis (314) 726-6010

World News (Clayton) 4 S. Central Ave., St. Louis (314) 726-6010 World News (Westport) 308 Westport Plaza, St. Louis (314) 434-9449 Barnes & Noble Booksellers 8871 Ladue Rd., St. Louis (314) 862-6280

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off the record KMOV loses Sunshine suit against Metro A federal judge in St. Louis has ruled that the Metro transit agency is not subject to the Missouri Open Meetings and Records Act, commonly known as the Sunshine Law. Television station KMOV-TV (Channel 4) filed a lawsuit against Metro, whose formal name is the BiState Development Agency, after the transit agency refused to provide unredacted records of complaints regarding Metro employees. Metro supplied complaint summaries but wanted $1,950 to provide redacted records concerning the complaints. KMOV reporter Steve Chamraz had asked for copies of complaints covering three years. U.S. District Judge Carol Jackson, in her ruling, noted that Metro was formed by an interstate compact between Missouri and Illinois that was ratified by Congress in 1949, and the compact does not allow for the laws of one state to apply without the concurrence of the other state. The judge noted that the state of Illinois does have its own Sunshine Law. However, it is not the same as the Missouri law and Jackson said in her ruling it would make little difference how complementary the two Sunshine Laws might be. The concurrence of the two states would still be needed. Metro has long claimed it was not subject to the Missouri Sunshine Law but would still follow the requirements of the law. Metro is seeking a half-cent sales tax increase on the November 4 ballot in St. Louis County. It would provide $80 million more to Metro from county taxpayers, a 100% increase. Tom Sullivan

Local media fail to cover Feds move on racial tensions Catherine L. Hanaway, the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Missouri, has announced that a Justice Department conciliatory specialist had been asked to help quell escalating racial tensions involving employees of the Northeast Ambulance and Fire District in St. Louis County. That news, however, went widely unreported because mainstream

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media outlets, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, failed to assign anybody to cover the Oct. 17 meeting of the U.S. Attorney’s Hate Crime Task Force over which Hanaway presides. The decade-old group, which is comprised of numerous law enforcement, civil rights, religious, cultural and social organizations, invited the local broadcast and print media to attend the gathering at the Central Reform Congregation in the Central West End to foster better communications with the media. But only reporters for the Jewish Light, Vital Voice, and St. Louis Journalism Review covered the meeting. Hanaway’s unexpected announcement was in response to a racial dispute involving firefighters in the district that serves Normandy and other suburban municipalities. On Oct. 16, the Post reported that the board of the fire district had ordered all its firefighters to take lie detector tests to determine if any of them had loosened the lug nuts on a fellow firefighter’s personal truck. The wheel of Firefighter Capt. Joseph McNeel’s vehicle came off while he was driving in Illinois on Sept. 28. McNeel, an African-American, told the Post that he believed the alleged act of sabotage was racially motivated and had occurred one or two days earlier while his vehicle was parked at the firehouse. Other than the accident report McNeel filed with the Illinois State Police there is no law enforcement record of the incident. At the Hate Crimes Task Force meeting, Hanaway said that she had been informed that the Normandy Police Department had allegedly refused to respond to calls related to the issue. In an interview with the Post two days earlier, however, Normandy Police Chief Douglas Lebert had criticized the district board for demanding lie detector tests without involving the police. Lebert did not return a call placed to him by the SJR. In his prior comments he was quoted as saying: “Anything (board members) have done up to his point and anything they do after this point only interferes with any chance of us coming in and criminally finding who’s responsible for this and prosecuting that person.” Hanaway has requested that William Whitcomb, a veteran mediator for the Justice Department’s Community Relations Service, be assigned to help resolve the impasse.

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off the record For more than 20 years Whitcomb has overseen negotiations in sensitive, race-related cases in the St. Louis area, including most recently the upheaval earlier this year following the Feb. 7 murder of five people at a Kirkwood City Council meeting by Charles “Cookie” Thornton, an African-American. Whitcomb could not be reached for comment at his office in Kansas City. But Pascual Marquez, the regional director of the agency in Kansas City, said that under the terms of Title X of the federal Civil Rights Act, mediators are prohibited from publicly discussing mediation efforts. The Community Relations Service also does not have investigative or prosecutorial authority. C.D. Stelzer

The show does not go on At the time of the vicepresidential debate at Washington University, an ironic comedy-drama was taking place at the university’s latest incursion into the community. The former CBC High School space on Clayton Road now has a sign identifying it as part of the university. On a September night when I was in the building, there were volleyball games in the gym and a theatrical production upstairs. It opened in mid-September for a run of about a month. It was a New Line Theater production of “Hair,” the rabblerousing, anti-war musical with a lights-are-very-low nude scene that, on some level, defined the ’60s. Scott Miller, artistic director of New Line, has staged it several times at various venues. Many years ago, when a self-proclaimed moral critic, Doris Bass, objected to a production at the American Theatre by a touring company, an alderman, Henry Stolar, went to Kansas City to pass judgment. It played, as it did on several other occasions, including a run at Kiel Auditorium Opera House, While the campus was being secured, actors were disrobing for the famous nude scene, burning mock draft cards and singing diatribes against authority, the draft, the police, the government and the Vietnam War. But on Oct. 2, while Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin were debating, the show did not go on.

Why? Because the building was being used as a staging area for the police and other security types protecting the campus from those who might disrobe, burn draft cards and sing diatribes against authority. Miller said that the conditions were set in the lease he signed some months ago. It seemed a perfect evening for doing a performance on the university’s intramural fields, fenced to keep the protesters in and away from the Field House where the debate was taking place. It would be an evening of political theater, right smack in the midst of what Miller and some other local theater folk were promoting as a time for political theater. “We thought about it,” Miller replied. “But the logistics were impossible to overcome and not enough of the cast wanted to do it.” “Didn’t you want to do it?” I persisted. “Part of me did,” he answered, “and part of me was a little scared.” Joe Pollack

Photojournalism Hall of Fame inductions Fred O. Waters, a former Associated Press photographer based in St. Louis, was among six news and documentary photographers inducted recently into the Missouri Photojournalism Hall of Fame based in Washington, Mo. Waters' photography documented eight conflicts around the globe, beginning in January 1952 with the Korean War. During the French-Indochina War, he covered the fall of North Vietnam. He was one of the last three newsmen to leave Hanoi before it was overrun by the Vietminh in 1954. Under constant surveillance and forbidden to take pictures, Waters hung his camera around his neck and as he walked around, aimed his body and snapped his shutter. Once his film was smuggled out of the country, it provided the first photos from Hanoi under Vietminh rule. Waters learned his craft while in the Navy and Army during World War II. Before joining the Associated Press in Korea, he photographed the conflict there for the International News

Service. In the early 1960s, the AP transferred Waters to its St. Louis bureau. He was in Memphis covering Martin Luther King Jr., when King was assassinated in 1968. Now retired, Waters and his wife Mary live in Gulf Breeze, Fla. Health issues kept Waters from attending the induction ceremony. His son, Oscar Waters, real estate editor for the advertising department of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, accepted the plaque for his father and read his acceptance speech: “I have loved every day and every assignment. I have somehow realized all of my childhood dreams. Can't beat that. Thanks again for the honor.” Also inducted were: The late Townsend Godsey, who documented the beauty of the Ozarks and its people; Bill Hankins, a freelance photographer and journalist for the Platte County Landmark in Platte City; Tim Janicke, editor of Star Magazine, the Sunday magazine of the Kansas City Star; The late Belle Johnson, Monroe City, an internationally known photographer noted for her use of light and her group portraits; The late Curtis Winchester, chief photographer of the Neosho Daily News and later of the Tulsa Tribune. Terry Ganey

Art drives the vote in Missouri While driving Missouri's highways during the past few weeks, motorists saw something unusual—like a giant squid brandishing gas pump nozzles, or Captain America, or a field of sunflowers—all with one message: to encourage Missourians to register and vote. Featuring the work of eight contemporary artists, 70 billboards with the words, “Vote: Your Future Depends On It’’ began appearing across the state Sept. 1. The billboards, sponsored by Art the Vote, an initiative of the Missouri Billboard Project, reflect many of the key issues facing our state and nation, including fuel prices, the environment and the war. They were intended to inspire Missourians to register and vote, especially young people. Four of the artists are Missourians—Tom Huck, Peregrine Honig, May Tveit and competition winner Karen Kay.

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off the record (continued from previous page) In many respects, young voters have the most at stake in elections. But, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, in the 2006 election, only 22 percent of eligible voters, ages 18 to 24, voted. By contrast, 63 percent of adults 55 and older voted in 2006. Sue McCollum, An organizer of Art the Vote

Those newspaper endorsements The Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel recently asked its readers if the paper should endorse a presidential candidate this year. The paper raises an interesting question. Why should a reader care what a few people running the local newspaper think? What is it that makes them think they are better qualified than anyone else to determine who should hold the nation’s top elected office? Is it the paper’s job to inform or to influence, or is it both? If newspaper management thinks it has a responsibility to influence, it first has to have enough clout to be taken seriously. How many papers today still have that kind of power? Many people have no interest in what a newspaper’s editorial board thinks about political candidates, in part because the boards have not demonstrated to their readers that they are any more qualified to make such a choice than an average person on the street. Frank Absher

KMOV’s series on race A newcomer’s observations of strained race relations in St. Louis triggered the sixmonth, in-depth news series on the issue now airing on KMOV-TV (Channel 4). The series, called “A Shared St. Louis,’’ made its first appearance on Aug. 11 and is scheduled to end in December with a special segment and a town hall-style meeting. “I feel there is a growing awareness about the lives of other people in our community [as a result], and hopefully that insight will create understanding—not necessarily agreement, but understanding,” said anchor Vickie Newton, who introduces the segments and has reported several of them. The series has covered such top-

ics as local civil rights history, slavery, crime, gang violence, guns, racial profiling, white separatism, housing, homelessness and education. The segments appear on varying days of the week, and the reporters include Craig Cheatham, Laurie Waters, Robin Smith, and Newton. The reports are unrelated to any sweeps rating periods. The project was the brainchild of Sean McLaughlin, executive news director, who joined KMOV in June 2007. After six months on the job, McLaughlin, a Minnesota native who had worked in Tulsa for the previous seven years, was struck by the tone of race relations in St. Louis. “It just dawned on me that race is an amazing issue in this community,” said McLaughlin. “I see it everywhere, hear it everywhere, but nobody talks about it.” After discussing it with some people in the newsroom, he learned that Cheatham had proposed a similar idea once before but had gotten little support. “The only way to do it was to make a six-month commitment to it, do dozens of stories and tackle it that way,” McLaughlin said. He ran the series idea past General Manager Allan Cohen to get his approval. Each segment is posted on the KMOV Web site, where viewers may join the conversation by commenting on a blog. McLaughlin estimated that the feedback is about 70 percent positive. “Every now and then you take a phone call that reminds you exactly why you need to do it,” he said. “There’s a degree of closed-mindedness and a complete lack of understanding.” He added that some people are upset that KMOV brought it up. “We wanted to make it interactive, make it a resource for people,” McLaughlin said. “In the ideal scenario, we find some solutions, identify some programs that are working. The issue exists very individually and it’s controllable. But if we ignore it and pretend it isn’t there, it’s going to remain the same as it is now.” The reporting team plans to host a job bank to match employers with job-seekers, then wrap up the series in December with the town hall meeting and one-hour special. To watch the series online, visit: www.kmov.com/news/news_stories/ kmov_news_sharedstlouis.htm Eileen P. Duggan

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Recently, we published a list of 53 supporters, who expressed their support of SJR by joining SJR's Media Elite. A few contributions, listed below, arrived after publication. Managing Editor Eric Friedman and Miriam Wilhilm E. E. Millstone Columnist Louise Green Investigative Reporter Jennifer Maloney and Timothy Eastburn Alexander Dhimitri Zonia Reporter Betsey B. Bruce Ian and Joan Cruickshank Judith Ugalde Patty Teper

For about 38 years, the St. Louis Journalism Review has been the watchdog guarding the St. Louis media, print and broadcasting. It has faithfully followed guidelines published in its first issue, September 1970: “The St. Louis Journalism Review hopes to become to the regular newspapers and the radio and television stations what those media are to government and other institutions. The news media are counted on to report to the public on all institutions and evaluate their performance. In St. Louis, we intend to take on that task. “Fairness, we believe, is the major obligation of the media. Unless all segments of the public have access to the media, the newspapers and broadcast stations are not living up to the responsibilities that go along with the constitutionally protected Freedom of the Press. Only the press can assure an informed public, which is needed to make democracy work. But there cannot be an informed public unless every segment of society knows about the needs and thoughts and fears of all others.”

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Charles L. Klotzer Charles L. Klotzer is the editor/publisher emeritus of SJR.

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re you tired of hearing all the political advertisement, the latest campaign polls, and all the interviews with the presidential and vicepresidential candidates? I am not. Indeed, I enjoy all of it. Typically, every morning and also late at night I would click on various polls—and there are a host of them—as well as the latest electoral count. The print media and on-line sites offer a wealth of information. Of course, one cannot check all of it (if you google Obama you get 211,000,000 references, and 150,000,000 for McCain); the available data about the candidates, by the candidates, and by their detractors is mind-boggling. It appears that we are currently operating on two levels of experience. One is the spectacle of economic decline that may touch us and so many of our neighbors and the other is the exhilaration that our participation in the political process may have meaning. In view of the bombardment of daily, hourly information, we are told that the outcome of the election may depend on the undecided voters. Undecided? Where have these undecided been for the past two years? A week before the election, news reports claim that six percent of Missouri voters are still undecided. Of whatever persuasion citizens might be, how can anyone escape not being touched by this wave of political activism? If they do not subscribe to their daily local paper or some national newspaper, they can visit the Web sites of the candidates. The McCain site has detailed essays on the economy, energy, natural security, health care, and many other topics. The Obama site has similar long reports on economy, defense, disabilities, civil rights, education, and a host of others. Some of those that the news media call undecided actually may have decided that it makes no difference who wins the election. They claim that the clout of Eisenhower’s industrial/military complex and the power of the pharmaceutical lobby will continue to rule irrespective of who occupies the White

In view of the bombardment of daily, hourly information, we are told that the outcome of the election may depend on the undecided voters. Undecided? Where have these undecided been for the past two years?

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Are you tired of the campaign for president?

House. While I understand their desperation, I cannot share it. The election will make a difference in many areas of immediate concern be it our foreign policy or domestic concerns about energy, the infrastructure, health services, and many other areas that require attention and revision. If this election will ultimately make a difference will depend on the millions of young people both campaigns have activated. Their ability to overcome the hang-ups of the older generation augurs well for this country’s future. Will they stay involved?

• • • Minutes before we go to press, we learn of the passing of Alberta Slavin, a giant of good works in our community. For years, Alberta has been a fighter for good causes and we have worked with her for many years. We remember her labors as co-chairperson of the Paul Simon for President campaign and more recently as a board member of the St. Louis Journalism Review. Her insights and contributions have strengthened this publication. Her departure leaves a hole that will be hard to fill. ■

Attention: Subscribers The term of every subscription is entered by the issue number. For example, the current issue is No. 309 and a one-year subscription that was entered to start with 309 would expire with issue No. 318, after 10 issues. We make a note of this because this issue is being called the October/November issue, which will enable us to catch up with our schedule. If you have any questions please let us know by e-mail sjreview@sbcglobal.net or call 314-991-1699.

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TV STATIONS TRY BACKPACK JOURNALISM By Roy Malone

Two St. Louis television stations have joined a movement in the industry to “backpack journalism.” That’s where news reporters carry their own video cameras and shoot and edit their own stories. When no photographer or editor is needed, the stations save money. While station officials are naturally in favor of the practice, some reporters, union officials and others are not fans. KSDK (Channel 5), a Gannett Co.-owned station, was the first to use a backpack journalist in St. Louis last year. It now has four, which the station calls multimedia journalists, or MMJs. KMOV (Channel 4), owned by Belo Corp., followed suit this year and has two camera-toting reporters. At KTVI Channel 2 and KPLR (Channel 11), which have recently combined their news operations to save money, a news official says there are no plans to use backpackers. A reporter is called a “backpack” journalist because the tools of his or her trade can fit into a backpack, though a standard tripod for the camera doesn’t really fit. Digital cameras are being made much smaller and lighter these days, which has given backpacking a boost. Beside MMJ, there are other names for the backpack journalist: multi-platform journalist, sojo for solo journalist, VJ for video journalist, and one-man band. The latter is a term going back some years and was often used to refer to reporters in smaller TV markets who had to do everything, much as the only member of a band might play various instruments. It’s not that reporters want to carry their own camera. They are told they must, if they want the job. And there are plenty of young applicants who make sure their college journalism courses or resumes reflect training or experience as a backpacker. It makes them more likely to get hired. Journalism curriculums are now offering instruction for shooting video to help their graduates have the skills needed to get a reporting job. Some stations advertise in trade publications for backpack journalists. Nicholas Lemann, dean of the Journalism School at Columbia University, wrote recently that his students are now required to do work on web sites, using text, video and sound as ways of reporting the news. They must take “new media’’ classes as some newspapers and magazines are hiring people only to do video stories, according to Lemann.

RYAN DEAN A reporter for KSDK, Channel 5, does a standup, sans photographer. Ryan Dean, 25, is one of KSDK’s backpack journalists. He was hired earlier this year after doing backpack reporting for a cable TV station in Syracuse, N.Y. “I do everything a photographer and reporter would do,” Dean said. “If you want a future in this field you better be able to do a lot of things.” He drives himself to a story, carries his camera and tripod, shoots his video, conducts interviews and does stand-ups by speaking into the camera. Then he edits his story on a computer at his desk using a special software program. It’s tiring work, “interviewing someone and operating the camera at the same time is a skill that has to be developed,” Dean said. “You have to be fast. There’s not a day when I’m not running to get it done.” Mike Shipley, KSDK news director, said backpack journalism “is an old idea that’s new again.” He said financial pressures and competition have caused it to be a viable alternative, and the new technology has helped make it possible. Photographers and reporters also carry cell phones that can take pictures and transmit them back to the

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The Backpack Story

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The trend for using backpack journalists is driven by the economics and competition in TV news. As dig ital cameras and editing systems have become smaller and cheaper the backpack journalist is being hailed by some as the coming norm. This “new media’’ reporter supposedly can carry his tools in a backback—video camera, portable editing software, laptop computer and Internet connection. He may or may not need a tripod. He can do without a notebook or pencil. Stations in smaller markets have used backpackers to save on expenses. But larger stations have relied mainly on teams of news gatherers consisting of a reporter, photographer and sometimes a sound technician and producer. The early cameras were heavy and big men were often hired to carry them. The introduction of the video camera is often compared to the invention of the portable camera in the 1930s when film spools made the new photography independent of heavy plates, tripods, lights and studio settings. In the early 1990s, a news channel in New York was the first to hire only video journalists. In the middle 1990s, German TV stations followed the example. A station in San Francisco, KRON, went with video journalists only, for economic reasons. In 2001 the BBC started switching to video journalism in all its regional offices and by 2005 had more than 600 of its staff trained as video journalists. ABC News last year was using backpackers to cover foreign news. Newspapers are also employing video journalists to shoot stories for their online web sites. The Washington Post has employed six video journalists. The Wall Street Journal said it publishes 2530 videos a day, and the majority of them are produced by the paper's reporters as part of a strategy to integrate online video with the reporting, Some see this method of production as a dilution of skills and quality. Michael Scully, a journalism professor at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, is not a fan of backpack journalism. “It's an accountant's dream but an editor's nightmare,” Scully was quoted at a meeting on the subject. "Accountants love it because you're sending one person out into the field to produce the work of three people; it's an editor's nightmare because the quality of the work is diminished." Here are some predictions as gleaned from various articles on backpack journalism: TV news will dominate another decade or two, then the Internet will dominate, and backpack journalism will be the rule. The content of newspapers and TV news shows will be delivered over the Internet mainly. The convergence of print, TV, web sites and even radio will create new ways of storytelling. Journalists with different skills will be working together.

station for use on the news or web site. Of the backpack reporting, Shipley said “Now we can get two stories instead of one.…I can’t really say there’s a downside to it. We get more efficiency. The backpack reporter often says ‘why would I want someone else to take my pictures? I would rather be in total control.’” The other three backpackers at KSDK are Casey Nolen, Kasey Joyce and Dana Hendrickson. Shipley said Gannett is adding back journalists to its stations (23 of them) across the country. The company provides workshops for reporters to use the cameras. He said backpackers are not used for stories requiring extensive interviews and video. KMOV’s news director, Sean McLaughlin, said backpack journalism “is a growing trend” in the business and at his station “it’s an option.” His two reporters carrying cameras are Todd Schumacher, doing sports, and Mark Schnyder for the morning show. A former KMOV sports reporter, Jeff Skversky, was let go earlier this year to make room for a backpack sports reporter who could be paid less. Some like it not John D. Miller, is one who believes backpack journalism “is a bad idea.” He is executive director of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) representing on-air talent in St. Louis and Kansas City. “They are trying to combine two different jobs….it’s causing a lot of problems,” Miller said. Photographers are under the jurisdiction of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) and operate under different contracts and rules than AFTRA members. “The two unions and the company are trying to get it figured out,” Miller said. AFTRA is in contract talks with KSDK which wants to hire more backpackers. Miller said the possible loss of some jobs is one concern but the biggest issue is “safety for reporters when alone in dangerous situations.” Many TV reporters, especially older ones, object to being distracted from researching and reporting functions by having to drive themselves to a story, shoot the video and then edit the story which has traditionally been done by editors at the station. “The main casualty will be the story,” Miller said. The backpack reporters have to do more work—often the work of three people—without any extra pay, Miller said. “A lot of stations have tried it and dropped it,” he said. It has not been tried by any Kansas City stations. But, TV stations in cities around the world are using backpack journalists, even freelance ones who can do stories and blogs far from the station and send them in via the Internet. Backpack reporters are using cameras to shoot wars, disasters and documentaries. Backpack journalism is “here to stay,” say its proponents. Now, some medium and larger market stations are expecting anyone, even a private citizen who can walk and talk, to be a one-man band. Roy Malone is editor of SJR and is a retired St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter who once worked at KSDK.

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POST LAYOFFS CAUSE FEAR ...

With so many newspaper journalists losing their jobs, here are two pertinent questions: How can managers who lay off or fire editors and reporters, if they must, do so in a humane, respectful way? Is it asking too much of the macho newspaper business to find a decent way to do this ugly deed? As a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch business reporter and columnist who wrote a weekly workplace column for several years, I find these to be natural, logical questions. Getting rid of experienced, knowledgeable editors and reporters is more the norm these days than the exception. This practice, driven by the grim economic circumstances in newspapers, is cutting out the guts of good news organizations and destroying careers. What triggered these thoughts was the Post’s recent “laying off”—as distinguished from firing for cause—of several mid-level editors. These were technically layoffs because those in the positions targeted were not offered other positions. They were abruptly told to gather their belongings and leave the building. They had no Newspaper Guild job security because they were exempt from union membership. Two, among others, who were respected for their knowledge and news judgment were Dale Singer, the online news editor, and Ed Kohn, an assistant business editor. Each had three decades or more experience in writing and editing stories and had institutional memory that could keep younger editors and reporters from making errors. Kohn had been with the newspaper since 1976. His partner, Staci Kramer, also a journalist, posted a complaint about how he was terminated on the Web site paidContent.org. She wrote: “The memo announcing the layoffs unfortunately was all too typical: not one word about the departed employees beyond listing their names and departments—not even an acknowledgment of their contributions to the paper. This morning, they were employees expected to give their all for the company. This afternoon, they’re cost reductions.’’ Post Editor Arnie Robbins would not discuss these particular cases, nor would he talk about the way he handled two layoffs this year, the last one affecting 20 employees. He did say severance packages were offered to those let go. “We still have a lot of veterans here,” Robbins said. Getting rid of senior people Rick Edmonds, a media business analyst at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., speaking of newspa-

by repps hudson, roland klose & roy malone

pers generally, said: “After doing a round or two of buyouts that’ll tend to take more senior, highly paid staff out of the newsroom, they’ll hire younger people,” Many print journalists can no longer ignore the financial side of newspapers, and as more blogging and other information show up on newspapers’ web sites, Edmonds said, “Older journalists may not be competitive in that skill set.” “It’s pretty clear that the bad dose of economic news leads to fewer individual journalists and a smaller report to readers,” said Edmonds. “It becomes a death spiral.” The dismissal of editors, reporters and even newsroom clerks has provoked resentment and fear among Post staffers. Most fault the out-of-the-blue nature of the layoffs as well as dismay at who got the ax. The staff cuts were mandated by Lee Enterprises Inc.’s Davenport, Iowa, headquarters. The Lee chain bought Pulitzer Inc. in 2005 and the Post had buyouts that year and in 2007, totaling about 200 mostly older employees. Robbins said what the Post is going through is widespread throughout the country because of slumping advertising and circulation and the worsening economy. “Some papers don’t have managing editors any more,” said Robbins, who went for more that a year without a managing editor before he hired Pam Maples. “We are seeing copy editors also being assignment editors,’’ he said. What’s to be done by newspaper managers to preserve morale—a crucial part of any successful team effort—and keep the staff focused on doing top-quality work to hang onto, even attract, readers? Do it humanely All the more reason, said Denise Chachere, adjunct professor of management at the Cook School of Business at St. Louis University, for the termination of an employee to be done in the most humane way possible, a way that allows the dismissed employee to keep his or her self-respect. Chachere said many companies are concerned about stories that tell of firings or layoffs executed in a disrespectful manner. “Subscribers are interested in this sort of thing,” said Chachere, president of Employee Assets, a consulting firm, and past president of the Human Resources Management Association of St. Louis. “In a lot of companies, shareholders are very interested too,” because it may give the companies a negative image. When employees in the newsroom are told they are out of a job—regardless of the severance package—morale of

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... ANGER AMONG STAFF the other employees is sure to plummet, Chachere said. “They wonder, ‘When is it going to happen to me? Should I start looking?’ ” Employees being terminated are usually treated coldly, as if they had suddenly become persona non grata in a newsroom where they may have given many extra hours and even done things to improve their performance—like bringing in a personal laptop to help keep abreast of breaking news. When layoffs are made, “the company has to protect its assets,” Chachere said. “One way is to change the (employee’s computer) password so he can’t get into computer files.” She acknowledged this is not a pleasant—much less humane—way to treat employees, especially those who have labored loyally so many years and believed the newspaper’s senior managers would be as loyal to them in return. In the October/November issue of the American Journalism Review, Philip Meyer, author of “The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age,” predicts many now-daily newspapers will publish less often, yet with more incisive, analytical reporting. “The Internet wrecks the old newspaper business model in two ways,” writes Meyer. “It moves information with zero variable cost, which means it has no barriers to growth, unlike a newspaper, which has to pay for paper, ink and transportation in direct proportion to the number of copies produced.” Add it all up, and you can see what’s happening to newspapers just by watching what’s happening to the Post and its former and current employees. The paper is shrinking, which drives away readers, except in such durable sections as sports and maybe the A section. When was the last time you heard someone say they like what’s become of the Post? It used to be that some readers complained that the Post was too liberal, and they lamented the demise of the conservative St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Now, readers say, “It’s so sad what’s happening to the newspaper.” Former editors and writers—some who got that rough, inhumane treatment when their Post-Dispatch careers ended—are heading to the Internet, among other places, to ply their craft while keeping their fingers crossed that their new employers figure out a way to make money and keep them working. But many will probably not return to journalism, which is a loss to the profession and democracy.

The inhumane treatment of former newspaper staffers may become a mere footnote in the account of the forced march to newspapers’ uncertain future. Repps Hudson, a freelance writer, is retired from the St. Louis Post Dispatch but still writes a weekly business column for the paper.

ROLAND KLOSE

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Even before the St. Louis Post-Dispatch announced its latest round of layoffs this fall, the paper’s business news team was down by about one-third this year due to a steady exodus of experienced editors and reporters. Given the national financial meltdown, the loss of talent couldn’t have come at a worse time. The same is true for newspapers across the country where business news departments have become casualties of the industry’s declining fortunes. “We’re just all under more pressure to produce more frequently and cover more things,” says a veteran Post business reporter who spoke on background. In recent months, the paper eliminated the business editor position held by Andre Jackson, who quit earlier this year to join the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Several staffers quit voluntarily, one editor quit and another was laid off. Assistant business editor Jack Naudi, who wrote a personal finance column, returned to Chicago citing personal reasons. Reporters Rachel Melcer and Riddhi Tivedi-St. Clair left to work for Monsanto. Mary Jo Feldstein quit to work for the St. Louis Area Business Health Coalition, a group that represents large employers on health-insurance matters. Veteran writer Jerri Stroud took early retirement but plans to write a weekly column for the business news the way Joe Whittington and Repps Hudson have been doing since their retirements from the business section. On Sept. 26, assistant business editor Ed Kohn—a 32-year veteran—became one of 20 newsroom casualties of the latest round of layoffs. He had told others he felt his “days were numbered’’ when Adam Goodman, assistant managing editor for metro news, was named to also supervise business news, where he had once worked as a reporter. Editor Arnie Robbins blamed the difficult economy. “We are sorry to have to give you this news,” he and Pam Maples, the managing editor, wrote to the staff announcing the layoffs. “Please take care of each other.” Robbins told SJR: “It’s not why I went into journalism, to do things like this. So I don’t want to get too skilled at it—it’s a pretty horrible feeling.” An uncertain future Worry about the future is palpable—and was a factor in the resignations, “There’s concern about the newspaper industry in general,” a senior reporter says. “They wanted to try something different while they’re still young enough.” Robbins said: “I worry about our industry—that good, smart, talented people are leaving. . . . It used to be that

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ROLAND KLOSE

GUILD MEMBERS AT THE POST-DISPATCH MADE FUN OF THEIR OWN PUBLISHER FOR “whacking” JOBS

a reporter might leave to go to another city, to another newspaper. That seems to be pretty rare right now because not many newspapers are hiring. . . . there’s obvious anxiety in the room, there’s uncertainty, and I worry that there’s even fear. “It’s incumbent on me and other editors to figure out how we use our resources.” Robbins said, but noted that options are limited. In the last few years the newsroom staff has dropped from 285 to 230, he said. On Tuesday, Oct. 28, Robbins made good on the pledge to shuffle staff, announcing that editorial writer Jim Gallagher will return to the newsroom as the new personal finance columnist and banking/brokerage reporter, replacing Stroud. Additionally, transportation writers Elisa Crouch and Ken Leiser would be joining business as part of our newly formed development and transportation team. Leiser already covers Lambert; he’ll now be reporting on airlines and Boeing Co. Robbins also announced that metro reporter Georgina Gustin would be adding agriculture coverage and some biotech coverage, while tech Tim Barker and medical reporter Blythe Bernhard will add business coverage duties. St. Charles County reporter Tim Bryant also is joining business, at least temporarily, and will cover real estate. What’s happening at the Post is happening at dailies elsewhere. Bernie Kohn (no relation to Ed Kohn) joined the Baltimore Sun as assistant managing editor for business in 2004, He said his staff dropped from 21 to seven. His job was eliminated and he now oversees investigations for the paper. Kohn also is president of the 3,500-member Society of American Business Editors and Writers, based in Columbia, Mo.

“Business, I think, ends up content-wise getting short shrift because it’s perceived as being unable to pay for itself,” he said. Kohn says it’s possible for smaller papers to be smarter and more flexible, but at some point, when faced with a complicated, unfolding story like the financial meltdown, newspapers will find they just don’t have the staff to do the job well. “Newsrooms do have this amazing ability to be resilient when there’s a big story— people just dive in from wherever,” Kohn says. The squeeze on newspapers has resulted in the elimination of stock tables at the Post and other publications. Some business sections have simply gone away. The reduction of business coverage seems like a bad move for readers as well as for newspapers as businesses. “I think it truly does pain newspaper editors to have to do what they’ve done to business staffs,” Kohn said. “I don’t really think top editors devalue business coverage. If they did, they certainly don’t now.” Roland Klose is a former business reporter and editor for several weekly and daily newspapers.

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post employees protest layoffs

ROY MALONE

Why would employees at the St. Louis PostDispatch publicly pass out fake money—like the $715,000 bill—which made fun of their own boss, publisher Kevin Mowbray? “It’s a vote of no confidence for the editors, publisher and owner,” Lee Enterprises, said one reporter. The phony bills, with Mowbray’s picture, said: “I whacked 69 jobs so far this year and made $715,000.” Members of the St. Louis Newspaper Guild who work at the Post passed out the bills outside the newspaper’s building to readers who came to cash in their coupons in the Post’s “Max Millionair” promotion, a Mowbray project to boost circulation. After the layoff of 20 employees on Sept. 26 the Guild held an emergency meeting the next day with more than 100 members attending. The mood was of anger, foreboding and fear—fear that more union members would be laid off as the company continues to cut expenses by shedding employees. The Post had violated Guild seniority rights, meaning some with more seniority were laid off instead of newer members, said Shanon Duffy, business manager for the Guild. It happened just as the union and management began early bargaining for a new contract. The company reportedly wants a three-year wage freeze, to discontinue its conributions to the pension plan, have employees pay more of their health insurance cost, and elimination of health insurance for future retirees. The union’s main goal is job security. When the company then said it would lay off employees, including Guild members, the union ended the talks. “They put a hand grenade on the table,” said Duffy. “We’re out of here if we can’t save jobs. . . they

don’t keep their word.” He told members the company apparently wanted to charge costs of the layoffs to the fiscal year ending Sept. 30. He said the company admitted the Post was making a profit, but Lee has heavy debt payments coming up next spring which may require refinancing, “so they’ve got to cut. . . we’ve got to go after them because they’re going after us.” Duffy said the union suggested the bosses should take a pay cut along with other employees, and “They said—What?” He said Mowbray made $715,000 last year. Union members were urged to stay united and engage in demonstrations against the company, hence the passing out of Mowbray Money. A few of the laid off Guild members were reinstated when three older Guild members—William Lhotka, Jerri Stroud and Jo Mannies—took early retirement. At the same time, the Post reduced its Washington bureau to one person, Bill Lambrecht remains the Chief but he has no Indians as reporters Deirdre Shesgreen and Phil Dine reportedly declined offers to be transferred to the St. Louis office. In the late 1980s there were eight people in the bureau and by 2005, when Lee Enterprises bought the paper, it was cut to four. ■

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hey cleaned out their lockers a week or two apart, the Cardinals in downtown St. Louis, Scott Linehan out in the suburbs following his sacking as the Rams’ coach. The Cardinals, 10 games over .500 and still fourth in the Central Division, had a better record than they did a year ago. Linehan won not at all, losing not only to the opponents, but also apparently alienating his own players, obviously alienating fans and St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnists. When running back Steven Jackson, after a lengthy holdout, continued to be convinced—and loudly outspoken— about his role and his value to the team, it was obvious that he had deposed the coach as the team leader. And this is despite the fact that Jackson has been less than impressive. Once in a while, maybe once a game, he breaks a good run, but mostly it’s a yard, or two, or three. When local writers praise him, it’s almost always in terms of total yards, which includes passreceiving, not rushing yards, which what he is supposed to be gaining and which takes skill that he seems to lack. In one of the Rams’ losses, TV analyst J. C. Pearson criticized Jackson for hesitating after he takes a handoff and not just going straight ahead and hitting the hole he is supposed to. Watching Jackson that day proved the point and justified the criticism. In my opinion, Tony La Russa did his finest managing job with the ’08 Cardinals, patching the team together with spit, paper clips and chewing gum as his ownership continued to provide him with damaged goods and pleas of poverty. Injured players are usually described as “day to day,” but with the Red Birds, it morphs into week to week, month to month, season to season and year to year. Eventually, the club announces a retirement.

sports & media / Joe Pollack

Tony La Russa did his finest managing job with the ’08 Cardinals, patching the team together with spit, paper clips and chewing gum as his ownership continued to provide him with damaged goods and pleas of poverty.

Postmortem on Cards, Linehan

Linehan lacked passion Joe Pollack is a former St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist and current theater critic for KWMU

I think that Linehan’s inability to interact with the media came from one of the many problems that the NFL faces these days. Head coaches, usually men of great ego and a giant-sized need for control, often will not permit their assistants to talk to the media. So assistants lose another facet of on-the-job training that is vital for the time when they become head coaches. I truly don’t understand all the pitching problems, not only with the Cardinals, but with all major league teams. Everyone got excited when C. C. Sabathia pitched every fourth day during the height of the pennant race. “Short Rest,” screamed the writers. Every fourth day used to be the standard, when pitchers were expected to take the ball and keep it for a long time. Great pitchers, the Bob Gibsons and Sandy Koufaxes, and others, pitched full games. Now commentators panic when the magic number of 100 pitches comes close. In his 17-year career, Gibson had seven seasons with 20 or more complete games. And I wonder if, ironically, Gibson is not to blame for today's problems. In his magic season of 1968, he had a 22–9 record, with 34 starts, 28 complete games, 304 innings pitched and a 1.12 earned run average. The Lords of Baseball immediately changed the rules, lowering the height of the pitching mound. That put extra strain on a pitcher’s arm because he lost much of his height advantage. The Lords of Baseball always have smiled more favorably on hitters. In the midst of the fire-Linehan campaign that the Post columnists jointly carried on while Linehan was immolated and interred, there were, as always, rumors of troubles far beyond merely losing games. Fights, arguments, jealousy, infighting, cliques and other bad things were hinted about by both Bryan Burwell and Bernie Miklasz. All of this dissension obviously sprang up overnight, right? I jest! As usual, internal problems are never discussed until a tirade erupts, or a death, or a DUI charge, or something equally tragic and equally public hits the fan. I don’t envy Jim Haslett, taking charge of a demoralized team that seems unable to reach emotional heights. He did win his first two games,

I’m not sure who made the decision to hire Linehan, a man with absolutely no color or passion, at least in terms of what he displayed to the media. He was the drabbest coach of a St. Louis football team since Bob Hollway. Watching and listening to Linehan, as he struggled through press conferences and interviews, were painful experiences.

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Debate Offered WU Student Life chance to show off— and they did here were 18 stories, 19 bylines, two editorials, 14 photos, seven credit lines, one cartoon, and work of dozens of editors and designers. The recent debate between the vice-presidential candidates took over the Washington University campus on Oct. 2. Student Life, the university’s student newspaper, covered the action in excellent style, and stories about the debate and its many on-campus ramifications were in the paper the following day. The result was a tasty stew, with student reporters dealing with all types of campus activity and, from a close inspection of the newspaper, providing plenty of information for its readers. The coverage leaned toward the Democrats, which is to be expected on a college campus. Conversations with Sam Guzik, editor; Ben Sales, senior news editor; and Perry Stein, news editor, showed that finding conservative viewpoints on campus was not an easy task, though the newspaper of Oct. 3 shows various opinions that are at least tangentially related to the election campaigns. “Most of the events centered around Obama,” said Sales, senior news editor from Northbrook, Ill. He added that the Obama people were more willing to talk and be quoted than the McCain supporters. The coverage seemed fairly balanced, though probably not balanced enough for passionate supporters on either side. An inside page offered a picture of “Rednecks for Obama,” a group that later got some national recognition on CNN, with a cutline quoting them as “a

By Joe Pollack

group of men who like guns, who like to hunt, who like the earth.” Another story quoted critics of a group of older people, carrying large McCain/Palin signs, who gathered behind an MSNBC broadcast and seemed to be trying to pass as students. They did not talk to Student Life reporters. The page also included a story on anti-war protesters trying to be heard, one on Planned Parenthood’s stand endorsing Obama and one on a Howard Dean speech. The front page was dominated by a photo of the auditorium and the crowd just before the candidates took their places. The banner headline above it read, “The Morning After.” One of the two stories below dealt with the debate itself under the non-judgmental headline, “VP candidates fulfill expectations,” and the other discussed the day’s protests under an awkward, almost-meaningless head, “Protests end in disbandment.” Since the protesters had to register in advance and all were sequestered on an intramural field described as having “its views blocked off from everyplace else on campus,” there was little spontaneity, and not much action either. Student Life quoted speakers from different organizations espousing different views. The visiting media got a lot of coverage, too, with problems in obtaining credential delaying some media types. Some of the best work came from the area known as “spin alley,” where reporters from around the world gathered and were visited by other reporters and those trying to insert opinions, regardless of whether they came from the candidates. Key staff, led by Guzik, a junior from Long Island, had talked about the upcoming debates ever since they were continued on page 17

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rying to find logic in much of today’s political discourse can cause headaches for those inclined to seek logic. It must be particularly painful for Thomas A. Hollihan, professor of communication at the University of Southern California Annenberg School. Hollihan is coauthor of the textbook “Arguments and Arguing: The Products and Process of Human Decision Making” (Waveland Press, 2005). Chapter Nine of the book, “Refuting Arguments,” contains a guide to 13 “fallacies of reasoning” that should render an argument “unsound,” to put it nicely. Such fallacious arguments, however, can work quite effectively, even on news media that report fallacies as legitimate points of discussion. “All of us are susceptible to fallacies,” Hollihan said in an interview in the closing weeks of the 2008 election campaigns. “Yesterday I thought my head was going to explode most of the afternoon, listening to the convoluted explanations people were making for clearly strategic moves,” he said “We are not blank slates when we encounter argumentative situations,’’ Hollihan said. “If arguments seem competitive with beliefs we hold true, it doesn’t mean we set aside our beliefs. We are reluctant to create uncertainty by setting aside beliefs we already hold.”

Ad/PR / Rick Stoff

Election campaigns are oozing the ever-popular ad hominem fallacy that the book defines as criticizing not an idea but rather the person presenting it.

RIck Stoff, a former St. Louis Globe Democrat reporter and editor, now practices public relations at his own firm, Stoff Communications

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fore, must be wrong. People who study and teach in the field of argument recently have developed nuanced views of the classical fallacies, finding differing degrees of logic within some categories. “The ad hominem argument stated that we shouldn’t attack the person but the rigor and quality of the argument that person is advancing. Today we understand an attack on the person can be an attack on the character of the person, Hollihan.” An ad hominem attack aimed at Barack Obama questioned his character because he is “embedded in a Christian church with a scary minister.” An ad hominem attack leveled at John McCain questioned the validity of his persona as a political maverick when his record actually reflects a typically Republican, anti-regulatory voting pattern. “Both could be considered ad hominem attacks,” Hollihan said.

Fallacies in the media

Some fallacies Election campaigns are oozing the ever-popular ad hominem fallacy that the book defines as criticizing not an idea but rather the person presenting it. In using the ad populum fallacy, a speaker attempts to prove a claim is correct not because it is really correct, but because most people believe it should be. The tu quoque, meaning “you’re another,” defends one’s actions by pointing out that others acted in a similar fashion. The false dichotomy, irrationally makes an either/or argument, you‘re with us or against us. Another is the straw man, in which one makes up a ridiculous position and attributes it to an opponent who, there-

Fallacies get play in the media “Because of sustained attack on them by conservatives, the news media have become increasingly reluctant to challenge political speakers who make fallacious statements. They give them the benefit of the doubt on the news pages and allow the analysis only to play out on the op-ed pages,” Hollihan said. Fallacies also work because much of the public is not well-informed, “Our media literacy is not very good. . . . People who are not reading or attending the news, or who are reading only partisan news, are not seeing information that causes them to challenge their beliefs,” he said. In a talk Hollihan gave recently, he noted that 30 percent of the U.S. public erroneously believes Barack Obama is a Muslim. “A guy raised his hand and said, ‘He is a Muslim! He went to school at a madrassa!’ I asked where this belief came from. The guy said he read it on the Web. People see these things and don’t critically evaluate or review them because they conform with whatever narrative they hold to be true. “If you say something enough times, regardless of how preposterous it is, people will come to believe it is true.” ■

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he uncritical acceptance of advocacy directed our way can lead to undesirable consequences,” states the textbook “Arguments and Arguing” by Thomas A. Hollihan and Kevin T. Baaske. One of the steps in refuting arguments is critical evaluation, they note. Five deceptive argument tactics are identified in the book: obfuscation, euphemism, doublespeak, ambiguity and equivocation. It lists 13 fallacies within three categories of reasoning.

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“T

Irrelevant reasoning Ad populum: A claim is correct because a lot of people believe it. Ad hominem: An argument is wrong because you don’t like the person making it. Appeal to pity: If you feel sorry for me you should believe me. Appeal to fear: Threats “do not provide real choice,” the book explains, “and thus they are not really reasons for agreement—even if they are sometimes successful in gaining compliance.” Tu quoque: Somebody else did something wrong, too!

Thirteen

Fallacy of division: If most of the apples are good, all must be good, so you can’t criticize any of them. Fallacy of false dichotomy: It is either black or white. You’re either “with us or with the terrorists.” Misdirecting the issue

argumentative fallacies Appeal to tradition: It has always been done this way, so we shouldn’t consider alternatives. Slippery slope: Your argument may not call for something that is wrong, but it could lead to something unstoppable and undesirable. Miscasting the issue Fallacy of composition: Arguing that what is true of the parts must also be true of the whole. If one apple is bad, all apples are bad.

POST-MORTEM Continued from page 14

but beating the Cowboys without Tony Romo is no great feat. And I don’t envy La Russa, either, as he tries to convince John Mozeliak and Bill DeWitt that he needs more money to attract free agents, better scouts to find young players. Finishing fourth in the Central Division of the National League isn’t quite so praiseworthy, either, when we recall that the division’s top two teams won only a single game of seven tries while being eliminated in the first round of post-season playoffs. ■

DEBATE Continued from page 15

moved to the Hilltop from Washington State University. The university in Spokane, Wash., had been the first planned site but withdrew after there was not enough corporate financial support. Washington U. then stepped up. “We have a staff of between 100 and 120,” Guzik said, “and for this event, we used reporters who usually work in other sections—arts or sports, for example—to make sure we had enough people.” An interesting story, showing some of the futility felt by the campaigners, and made possible because so many

Shifting the burden of proof: I do not need to prove my claim—it is up to you to prove me wrong. Begging the question: Restating a claim as the argument supporting the claim. Straw man: Presenting the opponent’s argument in an unfair fashion. Attacking this straw man diverts attention from substantive argument of actual positions. Advice to the press? In the section on “Refutation by Questioning” the book states, “Asking questions is an important part of almost all argumentative interactions. “Ask follow-up questions. Only occasionally will one question accomplish all that you wish to achieve.” Rick Stoff

reporters were roaming around the campus, detailed an argument between two students, one on each side of the presidential ballot. They went back and forth for about 20 minutes in front of Graham Chapel, mostly repeating the same reasons for supporting a candidate that we’ve all seen and heard on commercials. In the end, Student Life reported, "The argument eventually petered out, but left an impression on the surrounding crowd." A listener noted: "It says a lot about a community where you have this kind of thing going on, where you have people discussing their various beliefs and you have a nice forum for that going on without people getting too ridiculous." Stein, a Miami native, said she and other editors had regular meetings for about a month before the big day, arranging assignments and making sure everything was covered. Each story, she said, was read by two editors and a senior editor, then went through a stringent copy editing process. And the paper looked very clean, with few, if any, typos and spelling errors. Quite a task when the post-debate copy wasn’t finished until after midnight, then turned over to editors and designers. Guzik said it was close to 5 a.m. before the newspaper finally went to press. Despite all the turmoil in the journalism business these days, the three students were adamant about seeking a future in journalism even though Sales is an English and Humanities major, Guzik is majoring in English and the Humanities and Stein, only a sophomore, isn’t sure. “I wish I knew what my major will be,” she said, “but I know I want to be a journalist.” ■

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politics & media / Terry Jones Terry Jones is professor of political science at UM-St. Louis

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ntil 2008, whether Americans were ready to have an AfricanAmerican president was a hypothetical question. Come November 4, it will be a tested proposition. By all standards, it is a Democratic year. More than 80 percent say the country is headed in the wrong direction, the Republican incumbent has historically low job ratings, the economy is in the tank, and the electoral battle is largely being waged on ground favorable for Democratic candidates. Political scientists like the University of Iowa’s Michael LewisBeck, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Thomas Holbrook, and Emory University’s Alan Abramowitz have developed predictive models that incorporate some of these factors but leave aside voter assessment of the actual candidates. These scholars assume that, for the most part, the campaigns and the candidates will cancel out each other and, in the typical presidential election, underlying forces will dominate the outcome. They employ variables measurable by the election year’s Labor Day weekend, the traditional annual meeting time for the American Political Science Association. Their equations include approval ratings for the incumbent president, economic growth rate during 2008’s second quarter, and the most recent University of Michigan survey of consumer expectations. The lower each of these, the better the out-party’s candidate does. When they do the numbers for just the two major parties, each of their forecasting models predicts the Democrat should win by between eight and 12 percentage points. That provides one benchmark to measure the impact of race. If Barack Obama wins 54 to 56 percent of the twoparty vote, it would suggest that race played little or no role. If his margin is noticeably lower or if he loses to John McCain, then it points to race as one of the possible explanations. For over 70 years, the Gallup Organization has been posing the following scenario in their national surveys: “If your party nominated a generally wellqualified person for president who happened to be _________, would you vote for that person?” It is a sign of changing

. . . today, less than five percent say “no way” to an African American for president. That, by the way, is about half the proportion (10 percent) who say they would not vote for a “generally wellqualified woman.”

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times that the term has gone from “a colored person” to “Negro” to “black” during that period. In the 1930s, more than 90 percent said no. In the 1950s, more than 60 percent gave negative replies. By the late 1980s, about 20 percent did so and, today, less than five percent say “no way” to an African American for president. That, by the way, is about half the proportion (10 percent) who say they would not vote for a “generally well-qualified woman” nominated by their party. How much does this sea change in attitudes reflect reality, in that voters have gotten past race as a factor? And how much do they demonstrate what is now socially respectable, that “yes” is the politically correct answer? It is difficult to determine but, in an attempt to sort matters out, survey researchers have begun framing the question differently. No longer do they ask you about you. Instead they ask you about them. Here’s the new wording used by the CBS News, CNN, and Newsweek: “Do you think America is ready to elect a black president, or not?” In late 2006, 56 percent replied yes, 30 percent no, and the remaining 14 percent said they were unsure. In mid-2007, it was 59 percent yes, 30 percent no, 11 percent unsure. The most recent sounding (June 2008) has 68 percent yes, 23 percent no, 9 percent unsure. This means that, if voters are reading their fellow citizens’ attitudes about race and the president accurately, there may be as many as one quarter of the electorate (the no’s plus some of the unsures) would find it difficult to vote for Obama. That’s a substantial drag on the Democratic ticket. One other finding indicating that the number of whites for whom race matters is in double digits comes from exit polls during the primary. As Kathy Frankovic, the CBS News director of surveys, points out, “We conduct exit polls on paper, so there is no interaction between an interviewer and a respondent and therefore less opportunity for socially desirable answers.” In the exit poll for the Ohio Democratic Primary this year, CBS found that about one in five whites indicated that “the race of the candidate mattered to them.” ■

The

election’s

race factor

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BOOK REVIEW

Not a White House tell-all “What Happened” By Scott McClellan, 341 pages Public Affairs, New York, $27.95 / reviewed by E.F. Porter t seems to have become obligatory that when a person leaves a position of prominence in Washington, he or she produce a hard-cover memoir of his or her experiences in the corridors of power. The similarity among these books is uncanny. The dust jacket hyperbole, yea the very title of the book, promise astounding revelations and penetrating insight. The author, we are told, has rent the veil of obfuscation and secrecy surrounding great events. He has named names, and told it as it really was. Such promises are rarely fulfilled. Part of the etiquette of politics, vicious as it often is, is not to give direct offense. The authors avoid, like the plague, any scintilla of passion, indignation and, usually, ideas. The authors typically recite their virtues and talents, with no mention of their vices. Ulterior motives are seldom explored, leaving the characters like pasteboard puppets too uncomplicated to be interesting. The humor, if any, is labored and irony and whimsy are conspicuously absent. These books are doubtless required reading for earnest students of the events described, but they seldom offer much excitement for the rest of us. Largely faithful to this pattern is “What Happened: Inside The Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception,” Scott McClellan’s 341-page narrative of his experience as White House press secretary from 2003 to 2006. (McClellan was in Claton recently for a book-signing.) The very title of McClellan’s book is misleading. Disappointment awaits the seeker of vulgar trivia such as whether George Bush picks his nose, but also anyone who hopes to learn who first lied to whom about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, or why the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina was such a fiasco. While he never held political office, McClellan is an echt-politician, raised in a Republican family in Texas where he managed several campaigns and where his mother was mayor of Austin. He succeeded Ari Fleischer as press secretary though he had no background in journalism, and apparently little practice in writing. He leaves no infinitive unsplit. One gets the impression from his story that McClellan conducted himself as a courtier to George II— devoted as a Labrador retriever—whose sole raison d‘etre was to make his president look good, though he did, at the outset of his tenure, entertain a vague notion that the Bush administration would try to eliminate the poisonous partisanship that had infected Washington. In this he was disappointed. Yet for all of this, McClellan offers his readers a couple of worthy nuggets. One is his account of the Valerie Plame affair. Plame was the wife of Joseph Wilson, a foreign service officer who was sent to Africa to substantiate the rumor that Saddam Hussein had obtained, or was about to obtain, uranium from Niger. Wilson reported back that the rumor was false and wrote an op-ed piece for

The New York Times to that effect. Thereupon several high-level staffers at the White House tipped off reporters that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, was an undercover operative for the CIA. It’s a criminal offense to disclose classified information including the identity of a secret agent. There was considerable flap, followed by an FBI investigation. Did someone in the White House blab and for what purpose? To punish Wilson for bringing in the wrong news? It was a curious stratagem when you think about it. How does disclosing that a man’s wife is a secret agent discredit a report that he wrote? It devolved upon McClellan, who seems to have been kept out of the loop, to provide denials to reporters that anyone in the White House had disclosed classified information. At the end of the day, it developed that Lewis “Scooter’’ Libby, an assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney, along with several other White House staffers, had received information from Cheney to out Ms Plame. And who had authorized Cheney? Why, President George W. Bush himself. It is within the executive power of the president to declassify information as suits his fancy. A master hair-splitter could argue that no classified information had been leaked. Thus, when McClellan asked Libby and others whether they had unmasked Plame, they could—and did—answer with a narrow degree of accuracy, “I never disclosed any classified information.” McClellan, poor sap that he was, accepted that. That turned out to be one of those disingenuous half-truths of which Washington abounds. McClellan was misled, as was the press and the public. As Lord Tennyson put it: That a lie which is all lie may be met with, fought with outright But a lie which is part truth is a harder matter to fight. All of this did not help poor Scooter Libby escape conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice, but it perhaps explains why Bush commuted his sentence. McClellan, to his everlasting credit, takes his full share of the blame. While he accepted in good faith what Libby and the others told him, he now admits he should have been more skeptical and inquisitive. The other startling feature of McClellan’s book is his observation on the political bias of the Washington press corps. It is worth quoting at length: “To this day, I’m often asked about the ‘liberal media’. . . . My answer is always the same. It’s probably true that most reporters, writers and TV journalists are personally liberal or leftward leaning and tend to vote Democratic. . . . (But) everything I’ve seen. . . . suggests that any liberal bias actually has minimal impact on the way the American public is informed. . . . The vast majority of reporters. . . . are honest, fairminded and professional. They try hard to tell all sides of continued on page 27

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The top-censored stories highlight the role of corporate America Corporate media were too busy keeping the general public consumed with endless and empty blow-by-blow coverage of the entertaining 2008 presidential campaign, and Congress has either stepped aside, or is vigilantly working alongside the administration to allow the final ransacking of the federal budget and of the Constitution. Project Censored and independent journalists from around the world have been busily tracking the actions of an unchecked, and overly ripe empire. The undercovered news in this year’s Censored stories reveal an increasingly desperate demand on the part of US corporations for conquest of international resources, as well as the increased reliance on military means to silence and eliminate dissent and achieve compliance. Our list this year shows more clearly than ever that the People's Will is the main enemy to be violently reckoned with by corporate America and a self-defeating foreign policy. (See Web for more information and sources for reports.)

Massive Iraqi deaths ignored

More than one million Iraqis have met violent deaths as a result of the 2003 invasion, according to a study conducted by the prestigious British polling group, Opinion Research Business (ORB). These numbers suggest that the invasion and occupation of Iraq rival the mass killings of the last century. The human toll exceeds the 800,000 to 900,000 believed killed in the Rwandan genocide in 1994, and is approaching the number (1.7 million) who died in Cambodia’s infamous “Killing Fields” during the Khmer Rouge era of the 1970s. ORB’s research covered 15 of Iraq’s 18 provinces. Those not covered include two of Iraq’s more volatile regions, Kerbala and Anbar and the northern province of Arbil, where local authorities refused them a permit to work. In face-to-face interviews with 2,414 adults, the poll found that more than one in five respondents had at least one death in their household as a result of the conflict, as opposed to natural cause. Authors Joshua Holland and Michael Schwartz point out that the dominant narrative on Iraq that most of the violence against Iraqis is being perpetrated by Iraqis themselves and is not our responsibility is ill conceived. Interviewers from the Lancet report of October 2006, (Censored 2006, #2) asked Iraqi respondents how their loved ones died. Of deaths for which families were certain of the perpetrator, 56 percent were attributable to U.S. forces or their allies. Schwartz suggests that if a low pro rata share of half the unattributed deaths were caused by U.S. forces, a total of approximately 80 percent of Iraqi deaths are directly U.S. perpetrated. Even with the Multiple sources for the 10 least-covered stories lower confirmed can be found at www.xxxxx.com. The Web site figures, by the end offers detailed and lengthly reports on the issues of 2006 an average raised here and updates by the authors. of 5,000 Iraqis

were killed every month by U.S. forces since the beginning of the occupation. However, the rate of fatalities in 2006 was twice as high as the overall average, meaning that the American average in 2006 was well over 10,000 per month, or over 300 Iraqis every day. With the surge that began in 2007, the current figure is likely even higher.

Canada, U.S. and Mexico militarizing NAFTA

Leaders of Canada, the U.S., and Mexico have been meeting to secretly expand NAFTA with deep integration of a more militarized tri-national Homeland Security force. Taking shape under the radar of the respective governments and without public knowledge or consideration, the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) headquartered in Washington aims to integrate the three nations into a single political, economic, and security bloc. The SPP was launched at a meeting of Presidents George W. Bush, Vicente Fox, and Prime Minister Paul Martin in Waco, Texas on March 31, 2005. The official U.S. web page describes the SPP as a White House-led initiative among the United States and Canada and Mexico to increase security and to enhance prosperity. The SPP is not a law, or a treaty, or even a signed agreement. All these would require public debate and participation of Congress. The SPP was born in the “War on Terrorism” era and reflects an inordinate emphasis on U.S. security as interpreted by the Department of Homeland Security. Its accords mandate border actions, military and police training, modernization of equipment, and adoption of new technologies, all under the logic of the U.S. counterterrorism campaign. Head of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Finance Carlos Gutierrez are the three officials charged with attending SPP ministerial conferences. Measures to coordinate security have pressured Mex-

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ico to militarize its southern border. U.S. military elements already operate inside Mexico and the DEA and the FBI have initiated training programs for the Mexican Army (now involved in the drug war), federal and state police, and intelligence units. Stephen Lendman states that a Pentagon briefing paper hinted at a U.S. invasion if the country became destabilized or the government faced the threat of being overthrown because of widespread economic and social chaos that would jeopardize U.S. investments, access to oil, overall trade, and would create great numbers of immigrants heading north. Canada’s influential Department of National Defense, its new Chief of Defense Staff, General Rick Hillier and defense minister Gordon O’Connor are on board as well. They’re committed to ramping up the nation’s military spending and linking with America’s “War on Terrorism.” The SPP created the North American Competitiveness Council (NACC) that serves as an official tri-national SPP working group. The group is composed of representatives of 30 giant North American companies, including General Electric, Ford Motors, General Motors, Wal-Mart, Lockheed-Martin, Merck and Chevron.

InfraGard: The FBI deputizes business

More than 23,000 representatives of private industry are working quietly with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to collect and provide information on fellow Americans. In return, members of this rapidly growing group, called InfraGard, receive secret warnings of terrorist threats before the public, and at times before elected officials. There is evidence that InfraGard may be closer to a corporate Total Information Awareness program (TIPS), turning private-sector corporations, some of which may be in a position to observe the activities of millions of individual customers into surrogate eyes and ears for the FBI, according to the ACLU report titled, “The Surveillance-Industrial Complex: How the American Government Is Conscripting Businesses and Individuals in the Construction of a Surveillance Society.” InfraGard, with members from 350 of the Fortune 500, started in Cleveland back in 1996, when the private sector there cooperated with the FBI to investigate cyber threats. Then the FBI cloned it, says Phyllis Schneck, chairman of the board of directors of the InfraGard National Members Alliance, and the prime mover behind the growth of InfraGard over the last several years. FBI Director Robert Mueller addressed an InfraGard convention on Aug. 9, 2005. To date, there are more than 11,000 members of InfraGard, he said. On May 9, 2007, George Bush issued National Security Presidential Directive 51 entitled National Continuity Policy. In it, he instructed the Secretary of Homeland Security to coordinate with private sector owners and operators of critical infrastructure, as appropriate, in order to provide for the delivery of essential services during an emergency. They’re very much looped into our readiness capability, says Amy Kudwa, spokeswoman for the DHS. We provide speakers, as well as joint presentations (with the FBI). We also train alongside them, and they have participated (sometimes hundreds at a time) in national preparation drills. According to more than one interviewed member, an additional benefit to InfraGard membership is permission to shoot to kill in the event of martial law, without fear of prosecution.

PROJECT CENSORED Founded by Carl Jensen in 1976, Project Censored is a media research program working in cooperation with numerous independent media groups in the US. Upon Jensen’s retirement, Peter Phillips, professor sociology, took over as director. Project Censored conducts research on important national news stories that are underreported, ignored, misrepresented, or censored by the US corporate media. Each year, Project Censored publishes a ranking of the top 25 most censored nationally important news stories in the yearbook, Censored: Media Democracy in Action. Between 700 and 1000 stories are submitted to Project Censored each year from journalists, scholars, librarians, and concerned citizens around the world. With the help of more than 200 Sonoma State University faculty, students, and community members, Project Censored reviews the story submissions for coverage, content, reliability of sources and national significance. The university community selects 25 stories to submit to the Project Censored panel of judges who then rank them in order of importance. The judges are: Robin Anderssen, Richard Barnet, Susan Faludi, George Gerbner, Juan Gonzalez, Carl Jensen, Sut Jhally, Nicholas Johnson, Rhoda Karpatkin, Charles Klotzer, Nancy Kranich, Judith Krug, Francis Moore Lappé, William Lutz, Julianne Malveaux, Robert McChesney, Jack Nelson, Michael Parenti, Barbara Seaman, Erna Smith, Sheila Rabb Weidenfeld, Howard Zinn We get very easy access to secure information that goes only to InfraGard members, Schneck says. If you had to call 1-800-FBI, you probably wouldn’t bother, she says. But if you knew Joe from the local meeting you had with him over a donut, you might call. Either to give or to get (information). We want everyone to have a little black book. Jay Stanley, public education director of the ACLU’s technology and liberty program, warns that the FBI should not be creating a privileged class of Americans who get special treatment. There’s no “business class” in law enforcement. If there’s information the FBI can share with 22,000 corporate bigwigs, why don’t they just share it with the public? InfraGard is not readily accessible to the general public. Its communications with the FBI and DHS are beyond the reach of the Freedom of Information Act under the trade secrets exemption, its Web site says.

U.S. resurrects military training in Latin America

A resurgence of U.S.-backed militarism threatens peace and democracy in Latin America. By 2005, U.S. military aid to Latin America had increased by 34 times the amount spent in 2000. In a marked shift in U.S. military strategy, secretive training of Latin American military and police personnel that used to just take place at the notorious School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia, including torture and execution techniques, is now decentralized. The 2008 U.S. federal budget includes $16.5 million to fund an International Law

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Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in El Salvador, with satellite operations in Peru. Each, with provision of immunity from charges of crimes against humanity, will train an average of 1,500 police officers, judges, prosecutors, and other law enforcement officials throughout Latin America per year in counterterrorism techniques. The academy in El Salvador is part of a network of ILEAs created in 1995 under President Bill Clinton, who touted the training facilities as a series of U.S. schools “throughout the world to combat international drug trafficking, criminality, and terrorism through strengthened international cooperation.” There are ILEAs in Budapest, Hungary; Bangkok, Thailand; Gaborone, Botswana; and Roswell, New Mexico. According to ILEA directors, the facility in El Salvador is designed to make Latin America safe for foreign investment by providing regional security and economic stability and combating crime. Most instructors come from U.S. agencies such as the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the FBI; the latter of which has had a remarkably large presence in El Salvador since opening its own office there in 2005. Most of the school’s expenses are paid with U.S. tax payers’ dollars. Salvadorans refer to the ILEA as a new School of the Americas (SOA) for police. Suspicions are exacerbated by comparable policies of secrecy. As with SOA, the ILEA list of attendees and graduates is classified, as is course content. Many observers are troubled by this secrecy, considering how SOA atrocities came to light with Washington Post reporter Dana Priest’s discovery, in September 1996, of SOA torture training manuals, and later with the founder of SOA Watch, Father Roy Bourgeois’s acquisition of a previously classified list of SOA graduates, many of whom were recognized as leaders of death squads and notorious counterinsurgency groups. Suspicions are further aggravated by the U.S.-mandated immunity clause that exempts ILEA personnel from crimes against humanity.

Private assets of dissenters can be seized

President Bush has signed two executive orders that would allow the U.S. Treasury Department to seize the property of any person perceived to, directly or indirectly, pose a threat to U.S. operations in the Middle East. The first of these executive orders, titled Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq, signed by Bush on July 17, 2007, authorizes the Secretary of Treasury, in consultation with Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense, to confiscate the assets of U.S. citizens and organizations who directly or indirectly pose a risk to U.S. operations in Iraq. Bush’s order states: “I have issued an Executive Order blocking property of persons determined 1) to have committed, or pose a significant risk of committing, an act or acts of violence that have the purpose or effect of threatening the peace or stability of Iraq or the Government of Iraq or undermining efforts to promote economic reconstruction and political reform in Iraq . . . or 2) to have materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, logistical, or technical support for, or goods or services in support of, such an act or acts of violence or any person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to this order.”

Section five of this order announces that, because of the ability to transfer funds or other assets instantaneously, prior notice to such persons of measures to be taken pursuant to this order would render these measures ineffectual. On Aug. 1, Bush issued a similar executive order, titled Blocking Property of Persons Undermining the Sovereignty of Lebanon or Its Democratic Processes and Institutions. While the text in this order is, for the most part identical to the first, the order regarding Lebanon is more severe. Both orders bypass the Constitutional right to due process of law in giving the Secretary of Treasury authority to seize properties of those persons posing a risk of violence, or in any vague way assisting opposition to U.S. agenda.

“Radicalization” declared unAmerican

In a startling affront to American freedoms of expression, privacy, and association, the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act (H.R. 1955) passed the House on Oct. 23, 2007, by a vote of 404–6. The Senate is currently considering a companion bill, S. 1959. The act would establish a national commission and a university-based Center for Excellence to study and propose legislation to prevent the threat of radicalization of Americans. Author of the bill Jane Harman (D-Calif) explains, “We’re studying the phenomenon of people with radical beliefs who turn into people who would use violence.” The act states: While the United States must continue its vigilant efforts to combat international terrorism, it must also strengthen efforts to combat the threat posed by homegrown terrorists based and operating within the United States. Understanding the motivational factors that lead to violent radicalization, homegrown terrorism, and ideologically based violence is a vital step toward eradicating these threats in the United States. “The act states: Preventing the potential rise of self radicalized, unaffiliated terrorists domestically cannot be easily accomplished solely through traditional Federal intelligence or law enforcement efforts, and can benefit from the incorporation of State and local efforts.” Harman, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment, also has close ties to the RAND Corporation, a right-wing think tank, which appears to have influenced the bill. In June Jenkins was back before Harman’s subcommittee discussing the role of the National Commission: “Homegrown terrorism is the principal threat that we face as a country and it will likely be the principal threat that we face for decades unless a way of intervening in the radicalization process can be found, we are condemned to stepping on cockroaches one at a time, he stated. In a 2005 RAND report titled Trends in Terrorism, one chapter is devoted entirely to a non-Muslim homegrown terrorist threat the threat of anti-globalists.” In an effort to prevent people from becoming prone to radicalization, this preemptive measure of policing thought, specifically identifies the Internet as a tool of radicalization.

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Guestworker program victimizes laborers

While the guestworker program in the United States has been praised and recommended for expansion by President Bush, and is likely to be considered by Congress as a template for future immigration reform, human rights advocates warn that the system seriously victimizes immigrant workers. Workers, labor organizers, lawyers, and policymakers say that the program, designed to open up the legal labor market and provide a piece of the American dream to immigrants, has instead locked thousands into a modern-day form of indentured servitude. Congressman Charles Rangel has called the guest-worker program the “closest thing I’ve ever seen to slavery.” In the process of attaining a H-2 guestworker visa, workers typically fall victim to bait and switch schemes that force them to borrow huge sums of money at high interest rates (often leveraging family homes) in order to land short-term, low-wage jobs that all too often end up shorter-term and lower-waged than promised. Under crushing debt, and legally bound to work only for the employer who filed petition for them, these workers often face the most dangerous and harsh of working conditions in shipyards, or the forestry department, or construction, with no medical benefits for on-the-job injuries or access to legal services. Bosses often hold workers’ documents to make sure they don’t jump jobs. There are two levels of the current guestworker program, H-2A for agricultural work, and H-2B for non-agricultural work. Though the H-2A program provides legal protections for foreign farm workers, such as a guarantee of at least three-quarters of the total employment hours promised, free housing, transportation compensation, medical benefits, and legal representation—many of these protections exist only on paper. H-2B workers, on the other hand, have no rights or protections. The exploitation of guest workers begins with the initial recruitment in their home country a process that often leaves them in a precarious economic state and, therefore, extremely vulnerable to abuse by unscrupulous employers in this country. U.S. employers almost universally rely on private agencies to find and recruit guest workers in their home countries. These labor recruiters usually charge fees to the worker sometimes many thousands of dollars to cover travel, visas and other costs, including profit for the recruiters. The workers, most of who live in poverty, frequently obtain high-interest loans to come up with the money to pay the fees. In addition, recruiters sometimes require them to leave collateral, such as the deed to their house or car, to ensure that they fulfill the terms of their individual labor contract.

Protect America Act allows spying on Americans

U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.) discovered the Office of Legal Counsel’s (OLC) classified legal opinions while researching the Protect America Act legislation passed in August 2007. This action, Whitehouse warns, will allow the administration to bypass Congress and the courts in order to facilitate unchecked spying on Americans. He noted that for years under the Bush administration, the OLC has been issuing highly classified

secret legal opinions related to surveillance. The senator warned of the danger of the poorly written Protect America Act legislation, which provides no statutory restrictions on government wiretapping of Americans, and eliminates checks and balances from the legislative and judicial branches. The only restriction on government eavesdropping on Americans is an executive order that limits surveillance to those who the attorney general determines to be agents of a foreign power. However, in light of the first declassified OLC proclamation, that the president can secretly change his signing statements at will, we are left exposed to the whims of a secret, unchecked executive agenda. Of the second OLC legal determination, Whitehouse reminded the Senate that Marbury v. Madison, written by Chief Justice John Marshall in 1803, established the proposition that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. Yet the OLC, operating out of the judicial department, has declared that it is now the president who decides the legal limits of his own power. Lastly, Whitehouse repeated the third of these legal declarations several times as if in disbelief, asking members of Senate to allow the assertion to sink in: The Department of Justice is bound by the president’s legal determinations. Whitehouse said, “These three Bush administration legal propositions boil down to this: One, I don’t have to follow my own rules, and I don’t have to tell you when I’m breaking them; two, I get to determine what my own powers are; and three, the Department of Justice doesn’t tell me what the law is, I tell the Department of Justice what the law is.” Whitehouse closed his address to the Senate with the statement, “When the Congress of the United States is willing to roll over for an unprincipled president, this is where you end up. We should not even be having this discussion. But here we are. I implore my colleagues: reject these feverish legal theories. I understand political loyalty, trust me, I do. But let us also be loyal to this great institution we serve in the legislative branch of our government. Let us also be loyal to the Constitution we took an oath to defend, from enemies foreign and domestic. And let us be loyal to the American people who live each day under our Constitution’s principles and protections. The principles of congressional legislation and oversight, and of judicial approval and review, are simple and longstanding. Americans deserve this protection.”

News of atrocities in Iraq, Afghanistan blocked in U.S.

Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are coming forward to recount the brutal impact of the ongoing occupations. An investigation by The Nation (July 2007) and the Winter Soldier hearings in Silver Springs, Maryland in March 2008, which was organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War and brought together over 300 veterans, have made their experiences public. Soldiers’ harrowing testimony of atrocities they witnessed or participated in directly, indicate a structural problem in the U.S. military that has created an environment of lawlessness. Some international law experts say the soldiers’ statements show the need for investigations into potential violations of international law by highranking officials in the Bush administration and the Pentagon. Though BBC predicted that the Winter Soldier event would dominate headlines around the world that

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week, there was a near total black-out on this historic news event by the U.S. corporate media. Dozens of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan occupation publicly testified at the four-day Winter Soldier gathering about crimes they committed during the course of battle, many of which were prompted by the orders or policies laid down by superior officers. Such crimes include targeting innocent, unarmed civilians for murder and detention, destroying property, desecrating corpses, severely abusing detainees (often torturing to death), and using corpses for medical practice. Winter Soldier 2008 was organized to demonstrate that well-publicized incidents of U.S. brutality, including the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the massacre of an entire family of Iraqis in the town of Haditha, were not isolated incidents perpetrated by a few bad apples, as many politicians and military leaders have claimed. They are part of a pattern, the organizers said, of an increasingly bloody occupation. The veterans also stressed the similarities between the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, “units that are getting the exact same training and the exact same orders are being sent to both Iraq and Afghanistan,” explains a former U.S. Army Medic. The Nation investigation vividly documents the experiences of 50 combat veterans of the Iraq occupation. Their testimonies reveal that American troops lack the training and support to communicate with or even understand Iraqi civilians. They were offered little to no cultural or historical education about the country they control. Translators are in short supply and often unqualified. Interviewed vets said stereotypes about Islam and Arabs that soldiers and Marines arrive with tend to solidify rapidly in the close confines of the military and the risky streets of Iraqi cities into a crude racism. Veterans said the culture of this counterinsurgency war, in which most Iraqi civilians were assumed to be hostile, made it difficult for soldiers to sympathize with their victims at least until they returned home and had a chance to reflect. Former U.S. Army Sergeant Logan Laituri argues, “The problem that we face in Iraq is that policymakers in leadership have set a precedent of lawlessness where we don’t abide by the rule of law, we don’t respect international treaties, so when that atmosphere exists it lends itself to criminal activity.” International law expert Benjamin Ferencz, who served as chief prosecutor of Nazi War Crimes at Nuremberg after World War II, told OneWorld that none of the veterans who testified at Winter Soldier should be prosecuted for war crimes. Instead, he said, President Bush should be sent to the dock for starting an aggressive war. Nuremberg declared that aggressive war is the supreme international crime. He said the United Nations charter, which was written after the carnage of World War II, contains a provision that no nation can use armed force without the permission of the UN Security Council.

Psychologists collaborate with brutal interrogations

When in 2005 news reports exposed the fact that psychologists were working with rd the U.S. military and the CIA to develop er brutal interrogation methods, American s Psychological Association (APA) leaders assembled a task force to examine the issue. After just two days of deliberations, the 10-member task force concluded that psychologists were playing a valuable and ethical role in assisting the military. A high level of secrecy surrounding the task force prohib-

ited disclosure of the proceedings and of members and attendees. It wasn’t until a year later that the membership was finally published on Salon.com, revealing that six of nine voting members were from the military and intelligence agencies with direct connections to interrogations at Guantanamo and CIA black sites that operate outside of Geneva Conventions. The Psychological Ethics and National Security (PENS) task force was assembled in response to growing evidence that psychologists were not only taking part in procedures that have shocked the senses of humanity around the world, but were in fact in charge of designing those brutal tactics and training interrogators in those techniques. Two psychologists in particular played a central role: James Elmer Mitchell, who was contracted to the CIA, and his colleague Bruce Jessen. Both worked in the classified military training program for Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE), which conditions soldiers to endure captivity in enemy hands. In a very quasiscientific manner, according to psychologists and others with direct knowledge of their activities, Mitchell and Jessen reverse-engineered the tactics inflicted on SERE trainees for use on detainees in the global war on terror. With complete adoption of SERE interrogative techniques by the U.S. Military, the CIA put Mitchell and Jessen in charge of training interrogators in the brutal techniques, including waterboarding, in its network of black sites. Meanwhile it is increasingly clear that the U.S. has sacrificed its conscience and its global image for tactics that are at best ineffective. With close to 150,000 members, the APA is the largest body of psychologists in the world. Unlike the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association who, since 2006, have completely barred doctors from participation, the APA continues to allow its members to participate in detainee interrogations, arguing that their presence keeps interrogations safe and prevents abuse. Dr. Jean Maria Arrigo, one of the three civilian members of the 2005 PENS task force whose task was to consider the appropriateness of psychologists’ involvement in harsh methods of interrogations, claims that the highest levels in the Department of Defense preordained the task force’s conclusions. Citing a series of irregularities including haste, intimidation, and secrecy, Arrigo contends that the task force was far from balanced or independent. She discloses that APA President Gerald Koocher exerted strong control over task force decisions and censured dissidents. Six of the 10 members were highly placed in the DOD, clearly in attendance to represent decisions that had already been made. Those were: a) the adoption of the permissive definition of torture in U.S. law as opposed to the strict definition in international law, and b) participation of military psychologists in interrogation settings. Many angry psychologists insist that the APA policy has made the organization an enabler of torture. At the annual APA convention in August 2007, members presented the APA Council of Representatives with a moratorium amendment to the APA resolution stating: “Be it resolved that the objectives of the APA shall be to advance psychology as a science and profession and as a means of promoting health, education and welfare. And therefore the roles of psychologists in settings in which detainees are deprived of adequate protection of their human rights should be limited as health personnel to the provision of psychological treatment.” The council voted overwhelmingly to reject this measure that would have banned its members from participating in abusive interrogation of detainees. ■

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heldon Davis and his partners paid too much for his radio station in St. Louis. It had a lousy signal and half the market couldn’t pick it up. But for his employees, it was a helluva ride. Davis bought a station in 1985 from Robert Skibbe and Janet Gorecki that was licensed to Jerseyville, Ill., so that’s where the broadcast tower was located. Even with licensed power of 50,000 watts WJBM-FM’s broadcasts couldn’t be heard in South St. Louis or Jefferson County. Davis’ plan was to produce a station, marketed to St. Louis, that played country music. He wanted to give local powerhouse WIL-FM a run for its money, which would be no small feat, given the limits of the broadcast signal. Thus was born WKKX-FM, called “KIX 104.” But there was a lot about the business that was beyond Davis, so he hired consultant Rusty Walker to put together a staff and guide the operation. Walker’s hire as the local program director was John King. “John and I ‘imagineered’ KIX in the bar at Tony Roma’s next to the hotel where we were staying,” Walker says of the station’s beginnings. “Neither of us took any notes – we were just ‘jamming’ and kept it all in our heads. The next day at the unfinished studio facility (concrete floors and card tables), we had to recreate everything we’d done the night before. I’m not sure how much we actually retained.” Buddy Van Arsdale, “Bud Man” on the air, has similar memories. “When I got there in September of 1985, the office and studio space on the tenth floor of West Port Plaza were pretty empty. John King had us tracking down music from the old Jerseyville station library or buying what we needed from record stores.” King’s goal was to give country listeners something different. “The point was to be a pop-sounding station that happened to be playing country music,” he remembers. To that end, Van Arsdale recalls increasing the speed of the records slightly to brighten the station’s sound. The first on-air line-up featured Mark Elliot and Diana Rivers in morning drive

Radio History/Frank Absher

Anderson remembers KIX as “kind of like a thrill ride at an amusement park. It was the station that always seemed to be climbing the hill but never got to the top. Every achievement was made against seemingly impossible odds.”

Frank Absher is a St. Louis radio historian. St. Louis radio history is available online at www.stlradio.com

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with Jack Warnick handling news; Bud Man from 9–noon; John King 12–3; Scott St. John 3–7 (whose shift was taken over by King fairly quickly); Michelle Kent 7–midnight; and Al Richardson overnights. Staff turnover among sales personnel was so frequent that newsman Warnick said there was no use trying to remember their names until they’d lasted on the job for a minimum of six months. Even the erection of a new broadcast tower in Godfrey during the station’s first year of operation failed to overcome signal problems. Mike Anderson, a former announcer, remembers a remote broadcast from Arnold in which the station’s broadcast team at the shopping center couldn’t even pick up the station. After a year of operation, company president Shelly Davis admitted to an Alton Telegraph reporter, “We’re prepared to lose several million dollars and right now we’re doing a good job of it.” There may not have been a lot of money, but the staff was young and competitive. Michelle Kent has fond memories of a concert sponsored by rival WIL. KIX jocks stood outside the Arena handing out their bumper stickers to ticket holders. When a WIL guy told them to leave, they did, but not before they “papered” the WIL remote van with their stickers. “We all were working for a common goal,” she says, “the success of this start-up.” Anderson remembers KIX as “kind of like a thrill ride at an amusement park. It was the station that always seemed to be climbing the hill but never got to the top. Every achievement was made against seemingly impossible odds.” Commercial success never came. Consultant Walker says the staff experienced late payrolls, and jocks were shorted on talent fees. He himself worked for two years as a consultant without being paid. Within six years the station was sold to Zimmer Broadcasting for slightly more than the original purchase price. There had been a lot of red ink, and a lot of fun. Walker looks back on WKKX as “the most successful unsuccessful station in the history of country radio.” ■

KIX 104: A Fun Ride Before The Crash

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Sources say...

TV must run untruthful political ads That’s right! Rules of the Federal Communications Commission bars television stations from censoring ads. The other side of that coin means that political ads must be accepted, regardless of their accuracy or truthfulness. That’s why we are deluged each electoral campaign with ads we know to be false, whether they are for our candidate or the opponent. Who checks them for accuracy? Not the television stations. They just take the money. Most of the citizenry is unaware of FCC rules, including how stations were relieved of having to provide fairness in commentary. But we were reminded of the free ride for false political ads in a recent speech at Webster University by Frank W. Baker, a media literacy consultant from Columbia, S.C. He was the keynote speaker at a session of the Gateway Media Literacy Partners during observance of Media Literacy Week. “There is no obligation to tell the truth” in a political ad, Baker said, and television stations have no responsibility to check them for accuracy. “The truthfullness is always up to those who make the ads.” Baker said TV stations, especially in political battleground states, will jack up their rates in advance of the election campaigns. But they won’t check for accuracy of the ads, leaving this to some newspapers (not the Post-Dispatch this year) and independent factchecking organizations which report on the accuracy of the ads, but only after they appear. Baker said this leaves political advertising open to manipulation of facts and use of falsehoods to smear an opponent. He mentioned the late Lee Atwater and Karl Rove as masters of negative political ads. He noted that the Federal Trade Commission requires truthfulness in ads about products for sale, such as autos. But with political ads, it’s up to the television viewer to question who made the ad, for what reason, and what was omitted. Baker wrote a book titled: “Political Campaigns and Political Advertising: A Media Literacy Guide.”

Heads roll as channels 2 and 11 combine news It may take a little getting used to— seeing a reporter on KTVI Channel 2 one day, and that same reporter on KPLR Channel 11 the next. That’s one new wrinkle as the two stations com-

bined their news operations in October. In the process, about 30 employees lost their jobs, most of them at Channel 11. Anchors, weather and sports reporters will stay with their own ships, although anchor Rick Edlund will be gone from Channel 11. John Fuller, who had been let go by KSDK Channel 5, was hired to do weather at Channel 11. The stations will offer a total of nine hours of news each day and share programming. Audrey Prywitch, Channel 2’s news director, now has control of both newsrooms, which will operate out of KLPR’s offices near Page Avenue and Lindbergh in the Westport area. Spencer Koch, general manager of Channel 2, will be in charge of both stations. At KPLR, news director Sheldon Ripson was let go and the general manager, Bill Lanesey was named general manager of the FOX affiliate in Cincinnati. KPLR is owned by the Tribune Company. KTVI was one of eight stations sold by Fox this year and the new owner is Local TV Holdings LLC.

Journals no longer free The Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis will switch from free newspapers to paid subscriptions. Longtime readers who unwrapped their copies in October found that if they wanted the Journals to keep coming after November 5 they would have to pay the “introductory rate” of $19.99 a year. The subscription-only paper will be called the Clarion-Enterprise, according to a statement by Bob Williams, publisher of the Journals “This is an idea that has been discussed at the Journals for years,” he said, and the change is a result of changing economic conditions The Journals are owned by the Lee Enterprises newspaper chain which acquired them in 2005 when it bought Pulitzer Inc. “Based on the level of response, we’ll know which communities to increase coverage in and which topics we need to cover more extensively. We’ll also be able to provide better customer service when you need your paper stopped or started,” Williams said. He told the St. Louis Business Journal that the change “gives us the opportunity to deliver to those living in multi-family dwellings or gated communities.” The Journals deliver free copies of 25 local editions scattered on lawns throughout the St. Louis area. By switching to a paid circulation, the Journals seem to be bucking a trend as free weeklies abound in the St. Louis area.

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people people people people people people people people people people people Dave Sinclair hits Post for out-sourcing Longtime St. Louis car dealer Dave Sinclair says he dropped advertising in the Post-Dispatch as his way of protesting the outsourcing of American jobs overseas. He was upset to learn that the Post decided to have some of its display advertising handled by a California firm which sends it to a shop near Delhi, India. Sinclair, now 80, still does his own television ads. He has been urging consumers to “Buy American” for years. He did an interview with the St. Louis Labor Tribune criticizing the Post for outsourcing jobs and also with KMOV Channel 4 in which he said: “I don’t want to pay them money to send jobs to India and make it impossible for the people in this town to buy an automobile…. I don’t want to lose any money, and I don’t want to lay anybody off. I want to attack the market. I’m spending more money today on television and radio than I ever did.” The Post issued a statement about Sinclair that mentioned “economic challenges,” but not the words outsourcing or India. “We have been working with Express KCS, a leader in newspaper ad production, who has been handling a small portion of our ad production while the vast majority of the work stays in St. Louis.” the statement said.

Media Notes MEDIA KPLR-TV (Channel 11) Reporters Theresa Petry and Gabrielle Blondo, anchor Rick Edlund and chief meteorologist Karen Shipman were laid off. Republic-Times Lynn Venhaus, managing editor, has been discharged in a cost-cutting move. She had worked for the Waterloo paper for six years and was a part owner.

Award” from the Missouri Social Welfare Association. The State Historical Society of Missouri featured his cartoons in a gallery tour in Columbia on Oct. 18. His exhibit will be on display until Jan. 17, 2009. Nearby is an exhibit called 100 Years of Presidential Election Cartoons,” featuring the work of cartoonists from across the country from 1908 to 2008, including some cartoons of the Post's Daniel Fitzpatrick and Engelhardt. Gateway Media Literacy Partners As part of its annual Media Literacy Week, the association presented its Charles Klotzer Media Literacy Awards to Don Marsh, host of St. Louis on the Air on KWMU, Douglas continued on next page

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Blake Dickie has been appointed vice president/production. Previously, he was director of operations. Sunshine Media Bob Batterson was appointed publisher of Builder/Architect magazine, Greater St. Louis Edition. MEDIA AWARDS Engelhardt exhibit and award Tom Engelhardt, retired St. Louis Post-Dispatch cartoonist, has received a Lifetime Achievement

BOOK REVIEW Continued from page 19

the stories they report, and they certainly don’t treat information or statements coming from a conservative administration with excessive harshness or exaggerated skepticism. If anything, the national press corps was probably too deferential to the White House and to the administration in regard to. . . . whether to go to war in Iraq. The collapse of the administration’s rationales for war. . . . should never have come as such a surprise. In this case, the “liberal media” didn’t live up to its reputation. If it had, the country would have been better served. I’ll even go a step further . . . . a generally liberal or left-leaning media can serve an important, useful role. It can stand up for the interests of the people and causes that get short shrift from conservative or mainstream politicians. . . . I welcome media that are skeptical and untrusting. The more so the better. . . . ” E.F. Porter is a retired St. Louis Post-Dispatch writer and editor.

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people people people people people people people people people people people Russell, educator, and the Cooperating School District of Greater St. Louis. Illinois Times The Illinois Times, a newsweekly in Springfield, has received 11 awards in the Illinois Press Association's 2008 Best of the Press contest, including first place in four categories. The first-place winners were staff writer Amanda Robert, for sports feature; staff writer Dusty Rhodes, for feature writing and for business reporting; and editor Roland Klose, for special section (the paper's 2007 summer guide). Staff writer R.L. Nave won second place for business reporting and third place in the news reportingsingle story category. Rhodes also won second place for government beat reporting and an honorable mention for original column. Freelance writer C.D. Stelzer won third place in the enterprise/ feature writing category. Freelance writer Jeannette Cooperman won honorable mention for enterprise/ feature writing. Freelance writer Jacqueline Jackson, who serves as the paper's books and poetry editor, won honorable mention in the review category. St. Louis Post-Dispatch Philip Dine at the Washington Bureau has won three awards for his reporting on military issues and other stories. He won the 2008 Lewis Watchdog Award from the Society of Professional Journalists' Washington chapter for his stories on the Pentagon's treatment of Iraq war veterans facing mental health problems. For those same stories, which examined the discharge of veterans for “pre-existing personality disorders,” Dine also won the SPJ's firstplace award in the category of Investigative Reporting among Daily Newspapers. His reporting was also selected as a winner of the National Press Club's Goldstein Award for Regional Reporting in Washington, for a range of stories. Ad/PR Marketing Direct Sara Behl joined the agency as an account coordinator. St. Patrick Center Stephanie Rea was hired as writer-producer in the communications department.

The Vandiver Group, Inc. (TVG) Cassandra McCloud and Eileen MacLean have been promoted to Team Leader and Senior Team Member, respectively. McCloud joined the agency in 2006. Eileen MacLean joined in 2007. Ad/PR AWARDS Fleishman-Hillard International Communications John D. Graham, chairman, has been honored with the SABRE Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Public Relations from The Holmes Report. St. Charles Community College The college won four gold, two silver, and two bronze Medallion awards from the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations. SCC earned gold awards for its outdoor recruitment advertising, a pride month poster, its student newsletter, Chuck, and the 2008 Wellness Festival logo. Silver awards were earned for its television recruitment ad series and the SCC Alumni Council logo. Bronze awards were earned for its prospective student inquiry packet folder and the college's 2007 President's Annual Report. The awards were presented to Heather McDorman, associate vice president for marketing and communications. INVITATIONS The Lovejoy Society The Society will commemorate its 31st annual meeting at the First Methodist Church, 600 N. Bompart

SJR is a not-for-profit organization and can accept tax-deductible contributions

in Webster Groves, Nov. 16, 4:00 p.m. followed by a reception. For information call 968-5009. Press Club of Metropolitan St. Louis The club's annual meeting will be a breakfast buffet at the William D. Purser Center at Logan University on Friday, Dec. 5 at 8:30 a.m. Julius Hunter will be the keynote speaker and will be available to sign his book, “TV One on One.” For more information go to http://www.stl pressclub.org. Society of Professional Journalists The St. Louis chapter of SPJ will host a panel discussion on Thursday, Nov. 13 on how the media covers climate change and environmental issues. Six panelists will discuss the issues from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. at the Missouri Botanical Society's Ridgeway Center. IN MEMORIAM Angelo Constantin, 83, died Oct. 6. A long-time reporter for the Globe-Democrat, he covered the police beat in St. Louis County. Rube Yelvington, 86, former editor of the old East St. Louis Journal and publisher of several Metro East newspapers, died Oct. 17. Donald Burnes, 79, a public relations executive who had a 25-year career with KSD radio and KSDK television, died Oct. 22. He was the brother of the late Robert Burnes, sports columnist for the GlobeDemocrat.

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