I just got back a while ago (had to have some quality Katie time with my little girl before I got back to work) from the Gruner Awards dinner, which recognizes meritorious public service in journalism.
I know the past couple of years have been rough for our entire economy, and that hundreds of thousands of people from all kinds of industries are out of work. But many references were made over the course of the evening to the precarious state of the newspaper industry right now.
The awards are named for George F. Gruner, former executive editor of The Fresno Bee. Gruner, who retired in 1988, spoke after all of the awards had been presented. His comments brought it all together, why journalists do what we do, and why it's important that we continue to be able to do that in years to come.
Gruner talked about last week's Pulitzer Prizes and how some of them went to big traditional news-gathering entities like The New York Times and The Washington Post. But small papers, like the Las Vegas Sun (which is an insert really) and the Detroit Free Press and the East Valley Tribune in Mesa, AZ, neither of which is printing seven days a week anymore.
Gruner said that, in some ways, these are the worst of times for journalists, with lay-offs, pay cuts and in some communities, papers folding altogether. So awards like these celebrate the most important thing that journalists do: Find out what's wrong and publicizing it.
This year's winners were:
- Mike Tharp of The Merced Sun-Star, for his five-part series examining chronic povery in the region.
- Ira Sather-Olson and Jenny McGill of The Selma Enterprise, who wrote stories showing how the city of Selma had collected $700,000 in sales tax revenue for public safety but failed to spend it.
- Lois Henry of the Bakersfield Californian for her collection of columns questioning city zoning decisions and other issues.
- Eiji Yamashita of The Hanford Sentinel, for his investigation into the city's legal costs after an attorney charged the city nearly twice the amount of his original bid.
- Also named as finalists for their work were columnist Bill McEwen of The Fresno Bee and Hannah Franklin of The Sanger Herald.
Getting to spend an evening with these colleagues from around the Valley reminded me why I'm proud to call myself a journalist.
"There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and to shame the devil." ~ Walter Lippmann
And you SHOULD be proud. I don't know if the average citizen understands the ramifications of a stale economy/struggling newspapers.
Keep up the great work...and try to make do with what you've got: passion
John Wallace, long time no see. I am with you. But very meekly I wished that I would not have to read my usual columns traveling on a pogo stick through the paper.
Granted, newspapers in general and the Bee in particular would leave a big void if they were to disappear. But what is your plan to keep that from happening? Reminding us that you perform a useful function is nice, but you're not going to survive on pledge drives. Your's is a business, not a charity. And until recently it was a very profitable business - in fact, vast fortunes have been made in the newspaper business.
Right now it seems like you're trying to wean us off the habit of reading the paper each day. I know times are tough, but there's got to be a better survival plan than continuing to charge the public more money for less product. You're already losing the next generation - I know very intelligent, highly educated young people who never read the paper. They get their news primarily from the internet. Now you're in danger of losing much of your current readership. The "Five Minute Bee" used to be the name of a feature on the 2nd page. Now it could almost describe the whole paper.
It seems to me that if you're going to survive, it will have to be largely on the web. But the Bee's website seems to be getting less timely and interesting, too. Compared to other newspaper websites, like SFGate, it's downright anemic. I realize you don't have the resources the Chronicle has, but you are part of a huge media empire. Surely you can do better - indeed you must if you hope to survive into the middle of the 21st century.
It may mean realigning your focus, and figuring out what will bring readers back and keep them coming back. Instead of stale, day-old news (or 2-day-old news) in the front section, for example, maybe there should be more in-depth coverage and analysis of issues that affect us all - like the state budget, the water crisis, the economy, etc. It doesn't all have to be written by professional journalists - there is a lot of good information out there these days from a variety of sources. Why not use your role as a "gate-keeper" to open that gate a bit, and bring us some of the information and analysis we'd otherwise have to search the web for? That's just one idea. I'm sure there are better ones out there.
(google,)'Project Censored' it is an annual compilation of the top ten best-most censored stories of the year, (yes, there is censorship in our country)it is sponsered by the journalism department at Sonora State. The Bee in it's status-quo, chamber-of-commerce-friendly approach seldom publishes these stories, if ever...
Perhaps a little Muck-raking might sell papers.
Lisa, I was afraid you had gone the way of so many others, glad you stuck around kid.
The PC will never replace ink on paper. And if we force the issue, we all would be the poorer for it. Besides, you can't wrap fish and chips with a computer. Vienna's streetcars and buses furnish daily newspapers. People staring at a PC at the breakfast table? And if the Fresno Bee wants to poormouth us, there is not much we can do they being the only game in town.