Star writers plead with readers to read newspaper
By Justin Kendall in Media
Mon., Dec. 22 2008 @ 3:50PM
Not long ago, Star publisher Mark Zieman pumped up readers with a front-page rah-rah letter on Sunday, November 29. I heard Ernest Hemingway was pissed. Like double-barrel pissed. This weekend, a couple of Zieman's foot soldiers chimed in.Saturday, Jeneé Osterheldt wrote about a day among the dead trees at a recycling center in "Papers are part of the cycle of life."
"The trash can or your neighborhood trash bin is where things go to
die.
At the recycling center, things are waiting to be reborn," Osterheldt
wrote. "And a great story never really dies." Osterheldt's
save-our-industry plea was subliminal next to Sunday's depressing and
over-important column from Jason Whitlock, who admitted he's "scared"
for newspapers' future. If newspapers die, so does democracy Whitlock wrote in "Newspapers are key to democracy." (Nevermind Whitlock's aversion to voting. He won't let not voting stand in the way of preaching about democracy -- or a lesson on the economy.)
"We're all hurting in this economy," Whitlock wrote. "The pain we feel at The Star when
our valued colleagues are let go is no different from the pain you feel
when a friend or loved one is laid off at Sprint, Hallmark or Ford."I'm sure Whitlock's six-figure salary dulls the pain. And I'm sure he'd like to keep that job. But self-proclaimed "Big Sexy" isn't begging you to buy newspapers. He just wants "you to value and seek good, reliable, challenging and thought-provoking information." Such as what Whitlock provides.
Last week, Whitlock was gossiping with his mother about football coach Brady Hoke leaving Whitlock's alma mater, Ball State, for San Diego State. See, Whitlock saw the future.
"Since late September, I had worked feverishly trying to get the Ball State administration, Indiana print and broadcast media and the school's boosters to grasp that Hoke would have no choice but to leave if the school failed to invest in his assistant-coaching staff and coaching facilities," Whitlock wrote in Sunday's column.
They didn't listen (even after Whitlock offered $50,000 large to keep Hoke at Ball State). Now, Hoke's an Aztec.
"You can only find that kind of context in properly staffed, well-funded newspapers committed to journalism," Whitlock wrote. Because, after all, keeping the Ball State coach is crucial to democracy. -- Justin Kendall
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