Salon Newsreal | A cry against the swine

T A B L E+T A L K
Are there any "anti-gay" arguments not based on religion? Join the debate on homosexuality and Christianity in Table Talk's Social Issues area

D A I L Y+Q U O T E
Charlton Heston vs. Barbra Streisand

R E C E N T L Y
Investigating a conflict
By Murray Waas
Kenneth Starr is proposing an "independent" investigator to look into the David Hale payments probe. The question is, how independent?
(05/05/98)
The testament according to Newt
By David Wallis
The speaker on adultery, meanness, religion and what character he would most like to play in a movie
(05/04/98)
Murderers, cannibals -- lesbians!
By Jenn Shreve
America has a distinguished history of spreading scandalous rumors about its politicians, and the latest batch of White House gossip is nothing new
(05/01/98)
"It's time to speak out"
By David Corn
Re: the Clinton scandals, confidential GOP memo urges Republicans to go on the attack
(04/30/98)
Gingrich's impeachment scenario
By Jonathan Broder
A veteran Washington reporter says the House Speaker visualizes the removal of both Clinton and Gore
(04/29/98)
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A CRY AGAINST THE SWINE | PAGE 2 OF 2
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Should a publisher live in the city too?
He oughta live in the suburbs because usually the publisher doesn't know a goddamned thing about the newspaper. One of the things that would improve the state of American journalism right away would be if about two-thirds of the publishers moved to the south of France. Just signed the checks and stayed out of a business they don't understand, know anything about and have nothing to add to.
Aren't there any publishers who are doing a good job?
Katharine Graham [of the Washington Post] is a great publisher. I think [Arthur] Sulzburger of the New York Times is a great publisher. He is someone who very carefully trained to be publisher. He worked as a reporter, he worked on the business side. He took 15 years preparing to do that job and he's professionally trained. You might quarrel with one section or another of the newspaper, but it's a terrific paper -- still.
Often though, even if an editor or reporter is living in the city, he or she is part of an elite crowd. They get paid pretty well; they hobnob and socialize with powerful people who are covered in the pages of their newspapers. Is this a problem?
There is no doubt that reporters and editors getting paid more has shifted the culture of the newsroom. One of the reasons there are virtually no newspaper bars left is that reporters, once they become middle class, move to the suburbs. And it's allowed newspaperman to be middle class, which they weren't before. Not that they were working class, but they were sort of this bohemian class. It was possible for people like me and [Jimmy] Breslin to come out of a working-class background and get into newspapers without that being questioned. I didn't finish high school. But today, if an editor were thinking of hiring me or someone with a degree from Princeton, he would probably hire the guy from Princeton. And that prevents absorption into the newsroom of reporters who you desperately need if you're going to cover the city.
Are too many reporters covering the city from the safety of their desks?
The computer has been a great tool for us, but it has also been narrowing in a way. For example, when I was the editor at the Daily News, I refused to use e-mail. I thought it was nuts to use e-mail to communicate with someone two desks away! There has been a de-personalizing of the reporter's trade, and that hurts reporters because you don't get the same human contact. You're getting quotes, but you don't know who the quotes are coming from. Is the guy scratching his ass while he's talking? Is that relevant? Does the dead guy have white socks on? When they are in the office, reporters miss certain details that make a story come to life.
So editors should order reporters to get off their ass a couple of times a week?
Newspapers are so prosperous now, everyone has their own chair. When I was a kid at the [New York] Post, we didn't have enough chairs, so you always had to have some of the reporters out of the office to allow the other guys to write their stories. Maybe what they should do is remove about six chairs from every city room! At least then you know someone would be out on the street.
You've criticized the use of e-mail. But you, the quintessential newspaperman, have your very own monthly online column.
I know. It's a peculiar form. I started doing that column just to see what the Internet is about. A lot of the Internet isn't professional yet, it's therapy. It's not communication to me.
And what have you found?
I haven't figured it out yet. I don't even know how to find my own column half the time! They insist that people on the Internet have very short attention spans and so copy should be short. I think they are wrong. I think Salon and Slate and the others do show that there can be an audience for longer pieces. So I'm experimenting with this thing now. And I'll decide in a month or two if I want to keep doing it.
Any regrets about leaving as editor of the Daily News?
I didn't feel bad for myself, because at my age what the hell. I have a wonderful wife, a terrific career, I love the newspaper business. But I felt awful for the young reporters and the reporters I hired because I spent a lot of time trying to change the climate of the place. I said, "This is the greatest job in the whole world, let's charge the barbed wire!" To do that and then to be relieved of your command, like a general, by people who don't understand newspaper journalism, who have no respect for it, who think it's romantic bullshit. Nobody can hurt me -- I'm too old. But when young people are hurt, young reporters who are better people than the swine who run the place, that really infuriated me.
Yes, but what about their charge that you're a hopeless romantic who longs for a bygone past and is out of touch with the present?
I don't care. We romantics put out better papers then they do. We romantics create better writers than they do. And although it is a romantic vision, I think it's honorable. I don't think it's more honorable to say, "You didn't treat the readers with enough contempt -- why don't you treat them like the dumb-ass swine they are?" Readers are smart. I don't think people are successful by putting out crap. I think we can do better than we do now and we have been better than we are now. And people who are blocking that -- because they think the audience is stupid -- they'll pay for that. Through failure. Or there will be this special place in hell for them that will be tended by old romantic newspapermen with pitchforks.
SALON | May. 6, 1998
R E L A T E D +S A L O N+S T O R I E S
Stalemate Review of Howard Kurtz's "Spin Cycle" by Gary Kamiya.
Newsroom salaries Newspaper people stay off the record about what they make -- but they're sure they should be making more. By Lori Leibovich.

T A B L E+T A L K Are there any "anti-gay" arguments not based on religion? Join the debate on homosexuality and Christianity in Table Talk's Social Issues area D A I L Y+Q U O T E Charlton Heston vs. Barbra Streisand R E C E N T L Y Investigating a conflict By Murray Waas Kenneth Starr is proposing an "independent" investigator to look into the David Hale payments probe. The question is, how independent? (05/05/98) The testament according to Newt By David Wallis The speaker on adultery, meanness, religion and what character he would most like to play in a movie (05/04/98) Murderers, cannibals -- lesbians! By Jenn Shreve America has a distinguished history of spreading scandalous rumors about its politicians, and the latest batch of White House gossip is nothing new (05/01/98) "It's time to speak out" By David Corn Re: the Clinton scandals, confidential GOP memo urges Republicans to go on the attack (04/30/98) Gingrich's impeachment scenario By Jonathan Broder A veteran Washington reporter says the House Speaker visualizes the removal of both Clinton and Gore (04/29/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		A CRY AGAINST THE SWINE \| PAGE 2 OF 2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Should a publisher live in the city too? He oughta live in the suburbs because usually the publisher doesn't know a goddamned thing about the newspaper. One of the things that would improve the state of American journalism right away would be if about two-thirds of the publishers moved to the south of France. Just signed the checks and stayed out of a business they don't understand, know anything about and have nothing to add to. Aren't there any publishers who are doing a good job? Katharine Graham [of the Washington Post] is a great publisher. I think [Arthur] Sulzburger of the New York Times is a great publisher. He is someone who very carefully trained to be publisher. He worked as a reporter, he worked on the business side. He took 15 years preparing to do that job and he's professionally trained. You might quarrel with one section or another of the newspaper, but it's a terrific paper -- still. Often though, even if an editor or reporter is living in the city, he or she is part of an elite crowd. They get paid pretty well; they hobnob and socialize with powerful people who are covered in the pages of their newspapers. Is this a problem? There is no doubt that reporters and editors getting paid more has shifted the culture of the newsroom. One of the reasons there are virtually no newspaper bars left is that reporters, once they become middle class, move to the suburbs. And it's allowed newspaperman to be middle class, which they weren't before. Not that they were working class, but they were sort of this bohemian class. It was possible for people like me and [Jimmy] Breslin to come out of a working-class background and get into newspapers without that being questioned. I didn't finish high school. But today, if an editor were thinking of hiring me or someone with a degree from Princeton, he would probably hire the guy from Princeton. And that prevents absorption into the newsroom of reporters who you desperately need if you're going to cover the city. Are too many reporters covering the city from the safety of their desks? The computer has been a great tool for us, but it has also been narrowing in a way. For example, when I was the editor at the Daily News, I refused to use e-mail. I thought it was nuts to use e-mail to communicate with someone two desks away! There has been a de-personalizing of the reporter's trade, and that hurts reporters because you don't get the same human contact. You're getting quotes, but you don't know who the quotes are coming from. Is the guy scratching his ass while he's talking? Is that relevant? Does the dead guy have white socks on? When they are in the office, reporters miss certain details that make a story come to life. So editors should order reporters to get off their ass a couple of times a week? Newspapers are so prosperous now, everyone has their own chair. When I was a kid at the [New York] Post, we didn't have enough chairs, so you always had to have some of the reporters out of the office to allow the other guys to write their stories. Maybe what they should do is remove about six chairs from every city room! At least then you know someone would be out on the street. You've criticized the use of e-mail. But you, the quintessential newspaperman, have your very own monthly online column. I know. It's a peculiar form. I started doing that column just to see what the Internet is about. A lot of the Internet isn't professional yet, it's therapy. It's not communication to me. And what have you found? I haven't figured it out yet. I don't even know how to find my own column half the time! They insist that people on the Internet have very short attention spans and so copy should be short. I think they are wrong. I think Salon and Slate and the others do show that there can be an audience for longer pieces. So I'm experimenting with this thing now. And I'll decide in a month or two if I want to keep doing it. Any regrets about leaving as editor of the Daily News? I didn't feel bad for myself, because at my age what the hell. I have a wonderful wife, a terrific career, I love the newspaper business. But I felt awful for the young reporters and the reporters I hired because I spent a lot of time trying to change the climate of the place. I said, "This is the greatest job in the whole world, let's charge the barbed wire!" To do that and then to be relieved of your command, like a general, by people who don't understand newspaper journalism, who have no respect for it, who think it's romantic bullshit. Nobody can hurt me -- I'm too old. But when young people are hurt, young reporters who are better people than the swine who run the place, that really infuriated me. Yes, but what about their charge that you're a hopeless romantic who longs for a bygone past and is out of touch with the present? I don't care. We romantics put out better papers then they do. We romantics create better writers than they do. And although it is a romantic vision, I think it's honorable. I don't think it's more honorable to say, "You didn't treat the readers with enough contempt -- why don't you treat them like the dumb-ass swine they are?" Readers are smart. I don't think people are successful by putting out crap. I think we can do better than we do now and we have been better than we are now. And people who are blocking that -- because they think the audience is stupid -- they'll pay for that. Through failure. Or there will be this special place in hell for them that will be tended by old romantic newspapermen with pitchforks. SALON \| May. 6, 1998 R E L A T E D +S A L O N+S T O R I E S Stalemate Review of Howard Kurtz's "Spin Cycle" by Gary Kamiya. Newsroom salaries Newspaper people stay off the record about what they make -- but they're sure they should be making more. By Lori Leibovich.