Keywords by David Yonke

Interesting how things can disappear, like police reports and arrest records. Especially if the criminal has the right connections.
I don't want to name any names in this space, but a certain person who was in the news in Toledo last weekend for an alleged sexual crime had been arrested nine years ago for a sexual crime in a small town in northwest Ohio.
That much is certain.
But there is no official record of the arrest. No court documents. No one in law-enforcement can remember making the arrest.
The offender was sentenced at the time to community service, after which his record was "expunged." Poof! All gone.
This brings to mind the case of Father Robert Thomas, who was arrested for a sex act in the men's room of a Toledo mall in 1984.
All copies of the report mysteriously disappeared. None is on file with the police, and there is no sign of the arrest in court archives.
Toledo Police Officer Bill Gray, however, made a copy of that police report. He knew the other copies would vanish.
Officer Gray's documentation led to a newspaper article in 2002. Father Thomas, in the meantime, had moved to Arizona where he had been a priest for nearly 20 years. The week the story of his 1984 arrest was published in 2002, his Arizona bishop removed him from ministry.
Sometimes justice has to leap a few hurdles and endure some delays.
* * *
On a whole different topic, I saw a rare sight today: a Jeep with muddy tires.
* * *
Happy tax day everyone. Hope you get yours in on time and get a fat refund. Or maybe even a phat refund?
Happy birthday to brother in law Ed. His birthday's easy to remember.

Toledo, Ohio
April 15, 2008

Strange that the Pope and the Dalai Lama were in the United States at the same time. It sure made life busy for religion journalists. I personally didn't leave Toledo to cover the Pope's first trip to the United States, but wrote a preview of the visit by talking to people from the area who were going to see him in New York or Washington.
There are 303,000 Roman Catholics in northwest Ohio and a papal visit is a big deal not only for them but for many non-Catholics as well. It's also a very positive story about a religious group that has gotten lots of negative coverage over the last few years.
To be honest, I don't particularly enjoy covering such media spectacles, because they are crazy scenes with lots of hassles, people pushing and shoving, bad views or being stuck in a "media room" watching things on TV, tyrannical p.r. people, no time to eat, etc., etc. It seems like every reporter in the world converges on the scene and a medium sized midwestern paper gets lost in the shuffle. I know, however, that readers enjoy a local presence on international events, from elections to golf tournaments to papal visits, and I would have been glad to do it.
It's not surprising, however, since I've taken four out-of-state trips in nearly 8 years as religion editor, and 3 of them were by car. (I'm not talking about Ann Arbor or Detroit, which are less than an hour away.)
* * *
The most significant thing Pope Benedict XVI did during his visit was to meet with victims of clerical sexual abuse. I can say from personal experience that this kind of meeting can have a profound effect on someone. Victims need to be listened to.
* * *
I did get the opportunity to drive to Ann Arbor to cover the Dalai Lama. With all the news lately about Tibet and China, his local visit was a bigger event than it would be normally. I'm glad I got to go and write about it for our readers. Andy Morrison took some fantastic photos and I was glad to see they got a good display in print.
The Dalai Lama's visit was, unfortunately, a bit of a snoozer, in my opinion. He is an amazing person and has a great attitude and incredible wisdom. But I was not interested in hearing him speak in Tibetan about esoteric Buddhist doctrine, and I can't believe too many people who were in Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor were interested in that either.
* * *
I wrote an article for tomorrow's paper about the movie "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed." It turned out to be a fascinating story about a documentary film, starring Ben Stein, alleging that academics are persecuted if they express any doubts about evolution or show any support for intelligent design (aka "ID").
I believe the story will generate a lot of response because people feel so strongly about these issues, whether they are for or against evolution or ID.
* * *
I played golf for the first time this season yesterday, a scrambles event at the South Toledo Golf Course benefiting the University of Toledo's Communications Department.
Our team score was pretty pathetic, but we had fun. I hit the ball well for the first time out, but found myself in the unusual position of having to make a lot of clutch hits. E.g., my three teammates would all miss the green and then it was my turn to hit. Usually I'm the 3rd or 4th best player on a scrambles team and nobody's counting on me to produce the big shot. I came through quite a few times but also failed miserably a couple of times. We ended up shooting a 78, 6 over par. Last time I played a scrambles my team was 12 or 13 under par. But I did win a few neat door prizes, including a 2 gb flash drive, something I'd been wanting to buy.
No matter what the score, it's always a wonderful thing to be out on a golf course with friends when the weather is nice. I just love the atmosphere, the conversation, and the relentless challenge of golf.
Toledo, Ohio
April 27, 2008

Pope Benedict XVI's first trip across the Atlantic as pope was a very genuine and spiritually uplifting visit, not just for American Catholics but for the country as a whole.
I enjoyed watching the Pope on EWTN and CNN as he greeted Americans and spoke at various events, celebrated Mass and at the two ballparks, and prayed at Ground Zero. He is an eloquent and inspired speaker and I would have loved to have reported the papal visit in person instead of watching him on TV in Toledo.
I say this now because I may have given the wrong impression the other day when I called the papal trip a "media spectacle." I meant no reflection on the nature of the visit or the pope's importance, but on my own experiences covering major news events. It is a challenge and a hassle to jostle with the world's media on such big stories, but I would have gladly done it if at all possible.
I did get to cover Pope John Paul II's visit to Toronto for World Youth Day in 2002. That was a memorable event and despite the difficulties covering the events I am glad I was there.
PJP2 was an extraordinary man in the right place at the right time and surely will go down in history as one of the greatest world leaders of the 20st century.
* * *
Short summer? It's 35 degrees out right now! Tomorrow it is supposed to get down to 31. The weather has been absolutely crazy. Maybe God is spinning a big wheel up there and sending us whatever it lands on, a completely random selection.
Sylvania, Ohio
April 29, 2008

I am getting bombarded with emails, some full of hatred and profanity, about my article on Ben Stein's movie 'Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.' You can can read the article here.
I knew I was wading into a quagmire by even writing this article but I also felt it was a story that needed to be written.
Without taking sides on the controversial topic of evolution/intelligent design, I believe the vast majority of movie reviews I read about 'Expelled' were so biased and twisted that nobody seemed willing to give the film a fair shake.
Funny how the same moviemaking tactics used by Michael Moore in his popular documentaries are lauded by the media.
On 'Expelled,' it looks to me as though the reviewers' liberal bias got in the way of fairness. That's one reason I decided to write the article: the media coverage was embarrassing to me and I thought someone should try to present a balanced perspective. The other reason was simply that I was getting so many emails from local churches and laypersons rallying in support of the movie that I knew it would be of interest. Sure enough, the article was No. 2 on the newspaper's website yesterday (behind a breaking news murder story).
Incidentally, my article started out as a fairly small story slated for the religion page but gained momentum as the details unfolded, winding up at the top of yesterday's main news "A" section.
Meanwhile, I'm sure I haven't heard the last of the comments about my coverage of this polarizing issue -- as friend and foe alike will keep writing.
Toledo, Ohio
April 29, 2008

Sometimes I get off track at work with all the phone calls, emails, letters, visitors, going out on assignments, etc., etc. Yesterday I really goofed because I forgot about an interview with one of my favorite musical artists, the incomparable Amy Grant. I couldn't believe it! I was waiting for her to call and then I got distracted and missed it. Fortunately, she left a message and called back in five minutes. I apologized but she brushed it off, no big deal.

Amy Grant, to me, is one of the most important musical artists and influences of my time. She singlehandedly brought contemporary Christian music to the fore in the 1980s with progressive, entertaining and, at the same time, inspirational albums, such as "Unguarded" and "Lead Me On."

In concert, she has always had a rocking band (that at one time included a then-unknown Michael W. Smith on keyboards), top-notch lights and sound, and an overall great show. Nobody else in Christian music was performing with that level of excellence and investing so much into the concerts.
To think Amy signed her first record deal at 15 -- I still remember her folky Christian song "My Father's Eyes" -- and has been releasing albums for 30 years is amazing.
I was impressed yesterday with the way she just matter-of-factly volunteered the fact that she was 47 now. Most female artists dodge the age issue even if it is a widely known fact for most celebrities.
I've met Amy Grant a couple of times and interviewed her probably 10 times over the years and she is always a great interview and a kind, considerate person. I only wish I had had more time yesterday to talk to her because she is a deep thinker and incredibly honest and transparent. Over the years, she has admitted her mistakes and the fact that she has stumbled a few times in life, but she never claimed to be perfect. Amy is about as "real" as it gets and I greatly appreciate her honesty and sincerity. I think most Christians can relate to her as a real person and a role model.
Amy Grant will be in concert at the Ritz Theatre in Tiffin, Ohio, on Thursday, May 8, with a six-person band. It will be a great show and I hope I can make it there. I'll be writing about her for the Weekender tab that runs the day of the show.
* * *
I wrote an article yesterday about St. James Catholic Church in Kansas, Ohio, but it was held because there was not much space in today's paper. It'll run tomorrow instead.

Toledo, Ohio
April 30, 2008

The list of finalists for the Religion Newswriters Association's "journalist of the year" awards has just been released. I am glad to say I am a finalist in the mid-sized newspapers category.
I thought I had a strong portfolio for 2007 but you never know about such things. For one thing, I am always busy doing my daily job and don't have the luxury to spend a lot of time on any one story or series. In addition, I get virtually no travel budget to cover things out of town or out of state or out of the country, which often leads to some of the most inspiring stories.
But of course I realize many of my colleagues are in the same boat -- some, not all.
The other reason I don't get my hopes up is that I don't write with contests in mind. I write for the newspaper readers, not contest judges. I know some journalists who are always thinking of what they need to do to write something that will win a contest. Awards do give a reporter a certain amount of prestige and respect, which is good -- maybe even necessary -- for some people's egos. The competition is pretty fierce and there are many terrific religion reporters out there.
For me, contests are incidental. I do my job as a reporter/editor and when contest time rolls around, I go back and sort things out and hope I find something worth entering.
A lot of years, I don't even submit any entries. This system may be backwards in regard to contests, but I think it's the best way to do the job right.
Well, as they say in Hollywood, it's an honor just to be nominated. Time will tell if I come home with an award this year (unlike last year, when I was a finalist but came home empty-handed).
* * *
I wrote an article for tomorrow's paper about a new book by Bishop V. Gene Robinson, who wrote that he is willing to take a stand and put up with all kinds of personal attacks because he believes God is calling him to do something -- be the first openly gay and noncelibate bishop in the Episcopal Church.
I don't have the same interpretation of scripture as Bishop Robinson when it comes to homosexuality, but I do think that taking a stand and putting up with flak can be the only option for someone of courage and conviction. He said he wore a bulletproof vest to his consecration. That speaks volumes and I respect him for that.
In fact, I can relate to Bishop Robinson for standing up for something he believes will ultimately result in the greater good. He was willing to face death threats rather than take the easy way out and avoid the issue, or hope that someone else will step in and take the heat instead of him.
When people read news reports they don't like, the knee-jerk reaction is to blame the messenger. Attacking a reporter is always easier than facing up to the issues or fixing the problems. I don't mind. In fact, I consider it a sign that I'm doing a good job.
Toledo, Ohio
May 2, 2008

A colleague sent me a link to a website that has been set up to encourage people to pray for newspapers and journalists.
Here's the link.
The web site points out that this is a turbulent and troubling time for the newspaper industry, and asks people to pray for all those who are affected by the cutbacks, layoffs, and other changes.
Times definitely are difficult economically for journalists and newspapers, and although I believe the news business will always be here, the format and medium may shift significantly in the coming years.
Anyone who takes the time to organize a site where people are praying for newspapers and for journalists, is A-OK in my book.
Prayer can change things, and it can help you through the changes.

Toledo, Ohio
May 19, 2008

Every once in a while, I write an article that I think will rile people up but get little or no response. Then you write what you think will be a noncontroversial, feel-good story and it sets some readers off.
Such was the case with my story about the Sisters of Saint Francis in Sylvania holding a ceremony with local Muslims, including Imam Farooq Abo-Elzahab, to bless an icon depicting the historic 13th century meeting between St. Francis of Assisi and Sultan Malek al-Kamil of Egypt. (You can read it here.)
Father Patrick Rohen of Sandusky wrote a scathing letter to the editor saying the nuns did not represent the church when they performed the blessing, and added that "these liberal gals," as he put it, should be granted a dispensation to leave the church and convert to Islam. (Here is a link.)
The vitriol caught me by surprise. I know Father Patrick fairly well and have a lot of respect for him. But in this case, I have to politely disagree.
I don't think interfaith dialogue or even a blessing ceremony means that people are undermining their own beliefs; rather, the willingness to work together in pursuit of peace with people of different religious traditions and beliefs is something that strengthens one's own faith and makes the world a little better place to live.
The way I see it, dialogue and discussion are preferable to hatred, isolationism, and violence any time.
* * *
Got a call from Ron Moore today. He's playing a concert at St. George Orthodox Cathedral in Rossford.
Ron said he coined the term "contemporary Christian music" when he was a critic and that he was in on the ground floor of the Jesus rock movement along with Larry Norman and Randy Stonehill.
He converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in 1995 and now plays concerts at Orthodox churches around the world.
A very interesting and unique ministry, indeed.
Had I known more about him and if I had not been out of town until yesterday, I would have enjoyed interviewing him and writing a profile about this unusual troubador.
* * *
Tonight the movie "Sex and the City" opens in theaters and except for one brief twist of fate I would have absolutely no interest in this film. I've never seen the TV show although you can't avoid commercials for the movie and reruns of the show.
But last September when I was in New York City with my wife we took a stroll through Greenwich Village and came up on a street lined with movie studio trailers. It was night time and pretty quiet but it was obvious something was going on here. Turns out they were filming "Sex and the City." Janet and I chatted with a young starlet for 10 or 15 minutes. She said her name was Jehira, but I didn't ask how to spell it. She was sweet and polite and fun to talk to and very attractive. So I was thinking that maybe I would actually go to see the movie just to see her in it.
Then I looked at the movie's credits on imdb.com and there's nobody listed whose name even remotely looks like Jehira. I guess that means she has a really small part. Not enough to get me to pay $10 for a movie ticket, that's for sure.
If I do go to the theater tonight it will be to see old faithful Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Ex-Lax (Ha, sorry, Indy ol' man, just kidding about the title).
* * *
Sad to read that Harvey Korman passed away. He was a brilliant comic actor who brought many laughs to millions of people. I used to watch him on The Carol Burnett Show when I was a kid, sitting on the couch with my Mom, laughing at their zany skits. He was terrific.
* * *
Another star who left this mortal coil recently was Sydney Pollack, one of the top directors in Hollywood, who died May 26. I remember him so well as an actor in Woody Allen's "Husbands and Wives." His most celebrated movies as director included the landmark films "Out of Africa" and "Tootsie."

Toledo, Ohio
May 30, 2008

I've had a lot of strange encounters in my life but probably nothing as bizarre as last week's "interview" with Padre Pio, the Italian Catholic saint who died in 1968.
A Toledo-area woman says she "channels" the late saint, and when I went to do the interview her brother insisted that when Padre Pio appeared I should ask him questions.
I am rarely at a loss for questions but this one caught me by surprise. What would you ask a dead man?

Well, I interviewed the woman in her "normal" state and then when Padre Pio appeared, I asked him some questions. It was quite interesting but I won't say more until the article is published, which I have tentatively scheduled for July 5th.

Toledo, Ohio
June 22, 2008

Yesterday afternoon, busy as always, juggling a couple dozen projects at work, my mind going in a million directions, the phone rang and snapped me out of my dreamstate.
Rinnnggggg!
OK, who was calling?
I had made a lot of calls and was waiting for them to be returned.
In addition to the usual suspects, I was expecting important calls from two different Marks -- Mark Bryan, guitarist with Hootie & the Blowfish whom I've known for 14 years, or Bishop Mark Hollingsworth, head of the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio.
Rinnnggggg!
I scramble for my notes, needing to be ready whoever is at the other end of the line.
Bishop Hollingsworth is leading a 250-mile bike ride across Ohio next week. He is elusive, hard to get on the phone or in person. The Episcopals are caught in a maelstrom of sorts over the ordination of homosexuals and the blessing of same-sex unions.
The bishop is clearly along the liberal edge of this divide. He's kind of a gentle man and I think he avoids the media because of all the controversy over these issues. But knowing that I was just writing a feel-good story about the bike ride, he was willing to talk.
Rinnnggggg!
Mark Bryan is one of the nicest rock stars you'll ever meet. I met him and the rest of Hootie in October, 1994, when they played a small club in Toledo. Months later, their album "Cracked Rear View" just "blew up" and became a phenomenon, selling 16 million copies.
Mark, Darius, Dean and Soni kept their heads on straight and I've always enjoyed their company. I even played golf and videogames with them.
Usually I don't do my music interviews during my normal work hours, preferring to schedule them in my off time, but this time I was on a deadline and couldn't be too fussy.
Rinnnggggg!
Hello, David? It's Bishop Mark Hollingsworth...
See the story this Saturday. Mark Bryan called me this morning, it was just like old times. Spoke with him and Darius, looking forward to seeing them in Toledo.
Life in journalism has its drawbacks but one thing for sure, it's never dull.
* * *
Toledo, Ohio
June 26, 2008

I attended a brief seminar yesterday demonstrating some new services being offered by the Associated Press to its members.
The program was for journalists, but I believe it is a sign of what is to come for newspapers in general and how they will be providing information to readers.
The basic idea is that AP is offering full access to all of its articles to reporters and editors, who can then choose to filter the "firehose" of information to receive stories and photos on specific topics.
These advanced, personalized menus could search for anything from Cleveland Indians baseball scores to articles about Pope Benedict XVI or Fidel Castro. You build a database of daily articles that are of interest and helpful to you and your job.
These articles can be accessed on any computer or smart phone, although the only phone now linked to the service is Apple's iPhone (but the rest will follow).
Turning this around to the consumer angle, I believe that's how newspapers will provide information to readers in the not-too-distant future.
You may want to know about celebrity gossip and chicken recipes; the guy next door might want stock tickers and crime news. Your sister wants the editorials, letters to the editor, and news on the Middle East. Each person can have his or her "personalized" newspaper delivered electronically to whatever device is most convenient.
Yes, Virginia, yesterday's AP demonstration looked to me like it might herald the future of the newspaper industry. I give AP a lot of credit for its vision, forward thinking and proactive approach to the imminent changes coming in this fast-moving information age.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
July 9, 2008

I am juggling a number of stories at the moment for different destinations.
For Saturday's paper:
1. A nonprofit group called Operation Worship is sending Bibles with hand-written notes inside to U.S. servicemen and women around the world. The organizers hoped to "deploy" 100,000 Bibles in 100 days starting June 1. They reached that goal in less than a month.
2. Del Tackett of Focus on the Family teaches a course called "The Truth Project," which I happened to be studying via video and guidebook in a small group setting through my church. I got an email saying Dr. Tackett was available for interviews so I jumped on it, he's a remarkable teacher with great insight.
3. A "Faith Notes" column looking over some new spiritual media, books, mags, CDs, etc.
4. A Toledo native and Christian comedian who tours with a Muslim and a Jewish comedian
5. "The Shack" novel, almost done with this one and it is such an amazing story!
6. The revival in Lakeland, Florida, that is drawing so many people it's become a phenomenon.
There's a lot more but that's just a little peek. I'm also setting up an interview with terrible Ted Nugent, one of the most entertaining artists you'll ever meet.
Terrific story on Billy Joel in last Sunday's New York Times (here's a link). I've interviewed Billy a number of times and he is always great to talk to. He played a concert last night at Shea Stadium, where I used to go watch the Amazin' Mets when I was just a kid... They're tearing it down after this season and Joel, a fellow Long Islander, was the perfect choice to bid farewell to this not-very-pretty stadium.
A little trivia: Billy played at my high school in New York in the late 1960s with his band The Hassles. When I saw him backstage at the Palace in 1994 I gave him a copy of the Hassles' album that had just been released on CD. He hadn't seen it yet.
He said there was a song on there where the producer changed one word and put himself down as a co-writer. I laughed and said well it's a lesson learned and he laughed and said no, he should have but didn't learn... this was just after he found out his brother in law had ripped him off of virtually everything he owned. He has since rebuilt his fortune ... in fact the Times article says he bought his 29-year-old wife a $16 million house in the Hamptons for her birthday.
* * *
Toledo, Ohio
July 17, 2008

This blog is the topic of a column today written by ombudsman Jack Lessenberry. Here's a link.
I think Shakespeare's famous line from Hamlet is an appropriate response: "The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
Sylvania, Ohio
July 20, 2008

As you may know from earlier entries, Blade ombudsman Jack Lessenberry wrote a column about my personal blog a few weeks ago.
My objectivity had been called into question because I expressed an opinion in my blog. This letter to the editor was published in The Blade in response:

Religion reporting is fair, unbiased

Blade ombudsman Jack Lessenberry's views of Blade religion editor David Yonke's blogs were as fair and balanced as Mr. Yonke's stories, blogs, and book on religious subjects and issues.

Mr. Yonke's constitutional freedoms did not end when he accepted a journalist position. He should not be intimidated by anyone into eliminating, or even restricting, his blogging activities.

Mr. Yonke's objective as a reporter is to present the news truthfully and, as much as possible, without offense or judgment. One of Sally Oberski's roles as communications director for the Catholic Diocese of Toledo is to manage the news as much as possible, with special emphasis on damage control.

I have read dozens of Mr. Yonke's Blade stories and blogs, as well as his book, Sin, Shame & Secrets, about the Gerald Robinson case, and have found him to be, without exception, more than fair and free of bias.

His coverage of the Toledo Police Department's success in obtaining Diocese of Toledo "secret files" may have Pulitzer Prize potential.

Indeed, the diocese is very fortunate that the local religion editor is an ethical and sensitive reporter who has uncommonly high professional standards.

Many other dioceses would be very grateful to have such balanced and unsensationalized reporting in their local papers.

Richard Rosenbaum

Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

* * *
It may be worth noting that Mr. Rosenbaum staunchly believes that Gerald Robinson did not kill Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.
Sylvania, Ohio

Aug. 3, 2008

Here are letters from two members of the Toledo chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests that were published in the Blade's letters to the editor section today. They both were penned in response to the recent column by Blade ombudsman Jack Lessenberry about my personal blog (see previous entries).
One colleague asked me today if the letters were written to support me or to attack the Toledo diocese. I really can't say. But logically, these two objectives do not necessarily present an either-or situation. The same would be true of the reverse.
I'm grateful that people care enough to take the time to write a letter to the editor.-- David

Attack on messenger a diversion

Ombudsman Jack Lessenberry’s recent column about Toledo Catholic Diocese officials challenging the objectivity of The Blade’s religion editor, David Yonke, left me wondering if this isn’t this another example of “shoot the messenger” used as a tactical diversion.

Do diocesan officials really think that no one remembers when their public relations director publicly discredited Jane Doe’s allegations against now-convicted murderer Gerald Robinson after she spoke up?

Do Catholic church leaders really think no one remembers their smear campaign alleging violations of confidentiality against their own review board’s psychologist, who went to law enforcement to report crimes?

What about the church official sanctioned by the state social worker licensing board for publicly challenging a survivor and youth minister’s “stability” in working with kids after he spoke up?

What’s Jane Doe need to make her complaint viable? Credibility.

What’s the hallmark of a psychologist’s profession? Confidentiality.

What’s paramount when working with kids? Stability.

What’s required of journalists? Objectivity.

When diocesan officials attack the character of the messenger, it’s the cheapest damage control available.

Why? Because it shifts, even if only momentarily, the focus away from the ongoing clergy sexual abuse scandal and cover-up by top diocesan officials that has spanned decades. Let’s not forget the two no-knock search warrants executed on the bishop’s office when church leaders cried victim and foul play.

Aren’t three books, one documentary, and two docu-dramas illuminating sex crimes against local kids, cover-up, and collusion much more telling?

How does discrediting every person who dares to speak the truth about the sex crimes and cover-up within my diocese protect kids or negate what’s still happening?

Claudia Yvonne Vercellotti
Co-DirectorToledo SNAP Chapter
====================================

Spokesman upset at the wrong things

Toledo Catholic Diocese spokesman Sally Oberski is upset again. The last time she was upset The Blade reported that the Revs. Frank Murd and Tim Kummerer were arrested for public indecency in the 1990s.

She wasn’t upset that these priests had been secretly working around children with few people knowing of their arrests. She wasn’t upset that Father Murd had admitted engaging in sexual activity in a public place.

Come to think of it. Ms. Oberski is never publicly upset about the crimes or sexual misconduct committed by priests. She never publicly discusses the immorality of their conduct. She never discusses how these priests have broken their promises of celibacy, betrayed their positions of trust, and harmed people.

But she is upset again and has resorted to the tired old tactic of blaming the messenger. Usually she is upset with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests and other advocates. Now she is upset with The Blade’s religion editor, David Yonke.

Who’s she kidding? Ms. Oberski’s job is defending the indefensible and amounts to little more than “spinning” clergy sexual crimes and misconduct.

In the case of Father Kummerer, she used her position to plead that priests who are arrested for public indecency don’t deserve “humiliation.” In the case of Father Murd, she reminded us that despite his admission he may be returned to ministry. Last year, she used her position to remind us that the Rev. David Nuss did not violate the Dallas Charter because his sexual misconduct did not involve a child.

When will Ms. Oberski stop blaming the messenger and starting using her position to do some good?

Linda Waters
Sandusky

I am pleased to announce that yours truly has been named the best religion reporter in Ohio in the 2008 contest sponsored by the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists. It was for overall reporting, not a specific article.

The Blade won a total of 12 awards including three other first-place trophies. Two of the paper's first-place winners have since left for jobs elsewhere, unfortunately (Christopher Borrelli and Robin Erb). You can read the full SPJ list here or the article in The Blade here.

It's nice to be recognized for your work by peers who know what kind of effort and expertise are required.

* * *
Toledo, Ohio
August 30, 2008

H. L. Mencken was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on Sept. 12, 1880, and worked for the Baltimore Morning Herald and Baltimore Sun newspapers.

As a keen-eyed, tough-talking and sharp-witted reporter, editor, and author, Mencken is one of my journalism and writing heroes.

Here are a few notable Mencken quotes:

"Nature abhors a moron"

"Life is a dead-end street."

"When women kiss it always reminds one of prize-fighters shaking hands."

"A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier."

"In my day a reporter who took an assignment was wholly on his own until he got back to the office, and even then he was little molested until his copy was turned in at the desk; today he tends to become only a homunculus at the end of a telephone wire, and the reduction of his observations to prose is commonly farmed out to literary castrati who never leave the office, and hence never feel the wind of the world in their faces or see anything with their own eyes."

"Opera in English is, in the main, just about as sensible as baseball in Italian."

"Whenever a husband and a wife begin to discuss their marriage
they are giving evidence at a coroner's inquest."

"The allurement that women hold out to men is precisely the allurement that Cape Hatteras holds out to sailors: they are enormously dangerous and hence enormously fascinating."

"We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart."

"Unitarianism, a movement typical of the modern effort to get rid of Hell, it is not a kind of Christianity at all, but simply a mattress for skeptical ex-Christians to fall on."

"It costs more to maintain ten vices than one virtue."

"Before a man speaks it is always safe to assume that he is a fool. After he speaks, it is seldom necessary to assume it."

"Temptation is an irresistible force at work on a movable body."

"Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking."

"Creator—A comedian whose audience is afraid to laugh."

* * *
Toledo, Ohio
Sept. 8, 2008

... to a newspaper near you...
I am working on a story about the second annual Red Mass, slated for all members of the legal community, to be held in Toledo at Rosary Cathedral on Sept. 18.
There are other "specialty" Masses as well: a Mass for firefighters and a Mass for deacons the same week, and in October there will be a White Mass for medical workers. Last year, there was a Blue Mass for law-enforcement workers.
I think these are wonderful, I just think they should be scheduled in the right order, according to American culture: Red, White & Blue.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
Sept. 9, 2008

I am in Washington, DC, attending a conference of the Religion Newswriters Association.
We spent the whole day at workshops on reporting on Islam and Muslims.
There were some very interesting moments and some great speakers, although much of the discussion was pretty basic -- for reporters who don't know much about Islam. Having covered this topic for 8 years now, there wasn't much new material for me.
Still, there were great "human interest" stories, such as Jamie Tarabay, an Australian who was a war correspondent in Iraq and also worked as a correspondent in Jerusalem. She is in the USA covering religion and reporting feature stories for NPR.
And Anisa Mehdi, a documentary filmmaker, also was fascinating and a very dynamic speaker.
* * *
Yesterday I had a chance to stroll around the city and sat in on a session of Congress in which Representatives were debating the energy bill. Very interesting.
A memorable moment occurred while I was walking on the Ellipse and President Bush's helicopter flew overhead, then landed on the White House's South Lawn. Actually two identical helicopters flew by, one apparently a decoy.

Small World Department:
Outside the White House, I ran into a group of 8th graders and their chaperones from Christ the King Parish in Toledo.
At the airport, I bumped into Jamey and Rachel Schmitz from Toledo. Jamey, the CEO and GM of WLMB-TV in Toledo, is in town for an NRB conference.
* * *
I was quite surprised to get an email note about Ray Boltz, the Christian singer from Indiana who wrote the classic song "Thank You."
Ray has "come out of the closet" to announce that he is gay. Here is a link to the well-written article. It also mentions that Kirk Talley has been "struggling" with his sexual orientation but still sings gospel music in the church.
Boltz has retired from performing. I've interviewed Boltz a few times when he lived in Indiana. After he told his wife and four grown children, he got a divorce and moved to Fort Lauderdale.
* * *
Got a call today from some concerned citizen regarding Dennis Gray, the former Toledo priest who had more sexual-abuse lawsuits against him than any other local cleric in the diocese.
The caller said Gray recently applied for a job working with troubled youngsters, but did not get the job.
Apparently news coverage of the abuse lawsuits against Gray has not been forgotten.

* * *
Washington, D.C.
Sept. 17, 2008

It's been a whirlwind week here in Washington, with panel discussions and lectures running continuously from early morning until late at night. The Religion Newswriters Association packs a lot into your day, and it's understood that you don't come here to just hang out and socialize, but to gather as much helpful information as possible in a relatively short period of time.

Here are a few brief items of interest:

I am sitting in a conference at the moment on "sourcing Islam the new way." The speaker, Shaheed Amanullah, is the creator of the website altmuslim.com. At first glance, it seems to be a very practical site that offers real-life inside information on American Muslims.

* * *

Earlier today, Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington spoke on the challenges of Catholic education and a statistician from Georgetown's CARA reviewed the data on American Catholic schools over the years.

* * *
Last night we toured the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Catholic church in the Americas and one of the 10 largest churches in the world. It is the shrine where Pope Benedict XVI met with American bishops during his visit to the U.S.
An interesting artifact on display in this magnificent church: A page torn from the guest book that Pope Benedict signed, listing his address as "Vatican City."
* * *
Among yesterday's presentations was a panel discussion on atheism and secular humanism. I do think that these groups are misunderstood. People can be moral and good citizens, concerned for the betterment of society, without believing in God. One speaker said he believes the United States is a secular humanist nation -- citing separation of church and state, and valuing the dignity of the individual.
* * *
Jay Sekulow of the ACLJ and Rev. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Church of Dallas held an entertaining debate on religion and presidential candidates. Sekulow is an expert on the First Amendment while Jeffress is basically a fundamentalist pastor.
Sekulow said a candidate's religion does impact his decisionmaking but said it's more important where a candidate stands on the issues than what his personal beliefs may be. He gave as an example Jimmy Carter being a born-again Christian and a Democrat who supported Roe v. Wade, while Mitt Romney is a Mormon and a Republican who is staunchly pro-life.
Jeffress repeatedly called Mormonism a "cult" and a "false religion" and said he could never support a candidate who represents such a group because it would endanger people's eternal destiny.
It got pretty crazy with these two strong personalities and a roomful of journalists.
* * *
I went to a preview screening of "Fireproof," a new movie coming out Sept. 26 starring Kirk Cameron. It was made by the Kendrick brothers, two pastors from Albany, Ga., who got started in filmmaking with a $20,000 movie called "Flywheel," which led to a larger project, "Facing the Giants," made for $100,000 in 2006.
The brothers had a $500,000 budget for "Fireproof" and it really is a quality movie that is unapologetically evangelical and yet not cheesy or amateurish. It's about a couple who are headed for divorce but the husband, a firefighter played by Cameron, has a change of heart and tries to salvage the marriage. His wife is reluctant at first but not surprisingly the movie has a happy ending.
Some friends of mine went and sat close to the exit with the idea that they could slip out if the movie was boring. They ended up staying for the whole thing.
Writer Stephen Kendrick was there to answer questions and said they don't make movies for awards or critics but to change lives.
This is one of the best Christian movies ever made, with a good story, some humor, and quality production.
Everybody says "The Passion of The Christ" opened the door for Hollywood to produce more Christian films. It will be interesting to see how well "Fireproof" does in theaters -- I think it will be a test of whether there really is a market for high-quality, family-friendly original Christian movies.

* * *
September 20, 2008
Washington, D.C.

I was humbled and honored to place second in the George W. Cornell Religion Writer of the Year Award, an international contest for religion journalists.
I picked up the award Saturday night in D.C. and an announcement was published today in The Blade. You can read it here.
You don't write articles in order to enter contests, but obviously it is nice to be recognized for your work.
When the winners were being announced and I was a finalist, a colleague asked me if I had a speech prepared. That inspired me to make a little inside joke when I was at the podium.
First, a little background: Michael Gerson, the renowned Washington Post columnist and longtime G.W. Bush speechwriter, was one of the speakers at the Religion Newswriters Association's conference. So when I went up to the microphone, I said: "I tried to get Michael Gerson to write my acceptance speech, but he managed to slip out of the ballroom before I could corner him."
It worked that night, but I don't know if it's funny outside the RNA conference.
* * *
One of the big topics at the conference, both officially and unofficially was online journalism and blogging. We are on the cusp of a new era as technology reshapes the distribution of news and information. But nobody knows exactly how it's going to shake out and how to shift gears. It's kind of like trying to change the momentum of a supertanker.
* * *
Toledo, Ohio
Sept. 23, 2008

Quote of the Day:

"Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands -- and then eat just one of the pieces." -- Judith Viorst

Tomorrow is E-Day, finally. I am so tired of all the political attacks and rhetoric and ill will that I will just be glad when it's over. The die is cast, let's roll it and see where it lands. I think most people are weary of this incredibly long campaign. As one person put it yesterday, I'm "poli-ticked off."
A friend of mine was in town for a wedding (more about that in a minute) on Saturday and he lives in the Chicago area. He said he has not seen one political ad on TV and hardly any candidates come to Chicago. I knew we were getting the mega-dose being in a swing state but I didn't realize how big the difference was. Campaign ads are on the air almost constantly. Candidates or prominent supporters hit town every other day.
For local journalists, especially at a time when newspapers are cutting back on staffing, it's been exceptionally tiring.
I am hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. There's not much more I can do at this point, except cast my vote tomorrow. I have no interest in voting early, but I saw on the news last night that people waited in long lines to vote two days before the election. I've never had to wait long at my polling place. We'll see how that goes tomorrow.
Whatever your preferences are, just be sure to vote!
* * *
About the wedding: I was a groomsman at the wedding Saturday night of Ken Leslie, a friend who has devoted a lot of time and energy to helping the homeless. He and his bride, Norma, got married under a big tent at the "Tent City" project downtown, an outreach Ken started years ago to raise awareness of the plight of the homeless and to provide services to them including eye, dental and medical care as well as food.
It was a most unusual wedding, to say the least, but a perfect setting for Ken and Norma. A Catholic priest participated in the ceremony as well as a Foursquare Gospel minister and a pastor of a nondenominational Christian church.
Lots of homeless people were in the seats and cheered Ken on, knowing him so well from his volunteer work.
* * *

Last Thursday, I met Elie Wiesel and covered his lecture at the University of Toledo. He is one of my heroes, as are all the Holocaust survivors I have met. Professor Wiesel, who turned 80 recently, was most gracious and invited me to visit him any time I'm in New York City.
He gave a terrific talk about what humanity has learned or failed to learn from history. We have made many mistakes but there are some positive signs.
I was glad to see that the auditorium was completely full, with an overflow area set up to accommodate more via closed circuit TV. But the downside is that someone complained to me that they got to the hall with their children an hour and a half before the lecture and were turned away. I feel terrible for the woman and her children, but I realize it's hard to anticipate the turnout for an unticketed event like this. The auditorium seated 1,600 so this was a huge crowd.
Here are links to the articles I wrote in advance of his speech and the reporting on his lecture.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
Nov. 3, 2004

I went to a party the other day and started chatting with a young man who is interested in going into journalism. He asked me what I thought. My response: Are you crazy?
I love the news business but for someone who is just getting started in this field, there are so many unanswered questions and potential pitfalls it would be hard for me to recommend it for a career.
Maybe after this season of turmoil is over we'll know more more about the future of journalism. For now, however, we don't know (a) how long there will be a print edition of newspapers and (b) how newspapers are going to survive the next few years of economic strife.
Like most industries, the fate of newspapers is intertwined with the strength of the economy. When we are in a recession, as the government finally acknowledged on Monday -- retroactive to December 2007, by the way -- people buy fewer goods and services and advertisers tend to buy fewer newspaper ads.
Add to that the impact of the internet, where newspapers are desperately slitting their own throats by offering everything they have in the print edition only free and instantaneously, and you've got a genuine catastrophe in the making.
Only the best business minds and news visionaries will be able to hold their course through the troubled seas and steer their way to the calm waters that lie somewhere ahead for the newspaper industry.
In the meantime, I have plenty of ideas but nobody's asking me -- except prospective journalists in their teens and early 20s. All I can tell them at present is to find another less tenuous career. Those who feel compelled to be journalists, which I was at their age, my words of wisdom are to jump in and hang on for what is sure to be a wild ride.
* * *
Sylvania, Ohio
Dec. 2, 2008

I am teaching a reporting class at Bowling Green State University and tonight we had a guest speaker from an Indiana newspaper who talked about multimedia reporting.
It was meant to inspire and inform students about the new journalism, but the result was more disturbing than encouraging.
This young reporter carries a digital camera on every assignment, sends photos from his cell phone for breaking news, and edits video and audio for the newspaper's website.
He was talking about having a "story board" in your mind when you go on an assignment, and looking to interview "characters" who are animated when they talk.
Is this the future of print journalism? It sounds more like the kind of stuff you see from a low-budget, low-power local TV station.
This reporter also said the newspaper's website is supposedly going to bring in enough revenue to cover all the newsroom's expenses by 2011. Now that is an ambitious goal... No U.S. paper is even close to that, as far as I know, and to achieve that by 2011 seems like a pipe dream to me.
Several of my students who hung around afterward were quite peeved by this presentation. They want to write for a newspaper, they don't want to be editing videos and juggling cameras and tripods and notebooks while they're doing interviews.
I am cognizant of the importance of the internet and the need for newspapers to be savvy about how to present news online. But I also think this "convergence" of media is not being handled properly.
The main thing for reporters to focus on is to gather the news and write about it. Videos and slide shows and audio soundbytes should be incidental. On the other hand, there is room for reporters who will specialize in multimedia.
Ideally, there should be separate staffs, one for print and one for the web. They can work together and complement one another.
But I cringe at the thought of newspaper reporters of the future being more concerned with storyboarding and finding animated characters than with having a nose for news, interviewing people regardless of how "animated" they may look on screen, and being good at putting their thoughts and news into words.
* * *
I watched my beloved Duke Blue Devils get blown out tonight by Clemson, one of the worst -- no, make that THE worst -- performances I've ever seen from a Coach K-coached squad. Duke has really stumbled after reaching the No. 1 spot a few weeks ago.
* * *
Feb. 4, 2009
Sylvania, Ohio

This editorial cartoon about the future of newspapers is a little too true for comfort, but funny nonetheless... It ran in The Blade on Monday, Feb. 23
I'll try to post it another way but in the meantime here's a link to download it ... It's worth the trouble, IMO.

Download file

OK, I wasn't really looking for change and I didn't find anything under the cushions, but one of my favorite columnists from days gone by, Sidney Harris, used to use that phrase as a catch-all headline for odds and ends...
In this case, I was looking through some old newspaper archives and came across a riveting story and headline from 1931 that shows how much journalism has changed over the decades. We tend to think the rules and practices of today were always in force, and that only the details of the stories change. Not so.
Here is the first part of an article, verbatim, published Oct. 7, 1931. By today's standards, it would be considered as sensationalistic as the purple prose of a cheap detective novel:

CHARM FINALLY FAILS 'ABIE THE PUNK' LUBITSKY

---

Young Racketeer's Slaying Follows Many Close Calls of Violence

The phantom of Fate Wednesday had snuffed out with blood and bullets the life of Abie (The Punk) Lubitsky, kid Toledo gangster whose charmed life had brought him safely thru more than a score of dramatic episodes, shooting scrapes, street fights, auto accidents. The blast of gangster's revolvers which sent a stream of lead thru Abie's skull as he sat in his car in Franklin avenue at Bancroft street waiting for the traffic light was not new music to the ears of the 23-year-old booze-runner, policy game operator, racketeer and police character. He had heard it as a kid when he hustled newspapers in downtown Toledo; he heard it many times later as he drove his booze cars at reckless, breakneck speed to elude hijackers and pursuing dry agents. Nor was the sting of lead searing thru his body a new sensation, but this time it was different -- it dispelled the charm which the underworld superstitiously believed guarded him from being "rubbed out." Abie's status in the underworld was just a little bit hazy. Some cited him as a "game, square kid," others hinted that his shield bore the bar sinister of the squealer. Since 1923 he had been arrested by police 24 times, had served on federal sentence for liquor law violation and had another two-year term for liquor conspiracy hanging over his head.

* * *
The story continues for seven more paragraphs but the first half is the most colorful.
If a police reporter tried to submit a story like that today, he'd probably be fired.
And why, pray tell, did they use "thru" even back then? I thought it was a modern irritant and excuse for laziness. But here it was used several times... and there were other errors, such as "gangster's (singular) revolvers" instead of "gangsters' (plural) revolvers". I guess that shows that some things -- like typos and misspellings -- don't change.
* * *
I was scheduled to interview Catholic radio talk show host Al Kresta today but his producer goofed and the interview fell through. Fortunately, I wasn't on a tight deadline and we rescheduled it for Monday.
Story is scheduled to run 3/7.
This week, I'm writing about the Presbyterian Church (USA) vote on an amendment that may (or may not) allow the ordination of gays and lesbians; local Bahai's concerned about the fate of seven leaders facing trial in Iran, and a Lutheran pastor (Missouri Synod) who was ordained in the Antiochian Orthodox Church last Sunday.
An interesting mix of religious groups and issues, don't you think?
* * *
I voted for Adam Lambert and Megan Joy Corkrey for American Idol this week. Adam did an amazing job singing the Stones' "Satisfaction." It is a daunting task to put your own spin on a Mick Jagger/Stones classic but he rose to the occasion.
I thought Megan Corkrey did OK, nothing outstanding, but she's so cute and has a good enough voice I think she would do well if she continued.
I'm wondering how the "wild card" picks are going to be selected. That will be an interesting week.
Thus far, Danny Gokey and Adam Lambert are by far the best two singers and entertainers in the competition.

I heard this amazing story on Garrison Keillor's excellent radio show, "The Writer's Alamanc," broadcast on Feb. 17. There's a happy ending, however, since she found her niche in fiction:

It's the birthday of the Queen of Crime, novelist Ruth Rendell, born in London, England (1930). Her career as a writer did not start out on a promising note — she was fired from her first job as a journalist after she wrote a story about a Tennis League dinner without actually attending it, which was obvious since she failed to mention in the story that the keynote speaker had died in the middle of the speech.

But she went on to become a best-selling author of more than 50 books, many of them under the pseudonym Barbara Vine. Her novels include A Judgment in Stone (1977), King Solomon's Carpet (1991), and her most recent, Portobello (2008). Every morning she writes for four hours, and then she eats the exact same lunch: bread, cheese, salad, and fruit.

I've only cried a few times while covering stories. One was yesterday after a local Yom HaShoah ceremony, or Day of Remembering, to recall the Holocaust.
(The other times were after interviewing the family members of a teenage girl who died in a car accident on a snowy road, and after interviewing a young Marine who had just come back from Iraq and matter-of-factly told me about the times he almost got killed. It just really hit me hard, while driving back to the office, just how much so many good young men are putting on the line every day for our nation's -- yours and mine -- security and safety.)
Yesterday I interviewed several Holocaust survivors and then introduced two of them to 15-year-old girls from Notre Dame Academy, a local Catholic school, who have been studying the Holocaust. I looked over and one of the girls was crying quietly. I got choked up at the sight and then while driving home to write the article felt the tears flowing down my cheeks.
The Holocaust is beyond belief, but it really happened. No matter how many times I write about it or read about it or watch movies about it (the latest being the powerful "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"), I find it almost incomprehensible that one group of human beings could be so cold-blooded and methodical that they would try to wipe out an entire race of people.
The survivors' stories, the girl's tears, the quiet and solemn candlelighting ceremony, all hit me hard as I left the synagogue. Even veteran reporters have their weak points.
Here's a link to the story I wrote, published today.

* * *
On another note, here's a different spin on global warming, reported by Levine Breaking News:

FAT PEOPLE CAUSE GLOBAL WARMING: The rising number of fat people was yesterday blamed for global warming. Scientists warned that the increase in big-eaters means more food production a major cause of CO2 gas emissions warming the planet. Overweight people are also more likely to drive, adding to environmental damage.
* * *
April 22, 2009
Toledo, Ohio

Quebec court says reporter went too far in infiltrating sect

by Ron Csillag
Religion News Service

TORONTO (RNS) A Quebec court has ruled that a journalist's undercover investigation of the Raelian sect in the province violated the privacy of its members.

The court awarded $9,000 Cdn ($7,688 US) in damages to two Raelians who said they had suffered embarrassment and loss of revenue after being identified as senior figures close to sect leader Claude Vorilhon, who goes by the name Rael.

The case goes back to 2003 when Brigitte McCann, a reporter for the Journal de Montreal, spent nine months undercover as a member of the Raelians. Her articles won Quebec's top journalism prize and exposed a darker side to the sect, which claims 55,000 followers worldwide who believe in UFOs and that humans have been cloned.

McCann reported that Vorilhon believes he has been targeted for assassination by the CIA, demands generous contributions from followers and that his entourage includes "angels" prepared to die to protect him.

Quebec Court Judge Charles Grenier ruled that the newspaper was not justified in infiltrating the Raelians because information about the sect was publicly available. And he suggested that an undercover press investigation of the sect leads to a slippery slope.

"If the activities of a group or organization are legal and of a private nature, what can justify the use of so-called clandestine investigation methods in the name of the public right to information?" Judge Grenier asked. "The non-conformity of ideas and activities? Their bizarreness? Their occult character? General disapproval? And what else?"

The judge found that the publication of the plaintiffs' pictures and personal information infringed their right to privacy. Their identities were not made public.

A woman who is a member of Vorilhon's inner circle of "angels" said her practice as a psychologist suffered after she was publicly identified as a high-ranking Raelian, and was awarded $7,000 in damages.

The other plaintiff, a general contractor, was identified by the newspaper as president of a company on whose land the Raelians' UFOLand headquarters is located, northeast of Montreal. He was awarded $2,000.

In a statement, the Raelians called for the revocation of McCann's prize and said they would soon "demonstrate their joy" at the ruling in front of the offices of the Journal de Montreal.

Today is the last day the Ann Arbor News will print a daily edition. It's one of the early casualties of the war between pixels and paper.
Pixels are definitely on the attack and the print media are circling the wagons and playing defense.
What the print folks need to do is to reinvent themselves, toss out the 200-year-old business model and come up with a newspaper that people want to buy and want to read and want to buy advertising in.
I hear over and over again from people who love to read the paper and love to hold a newspaper in their hands and fear that all papers will go the way of the AA News. I don't think that is the inevitable fate of the entire industry but it could be leaning that way if we don't get the right people in the right places to make key strategic decisions and to have a vision of what the future of newspapers must look like.
It's a lot like having a good general in a time of war. We can win this thing and survive, or we can lose the war and be wiped out. We need visionary and competent leadership.
-----
The story reprinted below, with photos and sidebars, can be read online here.

====================

Farewell Ann Arbor:
News closing ends decades-long tradition of daily newspaper publishing

by Geoff Larcom | The Ann Arbor News
July 23, 2009 08:00AM

A publishing tradition that began in 1835, when an optimistic pioneer printer named Earl P. Gardiner started the Michigan Argus, enters a dramatic new era today.
The Ann Arbor News is closing. Today is our final edition. A corporate decision announced exactly four months ago has ticked down to its last moment.

Farewell, Ann Arbor. Hugs all around.

For some, this day is tinged with sadness and shock over the loss of an Ann Arbor institution, the city's only daily newspaper. But others are curious about what the future holds in a time of rapid media change.

AnnArbor.com, a Web-driven successor to The News that will also print a Thursday and Sunday paper, plans to unveil its new site Friday. The first newspaper will come out Sunday.

They are drastically different events, both in tone and substance, yet both the closure and the launch underscore the sense of transience and humility that comes in researching the 174-year history of newspaper publishing in Ann Arbor.

You realize, as then-publisher Timothy White remarked in 1985, when The News celebrated its 150th birthday, that we are but temporary caretakers in chronicling events in our town. Today is the latest link in a chain of inevitable change.

Ann Arbor's main newspaper has also been called The Ann Arbor Courier, The True Democrat, The Daily Times, The Daily Argus, The Daily Times News and The Ann Arbor Daily News. The paper finally became The Ann Arbor News in 1937, several months after it moved into its present building at 340 E. Huron St.

Throughout the city's history, the papers operated from nearby locations in downtown Ann Arbor. A nearly month-long printers' strike in 1958 and a three-day closure after a blizzard buried the town in 1978 are the only reported breaks in our publication.
That is, until today.

As Ann Arbor grew from a hamlet of about 1,000 in 1835 to today's city of more than 110,000, the paper was there almost every step of the way.

Among the nation's best

Unlike today's mixed package of news, features and columns, the 19th-century Ann Arbor papers had a political mission. Gardiner was an unabashed Democrat and used the paper to promote his views, as did his successors.

The 20th century offered a more objective brand of coverage, although until the 1970s the paper emphasized national news out front before becoming more local on its cover page.

Recent years have brought state and national distinction to The News as it became more proactive and aggressive. A 1989 study by the American Society of Newspaper Editors named The News one of the top 14 smaller-sized papers in the country, citing the papers' reporting, content and display. The News was selected out of a field of about 1,350 papers with daily circulations of 50,000 or less, about 85 percent of all daily papers in America.

Such papers "refuse to be intimidated by their size," said Jeanne Abbott, a professor of journalism at the University of Missouri who helped select the honorees. "Their visions are ambitious and uncompromising ...

Brian Reynolds, The Ann Arbor NewsAnn Arbor News copy editor Domenica Trevor laughs Wednesday at photos of staff members taken by photographer Leisa Thompson in the newsroom. Today is the last day of publication for The News.
"In these newspapers, there is a great deal of joy in the product, an awareness of the possibilities and a healthy skepticism of limitations."
Ed Petykiewicz, who has served as editor of The News from the summer of 1988 to today's closing, said then that quality begins with the publisher's commitment to excellence "and is reinforced by planning and a staff that knows how to handle any unforeseen event with imagination and professionalism."

Such honors have continued through this year, when a four-day series by The News on the intersection of academics and athletics at the University of Michigan won first place for investigative reporting in a statewide Michigan Associated Press editorial contest for papers of all sizes.

The News' editorial pages have also ranked among the best in the state. A first place honor in the 2007 Michigan Press Associaton contest cited writing that presented "local issues with a solid flow that wasn't weighed down by numbers or forced facts."

In addition, The News' sports section and reporting efforts have consistently been judged in the nation's top 10 in an annual contest conducted by the Associated Press Sports Editors.

The awards are recent examples in a string of honors over the last 30 years that have stamped The News as a consistent producer of public-service oriented stories that hold officials accountable.

Petykiewicz credits the Ann Arbor News' staff for such sustained excellence. People who could work in larger markets often came to Ann Arbor, where they enjoyed the quality of life and nature of the job. "We've always had better journalists than you would expect for the size of the paper," Petykiewicz said this month.

Laurel Champion, who has served as publisher of The News since March 2005, says working with a talented group of employees was the top satisfaction of serving in the top spot.

"I've always felt that from our news coverage to our printing quality to our sales effort, we have put out a top-notch quality newspaper that would rival any other," Champion said this month.

Throughout the years, amid the varying approaches to gathering news, came the thousands of stories, headlines and editorials that knit together the triumph, tragedy and excitement that tell the history of a fascinating city.

Lon Horwedel, The Ann Arbor NewsAnn Arbor News editor Ed Petykiewicz packs up his belongings in his office Wednesday morning.
"It's a great newspaper town," says Dave Bishop, who served in a variety of positions, including managing editor, ombudsman and columnist, during a 35-year career at The Ann Arbor News that ended with his retirement in the fall of 1999. "People are intensely interested in local affairs. Readers have high expectations. That made us better."
Yet even such a vibrant and affluent town could not guarantee The News ' survival, as Ann Arbor today becomes the first city in the country to lose its only daily newspaper.

Advocacy, then balance

The early descendants of The Ann Arbor News engaged in a century of boisterous opinion before moderation set in during the middle of the twentieth century.

Through the prism of history, many of the editorial statements are confounding and even absurd.

Abraham Lincoln was "not a scholar" and "has no reputation as a statesman" said The Weekly Michigan Argus in 1860.

Alf Landon was the perfect antidote to the Marxism of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal, said The Ann Arbor Daily News in 1936.

And in the late 1850s, The Argus covered the trial of a man who killed a long-time friend for seducing his wife. The paper clucked approvingly, noting that shooting your wife's lover "should set many a seducer to thinking."

But such wild flourishes of opinion, usually arising from the whims of a highly political editor/owner, evolved into more responsible comment in the 20th century.

In 1954, during his first months of a 22-year tenure as editor, Art Gallagher greatly expanded the letters to the editor feature, leading to decades of lively exchange between readers and their paper.

That dialogue intensified during what Gallagher refers to as the "Sizzling Sixties." As former U-M student Judy Rakowsky noted during an interview with Gallagher in 1978: "Issues that rumbled below the surface in other Michigan towns erupted into demonstrations and public outcry in Ann Arbor."

During the Vietnam War, The News endured sharp criticism from both liberals and conservatives. One night, someone painted "One News is bad news" in big black letters on the white stone Ann Arbor News building, recalls Gallagher in personal papers on file in U-M's Bentley Historical Library.

The paper was picketed by anti-war groups, yet also fell victim to an unsuccessful boycott by a veterans group that advocated the war. Gallagher even faced pressure from colleagues around the newspaper chain for what some considered excessive coverage of civil rights events and issues.

Throughout the turbulent times, Gallagher said he tried to set a balanced tone that didn't turn away from injustices minorities faced in Ann Arbor.

"We couldn't have gotten away with being a crusading type of newspaper in this town," Gallagher told Rakowsky in 1978. "It's too intelligent."

Lon Horwedel, The Ann Arbor NewsAnn Arbor News receptionist Dawn Tobias sorts through the last week's worth of papers Wednesday morning, the day before the closing of The News.

No sacred cows

In recent years, the news and editorial pages pushed hard for openness by public officials, covering the gap between what is said publicly and what it is reality.

The News' recent stories often cast a sharp eye on behind-the-scenes activity of public officials. Among the topics were heavy payouts of pension funds to Ann Arbor city officials who manipulated the system, golden parachutes to cabinet members of former U-M president James Duderstadt and the deteriorating relationship between former U-M president Lee Bollinger and the Board of Regents.

The News focused its investigative efforts on a variety of topics. Special projects included in-depth reporting on Ann Arbor's schools, on local growth and development, the Huron River and the complex relationship between U-M and Ann Arbor.

Petykiewicz says the coverage transcended politics. "There were no sacred cows ..." he said. "We didn't genuflect to political ideology - either conservative or liberal. That was unsettling to people who wanted a homogenous approach that was shaped through a lens of political correctness.

"No one got a pass on the issues of openness and public disclosure."
Sometimes, in recent years, The News' actions drew fire from segments of the community while others praised the paper's sense of independence.

In the early 1990s, The News became one of the first newspapers in the country to publish news of commitment ceremonies for same-sex couples. Dissenting portions of the community refused any discussion on the issue.

Alan Warren, The Ann Arbor NewsPapers roll off the presses at The Ann Arbor News printing plant on State Road.
Many residents also criticized The News when it endorsed George W. Bush over Al Gore in the 2004 presidential election, and then declined to endorse any candidate in the most recent campaign. Several hundred subscribers canceled their subscriptions after the Bush endorsement, but nearly all quietly restarted.
As the editorial voice of The News grew in strength and impact, so did its charitable footprint, as The News became an active corporate partner around town.

The News' "Warm The Children" clothing program became a staple of the Christmas giving season, raising more than $1 million to purchase new clothes for needy youngsters.

The paper helped sponsor many community events and became a central player in the annual United Way campaign. Ann Arbor News executives served in top leadership roles, yet the paper wrote stories exposing financial irregularities in the local United Way, a noteworthy dichotomy between service and function.

Business decline

Yet despite years of solid journalism and community involvement, business conditions began to chip away at The News. Over the last 10 years, The New experienced a sharp decline in advertising revenue set against rising fixed costs.

The slide began with classified advertising, with losses significantly increasing in the last few years with the advent of online alternatives. Display advertising also declined in 2007 on the heels of Pfizer's announcement to pull out of Ann Arbor. As revenues shrank, expenses rose, most notably newsprint, which increased 30 percent in the last year alone.

Brian Reynolds, The Ann Arbor NewsAnn Arbor News reporter Art Aisner leaves the Ann Arbor News building with a carrier's bag to deliver old Ann Arbor News photos to the fire department on Wednesday.
News management began to offer buyouts and decreased the size of the paper in a dramatic effort to trim costs. In May of 2008, the paper had 321 full and part time employees, compared to 258 a year later. Finally came the March 23 announcement that Advance Publications, which owns The News and seven other Michigan papers, had decided to shut down its Ann Arbor property and start over. No longer would Advance struggle with the means of "managing decline," in the words of said Matt Kraner, president of AnnArbor.com.
In the online world, AnnArbor.com will minimize the most costly expenses associated with publishing a daily newspaper - newsprint, printing and distribution - while functioning with a smaller staff.
"Putting out a daily print newspaper in this market is not a sustainable business," Champion says. "Over the last couple of years, we've made a lot of tough decisions to reduce our costs carefully and appropriately, even as we continued to suffer severe advertising losses.

"Unfortunately those cuts could not turn the course for us."
In summing up his 21-year run as editor, Petykiewicz echoes the thoughts of hundreds of colleagues in conveying the excitement imbedded in 174 years of newspaper history.

"I love our profession and what we do," he says. "We have front-row seats to history as it unfolds. It is wonderfully exciting, and the unpredictability of life gives us opportunity after opportunity to write about new events that have the potential to explain issues or trigger emotional responses from readers ...

"I'm grateful for the opportunity to be the editor of a daily newspaper that has done very good work and is widely respected in our industry.
"I wish it didn't have to end this way."

Geoff Larcom can be reached at 734-417-9658 or glarcom@gmail.com.

Media magnate Rupert Murdoch is going to try to put the genie back in the bottle and start charging people to read online news. This is something all newspaper leaders will be watching closely... It's a step that needs to be taken but everyone is afraid to do it.
The public is used to "free news" now and it's questionable whether they'll be willing to pay for it. It's pathetic that newspapers are giving away their product online. You pay for cable or satellite tv, you pay for internet access, you pay for services that cost money to provide.
I personally think it's too late to salvage the newspaper industry as we know it, which has been hit by the double whammy of fast and easy internet access and the current Depression.
It's also pathetic, however, if the newspapers' decisionmakers choose to just curl up and die. At least Rupert Murdoch is making an effort.
Gwynne Dyer, as usual, offers some pithy insights into the current newspaper predicament in this rather short column.

===============
Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Column by Gwynne Dyer

LONDON - Can Rupert Murdoch save the newspaper industry by making people pay to read the news online? Probably not, though his reputation as a financial wizard has bewitched a lot of people into believing that he can. More importantly, does the newspaper industry as a whole need to be saved, or is this largely an American problem?

The "Dirty Digger" has declared that he would start charging for the online content of all his newspapers. In the United States, where many if not most big-city dailies are in a financial "death-spiral," as one editorial page editor put it, the industry prayed he was right.

Mr. Murdoch's reputation as a master of the media universe is so high that even his competitors hope he can make it work. "I believe that if we're successful, we'll be followed fast by other [print] media," he said, and that's true. But past experience argues that he won't be successful: there are too many free alternatives.

When the first newspapers began putting their content on the Web 15 years ago, they made it available free in the belief that the online version would supplement rather than replace the lucrative print editions, and in the hope that eventually online advertising would provide a healthy new stream of revenue. But the online versions did cut into the print readership, and online ad rates never rose to match those of the print editions. In the past couple of years, online revenues have ceased to grow entirely.

So when the recession came along, most American newspapers were already in a very vulnerable position, and now many are at death's door. I'm getting used to lawyers' letters from U.S. dailies explaining that they are now in Chapter 11, and so I can forget about what they owe me for the column as I am not a secured creditor. However, they can pay me for articles I send in the future - the law is strange that way.

A likelier explanation for the U.S. disaster is what happened to the newspaper industry in the 1980s and 1990s. It was a time of "greed is good" in American capitalism, and newspapers were still profitable then. The old family owners were bought out by chains that sought returns of 10 percent to 15 percent a year, far more than the former owners had ever expected. The new owners' first priority was to keep the share prices up, so they had to keep the profits high, so they started cutting costs - and the biggest cost in running a newspaper is the journalists.

There are few U.S. newspapers that employ even half as many journalists as they had 15 years ago. Yet news gathering remains a highly labor-intensive business. In effect, the new owners and managers gutted the content in order to maintain high profit margins. Now most of them are out on golf courses, and the newspapers they ran are on the rocks.

Where does the news business go from here? Blogs and "citizen journalism" are not the answer: serious news-gathering costs serious money, and there has to be a business model that supports it. Whoever comes up with the solution will be the new Bill Gates, but we may have to wait. As U.S. Internet guru Clay Shirky said, the immediate future may consist of "decades of random experimentation, much of which will fail."

* * *
Gwynne Dyer is a London-based independent journalist.

Here's a statement released by Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners and a leader in the nation's social justice movement, on the death of Ted Kennedy:

“In the aftermath of the 2004 Presidential elections, the Democrats were roundly accused of losing the "moral values voters" in America, and of being the party of "secularists" who were hostile to faith and religion. The very first Democrat to call me and ask to talk about that accusation and how to change the moral debate in America was Ted Kennedy. He invited me to his home, where he, and his wife Vicki, engaged me in a long and very thoughtful conversation, into the night, about the relationship between faith, morality, and politics. Their own deep Catholic faith was evident and their articulation of it very impressive. Our discussion was not partisan at all--it was not about how to win religion back for the Democrats. Rather, we focused on the great moral issues facing the nation, and how we as people of faith needed to respond to them.

On the occasion of his death, I pray that God may now move us as a nation to address the greatest commitment of Senator Kennedy's life--the need for a comprehensive reform of the health care system in America--as a deeply moral issue and one that calls forth the very best that is within us. May we honor the life and death of Senator Edward Kennedy by laying aside the rancor, lies, fear, and even hate that has come to dominate the health care debate in America this summer; and regain our moral compass by recovering the moral core of this debate: that too many Americans are hurting and suffering in a broken and highly inequitable health care system; and that it is our moral obligation to repair and reform it--Now.”

Jim Wallis

President of Sojourners

I was stunned and saddened to read that Editor & Publisher, an authoritative source of journalism industry news, is ceasing publication.
E&P has been a place to go for thorough and balanced coverage of the media throughout my 30-plus year career, and it was around long before me.
The magazine traces its roots to 1884 as a magazine called The Journalist which merged and started printing as E&P in 1901.
The magazine also was known for its classified ads and helped many journalists find jobs over the years.
That all changed with the advent of the internet, of course.
E&P became the latest in the growing list of journalistic fatalities after its parent company forged a deal with a new media holdings firm that bought 8 magazines. It declined to buy E&P and opted for such titles as Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter and Backstage instead. Entertainment obviously generates more reader interest than "insider" journalism news these days.

As I've discussed in this space many times before, newspaper execs made a seriously costly error a decade ago when they decided to put their news online for free. At the time, the industry thought the web would supplement its print editions. Many feel it's too late "to put the genie back in the bottle" but I believe it's a necessary step for survival to start charging people to read the news online.
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has said he will charge for online news and today the New York Times announced a similar move. The fee-based system won't take effect until 2011, so the pressing question is: will the print newspaper industry still be around when it's time to collect?

Here's the full story from the Associated Press:

New York Times to ask Web readers to pay up in '11

New York Times to ask readers to feed its Internet meter next year in quest for more revenue

By Andrew Vanacore and Michael Liedtke, AP Business Writers
NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Times plans to charge readers for full access to its Web site next year, reviving an idea that fizzled twice for the newspaper. This time it's betting that it will be able to wring more revenue from readers without crimping its Internet ad sales.

Under the plan outlined Wednesday, the Times will adopt a "metered" system that will allow readers to click on a certain number of stories for free each month before fees kick in. A metered system is designed to draw casual readers with free articles while getting fees from people who want to dig deeper on the site.

The fees won't be imposed until next year, giving Times executives more time to build the system and figure out the details that are likely to dictate whether the gamble pays off. The pivotal issues include determining how much to charge and how many stories will be free each month.

The only certainty for now is that subscribers to the printed version of the Times will still get unlimited free access to the Web site. That could help the Times sell more subscriptions to the printed newspaper among a portion of Internet readers who figure they may as well get the newspaper delivered to their home or office, too, as long as they have to pay to read everything online.

The newspaper also indicated it will meter the material it makes available on other online channels, such as through mobile phones, electronic readers and tablet computers. No further details were provided.

The metered approach has worked well for The Financial Times, a more specialized newspaper that caters to an upscale audience interested primarily in news about the stock market, the economy and businesses.

Some newspaper analysts and executives have questioned whether Internet fees make as much sense for more mainstream newspapers such as the Times, whose stories span many of the political, business, sports and cultural topics that are covered by other news outlets that don't charge for Web access.

That raises the chances that hordes of fee-averse readers will flock to free news sites, a scenario that could also drive away Internet advertisers interested in reaching the biggest possible audience. Any downturn in Internet advertising -- one of newspapers' few areas of growth in recent years -- could more than offset any benefit from reader fees.

The Internet currently generates between 10 percent and 15 percent of newspaper ad sales now, and the figure is expected to rise as more marketing budgets shift from print to the Web.

The Times could face an especially painful backlash because it has one of the largest newspaper followings on the Web, with 12.4 million visitors last month, according to the research firm comScore Inc. By comparison, The Washington Post's Web site attracted 9.2 million and USA Today drew 8.6 million.

Reflecting the stakes riding on its decision, the Times spent more than six months assessing the logic of charging for its Web site.

More newspaper publishers are likely to take the leap too, now that one of the world's best known newspapers has taken the plunge, said Greg Harmon, chief executive of Belden Interactive, which consults with publishers about Internet fees.

"This is like the industry is being given the permission to charge, almost like in a papal sense," Harmon said.

About 150 U.S. newspapers already have imposed Internet subscriptions, with fees ranging from as little as $1 per month to as much as $35 per month, based on a recent study conducted by ITZ/Belden Interactive.

The most successful so far has been The Wall Street Journal, which had an average of 407,000 electronic subscribers during the six-month period that ended Sept. 30. The Journal's Web site on Wednesday was offering online-only subscriptions at about $8 per month and print-only subscriptions at about $9 per month.

With a long history of award-winning reporting and commentary, the Times should be able to lure a substantial number of Internet subscribers, said newspaper analyst Mike Simonton of Fitch Ratings.

"It's a very unique franchise and it has a very loyal readership," he said.

The Times has a paid weekday circulation of about 928,000. Newspapers charging Internet fees so far have been able to get the equivalent of 2.4 percent of their print circulation to subscribe on the Web, based on ITZ/Belden Interactive's study of the 25 general-interest publications that have gained the most traction with online fees. The average fee among those newspapers is $8.14 per month.

However, the Times attracted just 4,000 subscribers when it first tried to charge for Internet access during the Web's infancy in 1996. Another experiment called Times Select took a more moderate approach, requiring a $50 annual subscription to read Times columnists. That effort drew 221,000 subscribers, but dented ad sales enough to convince the Times to scrap the product in 2007.

The Times learned a lot from its experience with online fees and is confident it has come up with a concept better suited to today's reading habits, said Bill Keller, the newspaper's executive editor.

"A key to the plan is its flexibility," Keller wrote in an e-mail. "We can calibrate the amount of free content you get before you get a pay message in order to avoid sharp drops in traffic and advertising."

The decision to try Internet fees again reflects the tough choices facing newspaper publishers as their sales of print ads plunge, depriving them of their main source of revenue.

Overall advertising revenue fell nearly 30 percent in the first nine months of 2009 for the Times Co.'s business unit that includes the Times, the International Herald Tribune and their Web sites. Internet advertising accounted for about 14 percent, or $123 million, or the division's revenue during that period.

To bring in more cash, the Times already has raised its print subscription rates. In an industry rarity, the Times took in slightly more money from its readers during last year's third quarter than from its advertisers. Traditionally 80 percent of newspaper revenue has come from advertising.

Now the Times is counting on its online readers to chip in. Times Co. CEO Janet Robinson said in a statement that the company wants "additional revenue diversity that will make us less susceptible to the inevitable economic cycles."

The Financial Times' metered system provides a glimpse at what the Times' online readers might see.

The London-based newspaper allows anyone to view one free article per month, and people who register on the site can get 10 free articles per month. Subscribers who pay $186 a year get access to most material on the site. A premium subscription for $299 comes with extra material. Or for $397 a year, FT subscribers can get the printed newspaper and read the Web site.

The newspaper has roughly 121,000 people who subscribe exclusively to its digital edition, up 22 percent from a year ago, according to Rob Grimshaw, managing director of FT.com. By comparison, the printed newspaper has about 400,000 subscribers.

He did not disclose specific figures on ad revenue, but he said the newspaper makes up for the loss of advertising volume by charging each advertiser more. It can get this premium, he said, because FT.com knows more than other online destinations about its users and their interests.