Last Updated: April 06, 2000
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A note from the
president
ASNE needs your knowledge to do its work
By Richard A. Oppel
At the 1978 ASNE convention, I figured there had been a mistake.
Why was I here? I was 35, green as lettuce. Jimmy Carter talked of OPEC
oil, Lewis Lapham chided Godless New York, and Bert Lance complained of
copycat journalism.
I watched Gene Patterson, Ben Bradlee and Tom Winship in a huddle. Over
there I could see Tina Hills, Gene Roberts and Scotty Reston.
Surely this was a waste of the Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat’s money.
In the juvenescence of my editorship, the Democrat hemorrhaged headline
errors, and I knew I should be back working on page proofs.
Then, an invitation arrived at our Washington Hilton room.
John Leard of Richmond, Bob Clark of Louisville, Dick Smyser of Oak
Ridge, Tenn., and their wives asked Carol and me to dinner. As the evening
wore on it became clear that these editors were simply welcoming a new
couple into ASNE.
We talked of improving newspapers, serving communities — and keeping
body, mind and family together while doing so. And yeah, we gossipped,
though I didn’t know much then.
It was the start of a 22-year tutelage for me. ASNE has been my Chautauqua,
a place to learn values, ethics and leadership, a place from which to look
at a broader world.
As I sought the advice of friends on how to effectively use a year as
president of ASNE, the theme of leadership emerged.
I’m grateful to Chris Anderson for loaning me this space in The American
Editor one edition early so that I can tell you about next year and seek
your help.
Gregory Favre of McClatchy says, “We need strong leadership within our
newspapers if we are to meet our challenges and continue to grow and serve
our readers and our communities.”
Despite ASNE’s commitment to the Journalism Credibility Project, recent
scandals have hurt our newspapers. No editor I know gloats over the problems
of other editors; we know we are merely one bad decision away from our
own public week of hell.
But ASNE could have no more important objective than strengthening newsroom
leadership, so that we retain and build public confidence amid consolidating
media ownership, technological change and shifts in our nation’s wealth
and demographics. The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer’s Jennie Buckner chairs
this year’s Leadership Committee.
Peter Bhatia of The Oregonian in Portland chairs Ethics and Values,
which will steward the credibility project and probe the relationship between
news values and business imperatives.
The diversity of our content and newsroom staffs is of sustained importance.
Newsday’s Charlotte Hall will chair the Diversity Committee.
We have a strong partnership with the Newspaper Association of America,
the Media Management Center at Northwestern University and the Robert R.
McCormick Tribune Foundation to improve newspaper readership. The Detroit
Free Press’s Bob McGruder chairs the Readership Issues Committee.
Anders Gyllenhaal of The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., will
lead the Freedom of Information Committee in a two-year project on public
records. Its goal is to break out of our defensive stance and develop new
approaches to ensure access.
These five committees are about leadership. But there are 13 other committees
to engage virtually any interest.
For newer members and those who may have receded from committee participation:
ASNE is an organization driven by committees. They are the foundation of
ASNE’s energy through the year. They produce the reports and assemble the
convention program. One editor’s passion can make a huge difference in
a committee, in ASNE and in our craft.
We need you.
I see today why that 1978 convention lineup was meaningful.
An ASNE friend recently said, “Fifty-one weeks a year, we have our noses
to the grindstone. I want to hear Oliver Stone talk about fact and fiction
(1993). I want to hear and see the new president of Russia.”
Back in 1978, one session was titled “Newspapers, Dead or Alive.” And
many afternoon papers from that era are dead. But newspapers constantly
reshape themselves. There is no reason for gloom.
As in 1978, today we learn from each other, and we teach. ASNE is all
about leadership.
Oppel, ASNE vice president, is editor of the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman.
