Last Updated: April 06, 2000
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An American Editor
Leading the News in San Antonio
Robert Rivard is taking the Express-News to new levels
through innovation, alliances and enterprise
By Patrick Yack
Robert Rivard is the editor of the San Antonio Express-News, a 239,000-circulation
Hearst paper.
A native of Petoskey, Mich., the 47-year-old Rivard knows a good
story when he sees one. As reporter for the Dallas Times Herald, Rivard
was among the first reporters inside a New Mexico state prison after a
notorious 1980 riot. After getting his boots bloody while walking around
the prison, he put them on his expense account. The bean-counters said
no.
That same year, Rivard was the only reporter to get inside a converted
Arkansas military camp housing thousands of edgy Cuban detainees following
the Mariel boatlift. His boots came in handy this time: He used them to
smuggle Marlboros to the inmates, who suddenly became a lot friendlier
and a lot more talkative.
He describes himself as driven, energetic, curious, gregarious and
confident. Friends would add: smart, dedicated, industrious, and witty.
Q. The old news cycle, the one built around the morning newspaper’s
deadline, is dead. We live during a time when news is omnipresent — on
television, radio and the Internet. How has this environment shaped your
news philosophy?
A. Hardly anyone in the Express-News newsroom is eager to change from
the 24-hour cycle to the real-time posting of news. It’s inevitable, and
we know it, but so is resistance to change. To speed up the evolution,
we are in the market right now for a reporter-editor who will gather and
post original material on our Web site each day, and help, encourage, prod,
cajole others to post their work instead of waiting for the late-night
news dump to online.
Q. As you think about the nature of reporting breaking news in the
morning newspaper, how have the ingredients changed in light of the 24-hour
news cycle?
A. We see a growing number of people who identify themselves as both
committed newspaper readers and committed users of our Web site, which
belies industry fears that the new might wipe out the old. These readers/users
have higher expectations. They expect great Web design and navigability,
and a steady flow of refreshed news and information. They complain about
a static presentation, and they still expect original, in-depth material
in their morning newspaper, also with a great deal of attention paid to
presentation. No one said it would be easy.
Q. What role does your Internet site play in your daily operations?
A. It’s complicated because we recently morphed our Web site, expressnews.com,
into something called mysanantonio.com. Hearst is half-owner, along with
Belo Corp. of this new Web site, which is operated by an independent subsidiary
of the two media companies. The content is provided by the Express-News
and by KENS, the local NBC affiliate owned by Belo. The advantages of the
site are its customizing features, typical of portals, combined with the
depth of the newspaper and the frequent updates offered by television.
Television also is a very effective driver of users to Web sites in
a way that we do not see newspapers equaling. The disadvantage is that
there is zero synergy between the two newsrooms. We live on different planets.
Q. Do you break news on your Internet site?
A. In brief, yes. In truth, not often enough, even though there is evidence
it actually drives morning readership of the newspaper rather than harming
it. Our current goal, which we fall short of achieving, is to post fresh
news each day, ideally by mid-day but practically speaking, by mid-afternoon.
Q. What alliances with other media do you envision in the future?
A. Editors would like to see the content on mysanantonio.com broadened
to include the programming offered by the local National Public Radio affiliate
in San Antonio. NPR is now run by a former Washington Post reporter, and
he has some exciting Internet plans of his own. The quality of public radio’s
content would really elevate the level of broadcast content on the site.
Radio is magical.
Q. What expectations — if any — do your Hispanic readers have that
your Anglo readers do not share?
A. I would say our city’s Hispanic majority, which still does not wield
economic or political power proportionate to its numbers, looks to us for
timely and essential reporting on such key issues as equal access to higher
education funding; the 2000 census; treatment of immigrants from Mexico;
redistricting and a variety of political and cultural issues that speak
to whether our city and region are moving forward or resisting change.
Q. Do you see a need for a Spanish version of the newspaper?
A. Every editor here wants a Spanish-language section. Justifying it
is another matter. Spanish is our city’s second language, but few people
who speak it here learned how to read and write it, too. ... Unfortunately,
for most of this century in South Texas, those who spoke Spanish were denigrated.
Children were forbidden to speak it in most public schools, so for people
here, it was the language learned at the kitchen table rather than from
books and teachers. Spanish language radio, especially, and television
are strong and vibrant here. There isn’t a good Spanish-language bookstore
or daily newspaper, however. Our best bet to offer Spanish language is
to do it by mirroring our Web site in Spanish. That, I predict, would be
a real exito, which is Spanish for “big hit.”
Q. Your paper has placed a special emphasis on enterprise and investigative
projects. How do you decide what issue to look at more critically?
A. This is South Texas. Dead people still vote on occasion. Influence
peddlers openly do business at city hall and on school boards. Education
reform is a huge issue due to unsatisfactory test scores. A Mexican investment
firm based here is charged with one of the largest criminal frauds in Texas
history. Drugs and money laundering are a fact of life. There is increasing
militarization along the border to fend off waves of illegal immigrants,
yet the border cities seem to have received few of the many benefits promised
by the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, even though
the region is booming. There is plenty for us to do down here.
Q. What role does the paper play in covering state issues?
A. We have a solid two-person capital bureau that grows when the legislature
is in session, which in Texas is every other year between January and May.
We’ve had a border bureau for some years, and are adding three other bureaus
right now along the border and in South Texas to extend our coverage, which
we think is now the most extensive in the state. The U.S.-Mexico border
might be the longest border dividing the first and third worlds anywhere.
We want to own that story in Texas.
Q. Given your readership, do you have an increased news hole for
international news?
A. Readers do complain that the Express-News doesn’t carry enough international
news. These are the same people who read The New York Times, The Economist,
or The Wall Street Journal. It isn’t easy to meet their expectations.
Q. What new beats have you created in recent years?
A. I think we have one of the best military affairs writers in the country,
and our newest beat, demographics and the census, has been a real success.
We’re searching for a legal affairs reporter and a health and fitness reporter,
both of which will be new focuses for us.
Q. Prior to becoming editor, you were the managing editor. How have
you disciplined yourself to stay out of the way of your managing editor?
Have you maintained any of your old responsibilities?
A. Our managing editor, Carolina Garcia, is very strong, and I regard
her more as a partner than someone below me in the chain of command. When
she first arrived a few years back, I said something about easing her into
day-to-day control of the daily news meeting. Perhaps after a few weeks,
I suggested. How about right now? she countered. That was her second day
on the job. I miss my old job, but it’s not mine anymore.
Q. What strategies are you using to attract the caliber of journalist
you want at your paper?
A. We’re paying more money, and as we expand, offering people the chance
to do more meaningful work. We try to take good care of people who work
here, and that pays dividends. As the Express-News improves, the number
of talented journalists wishing to come here grows. It’s a great city and
region, especially if you are comfortable in a place where two countries
and cultures merge.
Q. Despite the declarations of The New York Times, you still seem
to be editor in San Antonio, not Miami. What did you gain from that
experience?
A. As the Tennessee Titans showed us, the one-yard line is a long way
from home. I enjoyed my 15 inches of fame, although I'm still living down
the 12-year-old photo the crack Times researchers dug up. I think the Herald
is still a great newspaper in a great news town, but we are fully engaged
in our own great news town, San Antonio. The opportunity to build at the
Express-News is a unique deal, and there’s a real sense of excitement and
promise in the newsroom.
Yack is editor of The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville.
