Last Updated: May 26, 1999
Printer-friendly version
An American Editor
Editor’s travels have helped him prevail in Dallas
The Dallas Morning News’ rise under editor Ralph Langer
has come by continuing to cover the news like it’s in a newspaper war —
even though its chief rival is gone
By Gene Foreman
One of the remarkable success stories of our era is the emergence of
The Dallas Morning News as the dominant daily in its region and one of
the nation’s most distinguished newspapers.
As the decade of the 1980s began, the Dallas Times Herald, bought by
Times Mirror in 1970, enjoyed journalistic and circulation momentum. It
led in Dallas County circulation and seemed poised to overtake its moribund
competitor in total circulation. But by 1986 the Times Herald had been
sold by Times Mirror, and five years later — with circulation of only half
its rival’s — it had gone out of business.
By March 1997, the Morning News had grown to 523,955 daily and 800,306
Sunday. And along the way, it had won six Pulitzer Prizes.
To get the editor’s perspective on how the miracle of Dallas came about,
we interviewed Ralph Langer, who came to Dallas in 1981 as managing editor
and soldiered with Burl Osborne through the fierce campaign. We also asked
about the Morning News disclosures this spring, reported first on its online
site, about Timothy McVeigh’s purported confession to the Oklahoma City
bombing. And we questioned Langer (rhymes with ranger) about how his earlier
career prepared him for what happened at Dallas.
Q. The impression lingers that at the start of the ’80s, the Times
Herald was the hot paper in town. Is that the way it was?
A. Your impression is basically right. In the beginning, we were ahead
by 20,000 daily, but behind in Dallas County. We were behind in women readers.
We did a survey that showed the public didn’t think either paper had a
strong sports section. The survey also showed high interest in sports;
we concluded you couldn’t overplay sports in this town. We also saw finance
as a big item. The public seemed to want a Wall Street Journal with a sports
section.
So the Morning News decided to really compete. We looked at the market
in a detailed way, and we looked at every aspect of our paper. We decided
to take every section apart and put it back together better. We created
new sections. Every time we had a job opening, we would trade up. And we
added new jobs. we added 100 jobs the first year I was here.
Q. Obviously, Robert Decherd, the new CEO of the company that owned
the Morning News, was in synch with this plan, or it wouldn’t have happened.
A. The wonderful thing about this company is that they wanted a world-class
product, and they understood what it would take to get it. They were willing
to invest to do that. A lot of publishers fade when you get to the part
about what it will take.
Q. Looking back, do you see a turning point?
A. There was no single event. There was a period when we succeeded at
almost every level. Throughout the state of Texas, we had bureaus all over
the place. But it was not all newsroom. The circulation department was
absolutely superb; it got the paper delivered on time. Advertising sold
more than any paper in the United States. At some point, Times Mirror opted
out.
Q. From the reader’s point of view, what were the differences in
the two papers that caused the turnaround?
A. The Morning News invested in state-of-the art presses and a remote
printing plant during a downturn in the Texas economy. So when the economy
came back, the Morning News was positioned for more pages, more color,
better reproduction. It was an investment made at a time when you would
normally fold your cards.
Also, we had decided early on that no section would be weak on any given
day. We wouldn’t just have an outstanding business section on Monday or
Tuesday, it had to be strong every day. Sports had to be strong. And Lifestyle.
Every day, every section had to be as good as we could make it.
Q. Last January, Burl Osborne, who had been editor and publisher,
relinquished the title of editor. For years, you had been executive editor.
How did your duties change?
A. The main change there has been being involved in the editorial page.
Q. How do you manage the paper? Are you deeply involved in day-to-day
decisions?
A. In terms of content, I’m in only on the big stories. In terms of
content direction, we do that in a group setting. The group of senior editors,
AMEs and above, has been extremely stable. Almost everybody has been here
a long time. We work well together, we bounce ideas off each other.
Q. You’re competing head-to-head now with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
in Arlington and the other suburbs between Dallas and Fort Worth. How are
you handling that?
A. We have a separate paper in Arlington, The Arlington Morning News.
It does its own page layouts, it has its own publisher. They produce an
intensely local paper. We have access to each other’s content. The Arlington
Morning News is available by itself on the stand, or, if you buy the Dallas
Morning News, you get the Arlington Morning News inside.
We’re competing very vigorously with the Star-Telegram, but we’re competing
elsewhere as well. Everywhere, there is competition for the reader’s time.
Q. What’s the goal for your paper now?
A. We want to be ever increasingly in touch with the kinds of things
readers want and get that information to them. It’s a challenge, but also
a great opportunity.
Q. What about your online operation?
A. We have five people on the Web site. We’re doing it on an R&D
basis. It’s not an expensive operation.
Q. But when you got the big story about Timothy McVeigh’s confession
to his lawyers, you put that on the Web first. Why did you do that?
A. We basically decided we had the story, let’s publish it. Then television
became our circulation department. It established that it was our story.
Q. How did you authenticate the McVeigh confession?
A. I can’t get into that, because we have to protect sources. It’s sufficient
to say we were absolutely positive.
Q. Do you think your story jeopardized McVeigh’s ability to get a
fair trial?
A. We discussed that over a three-day period. What we had was that McVeigh
acknowledged being involved in the bombing, and even more significantly,
the hour of the bombing was chosen to maximize the body count. That was
information we felt obligated to publish. The court has tools available
to it to deal with evidence publicized ahead of the trial, and to ensure
a fair trial.
Q. You thought this was information that might not come out in the
trial?
A. Presumably it would not come out in the trial.
Q. That was a factor in your decision?
A. It was extremely important information about the worst terrorist
attack on U.S. soil.
Q. Let’s talk about the career path that led to your job in Dallas.
When did you become interested in journalism as a career?
A. I wanted to be a novelist. I thought going to journalism school would
give me a background for that. But I got addicted to newspaper journalism.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be photographer or a writer, so I did both
in college and in my first job.
Q. Where did you go to college?
A. I started at Central Michigan, then transferred to the University
of Michigan for the last two years. I graduated in 1959. I got a University
of Michigan fellowship to work for a year at the Grand Haven (Mich.) Daily
Tribune, and then went into the Army for two years.
Q. What did you do in the Army?
A. I was a counterintelligence officer. I got my commission through
ROTC at the University of Michigan. I took the infantry officer course
at Fort Benning, Ga., and then intelligence school at Fort Holabird, Md.
I spent the rest of my two years at Sandia Base, N.M. Our job was to protect
it from the bad guys.
Q. So, in 1962, you went into newspaper work in earnest?
A. Yes, I was managing editor of the Port Angeles Evening News in Washington
state. I also wrote the editorials, edited copy, was the city hall reporter,
shot sports and general-news photos, and laid out part of the paper. Oh,
and I was paper’s production manager, running the backshop and the presses,
and I also managed the company’s radio station. It was one of those cases
where you got more experience than you could swallow. You wouldn’t want
to do it the rest of your life, but it was a great experience.
Q. What was the circulation of the Evening News?
A. When I went there, 6,500. When I left in 1966, I had got it to 9,500.
Q. So, in 1966 you went to the Detroit Free Press. What did you do
there?
A. I was a copy editor, and wire editor at different times. I was in
town about two-and-a-half years, but nine months of that time, the paper
was on strike. Actually, The Detroit News was struck, and the Free Press
closed because of an agreement between the publishers. I was locked out.
I spent three months as city editor of the strike paper; then the Free
Press helped me get a job with a public relations company; and then I took
a job as editor of seven weeklies in the suburbs. During the strike, I
hardly had a day off. The very week the strike ended in 1968, I started
at the Dayton (Ohio) Journal Herald. Two months later I was managing editor
of that morning paper.
Q. You were in Dayton seven years. What are some things you did there?
A. We did a lot of things: added zoning, initiated environmental reporting,
stepped up the photo product. We assembled a first-class staff.
Q. And in 1975, you went to Everett, Wash., to be editor of the Herald.
Tell about your experience in that job.
A. It was family-owned when I went there. The publisher wanted it to
be the best of its size in the country. We had what was widely recognized
to be as good a photography staff as there was in the country, competing
with the Seattle papers in regional and sports coverage. The circulation
was 48,500 when I went there and 65,500 when I left in 1981.
Q. What caused the increase?
A. We increased coverage in a whole lot of areas. We built a very strong
local product. In the area between Everett and Seattle, where we competed,
we stepped up the pace. The Seattle papers lost penetration, we gained
it. We covered the Seattle professional teams — and we had to, or otherwise
we would be a second buy at best. We had excellent sports photography.
We had very good color reproduction at a time our competitors didn’t. When
Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980, that was the big one. No one on the staff
had ever covered a volcano. That experience hasn’t come in handy since
then, but several people who covered it are here at the News now, so we
could do it.
Q. All these things prepared you well for Dallas. How did you get
together with Burl Osborne?
A. We met when I was at the Journal Herald, and Burl came to Columbus
as the AP bureau chief. I had nagged AP about coverage out of Columbus,
and Burl and I would sit around and talk. Then he left Columbus to go to
the Washington, D.C., bureau, and I went to Washington state, so we were
a continent apart for a while. We’d talk at APME conventions.
Q. How did you wind up in Dallas?
A. Burl left AP to be executive editor at the Morning News in the fall
of 1980. There had been a lot of changes at the top at Everett; the paper
had been sold, and I was having a divorce with the new publisher. I had
made a list of references for a job search, and Burl was one of them. One
day Burl got a reference call on me from the publisher in Spokane, and
after answering questions about me for an hour, he got the idea that maybe
we ought to get together. So I came to Dallas in 1981 as managing editor.
Foreman is deputy editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
