Last Updated: May 20, 1999
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A note
from the president
Lee Stinnett is fond of quoting Russ Wiggins on the nature of our Society:
“If ASNE were any more loosely organized it would cease to exist,” the
legendary Washington Post editor and former ASNE president once remarked.
“If it were better organized it would be a menace.”
Taking that admonition to heart, Lee has managed the Society as executive
director the past 15 years with great competence and leadership — but also
with a low-key style appropriate to an organization of 850 people accustomed
to calling their own shots.
His decision to retire next July 1 came as a surprise to all of us.
As president, I had not considered even the possibility of losing our efficient
top executive, who is just 59. Perhaps I should not be so surprised. His
predecessor, Gene Giancarlo, retired at 58 after 20 years in the position.
Lee will be 60 when he leaves what he describes in his resignation letter
to me as “the best job in the world.”
Not that there haven’t been a few delicate situations along the way.
On a board trip to Russia he once was detained on a Soviet train because
he was carrying two dozen passports — belonging to the ASNE members and
their spouses.
On balance, though, he has maintained a remarkably steady course, generally
keeping the board, the officers and ASNE itself out of trouble. Where
mistakes have been made he has been a tactful master of damage control.
He has made innumerable contributions to our craft, especially in the areas
of diversifying our newsrooms, studying readership and confronting challenges
to freedom of the press. All the while he has kept himself in the background
— yielding the credit to ASNE’s members.
Lee comes by his Southern accent and manner honestly. A native Kentuckian,
he honed his skills with two degrees at the University of Kentucky, then
worked as a reporter in New Orleans and Charlotte. After a four-year stint
on the staff of Emory University in Atlanta, he worked 11 years in various
capacities for the Southern Newspapers Publishers Association. He joined
ASNE as project director in 1981 and succeeded Giancarlo in 1983.
Lee’s first order of business then was establishing the ASNE headquarters
in Reston, where it moved from Easton, Pa. He immediately introduced strong
financial oversight and began a process that has led to greatly expanded
activities and innovations of which he can be justly proud. ASNE’s projects,
its reports, its books and its industry leadership have kept the Society
at the cutting edge of our craft. And, as is Lee’s way, he now has given
us a year’s notice so we have plenty of time to select a replacement in
an orderly manner.
The search for a successor will be launched after the ASNE board meeting
in October. At that meeting the board will review the current job
description and finalize plans for a nationwide search. I have proposed
that vice president Chris Anderson chair a search committee made up of
the officers plus past president Sandy Rowe. Rich Oppel will serve as vice
chair. The committee will recommend a finalist to the board. The new executive
director should be on board in time to attend the San Francisco convention.
Lee himself will handle advertising, correspondence and other details of
the search.
The job, as now defined, involves four principal ongoing responsibilities:
administering the headquarters, assisting ASNE’s leadership in carrying
out their goals, maintaining friendly and helpful relations with members
and outsiders, and administering the ASNE Foundation.
The officers are reviewing this job description and plan to make a recommendation
to the board on whether to stick with it. At issue is maintaining the status
quo or moving toward the concept of a chief executive officer — as several
sister organizations have done in recent years, notably the Newspaper Association
of America (NAA) and Radio and Television News Directors Association
(RTNDA). At least in spirit, Russ Wiggins could very well show up for the
discussion.
Lee, of course, has done a great deal more than meet the requirements
of the job description. First of all, he has become a true friend to each
of the ASNE presidents he has served, myself included. He also has been
an active researcher, writer, contributor to The American Editor, grant
writer, grant administrator, financial manager, committee prodder, convention
planner, policy implementor and general catalyst. He knows virtually every
ASNE member by name and can be counted on for an apropos moment of wit
when he encounters any one of them.
To borrow Tom Winship’s characterization at the time of his hiring,
Lee Stinnett was “made to order for us.”
Seaton, ASNE president, is editor-in-chief of The Manhattan (Kan.)
Mercury.
