Retired members have role in ASNE, but it takes extra effort

While editors "actively engaged in the work of running newspapers" run the Society, there's no reason retired members can't play a large part on its committees

When the National Association of Hispanic Journalists asked ASNE's help attracting young minority students to careers in journalism, the responsibility was handed off to retired member Laurence O'Donnell, now a director of the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund.

When ASNE joined in a continuing celebration of Freedom of the Press, it turned to retired member Jean Otto, now president of the First Amendment Congress, to be its representative.

When the board decided in 1994 to cease publishing the Proceedings of the conventions, retired editor Creed Black, now president and CEO of the Knight Foundation, led a protest by former ASNE presidents that persuaded the board to rescind the decision.

Do retired editors play a role in the affairs of the American Society of Newspaper Editors? Indeed they do. But the gap between participation and potential is enormous.

ASNE is awash in a pool of practical newspaper experience, a resource it taps sometimes but not systematically. There are 188 retired editors on the Society's 1996 roster, more than one-fifth of the membership. But for reasons ranging from lack of imagination to lack of expense accounts to lack of time, most retired members simply watch from the sidelines. Thirty-four, a mere 18 percent of retired members, attended the 1996 convention as compared to 55 percent of the 673 active editors.

The dilemma is that neither the Society nor the retired members quite know what to do with each other. Attempts were made from 1991 to 1995 to find a role. But the whole idea faded for lack of challenging duties assigned by the Society and lack of commitment from enough retirees.

Some retired editors say they sense a chill in the air after they leave the helm of their newspapers.

"I have mixed feelings about attending conventions,' said Dick Smyser, ASNE's president in 1984-85 who was editor of the Oak Ridger in Tennessee. "It's good to see old friends, but one does feel over the hill."

Approving of the recent amendment to the bylaws, Smyser added, "It's good to have a voice in the board selections, and it means that at least 10 to 12 people - the candidates - are likely to speak to us at the opening night receptions."

Jean Otto, former editorial page editor of Denver's Rocky Mountain News and a board member from 1987 to 1990, wrote, "... I had the feeling of being cut off, of no longer belonging and even of being irrelevant in my new position of ëhas-been.' "

And John Seigenthaler, now chairman of The Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., said bluntly, "I do sense that some active members would be upset if retired members are given a more active role."

ASNE does encourage

Despite the misgivings of retirees, ASNE encourages their participation. Quoth the bylaws as amended at the 1996 convention:

"Retired members will have all of the same rights and privileges as regular members, except that they cannot hold office. Retired members who attend the convention may vote in the board of directors elections."

Underscoring the invitation to continued involvement, the Society has long discounted dues for retired members and pegged their convention registration at about 55 percent of the active members' fee.

There's still a difference. Active members may vote absentee ballots if they do not attend the conventions.

"It smacks of discrimination," mused Seigenthaler who, while editor of USA Today and the Nashville Tennesseean, filled the breach as ASNE president in 1988-89, two steps ahead of schedule, due to unforeseen events on the ladder of succession.

Another view holds that the attendance requirement for retirees' voting is a reasonable distinction, a lagniappe for those who demonstrate their continuing interest by attending the conventions.

Retired members no longer run newspapers. And, said President Robert Giles of The Detroit News, "ASNE is an organization of directing editors. While we have liberalized the definition to reflect changes in our business, the intent remains for the membership to be composed of individuals actively engaged in the work of running newspapers. This enables us to welcome retired members at the conventions, to respect their contributions to the Society and our industry but to invest in directing editors the responsibility for the work of ASNE."

That's exactly where it should be, retired editors would overwhelmingly agree.

There're still many ways for retired members to contribute to the organization. Most active members do their work in ASNE largely through committees, and that avenue remains open and beckoning to retired editors. In theory and practice, retirees serve on committees on the same basis as active members, i.e. by signing up. Only service on the Distinguished Writing Awards Board is by invitation.

Preferences, motives vary

"I intend to become involved in Freedom of Information work," harumphed Ray Jenkins, former editorial page editor of the Baltimore Sun, "largely because of my terrible experience with the FBI on my book (about assassinated federal Judge Robert Vance, due for publication later this year). The FBI is now four years behind in complying with FOIA requests. It seems to me this delay has vitiated the law."

Sig Gissler, erstwhile editor of the Milwaukee Journal, noted: "ASNE committees (like committees everywhere) end up involving relatively few worker bees, and generally you can get as heavily entangled as you desire. I see the initiative chiefly resting with the retired member. ... (M)any retired members bring deep experience to their participation."

Creed Black, ASNE president in 1983-84, said, "Once my term as president ended, I felt I'd had my day in the sun and that the Society would survive without my further participation in any official capacity."

The Green Book, a k a the ASNE Proceedings, for 1995 shows that 16 retired members served on 10 of the 17 committees: five on Education for Journalism, three on Freedom of Information, three on Ethics and Values, and one each on Convention Program, The American Editor, Minorities, Future of Newspapers, Literacy; Press, Bar and Public Affairs; and Writing Awards. Two retirees served on two committees.

And one served as a committee chairman. That was a fluke of the calendar. Forrest Landon, executive editor of the Roanoke (Va.) Times and a long-time active member of FOI, in 1995 was pressed late into service as chairman by time-crunched President Bill Ketter, even in face of Landon's pending retirement on Jan. 1, 1996. Landon served until the changing of the guard in April. Nothing in the bylaws prohibited it.

However, Landon said, "In almost all instances I think it would be bad policy for the Society to rely on committee chairs who are not working full-time as directing editors. ... I think it's important that active editors always be the Society's key policy-makers."

Where they serve

Opinions are largely negative on the usefulness of a Retired Members Committee. Pat Murphy, formerly editor and publisher of the Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazette, chaired such a committee from 1991 to 1993, followed by Tony Day, retired editorial page editor of the Los Angeles Times, in 1994 and 1995. It was an ad hoc group, attracted little support and was abandoned in 1996.

Retirees themselves note the down-side of raising the profile of their ilk:

Listen to Claude Sitton, late of the News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C.: "Do editors want to hear how dispensible newspapers become when they slight public affairs and their First Amendment mission; when they edit by poll, focus group and business office opinion; when they engage in blatant Babbittry disguised as ëpublic journalism;' when they prostitute news judgment in choosing subjects for optional features, photos and even obits to some social objective; when they issue lists of banned words; when they turn the front page into a cartoon index, scramble formats and type families and write heads that shout in two colors; when they force readers to search for the nut of the news in the fifth or sixth paragraph; when they offer opinion pages with scant insight and no bite; and when they spend so much time playing the warm and fuzzy in public, turning somersaults in the publisher's office and pursuing new media that they lose whatever grasp they ever had of news and newspapering.

"Do editors want criticism from retired editors? I don't think so."

You bet! There's life in the old geezers yet, and they can serve useful purposes if they and the management ever get the hang of involving them just so in the affairs of the Society.

How?

How about ...

• ASNE serving as a clearinghouse for newspapers needing critiques and consultation on news writing, copy editing, page design and other journalistic techniques.

• Retirees participating in the editor-in-residence program, or mentoring at their local colleges and high schools. (ASNE has the guidance kits ready and waiting.)

• ASNE recruiting retired members to assist the office staff in times of need, e.g. at conventions, during project overloads, in vacation season.

• Retirees writing for The American Editor, or producing a newsletter alerting retired editors to opportunities to judge contests, visit J-schools, travel; and reporting their comings, goings and demises.

• ASNE establishing a speakers bureau to offer and coordinate speaking engagements for retired and active editors on journalistic issues and current events.

But isn't this a minority question, pertaining to only one out of five ASNE members? Not if the revolving door hits you in the rump; not unless you know how to hold back the ravages of time. Rather, it is a question of using the full resources of the Society, of serving all the members; and it ought to concern even the newest member who eventually will join the ranks of the retired.

McCauley retired as editor of the Huntsville (Ala.) Times in 1994 after 27 years on the job.