Author: Charles L. Klotzer

Founder of St. Louis Journalism Review reflects on history, promise of publication

The birth of the modern journalism reviews in the United States by working journalists, which flourished during the late 1960s through the early 1980s, is encapsulated in one paragraph by Ron Dorfman, co-organizer of the first – the Chicago Journalism Review, now long defunct. “The Chicago Journalism Review was a product of the local newspaper…

The top censored stories of 2015-2016

The Journalism Review’s presentation of the top censored stories of 2015-2016 extends the tradition originated by Professor Carl Jensen and his Sonoma State University students in 1976. That tradition now includes faculty and students from campuses across North America. During this year’s cycle, Project Censored reviewed 235 validated independent news stories representing the collective efforts…

Leo Drey: Progressive Pioneer

CHARLES KLOTZER / Leo Drey left us at the age of 98. It was in the mid-sixties that I first met Leo. He had heard about struggling FOCUS/Midwest magazine and wondered how it was doing. We met in his unpretentious office–no secretary. You just walked in. The simplicity of his and his wife’s lifestyle, both in their work and in their home, was in sharp contrast to the far-reaching progressive adventure they pursued over these many decades. While Leo devoted himself to sustain an environment on the ground that would benefit generations to come, his wife Kay became a prophetess, who not only analyzed and recognized the implicit dangers of nuclear power plants, but also became an unrelenting voice informing the public and government how the nuclear industry poisons our environment. St. Louis Magazine called both “Green Giants”.

Benjamin Israel remembered

By CHARLES KLOTZER / Benjamin Israel, 65, died Monday after a lengthy period of ill health. There will be no funeral for Mr. Israel, who donated his body “ to serve science after death.” A memorial service is scheduled Saturday between noon and 1 p.m. at the St. Louis Art Museum in the East Building in a private room of the Panoroma Restaurant. His wife of 25 years, Virginia, said she “Just lost my boy friend.” “He wanted to be an agent for social change,” she said, “whether it was leafleting or campaigning for one of his many causes.” Don Corrigan, a professor at Webster University, called Mr. Israel, “A fellow of integrity that few of us can match.” Mr. Israel was immersed in local and national media, and he had a deep knowledge of African-American history. For years, he was a frequent contributor to the former St. Louis Journalism Review and to Gateway Journalism Review.