Is an American photojournalist embedded with U.S. troops in a war zone first and foremost a journalist or an American? Is it clear-cut? Ever? How does one decide? Ah, questions, questions. But what about being a photojournalist or a human being? And what about running a page-one photo of a man about to be run over by a subway? These questions would seem much easier to answer.
Bob Hoemeke was every journalist’s favorite lawyer. He tried to get information into the newspaper instead of keeping out. Hoemeke, the most prominent media lawyer in Missouri during the last decades of the last century, died Nov. 28 of the effects of Parkinson’s disease. He was 77.
It seems the Plain Dealer, Cleveland’s only remaining daily, is in danger of going the way of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, also owned by the NOLA Media Group, and publishing only three days a week. This is not good news.
Terry Ganey is one of the most respected investigative reporters and political correspondents of the past 40 years in Missouri. With the November issue, he takes over as St. Louis editor of Gateway Journalism Review. Ganey, a former colleague at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, is taking over from Roy Malone, another valued Post-Dispatch colleague. Malone will continue to contribute but is taking a break from the many years he and Charles Klotzer kept this publication alive.
The Chicago Tribune’s banner headline on Tuesday, September 7, the day Mayor Richard M. Daley announced he would not seek a record seventh term, read: “City wants $1 billion more for O’Hare Plan.”
This signaled two things, one obvious, the other less so . . . but worth exploring, for it helps explain why Daley is calling it quits after 21 years in office.