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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 26, 2018)
A4 THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, DEcEmbER 26, 2018 OPINION editor@dailyastorian.com KARI BORGEN Publisher JIM VAN NOSTRAND Editor Founded in 1873 JEREMY FELDMAN circulation manager JOHN D. BRUIJN Production manager CARL EARL Systems manager BOOK REVIEW Book recalls Wild West of news T he author of this slim book man- ages to recreate a world where newspaper editors shot up West- ern towns with their words while angry citizens responded with guns. The book recreates the excitement of reporting the first news about gold strikes, jail breaks and the closing down of opium dens in 19th-century Oregon. It tells the Wild West news as reported on the spot by early journalists. In 1880s Pendleton, “Almost every issue of the East Oregonian told CAROL of fights, pistol-whip- pings, knife fights, rac- RICHARDS ing horses on the major streets,” writes the book’s author, Bill Willingham. The town had 11 saloons — five on a single block of Main Street alone — to serve a population of 1,000. And the editor did not mince words. Sam Jackson, a founder of the East Ore- gonian, wrote this about a rival newspa- perman: “You are … an unconscientious, worthless, unprincipled adventurer who by accident gained control of a (newspa- per) … Your purpose is low and unbe- coming a thief …” Jackson’s success as a newspaperman set the pace for the creation of today’s EO Media Group — the 12 daily, weekly, monthly and annual publications, includ- ing The Daily Astorian and Salem’s Cap- ital Press. “Grit and Ink” is the story of the survival of these and other papers under the auspices of a series of fami- lies who shared a devotion to community news and good business practices. As an early founder, E.B Aldrich, put it, “A newspaper that is weak financially can’t be a strong voice in the community.” Willingham must have had fun por- ing over crumbling stacks of old papers to find these lively stories to braid into a larger picture of the past and future of the newspaper business. On the one hand, he makes clear that there have been hard times before that caused many papers to die. On the other, today’s hard times stem not from cyclical economic crises but from the technological revolution. News- paper readership has plunged nationwide as readers have turned to the internet for news (often supplied by newspapers). And that means that advertising reve- nue has plunged as well. The EO Media Group papers have experienced a signifi- Clatsop County Historical Society Downtown Astoria smolders in the wake of the Dec. 8, 1922 fire. cantly smaller circulation decline than the national press, but that is small solace when the bottom line is affected. Still they are surviving! Today’s news isn’t as rootin’-tootin’ as it was in Jackson’s day, but the sto- ries are similarly gripping. A recent series conveyed the excitement of exposing what climate change is doing to the agri- cultural, forest and fishing economies of the West. It was published through- out the group’s circulation area, in print and on the internet. And then there was the effort by the Aryan Nations to estab- lish a white homeland and headquar- ters in Grant County in 2010, followed by the 2016 effort by armed anti-gov- ernment agitators to take over the Mal- heur National Wildlife Refuge in nearby Harney County. Yes, this is still the Wild West and newspaper editors still coura- geously tackle these issues. The EO Media Group of the 21st cen- tury is an example of a rapidly disap- pearing enterprise: the family owned and run newspaper. “The company traces its roots to the Bull and Jackson families of the 19th century and continues with the Aldrich, Forrester, Bedford, Brown and Chessman families of the 20th and 21st century,” Willingham writes. “Across time the connecting link has always been a commitment to providing objec- tive reporting and honoring the diverse opinions and values of the communities served by their newspapers.” Honest reporting always irks some- one. Today, the president inveighs against “fake news” and calls journalists the “enemy of the people.” And news- Water under the bridge Gulf of Alaska over the weekend, blanketing the Sun- set Empire with a coating of snow and tumbling ther- mometers to an official low of 19 degrees at the airport weather bureau Monday morning. 75 years ago — 1943 Compiled by Bob Duke From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers 10 years ago this week — 2008 After the rain, more snow. That was the warning from forecasters as the North Coast started to dig itself out of the weekend snowfall. Coastal communities woke up to just one extra inch of snow overnight in Astoria today, but city snow- plow crews were out bright and early scraping it off the downtown streets. There was considerably more snow overnight in Knappa and Svensen, however, which made traveling on U.S. Highway 30 hazardous. The prospect of buying North Tongue Point has captured the imaginations of Port of Asto- ria leaders, who see the industrial property as the key to future economic growth in Astoria. Before they can dive into development, how- ever, they need to work out a way to finance the multimillion-dollar purchase. Astoria Mayor Willis Van Dusen will be watching TV on Christmas Day. That’s because his daughter, Kristin, will be featured cheering on her husband, Matt Zedwick, as he takes part in “Deal or No Deal.” Snow and ice trapped people in their homes in southern Clatsop County over the holiday. Roof collapses under snow loads, the inabil- ity of people to travel because of deep snow on private driveways and roads, and highway clo- sures have led the Clatsop County Board of Commissioners to declare a state of emergency. 50 years ago — 1968 SPACE CENTER, Houston – The Apollo 8 astro- nauts swept today into an orbit around the moon and as rooms across the nation have bulked up security since June 28, 2018, when an irate reader shot his way into a small-city newspaper office in Annapolis, Mary- land, murdering five employees of The Capital — two editors, two reporters and a staffer. Informing the public hon- estly and fearlessly is the job of journal- ists. Such reporting is essential to making communities thrive and for democracy to work. It is pride-making that these families have carried the torch for truth for close to 150 years. carol Richards is an adjunct profes- sor of journalism at the George Washing- ton University in Washington, D.c. She has written editorials for USA Today and Newsday and op-eds for the Annapolis capital. Shells from a coastal steamer engaged in rou- tine gunnery practice landed accidentally near a military establishment Saturday night, caus- ing an alert on Vancouver island and along the Washington coast. First picture released of new Casablanca-class Navy aircraft carrier. Forty of these carriers have been added to Navy in last 11 months. They’re being turned out by Kaiser Shipbuilding Co. they gazed back at their troubled home planet, a quar- ter-million miles away, flight commander Frank Bor- man offered a Christmastime prayer for peace. More tourist facilities, including motels, restaurants, moorage and related accommoda- tions, are needed by the Peninsula and Pacific County, according to a preliminary report of the office of the state of Washington Department of Commerce and Economic Development. The opening of the Astoria Bridge was cited as one of the factors in the influx of tourists, as well as the expanding tourist fishing. Another trial in which the state is trying to have the ocean beaches set aside for the pubic opens in Clatsop County Circuit Court Friday. The state is trying to force Surfsand Motel, Cannon Beach, to remove an enclosure by which it is claiming 15,000 square feet of the beach for exclusive use of its guests. The motel claims it owns the dry sand area involved. Fred Andrus, a prominent figure on the Astoria newspaper scene for some 40 years, will retire as editor of The Daily Astorian Jan. 1, the paper announced today. Andrus, who joined the former Morning Astorian in 1927, will be succeeded in the edi- tor’s post by Mike Forrester, 30, who came to The Daily Astorian seven months ago. An icy blast of Arctic air moved south out of the The Navy today put into commission the Kaiser company’s 18th fighting aircraft carrier, the USS Tulagi – dedicating the sleek flat top to the ending of the war, and in tribute to Kaiser’s Vancouver shipyard workers who successfully met their goal of “18 or more by ‘44.” In accepting the Tulagi from Capt. J.D. Barner, (for commandant, 13th naval district) commanding officer of the per-commissioning detail at the Astoria Naval Station, Capt. Joseph C. Cronin, the ship’s skipper, said: “There is lots of war left and lots of glory. Today the Tulagi serves notice to the world in general, and to the Japs in particular, that we are out after our share of what’s left.” WANTED: One “wind-up” Victrola for music-hungry men aboard an American air- craft carrier about to put to sea. Allen W. Hazen, of Boston, Massachusetts, a bluejacket aboard the carrier USS Tulagi at the Astoria Naval Station, ambled into the office here this week, with a proposed advertisement for Victrola. He said the boys were willing to pay, “but not too much.” When the Astoria Marine Construction company slides five boats into the Lewis and Clark River Friday, the event will mark the yard’s completion of 33 craft since they launched the first minesweeper, the YMS 100, in June of 1942. Since 1941, they have turned out work valued at $10,000,000. From paper carrier to circulation manager and assistant manager of the Astorian-Budget and back to paper carrier is the experience of John Verschueren, longtime employee of this newspaper, this week. Verschueren was on the job delivering no less than three city routes Tuesday night, where illness had laid the regu- lar carriers low.
