The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1962-10-19
Somewhat Academic
By EDMUND FREEMAN, Missoula
NEW PUBLISHER. OLD PROBLEM


NEW PUBLISHER. OLD PROBLEM
MissouIa is newly interested in it's
daily newspaper this week. Through
the last three years | have heard fire.
quent asking if the Lee newspaper
was an improvement over the old COM
pany newspaper. The answer gener-
ally, l believe, has been qualified
Yes: they have better columnists,
they invite letters to the Editor, and
they take editorial stands ON local
as we'll as national issues. They use
more pictures and publish more good
feature articles and in general have
enlivened the outward style of the
which is not wholly to the
taste of some of us older, more con-
servative readers.
But more recently, on the Knowles
Dam issue, the Missoulian has been
very disappointing not in its opposi-
ton to the project but in the quality
of it's opposition. The several anti
Knowles editorials have been so 'rea-
sonable', but so unreasoned and per-
functory, that they have raised doubts
whether the writers really believed
in their stated position. One of my
friends who is greatly interested and
on the entire issue recently
insisted to me that the paper had
never taken an editorial position on
the question, but they did, several
times.
But if their editorial position was
so tepid, their news presentation was
pitched very strongly, and wrongly,
think, in the anti-Knowles direc-
lion, almost as if the paper was Of
fering its news space on the same
basis as it's advertising space. A ire
nendous number of stories were pub
ished, strangely repetitious and
sometimes quite questionable as to
heir source. The comments of propa-
sandists were lifted up in big head
ines to appear to be the judgments
# disinterested authorities. Some
meetings. were reported with answers
o points made in the meeting, when
n fact the opposition had made no
UGH answers in the meeting. All this
eft a very unhappy impression on
nany intelligent readers.
The new turn of interest has come
With the announcement that Mr..
lloyd Schermer for three years the
usiness manager of the paper, has
cen made its publisher. Mr.. Scherm-
r has written a signed editorial with
1ree rather promising statements in
!. "The publisher is accountable for
about his newspaper is
refreshingly responsible statement
| a community which has not known
pr long time whether it was the
eporter, the editor, the business man.
ger, or the company that was re-
,onsible for the things, good and
ad, that turned up in the paper.
Mr.. Schermer's statement, "Our
oinion about the news will be con-
ned to the editorial page, may in
cate that it is not only some Demo-
ats and pro-Knowlers who dislike
anted headlines and serious omis-
ons and warnings in the news cover
re. And the third statement is full
good promise too: ''It is our in
ntion to keep that page open to
shades of opinion including those
ffering from our own" The new
| think, has surpassed all
) fellows in the Montana Lee Chain
giving us distinguished columnists
10 Walter Lippman, Marquis Childs,
d Sydney Harris, too offset the
lily dizziness of David Lawrence.
1t is pretty easy for us academic
ople to fail to realize how tough
it is to. try to build a newspaper
tn New York Times temper in a
that for many years had
good columnists, no editorial opin-
IS on local and state issues, and no
tiers of commentator or disagree
mt in it's captive papers.