Carlos Brito stirs it up
No way should we have played our exclusive interview with Carlos Brito at the top of Page One, three callers angrily told me today. Similar thoughts are being voiced on the Talk of the Day blog about trusting Brito.
One said the interview (”Sharing his vision”) didn’t belong at the top of the front page. Brito’s trying to “take down” the town, this caller said, and the Post-Dispatch is trying to help him. The second left a voice mail saying the interview didn’t belong in the paper at all. It should be stuck “where it won’t get cold.” Another said “it makes me sick to see him there” at the top of the page.
Whatever position people take on InBev’s bid for Anheuser-Busch, surely they want to hear Brito’s thoughts and comments. As far as news in this town, the topic’s as hot as they come. Top of the page seems the proper play on this one.
Some reader commenting on the Talk of the Day have criticized the depth of the reporting. They say Brito’s comments are reported pretty much unfiltered. These critics ask that the newspaper challenge Brito’s assertions. The reporters conducted the interview in Brito’s New York offices in the afternoon. Some of it went online right after. They filed for the newspaper and flew home (with long flight delays.)
The story contains context, repeating some reporting from earlier stories. There are parts where the reporters challenge Brito’s position: “Brito acknowledged that Anheuser-Busch’s executives and board ‘know (Anheuser-Busch’s) business better than we do’”……. But Brito’s words themselves are largely presented verbatim.
We pretty much left it to readers to bring their own skepticism to Brito’s words. Judging from Talk of the Day, they did so.
Steve Parker is the deputy managing editor for news, and oversees the Post-Dispatch's front page. STLtoday's online news editors are on his newsroom team. Parker has been at the paper since September 1980. 
Wow, I’m really starting to wonder if St. Louisians would prefer AB to be bought out by Miller or Coors instead of Inbev. I am sad that AB will be bought out by Inbev not because it is an American company being bought out by foreigners, but that it is another in a way too long list of St. Louis companies being bought out by an out-of-town companies, usually based here in the US. These American-based companies ended up treating St. Louis based workers like garbage too.
One example that pops into my head is the TWA-American Airlines merger. As soon as AA bought out TWA the former TWA workers were at the very bottom of the seniority list regardless of how long they worked for TWA and a lot of these workers ended up being laid-off. Federated treated the former May Co. workers badly too. After just a year of the merger, Federated ended up laying off all of the St. Louis based workers.
So the lesson I learned is that American-based companies can be as cruel and heartless as any foreign based company. But I do hope for the best for all of the AB workers.