Political editor refutes criticism of Post-Dispatch’s local content
Christopher Ave, political editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, appeared on radio station KTRS (550) to refute criticism of the newspaper expressed earlier this week by talk show host Paul Harris.
Here’s a link to the interview.
Harris had criticized the Post-Dispatch for using too many wire stories and not enough staff-produced material.
Ave today noted that over the past six months, the paper had averaged 75 percent local copy on Page One. On Sundays, it has averaged 90 percent local copy. (Actually, the percentage is 77 percent for all Page Ones and 94 percent on Sundays.)
Journalists at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and STLtoday comprise the largest 24/7 news-gathering organization in the area, with more newsroom staffers than all the TV and radio stations newsrooms combined, Ave said. “It’s quite a responsibility … I am certainly not trying to brag.”
“Just because the newspaper is physically a bit smaller than it used to be, that doesn’t mean we are dying on the vine. Check out STLtoday.com and you will see an amazing amount of content and news,” Ave told Harris.
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. 
I have lots of nasty things to say about the Post-Dispatch, but “no local coverage” isn’t one of them. If the Post-Dispatch went out of business tomorrow, it would leave a gaping hole in local news. And as a former talk host, I can tell you that many a talk show was based on news and opinion pieces the host read in the Post-Dispatch.
Nick,
–Agreed. For the same reason I spend most of my time doing opposition research. I already know what I think.
My problem with the PD front page is the excessive coverage of stupid stories and way too much space wasted on more stupid pictures about the stupid stories. Kids waiting for buses, kids shopping for school, blah, blah, blah. Who cares? This is not news. This trivial tripe belongs in Metro or Community, not the front page unless it really is news such as the Jeff Smith story.
Here is a perfect example of what is wrong with the PD news dept. They won’t cover any story that doesn’t come from the AP, NYTimes or McClatchy, etc. This is a story from the Washington Times. They won’t go outside their box and as everyone knows, those sources only cover the stories that run through their political filters:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/09/inquiry-opened-about-new-black-panther-case/?source=newsletter_must-read-stories-today_headlines
Carol,
The problem is that on the link that you point to, there is the clear phrase “EXCLUSIVE” in the headline. In newspaper terms, this means, Do Not Touch, even if the P-D wanted to.
Yes, the Post-Dispatch and STLtoday are limited to using content from the New York Times, Associated Press, Bloomberg and McClatchy news services, which we pay a great deal for.
If the Washington Times puts that story on one of these wire services, then we have the right to use it. If it does not, then we are limited to only a small reference.(Unlike many bloggers, we understand the legal ramifications of violating copyrights.)
Douglas Wong
National Editor
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
I’ve done my part to influence PD content by cancelling my subscription. Yes Mr. Parker, your editorial staff needs to get some balance.
Regarding the political coverage, I would say that it covers some local stories pretty well, with the expected slant. Other local stories (like Obama’s citizenship status) were handled very poorly. I would have expected that Mr. Ave would have his army of 24/7 “reporters” working hard on a big piece like that.
About the only thing I read regularly in the PD is sports coverage, which I can more easily read online.
If the PD wants more business, it needs to become a balanced paper politically. Kind of stupid to alienate half your market.
Mr. Wong,
What is preventing the paper from subscribing to content from the Washington Times? It may help to give your paper a little more balance.
If there’s this big groundswell for news that’s “fair” to conservatives, then why doesn’t St. Louis have a Sun - or Globe, for that matter?
Thank you for your input Mr. Wong and I do understand how that works. But, I think Think! has a good idea. From what I can tell, the NYTimes, the AP,
McClathy and Bloomberg all seem to cover the same news but of course written by their own writers. Why not, then, drop one of those services that you pay so dearly for, in fact I would suggest dropping two, and instead pick up services that may report on news that they would not be willing to cover because of their politcal bias and that would be the Washington Times which I get sent their front page for free over the Internet every morning to read the stories that I won’t find in the PD.
Another story the PD and the MSM media hasn’t covered is this one only on Fox and I understand now that CNN is reporting the firing of the ACORN workers involved:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,549241,00.html
Or what about the this story? Even ABC covered this one:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/09/president-obama-to-appoint-ron-bloom-manufacturing-czar.html
Or as I have suggested to Mr. Greenbaum, what about a conservative op-ed blog to counter The Platform (where most of us have been banned from) so that we can post stories like this and discuss them? So far, I have been completely ignored by the PD in my request.
Mr. Wong, I respect your holding to legal ramifications.
Here is a hatecrime news story that you won’t see covered by the “Redundant Media:”
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2009/09/pro-life-protester-shot-killed-in.html