Wow Chuck, this resonated with me on so many levels. Thanks.
I had so much fun working with Lyle on a project for IowaWatch three years ago, "Thriving in Rural Iowa," a series of articles on Iowa small towns who are banding together and doing great things despite stagnant population growth. It was very rewarding getting to know folks in Bancroft, Sac City and Elma as well as connecting old and new friends in La Porte City, Denver and Parkersburg.
The DI has done great things, too, acquiring the Mount Vernon and Solon papers in 2024 and keeping them thriving. It even made Forbes magazine. Our friend Art Cullen and his famly has done the same thing in adding Cherokee to his family of newspapers.
I'm also glad Lyle is allowing his student journalists to understand the mechanics of unionization. It's hard to organize a union in a newsroom, or any other part of the production of a paper with all the turnover and outsourcing. The corporate owner of my former employer had a session with management staff on how to counter unionization when one of its properties out West organized. And they busted the composing room union at our paper when they outsourced that work to a regional design center out of state. That was after the pressroom and mailroom was laid off when they moved the printing operation out of town 17 years ago.
Multiple Iowa papers from time to time have been the subject of federal wage and hour investigations and employees have received back pay. Employees were told not to report the actual hours worked on time sheets and just laughed at when they did, or were simply told the papers did not pay overtime. Papers got around it by putting employees on salary. You just don't hear about these things because newspapers don't tattle on themselves and many reporters, despite being savvy about many items on their beats, were young and naive about their rights as employees. I read the L.A. Times newsroom unionized a few years ago -- after staff had been cut 75 percent.
These remaining newspaper employees, at papers large and small, are the people on the front lines who have to take the guff from the public at some of the moves corporate does -- like cutting back print days and forcing those editions to carry three-day-old news. Or, in the case of bigger papers, have to face the outrage when their management editorially caves in to an administration which doesn't care about the Constitution. And at smaller papers, grit their teeth when a major institution or advertiser influences content.
All that said, I'm glad Lyle is doing what he does at Grinnell, and other friends as well like my ISU classmate and former Ames Tribune colleague Mark Neuzil who's teaching up at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. They're passing on the ideals and standards of journalism that were passed on to us post-Watergate generation journalists. I just wish and hope the students stick with it and are able to thrive in a fair and equitable workplace. I know, and I know you know, many journalists who labored for years without adequate compensation and just wore or burned themselves out. And I've seen several die at a young age. One friend died of a heart attack at his desk after deadline, alone in the office, eight years ago. The night janitor found him.
Chuck, thanks again for shining a light on Lyle's efforts to show young folks how to do it right, do it well and also take care of themselves. That's coming from an old geezer who's been there. These young people are our future and they deserve to work in an environment where they can thrive monetarily and emotionally, are appreciated and feel some satisfaction that they are contributing to the greater good.
I had a priest friend, the late Father George Karnik, a great force for social justice here in Waterloo, refer to what I did, and what we do, as "a valuable work of humanity" and I've carried that with me for a long time.
Looking at the S&B and the DI...the future of Journalism will be bright!
Wow Chuck, this resonated with me on so many levels. Thanks.
I had so much fun working with Lyle on a project for IowaWatch three years ago, "Thriving in Rural Iowa," a series of articles on Iowa small towns who are banding together and doing great things despite stagnant population growth. It was very rewarding getting to know folks in Bancroft, Sac City and Elma as well as connecting old and new friends in La Porte City, Denver and Parkersburg.
The DI has done great things, too, acquiring the Mount Vernon and Solon papers in 2024 and keeping them thriving. It even made Forbes magazine. Our friend Art Cullen and his famly has done the same thing in adding Cherokee to his family of newspapers.
I'm also glad Lyle is allowing his student journalists to understand the mechanics of unionization. It's hard to organize a union in a newsroom, or any other part of the production of a paper with all the turnover and outsourcing. The corporate owner of my former employer had a session with management staff on how to counter unionization when one of its properties out West organized. And they busted the composing room union at our paper when they outsourced that work to a regional design center out of state. That was after the pressroom and mailroom was laid off when they moved the printing operation out of town 17 years ago.
Multiple Iowa papers from time to time have been the subject of federal wage and hour investigations and employees have received back pay. Employees were told not to report the actual hours worked on time sheets and just laughed at when they did, or were simply told the papers did not pay overtime. Papers got around it by putting employees on salary. You just don't hear about these things because newspapers don't tattle on themselves and many reporters, despite being savvy about many items on their beats, were young and naive about their rights as employees. I read the L.A. Times newsroom unionized a few years ago -- after staff had been cut 75 percent.
These remaining newspaper employees, at papers large and small, are the people on the front lines who have to take the guff from the public at some of the moves corporate does -- like cutting back print days and forcing those editions to carry three-day-old news. Or, in the case of bigger papers, have to face the outrage when their management editorially caves in to an administration which doesn't care about the Constitution. And at smaller papers, grit their teeth when a major institution or advertiser influences content.
All that said, I'm glad Lyle is doing what he does at Grinnell, and other friends as well like my ISU classmate and former Ames Tribune colleague Mark Neuzil who's teaching up at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. They're passing on the ideals and standards of journalism that were passed on to us post-Watergate generation journalists. I just wish and hope the students stick with it and are able to thrive in a fair and equitable workplace. I know, and I know you know, many journalists who labored for years without adequate compensation and just wore or burned themselves out. And I've seen several die at a young age. One friend died of a heart attack at his desk after deadline, alone in the office, eight years ago. The night janitor found him.
Chuck, thanks again for shining a light on Lyle's efforts to show young folks how to do it right, do it well and also take care of themselves. That's coming from an old geezer who's been there. These young people are our future and they deserve to work in an environment where they can thrive monetarily and emotionally, are appreciated and feel some satisfaction that they are contributing to the greater good.
I had a priest friend, the late Father George Karnik, a great force for social justice here in Waterloo, refer to what I did, and what we do, as "a valuable work of humanity" and I've carried that with me for a long time.
Inspirational! Thank you
You captured it, Chuck. It was a helluva culture shock when I transferred there from conservative Graceland College in 1962.
Lyle Muller is a journalism treasure!
U R the best, Amy. Thanks.
another really good column Chuck. Thanks
It's interesting that the co-editors think a lot of people from New York and California equals diversity. Not in publishing, it doesn't.