Plain Dealing: Cleveland Journalists Tell Their Stories
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About The Cover The cover of this book includes the following images: ii iii iv 1. Cleveland Press columnist and television personality Dick Feagler with singer Eric Carmen in 1981. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection. 2. The Plain Dealer presses in 1954. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection. 3. Plain Dealer television critic and columnist George Condon in 1954. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection. 4. Journalist Terence Sheridan at the Sarajevo airport in 1993. Photograph by Elizabeth Sullivan. 5. Cleveland City Council President George Forbes tosses journalist Roldo Bartimole out of special council meeting in March 1981. Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library. 6. Plain Dealer journalists, from left, Jack Hagan, Don Bean, and Robert McAuley. Courtesy of Robert McAuley. 7. Louis B. Seltzer reads an issue of The Press in the city room in 1960. Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library. 8. Actress Jayne Mansfield poses with Plain Dealer photographers. Back row, from left, Bill Ashbolt, Dudley Brumbach, Marvin Greene, Bill Wynne. Front row, from left, Karl J. Rauschkolb, Mansfield, Ray Matjasic. Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library. 9. A “Save the PD” rally in 2013 in front of the PD offices at E. 18th Street and Superior Avenue. Photograph courtesy of Harlan Spector. 10. Robert McGruder, The Plain Dealer’s first black reporter, pictured in 1969. McGruder rose to become the PD’s managing editor before leaving for the Detroit Free Press, where he became executive editor. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection. 11. Reporter Harlan Spector with deskmate John Petkovic in The Plain Dealer newsroom in the 1990s. Courtesy of Harlan Spector. 12. Dennis Kucinich stopped by The Plain Dealer on Nov. 8, 1977, the evening he was elected Cleveland mayor. Kucinich, once a Plain Dealer copy aide, sent the story of his election up the pneumatic tube to the composing room. Plain Dealer photograph by William “Bill” Wynne. Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library. 13. Plain Dealer copy editor Robert Manry entering the harbor in Falmouth England, Aug. 17, 1965. Manry was completing a 78-day trip across the Atlantic in Tinkerbelle, a 13 ½-foot sailboat. Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library. 14. The Plain Dealer city room in 1947. The PD’s daily circulation stood at 220,618 two years earlier, ranking it second highest behind The Press. Cleveland Public Library Photograph Collection. 15. Plain Dealer photographer William “Bill” Wynne. Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library. * * * * * * * * * v * * * * * * * * * * * * Cover Image: Dave Davis and Joan Mazzolini Cover Image Infographic: Justin Grogan-Myers and Donna Stewart Systems Division, Michael Schwartz Library, Cleveland State University vi Plain Dealing: Cleveland Journalists Tell Their Stories Dave Davis and Joan Mazzolini vii Plain Dealing: Cleveland Journalists Tell Their Stories Dave Davis and Joan Mazzolini An ebook version of this book can be accessed from http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/msl_ae_ebooks/6/ This book is brought to you for free and open access at EngagedScholarship @ Cleveland State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in MSL Academic Endeavors eBooks by an authorized administrator of EngagedScholarship @ Cleveland State University. For more information, please email an administrator at [email protected]. 2018 MSL Academic Endeavors Imprint of the Michael Schwartz Library at Cleveland State University Plain Dealing: Cleveland Journalists Tell Their Stories by Dave Davis and Joan Mazzolini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. Published by: MSL Academic Endeavors Cleveland State University Michael Schwartz Library 2121 Euclid Avenue Rhodes Tower, Room 501 Cleveland, Ohio 44115 https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu Dedication On behalf of our authors and contributors, we dedicate this book to Cleveland, the city that we love, and to journalism, our calling. Our stories, for what they’re worth. ~Joan and Dave * xii Acknowledgements Special thanks to our authors and contributors: Tom Andrzejewski Michael O’Malley Roldo Bartimole Michael D. Roberts Margaret Bernstein Louis B. Seltzer Carrie Buchanan Mary Anne Sharkey Gary Clark Terence Sheridan George E. Condon Harlan Spector Dick Feagler Kaye Spector Janet Beighle French Scott Stephens Jack Hagan Gail Stuehr Leslie Kay Evelyn Theiss Susan Condon Love Stuart Warner Robert McAuley William “Bill” Wynne xiii xiv Contents About The Cover ....................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ............................................................................................................................................... xii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ xiii Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... xviii Twenty-Five Stories ................................................................................................................................ 23 Adventures in journalism ................................................................................................................. 24 Dig deep, stick to the facts, no cheap shots: A reporters' editor talks about The PD newsroom ................................................................................................................................................... 39 Strength, beauty, power - covering Cleveland's long-ignored black community ............................ 48 A daughter remembers Cleveland's real best-kept secret ............................................................... 55 A three newspaper family ................................................................................................................ 61 Shooting from the heart ................................................................................................................... 68 Why the Press used "all its editorial artillery" against Dr. Sam Sheppard ...................................... 79 A backstage pass to momentous events .......................................................................................... 86 How I became a newspaper woman against all odds ...................................................................... 90 A muckraker comes to Cleveland and founds Point of View ........................................................... 96 Confessions of a wayward reporter ............................................................................................... 107 The cop shop .................................................................................................................................. 114 Precision journalism and uncovering disparities in the courts ..................................................... 123 Catching a ride into the newsroom - and history .......................................................................... 135 The ladies of the press ................................................................................................................... 139 Stop the presses (for the very last time) ........................................................................................ 145 The magic of a city and newsroom full of characters .................................................................... 154 The road to a big-city daily and life at Ohio's largest newspaper ................................................. 160 Health care, the "sleeve," and life in The PD newsroom ............................................................... 168 Covering Cleveland neighborhoods: these streets talk - if only we'd listen .................................. 175 Welcome to The Plain Dealer ......................................................................................................... 181 A prize-winning columnist leaves The PD ...................................................................................... 185 Those were the days in Rubber City … but they had to end .......................................................... 188 Newsgathering in the new millennium: boom and then bust ........................................................ 200 Misfit .............................................................................................................................................. 204 Photographs .......................................................................................................................................... 210 Covering Cleveland - 1946 to 2013 ............................................................................................... 211 About Our Authors And Contributors ................................................................................................... 228 Resources .............................................................................................................................................. 243 xv xvi Introduction DAVE DAVIS I wanted to title this book “Misfits.” But co-editor Joan Mazzolini wouldn’t allow it. “Let’s think of something else,” she counseled. Though I use the term with affection and admiration, truth be told there are only 16 misfits