Owner/Publisher WE 'Ned' Chilton III and the Charleston
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‘Sustained Outrage': Owner/Publisher W.E. 'Ned' Chilton III and the Charleston (West Virginia) Gazette, 1962-1987 A thesis presented to the faculty of the Scripps College of Communication of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Edgar C. Simpson November 2009 © 2009 Edgar C. Simpson. All Rights Reserved. This thesis titled ‘Sustained Outrage': Owner/Publisher W.E. 'Ned' Chilton III and the Charleston (West Virginia) Gazette, 1962-1987 by EDGAR C. SIMPSON has been approved for the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism and the Scripps College of Communication by Patrick S. Washburn Professor of Journalism Gregory J. Shepherd Dean, Scripps College of Communication ii Abstract SIMPSON, EDGAR C., M.S., November 2009, Journalism ‘Sustained Outrage': Owner/Publisher W.E. 'Ned' Chilton III and the Charleston (West Virginia) Gazette, 1962-1987 (236 pp.) Director of Thesis: Patrick S. Washburn W.E. “Ned” Chilton III, over nearly three decades years as the third-generation owner/publisher of the Charleston Gazette, West Virginia’s largest newspaper, developed a philosophy of journalism called “Sustained Outrage,” which stressed ongoing investigative reports about and direct commentary on society’s major social and commercial issues. These efforts included a five-year campaign to end the “ghoul system” in the state; crafting a strategy of suing lawyers who sued him for libel; successfully suing for open records; becoming the first in the nation to wrest his own files as well as the newspaper’s from the Federal Bureau of Investigation; using his own reporters to investigate his fellow publishers in West Virginia; and many other crusades. This thesis examines those efforts in the context of his overall philosophy, the shifting industry trends toward consolidated ownership, the battle to define and uphold First Amendment values, and the state’s own struggle to shake off historic poverty and provincialism. Approved: _____________________________________________________________ Patrick S. Washburn Professor of Journalism iii Acknowledgments I was a reporter and editor in West Virginia, twice working for the Charleston Gazette. The first time, in 1984, was as an intern between college semesters. I knew Ned Chilton only to the extent of being terrified of him. My second stint, in 1989, came after the demise of United Press International, for which I was the West Virginia state editor. Like so many others acquainted with Chilton, I came to understand the publisher’s significance in the context of the industrial battle for the First Amendment only in hindsight. Many people contributed to this project. I would like to thank Committee Chair Dr. Patrick S. Washburn for his good humor, keen insight, and sharp red pen wielded through many hours of laborious reading. This project is much better for his efforts. In addition, I would like to thank committee members Drs. Aimee Edmondson and Joseph Bernt, both of whom offered invaluable advice and unswerving support. This thesis could never have been completed without the aid of dozens of people in West Virginia. Special acknowledgement should be given to Gazette Editor James Haught, who remains a powerful force in the state; Gazette President and Publisher Elizabeth Chilton, whose love and admiration for her colorful husband continues to shine; the staff of the Gazette morgue, and the many reporters and editors at both the Gazette and Charleston Daily Mail who offered insight into and anecdotes about W.E. “Ned” Chilton III. In addition, the staff at the West Virginia and Regional History Library, which holds the Chilton family papers, were decidedly helpful, especially in the early stages of research when the direction of the project had not been clear. I also would iv like to acknowledge the previous work done by Fran O’Brien McEwen, who did her master’s project on the Charleston Gazette and whose well-written thesis provided several helpful dates. v To Tomi, whose endless supply of love, encouragement, hugs, and chocolate pop tarts made this thesis possible. vi Table of Contents Page Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iv List of Figures .................................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1: Sustained Outrage ......................................................................................... 1 Notes ............................................................................................................................. 27 Chapter 2: A Job That ‘Lasts All Day’ ......................................................................... 33 Notes ............................................................................................................................. 58 Chapter 3: A Traitor to His Class ................................................................................. 63 Notes ............................................................................................................................. 86 Chapter 4: An Offense to Conventional Wisdom ........................................................ 91 Notes ........................................................................................................................... 118 Chapter 5: More News Space....................................................................................... 124 Notes ........................................................................................................................... 145 Chapter 6: “Towering Law Reforms” ......................................................................... 151 Notes ........................................................................................................................... 175 Chapter 7: The Insipid Press ....................................................................................... 180 Notes ........................................................................................................................... 204 Chapter Eight – “Ave Atque Vale” ............................................................................. 209 Notes ........................................................................................................................... 220 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 222 vii Manuscript Collection ................................................................................................. 222 Books .......................................................................................................................... 222 Magazine articles ........................................................................................................ 224 Interviews and correspondence ................................................................................... 225 Legal cases .................................................................................................................. 225 Journal articles ............................................................................................................ 226 Newspapers ................................................................................................................. 227 viii List of Figures Page Figure 1: Photo of W.E. “Ned” Chilton III………………………………………… ……1 Figure 2: Map of West Virginia………………………………………………………….33 Figure 3: Map of Southern West Virginia……………………………………………….65 Figure 4: Photo of U.S. Senator Robert Byrd……………………………………………73 Figure 5: Photo of U.S. Senator John “Jay” Rockefeller IV……………………………103 Figure 6: Photo of West Virginia Governor W.W. “Wally” Baron…………………….106 Figure 7: Photo of West Virginia Governor Arch A. Moore Jr……………………...…108 ix Chapter 1: Sustained Outrage Figure 1. W.E. “Ned” Chilton III in 1980. W.E. “Ned” Chilton III was vigorously handsome, athletic, and a lover of London-tailored suits, monogrammed shirts, and journalism of a uniquely American style. A child of privilege once warned by his father to stop his “loud and boastful talking,”1 he was the third-generation owner and publisher of West Virginia’s largest newspaper, the Charleston Gazette. On a brisk fall weekend, he had traveled the 933 miles from his hilltop home overlooking the lazy Kanawha River to a small New England college to accept the national Elijah Parish Lovejoy Award for exhibiting unusual courage and tenacity in how he ran his newspaper. He accepted the award on November 8, 1982, with fire, using the occasion to predict the death of newspapers. The press, he said, was under attack not only from an onslaught of electronic competition, including the computer-spawned “cybernetic revolution,” but from corporate newspaper owners, who insisted on pap rather than news, and tepid chiding instead of editorials that demanded true reform.2 “It worries me . to read that media stocks are among the nation’s hottest growth and profit properties,” he said. “Keepers of the tablets shouldn’t have to go around in sackcloth, but neither should they be wrapped in ermine.”3 He quoted press critic Ben Bagdikian to support his case.4 He occupied the same stage held the year before by A.M. Rosenthal, the executive editor of the New York Times. No one in attendance could possibly confuse one with