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Vol. 5, No. 6

November 2000
A publication of the East Tennessee Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists

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Follies: To honor McMahan in 2001 Debate: Ashe, Gooch praise their candidates Convention: UT students report on sessions Miscellany: President's report, Christmas party

2001 Follies to Honor McMahan

Ron McMahan, former editor of the Knoxville Journal and press secretary for U.S. Senate majority leader Howard H. Baker Jr., will be honored at the Front Page Follies, May 19, 2001. McMahan, who began as a copy boy, later covered beats ranging from city hall to police and politics and eventually became editor of the paper where he had been a copy boy. Reporting career McMahans career as an investigative reporter provided excitement early in his career. As a reporter for the Chattanooga Post, he wrote about wild parties where police officers fired guns as part of the celebration. The expose resulted in death threats to McMahan. The FBI investigated and found that the calls had come from police squad rooms. As reporter for the Journal, he went undercover with a hidden camera and exposed all-night bootlegging establishments in Knoxville. This story influenced the passing of a referendum allowing sales of liquor by the

drink. McMahan also covered Senator Bakers campaign for the U.S. Senate in which Baker upset a candidate known as Largemouth Bass and became the first popularly elected Republican senator from Tennessee. Journal editor After having served with Baker in Washington, McMahan returned to the Knoxville Journal as editor. The newspaper had been losing circulation 10 out of the 11 previous years. In three years, he made the Journal the fastest growing paper in the state, moving circulation from 52,000 to 65,000. He began the regular use of color photos ahead of many other papers, boosting single copy sales. For a series with the Tennessean on the Butcher bank collapse, the Journal won several major journalism awards. In 1983, the TPA recognized the Journal as the best newspaper in the state. Under his leadership, Journal reporters undertook several investigations of public officials. These stories affected the careers of two safety directors, a school superintendent, an attorney general and a sessions court judge (who was taking home confiscated firearms). He also ran a series on police brutality. At the start of the 1986 football season, the Journal exposed the practice of UT football players selling tickets to games, leading a disgruntled fan to charter a plane to fly around Neyland Stadium calling on other fans to cancel their subscriptions. McMahan appointed the Journals first female city editor and the first female UT football beat reporter. The latter appointment forced UT to create interview facilities that allowed both sexes equal access to players. Press secretary McMahan advised Baker throughout the Watergate hearings, chaired by Baker and Sam Ervin. He advised him on many other leading public policy issues and on

national political campaigns. Although retired, McMahan remains a close friend and political adviser to Senator Fred Thompson.

Ashe, Gooch praise their candidates

By Dorothy Bowles Moderator Frank Cagle set simple ground rules for the SPJ presidential debate on Oct. 23: no sighing, snorting or ear biting. With that admonition, Mayor Victor Ashe, Republican national convention delegate, and Warren Gooch, Democratic Party East Tennessee chairman, spent the next hour presenting the positions of their respective partys nominee. Questions about familiar campaign issues, including public service experience, the environment, taxation and education came from Mark Harmon, assistant professor of broadcasting at UTK, Jesse Fox Mayshark, Metro Pulse editor, Cagle, News-Sentinel managing editor, and audience members. Drawing clear distinctions between Al Gore and George W. Bush, both Gooch and Ashe sought to emphasize the merits of their partys candidate. Although the debaters disagreed on most policy matters, they found mutual ground in addressing questions about politics in general. Both disputed the notion that citizens are disaffected with politics because the major parties dont offer clear choices this election year. Ashe said he thought both Bush and Gore were good men and that the silent majority of yesteryear no longer existed. Gooch agreed that the majority of voters like the choices in Campaign 2000, asserting that dissatisfaction with the political system today is specific to the under-30 age group. As a way of encouraging citizen participation and recruiting candidates, Gooch noted with approval the mayors suggestion that local

elections be conducted less frequently. A question about campaign financing elicited similar comments from Gooch and Ashe, each deploring the negative impact of the estimated $2.6 billion cost of the 2000 presidential campaigns. Gooch attributed skepticism of the electorate and candidate recruitment difficulties in part to the huge cost of mounting a successful national campaign. Turning their attention briefly from the national campaign, Ashe and Gooch each challenged the local media to cover local elections more thoroughly. Ashe said it became a self-fulfilling prophecy if local media ignored a particular campaign on the assumption that one candidate was unbeatable. In answer to Cagles observation that some local races arent newsworthy because they arent competitive, Ashe pointed to the election success of previously little known City Commissioner Danny Mayfield. The mayors assertion that Metro Pulse ran Mayfields phone bank drew a denial from panelist Mayshark.

Shine a lighton hate groups, speaker says

By Dorie Turner, editor, The Daily Beacon When hate crimes occur in a community, it seems appropriate for the media to ignore them to prevent fueling the criminals fire. But according to Mark Potok from the Southern Poverty Law Center, addressing the issue on both the news and editorial pages is the best way for the media to deal with hate crimes. Its better to shine a light on these groups and then criticize them on the editorial page instead of screaming racist! and ignoring them, Potok said. Potoks work with the SPLC as a First Amendment advocate and what he calls an absolutist has put him in more than a few uncomfortable and threatening situations with hate groups. His strategy is to allow the

groups to say and do whatever they want, but to keep them within the realm of the law and to criticize them heavily in public forums. Despite the pain hate groups and hate speech cause a community, protecting the First Amendment is important, Potok said. Paul McMasters, the ombudsman for the Freedom Forum, agrees. The First Amendment wasnt drawn to protect the speech that we like and can live with. It was protects the speech on the fringe, he said. Both say that by addressing hate crimes, the media can help communities begin the healing process. Ignoring the crimes only perpetuates the problem. And encouraging selective ignorance, Potok said, could result in further hate crimes. Another reason not to suppress this kind of speech is because the speech is real, he said. It happens. Potok mentioned the Jasper, Texas, case where a group of white males dragged a black male chained to the back of their pickup truck, killing him and shocking the nation. But the media, who had difficulty knowing exactly how to handle the situation, covered the event despite the public outcry against publishing the murder. Jasper used the murder of James Bird Jr. to create a dialogue that had never existed before, Potok said. These incidents are very often a catalyst to do something about the hate. Questions from the audience turned to covering hate crimes on college campuses because quite a few of the audience members had questions about how to deal with hate in an intellectual environment like a university. McMasters said the student newspaper aspect of hatecrime reporting can play a vital role on campus. Students on college campuses are brought to the realization of these problems by the student newspapers. They need to cover the issue and then give it context editorially, he said. The student media

can play a healing role on campuses by covering hate crimes and bringing them to light.

. . . from the president . . .

By Bonnie Riechert, chapter president You know youre an old timer when you start to reminisce, but thats what I did at our September picnic when Wynne Brown talked about having served the chapter as president for 1999-2000. Our chapter has enjoyed such wonderful leadership over the years. My memories of ETSPJ begin in 1982 when we moved to Knoxville from Athens, Ga. I fondly recall chapter presidents such as Barbara Asbury, Mary McKinney, David Lauver, Jack Lail, Alan Carmicheal, and others since then, who served (and continue to serve) the chapter with such graciousness, integrity, and effective leadership. This chapter has received national awards, and our chapter is the home of at least one former national SPJ president. What a history we have! It seems natural that we should collect our history in some permanent way. At a recent board meeting, we discussed doing this, and board members agreed it was a good idea. You may be interested in working on this effort, or you may at least have some photographs and other memorabilia that we could copy to include in a chapter history. All of us probably have some favorite chapter stories and anecdotes. Wont you share these with any member of the board, and let us know if youd like to be a part of this committee? Of course, we wont look backward without also looking forward. The future of our chapter is truly promising. We have a strong membership dedicated to professional development and the support and improvement of journalism. Some outstanding programs are planned for the coming weeks and months. Several chapter members and UT student

chapter members attended the national SPJ convention in Columbus, Ohio, in October. The East Tennessee Chapter received the regions Outstanding Chapter award at the national conference. Chapter members are encouraged to participate in the upcoming Region 3 SPJ conference in Orlando, Fla., April 6-7.

Annual Christmas party

The annual ETSPJ Christmas party will be at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 4, at the University Club Well have another Chinese auction. Bring a wrapped gift, costing $10 or less. Dont put a name on it. We will once again collect toys for the Toys for Tots campaign. Bring an unwrapped new toy to the party. By Nov. 30, please let one of the board members or communications coordinator (588-1474) know that youre planning to attend. We have to let the University Club know how much food to prepare.

Updated November 2000 by Sally A. Guthrie