Media Clips

South Texas Salvation: San Antonio Daily Spends 'Millions' on New Bureaus, Staff

Bob Rivard, editor of the <i>San Antonio Express-News</i>
Bob Rivard, editor of the San Antonio Express-News

The corporate conglomeration of America has sent journalism into a state of decline. The problem is a race for profits. Not that profit is a bad thing, but good journalism is a high-overhead business. Any company not willing to accept lower profits to pay that overhead -- and, as a study in the Columbia Journalism Review documented in 1998, those companies are many -- will see the effects in its newsroom, as talented staffers either jump ship to other organizations or leave the business altogether. Given that the choice of companies to work for has shrunk dramatically over the past two decades, many journalists will inevitably choose the latter. The lack of competition within the industry has led to such things as uniformly bad television news, nonexistent radio news, and monopoly newspapers. And, in such situations, the ad revenue comes in regardless, so why bother with quality?

That's why the story of the San Antonio Express-News is so surprising. Last September, Robert Rivard was all set to move from the editorship of San Antonio's only daily paper, circulation 237,000, to the seemingly more prestigious Miami Herald, daily circulation 341,000. But at the 11th hour, the Hearst Corporation, the Express-News' parent company, made Rivard an offer he couldn't refuse. So rather than doing the obvious thing and moving to a paper with bigger circulation and a more cosmopolitan locale (sorry, San Antonio), he stayed put.

What was the offer? Something unheard-of in today's media world: more money for staff. More pay, more reporters, more news hole. "I was not looking for any reason to leave San Antonio or the Express-News. It's a great city and a great job, and I have a family here, and my wife is a successful professional here," said Rivard, who added that he had come to "really like" Miami after spending several years covering Central America. "Miami just cooks news," he said.

But the investment promise from Hearst provided the nudge he needed to stay. Rivard wouldn't disclose the exact amount, other than to say it is in the "seven figures."

Rivard's initial urge to leave was based on his feeling that the Express-News had "plateaued" with the budget that it had. However, "the paper had improved steadily, and that's something the team I have assembled can take credit for." Once more money was in the pipeline, "to walk away from that was something I couldn't do."

It's a smart investment from Hearst -- given San Antonio's importance to South Texas, there is no good reason that the Express-News should not establish itself as The Dallas Morning News of the area, a regional paper that goes well beyond just the hometown news. And it may already be doing just that -- some of the new money has gone to establish Corpus Christi and Rio Grande Valley bureaus, in addition to the Laredo and Austin bureaus already in place.

The cash has also had visible effects in the talent department. In addition to retaining Rivard, who on Tuesday was named Editor & Publisher's editor of the year, Peggy Fikac, long a Texas Capitol reporter for the Associated Press, came on board to direct the Express-News' Austin office; Joe Holley, previously an Austin-based journalist known for his work with The Texas Observer and Texas Monthly, was hired Jan. 10 as a reporter; and, most notably, Dick Reavis, best known for his book The Ashes of Waco and previously employed by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, was hired Jan. 3 to head up the paper's coverage of the Branch Davidian controversy.

Holley, Observer editor from 1981 to 1983, was hired to continue his magazine-style writing with more research-intensive news features -- the type of positions that are usually the first to go when companies start scrimping and cutting financial corners.

"It sounded like [Rivard] was serious about bringing in serious journalists," Holley said. "The other thing is that what they wanted me to do was appealing, long-term projects instead of daily news."

Fikac had already accepted her position with the paper before Hearst's announcement; but, she said, the announcement was "an incredible boost. It had me feeling like I had made the right decision. After being with AP a long time [12 years], I had put a lot of thought into this. It affirmed my decision.

"The Express-News used to be a Murdoch paper [Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp media empire], and I really admire the work they are doing now. ... And there's a commitment to doing even better. Rivard ... wants stories that are relevant to the reader, that will help them make informed decisions about government."

Asked what made the Express-News attractive to him, Reavis said simply, "Bob Rivard.

"I first worked for him at the San Antonio Light," the competing paper that Hearst owned until 1993, when it was shut down after Hearst bought the Express-News. "He's a guy I believe in." Reavis was working at the Star-Telegram features desk and advising the paper's Waco reporters, but he didn't feel that that paper was making a sufficient commitment to covering the controversy.

"In my first interview with Bob," Reavis said, "I asked if I can have Waco, and he said, 'On a silver platter.' ... Right then he had me."

Asked if knowledge of Hearst's commitment influenced his decision to come aboard, Reavis said, "Knowledge of what Bob was doing [influenced me], and that Hearst was backing Bob. For years, the Express-News was there, but it didn't pay anything." Rivard's deal, Reavis said, was simple: more money for reporters' salaries and to hire new staff.

Although the changes don't guarantee great journalism, they do bode well for San Antonio's news consumers. In decades past, San Antonio was pointed to as proof that a two-paper town doesn't necessarily guarantee competitive, quality reporting; and in 1993, when Hearst bought out the Express-News and folded the Light, the situation looked even bleaker.

But perhaps prophecies don't have to be self-fulfilling; perhaps Hearst really is committed to quality. One former Express-News reporter, who asked not to be identified, said the infusion of money wasn't surprising: "That's the kind of company Hearst is."


TexMo Bids Biz Farewell

Rumors that Texas Monthly Biz is going out of biz are, according to Biz editor Evan Smith, "true, but not accurate." Actually, Smith said, Texas Monthly's foray into business reporting will be worked back into TexMo itself, rather than as the stand-alone quarterly supplement which it has been for the past year.

"We had hoped that revenue would be greater," Smith said. "We hoped the response from the advertising community would be the same as the readers. Reader response was great."

Smith said that Biz, while not a money loser, was only breaking even. "Publishing a stand-alone magazine is expensive," Smith said, citing the extra expenses of a separate printing.

Smith put an optimistic spin on the magazine's apparent failure: "It's a win-win situation. It gives us the opportunity to do business coverage on a more regular basis better. The advantage to doing a quarterly is that you don't have to constantly react to the news, but we couldn't pounce on breaking stories. We had more features, but there is stuff that we can't cover."

Smith also said that rather than simply squeezing Biz's coverage into TexMo's ad space, including the Biz advertising and copy will result in a bigger Texas Monthly.


Kelley Calls It Quits

Longtime Austin American-Statesman scribe Mike Kelley has announced that he is retiring after almost three decades with the paper.

Kelley told "Media Clips" that he decided to retire "mostly because I've been here for 28 years, and I would just like to do nothing for a while. We'll see how long that lasts. I have a talent for it."

Kelley spent many years at the Statesman writing a humor column which alternated with John Kelso's column on the front page of the daily's Metro section, but he was moved to a general news reporting assignment by paper management in 1995.

Asked if he had been happy as a general reporter, Kelley said, "Sure. That's where I came in [to journalism]. The column was an unexpected thing that came along, and I just went back to what I started with. Both sides are fun and have their rewards.

"Frankly, I'll be 56 this year, and this is a young person's job. I'm tired. I want to putter in the yard."


Feds Crack Down on FRA

In the Feb. 18 "Media Clips," we reported on Free Radio Austin (FRA), the unlicensed microbroadcast station operating out of East Austin, and its opposition to the Federal Communication Commission's new licensing system for micro stations. Shortly before that issue went to press, FRA reported receiving a visit from the commission's agents and said it had been given a 10-day warning. Ten days later, on Feb. 21, the FCC sent FRA a letter demanding that the station stop broadcasting within 30 days, a period which expired on March 22, the day this issue went to press.

FRA said it has requested a hearing with the FCC, and that it intends to challenge the order on the same grounds used by Micro-Kind Radio, another micro in San Marcos: that the FCC, according to the 1930s legislation which created the agency, has legal authority over only interstate and foreign commerce, neither of which apply to the low-wattage micro stations.


Standing Up for Cyclists

If you prefer your media criticism a bit more specialized than what you find here in "Media Clips," check out the Web site of Michael Bluejay. Bluejay is a longtime activist for nudism, vegetarianism, and bicycling, and his site takes on all three. On one portion of the site, Bluejay tackles the news media's coverage of cycling, asserting that pedalers are the victims of prejudice. Those interested in cycling and related issues can check the site out at http://michaelbluejay.com/bicycle/media.html. end story
Media tips: lnichols@auschron.com

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KEYWORDS FOR THIS STORY

San Antonio Express-News, Robert Rivard, Hearst Corporation, Peggy Fikac, Joe Holley, Dick Reavis, Texas MonthlyBiz, Evan Smith, Emmis Communications, Mike Levy, Mike Kelley, Austin American-Statesman, Tim Lott, Rich Oppel, Michael Bluejay, George W. Bush

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