University of Virginia Library

Run Everything

He said that on June 21 the
staff was told that all the news
policies that were in effect were
abolished, and from then on there
would be no news policies. The
implication was that they were to
run just about everything that came
in. The staff was instructed to run
more pictures and names of local
people, and told "Don't offend
anyone."

The former city editor goes on
to relate that the new owners
wanted to emphasize advertising, so-reporters
were told to write free
copy for the advertisers. The work
load was further increased when
reporters were forced to double up
and cover more beats. "It made it
impossible for us to concentrate on
the matters of real importance."
"The switch was back to a home
town, folksy kind of paper" Mr.
Runser said.