CHAPTER 11
In 1993, Bill Clinton and his young crew moved into the White House. There was a bit of turmoil while the new administration felt its way into power. Clinton tried to deal with the press. I remember one so-called answer from Clinton at an Earth Summit news conference in Washington. He had been asked about the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. His answer:
"Well, that's not the right way to ask the question. The question I can answer is, 'Would I have signed a treaty in 1992 which would have said by the year 2000, which is the end of the second term, that we would get back to 1990 levels of emission?' The answer to that is, yes, I would have been glad to sign that treaty, and I believe that would have created jobs in America and not cost jobs in America."
on 2-1-93:
Many times the hot news took a back seat to the run-of-the-mill and human interest stories.
Here is an exchange involving the First Cat in the Clinton administration. The New York bureau (NX) was asking about Socks the cat in an exchange with national editor (NTL) Jeffrey Reynolds with some input from me, Washington editor David Wiessler and White House (WHU) reporter Lori Santos:
Reynolds-ntl
Have we got socks, the cat, arriving washington via hillary's Oldsmobile driven to wa by friend of the family? Thanks. Newman-nx
Reynolds-ntl
Have we reported his arrival?
Newman-nx
Santos-whu
I'm passing on newman-reynolds message without comment. Rosso-desk
Wiessler
(socks) CBS network radio reporting arrival of socks in hillary's Oldsmobile and attendance at super bowl party yesterday. Do we have? Thanks. Newman-nx
newman-nx
(reynolds-ntl)
socks' formal debut at the whu yesterday was indeed mentioned in super-clinton sty, which was first sighting. There was not a separate, however, but cud offer details for people person today if desired.
Santos-whu
santos-whu
I am personally and journalistically allergic to cats, and they cannot appear in the people column as long as they walk on all fours and go to the bathroom in a box.
Reynolds-ntl
Santos-whu
Ur socks melted cold heart of reynolds and he is using in people column.
Wiessler
Wiessler
Reynolds always was a sucker for my copy. He hired me, after all.
Santos-whu
Santos-whu
But I didn't hire you to write shaggy cat stories.
Reynolds-ntl
Rosso-wa
Relieved to hear that socks is settling in to his new home. (also heard a good one about cats and dogs -- dogs come when you call. Cats take a number and say they'll get back to you. Burns-tr (Trenton)
Then there's this story filed 2-3-93, which shows that the White House beat is many times not at all glamorous:
Bc-clinton-watch
will he or won't he?
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- President Clinton left the Clinton watchers in the cold again Wednesday.
The press pool gathered outside the White House before dawn, ready to report on whether the chief executive went for his pre-dawn jog through the streets of the nation's capital.
They sat and waited. Inside a van. For two hours.
They saw the dawn of a new day, but not The Man.
They saw Socks, the first cat, being led around the White House grounds on a long leash.
They saw Clinton's daughter Chelsea dressed in blue jeans, leave the White House and get into a black car with her female Secret Service agent to go to school.
But they did not see the president of the United States run.
Perhaps it was Wednesday morning's below-freezing temperatures.
On Tuesday, when Clinton prepared to hit the road running, the temperature in downtown Washington was 14 degrees with a wind chill index of about 11 degrees below zero.
Clinton opted to skip his morning jog Tuesday and, instead, walked from the White House to the gym in the Executive Office Building next door to work out.
1993 was a year of ominous news all around. The new U.S. attorney general, Janet Reno, faced her toughest decision of her tenure when federal agents raided the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, ending a weeks-long seige. The compound caught fire and most of the cult members, including leader David Koresh and several children died. Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization -- represented by PLO leader Yasir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin -- signed a peace accord. The North American Free Trade Agreement was signed between the United States and Canada and Mexico, Czechoslovakia split, an abortion doctor was shot and killed by an anti-abortion fanatic and Muslim fundamentalists bombed the World Trade Center in New York City, killing five people.
Shortly after 1993 began I was given the opportunity to send my own farewell message. I had gotten to the point where the frustration boiled over and I resorted to a practice that was characteristic of me and that was seldom the most prudent avenue — spontaneity. Before sending out my usual good morning “All” message, I sent an open letter to UPI management in which I vented much of the angst that had been building up within and throughout the company since the mid-1980s. I was prompted to write my message after reading the weekly neh500 file, a regular piece put out by management to laud the work of UPI. My message was greeted by an outpouring of responses from Unipressers who shared my concerns. I include many of them because they illustrate the undercurrents throbbing in the UPI infrastructure throughout the world.
6:12 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 25, 1993.
An open letter to UPI management:
Next week begins the ninth month since UPI was once again bailed out by new owners. time enough to give birth. or will there be a miscarriage?
I've never been shy about going out on a limb and this is no exception, because I believe I speak for a majority of my colleagues.
We are not getting the information we need. instead, we are reading a lot of signs that spell disaster — stringers throughout the system, worldwide, are not being paid; vendors are not being paid; phone lines are being disconnected; we are having trouble getting deliveries of essential equipment; medical claims are going ignored.
The reputation UPI now has is not the reputation it once had. stringers refuse to work for us because of the shabby treatment they have received. it may be very easy for people in offices far removed from the scene to consistently refuse to pay these people who have made it possible for us to continue to put out a news report. but the local bureau managers who hired them on good faith need to look them in the eye and need to wonder whom they can get in the future.
there is a big difference between the UPI of the "can do" determination that built this wire service into a first-class, respected organization and what we offer now.
we have been waiting for "the plan" for a long time — a very long time. it has been promised to us by many UPI administrations. We have given great chunks of our pay on the false promises of a brighter tomorrow. And tomorrow never seems to get here. We have given at the office and all we get in return is spin.
I think it is time that somebody levelled with us. Where do we stand now? What is our outlook?
I suggest that the next neh500 put aside the false, forced plaudits and deal with reality. It is past time for UPI management to be honest with the people who deliver the product.
rosso-wa
All: good morning. bumper sticker spotted yesterday: "it will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber." rosso-wa
rosso-wa
right on and amen. you probably already know about this. but several buros, including du (Detroit), recently were authorized to hire a temporary full-time staffer for nine weeks with the possible chance of the position becoming permanent once this mysterious "business plan" is announced. I contacted one of our former staffers who was laid off a couple years ago and is in real bad way financially. he was so desperate that he quit his job — not a good one, but at least a job — to return to UPI in the slim hope that it might turn into something permanent. the company approved it, it put him on the schedule and then Monday night I was called and told that UPI changed its mind and wasn't going to hire him after all. I was physically ill — literally — when told of this decision. needless to say, the guy who thought he was getting the job was pretty sick too. he's been doing a lot of stringing for us over the past couple years and hasn't received a dime in months. in my opinion this is immoral, unethical and possibly illegal.
UPI management (drop rosso): concur that dave speaks for me. concur also in hope that the next neh500 deal with the issue he raises. ian-desk
rosso-wa
re ur open letter: about time somebody spoke up about the emperor's clothes. I applaud you. I'm just speaking for myself, but I'd bet that, off or on the record, everyone in Iowa would say you've said it right. it's a lot harder to hold your head high as a unipresser than it used to be. stattmann-ia (Indianapolis)
allpoints from geimann. newser (neh500) the usual weekly edition of the UPI news is hungry, again, for news from throughout the UPI system. we're interested in yur accomplishments, news developments, etc., to be shared with sales and your colleagues around the world. cheers. geimann-wa.
rosso-wa
I always enjoy your morning messages. this morning's were particularly welcome. regards. dabney-na (Philadelphia)
rosso-wa
re management letter. thanks. no one could have said it better. no one better could have said it. three cheers. ebeck-mh (Miami)
rosso-wa
thanks for your letter to management. think you spoke for more people than you know. there is so much speculation going on, so many rumors. you're right — somebody needs to provide some details here. hope your letter prompts some response. again, thank you. wieland-uc (Milwaukee)
rosso-wa
at least we know someone who has balls in the company, huh? nancy kercheval-br (Baltimore)
It wasn’t long before Steve Geimann of UPI management interceded to express “company policy.” But, it was self-serving. The message wire, as was demonstrated during the debate over the pay cut, had always been used for personal, as well as, business correspondents. In fact, Geimann had once praised my daily “All” messages as good for morale.
allpoints from geimann:
it has long been UPI policy — and continues to be the policy — that the internal message wires are for company business only. messages of a personal nature, messages that contain profanity, or are not directly related to news-gathering are not appropriate for the message wire. cheers. geimann.
rosso-wa
this is an impersonal message, containing no profanity, agreeing with your expression of concern over the way the state of the company's business is directly, and adversely, affecting our news-gathering. small-waaudio
rosso-wa
your morning message was refreshing. I believe most, if not all, of us out here have been thinking and privately saying the same. denying newsies facts and figures on their own company just leads to natural discontent — and, as I understand, investigative books. you hit about every point squarely. hope it is taken to heart. hardin-ia.
rosso-wa
thanks for saying what needed to be said. best regards. debevec-ws (St. Paul)
rosso-wa
thanks dave. I agree it's time we're told whether UPI's going to be someone's tax write-off (forgot, they don't have those anymore) or a competitive news operation. cheers. henderson-supreme court
rosso-wa
thanks for morning message. btw, while we're going through the motions, heard that clinton is to be in new joisey monday. will someone be traveling with him? burns-tr (Trenton)
rosso-wa
thanks for saying out loud what most of us have been silently screaming. bests. sielicki-tl (Toledo)
--
rosso-wa
I admire your courage for saying what had to be said. cheers and many thanks from the whole boston staff. siera-bh
rosso-wa
somebody say amen. lyle-kt (Albany)
rosso-wa
thanks for saying what needed to be said. frustration running high at new york financial, especially with garbage piling up everywhere and t.p. running low. regards. eve-nxf (New York Financial)
rosso-wa
add my name to the list of thankful folks for whom you so eloquently spoke in your open letter. cheers. supon-tr (Trenton)
rosso-wa
yur message was a welcome sight. it recognizes the frustration we all feel. cheers. mcginnis-uc (Milwaukee)
rosso-wa
ditto. cheers. simmonds-md (Madison, Wis.)
rosso-wa
and so say all of us, dave. the whole thing is neroesque, only they reclaimed the fiddle because of non-payment, myers-lsp
rosso-wa
who was it that said one man with courage makes a majority? my last day with UPI is tomorrow but I leave still worrying about the fate of all my friends (including many stringers). thanks for voicing what everyone had been thinking privately. cheers. ayers-gx (Springfield, Ill.)
rosso-wa
Dave, your missive dealing with news-gathering and company business is right on target and demonstrates the kind of guts and integrity this news agency needs.
Daniel-wa
Rosso-wa
Wait a minute, dave. Not so fast. The business plan’s just abt to be announced. Oh, no. tt was just gas. Cudn’t agree more. Rgds. Murphy-hxs (Chicago-sports)
Finally, Geimann had read enough. He called me to his office and handed me the following official correspondence:
dear david,
I am greatly disappointed you chose to express your feelings by using the internal company message wire to send an "open letter" to management.
this was a totally inappropriate use of the message wires. the UPI policy has been stated, and restated many times: message wires are exclusively for the transaction of company business in gathering news.
your message did not fall into that category.
while I appreciate your concerns and, perhaps, frustrations, I must disagree with your method of sharing them with management. it would be wholly appropriate to request a meeting, or drop me a typewritten note; sending an "open letter" on an international message wire is not appropriate.
the process of any transition is long and perhaps painful for some. but it has always been, and always will remain, the prerogative of management to carry out the business of the company in the best interests of the company.
those who disagree have two options: support the efforts of management, or resign, there is no in between.
sincerely,
steve geimann
executive editor
friday, feb 26
It was another day and I started it as I had started all mornings — with my good morning “All” message. Messages continued coming in from bureaus around the world to my open letter posted on Thursday.
all:
good morning. digging back into the molly ivins book this morning and speaker of the texas house gib lewis: "this problem is a two-headed sword: it could grow like a mushing room." thank you all. rosso-wa
all: today's forum calendar item: "the first amendment's value is linked directly to its use. to preserve it, it must be shared. unless it is everyone's, it can be no one's." jean otto, editor.
csongos:
frank, today's fns daybook offering as of 7:35 a.m. consists of part two of general daybook and 11 entries of next week's senate and house. no president sked. no house for today. no senate for today. no economic events for today and no parts 1 and 2 of the general daybook. rosso-wa
rosso-wa-drop geimann. (letter) it's cold and rainy here in paris today, but there is a very warm spot in my heart for you. eduardo cue-paris.
rosso-wa
three cheers. couldn't agree more. reed-bh
rosso-wa
bravo, dave. I think it's about time we all started doing a little more questioning and sounding off. regards-nxs
rosso-wa (geimann) morn, dave. and many thnx for voicing our concerns in your letter to management. you certainly spoke for me. regards. haskell-bh
geimann: morn, steve. as you are no doubt aware, dave rosso's open letter to management has generated enthusiastic support. it directly relates to news gathering and was absolutely appropriate. we certainly hope you respect the workers of this company enough to address this subject in today's neh500. regards. haskell-bh
At 1:45 p.m., 15 minutes before my shift was to end, Geimann again called me to his office and handed me the following:
friday, feb. 26, 1993
dear david,
we need to revisit the matters that arose feb. 25 when you inappropriately used the internal company message wires to send an "open letter" to management.
this was not your first unauthorized use of company messages wires in direct violation of long-standing company policy. you were reprimanded in writing sept. 21, 1990, for the same action. therefore, it is clear that your actions demonstrate a willful disregard for long-standing company policy on use of the message wires.
further, your message of feb. 25 demonstrated disloyalty to the company for which you work, and this cannot be tolerated.
therefore, given your disregard for company policies it is necessary to terminate your employment with united press international, effective immediately.
the human resources department can answer any questions you night have on benefits earned through today, Feb. 26, 1993, and cobra conversion rights beyond today.
very truly,
stephen j. geimann
executive editor
and executive vice president
I returned to my desk, gathered my belongings and sent my farewell message:
all:
I have just been fired. good bye. I will miss you all. rosso-wa
dave: I’m passing on some of the tributes of what you said so eloquently for all of us and the messages of support after your wrongful dismissal. You’re the best of guys. Stay in touch and let me know what I can do to help. I’m looking for work too. Mike myers
rosso-wa
hope this gets to you. I’m sorry. Our loss. Cheers and best of luck. Kuklenski-hc (Los Angeles)
rosso-wa
I will miss you sorely. Kosek-hx (Chicago)
Rosso-wa
And we will miss you, dave. Thanks for speaking up. Cheers and bests. Sielicki-tl (Toledo)
Rosso-wa
Godspeed, dave. Pg-rv (Richmond)
Rosso-wa
You’re the best. No doubt about it. Cheers. Ebeck-mh (Miami)
Rosso-wa
Eye was very sorry to hear about your untimely dismissal. Down here in the latam circuit, we received your well-written message yesterday with admiration and your final message today with shock. I’d like to salute you for your courage to stand up and say what at least the majority of us here were thinking. You fought for our dignity and I thank you very much. Regards. Harrison-caracas.
I was later told that as I was heading home many of my colleagues marched to Geimann’s office to plead on my behalf. I lived in Manassas, Va., and by the time I arrived home, an hour after leaving the office, I had received a phone call from Lou Peck, editor of CongressDaily, a Times-Mirror publication that covered Congress and the administration. Peck was looking for an editor and we agreed to meet the following Tuesday — when he hired me.
But three years later, after Geimann left UPI, I returned to the company I loved in the winter of 1996.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
All: This Is My Last Day - Chapter 10
CHAPTER 10
A UPI flashback.
Memo to Domestic Bureaus, July 24, 1934, by Earl J. Johnson
Gentlemen:
We used the phrase "whore houses" in the news report last week. This raises
the question of how far we can go under our policy of frank reporting.
The phrase "whore houses" was used by a federal judge in questioning a
witness in an important trial. We were handling a running story of the trial
with questions and answers, and we carried the judge's question verbatim. We
will continue to use such terms in the news report on those rare occasions
when they fit naturally into the record of official remarks by judges or
public men.
"Sex orgies" is appearing frequently in stories about the Dave Allen morals
case in Hollywood. On some days I have had the feeling that we were using
that phrase too often, although there is no doubt of its accuracy.
What we must avoid and this is creating an impression of trying to be
darting or flippant in the use of such terms. "Whore houses" appeared once
and we may not have occasion to use it again for years. I hope not, because
to many readers it is an offensive term. We must employ our new freedom with
discretion, restraint, and good taste always.
What would he have thought when UPI put out the story on July 3, 1978, about the Suprme Court decision on George Carlin's Seven Dirty Words.
In 1992, George Bush was coming to the end of his presidency. Apparently someone thought it had come a bit early. I still have a copy of a letter dated Sept. 17, 1992, from Van Nuys, Calif. It was addressed in neat handwriting to: "President George Bush, White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500 Attn: Frank Skinner" It was stamped, "Return to sender, addressee unknown."
In 1992, Bill Clinton was elected president, a black man named Rodney King was beaten by Los Angeles police officers. A not guilty verdict in the case against the officers sparked several days of rioting. Bosnia and Hercegovina seceded from Yugoslavia and Congress was rocked with a bad check scandal that snared a number of congressmen. Hurricane Andrew hit Florida, killing 14 and leaving a quarter of a million homeless. And, in Britain, the royal family couldn't seem to keep it together. Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson divorced, then Princess Anne and Mark Philips divorced and finally, the storybook marriage of Princess Di and Prince Charles came to an end.
Early in the year, we lost another colleague, who had left UPI for the Associated Press.
The Washington Post obit read:
Robert M. Andrews, 59, a reporter in the Washington bureau of the Associated Press who was a highly regarded rewrite man and a deft and skillful teller of human interest and feature stories, died Feb. 20 at Fairfax Hospital. He had cancer.
Mr. Andrews was a newsman for 35 years, and he spent almost all of that time with the wire services. He began with United Press International in London. In the early 1960s, he joined the UPI bureau in Washington and stayed for 13 years. In 1978, after a brief period in public relations and with U.S. News & World Report, he joined the AP.
In recent years at the AP, Mr. Andrews covered cultural events and wrote features. The sort of thing that caught his attention was church services in unusual settings. Thus, a story he wrote from Tysons Corner said, "Every Sunday morning, in his makeshift church above an automobile body shop, pastor Cameron Simmons knocks out the dents and heals the scrapes from the spiritual fender benders of life."
A piece on the same theme, so to speak, from the Rosslyn section of Arlington began, "Looking for a different worship experience? Consider 'Our Lady of Exxon,' a local Methodist church where you can drive in for gasoline and a lube job, then walk upstairs for some fire and brimstone."
"We've lost our best storyteller, the man who brought Washington down to earth for millions of readers across the world," said Jonathan Wolman, the AP bureau chief in Washington.
Bob was a shining light also during his years at UPI and one of his gems was a sidebar during the funeral of President John F. Kennedy.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 (UPI) – A little boy at his grieving mother’s side saluted the passing casket.
And in that moment, he suddenly became the brave soldier his father would have wanted him to be on this day, of all days.
For today, John F. Kennedy, Jr., turned three.
His world was strangely different, in little ways a child notices but does not understand.
Where was his daddy? The tall man with the laughing eyes who had a big desk and saw lots of important people and stooped to spank him good-naturedly and took him on helicopter rides and called him “John-John.”
This was supposed to be the day of The Party. The cake with three candles to blow out, the friends singing boisterous “Happy Birthdays,” the gifts.
But home, the White House, was quiet. Some of the furniture was gone. And the soldiers outside, whose salutes he delighted in trying to return with one of his own, looked different. They didn’t glance down at him and sneak a wink or a smile today. Their commands barked, their rifles clattered.
Secret Service agents came and led John-John and his sister out to the north portico. Mrs. Kennedy, dressed all in black, met them at the door and took them to a limousine. Then she walked back up the line with their uncles, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Sen. Edward Kennedy, and the slow, sad march to church began.
President and Mrs. Johnson and a host of aides and security agents followed Mrs. Kennedy on foot. John-John and Caroline rode in the car behind them.
A half-mile later, in front of St. Matthew’s Cathedral, the parade stopped. John-John and Caroline were brought around to join their mother.
The little boy looked around bewildered and started crying. His mother spoke to him softly, and he stopped.
They walked up the steps of the cathedral, and there waiting was Richard Cardinal Cushing of Boston. John-John seemed awed by the tall, craggy-faced man towering above him, wearing a white, two-pointed miter and black vestments.
Mrs. Kennedy, holding each of her children by the hand, walked in and down the aisle to their seats.
John-John grew restless during the mass. Someone picked a small book—The Church Today—Growth or Decline—from the literature rack at the rear of the cathedral and gave it to the boy to occupy him. He still clasped it in his hand when he left the church with his mother and sister.
They stood waiting at the bottom of the steps. Pallbearers appeared at the door with the flag-draped casket, and as it came slowly down toward them, Mrs. Kennedy leaned down and whispered to her son.
He stood apart, straightened stiffly, and raised his hand in salute as the casket passed.
It was another year of farewell messages as those who stayed continued to hope that the company would pull through. But there were ominous signs and the ranks were dwindling fast. There were fewer people to say good-bye to. Royal Brightbill, who said good-bye on behalf of his creation, Helmut De Lago, and then said good-bye for himself, found himself saying good-bye again. Failing to get any reassurances from the company that surgery would be covered by the UPI health plan, I canceled surgery and later wrote a pre-emptive good bye — just in case.
On May 4, 1992, I sent the following:
All-wa
Fyi, I was scheduled for surgery Wednesday to have an obstinate hernia repaired. However, after attempting to check insurance status with company and having people at comprehensive benefits even refuse to discuss it, and then talking with doug levy (union official), I have canceled the surgery. The word to the wise, I think, is stay healthy. Anything submitted between now and whenever is highly speculative.
On May 11, 1992, The Washington Post did an in-depth piece on UPI, titled, "At UPI, No News Is Bad News. The Failing Wire Service Needs a Buyer, and Fast"
Paul Hendrickson set the stage with his lede graph:
"They were there with the news Chef Boy-Ardee died. They were there with the report that Lindbergh was safely on the ground at Le Bourget. They were there first those 29 still-chilling Novembers ago when a president's head lurched back in his limo at Dealey Plaza. The bulletin went on the UPI printer at 12:34 p.m. Dallas time. White House correspondent Merriman Smith -- 'Smitty,' everyone called him -- was riding in a press pool car swerving down Elm Street in Dallas in those bewildering afterseconds. He kept fighting off AP's Jack Bell for control of the radio phone. The 11 words appearing in a clacking black on a teletype were: 'Three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas.' Thanks to United Press International, small-town editors with their backsides to stoves in New England heard about JFK in Dallas two minutes before the emergency room at Parkland Memorial Hospital received JFK."
He interviewed Tom Ferraro, a White House reporter at the time, who said: "I've described it as being married to a terminally ill patient. On one level you want her to die, so you can get on with your life. On the other, you don't want to give up, you don't want her to give up. You do it for the rushes you get." Ferraro said the rush was still there, "but, you see, there's no ... clients anymore."
David Wiessler, at the time the senior political reporter, told Hendrickson, "We used to take the story by the throat and shake it around and bang it on the table. And, and, we ... just ... can't ... do that anymore."
I was working the desk that June day in 1985 when I heard the radio report that Chef Boy-Ardee had died. His real name was Ettore Boiardi. It was the weekend and I hadn't a clue where to go to match the story. I had a friend who worked at my neighborhood Safeway. I called him and asked him to grab a can of any Chef Boy-Ardee product and read the label. He gave me enough information that I was able to find the bureau closest to his firm in Ohio and get a reporter on the case.
On June 4, 1992, a very sad farewell appeared in The Washington Post: A.B. Sawislak, senior editor at UPI, dies. Arnold B. Sawislak, 64, retired Washington editor of United Press International, died of complications of neurological surgery June 4 at George Washington University Hospital.
He was Arnie to us. He signed off his messages RNE, and we all knew who it was. He gave 41 years to UPI as a legislative correspondent, regional reporter, congressional correspondent, chief political writer, columnist and enterprise writer. He retired as senior editor in 1990.
Arnie wrote a weekly column, Washington Window, and a novel about tabloid journalism, "Dwarf Rapes Nun; Flees in UFO."
One of Arnie's gems:
WASHINGTON (UPI) – Less than 24 hours after President Nixon assured Republican governors last week that he knew of no more Watergate “bombs,” the White House dropped another one — and the shrapnel ripped the web of confidence Nixon had tried to weave in Memphis.
On June 23, 1992, I wrote:
All:
At the end of today’s shift I’ll be on vacation, returning Monday, July 6. while efforts continue to keep upi alive, the reality is that I leave today with the possibility that I will not be able to get back into the building to retrieve my coffee cup. So, I want to wish you all the best — and that best includes a thriving, productive upi on july 6. but if our words should not again cross the message wires, I want to thank all of you for your tremendous help, dedication, hard work and tenacity over the past few months. That said, I hope to talk to you on july 6.
And on july 6:
All:
Good morning! And july 6 did arrive! Savannah, ga., evening press headline: “man who killed wife, self just released from prison.”
Rosso-wa
Morn dave, and welcome back to the new upi.
Haskell-bh (Boston)
The following message is more than a personal goodbye; it was also a goodbye for the St. Louis, Mo., bureau. Steve Whitworth’s message also conveys the spirit of Unipressers.
Buros
Tdy marks my last day as a full-time unipresser et the closing of the x (St. Louis) buo. Eye’m not sure how long x buro has been open, but eye’m sure it’s almost as wild as upi. A lotta great ppl have worked here thru the yrs; just to mention a few tt eye was fortunate enuf to meet et/or work with: Jim Wieck, Dale Singer, laszio domjan, tom uhlenbrock, tim Bryant, rich luna, Janice kalmar, mandy Mueller, read martin, mede nix, steve wade, warren mayes et art Phillips. Eye also had the pleasure of working with jake wolf in Jefferson city, et such Kansas city staffers as john hendel, toni cardarella, Elizabeth drake, joe keenan, will dickenson, bob musinski et jenell Wallace.
Eye started with upi in 1985 in New Orleans, where eye worked with ellen debenport, rob gloster, john demers, janet plume, royal brightbill, joan duffy et dave fornell. Steve watsky was a stringer then et later became one of the classic unipressers; the msg wire unhas bn the same since he left.
Et of course eye’ve been fortunate enuf to work the network of unipressers nationwide, most of whom eye’ve never had the chance to meet in person. This msg wud be far too long if eye attempted to name everyone who has helped et guided me or just been a good friend over the wires. To those of u still with the company: u know who u are. Thnx for everything.
It’s very sad to be closing this buro down, but eye’m grateful for the opportunity upi gave me as a young reporter fresh outta j-skull. Eye know tt the nearly seven yrs eye’ve spent here hv given me experience et skills tt shld serve me well down the road. Again, thnx to all of u. eye hope eye get a chance to meet some more of u somewhere down the line; old unipressers shld always be friends, becoz we’ve shared experiences tt give us a common bond unlike any other news organization eye know of. Some experiences were good et others were bad, but anybody who has worked for this company for any length of time knows wot eye mean when eye say if u’ve been a unipresser, ur part of a family. It may be a loud, contentious family with a few conflicts here and there, but eye’m proud to call any past or present unipresser my friend et hope they feel the same way abt me.
My name or work may be popping up on the wire on a stringer basis for a while, at least until eye find full-time work elsewhere. Eye doan hv anything arranged yet, et it’s a little scary luking for a job in this economy, but eye’m counting on the good experience eye’ve gained here to help me land something.
Best of luck to al unipressers et keep on plugging. It’s been a pleasure working with all of u. et if any of u are ever in the st. louis area, look me up…
Thnx et rgds
Whitworth-x
1-20-92
unipressers
today is my last day behind my tube after almost 4-and-a-half years at the world’ most independent wire service. I have learned more about life during my time here than ever before. However, there have also been some very tough times, some that have even made me teary, like when my co-worker was laid off 2 times in a year.
On march 2, I start as the chief spokesman for the Illinois environmental protection agency. Thankfully, I will be replaced here at the Illinois capitol, where upi is very much revered for its legendary staffers, including our m.e. bob kieckhefer and others.
There are several ppl I want to thank before I go: phil magers-da (Dallas), who hired me and is a fantastic editor and boss. Jim wieck-exda, who treated everyone like a pro. David barron-exda, the fastest writer I ever saw. Marcy kreiter-hx (Chicago), who put her confidence in me and gave me latitude to do my best. And my current boss, char kosek-hx, who kills herself every day because she really believes in this place.
I wish all fellow staffers the best of luck and as one of my co-workers used to say, “unipressers never die, they just come back.” I’ve already done that once. Will the second time be a charm? 73s to all.
Shomon-gx-gt-da-peace (Springfield, Ill., ??, Dallas)
Unipressers
It’s been my great honor to work alongside you ever since I first crossed the threshold of the rv (Richmond) buro in 1976. in two stints with this great old ship I’ve had a lot of fun, done a few great stories. But the memories that mean the most will remain those of my colleagues. From the beginning u have dazzled me with your abilities and dedication, inspired me with your grit, buoyed me with your humor and, more recently, made me cry as I’ve watched you suffer the indignities and privations of our darkest voyage.
I’ll remember each of you, past and present, including Ed Roby, whose brilliance and big heart couldn’t hide long behind the gruff Brooklyn cab driver exterior, and who marked my standing as the first female to work in rv (Richmond) by calling me only “da goil” from day one: Tom Ferraro, my dearest friend and professional inspiration, who fooled me into thinking he was a choir boy in the old rv days by muttering, “excuse me Karen” every one of the 100 times a day he said the “f” word: Jeff Reynolds, who brought sanity and clarity to the oh-so appropriately named MAD (MidAtlantic) desk — and later the likes of bill lohman, ellis Conklin, jane Sutton, ken franckling and bill inman who allowed me the privilege of handling their feature copy; ron cohen, who epitomizes the meaning of upi to me; Helen Thomas, who let me have dinner with her; frank cook, who made me laugh; dave rosso, who hasn’t given in to this very day; steve gerstel, who let me sit next to him in hopes of his enormous talent would rub off and who elevated me to the highly coveted title of “head honey” on the hill … and the rest of the wonderful, crazy bunch of you still turning it out on your cranky old tubes in your flea bitten offices. Thanks to you I’ll never stop being proud to call myself a unipresser. Gd luck to you all. 73s. Karen Timmons-wafin (rv, waftus, sa-hu-ru, wa) (Richmond, Washington-features, Senate, House, Regional, Washington)
Buos
This is another one of those msgs
Who: Sharon (sa) miller-sxr
What: bailing out
When: well, today could be my last day, and then again eye might be back for a short time after eye return from vccn next week. It all depends on how the skeds work out.
Where: san Francisco (see how) all those people to whom eye’ve sed over the years “eye owe u a drink for tt” are welcome to come by and collect ‘em. The bar’s open. We might even provide munchies.
Why: it’s time. no eye do not have a new job with a wealthy company tt also will hire u at big bucks. My husband is about to get a housewife for the first time in 13 years of marriage. Eye figure about one month of tt will drive us both crazy.
How: reluctantly, even tho eye kno it’s the rite thing to do. Eye’ll miss all of u terribly.
73s
sab-miller-sxr (San Francisco-radio)
unipressers
I am leaving upi after 12 years. it has been a wonderful life, not just a job. I’m grateful for having had the opportunity and thankful to all who helped me along the way. I hope upi will go on forever. It is a great institution that deserves to live and to flourish once again. Special thanks to Helen, leon, steve geimann, bob martin in London and the hill folk — shep and gerstel — who kindly helped us regionals learn the ropes back in the good ole days. I’ll miss y’all. Have to leave suddenly to avoid conflict of interest. Just got a job in governor wilson’s administration doing public affairs for his health and welfare agency. New trails for me, and for you, I hope for only the best. Cheers and 73s. chrystal-bc (Sacramento)
allpoints (goodbye)
it’s hard to say good-bye to u all even though I met most u only on the message wire. Upi has helped me fulfil part of my dreams over the last four years both as a paris stringer where I covered some memorable stories, and as a desker here in wa where I learned to run the fast-paced and understaffed 24-hour desk. But I have a good offer from the competition and think the future is brighter there. Upi can’t survive (nor can I) on dreams and its reputation. There are too few people, and (not that I need to tell u) all are overworked and underpaid, and deserve better. For my two cents worth, the best investment upi could make now is in people. The only way upi can survive and prosper is to have a good product. The only way to have a good product is to have good, experienced reporters and editors. And the only way to get and keep those people is to treat them and compensate them fairly. Sounds like an elementary business principle but some people haven’t learned that. When and if they do, who knows, maybe I’ll be back. All the best to everyone.
Lever-waforn (Washington-foreign)
All
Well, this brief bdcst shift marks the end of my life with the vaunted wire service. After 10-plus years I’m heading to nx (New York) to join my family and seek my fortune after 10 years in km (San Diego). The weather is fine here, but there are no no opportunities in either journalism, flackery or anything in between. I just want to thank everyone who has helped me along the way or has just been a pal. The long list includes tony gonsalves, joe fasbinder and the hard-working hc (Los Angeles) crew, my old pal bill murray in sx (San Francisco), bob martin and everyone at nxs (New York Sports). The roster of the departed is too long to even bring up, but my mentor marty houseman, the old latam (Latin American desk) hand, deserves a special mention. So many people. This place was really something and I hope it bounces back without any further layoffs.
73s
Anderson-km (San Diego)
Buos
(bye) well, folks, been over this road so many times before there isn’t much more I can say about it. I certainly have learned not to say goodbye. Have enjoyed being reunited with old friends throughout the company, making new ones and fighting the good fight with some of the best in the business, today is my last day on this current tour with upi, but I will be keeping close contact and pulling for your success all the way. 73
brightbill-led
allpoints
(goodbye) 14 years ago this month I hired on at the phoenix buro for a temporary four-month position with the goal of earning enough bucks to move to Hawaii. As I like to say, somehow I didn’t make it to Hawaii. But I’ve had a good run. I helped cover the u.s. invasion of panama with the late doug tweedale (Christmas in the tropics)…once armed men stopped my bus going into panama city, and once I had a late night encounter with invisible U.S. troops on a dark road. During my nearly two years as forn correspondent for Colombia and Ecuador, I covered a volcanic eruption that killed 23,000 people, a guerrilla raid on the justice palace that killed 100, a presidential election and two papal visits. My years here on the forn desk have seen the collapse of the berlin wall, the soviet coup, the death of the ayatollah khomeini, etc. they say what this company doesn’t give in perks or praise, it gives in excitement and I guess I’ve had my share. A lot of people gave me a boost, like former latam exec gary neeleman who guided me to Colombia and former managing editor bill Ferguson who gave me a plane ticket to panama. Herb surrett hired me in phoenix, where gravel-voiced harriett hindman chain-smoked and showed me the ropes. Lou Carr, Leon Daniel and Jeff Reynolds in Washington have shown me what it is to endure. Loretta Robinson the courage of the human spirit and Dave Rosso, the benefits of an undying sense of humor. And all u folks in buos overseas, u who fight to do a good job despite all odds, I pray that someday u’ll get the appreciation u deserve. So many people, so many war stories. They say at an embattled company, people stay because of the companionship. That’s what I’ll miss the most. My husband is pursuing his dream to become a pilot for the Coast Guard and we’re moving to Pensacola, Fla. UPI says maybe later, I can work from there. But who knows. So I’ve decided to say good bye, because this is probably it. Thanks to all. Rgds. Walsh-waforn.
Buros
I guess there are still a few left out there. Hi I’m unemployed n yur not. But seriously, at whatever time I decide to turn out the lights this afternoon, fy (Frankfort, Ky.) will be officially downclosed n I’ll be heading to the unemployment line. As far as ky is concerned, sal-sv (Louisville) is captain n crew. The last 13 months have been a great learning experience for me, but learning experiences wont feed my kids next month. Many thnks are in order, especially to my boss and mentor sal-sv (the Italian stallion), kieck and kreiter-hx (Chicago), cook and pohla-ps (Pittsburgh), swenson-nxs (New York-sports) and king of the techs jim price in Indianapolis. I hope upi survives this latest downgrade, but it don’t luk gud. Who wud want to buy a wire with only a handful of writers. My advice is to start updating those resumes. And if you have any baseball cards to give away, msg me on pza. Im going back on the show circuit to supplement my non-existent income until a brighter day. Tnks again to those who count. You know who you are.
Danny-fy
Unipressers
Ouch! Getting kicked off the upi roller coaster smarts! And not knowing where I’ll land adds a little terror to the adventure. But when I jumped off the radio merry-go-round 3-and-a-half years ago I knew the ride at upi was getting rickety and I might lose my seat at any dip or turn. A snickering Hartford courant reporter asked me at the time how it felt to jump onto a sinking ship and I told her I could swim. And swim I will. But it’s been a thrill to work with the legendary bruno vittorrio ranniello, who gave me a new view of religion; mark dupuis, who gave me a new view of politics; and dennis milewski, who gave me a chance to climb out of the radio swill bucket and do some real news. And “young ken” (brown), of late on the national desk, how could I forget you? Well, your “big sister” is a “wib wench” no longer. Thanks for the memories, guys, and if you hear of any jobs, please let me know. good luck to all who are left to continue the battle. And now I’m off to pink slip heaven. Amen. Chrs. Yost-bp (hf) (Bridgeport, Conn., Hartford)
Allpoints
I’ve rewritten this message a hundred times in the past few weeks. What it comes down to is that no matter how many more employees or clients the other outfits have, none ever have had or ever will have a finer group of staffers. You are what has always made upi a special company (and why I’ve quit twice before and come back). To all of you overseas, particularly those of you I’ve come to consider friends, a special salute. If you ever head toward virginia, there’ll always be a light on and welcome mat out for you at our house. Bests, lai-waftus (Jill Lai-Washington-features)
All at upi
When bob gornall lured me from the cw (Charleston, W.Va.) daily mail in august 1966 to upi, he promised me it would NOT be “a bed of roses.” How right he was. The first winter, ray evans and I worked 63 consecutive night tricks, due to 60-day xgr (legislature) session. The second winter, ray and I worked 42 consecutive nights, since xgr met only 30 days in alternate years “back then.” Like wally martin-upr, I started as a wire service copy boy — INS in columbus, ohio, in 1952. we made eight-copy books for reporters to do their stories on. I took two copies to the cz (Columbus, Ohio) bus station and shipped them to the ironton tribune and another nupe in tt area for tt day’s editions. Then I went soft and worked for newspapers in parkersburg, w.va.; panama city, panama; Marietta, ohio; then to the Charleston daily mail where gornall offered me a 45-dollar-a-week raise at the very time our fourth child was born. All the children are thru college now. Don’t say upi doesn’t keep its promises — it has been no bed of roses as promised by the first dozen or so buro managers. Let me say that if we are better people because of adversity, then upi people are the strongest people on the face of the earth. I’m glad I came on board. As consarned aggravatin’ as it cud be much of the time, as I often told mac porterfield prolly the only way I wud get outta hr was to get thrown out. Oh, well, “no more scores ‘n stuff” to collect. The fones have stopped ringing. So long. Best wishes.
Dan hose-cw
The following message was a personal goodbye that also signaled the closing of a bureau and the entire state of New Jersey.
All
Three years ago, I closed down upi’s Newark bureau and now I’m turning out the lights in new jersey, abandoning drawers full of disorganized files, two functioning terminals and a temperamental fax machine.
I joined upi in 1985 after working for a client newspaper (now both an ex-client and an ex-newspaper) in northern new jersey. After I came on board, I realized I was lucky to be in new jersey—a state that produces an extraordinary amount of news and a state where a series of talented editors had built a bureau with a real gorilla reputation. I got to cover the Baby M case and the john list trial and to meet people like joyce carol oates, john mcphee and john digilio, a reputed mobster who once wrestled a co-defendant to the floor during a brawl in a courthouse hallway and later was found in the Hackensack river with five bullets in his head. (digilio used to pinch me on the cheek and say, “hey, honey, after I win my case, I’m going to take you out.” I was never sure what he meant by that, but someone took him out first.)
The last three years have been hell. Two of us have tried to keep a state report going and watched the client base dwindle. I’m glad the company is now trying to pull up its socks and find a direction, and I hope that my bad memories will fade with time.
There are many many people, a lot of them still with the company, that I was fortunate to work with and get to know. There are six people who stick in my mind as typical of the talented and dedicated journalists upi hired and then sometimes threw away — former nxl staffer cathy burke, former financial editor dottie brooks, former book review queen jill lai, former new jersey editor and national desker dennis o’shea, former national super-desker dan chiszar and former Washington morning message king dave rosso.
To those of you who are staying, best of luck. To those who are joining me in the exodus, remember — it’s not an end, it’s a beginning. After all, chiszar is now a roustabout with the circus. Chrs, burns-tr (Trenton)
A UPI flashback.
Memo to Domestic Bureaus, July 24, 1934, by Earl J. Johnson
Gentlemen:
We used the phrase "whore houses" in the news report last week. This raises
the question of how far we can go under our policy of frank reporting.
The phrase "whore houses" was used by a federal judge in questioning a
witness in an important trial. We were handling a running story of the trial
with questions and answers, and we carried the judge's question verbatim. We
will continue to use such terms in the news report on those rare occasions
when they fit naturally into the record of official remarks by judges or
public men.
"Sex orgies" is appearing frequently in stories about the Dave Allen morals
case in Hollywood. On some days I have had the feeling that we were using
that phrase too often, although there is no doubt of its accuracy.
What we must avoid and this is creating an impression of trying to be
darting or flippant in the use of such terms. "Whore houses" appeared once
and we may not have occasion to use it again for years. I hope not, because
to many readers it is an offensive term. We must employ our new freedom with
discretion, restraint, and good taste always.
What would he have thought when UPI put out the story on July 3, 1978, about the Suprme Court decision on George Carlin's Seven Dirty Words.
In 1992, George Bush was coming to the end of his presidency. Apparently someone thought it had come a bit early. I still have a copy of a letter dated Sept. 17, 1992, from Van Nuys, Calif. It was addressed in neat handwriting to: "President George Bush, White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C. 20500 Attn: Frank Skinner" It was stamped, "Return to sender, addressee unknown."
In 1992, Bill Clinton was elected president, a black man named Rodney King was beaten by Los Angeles police officers. A not guilty verdict in the case against the officers sparked several days of rioting. Bosnia and Hercegovina seceded from Yugoslavia and Congress was rocked with a bad check scandal that snared a number of congressmen. Hurricane Andrew hit Florida, killing 14 and leaving a quarter of a million homeless. And, in Britain, the royal family couldn't seem to keep it together. Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson divorced, then Princess Anne and Mark Philips divorced and finally, the storybook marriage of Princess Di and Prince Charles came to an end.
Early in the year, we lost another colleague, who had left UPI for the Associated Press.
The Washington Post obit read:
Robert M. Andrews, 59, a reporter in the Washington bureau of the Associated Press who was a highly regarded rewrite man and a deft and skillful teller of human interest and feature stories, died Feb. 20 at Fairfax Hospital. He had cancer.
Mr. Andrews was a newsman for 35 years, and he spent almost all of that time with the wire services. He began with United Press International in London. In the early 1960s, he joined the UPI bureau in Washington and stayed for 13 years. In 1978, after a brief period in public relations and with U.S. News & World Report, he joined the AP.
In recent years at the AP, Mr. Andrews covered cultural events and wrote features. The sort of thing that caught his attention was church services in unusual settings. Thus, a story he wrote from Tysons Corner said, "Every Sunday morning, in his makeshift church above an automobile body shop, pastor Cameron Simmons knocks out the dents and heals the scrapes from the spiritual fender benders of life."
A piece on the same theme, so to speak, from the Rosslyn section of Arlington began, "Looking for a different worship experience? Consider 'Our Lady of Exxon,' a local Methodist church where you can drive in for gasoline and a lube job, then walk upstairs for some fire and brimstone."
"We've lost our best storyteller, the man who brought Washington down to earth for millions of readers across the world," said Jonathan Wolman, the AP bureau chief in Washington.
Bob was a shining light also during his years at UPI and one of his gems was a sidebar during the funeral of President John F. Kennedy.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 (UPI) – A little boy at his grieving mother’s side saluted the passing casket.
And in that moment, he suddenly became the brave soldier his father would have wanted him to be on this day, of all days.
For today, John F. Kennedy, Jr., turned three.
His world was strangely different, in little ways a child notices but does not understand.
Where was his daddy? The tall man with the laughing eyes who had a big desk and saw lots of important people and stooped to spank him good-naturedly and took him on helicopter rides and called him “John-John.”
This was supposed to be the day of The Party. The cake with three candles to blow out, the friends singing boisterous “Happy Birthdays,” the gifts.
But home, the White House, was quiet. Some of the furniture was gone. And the soldiers outside, whose salutes he delighted in trying to return with one of his own, looked different. They didn’t glance down at him and sneak a wink or a smile today. Their commands barked, their rifles clattered.
Secret Service agents came and led John-John and his sister out to the north portico. Mrs. Kennedy, dressed all in black, met them at the door and took them to a limousine. Then she walked back up the line with their uncles, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Sen. Edward Kennedy, and the slow, sad march to church began.
President and Mrs. Johnson and a host of aides and security agents followed Mrs. Kennedy on foot. John-John and Caroline rode in the car behind them.
A half-mile later, in front of St. Matthew’s Cathedral, the parade stopped. John-John and Caroline were brought around to join their mother.
The little boy looked around bewildered and started crying. His mother spoke to him softly, and he stopped.
They walked up the steps of the cathedral, and there waiting was Richard Cardinal Cushing of Boston. John-John seemed awed by the tall, craggy-faced man towering above him, wearing a white, two-pointed miter and black vestments.
Mrs. Kennedy, holding each of her children by the hand, walked in and down the aisle to their seats.
John-John grew restless during the mass. Someone picked a small book—The Church Today—Growth or Decline—from the literature rack at the rear of the cathedral and gave it to the boy to occupy him. He still clasped it in his hand when he left the church with his mother and sister.
They stood waiting at the bottom of the steps. Pallbearers appeared at the door with the flag-draped casket, and as it came slowly down toward them, Mrs. Kennedy leaned down and whispered to her son.
He stood apart, straightened stiffly, and raised his hand in salute as the casket passed.
It was another year of farewell messages as those who stayed continued to hope that the company would pull through. But there were ominous signs and the ranks were dwindling fast. There were fewer people to say good-bye to. Royal Brightbill, who said good-bye on behalf of his creation, Helmut De Lago, and then said good-bye for himself, found himself saying good-bye again. Failing to get any reassurances from the company that surgery would be covered by the UPI health plan, I canceled surgery and later wrote a pre-emptive good bye — just in case.
On May 4, 1992, I sent the following:
All-wa
Fyi, I was scheduled for surgery Wednesday to have an obstinate hernia repaired. However, after attempting to check insurance status with company and having people at comprehensive benefits even refuse to discuss it, and then talking with doug levy (union official), I have canceled the surgery. The word to the wise, I think, is stay healthy. Anything submitted between now and whenever is highly speculative.
On May 11, 1992, The Washington Post did an in-depth piece on UPI, titled, "At UPI, No News Is Bad News. The Failing Wire Service Needs a Buyer, and Fast"
Paul Hendrickson set the stage with his lede graph:
"They were there with the news Chef Boy-Ardee died. They were there with the report that Lindbergh was safely on the ground at Le Bourget. They were there first those 29 still-chilling Novembers ago when a president's head lurched back in his limo at Dealey Plaza. The bulletin went on the UPI printer at 12:34 p.m. Dallas time. White House correspondent Merriman Smith -- 'Smitty,' everyone called him -- was riding in a press pool car swerving down Elm Street in Dallas in those bewildering afterseconds. He kept fighting off AP's Jack Bell for control of the radio phone. The 11 words appearing in a clacking black on a teletype were: 'Three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas.' Thanks to United Press International, small-town editors with their backsides to stoves in New England heard about JFK in Dallas two minutes before the emergency room at Parkland Memorial Hospital received JFK."
He interviewed Tom Ferraro, a White House reporter at the time, who said: "I've described it as being married to a terminally ill patient. On one level you want her to die, so you can get on with your life. On the other, you don't want to give up, you don't want her to give up. You do it for the rushes you get." Ferraro said the rush was still there, "but, you see, there's no ... clients anymore."
David Wiessler, at the time the senior political reporter, told Hendrickson, "We used to take the story by the throat and shake it around and bang it on the table. And, and, we ... just ... can't ... do that anymore."
I was working the desk that June day in 1985 when I heard the radio report that Chef Boy-Ardee had died. His real name was Ettore Boiardi. It was the weekend and I hadn't a clue where to go to match the story. I had a friend who worked at my neighborhood Safeway. I called him and asked him to grab a can of any Chef Boy-Ardee product and read the label. He gave me enough information that I was able to find the bureau closest to his firm in Ohio and get a reporter on the case.
On June 4, 1992, a very sad farewell appeared in The Washington Post: A.B. Sawislak, senior editor at UPI, dies. Arnold B. Sawislak, 64, retired Washington editor of United Press International, died of complications of neurological surgery June 4 at George Washington University Hospital.
He was Arnie to us. He signed off his messages RNE, and we all knew who it was. He gave 41 years to UPI as a legislative correspondent, regional reporter, congressional correspondent, chief political writer, columnist and enterprise writer. He retired as senior editor in 1990.
Arnie wrote a weekly column, Washington Window, and a novel about tabloid journalism, "Dwarf Rapes Nun; Flees in UFO."
One of Arnie's gems:
WASHINGTON (UPI) – Less than 24 hours after President Nixon assured Republican governors last week that he knew of no more Watergate “bombs,” the White House dropped another one — and the shrapnel ripped the web of confidence Nixon had tried to weave in Memphis.
On June 23, 1992, I wrote:
All:
At the end of today’s shift I’ll be on vacation, returning Monday, July 6. while efforts continue to keep upi alive, the reality is that I leave today with the possibility that I will not be able to get back into the building to retrieve my coffee cup. So, I want to wish you all the best — and that best includes a thriving, productive upi on july 6. but if our words should not again cross the message wires, I want to thank all of you for your tremendous help, dedication, hard work and tenacity over the past few months. That said, I hope to talk to you on july 6.
And on july 6:
All:
Good morning! And july 6 did arrive! Savannah, ga., evening press headline: “man who killed wife, self just released from prison.”
Rosso-wa
Morn dave, and welcome back to the new upi.
Haskell-bh (Boston)
The following message is more than a personal goodbye; it was also a goodbye for the St. Louis, Mo., bureau. Steve Whitworth’s message also conveys the spirit of Unipressers.
Buros
Tdy marks my last day as a full-time unipresser et the closing of the x (St. Louis) buo. Eye’m not sure how long x buro has been open, but eye’m sure it’s almost as wild as upi. A lotta great ppl have worked here thru the yrs; just to mention a few tt eye was fortunate enuf to meet et/or work with: Jim Wieck, Dale Singer, laszio domjan, tom uhlenbrock, tim Bryant, rich luna, Janice kalmar, mandy Mueller, read martin, mede nix, steve wade, warren mayes et art Phillips. Eye also had the pleasure of working with jake wolf in Jefferson city, et such Kansas city staffers as john hendel, toni cardarella, Elizabeth drake, joe keenan, will dickenson, bob musinski et jenell Wallace.
Eye started with upi in 1985 in New Orleans, where eye worked with ellen debenport, rob gloster, john demers, janet plume, royal brightbill, joan duffy et dave fornell. Steve watsky was a stringer then et later became one of the classic unipressers; the msg wire unhas bn the same since he left.
Et of course eye’ve been fortunate enuf to work the network of unipressers nationwide, most of whom eye’ve never had the chance to meet in person. This msg wud be far too long if eye attempted to name everyone who has helped et guided me or just been a good friend over the wires. To those of u still with the company: u know who u are. Thnx for everything.
It’s very sad to be closing this buro down, but eye’m grateful for the opportunity upi gave me as a young reporter fresh outta j-skull. Eye know tt the nearly seven yrs eye’ve spent here hv given me experience et skills tt shld serve me well down the road. Again, thnx to all of u. eye hope eye get a chance to meet some more of u somewhere down the line; old unipressers shld always be friends, becoz we’ve shared experiences tt give us a common bond unlike any other news organization eye know of. Some experiences were good et others were bad, but anybody who has worked for this company for any length of time knows wot eye mean when eye say if u’ve been a unipresser, ur part of a family. It may be a loud, contentious family with a few conflicts here and there, but eye’m proud to call any past or present unipresser my friend et hope they feel the same way abt me.
My name or work may be popping up on the wire on a stringer basis for a while, at least until eye find full-time work elsewhere. Eye doan hv anything arranged yet, et it’s a little scary luking for a job in this economy, but eye’m counting on the good experience eye’ve gained here to help me land something.
Best of luck to al unipressers et keep on plugging. It’s been a pleasure working with all of u. et if any of u are ever in the st. louis area, look me up…
Thnx et rgds
Whitworth-x
1-20-92
unipressers
today is my last day behind my tube after almost 4-and-a-half years at the world’ most independent wire service. I have learned more about life during my time here than ever before. However, there have also been some very tough times, some that have even made me teary, like when my co-worker was laid off 2 times in a year.
On march 2, I start as the chief spokesman for the Illinois environmental protection agency. Thankfully, I will be replaced here at the Illinois capitol, where upi is very much revered for its legendary staffers, including our m.e. bob kieckhefer and others.
There are several ppl I want to thank before I go: phil magers-da (Dallas), who hired me and is a fantastic editor and boss. Jim wieck-exda, who treated everyone like a pro. David barron-exda, the fastest writer I ever saw. Marcy kreiter-hx (Chicago), who put her confidence in me and gave me latitude to do my best. And my current boss, char kosek-hx, who kills herself every day because she really believes in this place.
I wish all fellow staffers the best of luck and as one of my co-workers used to say, “unipressers never die, they just come back.” I’ve already done that once. Will the second time be a charm? 73s to all.
Shomon-gx-gt-da-peace (Springfield, Ill., ??, Dallas)
Unipressers
It’s been my great honor to work alongside you ever since I first crossed the threshold of the rv (Richmond) buro in 1976. in two stints with this great old ship I’ve had a lot of fun, done a few great stories. But the memories that mean the most will remain those of my colleagues. From the beginning u have dazzled me with your abilities and dedication, inspired me with your grit, buoyed me with your humor and, more recently, made me cry as I’ve watched you suffer the indignities and privations of our darkest voyage.
I’ll remember each of you, past and present, including Ed Roby, whose brilliance and big heart couldn’t hide long behind the gruff Brooklyn cab driver exterior, and who marked my standing as the first female to work in rv (Richmond) by calling me only “da goil” from day one: Tom Ferraro, my dearest friend and professional inspiration, who fooled me into thinking he was a choir boy in the old rv days by muttering, “excuse me Karen” every one of the 100 times a day he said the “f” word: Jeff Reynolds, who brought sanity and clarity to the oh-so appropriately named MAD (MidAtlantic) desk — and later the likes of bill lohman, ellis Conklin, jane Sutton, ken franckling and bill inman who allowed me the privilege of handling their feature copy; ron cohen, who epitomizes the meaning of upi to me; Helen Thomas, who let me have dinner with her; frank cook, who made me laugh; dave rosso, who hasn’t given in to this very day; steve gerstel, who let me sit next to him in hopes of his enormous talent would rub off and who elevated me to the highly coveted title of “head honey” on the hill … and the rest of the wonderful, crazy bunch of you still turning it out on your cranky old tubes in your flea bitten offices. Thanks to you I’ll never stop being proud to call myself a unipresser. Gd luck to you all. 73s. Karen Timmons-wafin (rv, waftus, sa-hu-ru, wa) (Richmond, Washington-features, Senate, House, Regional, Washington)
Buos
This is another one of those msgs
Who: Sharon (sa) miller-sxr
What: bailing out
When: well, today could be my last day, and then again eye might be back for a short time after eye return from vccn next week. It all depends on how the skeds work out.
Where: san Francisco (see how) all those people to whom eye’ve sed over the years “eye owe u a drink for tt” are welcome to come by and collect ‘em. The bar’s open. We might even provide munchies.
Why: it’s time. no eye do not have a new job with a wealthy company tt also will hire u at big bucks. My husband is about to get a housewife for the first time in 13 years of marriage. Eye figure about one month of tt will drive us both crazy.
How: reluctantly, even tho eye kno it’s the rite thing to do. Eye’ll miss all of u terribly.
73s
sab-miller-sxr (San Francisco-radio)
unipressers
I am leaving upi after 12 years. it has been a wonderful life, not just a job. I’m grateful for having had the opportunity and thankful to all who helped me along the way. I hope upi will go on forever. It is a great institution that deserves to live and to flourish once again. Special thanks to Helen, leon, steve geimann, bob martin in London and the hill folk — shep and gerstel — who kindly helped us regionals learn the ropes back in the good ole days. I’ll miss y’all. Have to leave suddenly to avoid conflict of interest. Just got a job in governor wilson’s administration doing public affairs for his health and welfare agency. New trails for me, and for you, I hope for only the best. Cheers and 73s. chrystal-bc (Sacramento)
allpoints (goodbye)
it’s hard to say good-bye to u all even though I met most u only on the message wire. Upi has helped me fulfil part of my dreams over the last four years both as a paris stringer where I covered some memorable stories, and as a desker here in wa where I learned to run the fast-paced and understaffed 24-hour desk. But I have a good offer from the competition and think the future is brighter there. Upi can’t survive (nor can I) on dreams and its reputation. There are too few people, and (not that I need to tell u) all are overworked and underpaid, and deserve better. For my two cents worth, the best investment upi could make now is in people. The only way upi can survive and prosper is to have a good product. The only way to have a good product is to have good, experienced reporters and editors. And the only way to get and keep those people is to treat them and compensate them fairly. Sounds like an elementary business principle but some people haven’t learned that. When and if they do, who knows, maybe I’ll be back. All the best to everyone.
Lever-waforn (Washington-foreign)
All
Well, this brief bdcst shift marks the end of my life with the vaunted wire service. After 10-plus years I’m heading to nx (New York) to join my family and seek my fortune after 10 years in km (San Diego). The weather is fine here, but there are no no opportunities in either journalism, flackery or anything in between. I just want to thank everyone who has helped me along the way or has just been a pal. The long list includes tony gonsalves, joe fasbinder and the hard-working hc (Los Angeles) crew, my old pal bill murray in sx (San Francisco), bob martin and everyone at nxs (New York Sports). The roster of the departed is too long to even bring up, but my mentor marty houseman, the old latam (Latin American desk) hand, deserves a special mention. So many people. This place was really something and I hope it bounces back without any further layoffs.
73s
Anderson-km (San Diego)
Buos
(bye) well, folks, been over this road so many times before there isn’t much more I can say about it. I certainly have learned not to say goodbye. Have enjoyed being reunited with old friends throughout the company, making new ones and fighting the good fight with some of the best in the business, today is my last day on this current tour with upi, but I will be keeping close contact and pulling for your success all the way. 73
brightbill-led
allpoints
(goodbye) 14 years ago this month I hired on at the phoenix buro for a temporary four-month position with the goal of earning enough bucks to move to Hawaii. As I like to say, somehow I didn’t make it to Hawaii. But I’ve had a good run. I helped cover the u.s. invasion of panama with the late doug tweedale (Christmas in the tropics)…once armed men stopped my bus going into panama city, and once I had a late night encounter with invisible U.S. troops on a dark road. During my nearly two years as forn correspondent for Colombia and Ecuador, I covered a volcanic eruption that killed 23,000 people, a guerrilla raid on the justice palace that killed 100, a presidential election and two papal visits. My years here on the forn desk have seen the collapse of the berlin wall, the soviet coup, the death of the ayatollah khomeini, etc. they say what this company doesn’t give in perks or praise, it gives in excitement and I guess I’ve had my share. A lot of people gave me a boost, like former latam exec gary neeleman who guided me to Colombia and former managing editor bill Ferguson who gave me a plane ticket to panama. Herb surrett hired me in phoenix, where gravel-voiced harriett hindman chain-smoked and showed me the ropes. Lou Carr, Leon Daniel and Jeff Reynolds in Washington have shown me what it is to endure. Loretta Robinson the courage of the human spirit and Dave Rosso, the benefits of an undying sense of humor. And all u folks in buos overseas, u who fight to do a good job despite all odds, I pray that someday u’ll get the appreciation u deserve. So many people, so many war stories. They say at an embattled company, people stay because of the companionship. That’s what I’ll miss the most. My husband is pursuing his dream to become a pilot for the Coast Guard and we’re moving to Pensacola, Fla. UPI says maybe later, I can work from there. But who knows. So I’ve decided to say good bye, because this is probably it. Thanks to all. Rgds. Walsh-waforn.
Buros
I guess there are still a few left out there. Hi I’m unemployed n yur not. But seriously, at whatever time I decide to turn out the lights this afternoon, fy (Frankfort, Ky.) will be officially downclosed n I’ll be heading to the unemployment line. As far as ky is concerned, sal-sv (Louisville) is captain n crew. The last 13 months have been a great learning experience for me, but learning experiences wont feed my kids next month. Many thnks are in order, especially to my boss and mentor sal-sv (the Italian stallion), kieck and kreiter-hx (Chicago), cook and pohla-ps (Pittsburgh), swenson-nxs (New York-sports) and king of the techs jim price in Indianapolis. I hope upi survives this latest downgrade, but it don’t luk gud. Who wud want to buy a wire with only a handful of writers. My advice is to start updating those resumes. And if you have any baseball cards to give away, msg me on pza. Im going back on the show circuit to supplement my non-existent income until a brighter day. Tnks again to those who count. You know who you are.
Danny-fy
Unipressers
Ouch! Getting kicked off the upi roller coaster smarts! And not knowing where I’ll land adds a little terror to the adventure. But when I jumped off the radio merry-go-round 3-and-a-half years ago I knew the ride at upi was getting rickety and I might lose my seat at any dip or turn. A snickering Hartford courant reporter asked me at the time how it felt to jump onto a sinking ship and I told her I could swim. And swim I will. But it’s been a thrill to work with the legendary bruno vittorrio ranniello, who gave me a new view of religion; mark dupuis, who gave me a new view of politics; and dennis milewski, who gave me a chance to climb out of the radio swill bucket and do some real news. And “young ken” (brown), of late on the national desk, how could I forget you? Well, your “big sister” is a “wib wench” no longer. Thanks for the memories, guys, and if you hear of any jobs, please let me know. good luck to all who are left to continue the battle. And now I’m off to pink slip heaven. Amen. Chrs. Yost-bp (hf) (Bridgeport, Conn., Hartford)
Allpoints
I’ve rewritten this message a hundred times in the past few weeks. What it comes down to is that no matter how many more employees or clients the other outfits have, none ever have had or ever will have a finer group of staffers. You are what has always made upi a special company (and why I’ve quit twice before and come back). To all of you overseas, particularly those of you I’ve come to consider friends, a special salute. If you ever head toward virginia, there’ll always be a light on and welcome mat out for you at our house. Bests, lai-waftus (Jill Lai-Washington-features)
All at upi
When bob gornall lured me from the cw (Charleston, W.Va.) daily mail in august 1966 to upi, he promised me it would NOT be “a bed of roses.” How right he was. The first winter, ray evans and I worked 63 consecutive night tricks, due to 60-day xgr (legislature) session. The second winter, ray and I worked 42 consecutive nights, since xgr met only 30 days in alternate years “back then.” Like wally martin-upr, I started as a wire service copy boy — INS in columbus, ohio, in 1952. we made eight-copy books for reporters to do their stories on. I took two copies to the cz (Columbus, Ohio) bus station and shipped them to the ironton tribune and another nupe in tt area for tt day’s editions. Then I went soft and worked for newspapers in parkersburg, w.va.; panama city, panama; Marietta, ohio; then to the Charleston daily mail where gornall offered me a 45-dollar-a-week raise at the very time our fourth child was born. All the children are thru college now. Don’t say upi doesn’t keep its promises — it has been no bed of roses as promised by the first dozen or so buro managers. Let me say that if we are better people because of adversity, then upi people are the strongest people on the face of the earth. I’m glad I came on board. As consarned aggravatin’ as it cud be much of the time, as I often told mac porterfield prolly the only way I wud get outta hr was to get thrown out. Oh, well, “no more scores ‘n stuff” to collect. The fones have stopped ringing. So long. Best wishes.
Dan hose-cw
The following message was a personal goodbye that also signaled the closing of a bureau and the entire state of New Jersey.
All
Three years ago, I closed down upi’s Newark bureau and now I’m turning out the lights in new jersey, abandoning drawers full of disorganized files, two functioning terminals and a temperamental fax machine.
I joined upi in 1985 after working for a client newspaper (now both an ex-client and an ex-newspaper) in northern new jersey. After I came on board, I realized I was lucky to be in new jersey—a state that produces an extraordinary amount of news and a state where a series of talented editors had built a bureau with a real gorilla reputation. I got to cover the Baby M case and the john list trial and to meet people like joyce carol oates, john mcphee and john digilio, a reputed mobster who once wrestled a co-defendant to the floor during a brawl in a courthouse hallway and later was found in the Hackensack river with five bullets in his head. (digilio used to pinch me on the cheek and say, “hey, honey, after I win my case, I’m going to take you out.” I was never sure what he meant by that, but someone took him out first.)
The last three years have been hell. Two of us have tried to keep a state report going and watched the client base dwindle. I’m glad the company is now trying to pull up its socks and find a direction, and I hope that my bad memories will fade with time.
There are many many people, a lot of them still with the company, that I was fortunate to work with and get to know. There are six people who stick in my mind as typical of the talented and dedicated journalists upi hired and then sometimes threw away — former nxl staffer cathy burke, former financial editor dottie brooks, former book review queen jill lai, former new jersey editor and national desker dennis o’shea, former national super-desker dan chiszar and former Washington morning message king dave rosso.
To those of you who are staying, best of luck. To those who are joining me in the exodus, remember — it’s not an end, it’s a beginning. After all, chiszar is now a roustabout with the circus. Chrs, burns-tr (Trenton)
Sunday, January 9, 2011
All: This Is My Last Day - Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9
One of the joys of working at UPI was getting to know many very talented reporters and editors. Unfortunately, we never got to meet many of the people whose names appeared atop stories and on the daily message wire exchanges.
I was fortunate in that I worked in Washington, D.C., and was in contact with a large staff.
Among the personalities was Ed Rogers.
Ed started in the South and in Washington he served as our Southern regional reporter. There are many stories floating around about Ed, but this is among the favorites.
In 1953, the national desk in New York alerted all bureaus to be on the lookout for an expected list of American servicemen who had been captured in Korea and were to be freed from Chinese POW camps. All bureaus were told to contact relatives for quick reaction.
According to those who knew Ed, he awaited the list in usual mode – armed with three packs of Camel cigarettes, a bag of peanuts and a beverage in a brown paper bag.
When the list came out, Ed spotted the name of PFC John Engle, son of Mrs. Edna Engle of Monteagle, Tenn. No other address was listed.
The telephone operator told Ed that there was no Edna Engle listed and there was no phone service to Monteagle, located at the top of a mountain serviced by a winding two-lane highway.
He called the Grundy County Sheriff's office and persuaded the deputy on duty to drive up the mountain and bring Edna Engle to his office.
About an hour later, Edna Engle was on the phone and Ed interviewed her. When he was finished talking with Edna, Ed filed this urgent:
URGENT
With Red China
MONTEAGLE, Tenn. (UP) -- Mrs. Edna Engle, upon learning that her son John had
been freed from a Red Chinese Prisoner of War camp, said early this morning,
"I have no son named John.”
The year 1991 started with the liberation of Kuwait from Iraq and the death of an estimated 200,000 Iraqis. Yugoslavia ceased to be, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia left the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union was dismantled, Jeffry Dahlmer was arrested and charged with at least 17 deaths of young men who he had lured to his home for sex. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas was accused by Anita Hill of sexual harassment, four white police officers were videotaped beating Rodney King and Rajiv Gandhi, the former prime minister of India, was assassinated.
It was also the year that a group of Saudi investors bought United Press International, pulling the company out of its second bankruptcy and expanding its involvement in the Middle East. Unfortunately for the rank and file Unipressers, they received word of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the New York Times. The company couldn't tell its own employees first.
Steve Geimann, assistant managing editor for regional, was named Washington bureau chief to replace Schwartz.
And Unipressers continued to provide the world with news with smaller pay checks and a never-ending chorus of farewell messages -- and the tension was showing.
rossiter-wa
I’ve just been handed a notice frm building management saying we “are hereby required within three (3) days after this notice is served” to pay up or get out. U want me to fax it to u? thx
Martin-hc (Los Angeles)
vanbennekom
hipps UPI
UPI-whoever
it is now 5 months since my employment agreement was terminated by UPI. UPI has yet to pay me 5,850 dollars owed for time worked. I have exhausted my calls and letters and received no response.
This is not money owed for severance or vacation. It is money owed to me by UPI for time put in as an employee of UPI. If UPI cannot afford to pay out $5,850 in one payment, contact me and we can set up a payment plan. Ignoring me does not mean I’ll forget the money or go away.
Thank you (unsigned)
There were attempts from management to shore up morale.
All
I am impressed with our budget coverage, from the main lead crafted by Bud Newman — with help from all hands — to the various sidebars on agencies, effects, themes and analyses. Despite the adversity that challenges us every day, everyone worked hard to give our clients the important details about the spending plan. Our copy was well-written, well-edited and well-sourced, especially by those thrown into the lurch by a war that has sapped our crew. Everyone on the Washington staff deserves kudos for their work yesterday. I want to especially acknowledge Dave Rosso, Steve Gerstel, Bob McNeill and Bud Newman, whose thoughts and ideas in the days before the budget was released helped shape our coverage. Chrs
(Steve) Geimann (Washington)
But rancor is oftentimes very difficult to salve, especially when there is so much precedence.
Geimann-buo
In a deliberate effort to make ur day even more miserable, I ask the rhetorical question: so, is the world’s largest…wire service gonna pay overtime for this little muscle flexing exercise that brought me in early on a religious holiday to cover what’s left of our butt in a field deemed too insignificant to cover in the future? Or what? Brenner-war
9-18-91
Brenner was Eliot Brenner, who for years had worked side-by-side with me on the Washington desk, before he moved across the Potomac River to cover the Pentagon.
Geimann
Hm (Concord, N.H.) stringer Jim XXXX is owed at least $1,000 et has not received anything over two months. He has talked with uu et others in wa et fx (Fairfax, Va., where UPI had set up administrative offices) and has been told at various times:
--you’re on the priority stringer list
--a check will be cut for you on Friday
--the money ran out before they got to you, but a check will be cut this Friday and you’re on the top of the list.
--there’s no one here who can talk to you about that.
--there’s no one here who can talk to you about that
--there’s no one …
eye wud greatly appreciate it if this pathetic company wud stop lying to him and give him some straight answers. Are we no longer paying stringers? Is there really a priority stringer list?
Thayer is the only help eye hv and he is responsible for writing all weekend radio. If he quits because of lack of payment, as so many stringers already have, there will be NONO weekend radio.
Our remaining New Hampshire radio clients are already under a great deal of pressure because they get no Maine or Vermont copy and hm closes as 2 p.m. weekdays. If they see nothing on the weekends they will be forced to cancel.
Cud eye get a response to this from uu or anyone in charge (if anyone still is)?
Rgds
Van dongen-hm
Stringers were reporters who worked by the story. They were paid by the story, received no benefits and were on-call. The stringer situation was serious and Van Dongen was correct in his descriptions. There, indeed, was a priority list. During my last years at UPI, I dealt with overseas stringers, which, at the time (1996-1999) were substantial since UPI had pretty much closed all overseas bureaus and turned most, if not all, of our overseas reporters into stringers. I fielded many calls from stringers asking about their pay. And there was a priority list. I will go deeper into the stringer situation in a later chapter.
Meanwhile, Al Rossiter continued to try to sooth the crew.
Unipressers
This is an unsettling time for staffers and I understand that. But while the lawyers for the company, the union and our creditors argue their positions, we must continue to serve our clients to the best of our ability.
I want to make sure everyone understands our goal: It is to report the news as well as we can. Our clients are varied and their needs are varied. Therefore, we must cover as many newsworthy events as possible. We must provide analysis and insight where it is required. And of foremost importance, we must be certain our copy is accurate, is understandable and is balanced. Nothing will turn off clients faster than copy that violates those principles.
The length of our newspaper copy should be dictated by the story and its significance, not by a formula that says every story must be 400 or 600 or 800 words long. There is nothing wrong with the 100-, 150- and 200-word stories. Few newspapers have room for more than a few graphs for anything but the most important events of the day. Broadcasters certainly have no need for excess wordage.
Our national report needs more of the shorter stories that move on state reports. If the story is one that might be printed in more than one region, then it should move on the national service. We must remember our clients are a diverse lot with diverse requirements.
The needs of state reports vary, depending on our client base. I will be in touch with all regional and state editors in the next few days to review their reports and explore ways to improve them. Our goal is to serve every client we have today and to prepare a report that will attract new business.
We will be making changes next week in some areas of our operation, particularly in sports, business, Washington coverage and photos. I’ll have a detailed memo discussing these changes, and what they mean to the operation, later this week.
Some of our colleagues have received notices and will be leaving the company in the days ahead. Their contributions were appreciated and they will be missed. But those of us who remain must press ahead. UPI can survive, and grow, and provide new jobs in the future, but it will take the continued dedication and perseverance of all of us to make that happen.
Thanks
rossiter-wa
09-23-91
Rossiter was a sincere man and he was liked and respected, not only as a manager, but as a reporter and an editor. But there were things happening far beyond his control.
rossiter-geimann-wa (hill-ar (Seattle))
the sept. 25 issue of the Seattle weekly, the city’s major “alternative” paper, contains an item titled “wire cutters” that details the fate of the Seattle buro. The article says, quote, “last week the wire service laid off two of its Seattle staff writers, Terrance Finan and Dennis Ainsley, according to UPI public relations spokesman Milt Capps.”
The fact that my first name was spelled wrong and Dennis’s last name was completely wrong (it’s Anstine) is laughable, at worst. What is not laughable is the possibility that the abysmal moral and ethical sensibilities of UPI’s top management have sunk to such lows that it doesn’t matter (to them) if they make public the names of once-dedicated employees who have been thrown out of their jobs without ceremony, severance or so much as a thank you for a job done well.
All of Seattle knows that Dennis and I are unemployed as of next week. But somehow, I don’t think this is going to keep me awake tonight; I have more important things in my life to attend to. For the record though — and for the sake of others who may, too, find their names in print as the reward for what they have done for UPI — can someone please explain what the company’s policy is on this and what kind of reasoning (if any) led to it?
Finan-ar
And the farewell message flood continued, including this one from David Anderson, who started at UPI two years before I did, was an active union member and eventually became our religion editor.
Unipressers
It was 1967 and the pay was $62.50 a week, the job was sorting the mail, getting Gerstel’s smokes, taking Helen’s dictation, picking up a sandwich for Brenner (Bernie, not Eliot) and changing the ribbon on Frandsen’s (Julius, not Jon) teletype. There’s been a lot of learning since then — most especially from such good comrades as Dave Wiessler, Arnie Sawislak, George Marder, Liz Wharton, Leon Burnett, Bob McNeill, David Rosso and a lot of others, too. There’s been a lot of decent hangovers — at Bassin’s, the Curtain Call, the Mozart and so many reincarnations of the Blue Mirror a religion writer could start believing in life after … well — and some indecent political arguments and just one hell of a lot of good fun. Now that part is over. The pay aint much better but I’d still be glad to get Gerstel’s smokes for him, take dictation from Helen anytime and I’d consider fetching Brenner whatever he needed. I’m still learning from Wiessler.
But it’s just the end of a chapter, not the book and, at least for the moment, eye’ll still be around on occasion, opening books, cajoling reviews.
Dylan said “good-bye is too good a word/so I’ll just say fare thee well.”
So be it … and may peace and justice be with you in your … our … struggle
d.Anderson-wa
Unipressers
After 13 years and one month with UPI, eye’m logging out tda (this time real). But even with the 35 percent pay cut and UPI’s uncertain future, it still saddens me greatly to leave. As many, many departing Unipressers b4 me have said, it’s the people who have always made UPI a special place to work. And tts true tda. Eye wish only the best for all of u et UPI. Chrs
Lowry-us (mg) (Austin, Tex., Montgomery, Ala.)
1-11-91
Allbureaus
Dear Unipressers
I arrived at UPI in the middle of the Vietnam War and I am leaving in what I hope is the middle of the Persian Gulf War. My arrival was with joy. My departure is with regrets — regret that the war in the Gulf is not over and that I’ll miss seeing its end with UPI and regret that the future of this once-grand worldwide wire service is so dark. I hope UPI does indeed rise from its ashes as did the phoenix.
My resignation is effective Saturday but I am gone as of now, Monday, January 21, 23 years, two months and three days after I arrived.
A job I could not pass up fell into my lap. I am going back to my origins — the city news bureau of Chicago, now 100 years old and going strong. This time, I’ll be the broadcast faculty at CNB.
One thing that won’t change is that I will still be trying to train young reporters to think broadcast. I think UPI should have focused on television and radio far more in the past to shore up its finances (but who asked me?) I mean ALL of UPI broadcast. The state reports are just as important, perhaps more so, than the national report because of all of the stations with network and other affiliations.
…
I apologize for leaving the dedicated Unipressers who are still waging the good fight for UPI — from Helen Thomas on down the list. May you all win this war.
My login password in recent weeks has been godsaveUPI. Maybe someone with more faith than I can take over this password and successfully raise the phoenix.
(Susan) stevens-upr-hx (UPI Radio, Chicago)
All Unipressers
After 15 years, most of them good ones, it’s time for me to call it quits at old UPIou.
When I first started at UPI, I would find myself waking up in the middle of the night out of sheer happiness, anticipating the day ahead, planning how I could make the bells ring around the world and how I and people like Juan Walte and Matt Quinn and Helen Thomas and Lori Santos at the White House and people like Dave Wiessler and Sean McCormally on the desk, would dropkick AP right out of the stadium.
I OD’ed on the sensation of filing an urgent at about 6 p.m. and then, about ten minutes later, hearing the screams from the AP booth at the other end of the State Department press room. In a way, I am prouder of the fact that we knocked down phony scoops from the other end of the press room — the fictitious 10,000-foot runways which existed only in the fevered mind of Ollie North and the AP copy.
Recently, I also found myself waking up in the middle of the night, but in despair — at stories that would get lost on the desk, at bells that didn’t ring because there was nobody home out there in client-land, at unpaid expenses, at k-market computers that would crash at the worst possible moments, at a newsroom that began to look more and more like the night of the living dead.
While we were doing our best on the wire — better than the competition most of the time — there were people in charge of our financial destinies who shouldn’t have been in charge of a bicycle rack.
At one time, I counted 28 UPI vice presidents, 27 more than the U.S. government had. The ninth floor looked like yuppy heaven, with self-important, overpaid little twerps going to lunch with each other at our expense.
Little by little, week by week, I came to realize that what I was doing wasn’t valued very much, economically or journalistically, and I think this affected what I was doing. No pumping adrenalin, with conflicting editorial direction, systematically drained of some of the money I used to earn, my work began to show it and I was no longer happy with it. That’s nature’s way of saying, “move on, bozo.”
For a brief magic moment, my career and UPI’s high point coincided. It’s time to leave before all that magic is gone. I leave with tremendous respect for those I worked with. I continue to be constantly amazed how good the copy looks, especially the foreign report, even though there are now big geographical gaps. Having worked one Sunday shift in the Washington bureau, I stand in awe at the amount of copy that the national editors move — quickly, accurately and coherently. I can’t imagine most newspapers needing any more or any better.
But I can imagine a lot of financially pressured newspapers or broadcast managers taking the easy way out and cutting the UPI service. The news for these no-brainer bottom-liners is that if UPI goes under, three things will happen: the AP guys will stop running for the phones, the AP (and Reuters) price will go up dramatically and the staffs of both AP and Reuters will be cut back. Bet on it.
I’m starting Monday to work in Washington for the English language wire of DPA, the German news agency, where I won’t be competing with you directly, but where I will see your work. I will be pulling for all of you and for UPI.
Logging out
Jim Anderson (State Department)
Unipressers
Well, something I didn’t expect to see for a long time has arrived — my last weekend shift at UPI. It’s been an up and down 2 1/2 years, with most of the downs coming in the last few months. UPI has been good to me until the layoffs started, and I wouldn’t be leaving if things had not deteriorated to their present state of affairs. Even if the powers that be have stripped this old girl of most of her dignity, at least those of us who have been here these last several months can be proud that we’ve pretty much weathered what’s been thrown at us.
I’ll miss many of you as I leave to edit the alumni magazine at hahnemann university and hospital here in Philly, and think the message wire will be what I’ll miss most of all. I’ve been proud to be associated with this company and all the professionals who have worked here and still work here. Whatever happens, I’ll be thinking of you.
Chrs and good luck to all of you.
Sue morgan-na (Philadelphia)
Buos
This is my last shift at UPI after 8 ½ years in hx (Chicago) and wa (Washington). UPI being UPI, I’ve fantasized about my farewell msg for years (die, berl, die—stuff along those lines). But now that it’s time to say good-bye, I’m having trouble finding the right words. I came to this company as a 23-year-old mess and leave it, surprisingly, in somewhat better shape. Thnx to all of us who made it fun along the way.
Rgds. Silverman-ntl (National-Washington)
all
I’ll be logging out later today for the last time, ending a relationship with Unipressers that goes back to July 1966 on the day the hough riots swept Cleveland into the national headlines.
The years that followed allowed me to travel to many sections of the country, working with the finest wordsmiths ever put on the planet and my leaving is more bitter than sweet. But I’ve received an offer that I cannot refuse, for my family’s sake more than anything else.
We’ve all carried the same banner since last November, cutting salaries and home budgets in hopes that UPI can be saved. It became rather tattered piece of cloth near the end, but carry it we did, with honor above all.
The rally cry has always been that UPI’s only assets are its name and its employees. But the recent days seem to indicate that upper management is keen on the idea of cutting the assets to just one. And we are not on the list.
We were told three times here in hx (Chicago) by pb (Pieter Van Bennekom) that bankruptcy was never in the scenario. He proved the proof of his own words when he carried us over that brink for the second time in six years, telling us that chapter 11 was always in the game plan no matter what.
It became an effort to cut suppliers out of what they are due and employees out of what they have earned. It won’t pay the stringers for their months of hard work, work the company now says it must continue receiving if it is to become a new entity.
Chapter 11 allows the company the room to do just what it is doing now, dragging employees around by their necks so the eventual auction block will have few people on it, just a logo and maybe a few at the top of the executive office pile.
It has been an absolute pleasure working with you. And I ask that you remember your training in the years to come so the true story of UPI will be told.
It is one of those who help UPI and those who helped themselves to UPI, the nudge-nudge, wink-wink types who looted the place for their own ends, giving themselves hefty salaries to begin with and then adding bonuses to the amount, along with golden parachutes that equal the salaries of any five us battling to pay our bills, send kids to school, keep our taxes current and remain honest citizens in an increasingly dishonest world.
TELL THE TALE. Don’t let it die even if UPI does, as it well might. Be as you have always been, the best in the business, able to beat grandma or anyone else with both hands tied behind your back.
Some of the truth is already coming to roost within the close-knit journalistic community. For those without subscriptions, check your local library or a friend for the September 14 copy of Editor and Publisher. It’s there for anyone to see, right on page 9.
Thank you for years of friendship. It has been my honor to be associated with you.
To quote my Irish ancestors, red skelton and the frugal gourmet: luck with rainbows, may god bless, I bid you peace.
Graham-hxf (Chicago financial)
Unipressers
Eye have started this msg four or five times. Wld much rather write four or five 700-word skedders than a simple goodbye.
Tdy is my last day at UPI. Fortunately, eye am leaving under my own steam.
Trying to put these words together as I struggle with strong feelings of sadness and anger is difficult.
Eye am going to miss working daily with a fine group of journalists as we beat the other guys time and time again. Will miss your senses of humor, still intact despite great hardships. And I will miss the opportunity to tell people, “I work for UPI.”
Eye was lucky to work under business ed roz liston, who really knows her stuff and is one of the kindest people around. Plus her nxf (New York Financial) staff was great to work with — always helpful, professional and upbeat.
Thnx also to steve whitworth in x (St. Louis), my surrogate buro chief, for answering my questions, answering fones when eye was gone, and being my buddy. And to john hendel-kps (Kansas City Sports), my coworker and friend frm early days in journalism.
Eye am proud to have been a part of the UPI tradition, even though it has been troubled in recent years.
In the past week, eye have debated how far to go in expressing my feelings in this message. Decided there is no point in being dishonest now.
Like all of you, eye am enraged at the events of the past year. Those who spoke in lofty manner of helping our ship find a safe port instead ran us aground onto a rocky, barren island. Then they cannibalised us.
It is reprehensible. It is wrong. And they have gotten away with it. But, dear Unipressers, rest assured that you will receive justice some day, some way. Perhaps not in a court of law. Perhaps it won’t be economic justice. But have faith that right eventually will prevail.
My hope for all of you is that you find the respect and bigger paychecks that you deserve. 73s
Wallace-kp
Unipressers
like many otrs recently, eye never thot eye wud have to send this message. But tdy is my last day with UPI, after nearly 13 yrs. Eye don’t want to leave because eye love the good things UPI has been in my career. But financial realities and a nagging ulcer require a change. Eye am proud to have been a Unipresser and eye’m thankful for the great ppl eye have worked with and the great stories eye have covered. Eye wish you all the best in the future, and hope you will keep in touch. Eye’ll be reachable thru my home.
Chrs
Schlangenstien-hs-ex-sl-ne-da (Houston, Shreveport, New Orleans, Dallas)
Unipressers
After 13 years at UPI, I’ve come to the end of the line. It’s been a long, strange trip since I walked into the Pittsburgh bureau on 1978, with its walls of chattering printout machines and teletype operators playing all-night poker in the backroom. The last year has been a tough one, but I refuse to let the sad antics of the current management beasties blot out the good memories—the camaraderie, the never-say-die spirit and the sheer underdog pleasure of beating that great grey overdog, the ap. It’s become harder and harder to win the competitive game, but those other, more important qualities have persevered even in the hardest times. I’m proud to have worked with you all. It’s been fun.
Lobsenz-wa
all
today ends another longstanding tradition, albeit a minor one. After more than 60 years of combined service, a Zverina will no longer be part of UPI. My father Ivan retired in May 1990 after 45 years, and is enjoying his retirement immensely.
I, on the other hand, have another 30 years of work to go before I can slack off. So, after 15 years with UPI — seven of them spent as its automotive writer after starting in NX (New York) financial — I am resigning from UPI to grab something else that will allow me to continue to do the work I love.
This will be just another goodbye message when the day is done. But most of these farewells have had one common thread: these people loved their jobs here, and did not want to leave.
This could not be more true for me, and those of you who know me know I had one of the best jobs in the house. But watching this company crumble at the hands of higher-ups has been very painful, and some of the latest proposals set forth by the company to the WSG (Wire Service Guild) are downright insulting, to put it nicely. (I also leave as a WSG shop steward).
Apparently, covering the nation’s largest industry and a leading economic indicator does not seem to warrant a full-time position anymore. If that is true, it would be another tragic mistake that could possibly cost some remaining clients, especially here in the motor city state.
To all of you who have to or want to ride it out, the very best of luck. And may the good guys win for a change. Chrs
Zverina-ducars (nxf) (Detroit, New York Financial)
Capps-wa
(rocknroll)
(to the tune of great balls of fire)
we got no clients and we got no pay
the wire’s weak in ev-er-y way
the system’s slow
my life’s on hold
good-ness gra-cioius
filing the wire!
Chrsz et 73s
Rosenbush-nxf
Rosenbush-nxf
(rocknroll—reprise)
(to the blues)
woke up this morning, heading for the tube
got one mo’ book review, that’s wa-ay overdue
but ever’body else…is bustin’ their’s too
cuz that’s the way it is,
with the everlovin’
u-p-i BUH-luesssss!
Chiz et 73s backatcha
Capps-nv (Nashville)
Unipressers
Today’s the day I must depart
Just a short time since my start
When I came here with wide-eyed wonder
Hoping I would not choke or plunder
In my dream that went awry
To be a part of UPI
But I am luckier today
For having even this short stay
With people who love the work they do
Who respect themselves and others too
Thank you for this chance to learn
I hope UPI will never adjourn
Bye. eve tahmincioglu (it isn’t that difficult (to pronounce)!)
Eve-nxf
Unipressers
Oh, hell. My turn after all these years. I hope whoever’s left wins the lottery. I’m going to walk down to the little beer joint I own now and drink to all of you and everyone I knew at this job. I may not sober up for a year.
Happy trails
Haines-al (San Antonio)
Unipressers
Lo (for the last time). I’ve read so many of these messages, that I don’t know what to say. You’re the best damn people one could ever work with, you don’t deserve what’s happening.
It’s been a great 21 ½ years on the best job a person could ever have. May god bless and watch over all of you. Chrs
Usiak-bf (Buffalo)
Unipressers
Today is my last day with UPI. I don’t want to leave, but the company is challenging my contractual seniority rights to a news job. It has been a pleasure to work with you over the almost 18 years that I have been with UPI. I also have had the pleasure to meet many of you in my travels as a wire service guild officer. I wish you all the best. May god bless us all.
(chuck) moody-ps (Pittsburgh)
Unipressers
one month short of nine years, I’m not even working on my last official day. I went to Rhode Island Friday for a funeral and ended up in the hospital with stomach problems. So, for all those remaining, good luck … and get another job. Regards. McNally-hx (Chicago), late of UPI.
Unipressers
It’s been a long time coming, but tonight I log out for the last time after nearly nine years … some happy, some sad. I could tell you all about my bitter-sweet departure … how I, too, have been chased out by the grim one … how UPI has treated me so bad or so good … how I’ve worked with the best damn journalists … but that’s all been said by fellow Unipressers who’ve departed this life before me. It’s too late to be remorseful and life is too short to wallow in regrets. I guess I needed this kick in the pants to get on with my life. And I leave here with high hopes and a renewed sense of purpose. To the few and the proud I leave behind, keep your chin up and your chest out. There is life after UPI. Best of luck. Carrigan-phx
Unipressers
Parting really is a sweet sorrow — sad to be leaving the colleagues with whom I’ve worked, those who are my friends and those I don’t know but whose professionalism I respect and whose spirit I admire.
The problem with UPI has never been its news people nor the product they produced. We have been UPI’s assets and those assets have been squandered. That’s the sad part. On the other hand…
After 24 years with UPI (that amounts to 48 weeks earned but uncollected severance pay, but, hey, who’s counting?), there is that little voice that says, “free, free, free at last…”
For those who come after me, and management has admitted there’s another not-so-little list, the good news is that there is life after UPI and it is good.
Chrs, or as we used to say, 73s. hanauer-nxe (New York Enterprise)
Unipressers
There is a sign on the UPI door here Orval Jackson put up. It says, “what a beautiful day, watch some bastard louse it up.” Says it all.
Wish my good bye msg was as eloquent as Joe Mahoney’s or as brief as don dughi’s, but alas, it won’t be.
The bottom line is I’m toast. Thanks to all of you left out there who helped me along the way. Special thanks to my mentors Jim Dever and Larry Desantis. Thx to ray foli who bought my wife a drink at the Kentucky derby many years ago. I’ll remember those nice touches.
We’ll all survive this debacle.
Cosgrove-tpp (Tampa photos)
Unipressers
Last year I considered myself one of the fortunate ones that survived the cuts. This year I think myself one of the lucky ones that got let go. Good luck to all of us who’re going on to better things and my condolences to those who continue to plod on for all those great news radio clients in Guadalajara and Timbuktu. I am grateful to have been allowed to represent some of you for the union and I only wish that the company’s mismanagement had shown more grace and not given himself a golden parachute while depriving others of the most minimal of safety nets.
Chrs. Rosenberger-nx
Unipressers
I came to UPI two weeks past my 21st birthday filled with the romantic vision that I could help to provide a valued service for journalism, and for many years I assumed I would continue to do so for the rest of my working days. Over the past year, I adjusted that goal to simply hoping I would be allowed to go down with the ship I loved.
That wish was denied, and so my good friends, I bid you all adieu and good luck.
I leave here poor financially but enriched otherwise. I have learned much about our craft at the feet of many artists and masters; I have experienced the rush and camaraderie of working disasters and major team events, and I have made friends I cherish.
I also have learned some tough lessons about corporate loyalty and economics. In no longer believe in Santa Claus, the Easter bunny or the tooth fairy.
But I still believe in the basic goodness and indominatability of the colleagues I leave behind. For that I am eternally grateful.
Pohla-pss (Pittsburgh sports)
Unipressers
I had the best job on earth and the best years of my life here. Well, the later ones were a little rough but still no regret. So long and best of luck to all
Chrs. Hai do-cxp-ktp (Albany state capitol bureau, Albany pictures)
Unipressers
Today is my last day as a Unipresser, a title that’s proudly been mine for almost 20 years and has been in the family well over half a century. I became a Unipresser despite having been raised in a UPI family, something that probably gave rise to the rumors about me being a slow learner.
In fact, today is the end of four generations of family involvement in the news business. I have accepted an unsolicited offer to be a speechwriter for Defense Secretary Dick Cheney.
In keeping with my habit of writing long, this is longer than I’d expected it to be. (desk, cut from the bottom).
I was just a kid working in the southern division (best damn place to break on in the world) when I got my first dose of news reality. The phone rang and a raspy voice bellowed: “this is Warner in Atlanta. Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
From charlotte it was on to Raleigh and then home to Washington for the deep overnight and day desk. In 1984 I went up to capitol hill to take the defense beat. There was a stint in the stinking desert (ah, Dharan is lovely this time of year). After dodging efforts to have me put a $6,000 hotel bill on a personal credit card as the corporate alarm bells were ringing, it was back home to add the Pentagon to the growing list of responsibilities.
I’ve covered about everything one can cover — plane crashes, presidents, campaigns and conventions, wars, summits and all-nighters in the Senate listening to whiny politicians gnawing on their pork bones.
In between came such things as:
--waking up in –40 temperatures in the arctic to see the northern lights circling the horizon and ending a 120-degree day in Saudi Arabia by lounging on Persian carpets, eating off a platter of roast lamb and having incense wafted into my face by bedoins.
--coining or adopting the phrases: “shit for brains,” “three grafs of cosmic goo followed by a lead,” ”I’m so confused,” “the world’s largest financially and … bankrupt wire service,” and, “if news breaks, fix it.”
--the pure adrenalin high of whupping the competition while working solo on the Desert One disaster and taking Dean Reynolds’ breathless dictation on the Reagan assassination attempt.
I have worked with the best journalists in the world. I’d list everyone, but for sure I’d commit the sin of omission. But in addition to the obvious parental influence (Eliot’s father, Bernie, worked UPI for decades) on my career, there is one person I must acknowledge.
The Chief — Steve Gerstel. He slipped me beers after the office softball games, encouraged me as I fell into the business, helped me get to Washington and let me come to the Hill, his private domain. And he taught me, (but not to write long) Jefe, I promise to check in at 5p every Friday for my GAO reports.
Back in high school I had an English teacher who returned papers in the order of the grade, highest to lowest. One day mine was last and he said: “and now we come to you, Mr. Brenner. If you had to write for a living, as your parents do, you’d starve to death.”
It never got that bad and it’s sure been fun.
The current and future state of UPI, how it got here and where it’s going, are not topics for this note. I observe only that for years I thought it would be hard to quit. I’m sad to say it wasn’t. The painful part is leaving the people.
It’s been a great ride. Thanks for letting me come along, but I think I’ll get off here and sign up for the Downhold Club.
Eliot Brenner-WA
11-22-91
Unipressers
It is with great sadness that after 11 years with UPI, I announce my resignation. Bob Goldner’s dismissal yesterday has made my continuing association with the company untenable. Bob and I had embarked upon an attempt to facilitate a management buyout of UPI and various parties had expressed interest in backing us. We sincerely believed this to be the only means to save the company. As all of you are painfully aware, bad management is systematically destroying and dismembering this company. What we did was very simple. We looked at what we did best, where we could do better, what nobody else was doing, and made a firm commitment to eliminate the rest. We identified markets and areas that had previously been ignored and we came up with a plan that ensured a profitable UPI in the year 1993, with appropriate levels of capital to revamp our communications infrastructure and marketing effort. Based on our negotiations with a number of potential investors, we felt confident that within a matter of weeks, we could have secured the necessary capital to take over the company.
As a result of Bob’s dismissal, I can no longer in good conscience work toward this end within UPI but shall with all means and personal resources at my disposal continue to work outside the company to secure a new ownership and management for UPI. I believe this is the only way the company can ever survive. I have 11 years invested in the company. I have no choice but to give it my best shot, even now.
If we succeed, I look forward to working with all of you again, because that has been one of the greatest joys of being part of UPI.
Regards
Jack reed
11-28-91
Then there was the man who had a beautiful name who wrote witty 15-second novels under the equally delightful pseudonym — Helmut del Lago. Royal Brightbill had regaled us with his inventions over the years and they became collectors’ items. But late in 1991, Brightbill passed along Helmut’s farewell.
Buos
Fans, connoisseurs of microblast literature (the inter-galactic, funky 90s term for the 15-second novel) and fellow masochists (those of you in the latest wave of lay-offs and especially those of you who must continue to battle the Gang of Four — Deceit, Treachery, Ingratitude and Avarice). It is hard to be funny at a time like this. But, in view of yesterday’s bankruptcy court action, this little parable, my last offering to you on this wire, seems appropriate.
The Pig
A reporter invited to a roast pig dinner on a hog farm was amazed to see the main course had three wooden legs. He asked the farmer about it.
“Oh, that was the best pig I ever had,” the farmer said. “A few years back, my house caught fire while I slept. He ran through the flames to wake me.”
“Is that how he lost his legs?”
“And just a couple of months ago, I fell in an alligator-filled bayou. He jumped in and pulled me out.”
“But what about the legs?”
“My friend, a pig that valuable you just don’t eat all at once.”
Somewhere on Wall Street a dog was barking.
Which is a kinder and gentler way of saying:
The rape of UPI has ended. The necrophilia has begun.
Helmut del Lago
9-24-91
Then it was Brightbill’s turn and his farewell will remain a classic.
Unipressers
Helmut del lago wrote his last msg last week. On his behalf, I thank you for encouraging his “art.” I am not skilled as he in concise expression, but please bear out an old Unipresser’s reminisces.
Twenty-two years ago, fresh journalism degree in hand, I took off my cap and gown and flew the same day to my first assignment with UPI in Raleigh, N.C. It has been a fast, thoroughly exhilarating ride — except for the past few years, which, in some respects, has been like watching my mother die, painfully, of cancer.
I could not believe the RA (Raleigh) office when I arrived that first day. It looked like something out of a 1930s movie. Stacks of newspapers everywhere, rumpled paper on the floor, cluttered, beat up desks supporting even more beat up typewriters. Loud, clacking black machines streaming mounds of perforated tape. Telephones constantly ringing. The space was pitiably small.
My first day on the job, there was a prison break. A guard was killed. Richard Hatch, the state editor, told me to work the phones and develop a profile on the guard. I started taking notes in longhand. He told me to use a typewriter or I never would survive.
The next day I saw my story in print. And Hatch had written me a note to the effect that I was on my way “to becoming a top-notch Unipresser.” It was the first time the term Unipresser had been applied to me, and you could have peeled me off the ceiling.
Within a week I was on the overnight by myself and could not believe the responsibility thrust on me. Nothing to it. Just rewrote everything that had been done all day, monitor the TV stations and pickup anything we missed, get the first edition of the morning paper and pick up wot we missed. Oh, yeah, and don’t forget the broadcast briefs packages that seemed to come up almost every hour on the half hour. Field the stringer calls etc etc. I quickly understood what Walter Cronkite meant when he said the toughest job he ever had was the Kansas City overnight of United Press. It would take me two hours past scheduled quitting time to get the work done. I stayed and did it, and did not put in for overtime, because I didn’t want Hatch to think I couldn’t handle it.
About seven weeks after I started, there came one night, the insistent bells of the first flash I ever heard. The message said: “The Eagle has landed.” Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had arrived safely on the moon.
I went home with headaches every night, and lay awake for what seemed like hours, terrified that I might have screwed up. I made my first move a year later, to a two-man bureau in Charlotte. A year later after that I became CT bureau manager because the manager at the time, John Shalko, had quit to go home to Rhode Island for one of those “cushy pr jobs” with the phone co.
The first seven years of my career, our young family moved six times. But it was because it was what I wanted to do, and UPI gave me the chance. I have had the opportunity to work with the masters — Gregory Jensen, Bob Musel, Joe Grigg, Al Webb, Peggy Polk, Leon Daniel, Lou Carr, Arnie Sawislak stand out in my mind. I’ll include Dick Growald in there. If I did anything right it was because of the influence of people like that.
Since Charlotte, I have worked in New York, Brussels, Athens, the Middle East, London, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, New Orleans again, San Francisco, Baton Rouge again, Shreveport, New Orleans and Baton Rouge again. I was part of the Middle East coverage team in the Yom Kippur war in 1973, covered an opening of parliament, a trial at the Old Bailey, a coup in Greece, a terrorist hijacking, hurricanes, an electrocution, political races, speeches, trials, state government and Mardi Gras ad nauseum. And sports of all sorts. But my favorites were always the three-legged chicken stories — those innocuous features that made people smile — the funeral home with the drive-up window, the dog intelligence test, the hookers’ masquerade ball.
I even did a stretch as a regional executive — and quit twice in a six-month period. When I started my third tour, I vowed this time UPI would divorce me before I divorced it. The time has come.
All of us have had a love-hate relationship with UPI because it has been our family. And just like a family, we have fought with each other, loved each other, cried with each other and lifted each other up. We were an unbeatable team when challenged from the outside. It only has been the attacks on us from within, by people who had no concept of the tradition and never had the UPI heart that has brought the company to the point it is today.
About 84 years ago, E.W. Scripps told the AP he wanted to buy its wire for his newspaper. The AP refused because there already was an AP “member” in the same town, and they had this little exclusivity clause in their contracts that allowed one newspaper per town to monopolize wire news. As we all know, Scripps’ in-your-face response was to start United Press, which eventually became United Press International. Among its many credits is the break-up of the international news cartel that existed prior to World War II.
That in-your-face tradition led to the best wire service ever, with a loose system that encouraged every Unipresser to give full expression to his individuality and reach his full potential, rather than press him into a bland mold. Every one of you is an inheritor and bearer of that tradition, a tradition that says fight the odds. Never quit. Never quit. That tradition never can be killed by changing times or jobs, recession or corporate chicanery.
I leave with no regrets and a treasure chest of memories, but also with some sadness at what UPI has been reduced to. My warmest wishes to my colleagues who leave today, and especially to those on whose shoulders falls the duty to defend the tradition against unprecedented assault.
73
brightbill-bg
One of the joys of working at UPI was getting to know many very talented reporters and editors. Unfortunately, we never got to meet many of the people whose names appeared atop stories and on the daily message wire exchanges.
I was fortunate in that I worked in Washington, D.C., and was in contact with a large staff.
Among the personalities was Ed Rogers.
Ed started in the South and in Washington he served as our Southern regional reporter. There are many stories floating around about Ed, but this is among the favorites.
In 1953, the national desk in New York alerted all bureaus to be on the lookout for an expected list of American servicemen who had been captured in Korea and were to be freed from Chinese POW camps. All bureaus were told to contact relatives for quick reaction.
According to those who knew Ed, he awaited the list in usual mode – armed with three packs of Camel cigarettes, a bag of peanuts and a beverage in a brown paper bag.
When the list came out, Ed spotted the name of PFC John Engle, son of Mrs. Edna Engle of Monteagle, Tenn. No other address was listed.
The telephone operator told Ed that there was no Edna Engle listed and there was no phone service to Monteagle, located at the top of a mountain serviced by a winding two-lane highway.
He called the Grundy County Sheriff's office and persuaded the deputy on duty to drive up the mountain and bring Edna Engle to his office.
About an hour later, Edna Engle was on the phone and Ed interviewed her. When he was finished talking with Edna, Ed filed this urgent:
URGENT
With Red China
MONTEAGLE, Tenn. (UP) -- Mrs. Edna Engle, upon learning that her son John had
been freed from a Red Chinese Prisoner of War camp, said early this morning,
"I have no son named John.”
The year 1991 started with the liberation of Kuwait from Iraq and the death of an estimated 200,000 Iraqis. Yugoslavia ceased to be, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia left the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union was dismantled, Jeffry Dahlmer was arrested and charged with at least 17 deaths of young men who he had lured to his home for sex. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas was accused by Anita Hill of sexual harassment, four white police officers were videotaped beating Rodney King and Rajiv Gandhi, the former prime minister of India, was assassinated.
It was also the year that a group of Saudi investors bought United Press International, pulling the company out of its second bankruptcy and expanding its involvement in the Middle East. Unfortunately for the rank and file Unipressers, they received word of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the New York Times. The company couldn't tell its own employees first.
Steve Geimann, assistant managing editor for regional, was named Washington bureau chief to replace Schwartz.
And Unipressers continued to provide the world with news with smaller pay checks and a never-ending chorus of farewell messages -- and the tension was showing.
rossiter-wa
I’ve just been handed a notice frm building management saying we “are hereby required within three (3) days after this notice is served” to pay up or get out. U want me to fax it to u? thx
Martin-hc (Los Angeles)
vanbennekom
hipps UPI
UPI-whoever
it is now 5 months since my employment agreement was terminated by UPI. UPI has yet to pay me 5,850 dollars owed for time worked. I have exhausted my calls and letters and received no response.
This is not money owed for severance or vacation. It is money owed to me by UPI for time put in as an employee of UPI. If UPI cannot afford to pay out $5,850 in one payment, contact me and we can set up a payment plan. Ignoring me does not mean I’ll forget the money or go away.
Thank you (unsigned)
There were attempts from management to shore up morale.
All
I am impressed with our budget coverage, from the main lead crafted by Bud Newman — with help from all hands — to the various sidebars on agencies, effects, themes and analyses. Despite the adversity that challenges us every day, everyone worked hard to give our clients the important details about the spending plan. Our copy was well-written, well-edited and well-sourced, especially by those thrown into the lurch by a war that has sapped our crew. Everyone on the Washington staff deserves kudos for their work yesterday. I want to especially acknowledge Dave Rosso, Steve Gerstel, Bob McNeill and Bud Newman, whose thoughts and ideas in the days before the budget was released helped shape our coverage. Chrs
(Steve) Geimann (Washington)
But rancor is oftentimes very difficult to salve, especially when there is so much precedence.
Geimann-buo
In a deliberate effort to make ur day even more miserable, I ask the rhetorical question: so, is the world’s largest…wire service gonna pay overtime for this little muscle flexing exercise that brought me in early on a religious holiday to cover what’s left of our butt in a field deemed too insignificant to cover in the future? Or what? Brenner-war
9-18-91
Brenner was Eliot Brenner, who for years had worked side-by-side with me on the Washington desk, before he moved across the Potomac River to cover the Pentagon.
Geimann
Hm (Concord, N.H.) stringer Jim XXXX is owed at least $1,000 et has not received anything over two months. He has talked with uu et others in wa et fx (Fairfax, Va., where UPI had set up administrative offices) and has been told at various times:
--you’re on the priority stringer list
--a check will be cut for you on Friday
--the money ran out before they got to you, but a check will be cut this Friday and you’re on the top of the list.
--there’s no one here who can talk to you about that.
--there’s no one here who can talk to you about that
--there’s no one …
eye wud greatly appreciate it if this pathetic company wud stop lying to him and give him some straight answers. Are we no longer paying stringers? Is there really a priority stringer list?
Thayer is the only help eye hv and he is responsible for writing all weekend radio. If he quits because of lack of payment, as so many stringers already have, there will be NONO weekend radio.
Our remaining New Hampshire radio clients are already under a great deal of pressure because they get no Maine or Vermont copy and hm closes as 2 p.m. weekdays. If they see nothing on the weekends they will be forced to cancel.
Cud eye get a response to this from uu or anyone in charge (if anyone still is)?
Rgds
Van dongen-hm
Stringers were reporters who worked by the story. They were paid by the story, received no benefits and were on-call. The stringer situation was serious and Van Dongen was correct in his descriptions. There, indeed, was a priority list. During my last years at UPI, I dealt with overseas stringers, which, at the time (1996-1999) were substantial since UPI had pretty much closed all overseas bureaus and turned most, if not all, of our overseas reporters into stringers. I fielded many calls from stringers asking about their pay. And there was a priority list. I will go deeper into the stringer situation in a later chapter.
Meanwhile, Al Rossiter continued to try to sooth the crew.
Unipressers
This is an unsettling time for staffers and I understand that. But while the lawyers for the company, the union and our creditors argue their positions, we must continue to serve our clients to the best of our ability.
I want to make sure everyone understands our goal: It is to report the news as well as we can. Our clients are varied and their needs are varied. Therefore, we must cover as many newsworthy events as possible. We must provide analysis and insight where it is required. And of foremost importance, we must be certain our copy is accurate, is understandable and is balanced. Nothing will turn off clients faster than copy that violates those principles.
The length of our newspaper copy should be dictated by the story and its significance, not by a formula that says every story must be 400 or 600 or 800 words long. There is nothing wrong with the 100-, 150- and 200-word stories. Few newspapers have room for more than a few graphs for anything but the most important events of the day. Broadcasters certainly have no need for excess wordage.
Our national report needs more of the shorter stories that move on state reports. If the story is one that might be printed in more than one region, then it should move on the national service. We must remember our clients are a diverse lot with diverse requirements.
The needs of state reports vary, depending on our client base. I will be in touch with all regional and state editors in the next few days to review their reports and explore ways to improve them. Our goal is to serve every client we have today and to prepare a report that will attract new business.
We will be making changes next week in some areas of our operation, particularly in sports, business, Washington coverage and photos. I’ll have a detailed memo discussing these changes, and what they mean to the operation, later this week.
Some of our colleagues have received notices and will be leaving the company in the days ahead. Their contributions were appreciated and they will be missed. But those of us who remain must press ahead. UPI can survive, and grow, and provide new jobs in the future, but it will take the continued dedication and perseverance of all of us to make that happen.
Thanks
rossiter-wa
09-23-91
Rossiter was a sincere man and he was liked and respected, not only as a manager, but as a reporter and an editor. But there were things happening far beyond his control.
rossiter-geimann-wa (hill-ar (Seattle))
the sept. 25 issue of the Seattle weekly, the city’s major “alternative” paper, contains an item titled “wire cutters” that details the fate of the Seattle buro. The article says, quote, “last week the wire service laid off two of its Seattle staff writers, Terrance Finan and Dennis Ainsley, according to UPI public relations spokesman Milt Capps.”
The fact that my first name was spelled wrong and Dennis’s last name was completely wrong (it’s Anstine) is laughable, at worst. What is not laughable is the possibility that the abysmal moral and ethical sensibilities of UPI’s top management have sunk to such lows that it doesn’t matter (to them) if they make public the names of once-dedicated employees who have been thrown out of their jobs without ceremony, severance or so much as a thank you for a job done well.
All of Seattle knows that Dennis and I are unemployed as of next week. But somehow, I don’t think this is going to keep me awake tonight; I have more important things in my life to attend to. For the record though — and for the sake of others who may, too, find their names in print as the reward for what they have done for UPI — can someone please explain what the company’s policy is on this and what kind of reasoning (if any) led to it?
Finan-ar
And the farewell message flood continued, including this one from David Anderson, who started at UPI two years before I did, was an active union member and eventually became our religion editor.
Unipressers
It was 1967 and the pay was $62.50 a week, the job was sorting the mail, getting Gerstel’s smokes, taking Helen’s dictation, picking up a sandwich for Brenner (Bernie, not Eliot) and changing the ribbon on Frandsen’s (Julius, not Jon) teletype. There’s been a lot of learning since then — most especially from such good comrades as Dave Wiessler, Arnie Sawislak, George Marder, Liz Wharton, Leon Burnett, Bob McNeill, David Rosso and a lot of others, too. There’s been a lot of decent hangovers — at Bassin’s, the Curtain Call, the Mozart and so many reincarnations of the Blue Mirror a religion writer could start believing in life after … well — and some indecent political arguments and just one hell of a lot of good fun. Now that part is over. The pay aint much better but I’d still be glad to get Gerstel’s smokes for him, take dictation from Helen anytime and I’d consider fetching Brenner whatever he needed. I’m still learning from Wiessler.
But it’s just the end of a chapter, not the book and, at least for the moment, eye’ll still be around on occasion, opening books, cajoling reviews.
Dylan said “good-bye is too good a word/so I’ll just say fare thee well.”
So be it … and may peace and justice be with you in your … our … struggle
d.Anderson-wa
Unipressers
After 13 years and one month with UPI, eye’m logging out tda (this time real). But even with the 35 percent pay cut and UPI’s uncertain future, it still saddens me greatly to leave. As many, many departing Unipressers b4 me have said, it’s the people who have always made UPI a special place to work. And tts true tda. Eye wish only the best for all of u et UPI. Chrs
Lowry-us (mg) (Austin, Tex., Montgomery, Ala.)
1-11-91
Allbureaus
Dear Unipressers
I arrived at UPI in the middle of the Vietnam War and I am leaving in what I hope is the middle of the Persian Gulf War. My arrival was with joy. My departure is with regrets — regret that the war in the Gulf is not over and that I’ll miss seeing its end with UPI and regret that the future of this once-grand worldwide wire service is so dark. I hope UPI does indeed rise from its ashes as did the phoenix.
My resignation is effective Saturday but I am gone as of now, Monday, January 21, 23 years, two months and three days after I arrived.
A job I could not pass up fell into my lap. I am going back to my origins — the city news bureau of Chicago, now 100 years old and going strong. This time, I’ll be the broadcast faculty at CNB.
One thing that won’t change is that I will still be trying to train young reporters to think broadcast. I think UPI should have focused on television and radio far more in the past to shore up its finances (but who asked me?) I mean ALL of UPI broadcast. The state reports are just as important, perhaps more so, than the national report because of all of the stations with network and other affiliations.
…
I apologize for leaving the dedicated Unipressers who are still waging the good fight for UPI — from Helen Thomas on down the list. May you all win this war.
My login password in recent weeks has been godsaveUPI. Maybe someone with more faith than I can take over this password and successfully raise the phoenix.
(Susan) stevens-upr-hx (UPI Radio, Chicago)
All Unipressers
After 15 years, most of them good ones, it’s time for me to call it quits at old UPIou.
When I first started at UPI, I would find myself waking up in the middle of the night out of sheer happiness, anticipating the day ahead, planning how I could make the bells ring around the world and how I and people like Juan Walte and Matt Quinn and Helen Thomas and Lori Santos at the White House and people like Dave Wiessler and Sean McCormally on the desk, would dropkick AP right out of the stadium.
I OD’ed on the sensation of filing an urgent at about 6 p.m. and then, about ten minutes later, hearing the screams from the AP booth at the other end of the State Department press room. In a way, I am prouder of the fact that we knocked down phony scoops from the other end of the press room — the fictitious 10,000-foot runways which existed only in the fevered mind of Ollie North and the AP copy.
Recently, I also found myself waking up in the middle of the night, but in despair — at stories that would get lost on the desk, at bells that didn’t ring because there was nobody home out there in client-land, at unpaid expenses, at k-market computers that would crash at the worst possible moments, at a newsroom that began to look more and more like the night of the living dead.
While we were doing our best on the wire — better than the competition most of the time — there were people in charge of our financial destinies who shouldn’t have been in charge of a bicycle rack.
At one time, I counted 28 UPI vice presidents, 27 more than the U.S. government had. The ninth floor looked like yuppy heaven, with self-important, overpaid little twerps going to lunch with each other at our expense.
Little by little, week by week, I came to realize that what I was doing wasn’t valued very much, economically or journalistically, and I think this affected what I was doing. No pumping adrenalin, with conflicting editorial direction, systematically drained of some of the money I used to earn, my work began to show it and I was no longer happy with it. That’s nature’s way of saying, “move on, bozo.”
For a brief magic moment, my career and UPI’s high point coincided. It’s time to leave before all that magic is gone. I leave with tremendous respect for those I worked with. I continue to be constantly amazed how good the copy looks, especially the foreign report, even though there are now big geographical gaps. Having worked one Sunday shift in the Washington bureau, I stand in awe at the amount of copy that the national editors move — quickly, accurately and coherently. I can’t imagine most newspapers needing any more or any better.
But I can imagine a lot of financially pressured newspapers or broadcast managers taking the easy way out and cutting the UPI service. The news for these no-brainer bottom-liners is that if UPI goes under, three things will happen: the AP guys will stop running for the phones, the AP (and Reuters) price will go up dramatically and the staffs of both AP and Reuters will be cut back. Bet on it.
I’m starting Monday to work in Washington for the English language wire of DPA, the German news agency, where I won’t be competing with you directly, but where I will see your work. I will be pulling for all of you and for UPI.
Logging out
Jim Anderson (State Department)
Unipressers
Well, something I didn’t expect to see for a long time has arrived — my last weekend shift at UPI. It’s been an up and down 2 1/2 years, with most of the downs coming in the last few months. UPI has been good to me until the layoffs started, and I wouldn’t be leaving if things had not deteriorated to their present state of affairs. Even if the powers that be have stripped this old girl of most of her dignity, at least those of us who have been here these last several months can be proud that we’ve pretty much weathered what’s been thrown at us.
I’ll miss many of you as I leave to edit the alumni magazine at hahnemann university and hospital here in Philly, and think the message wire will be what I’ll miss most of all. I’ve been proud to be associated with this company and all the professionals who have worked here and still work here. Whatever happens, I’ll be thinking of you.
Chrs and good luck to all of you.
Sue morgan-na (Philadelphia)
Buos
This is my last shift at UPI after 8 ½ years in hx (Chicago) and wa (Washington). UPI being UPI, I’ve fantasized about my farewell msg for years (die, berl, die—stuff along those lines). But now that it’s time to say good-bye, I’m having trouble finding the right words. I came to this company as a 23-year-old mess and leave it, surprisingly, in somewhat better shape. Thnx to all of us who made it fun along the way.
Rgds. Silverman-ntl (National-Washington)
all
I’ll be logging out later today for the last time, ending a relationship with Unipressers that goes back to July 1966 on the day the hough riots swept Cleveland into the national headlines.
The years that followed allowed me to travel to many sections of the country, working with the finest wordsmiths ever put on the planet and my leaving is more bitter than sweet. But I’ve received an offer that I cannot refuse, for my family’s sake more than anything else.
We’ve all carried the same banner since last November, cutting salaries and home budgets in hopes that UPI can be saved. It became rather tattered piece of cloth near the end, but carry it we did, with honor above all.
The rally cry has always been that UPI’s only assets are its name and its employees. But the recent days seem to indicate that upper management is keen on the idea of cutting the assets to just one. And we are not on the list.
We were told three times here in hx (Chicago) by pb (Pieter Van Bennekom) that bankruptcy was never in the scenario. He proved the proof of his own words when he carried us over that brink for the second time in six years, telling us that chapter 11 was always in the game plan no matter what.
It became an effort to cut suppliers out of what they are due and employees out of what they have earned. It won’t pay the stringers for their months of hard work, work the company now says it must continue receiving if it is to become a new entity.
Chapter 11 allows the company the room to do just what it is doing now, dragging employees around by their necks so the eventual auction block will have few people on it, just a logo and maybe a few at the top of the executive office pile.
It has been an absolute pleasure working with you. And I ask that you remember your training in the years to come so the true story of UPI will be told.
It is one of those who help UPI and those who helped themselves to UPI, the nudge-nudge, wink-wink types who looted the place for their own ends, giving themselves hefty salaries to begin with and then adding bonuses to the amount, along with golden parachutes that equal the salaries of any five us battling to pay our bills, send kids to school, keep our taxes current and remain honest citizens in an increasingly dishonest world.
TELL THE TALE. Don’t let it die even if UPI does, as it well might. Be as you have always been, the best in the business, able to beat grandma or anyone else with both hands tied behind your back.
Some of the truth is already coming to roost within the close-knit journalistic community. For those without subscriptions, check your local library or a friend for the September 14 copy of Editor and Publisher. It’s there for anyone to see, right on page 9.
Thank you for years of friendship. It has been my honor to be associated with you.
To quote my Irish ancestors, red skelton and the frugal gourmet: luck with rainbows, may god bless, I bid you peace.
Graham-hxf (Chicago financial)
Unipressers
Eye have started this msg four or five times. Wld much rather write four or five 700-word skedders than a simple goodbye.
Tdy is my last day at UPI. Fortunately, eye am leaving under my own steam.
Trying to put these words together as I struggle with strong feelings of sadness and anger is difficult.
Eye am going to miss working daily with a fine group of journalists as we beat the other guys time and time again. Will miss your senses of humor, still intact despite great hardships. And I will miss the opportunity to tell people, “I work for UPI.”
Eye was lucky to work under business ed roz liston, who really knows her stuff and is one of the kindest people around. Plus her nxf (New York Financial) staff was great to work with — always helpful, professional and upbeat.
Thnx also to steve whitworth in x (St. Louis), my surrogate buro chief, for answering my questions, answering fones when eye was gone, and being my buddy. And to john hendel-kps (Kansas City Sports), my coworker and friend frm early days in journalism.
Eye am proud to have been a part of the UPI tradition, even though it has been troubled in recent years.
In the past week, eye have debated how far to go in expressing my feelings in this message. Decided there is no point in being dishonest now.
Like all of you, eye am enraged at the events of the past year. Those who spoke in lofty manner of helping our ship find a safe port instead ran us aground onto a rocky, barren island. Then they cannibalised us.
It is reprehensible. It is wrong. And they have gotten away with it. But, dear Unipressers, rest assured that you will receive justice some day, some way. Perhaps not in a court of law. Perhaps it won’t be economic justice. But have faith that right eventually will prevail.
My hope for all of you is that you find the respect and bigger paychecks that you deserve. 73s
Wallace-kp
Unipressers
like many otrs recently, eye never thot eye wud have to send this message. But tdy is my last day with UPI, after nearly 13 yrs. Eye don’t want to leave because eye love the good things UPI has been in my career. But financial realities and a nagging ulcer require a change. Eye am proud to have been a Unipresser and eye’m thankful for the great ppl eye have worked with and the great stories eye have covered. Eye wish you all the best in the future, and hope you will keep in touch. Eye’ll be reachable thru my home.
Chrs
Schlangenstien-hs-ex-sl-ne-da (Houston, Shreveport, New Orleans, Dallas)
Unipressers
After 13 years at UPI, I’ve come to the end of the line. It’s been a long, strange trip since I walked into the Pittsburgh bureau on 1978, with its walls of chattering printout machines and teletype operators playing all-night poker in the backroom. The last year has been a tough one, but I refuse to let the sad antics of the current management beasties blot out the good memories—the camaraderie, the never-say-die spirit and the sheer underdog pleasure of beating that great grey overdog, the ap. It’s become harder and harder to win the competitive game, but those other, more important qualities have persevered even in the hardest times. I’m proud to have worked with you all. It’s been fun.
Lobsenz-wa
all
today ends another longstanding tradition, albeit a minor one. After more than 60 years of combined service, a Zverina will no longer be part of UPI. My father Ivan retired in May 1990 after 45 years, and is enjoying his retirement immensely.
I, on the other hand, have another 30 years of work to go before I can slack off. So, after 15 years with UPI — seven of them spent as its automotive writer after starting in NX (New York) financial — I am resigning from UPI to grab something else that will allow me to continue to do the work I love.
This will be just another goodbye message when the day is done. But most of these farewells have had one common thread: these people loved their jobs here, and did not want to leave.
This could not be more true for me, and those of you who know me know I had one of the best jobs in the house. But watching this company crumble at the hands of higher-ups has been very painful, and some of the latest proposals set forth by the company to the WSG (Wire Service Guild) are downright insulting, to put it nicely. (I also leave as a WSG shop steward).
Apparently, covering the nation’s largest industry and a leading economic indicator does not seem to warrant a full-time position anymore. If that is true, it would be another tragic mistake that could possibly cost some remaining clients, especially here in the motor city state.
To all of you who have to or want to ride it out, the very best of luck. And may the good guys win for a change. Chrs
Zverina-ducars (nxf) (Detroit, New York Financial)
Capps-wa
(rocknroll)
(to the tune of great balls of fire)
we got no clients and we got no pay
the wire’s weak in ev-er-y way
the system’s slow
my life’s on hold
good-ness gra-cioius
filing the wire!
Chrsz et 73s
Rosenbush-nxf
Rosenbush-nxf
(rocknroll—reprise)
(to the blues)
woke up this morning, heading for the tube
got one mo’ book review, that’s wa-ay overdue
but ever’body else…is bustin’ their’s too
cuz that’s the way it is,
with the everlovin’
u-p-i BUH-luesssss!
Chiz et 73s backatcha
Capps-nv (Nashville)
Unipressers
Today’s the day I must depart
Just a short time since my start
When I came here with wide-eyed wonder
Hoping I would not choke or plunder
In my dream that went awry
To be a part of UPI
But I am luckier today
For having even this short stay
With people who love the work they do
Who respect themselves and others too
Thank you for this chance to learn
I hope UPI will never adjourn
Bye. eve tahmincioglu (it isn’t that difficult (to pronounce)!)
Eve-nxf
Unipressers
Oh, hell. My turn after all these years. I hope whoever’s left wins the lottery. I’m going to walk down to the little beer joint I own now and drink to all of you and everyone I knew at this job. I may not sober up for a year.
Happy trails
Haines-al (San Antonio)
Unipressers
Lo (for the last time). I’ve read so many of these messages, that I don’t know what to say. You’re the best damn people one could ever work with, you don’t deserve what’s happening.
It’s been a great 21 ½ years on the best job a person could ever have. May god bless and watch over all of you. Chrs
Usiak-bf (Buffalo)
Unipressers
Today is my last day with UPI. I don’t want to leave, but the company is challenging my contractual seniority rights to a news job. It has been a pleasure to work with you over the almost 18 years that I have been with UPI. I also have had the pleasure to meet many of you in my travels as a wire service guild officer. I wish you all the best. May god bless us all.
(chuck) moody-ps (Pittsburgh)
Unipressers
one month short of nine years, I’m not even working on my last official day. I went to Rhode Island Friday for a funeral and ended up in the hospital with stomach problems. So, for all those remaining, good luck … and get another job. Regards. McNally-hx (Chicago), late of UPI.
Unipressers
It’s been a long time coming, but tonight I log out for the last time after nearly nine years … some happy, some sad. I could tell you all about my bitter-sweet departure … how I, too, have been chased out by the grim one … how UPI has treated me so bad or so good … how I’ve worked with the best damn journalists … but that’s all been said by fellow Unipressers who’ve departed this life before me. It’s too late to be remorseful and life is too short to wallow in regrets. I guess I needed this kick in the pants to get on with my life. And I leave here with high hopes and a renewed sense of purpose. To the few and the proud I leave behind, keep your chin up and your chest out. There is life after UPI. Best of luck. Carrigan-phx
Unipressers
Parting really is a sweet sorrow — sad to be leaving the colleagues with whom I’ve worked, those who are my friends and those I don’t know but whose professionalism I respect and whose spirit I admire.
The problem with UPI has never been its news people nor the product they produced. We have been UPI’s assets and those assets have been squandered. That’s the sad part. On the other hand…
After 24 years with UPI (that amounts to 48 weeks earned but uncollected severance pay, but, hey, who’s counting?), there is that little voice that says, “free, free, free at last…”
For those who come after me, and management has admitted there’s another not-so-little list, the good news is that there is life after UPI and it is good.
Chrs, or as we used to say, 73s. hanauer-nxe (New York Enterprise)
Unipressers
There is a sign on the UPI door here Orval Jackson put up. It says, “what a beautiful day, watch some bastard louse it up.” Says it all.
Wish my good bye msg was as eloquent as Joe Mahoney’s or as brief as don dughi’s, but alas, it won’t be.
The bottom line is I’m toast. Thanks to all of you left out there who helped me along the way. Special thanks to my mentors Jim Dever and Larry Desantis. Thx to ray foli who bought my wife a drink at the Kentucky derby many years ago. I’ll remember those nice touches.
We’ll all survive this debacle.
Cosgrove-tpp (Tampa photos)
Unipressers
Last year I considered myself one of the fortunate ones that survived the cuts. This year I think myself one of the lucky ones that got let go. Good luck to all of us who’re going on to better things and my condolences to those who continue to plod on for all those great news radio clients in Guadalajara and Timbuktu. I am grateful to have been allowed to represent some of you for the union and I only wish that the company’s mismanagement had shown more grace and not given himself a golden parachute while depriving others of the most minimal of safety nets.
Chrs. Rosenberger-nx
Unipressers
I came to UPI two weeks past my 21st birthday filled with the romantic vision that I could help to provide a valued service for journalism, and for many years I assumed I would continue to do so for the rest of my working days. Over the past year, I adjusted that goal to simply hoping I would be allowed to go down with the ship I loved.
That wish was denied, and so my good friends, I bid you all adieu and good luck.
I leave here poor financially but enriched otherwise. I have learned much about our craft at the feet of many artists and masters; I have experienced the rush and camaraderie of working disasters and major team events, and I have made friends I cherish.
I also have learned some tough lessons about corporate loyalty and economics. In no longer believe in Santa Claus, the Easter bunny or the tooth fairy.
But I still believe in the basic goodness and indominatability of the colleagues I leave behind. For that I am eternally grateful.
Pohla-pss (Pittsburgh sports)
Unipressers
I had the best job on earth and the best years of my life here. Well, the later ones were a little rough but still no regret. So long and best of luck to all
Chrs. Hai do-cxp-ktp (Albany state capitol bureau, Albany pictures)
Unipressers
Today is my last day as a Unipresser, a title that’s proudly been mine for almost 20 years and has been in the family well over half a century. I became a Unipresser despite having been raised in a UPI family, something that probably gave rise to the rumors about me being a slow learner.
In fact, today is the end of four generations of family involvement in the news business. I have accepted an unsolicited offer to be a speechwriter for Defense Secretary Dick Cheney.
In keeping with my habit of writing long, this is longer than I’d expected it to be. (desk, cut from the bottom).
I was just a kid working in the southern division (best damn place to break on in the world) when I got my first dose of news reality. The phone rang and a raspy voice bellowed: “this is Warner in Atlanta. Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?”
From charlotte it was on to Raleigh and then home to Washington for the deep overnight and day desk. In 1984 I went up to capitol hill to take the defense beat. There was a stint in the stinking desert (ah, Dharan is lovely this time of year). After dodging efforts to have me put a $6,000 hotel bill on a personal credit card as the corporate alarm bells were ringing, it was back home to add the Pentagon to the growing list of responsibilities.
I’ve covered about everything one can cover — plane crashes, presidents, campaigns and conventions, wars, summits and all-nighters in the Senate listening to whiny politicians gnawing on their pork bones.
In between came such things as:
--waking up in –40 temperatures in the arctic to see the northern lights circling the horizon and ending a 120-degree day in Saudi Arabia by lounging on Persian carpets, eating off a platter of roast lamb and having incense wafted into my face by bedoins.
--coining or adopting the phrases: “shit for brains,” “three grafs of cosmic goo followed by a lead,” ”I’m so confused,” “the world’s largest financially and … bankrupt wire service,” and, “if news breaks, fix it.”
--the pure adrenalin high of whupping the competition while working solo on the Desert One disaster and taking Dean Reynolds’ breathless dictation on the Reagan assassination attempt.
I have worked with the best journalists in the world. I’d list everyone, but for sure I’d commit the sin of omission. But in addition to the obvious parental influence (Eliot’s father, Bernie, worked UPI for decades) on my career, there is one person I must acknowledge.
The Chief — Steve Gerstel. He slipped me beers after the office softball games, encouraged me as I fell into the business, helped me get to Washington and let me come to the Hill, his private domain. And he taught me, (but not to write long) Jefe, I promise to check in at 5p every Friday for my GAO reports.
Back in high school I had an English teacher who returned papers in the order of the grade, highest to lowest. One day mine was last and he said: “and now we come to you, Mr. Brenner. If you had to write for a living, as your parents do, you’d starve to death.”
It never got that bad and it’s sure been fun.
The current and future state of UPI, how it got here and where it’s going, are not topics for this note. I observe only that for years I thought it would be hard to quit. I’m sad to say it wasn’t. The painful part is leaving the people.
It’s been a great ride. Thanks for letting me come along, but I think I’ll get off here and sign up for the Downhold Club.
Eliot Brenner-WA
11-22-91
Unipressers
It is with great sadness that after 11 years with UPI, I announce my resignation. Bob Goldner’s dismissal yesterday has made my continuing association with the company untenable. Bob and I had embarked upon an attempt to facilitate a management buyout of UPI and various parties had expressed interest in backing us. We sincerely believed this to be the only means to save the company. As all of you are painfully aware, bad management is systematically destroying and dismembering this company. What we did was very simple. We looked at what we did best, where we could do better, what nobody else was doing, and made a firm commitment to eliminate the rest. We identified markets and areas that had previously been ignored and we came up with a plan that ensured a profitable UPI in the year 1993, with appropriate levels of capital to revamp our communications infrastructure and marketing effort. Based on our negotiations with a number of potential investors, we felt confident that within a matter of weeks, we could have secured the necessary capital to take over the company.
As a result of Bob’s dismissal, I can no longer in good conscience work toward this end within UPI but shall with all means and personal resources at my disposal continue to work outside the company to secure a new ownership and management for UPI. I believe this is the only way the company can ever survive. I have 11 years invested in the company. I have no choice but to give it my best shot, even now.
If we succeed, I look forward to working with all of you again, because that has been one of the greatest joys of being part of UPI.
Regards
Jack reed
11-28-91
Then there was the man who had a beautiful name who wrote witty 15-second novels under the equally delightful pseudonym — Helmut del Lago. Royal Brightbill had regaled us with his inventions over the years and they became collectors’ items. But late in 1991, Brightbill passed along Helmut’s farewell.
Buos
Fans, connoisseurs of microblast literature (the inter-galactic, funky 90s term for the 15-second novel) and fellow masochists (those of you in the latest wave of lay-offs and especially those of you who must continue to battle the Gang of Four — Deceit, Treachery, Ingratitude and Avarice). It is hard to be funny at a time like this. But, in view of yesterday’s bankruptcy court action, this little parable, my last offering to you on this wire, seems appropriate.
The Pig
A reporter invited to a roast pig dinner on a hog farm was amazed to see the main course had three wooden legs. He asked the farmer about it.
“Oh, that was the best pig I ever had,” the farmer said. “A few years back, my house caught fire while I slept. He ran through the flames to wake me.”
“Is that how he lost his legs?”
“And just a couple of months ago, I fell in an alligator-filled bayou. He jumped in and pulled me out.”
“But what about the legs?”
“My friend, a pig that valuable you just don’t eat all at once.”
Somewhere on Wall Street a dog was barking.
Which is a kinder and gentler way of saying:
The rape of UPI has ended. The necrophilia has begun.
Helmut del Lago
9-24-91
Then it was Brightbill’s turn and his farewell will remain a classic.
Unipressers
Helmut del lago wrote his last msg last week. On his behalf, I thank you for encouraging his “art.” I am not skilled as he in concise expression, but please bear out an old Unipresser’s reminisces.
Twenty-two years ago, fresh journalism degree in hand, I took off my cap and gown and flew the same day to my first assignment with UPI in Raleigh, N.C. It has been a fast, thoroughly exhilarating ride — except for the past few years, which, in some respects, has been like watching my mother die, painfully, of cancer.
I could not believe the RA (Raleigh) office when I arrived that first day. It looked like something out of a 1930s movie. Stacks of newspapers everywhere, rumpled paper on the floor, cluttered, beat up desks supporting even more beat up typewriters. Loud, clacking black machines streaming mounds of perforated tape. Telephones constantly ringing. The space was pitiably small.
My first day on the job, there was a prison break. A guard was killed. Richard Hatch, the state editor, told me to work the phones and develop a profile on the guard. I started taking notes in longhand. He told me to use a typewriter or I never would survive.
The next day I saw my story in print. And Hatch had written me a note to the effect that I was on my way “to becoming a top-notch Unipresser.” It was the first time the term Unipresser had been applied to me, and you could have peeled me off the ceiling.
Within a week I was on the overnight by myself and could not believe the responsibility thrust on me. Nothing to it. Just rewrote everything that had been done all day, monitor the TV stations and pickup anything we missed, get the first edition of the morning paper and pick up wot we missed. Oh, yeah, and don’t forget the broadcast briefs packages that seemed to come up almost every hour on the half hour. Field the stringer calls etc etc. I quickly understood what Walter Cronkite meant when he said the toughest job he ever had was the Kansas City overnight of United Press. It would take me two hours past scheduled quitting time to get the work done. I stayed and did it, and did not put in for overtime, because I didn’t want Hatch to think I couldn’t handle it.
About seven weeks after I started, there came one night, the insistent bells of the first flash I ever heard. The message said: “The Eagle has landed.” Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had arrived safely on the moon.
I went home with headaches every night, and lay awake for what seemed like hours, terrified that I might have screwed up. I made my first move a year later, to a two-man bureau in Charlotte. A year later after that I became CT bureau manager because the manager at the time, John Shalko, had quit to go home to Rhode Island for one of those “cushy pr jobs” with the phone co.
The first seven years of my career, our young family moved six times. But it was because it was what I wanted to do, and UPI gave me the chance. I have had the opportunity to work with the masters — Gregory Jensen, Bob Musel, Joe Grigg, Al Webb, Peggy Polk, Leon Daniel, Lou Carr, Arnie Sawislak stand out in my mind. I’ll include Dick Growald in there. If I did anything right it was because of the influence of people like that.
Since Charlotte, I have worked in New York, Brussels, Athens, the Middle East, London, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, New Orleans again, San Francisco, Baton Rouge again, Shreveport, New Orleans and Baton Rouge again. I was part of the Middle East coverage team in the Yom Kippur war in 1973, covered an opening of parliament, a trial at the Old Bailey, a coup in Greece, a terrorist hijacking, hurricanes, an electrocution, political races, speeches, trials, state government and Mardi Gras ad nauseum. And sports of all sorts. But my favorites were always the three-legged chicken stories — those innocuous features that made people smile — the funeral home with the drive-up window, the dog intelligence test, the hookers’ masquerade ball.
I even did a stretch as a regional executive — and quit twice in a six-month period. When I started my third tour, I vowed this time UPI would divorce me before I divorced it. The time has come.
All of us have had a love-hate relationship with UPI because it has been our family. And just like a family, we have fought with each other, loved each other, cried with each other and lifted each other up. We were an unbeatable team when challenged from the outside. It only has been the attacks on us from within, by people who had no concept of the tradition and never had the UPI heart that has brought the company to the point it is today.
About 84 years ago, E.W. Scripps told the AP he wanted to buy its wire for his newspaper. The AP refused because there already was an AP “member” in the same town, and they had this little exclusivity clause in their contracts that allowed one newspaper per town to monopolize wire news. As we all know, Scripps’ in-your-face response was to start United Press, which eventually became United Press International. Among its many credits is the break-up of the international news cartel that existed prior to World War II.
That in-your-face tradition led to the best wire service ever, with a loose system that encouraged every Unipresser to give full expression to his individuality and reach his full potential, rather than press him into a bland mold. Every one of you is an inheritor and bearer of that tradition, a tradition that says fight the odds. Never quit. Never quit. That tradition never can be killed by changing times or jobs, recession or corporate chicanery.
I leave with no regrets and a treasure chest of memories, but also with some sadness at what UPI has been reduced to. My warmest wishes to my colleagues who leave today, and especially to those on whose shoulders falls the duty to defend the tradition against unprecedented assault.
73
brightbill-bg
Saturday, January 8, 2011
All: This Is My Last Day - Chapter 8
CHAPTER 8
In 1990 a man named Berl Schwartz became Washington bureau manager. Not sure where he came from, but it was apparent he was in over his head at UPI. One of his gem actions caught the eye of The Washington Times, a newspaper owned by News World Communications Inc., founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon -- an organization that was to play a pivotal role with UPI a decade later.
Schwartz wanted to glamorize UPI by trying to get “exclusive” material from newsmakers. One day he took a story written by a congressional reporter and had it refiled, taking the reporter’s name off the story and making it look as though Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., had written it exclusively for UPI.
It was a budget story based on Hoyer’s testimony before a subcommittee of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee. The testimony was delivered in an open session and the text of Hoyer’s speech was available to all who came into the hearing room.
This is what Schwartz wanted at the top of the rewritten story:
Bc-budget-johnqpublic correct
(removing byline to hoyer writing for upi)
Average Americans will suffer from federal budget cuts
(What happens if thousands of federal employees are temporarily furloughed because Congress and the administration cannot agree on a budget plan? Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., paints a stark picture of the effect on the average American in his testimony presented Wednesday to a subcommittee of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee)
By STENY HOYER
Distributed by UPI
The Washington Times jumped all over this with the following:
Zip a Dee Doo Dah
The new UPI Washington bureau manager, Berl Schwartz, decided to put a little zip into a story filed by a UPI reporter about furloughing federal employees. So he took out all the extra stuff. Like just about everything the reporter filed except for some quotes from Democratic Caucus Chairman Steny Hoyer.
But the story still didn’t have quite the zip Mr. Schwartz was seeking. So he gutted the story down to nothing but quotes and put a byline on it – “By Steny Hoyer, Written for UPI.”
Much zippier, the story went out on the wire.
Well, just two hours later the wire sent a correction zipping along behind the “Hoyer” story. It said the piece “was not written expressly for UPI” by the Maryland Democrat and was actually testimony he’d given before a House subcommittee. But it had zip.
Schwartz came into the office, read the Washington Times piece, slammed around his office for a while, beating the desk with his fist, and filed this message on the internal message wire:
“The Washington Times reported today that I put out testimony by Steny Hoyer as having been written for UPI. I did it. It was a mistake, which I corrected on the wire.
The Times also said I “took out all the extra stuff. Like just about everything the reporter filed except for some quotes …” and that I “gutted the story down to nothing but quotes.”
Here’s the story as originally filed by Shep. Judge for yourself the accuracy of the Times report.
This inability to own up entirely to his stupid act prompted me to respond:
Schwartz
Since you asked for our judgment I’ll offer mine. I feel your “mistake” jeopardized the integrity of the reporter who filed a correct story, jeopardized the integrity of the editor who filed the story and jeopardized the integrity of UPI and the integrity of so many unipressers over the years who have worked damn hard to produce an honorable product. Rosso
At least he owned up to his incompetence. On Nov. 8, 1990, Schwartz wrote:
All-wa
Thank you for your hard work last night and today in making our election coverage something to be proud of. We’ve received some praise and no criticism, which in this cynical business is the same as praise. Even Tough Old Broad Victoria Wakefield was impressed. Thank you in particular for helping me fake my way through my first UPI election night.
Schwartz.
To which Janet Bass, who covered health, added:
Tough old broad?????
On Jan. 2, 1991, Schwartz sent a note to the Washington staff, that said, in part:
All-wa
I have just posted an announcement that UPI has granted me an unpaid leave of absence so that I can accept the McMahon visiting professorship of journalism at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma on the main campus in Norman.
This is the first year of the professorship, which means I will be making up the program as I go along — something for which UPI has given me excellent training.
In 1990 a man named Berl Schwartz became Washington bureau manager. Not sure where he came from, but it was apparent he was in over his head at UPI. One of his gem actions caught the eye of The Washington Times, a newspaper owned by News World Communications Inc., founded by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon -- an organization that was to play a pivotal role with UPI a decade later.
Schwartz wanted to glamorize UPI by trying to get “exclusive” material from newsmakers. One day he took a story written by a congressional reporter and had it refiled, taking the reporter’s name off the story and making it look as though Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., had written it exclusively for UPI.
It was a budget story based on Hoyer’s testimony before a subcommittee of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee. The testimony was delivered in an open session and the text of Hoyer’s speech was available to all who came into the hearing room.
This is what Schwartz wanted at the top of the rewritten story:
Bc-budget-johnqpublic correct
(removing byline to hoyer writing for upi)
Average Americans will suffer from federal budget cuts
(What happens if thousands of federal employees are temporarily furloughed because Congress and the administration cannot agree on a budget plan? Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., paints a stark picture of the effect on the average American in his testimony presented Wednesday to a subcommittee of the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee)
By STENY HOYER
Distributed by UPI
The Washington Times jumped all over this with the following:
Zip a Dee Doo Dah
The new UPI Washington bureau manager, Berl Schwartz, decided to put a little zip into a story filed by a UPI reporter about furloughing federal employees. So he took out all the extra stuff. Like just about everything the reporter filed except for some quotes from Democratic Caucus Chairman Steny Hoyer.
But the story still didn’t have quite the zip Mr. Schwartz was seeking. So he gutted the story down to nothing but quotes and put a byline on it – “By Steny Hoyer, Written for UPI.”
Much zippier, the story went out on the wire.
Well, just two hours later the wire sent a correction zipping along behind the “Hoyer” story. It said the piece “was not written expressly for UPI” by the Maryland Democrat and was actually testimony he’d given before a House subcommittee. But it had zip.
Schwartz came into the office, read the Washington Times piece, slammed around his office for a while, beating the desk with his fist, and filed this message on the internal message wire:
“The Washington Times reported today that I put out testimony by Steny Hoyer as having been written for UPI. I did it. It was a mistake, which I corrected on the wire.
The Times also said I “took out all the extra stuff. Like just about everything the reporter filed except for some quotes …” and that I “gutted the story down to nothing but quotes.”
Here’s the story as originally filed by Shep. Judge for yourself the accuracy of the Times report.
This inability to own up entirely to his stupid act prompted me to respond:
Schwartz
Since you asked for our judgment I’ll offer mine. I feel your “mistake” jeopardized the integrity of the reporter who filed a correct story, jeopardized the integrity of the editor who filed the story and jeopardized the integrity of UPI and the integrity of so many unipressers over the years who have worked damn hard to produce an honorable product. Rosso
At least he owned up to his incompetence. On Nov. 8, 1990, Schwartz wrote:
All-wa
Thank you for your hard work last night and today in making our election coverage something to be proud of. We’ve received some praise and no criticism, which in this cynical business is the same as praise. Even Tough Old Broad Victoria Wakefield was impressed. Thank you in particular for helping me fake my way through my first UPI election night.
Schwartz.
To which Janet Bass, who covered health, added:
Tough old broad?????
On Jan. 2, 1991, Schwartz sent a note to the Washington staff, that said, in part:
All-wa
I have just posted an announcement that UPI has granted me an unpaid leave of absence so that I can accept the McMahon visiting professorship of journalism at the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Oklahoma on the main campus in Norman.
This is the first year of the professorship, which means I will be making up the program as I go along — something for which UPI has given me excellent training.
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