Category: Journalism

Times change and life moves on. I spent over 20 years as part of the Kokomo Tribune family during the time it was one of the most recognized leaders of medium sized daily newspapers in the world. It was awarded recognition as “First In The Nation” penetration of its market for eight of a ten year period and only second in the remaining two years. It kept its position as one of the top medium papers in all of the 20 year period I was there.

The Tribune was owned by my great grandfather, John Arthur Kautz, from 1897 until his death in 1938; the year I was born. It was sold by his owner descendants in 1982 at a time when there were almost 30 part owners. This was at the height of the value of newspapers across the country. Consolidation into newspaper groups had begun a few years earlier. Newspapers were king when it came to keeping the public informed. There was at one time about 1,800 independently owned newspapers across this country. It was a time when newspapers were truly the “Fourth Estate” that kept government honest by keeping the public aware of what was going on inside and outside of government. It was the watchdog.

During the period from about 1960 to 1980, there was a revolution in newspaper technology. The old way from the 1800s to then was production by Mergenthaler Linotype machines and rotary letterpresses to print. The technological change was to photocomposition, use of computers, and offset printing. The Tribune was a leader in developing this technology even to the development of one of the very first computer typesetting systems, the Delco Justifier of which I did all of the programming. Key personnel like Dick Isham, Alan Harnish, Ron Frye, John Hoffman, Richard Pickering, and Dow Richardson and me led the revolution at the newspaper under the overall guidance and encouragement of our Publisher, my father. The entire Tribune family included about 185 employees and over 300 newspaper carriers. All played an important part in Tribune success.

The Publisher and CEO of the Tribune who followed J.A. Kautz , Richard H Blacklidge, became President of the American Newspaper Publisher Association. This position before had always been held by a Publisher of a large metropolitan newspaper; never from a medium sized paper. He went on to become Vice-President of FIEJ: the International Newspaper Association. While he was engaged in those national and international responsibilities, the Tribune family in Kokomo continued to lead in technology and news/editorial/feature content envied by all. The readers of the Tribune trusted the newspaper to tell all and to tell truth; things gone by the wayside in current major media.

As Business Manager, Associate Publisher, and eventually Publisher when my father developed health issues and then retired, I am proud of our two decades of accomplishment. We led the industry that informed and protected the public.

Ironically, in retrospect I believe my father saw the handwriting on the wall. The consolidation of newspapers into newspaper ownership groups, then to major media groups was coming. Technology was coming fast. And many of the original owners of newspapers were dying off. The nation has suffered from the loss of honest, tough, and wise leaders in media; specifically in newspapers.

Thomas Jefferson, one of our Founding Fathers, said, “Where the press is free and every man (and woman) able to read, all is safe”. He said, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

Today, we have a captured press whether it be in print or electronic form. We particularly have a national media that lies, distorts, and covers up corruption. We do not have a free and honest press any longer. Whether we will make it now as a Constitutional Republic with a free people remains to be seen.

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[There is a small newspaper in Vale, Oregon that has caught my eye. It is the Malheur Enterprise. Malheur County is of about 33,000 people. I believe the Enterprise is the way newspapers and honest journalism will survive and grow in our time of propaganda major media. There is a similar paper, The Carroll County Comet, in Flora, IN, in a county of about 20,000 people that follows a very closely similar path.]

The Enterprise has a few points to make:

Why Pay for News: Newsrooms across the country have cut back in recent years. Reporting the news is costly. We won’t last as a business by giving away that work. Here are the benefits of paying for our work.

Be a better citizen: Our award-winning journalists help you stay informed by covering your community — schools, elections, businesses — every day.

Get 24/7 coverage: Every subscriber gets our newsletter and breaking news alerts so you never miss the latest.

Your government watchdog: Our reporting holds powerful officials accountable for how they use their power — and your money.

Trustworthy journalism: We’re open and honest about how we conduct ourselves as journalists.

Clutter-free website: Easily get caught up on news — on computer, phone, or tablet — without the popups or auto play video.

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And How We Work as Journalists: We want to be open and clear with you, our reader, about the standards that guide our work every day. We strive to meet every one of these. We never intentionally disregard these principles. When we fail, bad information, speed, or inadequate experience is to blame.

Accuracy: We strive to be certain that every fact — every number, every date, every name, every quote — is true. We will never knowingly publish false or inaccurate information. We will honestly and quickly correct any factual error.

Clarity: We want our reporting to be understandable, free of jargon and vagueness. You can expect us to gather the necessary information and develop sufficient expertise to produce stories clear about issues, agencies, and people.

Fairness: Our stories will honestly represent views and issues, never mis-characterizing or distorting facts and developments. We want those we write about to feel they were fairly treated.

Fact Checking: We follow our own customized fact-checking protocol to guard against error. That includes a requirement to reach out to subjects of stories as possible to verify the accuracy of our intended reporting.

Bias: We know full well that readers now come to news reports suspicious that they might encounter a deliberate tilt by the news organization. Our intent is that you never detect a political, economic, or social bent in the stories we serve to you.

Facts Over Fancy: Our primary job is to gather the news. We devote every dollar we can to reporting. That means we don’t divert time and money into making our stories glitzy or stunning in design. We are certain you would prefer accurate news over flashy presentations.

Professionalism: We can get better, and we will. We will always — always — work to sharpen our journalistic skills. We will become better interviewers, data analysts and writers. Our professionals are intent on getting as good as they can, not for awards but to better serve your needs.

Citizenship: We don’t consider ourselves distant observers. We take pride in the community — its people, institutions, and traditions. We engage in issues that matter. We identify problems, but we will always seek solutions as well. Like you, we want our community to improve, to be welcoming and safe, to be economically vibrant.

Without Fear: Our reporting can and will put us at odds with people who hold power or those who can and do abuse the public in some fashion. We will pursue difficult stories because they are important stories. We will not be scared off of or intimidated from doing any necessary story — ever.

Without Favor: We owe allegiance only to you, our reader. Our work is not done in service to any special interest. We are beholden to no party, no business, no individual, and seek no special treatment from any. We are beholden only to the truth.

Trust: The most valuable possession of our team is your trust. We know we can’t exist without it, that we will not otherwise succeed as a business and as a news organization. We are relentless in earning and keeping that trust.

On October 10, 1968, The Tribune’s front page stories appeared with several paragraphs missing and its editorial page was blank except for one editorial which listed a government agency’s suggestions concerning fires in homes.

Sections of page one stories dealing with an Apollo space flight, the Vietnam w    ar, Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey were lifted, leaving large white holes in the accounts. Except for the one editorial, the editorial page was blank, carrying only the headlines of columnists and items normally appearing on the page.

In a front page editorial The Tribune stated, “So that we at The Tribune and Tribune readers everywhere might gain a better appreciation of the value of freedom of the press, today’s front page and editorial page have been censored according to standards practiced in many repressed nations of the world.”

The editorial also said, “As you read the news accounts on The Tribune front page, you will, of course, note how incomplete they are in terms of what Americans are provided in the way of information in a free society. The Tribune will not reprint any of these stories in full. What is lost in this ‘censored’ edition is lost forever. We, the American people, can live with the loss of news for a day. But could this nation survive in freedom if we had to live with censorship every day?”

[This message could not be more loudly needed than today. Too many of the major news media — print and electronic — have become political tools with objective, unbiased reporting becoming more and more difficult to find.]

[An earlier version of this piece was posted in 2016. Points continue.}

The Kokomo Dispatch masthead existed on a print newspaper for decades. It began as a local newspaper in Kokomo, Indiana, as an enterprise and was lastly owned by the Poynter family who went on to bigger things with the St. Petersburg Times in Florida.

The Dispatch was purchased by my great grandfather, John Arthur Kautz from the Poynter family. The Dispatch name was carried as a sub-head in the Kokomo Tribune until the late 1960s when the name was dropped.

The Tribune sold in 1981 to the Thomson Newspaper group. At that point the Tribune had close to two dozen family owners, all descendants of J.A. Kautz. The family was in the situation where the death of one of the older partners would trigger a forced sale just to pay estate tax. The decision was made to sell. The market for newspapers was excellent at the time, but the sale to Thomson was not good for the paper nor for the community. The focus went from serving the community to maximizing profit. Unfortunately, this was the story for hundreds of family owned newspapers across the country.

I want to carry on the Kokomo Dispatch name which was not included as a part of the sale to Thomson. I feel it is part of my history and duty. I think the Poynters would be pleased as would J.A. Kautz since the Tribune name was passed on to others.

It is interesting to me to realize how deeply newspapers and journalism are rooted in me. Some of my earliest memories are of times going to the newspaper offices with my father. I was around newsrooms, composing rooms, and the press more times than I can imagine. I can still smell the ink and paper and still hear the rumbling of the press as it printed the thousands of copies of the paper to be delivered to doorsteps. I remember.

After the sale of the Tribune, I changed course. For years I was involved with science and the academic community. I loved that, too. I was able to make a significant contribution in evolutionary biology. I went off, too, later in other directions that hit dead ends. However, I did teach at and was the Vice Chancellor of External Relations at Indiana University Kokomo for a time. For the past 20 years, professionally I have been a certified real estate appraiser in Indiana. This has had its rewards in that I have become very familiar with about all communities in North Central Indiana and have met hundreds of very interesting and good people. My vision as a result has widened.

For years, the voices rooted within me from my decades with the Kokomo Tribune were muted. They have come alive. We are in precarious times for our country. Everyone who can should speak out. I intend to do just that.