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Editor’s Weekly: Watching what we say and how we say it

This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, June 21, 2013: Dear Beaconites - Sometimes, how you say something seems to matter as much as what you say.

Three disparate examples from the Beacon this week prove the point -- Harper Barnes' tribute to Duff's, Jason Rosenbaum's video about video and Rob Koenig's coverage of the coverage of Sen. Claire McCaskill.

Duff's, the Central West End institution that is about to close, inspired a remembrance from Harper that is both deeply personal and broadly significant. He deftly connects a slice of St. Louis life to history.

Harper opens the piece with this description of a long-ago reading by Beat Generation author William Burroughs: "The cadaverous man in the gray narrow-lapel suit and fedora hat leans into the overhead light, grabs the lectern and launches into a wild tale of a highly unorthodox operating room and a crazed surgeon."

Harper can spin this story so vividly because he was there. As he explains: “The crowd is rapt, sitting and standing in the bar and the main dining room of Duff's, and, in my case, jammed onto a tiny balcony at the rear of the main room. Burroughs looks out upon us and grins, his teeth sparkling, vaguely vampiric, and continues his bloodthirsty tale.”

The anecdote tells you a lot about Duff's – and a lot about the power of art, the roots of the counter-culture movement and how St. Louis has shaped and been shaped by both. Thanks to Harper, those of us who never experienced this scene know what it was like and can see how the past continues to influence the community we share.

Jason delivered his weekly On the Trail political column in video – all the better to examine how video has changed political reporting. Staring straight into the camera, Jason deadpans: "If you're staring at my bespectacled face and listening to my silky monotone voice at the same time, congratulations. You're unconsciously participating in a journalism revolution." His wry reflection includes a sampling of video gaffes, his own and those of politicians. He shows that video can be at once whimsical and consequential – that it has altered reporting, but need not trivialize it.

In these two examples, reporters chose their medium to add impact to their message. In the third instance, political operatives crafted their message so it would have inordinate impact among reporters. And it worked. The “Ready for Hillary” super PAC, formed to promote Hillary Clinton for president, put out a press release that called McCaskill “the first sitting member of Congress to endorse the effort.”

Several national news outlets initially assumed that McCaskill's endorsement was new, and therefore quite newsworthy. Rob's reporting cut through the hype. Yes, McCaskill backs Clinton – but she had made that clear in February, as Rob and Jo Mannies reported at the time. We were happy to set the record straight, and pleased that some other news organizations eventually linked to the Beacon's original work.

For good or ill, how you say something seems to matter as much as what you say. That's especially true in the digital age, where everyone can use many means to say anything. Yet at the Beacon, we believe substance matters. We aim to use the tool best suited to convey that substance to you, and we focus vigilantly on finding the substance, or lack of it, in the messages of others.

Sincerely,

Margie

Margaret Wolf Freivogel is the editor of St. Louis Public Radio. She was the founding editor of the St. Louis Beacon, a nonprofit news organization, from 2008 to 2013. A St. Louis native, Margie previously worked for 34 years at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as a reporter, Washington correspondent and assistant managing editor. She has received numerous awards for reporting as well as a lifetime achievement award from the St. Louis Press Club and the Missouri Medal of Honor from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. She is a past board member of the Investigative News Network and a past president of Journalism and Women Symposium. Margie graduated from Kirkwood High School and Stanford University. She is married to William H. Freivogel. They have four grown children and seven grandchildren. Margie enjoys rowing and is a fan of chamber music.