Legislature Honors Terry Woster, Local Journalism

The Legislature's various resolutions and commemorations sometimes seem like a waste of time, especially when they have just three and a half days left to pass a budget.

However, for a man who served the state in his vocation for 40 years (and continues to do so), House Commemoration 1027 is a tolerable diversion:

A LEGISLATIVE COMMEMORATION, Honoring Terry Woster for his contributions to South Dakota journalism and culture and for forty years of reporting on the South Dakota State Legislature.

WHEREAS, Terry Woster was raised in Lyman County with brothers Jim and Kevin and sister Mary, and remembers and shares important lessons and experiences from his rural upbringing;

WHEREAS, Terry Woster enjoys a lifelong love of the Fourth Estate that began as a youth when he discovered that the newspaper brought the outer world to the farmhouse, and was fostered as he delivered the Sunday Minneapolis Tribune;

WHEREAS, Terry Woster studied journalism at South Dakota State University and has written for the Associated Press and newspapers in Volga, Chamberlain, and Pierre, along with a long association with the Sioux Falls Argus Leader;

WHEREAS, Terry Woster excels in his vocation and profession as a writer while planted here at home in his native soil of South Dakota, and has become one of the most respected, admired, and accomplished journalists in state history;

WHEREAS, Terry Woster has covered forty of the state's eighty-four legislative sessions, and is appreciated as an objective reporter who arrives at committee meetings and floor sessions with his trademark smile, his notebook, immense historical perspective, and the proper healthy cynicism;

WHEREAS, Terry Woster is a rural Renaissance Man of varied interests and gifts, including not just writing but music, history, and South Dakota athletics:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT COMMEMORATED, by the Eighty-fourth Legislature of the State of South Dakota, that Terry Woster, despite long service in the employ of conglomerate media, writing for the Sioux Falls Argus Leader from 1967 to 2008, personally exemplifies the best traditions of hometown journalism through his commitment and caring for the people and communities of South Dakota.

For once, a Legislative pronouncement sparks no debate.

Hey, Argus! Ever Hear of Circuit City?

The New York Times notes that mainstream media's shedding of top talent (of which Terry Woster's early retirement is but one small example) is a lot like what Circuit City did in 2007:

In March 2007, Circuit City came up with a plan to confront softening sales and competition from online and offline retailers: fire the most talented, experienced employees.

Of course, those workers were the retail chain’s single most important point of difference from the legion of Internet retailers and general merchandisers, but in a single stroke, Philip J. Schoonover, the chief executive of Circuit City, wiped out that future.

As a pal of mine used to say when I described a particularly boneheaded course of action I had pursued, “How’d that work out for you, buddy?”

For Circuit City, not so great. The “wage management initiative” erased morale, both for employees and the folks who shopped there. Sales sank after the one-time gain from the layoffs. And last week, the company sought bankruptcy protection [David Carr, "Newspapers Jettisoning Top Talent to Cut Cost," New York Times, 2008.11.16].

So, anyone want to start a pool on when that Sioux Falls paper will file for Chapter 11? Readers, looks like you'd better start filling the Madville Times tip jar (see left sidebar!), and Todd's, and Pat's (assuming he doesn't go on permanent vacation to be Lee Schoenbeck's campaign webmaster). We bloggers may have to take on the media's job full-time.

Notes on Terry Woster and the Decline of Journalism

We note with regret Terry Woster's retirement from that Sioux Falls paper. Better writers than I can offer more substantial and informed encomia of South Dakota's best political journalist. I will say simply that cub reporters who want to learn how to cover their communities should read Terry Woster, not just the dispatches from the Capitol in the heat of the session, but also his reflections about growing up on the farm. Good journalism, like all good writing, must be grounded in writing about what you know... and what you love. Woster's volumes of rich, intelligent political and personal writing demonstrates what I will presume to conclude is a profound love of South Dakota.

Love, commitment to community, the meaning of place—none of those items appear in corporate ledgers. In the best commentaries yet on the meaning of Woster's retirement, Bernie Hunhoff at South Dakota Magazine and David Newquist at Northern Valley Beacon make clear why corporate media are inimical to Wosterian journalism:

The problem with corporate-owned media is the nature of corporations. Corporations are bureacracies. They operate on the same kind of self-interest that government bureaucracies do. The current economic plight of our country and the world, in fact, is the result of corporate management. Bureaucracies do not honor and reward high-mindedness. They cater to the greedy, the devious, the ill-intentioned. Their intellectual and moral guidepost is the bottom line. And so Gannett, which announced job cuts previously last summer, ordered a 10 percent staff reduction late last month. The objective is totally to carry out the management order. The quality of journalism is not a consideration [David Newquist, "Requiem for the Fourth Estate," Northern Valley Beacon, 2008.11.15].

As Hunhoff makes clear, journalism, telling the stories of South Dakota, is about much more than following orders from distant rulers and making money:

I tend to agree with the fellow who blames the hometown publishers for selling out their communities. A weekly or daily paper (and I'd like to believe the same is true of our magazine) is a public trust. If you're blessed to have the privilege of being the caretaker of it for a few years, then one of your biggest concerns should be to pass it onto another generation who will care for it as you tried to do.

The same may be true of land owners and business owners in general. But certainly when it comes to the Fourth Estate, the people of the United States would be better served with five thousand independent and creative newspapers and magazines than the fluff and mush served up by today's corporate media [Bernie Hunhoff, "Terry Woster: Who's to Blame?" South Dakota Magazine: Editor's Notebook, 2008.11.15].

According to Mr. Epp, Terry Woster is 65. He's done his service. But what attention will that Sioux Falls paper and other corporate media give to hiring committed community journalists to continue that service?

I haven't seen (or produced) a blog yet that that approaches Woster's oeuvre in quality. But as corporate cost-cutting pushes Woster from the stage, someone's got to keep an eye on what's happening in South Dakota. Citizen journalists, duty calls!