Protesters blame Post owner for paper's Bush endorsement

[otohara]

A small group Friday protested The Denver Post's endorsement of President Bush, saying it was contrary to the paper's editorial tone and was driven by The Post's owner.

About 20 members of Citizens for Editorial Integrity gathered in front of The Denver Post Tower for about an hour, holding signs and urging passers-by to support them.

Tom Rutter of Denver hand-delivered a letter to the office of William Dean Singleton, owner and publisher of The Post, criticizing the Oct. 24 endorsement.

Rutter, a Post reader who has canceled his subscription, said he feels betrayed by the newspaper and is "confused by inconsistencies in the piece."

http://denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E29805%257E2501598,00.html?search=filter

[w4rma]

1. Personally, I'd like to see the owners do this bullcrap more often.

It'll tick folks off and maybe we can get some new and ethical owners into the market. I'm a bit tired of these whackos doing their dirty buisness from the shadows.

[mcg]

2. Info on William Dean Singleton

<http://www.naa.org/utilartpage.cfm?TID=NR&AID=4206>

"New Orleans – William Dean Singleton, vice chairman and CEO of MediaNews Group Inc., Denver, was elected chairman of the Newspaper Association of America at the Association’s annual meeting. ...

Singleton, who bought his first newspaper at age 21, founded MediaNews Group, publisher of 49 daily newspapers and 94 non-daily publications in 12 states, in 1983. He is chairman of the board and publisher of The Denver Post, the company’s largest newspaper, and chairman of the board of the Denver Newspaper Agency, publisher of The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News. ...

NAA is a nonprofit organization representing the $59 billion newspaper industry and more than 2,000 newspapers in the U.S. and Canada. Most NAA members are daily newspapers, accounting for 87 percent of the U.S. daily circulation. ..."

And Singleton wants more:

<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A61585-2003May15?start=15&per=16>

"He also happened to be testifying that the FCC should loosen its ownership rules to let newspaper companies buy television stations, meaning media companies could extend their influence even further than McCain suggested it already has reached.

The FCC is preparing to relax or eliminate several key media ownership rules, letting media companies buy more newspapers and television stations. The agency is set to vote on June 2 to drop the 28-year-old ban that prohibits a newspaper from buying a television or radio station in the same city, except in the smallest cities."

I don't know the result of the vote.