There is only one Newspaper

There is only one Newspaper

by Meriweather Ball- 11/20/05

There’s only one newspaper in America. There’s only one that I find completely decent and useful. Of course that’s just my point of view and I’ll explain why in just a minute.

However there are many fine, excellent, well-above-the-ordinary writers at America’s newspapers. The writing that comes from some of the most local, tiny, editorial-staff-of-one daily reads I say can be absolutely outstanding.

Consider this: Often we read about some of the most extraordinary Americans who ever lived. We read current interviews with the people who were most important to them. Their mothers tell of childhood dreams. Their girlfriends reveal a sentence or two from intimate letters. Favorite teachers described how resourceful these great Americans were.

Then we read the details of their funerals. Too far away for most of us to travel, but still the formality and protocol and tradition intrigue us. And these writers describes the details, the very subtle movements of Marine guards that lay down the finest once among us.

It brings me to tears every time, and creates a picture in my mind that lingers for years and years.

This is the writing found in the average American newspaper. By collecting the news stories of the fallen Marines since we invaded Iraq, I have learned so much from their excellent work, their editor’s excellent direction.

But that generous gift, those images born of fact and decent human interpretation, are not the offerings of newspapers on a daily basis. No, they are simply the brilliance born of great writers in normally very mundane circumstances; then lifted to distinction.

And thankfully that is the case. I couldn’t bear to read that writing in story after story, day in and day out. I would be an emotional wreck digesting such images. That’s why for me, there is only one newspaper.

When I read the Wall Street Journal, I have the experience of having an old friend tell me some very interesting stories. That friend leaves out the sensational aspects and delivers in an engaged yet non-dramatic tone. The details and aspects arise, without confrontation or digression. I find I’ve actually learned something new every time I read an edition.

Both aspects of American print journalism are critical to our free press. And critical to my ability to, without abridgement, enjoy that freedom.

Meriweather Ball is Editor and CEO of Corpsstories.com.

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