"The very last day was probably the worst day of everybody's life," remembers food writer Helen Moise of the Cleveland Press, which published its last edition on June 17, 1982. "So we listened to Dorothy Fuldheim and she told us that we were closing. She was on Channel 5 with the news. She had breaking news. Nobody from the paper told us. She told us."
The final chapter of John Tidyman's "Gimme Rewrite, Sweetheart..." Tales from the Last Glory Days of Cleveland Newspapers, Told by the Men and Women Who Reported the News, is filled with similar tales of the paper's last days. Press entertainment critic and medical reporter Teddi Gibson-Bianchi was reviewing a play at Karamu House theater when a public relations staffer told her, "Gee, I'm really sorry to hear about the Press." Back at the office, the reporter found herself greeted by "the SWAT team ... I asked the chief copy editor, 'Should I write this or not?' He said, 'Yeah. Go ahead and write it.'" Gibson-Bianchi finished her review in a record 45 minutes. "And it was in the last published paper." Times may have changed, but one thing hasn't: Media companies continue to report news to the public while struggling – or flat-out failing – to effectively communicate among themselves.
Tidyman's book is no dirge, however; in fact, Gimme Rewrite is a celebration of Cleveland's competing daily newspapers. If all the stories are to be believed, things were just a little bit zestier back then (a chapter titled "Too many martinis" is subtitled simply, "Drinking"), and though you get the sense these tales have been hauled out and dusted off a few times, nothing feels stale. How could it? Loved and hated in equal measure, the men and women of the Press and Plain Dealer considered themselves "the luckiest SOBs in town."
This is a critical time for print journalism, not even a crossroads but an end point, potentially, as naysayers pronounce it dead and everyone else is happy – or lazy – enough to go along. While the industry continues its painful changes, Gimme Rewrite provides a compelling reverie that reminds us of the value of good journalism and its place in a healthy and informed society.
Find Gimme Rewrite at local bookstores or online at Gray & Co. Follow OhioAuthority on Twitter and Facebook for a chance to win a copy of the book.
Author:
