News

Pulitzer's Gain

Continued from page 4

Others at Lee-owned papers are less encouraging. At The Times in northwest Indiana, Ed Collier, a photographer, quit last year citing the paper's handling of a package that chronicled a woman's fight with cancer. "It was a great package, beautifully done," says Collier, who did not work on the package. "But in the last two pages there were funeral-home ads. I'm not sure it was a breakdown in the wall between advertising and editorial, but it just seemed to me to be in very poor taste. It was kind of like, 'Are you thinking about dying? Well, here's a good funeral home.'"

The paper's executive editor, William Nangle, declined to comment about the incident. Lee's vice president for news, David Stoeffler, says he was unaware of any issues about the cancer story. "It was very good work," he says. "Coincidentally I left a copy of it behind at the newsroom at the Post-Dispatch."

That coincidence aside, Stoeffler doubts Post readers will notice much of a difference when Junck and Co. take over later this year. "We're not going to tell them to change their editorial approach. That's their decision," says Stoeffler. "We have lots of papers we're proud of, but clearly the Post-Dispatch, because of its size and history, will be a hot paper for Lee."

This is part two of a two-part story. Last week: "Pulitzer's Pain."

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