Two big losses this week. One imminent, one actual. One regarding a longstanding newspaper. One about a longstanding writer, historian and activist.
Next spring the Christian Science Monitor, a long-respected newspaper, will go all online. That was the announcement from the paper's editor on Tuesday. I happened to be flipping through the Chicago Tribune at work when I spotted Phil Rosenthal's column, Media. The headline put it succinctly. The paperless newspaper now a reality. I still find it hard to believe that the hard copy version really will bite the dust.
As an undergraduate in the mid-to-late 1970s, I looked up to the monitor. It had -- and as far as I know still has -- a reputation for excellence in news coverage and analysis. I was in journalism school, and I admired the CSM from afar.
According to Rosenthal, the monitor was born in 1908 in reaction to "harsh attacks" by Joseph Pulitzer's New York World on the Christian Science church, founded by Mary Baker Eddy. Now, not that long after its centennial birthday, the monitor will belong to the virtual world. What a pity. I believe we need both formats.
Chicago treasure Louis "Studs" Terkel died on Friday. He was 96.
Terkel was the epitome of spunk, of activism, of life. I met him several years ago while he was signing books at a church in suburban Chicago. Just prior to the book signing, which featured a long, long line, Terkel had given a rousing speech. He covered many things, not the least of which was the importance of turning to the United Nations in times of conflict. The audience, packed into pews, beamed with appreciation, with admiration. I took some pictures that night, and I will forever value them.
Chicago Tribune veteran Rick Kogan put together a stirring tribute to Terkel, featuring the sub-head: The author-radio host-actor-activist and Chicago symbol has died. "My epitaph? My epitaph will be 'Curiosity did not kill this cat,'" he once said.
True enough. Terkel left us quite a legacy. Among other things, all those meaty books.
Photograph courtesy of Chris Walker, the Chicago Tribune, September 18, 2007
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