Last week local political blogger and independent reporter Antonio D. French accused the American of selling out its editorial stance on the upcoming school board election for advertising revenue. The accusation is based on the strong and consistent stance the paper has taken in favor of reforming the SLPS. Unfortunately, as the EYE pointed out to French in a civil exchange of emails, his media analysis in this instance falls far short of his considerable reporting skills.
French’s speculation misses crucial facts about the newspaper business. Elections are sporadic. If you rely upon election ads to pay your bills, you will go out of business between elections. Election season for this paper (especially major primaries, but also hotly contested school board and municipal races) simply means more inside news space, since the seasonal ads fund additional copy (and extended mixes of Political EYE). We don’t count on that money and don’t need it, in the sense that we would publish our standard paper without a single election ad, just like we do most weeks.
Political ads in the Black Press also tend to be small and not very lucrative. Shredding one’s credibility over them simply wouldn’t be worth the meager payday, especially when there are far more steady and nourishing revenue streams.
The American sells eyes, not readers. The paper affords its advertisers value because we deliver their commercial messages to 70,000 households. The American pays most of its bills with things like McDonald’s coupon inserts, which our readers (and newsroom) are known to appreciate. Have we sold out to Mickey D’s?
Farm workers protested here on Tuesday, right down the street from where we rent our offices. Not enough black people in St. Louis are affected by the grievance in question for us to give the issue deluxe coverage, but the activists are working in the wake of a four-year national boycott of Taco Bell that they said pressured the company into paying a penny more per pound for its tomatoes, which nearly doubled some farmworker’s wages and established a new code of conduct for some Florida agricultural suppliers. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers and its allies are urging McDonalds to sign a similar agreement to improve the standard of living for farmworkers that supply McDonald’s with its produce. Read more about the campaign at www.ciw-online.org.