http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44276
Newspaper promises to keep liberal slant

Just curious, but if the current policy has worked so well, why is the newspaper being sold??--The Webmistress
May 14, 2005
Those worried the St. Louis Post-Dispatch would abandon its reliably liberal Democratic slant under new ownership can rest easy, according to the purchase agreement mailed to Pulitzer shareholders.

Lee Enterprises Inc. agreed to purchase the company for $1.46 billion with a promise to maintain its editorial policies for at least the next five years, according to documents to Pulitzer shareholders Friday.

"For a period of at least five years following the Effective Time, Parent (Lee Enterprises) will cause the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to maintain its current name and editorial page platform statement and to maintain its news and editorial headquarters in the City of St. Louis, Missouri," the agreement states.

The Post-Dispatch platform statement, first adopted in 1911, includes the promise the newspaper "will always fight for progress and reform, never tolerate injustice or corruption, always fight demagogues of all parties, never belong to any party, always oppose privileged classes and public plunderers, never lack sympathy with the poor, always remain devoted to the public welfare, never be satisfied with merely printing news, always be drastically independent, never be afraid to attack wrong, whether by predatory plutocracy or predatory poverty."

Over the years, the paper's editorials have taken a reliably Democratic or liberal view of issues, positions some worried would change under Lee's ownership, according to the newspaper trade journal Editor & Publisher.

Lee had previously told employees that it has "has always been cautious about making changes to longstanding editorial positions of the newspaper." In a question-and-answer sheet distributed soon after the January announcement of the purchase, Lee said it lets "local publishers and editors ... decide what positions are best for their communities."

The agreement, included in proxy materials mailed to shareholders for a special June 3 meeting to approve the purchase by Lee, also provides that Pulitzer will have a say in the appointment of an new editor if Post-Dispatch Editor Ellen Soeteber "is replaced within five years."

While such statements may be unusual in the newspaper industry in purchase agreements, other newspapers also have pledges to liberal orthodoxy in their founding documents.

The founder of the Sacramento Bee, part of the McClatchy chain, included in the codicil of his will a requirement that the newspaper remain committed in perpetuity to the promotion of "public ownership of private property."