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Amidst great optimism, a new group of Free Press enthusiasts incorporated the Columbus Institute for Contemporary Journalism and set out to become the alternative newspaper in the city. We changed to a tabloid format and began to focus our coverage on local stories ignored by the dailies. But for a variety of financial, political and journalistic reasons, it was not to be. We didn’t have investment capital and couldn’t afford to pay salespeople or investigative reporters. We made a political decision to not accept cigarette advertising or the sex for sale ads that were offered us. And frankly, we weren’t sure if our readers wanted us to compromise our coverage for the sake of gaining a broad based audience.
So we continued in the radical Free Press tradition that now makes it the country’s longest-running alternative newspaper: Every month we circulated 5,000 issues, but never caught the wave of trendy, alternative weeklies that were sweeping the nation at the time.
The 80s and 90s were a dark time for the Left. Reagan got re-elected by a landslide, followed by George Bush. But the spirit of Columbus community was not broken. The Free Press played the role of celebrating and honoring a number of progressive movements that continued in spite of the political climate. For me, the joy of working on the Free Press was always that I could share in a community that was dedicated to the principles of peace, equality and justice. Mostly I felt we were holding candles in the dark. And, today, looking back from this 30th anniversary, I must say that the people who dedicated themselves to the Free Press were an inspiration to me then and now.
There are many to recognize and thank for bringing “the other side of the news” to Columbus. In the 80s we saw the rise of the environmental movement, and the new voices of Harvey Wasserman and Gail Larned graced our pages. Both wrote on critical issues that were addressed nowhere else.
We were the voice of the poor during the welfare cutbacks and the rise of homelessness. Kay Keller, Gary Witte, Bill Faith and others reported on the sad facts and the grassroots struggles to fight back.
Tom Meyer and Kay Keller kept a regular watch on other statehouse shenanigans. The Columbus arts scene was very much alive including the rise of both the Short North and Olde Town East. Elizabeth Ann James, Richard Ades, Jeanne Fryer Kohles,. Todd Ambs Shirley Bowen and many other periodic contributors reviewed films, theater, and other events of the time.
In spite of the defeats suffered by labor both locally and nationally during the Reagan years, the Free Press highlighted any labor activists it could find. Joe Weidner, and Joe Lawrence were standout labor reporters.
In our effort to highlight local stories, the schools issue loomed. We covered the disparities between schools in the system, tax abatements, as well as the infamous “win-win solution” in which the Columbus schools lost millions of tax dollars to suburban districts. Mary Jo Kilroy, John Edgar, Sandy Sterrett, Martha Crossen, and Jim Ebright were some of the bright lights in bringing education stories to our front pages.
The Free Press has always been a forum for local activists to share insights on issues that touch them personally. Rotating in and out of the pages of the paper were contributing writers Robert Ceisler, Dick Embs, Richard Shier, Carol Jevrem, Glen King, Jan Jager, Jack Shortlidge, Phil Boiarski, Kim Hooper, and Sharon Ambercrombie, No dispute, period. Bob Roehm’s Free Press calendar was the best in the city. Many subscribed to the paper or picked it up just for the two page centerfold of meetings and events.
“Less gray!” was the call from our visually sensitive readers. The then new USA Today was setting the standard. To open up our pages, the Free Press was privileged to have the journalistic contributions of two professional photographers, Alan Zak and Bob Studzinski. We also enjoyed the creative front cover work by Eric Marlow. And Donald Guess’s political cartoons—especially the ones about Bucky Reinhardt—are classics. Peter Hibbard also contributed the occasional art work for a story.
In spite of the pressure of all night layout sessions, some of the most fun was putting the paper together. (We didn’t have desktop publishing and were doing manual paste-ups.) Carol Jevrem deserves a medal alone for re-typing nearly all the writers’ submissions. (A few writers submitted computer disks, but no internet yet). At one time or another, we recruited almost every writer to help put the paper together. Dorothy Oliver, Dick Embs, Greg Maynard, John Quigley, Dave White, Eric Marlow, Bob Roehm were regulars. And none of it would have been possible had our godfather, Frank Moskowitz, not given us access to his layout facilities.
Organizing and managing Free Press volunteers has never been an easy task, and we had some extremely capable editors, associate editors, and associate publishers in my five years. Associate Editor Dave White and Associate Publisher Debbie Willaman worked on everything from layout to advertising sales.
Editor Jenifer Blumberg, perhaps the only Free Press editor ever with a journalism degree, carried the paper through many years with her patience and knowledge.
Editor Mary Jo Kilroy had the keenest sense of a good news story. While she was editor, the Free Press won the Jack T. McKowan award from the OSU school of journalism for a string of news breaking stories that appeared in the Free Press. These included publishing the police report that documented Buck Reinhardt’s molestation of his babysitter; the expose’ on the true, but undisclosed, drop-out rates in Columbus schools; and the lawn poisoning practices of the Chemlawn Corporation.
Bob Fitrakis, who later became publisher of the Free Press brought his fiery spirit to the Free Press. While many of us were burning out in the dark years, Bob reinstated the activist journalism of years past. His community involvement and writings highlighted a host of issues, including local opposition to the Gulf War and an expose on the Zimmer coal plant conversion.
Many of the Free Press contributors’ names never appeared in the paper. For example, long-term devotees Bill Finzel and Steve Molk headed up distribution of the 5,000 monthly issues long before and long after I worked for the paper. Bill Buckel, and James Hardeman were two of the many who assisted in this thankless task.
And the paper did not live on love (or subscriptions) alone. Advertisers who supported the paper through thick and thin include attorneys Jim McNamara, Gordon Hobson, John Marshall, Bob Handleman and Mary Jo Kilroy plus State Rep. Mike Stinziano; King Avenue Coffehouse; Community Family Health Center; Talita’s; Campus Printing; The Community Kitchen; Northend Community Festival; and Alternative Auto Care. Other advertisers also deserve thanks, but these merit a special mention.
Perhaps the single person most responsible for the existence of the Free Press today was John Quigley, senior editor and the longest serving Free Press worker. Besides sharing his vast knowledge of international and legal affairs in his regular column, John, together with Libby Gregory, spent many long nights putting the paper to bed in the years when it seemed like no one else cared. His gentle ways always made room for so many of us who could get a little worked up over an editorial position.
Sometimes I regret that we were not able to make the “success” move to become the alternative paper in Columbus, but when I read today’s Free Press I recognize the critical niche it continues to serve. While I commend both Columbus Alive and The Other Paper for the quality of their reporting and their challenging of the Columbus area establishment, they still must cater to a commercial audience. Simply put, the Free Press does not. It can be Left! It can be radical. Both are needed.
Recently, an 18 year old son of a friend picked up my copy of the Free Press and said, “Wow, this is a really cool paper.” He cut out an article about racism—I forget the piece—and hung it on his bedroom wall. He had never seen a paper that wrote about things he was feeling. It reminded me of when I first saw the Free Press in the late 70s. Stories like this are why we should honor its 30-year role in the community.