Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 237

ft i if'1" Zh! -i in hi If Eugene C. Patterson, left, is editor and president of the Times Publishing Company, and Nelson Poynter, right, is chairman of the board. The Times newsroom is a modern and carpeted version of the traditionally noisy and open room where news copy is produced. possibilities of citrus concentrates, and helped those who were pioneers at Dunedin to turn that vast citrus part of our agriculture into an expanding rather than a dwindling industry. The newspaper, by facts and editorial opinion, helped those who supported city ownership of St.

Petersburg's water facilities. When a mandatory sewage system to replace septic tanks became a postwar issue The Times came down hard for those who recognized that we had no choice but to go the more expensive modern way. Referendums carried for school bonds even though they meant higher taxes and drew opposition from many strong groups in the county. Later The Times helped to sell these bonds through local banks when the bonds could not be sold in large state-assembled packages. The Gandy toll bridge to Tampa, and the Davis toll bridge from Clearwater to Tampa (now the Courtney Campbell Causeway), along with the Bee-Line Ferry to Manatee County, goals of this newspaper which I put in writing, and published, when I became majority stockholder in 1947.

These standards are published on Page 12 of this section. Gene Patterson knows that too many people speak of the power of the press without knowing it is they the people not the editors who hold power. If the printed word cannot persuade the people to take action through their many organizations and institutions, then the words have no power. As far back as December 29, 1940 The Times published a supplement "A Report to Times Readers." It showed that because of the action of a number of energetic readers The Times had helped to save Pinellas $5-million in interest rates on municipal bonds. The fight against high interest rates spread and resulted in legislation which has saved several billion dollars throughout the state.

But in 1938 Florida had paid the highest average on municipal bonds of any state in the country. The Times was quick to see the The Times, from page 1. launched 10 newspapers in Indiana, Florida and North Carolina. Rut Sullivan continued to he "home" until the middle '30s when he had sold all of them except The Sullivan Times and St. Petersburg Times.

Father and Mr. Strauh liked and respected each other when they first met. Paul Poynter bought The St. Petersburg Times. Part of the deal was that Mr.

Straub would continue as editor. He had just fulfilled a dream that the peninsula which now forms Pinellas County would be separated from the county of Hillsborough. It was a long, hard-fought crusade for his little paper. With father's backing, Editor Straub and the paper mounted a campaign to change the commercial waterfront from that of a fishing village to a waterfront which is now recognized as one of the most beautiful in the world. Such crusades have been part of the flesh and blood of The Times throughout this century.

Thus two families Straub and Poynter have owned and edited The St. Petersburg Times for 73 of its 90 years. Such continuity is rare in American journalism. Newspapers and magazines are the sum of the convictions, whims, prejudices, strengths and weaknesses, religions, politics and tastes of their readers and owners. All the factors are ever-changing.

If publications cannot sense social changes, they lose their audiences and die. In New York, the World, Sun, Herald, Telegram and Tribune did die in recent decades. So did most of the thundering Hearst newspapers. The Saturday Evening Post, Literary Digest, Colliers, Life, Look and other national giants have gone with the winds of change. The Times has tried to keep ahead of both social and technological change in mass communications.

But one thing has not changed, and I hope it never will. It's an intangible asset worth more than all Times buildings and equipment. It's a rugged integrity given it by W. L. Straub and reinforced by Paul Poynter.

It is galvanized in the simple policy that the interests of the readers must always come ahead of advertisers, staff and owners. Without readers we are useless to the advertisers: Without readers we have no need of staff. Readers are intelligent beyond their schooling. They know right from wrong. They are quick to discern sham or pretense.

They hate to be bamboozled, and cannot tolerate boredom. That is why I hope the editor of The St. Petersburg Times always will be its president as he is now. This individual must have ultimate responsibility for all of the acts and doings of the institution which he heads. Eugene C.

Patterson, editor and president, fills the high standards for the surrounded Pinellas with a ring of admission charges. With far from unanimous support, but for many expansive reasons, The Times started its campaign to free the old bridges, and build a new one to replace the ferry to the south. Davis and Candy became free in 1944. The Sunshine Skyway opened in 1953, with due credit for it given to The Times from the late Fuller Warren, the former governor who started building the Skyway. On a more emotional front The Times was the first larger daily in the South to take a stance against segregation and the all-white primary.

It advocated equal opportunity for all. This was long before the Supreme Court decision of 1954, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The electric utilities in this state were free to set rates as they wished and the rates were among the highest in the nation. Florida was one of the last states to legislate laws necessary for rate regulation. The Times was for regulation, and finally Pinellas passed such legislation to regulate rates.

Regulation by counties was a prospective nightmare to the utilities. This broke the back of opposition, and regulation started through the Florida Railroad and Public Utilities Commission. These are some samples of why life on The Times has not been tranquil, and probably never will be. The issues that win Pulitzer Prizes seldom are dramatic ones, although The Times has accumulated a vast list of awards for excellence including a Pulitzer. But better sewers, and streets, and water, can help to enrich the lives of all of us.

Many battles for the environment have been lost. But the war against pollution will be won. And politics? In leafing through "A Report to Times Readers" of December 29, 1940 referred to previously we spotted a letter which we cherish. It said: "Permit me to relay to you personally the many expressions of appreciation by your readers to the effect that they appreciate the fair and open-minded publicity which you have given to local events of a political nature this season and politics properly administered should contribute toward good citizenship." Merle E. Rudy, Republican Executive Committee Below it was a letter from the late William B.

Tippetts expressing similar thanks on behalf of the Democratic county committee of which he was chairman. My Democratic friends think The Times did too good a job in helping to bring the two-party system to Pinellas. They now want the two-party system restored aim in wasiiiiigiuu and across the country BY NELSON POYNTER Chairman of CQ Inc. Thirty years ago the late Henrietta Poynter and I founded Congressional Quarterly (CQ) in Washington, D.C. The Times Publishing Company (TPC) owns this unique publishing institution, which is primarily devoted to comprehensive coverage of the legislative branch.

It acquired Editorial Research Reports in 1957. As its name indicates, ERR provides background and research material for writers, editors, libraries and schools on public issues. Both readers and staffers of TPC can share pride in the growth and acceptance of CQ and ERR. More than 675 newspapers and broadcasters are their clients for impartial, authoritative background material and for CQ's monitoring of the legislative process at the national level. More than 7,500 college and high school libraries subscribe to the services.

Eleven hundred organizations ranging from the U.S. Supreme Court and the White House to the two major political parties are clients. CQ and ERR are two of the few mass media whose credibility has not been challenged in recent years. Their goal and standard is objectivity and impartiality. Faithfulness to that standard is guaranteed by the variety of clients who monitor them.

Nelson Poynter MARK 90, July 28, 1974.