Head of NPR talks news radio

When Bill Marimow, managing editor of National Public Radio, spoke at the Hopkins Club last Thursday evening at the invitation of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies, he was given a glowing introduction by Joe Sterne, an IPS senior fellow and former reporter and editor at the Baltimore Sun, as "a good journalist who has long practiced good journalism."

Marimow's career bears this out. As a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1978 for co--writing an article on police officers who beat prisoners to force them to confess to crimes. The article led to the exoneration of a man convicted of murder and sent 6 Philadelphia police detectives to prison. In 1985, Marimow won another Pulitzer for his story about Philadelphia police K--9 units setting attack dogs on helpless and innocent people. But the story that stuck most in his mind was his investigation, also for the Inquirer, of a deadly confrontation between the Philadelphia police and members of a black radical group, MOVE. The police arrived at MOVE's collective house to arrest four members of the group but were unable to due to resistance from the house's residents. The police used a helicopter to drop a bomb on the roof of the row house, starting a fire which the authorities allowed to burn unchecked. Of the 13 residents in the house, 11 -- including five children -- burned to death, and a total of 61 homes were destroyed as the fire spread to neighboring houses.

Marimow believes that his use of journalism to expose problems in society and improve people's lives -- what he called "public service journalism" -- is of prime importance, and he carried this conviction with him when he joined the Baltimore Sun in 1993. While he was at the Sun, the paper discovered that two-thirds of Baltimore's third-graders were reading below grade level. The Sun publicized the problem, forcing officials to act to improve reading instruction in Baltimore public schools. Remarkably, however, the Sun's involvement did not stop there. The paper inaugurated the famed "Reading by Nine" program, which encouraged Sun employees to tutor schoolchildren themselves - on company time.

Marimow's tenure at the Sun was marked by other successes as well. During his time as managing editor, the Sun won two Pulitzer Prizes. Marimow was made the editor of the Sun in 2000. He was fired from the Sun in 2004 - after 11 years at the

paper -- in a surprise move by Denise Palmer, the Sun's publisher. He never found out why he was fired.

But the firing may have been a blessing in disguise for Marimow, because he was hired as managing editor of National Public Radio only a few months later; during his introductory speech, Sterne asserted that there is "no higher post in American journalism" than the one Marimow now occupies.

The change from a 34-year career in print journalism to broadcast journalism was "a revelation" for Marimow. But he remained the same as he ever was, "a print journalist at heart," he said. "I am by definition a reporter. Not an editor, not a publisher. A reporter." Despite his continuing commitment to print reporting, Marimow asserted that "At NPR, the bottom line truly is excellent journalism."

But in contrast to his confidence in NPR, he worried that journalistic standards are slipping at many other American news organizations. Specifically, he expressed concern that profit has become the bottom line to some media companies.

The facts back up his concerns. Within the last two weeks, a series of closings and mergers have rocked the daily newspaper world. Major corporations including the Tribune Corp., owner of the Los Angeles Times and The Baltimore Sun, have recently announced dramatic cuts in newsroom staffs and budgets.

Accusations have also been leveled at television news programs, which stand accused of preferring stories such as the Natalee Holloway case, or archetypal "missing white woman" broadcasts, over more timely and harder-hitting news.

As a result, Marimow said "I fear for publicly-held companies," and went on to say that the drive to maximize profits forces cost-cutting measures, including layoffs, that hamper the ability of a news organization to cover important stories.

Luckily, Marimow's own organization has mostly been spared. As an example, Marimow cited a story which aired on NPR last November, detailing reports of beatings and guard dog attacks on immigrants awaiting deportation in a Department of Homeland Security facility in New Jersey. To research the story, Marimow sent a reporter around the world to interview former inmates of the prison, something which he said would not have been possible if cost-cutting requirements had reduced staff and travel budgets. Important stories require resources to cover properly, and "if you can't do it right, you shouldn't do it," he said.

Marimow has a long history in Baltimore; he used to visit the city long ago to get away from his parents during his school's winter vacation. Visiting Baltimore recently, less than two years after being fired the Sun, "I almost felt like I was an exile."

He fondly recalled his favorite haunts: Alonzo's on Coldspring Lane for cheeseburgers and cold beer, the Owl Bar in the Old Belvedere Hotel for great crab cakes, St. Paul's lacrosse field, the Downtown Athletic Club.

Johns Hopkins also holds fond memories for Marimow; he watched his son Scott, a member of his college lacrosse team, play his last game on JHU's lacrosse field.

In fact, he said, "My affection and real loyalty to Baltimore and Hopkins won't end." For the sake of the city, let's hope he's right.