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There is sadness in my big backyard tonight.
Tom Gish, the legendary publisher of The Mountain Eagle newspaper in Letcher County, Kentucky, who crusaded for openness in government and against public corruption and the abuses of strip mining, died Friday afternoon.
From the Louisville Courier-Journal: Crusading publisher Tom Gish dies at 82 - Mountain Eagle took on institutions
...
Ben Gish, one of Tom and Pat Gish's five children and the current editor of The Mountain Eagle, said of his father: "He was the most honest and brave man I ever knew."
Steve Cawood, a Pineville attorney and former state legislator, called Gish "the conscience of the mountains, and also the conscience of the press. When the statewide press, the regional and national press, weren't paying attention to the principal issues of the region, it was his coverage that brought that press in."
Pat and Tom Gish, who were married for 60 years, met in a Spanish class at the University of Kentucky. Tom, who grew up in the Letcher County community of Seco, was the son of a coal-mining superintendent and and a mining engineering student at UK. But Pat, editor of The Kentucky Kernel, the student newspaper, piqued his interest in journalism. After a stint in Frankfort as bureau chief of United Press International, the Gishes bought The Mountain Eagle in 1956 and quickly transformed it from a staid, run-of-the-mill community newspaper into one that combined often-scathing public-service journalism with the gentler aspects of a rural county, voiced through the observations of a series of community correspondents.
For them, becoming the owners of a small newspaper was the fulfillment of a dream. But, they later wrote, they hadn't realized that Eastern Kentucky's economic and social problems were so deep.
"We didn't know that one of every two mountain adults couldn't read or write," they said in a 2000 article. "We didn't know that tens of thousands of families had been plunged into the extremes of poverty, with children and adults alike suffering from hunger and some dying of starvation."
They also didn't know how closed local public institutions were. The school board and fiscal court passed resolutions banning them from meetings. "School board meetings were considered gatherings of friends and allies," the Gishes wrote. "No reporters wanted, no news stories wanted." ... the Gishes' efforts to open those meetings to the press and public laid the groundwork for what became open meeting and open records laws in Kentucky. Source
Economic pressure was often used to try to silence Mr. Gish. Government agencies, local businesses and coal companies canceled ads in the paper and advised employees not to buy it. The Gishes would walk down the street in Whitesburg and no one would speak to them. Coal companies spread rumors that Mr. Gish was a communist.
The Mountain Eagle, whose masthead slogan is "It Screams," endured advertising boycotts, faced threats of violence and had its offices firebombed:
In 1974, after the newspaper published stories about local police mistreating young people, an officer paid arsonists to throw a kerosene firebomb through a window at the newspaper, destroying the building. Mr. Gish said he later learned that coal company money was behind the crime.
The paper came out on schedule the next week, published on the Gishes' front porch. It had a new motto: "It Still Screams."
"They were breaking new ground — no one had ever seen a weekly newspaper in this part of the world that actually covered the news," said Tom Bethell, who worked at the Mountain Eagle in the 1960s and now is a contributing editor.
Lee Mueller, a longtime Eastern Kentucky bureau reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader who is retired, " ...would periodically take editors from Lexington on tours of the mountains, which usually meant a visit to Mr. Gish."
"He was so patient with them," ... "They would ask the most asinine questions, and he would say something to lead them into a comfort zone."
Tom Gish was interviewed years ago by the legendary CBS television correspondent Charles Kuralt. Kuralt observed that the prevalence of violence in the area undoubtedly was stressful, and that Gish could simply leave journalism behind and take life easy. Tom said, 'I just can't do that.'
The Gishes won a wall full of awards for their coverage of the region's poverty, corruption and strip mine abuses. They included Society of Professional Journalists' Helen Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award (2002); the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award (1983); two Elijah Parish Lovejoy Awards; Environmental Policy Institute: Recognition for Coverage of Coalfields Issues (1987).
Feb. 28, 2005 Publishers of Mountain Eagle get award named for them:
(Right) Tom and Pat Gish, publishers of The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky., accept the first Gish Award, which the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues will give to rural journalists who demonstrate courage, tenacity and integrity often needed to render public service through journalism. The award was presented at the Institute's first conference for journalists, on covering health care and health in Central Appalachia, at the University of Kentucky's Center for Rural Health in Hazard, Ky.
I am as saddened by Tom's passing as I was by that of Studs Terkel a few weeks ago. Oh - I'd love to have a seat in heaven between these two talented journalists - they'll have righteous conversations indeed. Rest in peace... and we'll keep screaming truth to power in your memory.
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ON TO TOP COMMENTS!
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From Drewid:
In some kind of freak concern purity libertarian hybrid troll diary about a single payer govt run healthcare, AuroraDawn completely owned the diarist on the issue of pre-existing conditions.
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From AmnesiaProletariat:
In Why The GOP Fears Tom Daschle, NCrissieB completely destroys libertarianism.
Al Rodgers goes a little overboard in criticism of David Sirota. Somebody said this didn't meet qualificiations - I have no idea, but I laughed hard, I'll let yall be gatekepers on it.
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From BFSkinner:
Want to nominate (in this thread) this comment from rserven in the diary "Atheism it would have stopped 8 and More."
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From kath25:
bumblebums flexes his vocabulary skillz.
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From Purple Priestess:
Texas Revolutionary offers an interesting take on Sarah Palin in CityLightsLover's Friday Countdown diary.
archer070 made me spit my coffee with this comment about John Margerger in DarkSyde's excellent diary.
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From sardonyx:
In political junquie's diary Why the GOP fears Tom Daschle, NCrissieB writes on your money and the common good, and then follows up downthread with a discussion of liberty.
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My own picks:
Giving Thanks for blessings, however small: And for some of us, it's a promise of better days by two roads - give my love to your 'son.'
Taking MeteorBlades' Thanksgiving message to the holiday table, Reading William Bradford's diary which by frankzappatista
What's up with the disgust, Muz'? Huh? by gchaucer2 and I used to be disgusted. Now I try to be amused by algebrateacher
Confronting the hate-mongers, Awww, sucks to be Glenn by Dallasdoc
Wondering what we'll have to eat, if anything? Have you read "The End of Food"? by Dump Terry McAuliffe
OMFG - what next? I bet, honestly, that if Hillary Clinton by LeftHandedMan
More on the 140th Anniversary of the Washita Massacre: Sand Creek to The Washita by SW
Following teacherken's example, where were you? More than a moment by MrMichaelMT
Money, money, money, muh-ney! I agree but for one quibble.... by NCrissieB
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Top Mojo!
Top Mojo (cskendrick/sardonyx-style) excluding search-identifiable tip jars, first diary comments, and Mojo Friday Redux:
1) I was in some of the Congressional hearings by NBBooks — 310
2) Forget "insured" vs. "uninsured" by NCrissieB — 166
3) I don't travel in your rarified stratum by nailbender — 158
4) Health care is more of an absolute than a right by funluvn1 — 123
5) I notice everyone is passing this by by babajimbob — 120
6) How Am I? I Said All This in 1982 by Gooserock — 109
7) Piping, hot morning Joe! by Patch Adam — 109
8) I am completely appalled by otto — 104
9) Thanks so much for your diary! I am in Georgia, by ladywithafan — 103
10) This is the money quote from your post! by SteinL — 86
11) I don't know. by Kula2316 — 80
12) We need universal health care, but just by blue jersey mom — 78
13) sorry... by peace voter — 76
14) It's not just uninsured, its under-insured by zic — 75
15) Good news/Bad news by kingubu — 75
16) I think you are spot on NBBooks....I think it is by Badabing — 72
17) yeah. There seems to be a lot of confusion by Clive all hat no horse Rodeo — 72
18) From Krugman's blog yesterday... by goodasgold — 69
19) What an interesting by blue in NC — 69
20) The Fed stopped printing M3 in Feb 2006 by CornSyrupAwareness — 68
21) From the beginning of the campaigns, by Granny Doc — 65
22) As Krugman points out in by XOVER — 65
23) We don't have to play guess-and-hope. by NCrissieB — 63
24) And now I am competing with mojo by blue jersey mom — 63
25) I absolutely LOVE this series by noweasels — 62
26) I Attend Sidwell Friends by thejesse2442 — 57
27) You've seen his birth certificate, haven't you? by DemocraticLuntz — 57
28) It's been a quiet week by Ed in Montana — 55
29) Good point. Is it immoral for a congressman by upstate NY — 54
30) Awww, sucks to be Glenn by Dallasdoc — 54
Top Mojo with No Exclusions:
1) Tips for health care as a right by political junquie — 635
2) Tip Jar by srkp23 — 578
3) Tip me some sugar. by annrose — 425
4) tip jar n/t by Kula2316 — 424
5) Tips and wellwishes for Sasha and Malia by Deoliver47 — 361
6) I was in some of the Congressional hearings by NBBooks — 310
7) Tip Jar by Adam Buchen — 254
8) Tips by etherapy — 240
9) Tip Jar by HMBeast — 176
10) Forget "insured" vs. "uninsured" by NCrissieB — 166
11) I don't travel in your rarified stratum by nailbender — 158
12) tips nt by OrangeClouds115 — 138
13) Tips for great kids, and here's my by blue jersey mom — 127
14) Health care is more of an absolute than a right by funluvn1 — 123
15) I notice everyone is passing this by by babajimbob — 120
16) What a cowardly hypocrite. by KingOneEye — 115
17) jar-- by idahospud44 — 111
18) How Am I? I Said All This in 1982 by Gooserock — 109
19) Piping, hot morning Joe! by Patch Adam — 109
20) I am completely appalled by otto — 104
21) Thanks so much for your diary! I am in Georgia, by ladywithafan — 103
22) Mug O'Mo-Joe by Patch Adam — 100
23) Hug someone you love by exiledfromTN — 95
24) Thank you for reading by teacherken — 94
25) This is the money quote from your post! by SteinL — 86
26) I don't know. by Kula2316 — 80
27) We need universal health care, but just by blue jersey mom — 78
28) Alms by emeraldmaiden — 77
29) Tip Jar nt by davidkc — 77
30) sorry... by peace voter — 76
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Always the mountains,
va dare