Charles in Charge

Charles Klotzer, founder of the St. Louis Journalism Review, wrote in to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to tell readers a little more on the backstory between Avis Meyer and Larry Biondi this week:

Sin of omission: The back story on SLU professor controversy (click to see the story posted on STLToday.com)

The story “Most of SLU’s trademark suit against professor is rejected” (Dec. 27), about the controversy between St. Louis University and tenured professor Avis Meyer, typifies what ails American journalism more than the sins of commission: the sins of omission.

The article is accurate, factual and well-written, but it is only one paragraph in a story that has been festering for decades, which the Post-Dispatch apparently has decided not to cover in depth. That decision misleads readers into believing that what they have read is a complete report.

Remarkably, the report fails to mention even once the key actor in this story that is part comedy and part tragedy: SLU President Lawrence Biondi. He has been upset for decades with the school newspaper for exposing missteps by him many years ago. For decades, Mr. Meyer was the respected and beloved adviser of the school’s newspaper (while the school has barred him from continuing in that role, students still consult him privately). Mr. Biondi simply blames Mr. Meyer for failing to protect him. School newspaper advisers are not protectors of the school administration. Mr. Meyer is foremost an ethical journalist, not a handmaiden to the university. Mr. Biondi never has forgiven Mr. Meyer and has schemed to oust him ever since.

This is the core of the story that always should be included in any story of the Biondi-Meyer controversy. Not doing so reveals either ignorance or a willingness to protect Mr. Biondi.

Charles L. Klotzer | University City

Founder, St. Louis Journalism Review

Letter to the Editor in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a Letter to the Editor by Charles L. Klotzer of University City. Klotzer is the founder of the St. Louis Journalism Review.

In his letter, Klotzer argues that the most important issue is the freedom of the press at Saint Louis University. We agree wholeheartedly. And the first person to stand up for the freedom of the University News is Avis Meyer.

Here’s Klotzer’s letter.

SLU newspaper’s freedom, not the adviser, is the issue

The story “SLU vs. communications professor” (June 7, B1) failed to inform readers about the core issue: the freedom of student journalists to investigate shortcomings of the very institution to which they belong.

Tenured professor Avis Meyer is a nationally renowned scholar, teacher and adviser who has been blamed by the administration at St. Louis University for years for the university’s student newspaper’s investigation of questionable practices reaching to the very top. Most university administrators swallow hard, and proclaim, “See, we have a free press.” Not at St. Louis University.

This controversy has nothing to do with Mr. Meyer. It has everything to do with practitioners who believe in the freedom of the press to stand up to the most powerful people in our community. All protestations to the contrary by the university are camouflage.

Now is the time for students, faculty and alumni of this great university to rally in support of the First Amendment, or have they been too cowed?