Every once in a while, a small newspaper wins the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. It’s the prize to win. If you love newspapers, you really love the ones that are tenacious about serving the public.
The big papers have advantages, and they dominate the competition. But you can find newspapers, still, in small towns across the country, and some of them are good. A few occasionally flirt with excellence.
Joe Murray was editor of The Lufkin Daily News in East Texas when it won the Pulitzer. The series was written by Ken Herman, who went on to a career with the Associated Press.
As a young reporter, I worked for Joe and his managing editor, Phil Latham. The newspaper that Joe edited made mistakes, but it didn’t just flirt with excellence, either.
Joe thought his hometown in East Texas needed a lot of things to become a better place to live, including a good newspaper. I wish the world had a few more people like him.
Joe died at 82.
Sources: The obituary is here:
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