Hunter College in New York City has selected Wayne Barrett to receive the inaugural Jack Newfield Visiting Professorship in Journalism. Newfield was an investigative journalist at the Voice from 1964 to 1988; he died of cancer in 2004. On the school's Web site, Hunter President Jennifer J. Rabb said, "As Jack Newfield's colleague at the Voice and an investigative journalist in his own right, Wayne Barrett brings a unique insight to Hunter students. They will learn from one of New York's best reporters how journalists can continually rediscover, and tell the story, of the drama of a great city remaking itself again and again."
"I feel horrible about this, really," says Scott Mervis, who joined In Pittsburgh in its early days and now edits the weekly "Mag" pull-out at the local daily. "In Pittsburgh was an institution that got built up over 17 years and for it to disappear overnight is an incredible loss, I think." Several other former IP staffers agree, including Pittsburgh City Paper Editor Andy Newman, who pays his respects to the paper that introduced alternative journalism to Pittsburgh.
In what he calls his final duty as editor of In Pittsburgh, Stephen Segal says farewell to readers in a column published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I still can't get over how lucky, how tremendously privileged I've been to be part of the team" at In Pittsburgh, he writes. The paper was sold last week to cross-town rival Pittsburgh City Paper.
Pittsburgh City Paper jumped on the chance to buy rival In Pittsburgh, says Publisher Michael Frischling. He promises City Paper will grow and improve now that the cross-town rival is gone. Meanwhile, few In Pittsburgh staffers have taken up City Paper's offer to interview.
The deal between Steel City Media and Review Publishing was announced to both staffs at 2 p.m. yesterday, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In a press release, Review calls the deal an asset sale, and President Anthony Clifton praises the In Pittsburgh staff but says he was forced to sell "because the paper has not become economically self-supporting." City Paper Editor Andy Newman, who previously edited his former crosstown rival, tells the Post-Gazette, "I have to say I felt very somber about it. There are people over there that we like and respect ... We know this is a contact sport but it is not good news when the other guy hits the mat."
As part of the unprecedented daily news coverage In Pittsburgh Newsweekly is now running on its Web site, an expert from Carnegie Mellon University says Tuesday's terrorist attack may have been targeting U.S. defense and financial communications centers. If they weren't this time, they could attack our critical information systems next time, says Jeffrey Hunker, dean of Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz School.
