Rebellion

For a half-century, Clarksburg, W. Va. (pop. 32,014) has chafed under a one-party press. Its boss: a flinty old (79) party named Cecil B. Highland, who publishes the town's only dailies, the Democratic morning Exponent (circ. 13,572) and the Republican evening Telegram (circ. 23,593). Publisher Highland has fought radio (by banning even paid program listings), television for Clarksburg, a public sewage-disposal project, daylight-saving time, and most attempts to improve the town's playgrounds, schools and police. In his newspapers he has seldom bothered to print the other side of such issues. Last week, in full rebellion, Clarks-burgers began putting out their own weekly newsletter, to give Clarksburg "the straight truth about its government and city projects."

The rebellion was sparked last month by City Manager Glenn Peterson, who, after nine months under fire by the Highland papers, announced that he would quit in May. Leading citizens formed the Clarksburg Non-Partisan Association Inc., held a mass meeting that denounced Cecil Highland's press: "[It has] dominated the city and consistently opposed worthwhile community projects . . . slanted city news, written editorials into news columns, indulged in character assassination, and continues its news blackout of the Non-Partisan Association."

No murmur of the civic protest reached the columns of the Exponent or the Telegram. But in Fairmont, 25 miles away, the evening West Virginian ran full accounts and, as an experiment, sent 2,000 copies into Clarksburg the day after the Non-Partisan Association was formed. Said a West Virginian executive: "We sold out between 12:30 and 2 p.m. When the people of Clarksburg saw our papers on the street, they actually hugged the carrier boys." On the day of the mass meeting, Clarksburg businessmen bought 2,000 of the Fairmont papers, gave them away free. Since then the West Virginian and the Fairmont Times have been sending 1,000 papers a day to Clarksburg. But at week's end Publisher Highland had still taken no notice of the biggest story in his territory.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.