Word: mcmullan
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...McMullan returned few of the compliments. Instead, his last week was mostly business as usual. He worried out loud about why the Herald had not editorialized harder for increases in the state education budget, and felt badly let down by a recent series on zoning concessions. "The trouble was we didn't send anyone to jail," he lamented. "We're proud of explanatory journalism these days, but I think a couple of convictions is a wonderful way to explain the problem." In the final installment of his regular Sunday editorial-page column, McMullan skipped through a few farewell...
...most Miamians know, it would be a mistake to dismiss McMullan simply as the town grouch. Renowned though he is for his cantankerousness, McMullan maintains the charm, the manner and the vocabulary of a gentleman, even as now, in retirement, he drives to break 80 on the golf course and master his new IBM Personal Computer, a staff going-away gift. With a similar determination to preserve integrity in private and public, he insisted that the suicide in 1976 of his daughter, a psychiatric nurse, be fully reported in the Herald. Both the paper's staff and knowledgeable professional...
...McMullan was also instrumental in expanding the Herald's staff to reflect the strong ethnic diversity of Miami's community: without a single black staffer 15 years ago, the Herald now has 20 black reporters, a black editor and a black columnist. Even greater strides have been made toward the city's Latin population. The Herald is the only large metropolitan newspaper in the country to publish a daily Spanish edition (circ. 66,000). There are two Latin columnists and 40 staff members, including a member of the editorial board, to help cover the city...
...McMullan seldom produced results from either his community or his own staff by asking politely. Miami Police Chief Kenneth Harms, who has battled with McMullan over the causes of Miami's recurrent racial disturbances, police brutality and civilian review issues, does not regret McMullan's departure. Says he: "It will be like missing a sore tooth." Despite the paper's editorial excellence and its emphasis on local community reporting, many Miamians resent the Herald's power and tone of parental authority, often viewing it as an extension of McMullan's own abrasive personality...
...city room, his methods, known as "Big Mac attacks," were brusquely confrontational, but at least they were consistent: he was equally hard on everyone. "I have worked for John McMullan and I have worked against John McMullan," roasted David Kraslow, publisher of the Miami News, in a McMullan testimonial last month, "and, believe me, there's not a damn bit of difference...