Editorial: John McClelland’s enterpreneurial adventures inspire a new generation

Published 4:00 pm Monday, December 13, 2010

Outside the newspaper industry, the role of “publisher” is rather mysterious, but John M. McClelland, Jr., demonstrated how this almost invisible job can be a powerful force for good.

McClelland died earlier this fall at age 95. His death is a major milestone for one of the Pacific Northwest’s proudest journalistic dynasties, one that began with his father’s purchase of the Longview Daily News in 1923 and ebbed with his nephews’ sale of it in 1999.

McClelland belonged to a sort of fraternity of newspapermen – and they mostly were all men in his era – who also included Wayne O’Neil at the Chinook Observer and Bud Forrester, Jr., at the Daily Astorian. At a time when relatively few other advertising options existed, owning a newspaper was a door to financial success and influence. McClelland was a smart and responsible steward of this power.

The story of the rise and fall of his enterprises is a fascinating synopsis of the arc of regional journalism. It was an entrepreneurial adventure. His former colleague Knute Berger tells in the online news site Crosscut of how McClelland moved from Longview to Bellevue, gamely creating the Journal-American.

Operating on the east side of Lake Washington in the shadow of the Seattle Times and Post-Intelligencer, the Journal-American played a meaningful part in creating modern Bellevue, one of our region’s economic dynamos. The paper eventually dwindled after he sold it, lacking a certain necessary focus at a time when many other suburban publications also suffered.

Berger’s remembrance is as nice a tribute as anyone could wish. It concludes, “He had a foot in both the future and the past. He was a man who loved the details of history (he oversaw the publication of an important book on local place names), yet he also drove his [Camaro] into the future of the high-tech suburbs. He was a man of dignity and tradition who took big risks. He loved old books and maps, but in his prime, was always ready to try something new.”

There is much in McClelland’s example that can still be helpful and inspirational to the journalists of today. Not least of his positive attributes was a passion for history. He understood as few in the industry now seem to that the lessons we carry with us from the past are often key to deciding where we should be going.

Unlike many modern publishers who seem only interested in money, McClelland always played a prominent role in shaping his newspapers’ approach to the news and community leadership. He wasn’t afraid to take strong stand for causes he believed in, and he put his cash where his pen pointed. The skillful news staff he built at the Daily News won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Mount St. Helens eruption.

But his real legacy was in helping build better communities by providing accurate and timely information and analysis. There will always be a market for such good, solid work. We should always be ready to try something new.