Philly 'Daily News' Editor Apologizes for Mass-Transit Coverage

By: Joe Strupp In an unusual front-page note to readers Tuesday, Editor Zachary Stalberg of The Philadelphia Daily News admitted that the paper had done a poor job of covering the city's mass-transit problems and vowed that it would do better in 2005.

"The Daily News -- which has rethunk everything in Philly from beer at the stadiums to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway -- has been AWOL on mass transit," Stalberg wrote near the end of the piece. "Weary of watching band-aids being applied, then ripped away, the newspaper failed to consistently cover mass transit or give much thought to the enormous value of making it flourish. No more. The News stands with those with the passion for the big fix."

The self-criticism comes at the end of the front page commentary, headlined "Fix transit... Dammit!"

"For 10 or 15 years, while the system was headed into decay, we did not pay close enough attention," Stalberg told E&P today. "We did not have anyone on it as a regular beat unless there was a crisis."

Crisis time seems to be here, Stalberg said by phone, noting that the transit system's current financial plight has forced city officials to consider doubling the regular fare to $3 while also making cuts.

"I felt like kicking up a little dust around the first of the year," Stalberg said when asked why he chose the Page One approach. "I thought that was the only way it would really get attention."

Most of the column takes shots at city officials and transit department operators for failing to improve the Philadelphia area buses and trains. "SEPTA and other transit agencies around the state need immediate help," the editor declared, citing a $111 million state transit-aid package now under legislative review. "We can demonstrate that Greater Philadelphia is a region that is capable of collaboration and has the will to grow."

Stalberg said the paper would immediately assign a full-time reporter and columnist to the beat. He also hopes to run a transit-related story daily for the foreseeable future. Poor transit coverage is a probem for many newspapers "because mass transit isn't a real sexy issue," he explained.