Raspberry's Final Column Will Be Syndicated This Monday

By: Dave Astor Longtime commentator William Raspberry's last syndicated column will appear this Monday.

The 1994 Pulitzer Prize winner is retiring from The Washington Post at the end of December after more than 43 years at the newspaper. His column entered syndication with the Washington Post Writers Group in 1977.

"We're going to miss him terribly," WPWG Editorial Director/General Manager Alan Shearer told E&P Thursday. "I called Bill 'The Solutionist.' He raised questions and suggested solutions. His column had a lot of common sense."

Raspberry's feature currently runs in 132 newspapers. Shearer said WPWG columnist Eugene Robinson has picked up 85 of those 132 subscribers so far -- tripling his client total from 42 to 127. "We might have 15-20 more conversions by January," he added, while noting that "roughly 10% of Robinson's listoverlapped with Raspberry's."

Shearer emphasized that Robinson entered syndication this March on his own merits, not as a Raspberry replacement, and that Robinson discusses some topics that Raspberry doesn't write about. But the WPWG executive said their two columns have enough similarities to bring Robinson many of Raspberry's papers.

Since joining the WPWG lineup, "Gene has been developing a big following," said Shearer. "His interests are so broad."

Raspberry, who teaches at Duke University, announced his retirement from The Washington Post in his Dec. 12 column. In his subsequent column this past Monday, Raspberry wrote about the response to the departure announcement.

"The heaviest mail day of my career as a newspaper columnist came when I announced the END of that career," he observed wryly. Then Raspberry added: "The dominant theme of the letter writers was that they appreciate my attempt at balance and fairness and, most of all, thoughtfulness. Scores of readers have told me that they like reading my work because I come across as someone they can talk to, even in disagreement, and that they appreciate my rejection of the forced conclusion or (usually) the cheap shot at those who disagree."

The WPWG commentator also wrote: "(I)f you are convinced that your position is the correct one, why wouldn't you want to examine it and explain it in a way that might win a convert or two? Isn't that what this column-writing business is supposed to be about?"

Raspberry, who grew up in Mississippi, began his newspaper career with a summer job at the Indianapolis Recorder in 1956. His duties there as reporter, photographer, and editor inspired him to join The Washington Post in 1962, after serving two years in the Army. At the Post, he started as a teletype operator and quickly advanced to become an award-winning general assignment reporter, copy editor, and assistant city editor.

His column first ran in the local section of the Post in 1966. It moved to the Op-Ed page five years later.

Eugene Robinson is an associate editor at the Post, where he has worked for about 25 years. He has been a city hall reporter, city editor, foreign correspondent in Buenos Aires and London, foreign editor, and assistant managing editor in charge of the Style section. Robinson -- who has written books about race in Brazil and music in Cuba -- began his award-winning journalism career as a San Francisco Chronicle reporter.