[This is a second edited version of the original post.]
I am pleased to share with you my new job! I am the NEW Watchdog columnist for The Dallas Morning News.
I write this today, Monday, May 20, 2013 — my first official day on the new job.
Thank God.
Thrilled, not only for me and for my family but for the hundreds of newspaper readers I’ve heard from since my former paper laid me off after 20 years. People want a newspaper columnist fighting for them, righting wrongs, exposing illegal or immoral activities in business and government.
The editors of The Dallas Morning News know that.
Thank God.
With deep humility and high honor, I accept this chance to continue serving you. I am thrilled that I get to work with and learn from what is clearly the best newspaper staff west of the Mississippi.
All one has to do is look at the brilliant reporting and editing that have come out of 508 Young Street in Dallas these past several weeks to know that. Tough reporting about the explosion in West, Texas and also the murders of two prosecutors in Kaufman County. Fascinating coverage of City Hall, the suburbs, the Texas Legislature, the arts, business and sports. And a Pulitzer-prize-winning editorial page unmatched by the best of newspapers.
I’ve always been inspired by one scene in my favorite movie, Citizen Kane. Charles Foster Kane is remaking the first edition of his new paper to share his Declaration of Principles with readers. It’s Hollywood’s vision of what a newspaper should be, but these principles ring true for me.
“I will provide the people of this city with a daily paper that will tell all the news honestly. I will also provide them with a fighting and tireless champion of their rights as citizens and as human beings.”
After 38 years as a daily newspaperman, when I walked out of my former employer’s front door for the last time, I believed my journalism days were over. I intended to become a professional speaker and help hundreds, if not thousands.
Now, at the oldest continuously operated newspaper in the great state of Texas, I can do a lot more than that.
I can help millions.
Thank God.
P.S. The NEW Watchdog column will appear Fridays and Sundays in The Dallas Morning News and on DallasNews.com. (First column scheduled for Friday, May 31, 2013.)
Note: Please, if you could, share this link with your friends. And thanks for sticking with me — Dave.
# # #
NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2013
The Dallas Morning News Hires Veteran Watchdog Consumer Columnist Dave Lieber
(DALLAS) – The Dallas Morning News has hired Dave Lieber as its new consumer columnist. Known largely for his twice weekly ‘Watchdog’ column in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for the past 20 years, he will bring his brand of investigative energy and what he has dubbed “Watchdog Nation common sense” to a twice-a-week column, “The Watchdog.”
Aside from creating his WatchdogNation.com consumer rights movement, Dave also created his all-volunteer charity, Summer Santa, which provides assistance for impoverished children in North Texas.
“Dave has one of the most trusted voices in North Texas and our newsroom is honored to have him here,” said Bob Mong, editor of The Dallas Morning News. “For 20 years, people in Tarrant County knew they had an advocate, someone in their corner to help them solve problems with business or government. We’re lucky to have him, and we think readers across the region will feel likewise.”
Lieber won the Will Rogers Humanitarian Award in 2002 from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, for work that “best exemplifies the high ideals of the beloved philosopher-humorist who used his platform for the benefit of his fellow human beings.” Lieber is also a sought-after speaker, appearing in front of more than 100 audiences each year.
“Although I was at the Star-Telegram, I have always admired the newsroom, reputation and writers of the Morning News,” said Lieber. “Bob [Mong] shared with me the paper’s dedication to consumer support and advocacy, which is why I’m thrilled ‘The Watchdog’ has a new home up the road on I-30.”
The Morning News, named Texas’ best newspaper by the Associated Press Managing Editors, continues to enhance its award-winning newsroom. Last year it added Mitchell Schnurman as a business columnist. Earlier this year it hired Mark Lamster, a new architecture critic.
Lieber’s inaugural column with the Morning News will be published on Friday, May 31. His column will run every Friday and Sunday.
About The Dallas Morning News
Established in 1885, The Dallas Morning News (dallasnews.com) is Texas’ leading newspaper and the 12th largest newspaper in the U.S., based in the nation’s ninth largest city. Its portfolio of print and online products reaches an average daily audience of more than 1.1 million.
The newspaper has received nine Pulitzer Prizes since 1986, as well as numerous other industry awards recognizing the quality of its investigative and feature journalism, design and photojournalism.
In 2010, The News received the Pulitzer Prize for an editorial series highlighting the economic disparity between the northern half and southern half of Dallas.
In 2003, the paper launched the leading Spanish-language daily in North Texas, Al Dia and the nation’s first editorial blog. In 2007, the paper established one of the country’s first consumer-generated community news sites, neighborsgo.com.
The Dallas Morning News is the flagship newspaper subsidiary of A. H. Belo Corporation.
