Letters from the Editor: Lessons on Journalism and Life

Woo was the first person outside the Pulitzer family to edit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the first Asian American to edit a major American newspaper. After forty years in the newsroom, Woo embarked on a second career teaching journalism at Stanford. This volume collects some of the best informal weekly essays he wrote to his students on their craft s high purpose. Among the wide-ranging topics are reflections on journalism as a public trust and print journalism conducted in the face of broadcast and online competition. Also included are personal reflections on the Pulitzer family s impact on journalism, the tensions between a journalist s personal and professional life, and the conflicts posed by political advocacy vs. free speech or a reporter s expertise vs. a newspaper s credibility. Woo s essays come straight from a newsman s heart and soul to remind new students of journalism of values worth preserving.