Ousted Sun editor Marimow
to speak at Dean Stone Night

By Matthew Pritchard
J-School Web reporter

Former Baltimore Sun editor William K. Marimow

William K. Marimow, the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who was fired as editor of The Baltimore Sun in January, will be this year’s speaker at the J-School’s annual Dean Stone Night lecture.

“He’s a well-known editor and well respected,” said Carol Van Valkenburg, head of the UM print department. “I think he’s one of the best editors in America.”

Marimow will speak at the UC Theater at 7:30 p.m. on April 22, and again briefly the next night during the Dean Stone Awards Banquet at the Holiday Inn.

Marimow was named editor of The Sun in 2000. During his time there, the paper won three Pulitzers. Then, on Jan. 6, his publisher fired him without explanation, he said.

“I was totally surprised,” Marimow said. “I don’t know the reason.”

According to a Washington Post story, Sun publisher Denise Palmer, who came to the paper in September 2002, said she wanted to pick her own management team. Palmer told the staff that "personality" and "fit" were factors in her decision, the story said.

Marimow said that, if asked, he would talk about his firing when he comes to Montana, but he wants to focus on journalism.

Van Valkenburg said Marimow was asked to speak about a year ago. His appearance here will be intriguing because his firing was national news, she said. She also noted that Marimow doesn’t accept many speaking engagements.

Marimow agreed to speak at Dean Stone Night because he has great respect for Stone and what he accomplished in journalism.“I happen to admire great journalists,” he said.

Dean Stone Night began as an annual picnic in 1919 to honor Arthur Stone, who served as dean of the School of Journalism from 1914 to 1942. In the beginning, students and Montana journalists gathered around a campfire to hear Dean Stone tell stories. Later, the event evolved into an awards banquet to honor the work of journalism students and professors. Outside speakers have been invited since the 1950s.

Marimow's speech, titled "Lying to the Press and the People — A Debit for Democracy," will examine the effect on democracy when public officials lie to the press, using historical examples such as the government’s role in lying to the media during the war in Vietnam as well as examples from his own work as a journalist.

Marimow graduated from Trinity College in 1969 with a degree in English and was first employed at Chilton Publishing Co., where he was the assistant news editor of a jewelry magazine. Once he began working in journalism he really enjoyed it, Marimow said.

“I got into journalism because I like reading, I like writing and I like people and I like stories,” he said.

In the early 1970s he decided to apply to other magazines and newspapers and got a job at the Evening Bulletin, a newspaper in Philadelphia. In 1972 he left to work as a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Marimow won his first Pulitzer in 1978 for public service reporting. He won another Pulitzer in 1985 for investigative reporting.

In 1993 he moved to The Sun, where he was metro editor for two years, then became managing editor in 1995.

Since being fired, Marimow has been helping out his former colleagues at The Sun “adjust to their future careers,” he said. Many were “distressed” because of his firing, Marimow said. He started numerous projects before he left The Sun that have not been published and is advising his colleagues about those projects when asked.

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