2 Newspapers Now Seeking to Be Black Voice

Willie Morrow, San Diego entrepreneur and the city’s newest publisher, says his San Diego Monitor, like his FM radio station, is just a “sideline” to a lucrative cosmetics business.

But if the Monitor is only a sideline, Morrow has dived into the newspaper business with the same enthusiasm that he put into the other successful businesses that he founded to serve San Diego’s black community.

“Right now, it’s hot,” Morrow said of the fledgling Monitor. “There’s great demand for it. I employ people to deliver it on the doorstep. I don’t print no garbage.”

Exactly one block away from Morrow’s offices in the 4100 block of Martin Luther King Way, San Diego’s other black publisher struggles to meet deadlines at the San Diego Voice & Viewpoint, the established and better-known of the two local black newspapers. Voice publisher John Warren, like Morrow, is an inexperienced publisher.

The Voice, as the paper is commonly called, had been San Diego’s only black community paper for more than 26 years when Warren and his wife, Gerri, purchased it in April for $25,000. Warren’s first issue went to press April 9, and Morrow, who argues that he should be the Voice’s publisher, followed with the Monitor’s first issue seven days later.

Both Weekly Tabloids

Both papers are weekly tabloids, with the Voice claiming a circulation of 10,000, while the Monitor’s circulation has been put at 4,000. The Voice is available through paid subscriptions or can be bought at newsstands in black-owned businesses for 35 cents. The Monitor is delivered free to homes in the black community and can also be picked up at various stores in the community.

Morrow, a barber, landholder, owner of XHRM radio station and the California Curl cosmetics company, said that he had a financial interest in the Voice when it was owned by William H. Thompson. Thompson, a local developer, published the paper for 16 months until he was murdered by an unknown assailant in January. According to claims filed by Morrow with Thompson’s estate, Thompson owed him $40,000 when he died, including almost $34,000 for radio ads that promoted the Thompson-owned Voice.

“The paper should’ve been given to me as payment for the money he owed me,” Morrow said. “I was very upset that the paper wasn’t offered to me in lieu of the debt.”

Earl Davis Jr., who sold the paper to Thompson and remained as editor, said that the Voice should have been sold back to him because his contract with Thompson offered him the right of first refusal. Davis, who has filed a $5,000 claim with Thompson’s estate, said he wanted to use the money owed him as a down payment to purchase the paper.

“Bill still owed me $5,000 from the time that I sold him the paper . . . Since Thompson never finished paying me for the paper, I felt that I could use the money he owed me as a credit to rebuy,” Davis said.

Davis, Gloria Vinson, former Voice office manager, and most of the small staff left shortly after Warren gained control of the paper. Davis and Vinson are now listed as consultants to the Monitor, and Davis contributes free-lance articles through his G & E News Service.

Judith Copeland, the attorney for Thompson’s estate, said that Morrow never approached her about getting the Voice as settlement for the money allegedly owed to him. Copeland said Davis is probably owed $5,000 but he could not come up with the financing to purchase the Voice.

“I had been trying to sell the paper for about four months. John Warren ended up with the paper because he had the money and Earl didn’t. It’s as simple as that,” Copeland said.

Copeland said she has heard rumblings from the black community about alleged conspiracies on the part of the estate to keep Davis and Morrow from purchasing the Voice.

“They can theorize all they want about conspiracies,” she said. “But I had to go with someone who had the money. Earl’s a nice guy, and I wish that he could’ve bought the paper . . . As for Willie, he never approached me (about acquiring the Voice).”

When the Monitor’s first issue hit the streets, there was talk in the black community about possible “bad blood” between Warren and Morrow. But both men deny that there are any ill feelings between them. Morrow said he met Warren for the first time recently and likes him.

In fact, the Voice is published in a building owned by Morrow, but Warren said he is looking for a new office.

“I didn’t know John before he bought the paper, so there was no chance for bad blood to develop. . . . If any bad blood was developed, it was with the estate and the lawyers handling it. John and I are competitors, friendly competitors, and we’re both trying to do what’s best for the black community,” said Morrow.

Though both the Voice and Monitor are aimed primarily at the black community, the papers’ personalities are as different as the personalities of the two men who run them.

Warren, 41, is quiet and professorial. His intellectual bent is reflected in the Voice’s editorial page and the adjoining business page, where economic issues that are relevant to blacks are debated.

A Washington, D.C., native and graduate of Howard University Law School, Warren worked as a legislative assistant to the House Committee on Education and Labor and was a staff assistant to former New York Congressman Adam Clayton Powell. Before moving to San Diego in 1984, Warren was a member of the Washington school board. Currently, he is a part-time professor at National University and is awaiting the results of his California Bar exam.

Warren said he purchased the Voice to “influence issues vital to the black community” but at the same time he wants to expand the paper’s reporting to cover events in the Asian and Latino sections. Besides publishing the paper, Warren is also the editor and has the final say on what stories or photos go into the paper.

Building on Good Things

“This paper has a track record, and we want to build on all the good things that it has done through the years. We don’t want to lose our image as a black newspaper. But at the same time, the community is also multiculture and we have a responsibility to report events that are not covered by the major media in those communities,” said Warren.

Both Warren and Morrow said that their goal is to report community events that are routinely ignored by the major dailies.

Warren’s decision to expand the Voice’s coverage led to the resignation of Francheska Ahmed, who served as Voice editor for two weeks. Ahmed declined to discuss her disagreement with Warren, but Warren said the two disagreed on his decision to report events in the Latino and Asian communities.

The Voice bills itself as “serving the ethnic communities of San Diego.” A recent edition carried a front page story about the 16th anniversary celebration of the Mexican and American Foundation, along with a photo of the event.

The Voice also includes sports, business, society, education and entertainment pages. The paper, which normally runs 16 pages, has a classified ads page that also includes legal advertising.

Shortly after becoming publisher, Warren began an ambitious campaign to increase the paper’s visibility in the North and East County. Warren put the paper’s circulation in those areas at “several hundred” and said he is plotting a strategy to report black community events that occur there.

At the moment, however, Warren’s ambitious plans for the Voice are limited because of the absence of an experienced staff. Most of the news stories appearing in the Voice are written by college interns. And Warren is quick to admit that he has a lot to learn about the newspaper business, but said he is confident that the Voice can be influential and profitable.

“I see this as a business. My question is how can we manage the paper responsibly and still make the changes (on the paper) that we want to make,” said Warren. “The paper should serve the community, but people should realize that it is also a business investment. When you’re spending your own time and money on a product, no one appreciates how that money and time are spent more than you.”

Morrow on the Move

While Warren plays an active role in running the Voice, Morrow’s varied business interests, which are lumped under the corporate umbrella of Morrow’s Unlimited, Inc., keep him going in 10 directions at once. Consequently, the Monitor is produced by an able staff that appears to mirror Morrow’s views on journalism.

“This paper is a positive paper. I don’t want to print nothing depressing, unless we’re educating families and our young people about (the evils of) drugs,” said Morrow.

Morrow, 47, is a self-made man. Energetic and likable, he began his business empire with a barber shop almost 20 years ago. Occasionally he takes time off from a busy and demanding schedule to cut the hair of a few select clients, including baseball star and Hall of Fame member Willie McCovey.

According to Morrow, he founded the Monitor not to spite Warren or the Voice, but because he was convinced that his newspaper could do a better job of covering and informing blacks.

“I think I can do a better job with my paper. We needed a paper that touches on community issues, particularly those that affect the black family, like politics, government, education and drugs. We’re not worried about the guy who got shot down the street. That’s what you’re (the major media) there for . . . Our function is to cover issues in the community that don’t interest papers like The Times,” said Morrow.

As an example, Morrow pointed to a story in the May 14 edition of the Monitor about the Rev. Clyde E. Gaines, who was recently selected chairman of the Mayor’s Black Advisory Board.

“What is Gaines there for? Who is he? When we know who he is and what he’s doing as chairman, let’s use him for the benefit of the community and make sure that he’s not there only for window dressing,” Morrow said.

In keeping with Morrow’s intention to print “a positive paper,” the Monitor is heavy on entertainment stories, reports of successful black business persons and businesses and a gossip column. The May 14 edition also included two generally favorable stories about black candidates for the City Council.

The Voice typically has 16 pages of news stories and advertising, while the Monitor is printed in three sections. The Monitor’s news section is usually composed of eight pages.

One Monitor section is a special insert called The Shopper, which is usually a 16-page collection of ads and coupons, sprinkled with brief features about minority business persons and minority-owned businesses. Morrow began publishing The Shopper in December. Until Warren bought the Voice in April, The Shopper was a weekly insert in the paper when it was owned by Thompson.

In addition to The Shopper, the weekly Monitor includes a 24-page third section called the Entertainment Guide that covers a variety of events, from the top 30 hits played by Morrow’s FM station to news about community churches. The Monitor is promoted heavily on Morrow’s radio station, which has Mexican call letters and broadcasts out of Mexico.

The entertainment section also features one page that usually has two stories written in Spanish about current issues that are important to the Latino community. The radio ads for the paper boast that the Monitor is one paper that can be read in two countries.

Some observers have questioned whether the black community can support two newspapers. Warren says that any doubts about that is “a knee-jerk reaction . . . a smoke screen designed to pitch neighbor against neighbor.”

“San Diego County has a black population of about 165,000, big enough to support more than two papers. Besides, when people have a choice, it puts you on your toes and makes you work harder. And this can only improve your product. I’m here to stay, and I’m sure Willie feels the same way,” Warren said.