Categories: OLD Media Moves

Fort Worth paper lays off consumer watchdog columnist

Dave Lieber, the consumer watchdog columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, has been laid off after 20 years at the paper.

Jeff Prince of the Fort Worth Weekly writes, “Lieber accepted the layoff with grace and his typical optimistic outlook.

“‘I thank the paper for giving me 20 of the most exciting years a guy could ever have in Texas,’ he said. ‘The Star-Telegram prepared me for the rest of my life – to help people.’

“Lieber will continue writing consumer columns at his Watchdog Nation web site, and he can also be found at his Facebook page.

“The layoff makes little sense — Lieber was an enthusiastic and absolutely tireless promoter of himself, his column, and the newspaper. Lieber’s prominent face and voice was on a level with fellow columnists Bud Kennedy and Bob Ray Sanders.

“And Lieber did a lot of good for the community, looking out for underdogs, the voiceless, the aged, the conned, and the screwed over.

“‘He was an invaluable asset, you would think, given the fact that the kind of advocacy journalism and community interaction he supplied were among the few points of difference that the Star-Telegram — or any local daily for that matter — can still offer to keep themselves relevant,’ said a former Star-Telegram writer who was previously laid off. ‘It’s as if management is trying to steer the paper to a premature death.'”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

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View Comments

DaveFan says:
January 22, 2013 at 1:39 pm
I can't believe Dave is gone and Bud Kennedy is still around.
Ft. Worth is a conservative town and Bud works hard chasing conservative readers away....helping accelerate the demise of the Star-Telegram.