Daily Inspiration Quote by Robert Scheer

A newsroom coup, dressed up as a spreadsheet decision. Scheer’s line isn’t just a gripe about a cancelled column; it’s an accusation that the soul of a newspaper can be repossessed by the balance sheet the moment ownership blurs the line between business and editorial. The “big issue” is framed as structural, not personal, but then he sharpens it with a character sketch: “a guy named Jeff Johnson,” “an accountant from Chicago.” Naming him makes the power shift concrete; tagging him with “accountant” and an out-of-town origin isn’t biography, it’s symbolism. This is the archetype of managerial authority entering a culture it doesn’t respect, treating public discourse like a cost center.

The subtext is about legitimacy and who gets to decide what journalism is for. Scheer invokes an older civic myth of newspapers: imperfect institutions, but anchored by editorial independence and a duty to local readers. Against that, he positions Johnson as someone who “doesn’t know anything,” a deliberate delegitimization that implies the decision wasn’t editorial judgment but corporate control - possibly political, possibly risk-averse, certainly brand-conscious.

Context matters: by the late 20th century into the 21st, American newspapers were hollowed out by consolidation, ad collapse, and the rise of “publisher as CEO.” Scheer is pointing to the moment when that evolution becomes visible: the publisher “took over” the editorial pages. The real fear underneath his bluntness is contagion - that once the wall is breached, every controversial voice becomes expendable, and “the column” is just the first item cut for being too costly in dollars or in trouble.