Charles Passey at the Wall Street Journal reports on the selection of one of Ernie Pyle's World War II columns as the best newspaper column of all time.
The National Society of Newspaper Columnists has weighed in on the question of what it considers the finest example of its craft. And the short answer? No, Virginia.
In an online poll, the society’s members voted Ernie Pyle’s “The Death of Captain Warskow ” the best column ever published in an American newspaper, placing the 1944 story ahead of Francis Pharcellus Church’s classic 1897 editorial-page proclamation, “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus.” The announcement about the poll winner came at the society’s annual conference, which is being held this week in Detroit.
In his piece, Passey interviewed John Avlon, one of the poll's organizers, and one of two editors, along with Jesse Angelo, of Deadline Artists: America's Greatest Newspapers Columns.
I agree with Avlon, who states in the interview that the column on Captain Warskow reads like a Hemingway short story.
I've wanted to write a newspaper column since I was a teenager and Pyle (seen in the above photo) was an inspiration to me. I've written a reguar column since 1995, beginning with a column in a South Philadelphia weekly newspaper.
You can read the rest of Passey's piece via the below link:
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/06/25/whats-the-best-newspaper-column-of-all-time/
You can also read Pyle's column on Captain Warskow's death via the below link:
http://journalism.indiana.edu/resources/erniepyle/wartime-columns/the-death-of-captain-waskow/
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