Copyright 2004 Chicago Tribune Company

By Johnathon E. Briggs and Rob Kaiser, Tribune staff reporters.


A museum-like stillness filled the Chicago Defender's dimly lit lobby on a recent morning.

Then in strode Roland S. Martin, wearing red pants and a black Texas A&M Aggies shirt.

Alternatively described as brazen, arrogant and visionary, Martin was a whirl of activity. He flipped open one of his two constantly ringing cell phones. He whipped out his Apple PowerBook laptop. He repeatedly ordered his assistant to gather papers or print documents.

To understate it, a wind of change has blown into the Defender's newsroom.

"At the Chicago Defender, we have a B.C. and a A.D.," Martin recently told a gathering of black journalists. "The B.C. was July 11," the day before he arrived at the Defender.

Once among the county's most prominent black newspapers, the Defender has operated in increasing financial peril since its owner and editor, John Sengstacke, died seven years ago. New owners took over in early 2003, but the paper continues to bleed cash and search for its voice and a business strategy.

Martin's recent appointment as editor is an intriguing choice, given the newspaper's shaky status. The 35-year-old, fast-talking Texan has bounced around media outlets, including radio and TV stations, Internet sites, newspapers and a magazine. He has stayed less than three years at each stop.

And he's not shy about sharing his opinions.

"One of the things that he has is a very great interest in himself," said Chuck Smith, general manager of KKDA-AM radio in Dallas and Martin's former boss. "That's what egotistical people do, and I don't mean that in a negative way. If you're going to change stuff, you have to have some sense that you're right and you have some higher cause."

Martin's mission is to save the Defender, proving the black press still has a role in African-Americans' lives. Many others have found the job daunting.

"I simply believe that when black newspapers begin to hone in on a vision that speaks to today's African-American, they can and will rile the marketplace," said Martin in an almost evangelical tone.

"You've got to have an outreach effort with this next generation of African-Americans who were not part of the great migration, who were not a part of the civil rights movement, who have no concept of Jim Crow, who don't have any understanding of the historical struggle of African-Americans."

Appealing to a broad audience

Martin envisions the Defender covering a broad array of topics--from community to international news--that will appeal to a diverse black audience.

"The African-American community does not solely exist between 26th Street and 103rd Street," Martin said.

To attract more middle-class readers and advertisers, Martin has launched auto and business pages. He plans to boost coverage of health, travel and books, as well as add a Web site.

Martin believes the five-day-a-week tabloid, which has a circulation of less than 18,000, can be boosted to 60,000 and can go to seven days a week in five years.

Still, many people question whether the Defender's shortage of advertising and subscribers will force it to become a weekly like nearly all of the country's 200 black newspapers.

"I am confident under Roland's leadership they will increase the circulation," said George Curry, head of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a trade group for black papers. But he questions whether the paper can survive as more than a weekly.

Martin is running the Defender with a skeletal crew, including only one reporter. Many staffers have left since he came.

"He threw the fear of God into a lot of people," said Joe Ruklick, a Defender reporter who left in August.

Martin arrived as a consultant but quickly took over from Sabrina Glover, who was then the top editor.

"I tried to explain exactly what was going on, but she said, `You're a consultant,'" Martin recalled. "I said, `Well no, here's what the deal is,' and finally had to say, `Look, I'm the No. 1 and you're the No. 2.'"

Glover, who couldn't be reached for comment, left soon after that discussion. Martin became editor Aug. 31.

Today the Defender mainly consists of stories from the Associated Press and Web sites featuring African-American news and commentary.

The paper, Martin repeatedly notes, must endure "short-term pain for long-term gain."

The most visible change is the Defender's cover, which features one story, often a national one. The Aug. 6 cover featured the headline "High-ly Stupid" and a sketch of recently retired NFL star Ricky Williams and a marijuana leaf. A headline said Williams forfeited "$8 million because he wants to smoke marijuana anytime he wants."

Martin expects to gradually add staff and local coverage, but he knows that will happen only if the paper can generate more revenue.

Thomas Picou, chairman of the Defender's parent company, Chicago-based Real Times Inc., said he expects Martin will be able to produce a more compelling, attractive paper, even with limited resources.

"We haven't had a dynamic editor here in years, and that's why I was so happy to find this young guy," Picou said.

Martin, who grew up watching his father consume newspapers and television news, cut his teeth covering county government for the Austin American-Statesman and city hall for the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram. He went to work for radio stations, and then black newspapers, in Dallas and Houston.

Shaking things up has been a defining characteristic of Martin's career.

While he was news director at KKDA radio in Dallas, the station broke stories about former Dallas Cowboys star Michael Irvin being charged with drug possession.

"He was like a pit bull," said Smith, the station's general manager. "He demanded a lot, but he mainly wanted to see other people succeed."

"In-your-face" style

At a journalism conference last month, Martin made national news when he pointedly asked President Bush, who opposes affirmative action programs, whether colleges should end so-called legacy preference for applicants whose parents or grandparents attended the school.

"Well, I think so," said Bush, who attended Yale University, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.

Martin's aggressive, "in-your-face" style, as one former colleague put it, causes him to butt heads with colleagues, but many admire his passion.

When Martin worked as an editor at Savoy magazine, he would often take on Keith Clinkscales, who owned the black publication.

"He clashed in the spirit of bettering the work, in his opinion," Clinkscales said with a laugh. "He was the kind of guy you could have a clash with and go out and have a drink with afterwards."

Martin's first solo business venture ended in failure.

In May 2003, Martin bought a 28,000-circulation Christian newspaper in Dallas for $75,000. It stopped publishing a year later due to a lack of interest among advertisers, Martin said.

"What he learned through the process will strengthen him in the position that he's now in with the Chicago Defender," said Sonceria Messiah-Jiles, publisher of the Houston Defender, a black newspaper where Martin previously worked. "Failure breeds success."