Answer Man: When did paper remove ''Tis a privilege to live in the Ozarks'? And why?

Answer Man: For years we were greeted by "'Tis a privilege to live in the Ozarks" on the News-Leader's front page. That greeting is gone. I was wondering when it ended and why? Does the News-Leader no longer feel it's a privilege to live here? — Ted Gearing, of Rogersville

The phrase first appeared on the front page of this newspaper Aug. 30, 1975.

It is the work of former editor and forever Irishman Dale Freeman.

Anytime you see "'Tis," you know an Irishman is involved.

For a while, it ran only in the upper left-hand corner of the Saturday edition of the paper.

Then, for decades it appeared daily in the masthead — the space at the top of the front page.

Its curtain call was May 28, 2002. 

After that, it was relocated to the top of the Opinion Page, where it stayed until it was evicted in January 2017 during a corporate redesign of Gannett papers. The News-Leader is owned by Gannett Co.

Speaking for myself — which I often do as a columnist — I think the Ozarks is a great place to live. I bought a house here — as well as a kayak. I will retire in a few years and plan to live here and explore the rivers.

Is it a "privilege"? 

Not to argue with an Irishman, but I first needed to check the dictionary: A "privilege" is "a right, advantage, favor, or immunity specifically granted to one; esp, a right held by a certain individual group, or class, and withheld from certain others or all others."

"Privilege" is not a word I'd use. I'm glad we don't use it anymore.

One person's privilege is another person's obstacle to climb. We have widespread poverty and far too much domestic violence.

Of course, I've lived here only seven years.

So I have the disadvantage of having not grown up here but the advantage of having lived in other locales that are also great places to live.

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A new, combined Saturday edition

Freeman, now 91, tells me that back in the 1970s there were two separate papers, jointly owned. The Daily News hit the streets in the morning and Leader and Press in the afternoon.

Freeman, as editor, had the Saturday papers combined into a single morning edition called the Saturday Sunrise.

He wanted the paper to look different. It ran with six legs, or columns, of type instead of the traditional eight — giving it a less crammed look.

Only local or state news ran on the front page — no national stories, unless they were earth-shattering.

Freeman knew that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the time had this in its masthead: "Covers Dixie Like the Dew."

He liked that and came up with something for the Ozarks: "'Tis a privilege ..."

Eventually, Freeman tells me, "'Tis a privilege" appeared daily on the front page.

In 1977, Freeman says, the News-Leader was purchased by Gannett Co. Several times a year he would meet with fellow Gannett editors at corporate offices.

"They would call me Mr. 'Tis a Privilege," Freeman says. "I was proud of it."

Also proud of the phrase was former executive editor David Ledford.

"I did find living in the Ozarks to be a privilege –– one of the best personal and professional experiences I enjoyed during a 40-year journalism career," he tells me via email.

"Like lifelong residents of the Ozarks, I was inspired by the spring-fed streams that graced the hills, and I floated a river with family or friends whenever my schedule allowed.

"I was proud of much of the work we published, especially an ongoing series of stories called ‘Stewardship Ozarks’ which explored the care a growing region had to take to protect its spectacular watershed.

"... Here’s the good news: Springfield and surrounding communities didn’t respond by blaming the newspaper for writing negative stories, they took the problem seriously and did something about it.

"That doesn’t happen everywhere. And that’s one of the reasons it was a privilege to serve in the Ozarks."

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"Privilege" replaced by "True Ozarks"

Ledford recalls that the name was dropped from the masthead because someone on the executive team felt the contraction "'tis" made the paper seem less sophisticated.

"It didn’t bother me or the other journalists focused on telling stories," Ledford says. "In fact, we insisted on saving it by placing it on the editorial page."

When it was dropped, Cheryl Whitsitt was the paper's managing editor. Today she is the "news director," the top position in the newsroom.

She recalls that some of those on the marketing team thought the phrase was "old-fashioned" and wanted to rebrand the paper with "True Ozarks."

That's what happened.

The phrase was removed from the front page in May 2002 and from the Opinion Page in January 2017.

It took a while to come up with "True Ozarks," says Richard Harshbarger, who headed the News-Leader marketing department at the time. He now works in Detroit.

"It was a collective effort and went through many, many iterations before we came up with 'True Ozarks,' " he says.

Nevertheless, "True Ozarks" never stuck like "'Tis a privilege ..."

It was soon abandoned.

"I don’t recall why," says Ledford.

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Keep those questions coming. Send them to The Answer Man at 417-836-1253, spokin@gannett.com, on Twitter @stevepokinNL or by mail to 651 Boonville Ave., Springfield, MO 65806.