COMMUNITY VIEW | Remembering Betty Jagnow, former Vindicator publisher

When I recently remarked to former Youngstown Vindicator General Manager Mark Brown that he was raised well, he responded, “I have a good and feisty mother.”

Truer words have not been spoken.

Betty Brown Jagnow was indeed good and feisty. The longtime publisher of The Vindicator truly believed in the good a family-owned local newspaper could do for a community. She preferred Youngstown’s Vindicator to be like her: fiercely independent, righteous and not beholden to anything but fairness and the facts.

She often quoted former sports editor Chuck Perazich who was fond of saying that every story had a Youngstown connection. She preached this to me many times after I was hired as Youngstown’s Vindicator managing editor in 2008.

In 2008, as “The Dark Knight” Batman movie opened, I was determined to test this theory. Sure enough, I found that Edmond Hamilton, the brother of long-time Vindicator columnist Esther Hamilton, was a distinguished science fiction writer who wrote Batman and Superman comics from 1945 to 1966. His wife was Leigh Brackett, a screenwriter who wrote one of my favorite John Wayne films, “Rio Bravo” as well as the first script treatment for Star Wars “The Empire Strikes Back.” And Edmond and Leigh had lived in the Valley in a Kinsman home.

Talk about your connections! It was a small victory for me when I told Mrs. Jagnow what I discovered.

One day shortly after joining The Vindicator, I asked the art department to have Iron Man, in a promo for the Marvel movie over the top of the masthead, interact with the “The” in “The Vindicator.” My goal was to have it appear as if Iron Man was pulling at the letters.

Mrs. Jagnow made it quite clear the following morning that I had stepped way out of my lane. That masthead meant more to her than I had ever contemplated. It was not subject to some fleeting design like a daily Google.com enhancement. “Am I clear, Mr. Sweetwood?”

Crystal. There was that feistiness. And she was right. The Vindicator was not just a name or a logo to her. It was the embodiment of decades of hard-fought tradition. Corrupt politicians and large business interests could not sully The Vindicator’s name. Neither could some newbie managing editor who thought he was clever.

She was so proud of her newspaper that she wanted to see that pride reflected in its workers. Long after modern media companies had dropped the practice, we had a dress code in the newsroom. Mrs. Jagnow expected us to dress the part and men were expected to wear shirts and ties.

The code began to lapse as times changed. As the old guard retired or faded away, things like polo shirts and open collars without ties started to seep into the newsroom. I stubbornly clung to my shirt-and-tie habit. One day she surveyed the newsroom and said, “What’s wrong with these people? You’re just about the only one in a tie anymore.”

I made the typical rationalizations about not sending sports guys and photographers out to cover sports in the summer heat, etc. But the unspoken reality was that this was another sign that times were changing.

Still, it was expected to see well-dressed Vindy folks out doing their jobs. At one of the first post-Youngstown Vindicator events I attended, I wore a polo shirt. Stan Boney saw me and called out, “Mark Sweetwood! No tie?”

The last time I saw Mrs. Jagnow in person was in November 2019 when her son Mark Brown invited me and other former members of the Youngstown newspaper’s staff to the Association of Fundraising Professionals Mahoning-Shenango Chapter’s National Philanthropy Day luncheon. Youngstown’s Vindicator was being honored for its 150 of service to the community.

It had been about two months since the paper had closed and while it was strange how so many people had moved on so quickly and in so many ways, it was oddly familiar to once again be with former co-workers and watched over again by Mrs. Jagnow. And she seemed pleased to see us all again. I cherish that day.

Godspeed, Mrs. Jagnow. Those who worked for you or read your newspaper are all better for it. If you see me in a tie today, it’s my tribute to as “good and feisty” a woman as Youngstown has ever seen.

— Mark M. Sweetwood is the former managing editor of Youngstown’s Vindicator newspaper, and the founding editor of Mahoning Matters.

This story was originally published February 7, 2022 at 5:00 AM.