George Gruner, a senior member of a group of Bee reporters who went to jail rather than show their sources for a public service announcement history, passed away on Sunday night at a Fresno doctor. He was 99.
A , U. S. Army , former during World War II,  , Mr. Gruner , loving 44 years to news including 33 at The Bee. He rose through the ranks before becoming executive director in 1981 and managing director in 1971 after beginning as a copy writer in 1955. He retired in 1988.
Mr. Gruner is probably best known for his part in the” Bee Four” situation, in which he, two writers, and the city editor were imprisoned in 1976 to keep the information that was the source of reports about grand jury testimony in a federal bribery case.
The” Bee Four” spent 15 time behind bars and never betrayed that trust.
” We preserved the belief among information resources that, when The Bee gave its expression about security, it kept it” , , Mr. Gruner , said later. ” When we say we will guard them, we will”.
The Fresno State’s Department of Media, Communications, and Journalism every recognizes his private common services and the high standards of news he maintained and valued. The awards recognize excellent online and news media in the central , San Joaquin Valley.
” In words of , San Joaquin Valley , editors who have made a major impact, George is right at the top”, said , Jim Boren, a former Bee executive director who presently works as a media education director at , Fresno State.
” All of us who’ve worked at , The Fresno Bee , are branches of the George Gruner tree. He put money into good people and established high standards for journalism. We are all a part of his legacy”.
Congressman , Jim Costa, who represented Fresno in the , State Legislature , from 1978 to 2002 before shifting to , Capitol Hill, recalled , Mr. Gruner , as a” classic, old school journalist”.
Costa said that” George understood the value of a free press and newspapers that people read daily.” Big stories with national and state significance were always a part of the paper. Both our Valley communities and medium-sized and smaller stories were equally significant. He had integrity and made a difference”.
Early origins
Mr. Gruner , was born in , Alameda , in 1925 and attended public school in , Oakland. His first journalism job, at age 17, was as a “gummer” for the Oakland Post-Examiner. He had to create two strips of paper with text from a teletype machine, glue them together with gum paste in the desired sequence for transmission to linotype machine operators, who then cast the text as “hot type” cast with molten metal.
After the Post-Examiner’s editor discovered , Mr. Gruner , was too young for employment, young George “walked a few blocks down the street” and found similar work with the , Oakland Tribune.
At 18,  , Mr. Gruner , entered the Army and was shipped overseas to , England,  , France , and , Germany, where he served in an anti-aircraft artillery unit during World War II. He served briefly under General , George Patton , and was among , U. S.  , forces overrun during the early stages of the Battle of the Bulge.
After the war,  , Mr. Gruner , returned to the , Oakland Tribune , and became a reporter. It was then that he met his future wife, Irene, a fellow reporter and , Sanger , native. The couple traveled to , Europe , in 1952, where , Mr. Gruner , worked for Stars &, Stripes, before they returned to , California , seeking work.
Mr. Gruner , found a job on The Bee’s copy desk in 1955, then shifted to the city desk and moved up the editor ranks.
In 1976,  , Mr. Gruner, along with Bee reporters , Bill Patterson , and reporter , Joe Rosato, and city editor , James Bort, were jailed for refusing a , Superior Court , judge’s order to name a confidential source who provided The Bee with sealed transcripts of a grand jury hearing.
The Bee published articles that quoted the transcripts, including one that claimed a Fresno city council member claimed he was paid by a company to take over the city’s garbage removal services. After the council member and other parties were charged with conspiracy and bribery, the testimony had been made public.
California’s shield law, which helps protect journalists from having to name confidential sources, became stronger after the” Bee Four” journalists were released.
After retiring from The Bee,  , Mr. Gruner , authored three books on , California , and military history including a retrospective of Hammer Field in , Fresno, the focal point of Central California’s military effort during World War II.
Until the last year of his life,  , Mr. Gruner , continued to make annual appearances at the Gruner Awards ceremony. His provocative remarks about the value of journalism as” the essential tool in the delivery of truth” were consistently a highlight of the evening.
” He was always there”, Boren said. ” At age 99, he was still there. He would not, in any way, miss those Gruner Awards. It demonstrates his support for the cause. He was a special guy”.
Gruner Awards speech
During the 2017 awards ceremony,  , Mr. Gruner , delivered the following address:
” I remember the good old days – pencil and paper, typewriters, upright phones, telephone booths – ‘ Hello sweetheart, get me rewrite.’ Those days are gone.  , Times , have changed. However, what has n’t changed is you. Not the computer, however, is the main tool in newsrooms. The desire to get the facts, whatever they tell us still has a human element. The reporter, man or woman who has that burning desire, no matter how successfully concealed, to serve the public interest by presenting the facts are the products of that essential element that drives every example of outstanding work displayed here tonight.
Robert Reich, professor of public policy at UC Berkeley, recently said that your job is bigger than ever and that our democracy will depend on an independent press finding the truth and holding someone accountable. That was accurate in my day, but you now have a more crucial role to play in the American news media, wherever it may lead.
Your job is the same as it was in the past, namely to find the truth in this era of assaults on the media, complaints of bias, falsehood, and even accusations that the press is a threat to the American people.
” I remember on the day of President Kennedy’s assassination, a newscaster had mixed reports on the president’s condition. Obviously upset by the lack of information, he turned away from the camera and shouted,’ Go find out!’
Whatever tools of the trade become standard or what form the news industry adopts, I never forgot that moment, and neither should you.
Remember that you are the key ingredient in the delivery of truth when you are asked to provide facts for a story, whether big or small, according to my advice as an old hand in the news-gathering industry.
” And, go find out”!
Mr. Gruner , was preceded in death by his wife, Irene, and is survived by his son,  , Richard Gruner , of , Santa Monica, and two granddaughters. No funeral services are planned. Mr. Gruner’s remains have been donated to the Willed Body Program at UC San Francisco. A celebration of his life will be held , Oct. 26 , at , 11: 00 am , in the , Tolladay Theater , at The Terraces at , San Joaquin Gardens.
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( c ) 2024 the Merced Sun-Star
Distributed by , Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
