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| Robert J. Samuelson |
When I was a young reporter in the 1970s, one of my assignments was covering the troubled U.S. steel industry, which was taking a beating from new technologies (so-called “mini-mills”), cheap imports and outdated union work rules. Thousands of steelworkers lost their jobs. Steel-making was then considered the backbone of an advanced economy. It symbolized a nation’s power and technological stature. To the men who worked the mills, the vulnerability of American steel makers was entirely unexpected and, in many ways, incomprehensible. I never imagined then — I doubt anyone did — that newspaper reporters and editors would become the steelworkers of the 21st century.
