By Carol Tannenhauser
Shortly after my late husband, Bobby Tannenhauser, and I bought the Rag at the end of 2021, we placed an ad seeking writers. A few days after it ran, Bobby walked into my office, shaking his head in amazement.
“Take a look at this,” he said, handing me a letter.
It was from a journalist named Ann Cooper, outlining her credentials: 25 years of experience in print and radio journalism; started and ran NPR’s Moscow bureau for five years during the collapse of the Soviet Union; ran NPR’s Johannesburg bureau, providing award-winning coverage of South Africa’s first all-race election when Nelson Mandela became president; directed the nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists; taught journalism at Columbia University for 12 years before retiring as Professor Emerita.
Now, she was editing a manuscript her late husband, Larry Heinzerling, an executive and bureau chief at the Associated Press (AP), had written about the AP’s coverage of WWII behind the lines of the Nazi regime; Ann had promised Larry as he was dying that she would bring it to publication.
Bobby and I looked at it each other, then one of us asked the obvious question:
“Why in the world would she want to work for West Side Rag?”
Nevertheless, work for us she did, starting with an explanatory piece on sidewalk sheds that ran in February, 2022. It was one of the few times you would have seen her name in print on our site (unless you count the credits on the photos she often contributed to Monday Bulletin), but behind the scenes she has had a hand in nearly every article, essay, and column we’ve published since then.
She became our senior editor, brought decades of news experience and judgment to our Monday editorial meetings, helped our writers to develop and polish their stories, and came up with new and creative ways for us to cover the neighborhood we call home. (Just one example: our newest column, UWS Shedwatch, which is getting so much buzz, was her idea.)
I like to say, “Ann elevated the Rag.”
So, as you can imagine, when she told us some months ago that she was leaving to edit Columbia University’s Harriman Magazine, we were bereft. June 25th was her final day. As journalists, we couldn’t let her out the door without asking for her reflections on her time at the Rag, and on the community we serve — as well as for the answer to the question Bobby and I had asked each other four years before. Why did she decide to come to the Rag?
Ann Cooper: Editing Larry’s book was a massive job. The manuscript was 200,000 words long and the publisher wanted 100,000. I realized, ‘If I spend eight or 10 hours a day at the computer working on this book about Nazis and the Holocaust and terrible ethical dilemmas facing journalists, at the same time as I’m grieving the loss of my husband, it’s probably not gonna be great for my mental health.’
I had been reading the Rag for some time and thought it was great. And it was a long way away from Nazi Germany and World War II. So, I saw the ad, and I thought, ‘You know, I could offer my editing experience, part-time.’ Not that I needed more work, but I needed something that was going to give me a break from this very heavy project that I was facing.
WSR: Did you have fun working for the Rag?
Ann Cooper: I did, yeah. It was a pleasure to be editing things about issues or what’s happening in the neighborhood that affects all of us who live in or right around the Upper West Side. I mean, a story like Absolute Bagels – the closing and the reopening and then the argument over the naming. People I know who live on the Upper West Side, who were foreign correspondents or doing something totally different in journalism, they all read those stories, and they love them. They love them in part because it keeps them informed. If they were a big fan of Absolute Bagels, they would know, “Oh, I can’t go there now,” or, “Oh, the line’s changed direction.”
WSR: Everyone always says local news is so important. Why is that?
Ann Cooper: Because it’s close to you. It potentially has a very direct impact on your life or the lives of people you know, your family, your friends in the neighborhood. It affects where you shop, where you eat. When I used to teach an international reporting class at the journalism school, one of the things we would start out with was how is news defined? What makes a story? And one of the key factors was proximity. So, for example, there was a fire this week that West Side Rag covered, and I’m sure it got big readership because everybody wants to know where, where is it?
WSR: Why are you leaving the Rag?
Ann Cooper: Well, the book was finally published in 2024, so that was off my plate. And for a few years now I’ve been the editor-in-chief of the Harriman Magazine. The Harriman Institute is based at Columbia University. It was set up after World War II in recognition that the Soviet Union had been our ally in World War II, but now we were in a Cold War and a nuclear arms race. This is the magazine’s 80th anniversary. it has broadened the focus well beyond Russia, to the whole region.
I really care about Russia, Ukraine, and the countries of the former Soviet Union. I have a personal interest because I was a Moscow correspondent for the last five years of the Soviet Union. I was there watching, literally watching the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was a time of… when it actually happened, it was a time of euphoria and a time of great expectations. And the expectations that many of us had didn’t really come to pass, or did, but briefly and then, um, other things have happened. Vladimir Putin came to power, and now you have… well, you know….
WSR: The Rag is in a very different place than it was when you came in, thanks largely to your input, leadership, and hard work. You had to pick up a lot of extra responsibilities in the past year.
Ann Cooper: Last year was a rough year for you and, to some degree, for the Rag. We lost Bobby, and Emily Tannenhauser has stepped in to take over some really important work that her dad was doing for the Rag. And you’ve come back and are writing and editing again. So it feels like the Rag got through a difficult period, you know, for a lot of personal, stressful reasons. It feels like it’s on solid ground now. And you’re applying for 501c3 status as a nonprofit, and I think that’s going to make a difference to the financial future of the Rag.
WSR: What will you miss most about the Rag?
Ann Cooper: I’ll definitely miss working with the talented young reporters and writers who make the Rag so special. Journalists of my generation see mostly gloom and doom ahead for the profession. Seeing new generations arrive, full of energy and curiosity and determination to practice independent, ethical reporting is a wonderful counterweight to the pessimism of the older generation.
WSR: Do you have a favorite West Side Rag story from the past four years?
Ann Cooper: One favorite story was Margie Smith Holt’s piece about the MTA ousting Ellen Jovin, the grammar guru, from the 72nd Street subway station. Ellen’s considerable community of followers was suitably outraged, and the ongoing story eventually connected Carol Tannenhauser and me (somewhat circuitously) to the Ellen fans at Ruthless Comedy Hour…who eventually started one of our favorite Rag columns, Ruthless Advice.
WSR: Finally, what are your favorite things about the UWS?
Ann Cooper: My “best” list for the UWS would include usual suspects like Silver Moon, Mama’s Too, and Barney Greengrass. Less “usual”: the mango shakes at Malecon, the khachapuri at Chama Mama, the huevos rancheros at Community Food and Juice. The Central Park Reservoir is my favorite walk. Darryl’s is far and away my favorite place for clothes shopping. Pier I is the best UWS spot for sunset drinks.
An era of West Side Rag history ends with Ann’s departure, but her legacy of excellence will carry on. As a teacher and role model, she leaves us well-prepared for the future. West Side Rag and the Upper West Side are better, more connected places because of Ann Cooper. We can’t thank her enough. We will miss her immensely.
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Good luck Ann in your future endeavors!
Thank you, Ann! The Rag is a special part of the UWS community and thank you for bringing it to a new level.
I am a 60+ year resident of the UWS. Raised two kids here and a 60 year marriage. Now a single guy enjoying life on West 86th Street, WSR has become a mainstay for me for local news and dining. Abigail’s Here’s That Dish column was a must read and follow. I hope her successor meets the bar Abigail set. Congratulations to Ann Cooper for her molding WSR into a genuine journalistic offering and to the Tannenhouser’s for their leadership.
What an inspiring report for a newbie who is about to call the UWS home (and a reired journalist himself). Thank you.
As a long time reader and longer-time UWSer, Ann truly has up leveled the rag and set the tone. Thank you for making this Rag and Neighborhood great!
As first an AP staffer and then AP spouse who has followed Ann and Larry’s achievenents for four decades, I can say there is no finer journalist and human being anywhere. Thank you, Ann, for your invaluable service. I pray lightning strikes twice so the Rag can find a successor worthy of filling your winged shoes.