Profits today are overemphasized in newsrooms across the country, Geneva Overholser told about 70 people who attended the 4th annual William R. Mathews Ethics in Journalism lecture last night in the Arizona Ballroom.

This drive for money "poisons morale and chokes out entrepreneurism," she said.

Overholser, ombudsman for The Washington Post, was responsible for assigning and editing a 1988 Pulitzer Prize winning series about rape, while working as editor of the Des Moines Register. The five-part series strayed from traditional sexual assault rep orting by naming the rape victim with the victim's consent.

It created the "national debate on how we write about sex crimes," Jim Patten, journalism department head said at last night's lecture.

The lecture was named for the former editor of the Arizona Daily Star, and is funded by Ceceily Angelton.

Newspapers "ill serve the public with their desire for profit," she said.

People find it less compelling to read their papers because local news is not being covered, Overholser said. This is due in part to more newspapers being corporately owned and lack of communication between publishers and reporters, she said.

Newspaper leaders need to put their "conscience ahead of their calculators," Overholser said.

This type of peril leads to public paranoia regarding the economic challenge to newspapers, she said.

Overholser, has worked for the Colorado Springs Sun and the New York Times. Her career includes five years of freelance writing from Zaire, Africa and Paris.

As ombudsman, she serves as a reader representative, weekly column and internal memo writer.

The 25-year-old ombudsmanship at The Washington Post, is one of 38 nationally.

The newspaper business is an imperfect one, Overholser said. But it shows the public a "pretty good picture" of truth and that's all the public can ask for, she said.

Overholser urged reporters to go out into the community "and report like hell."