Celebrating National Newspaper Week with some words from our editor.
I’m a newspaper editor. Been one for five years now.
Before that, I was a newspaper reporter, and a sports editor.
It’s what I do. Granted, I do it differently—far differently—than I did when I got my start in this business; first in 1992 at UCF as a student journalist for the Central Florida Future, then in 1998 as a part-time news assistant and agate clerk at the Orlando Sentinel, then in 2000 when I joined the Osceola News-Gazette family.
Typing and “pasting up”, literally with rulers, scissors and wax, gave way to digital files heading to the print press, which has increasingly given way to the digital press. That started about 25 years ago on your desktop computer, then a laptop and now a handheld device you can take anywhere— just ask my kids who disappear into the bathroom to scroll. I can’t say much, because back in the day that was our “reading room”— and the reason I reasoned the print newspaper would never go away: Who’s gonna take their laptop into the john?
Little did I know. Next week, the first week of October, is the 86th celebration of National Newspaper Week, when support for the newspaper industry is highlighted all over the country.
The term “newspaper” is still used, but that News-Gazette content is also delivered by a website, social media pages, an e-edition and emailed newsletter. Either way, the work was done to inform. Information is powerful. And empowered readers form strong communities.
But it still comes down to this, as it has for two centuries: a News-Gazette reporter attended a Monday meeting at City Hall and wrote a factual story that was posted to our website Tuesday morning. It’s the same concept that it was in 1992—and way before that when the daily newspaper, and in some communities a morning and an evening newspaper, was the community sounding board for news, information and the day’s topics of conversation.
Sadly, that’s been replaced in many spaces by quick, unsourced, unchecked social media posts on pages that serve as echo chambers for those who simply want what they already believe reinforced. When a reporter or editor refuses to pander to those wishes, those nasty words come out—“Fake News”. Personally, I’d rather you not consume the product at all than work to convince others that it is not truthful, or that we have ulterior motives. People like me are far too busy keeping to our commitment to strengthen, and watch over, the community—not divide it.
I went to college for four years (Go Knights!) to learn the finer points of doing this transparently and trustworthily. Today, it’s possible to wake up one morning and digitally decide, “That seems like a fun way to try to make money.”
Let me tell you—actually, let former legendary Philadelphia news anchor Jim Gardner, my journalism muse, tell you— why delivering news the right way runs so much deeper. Jim offered this powerful statement, which I’ve quoted before, in his final sign-off before retiring in 2022:
We formed a covenant years ago; we give you our commitment to reporting in a no-nonsense way the things that are important to you, and making sure what we tell you is accurate and fair, and share in your joys and sadnesses, your triumphs and your losses, because they are ours, too. In return you gave us one thing: your trust.
The American free press has been under attack, not by forces from other countries, but forces imbedded in our society, and even our own government … serving you the people with responsible and unbiased journalism; this is our mission. And if we falter, you damn well better let us know, for your benefit and for ours.
Charge On!
The views expressed by those contributing to the Viewpoint page do not necessarily reflect those of this newspaper or its staff. The News-Gazette offers a venue for writers—and readers—to express their opinions, and presents them as “opinions” or editorials, and not news.
