I am extremely lucky to have been employed in print media during some of the best of times. After purchasing a copy of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune this morning, I would classify the paper today as the worst of times.
I had a conversation with a former colleague about missing working in a vibrant newsroom. A place where all your co-workers seemed extremely well read and intelligent. Where you could speak your mind and no one wanted to hang you from the rafters. A living, breathing workplace where everyone listened to your thoughts and ideas; where speaking your mind did not result in your ostracization from the group; and where, at the end of the day, you all got together for a cold beer and a quick game of pool.
The newspaper copy at the top of the page was found on Ebay. Someone is selling it for $15. At the time of production, we were producing five editions each night. Five deadlines and this included every section of the paper.
When I first began my career with the New York Times, each day we would check the stock pages to see how much our stock had increased. Everyone did this. It was in Lakeland, Florida and I had a couple of bosses, James Fuller was the production manger, who hired me away from a very small newspaper in Winter Haven. Florida because they could pay me more money and I was a single Mom and needed it.
After about 18 months in Lakeland, I transferred to the paper in Sarasota because I wanted to live at the beach. I was the first woman hired in production and I worked with so many great people that I cannot begin to list them here.
When the paper began pagination, or creating the whole paper on a computer instead of cut and paste, I was transferred to the newsroom and worked there until the Great Recession when layoffs began. I worked with the best of the best. From our Publisher, Diane McFarland and down the ladder, the men and women I worked with were some of the best people ever. I stay in contact with many of them.,
I miss them. I miss what we had and what we produced. To try and explain to a person who has never worked for a living, breathing entity like a newspaper, you really have no idea. It is also not a place for everyone but it was my place for over 35 years of my life.
Today, I teach journalism. I would love to be able to take a field trip to a thriving newsroom to show my students what they were like and why I concern myself with the truth and deadlines, and bylines and giving credit where it is due. It is hard to explain and much easier to show. At least, it would be if there were any thriving newsrooms left in the area we live in.
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