Thursday, August 23, 2007

An edited history

The small-town paper I where I used to work is in a bit of trouble; it has no editor.

It was about a month ago when I discovered this interesting gossip on a website I check for journalism job postings. Just this morning, though, I got an email from the journalism school telling me about the job, which means the publisher wrote to the school asking for the posting to be distributed. I was pretty sure the job was mine if I wanted it, but I wasn’t expecting the paper to try to recruit me or one of my classmates.

If you’ll recall, last year I had an interesting conversation with the editor and the publisher. They called my writing “childish” and “immature,” adding that I should try to use bigger words and more complicated sentences. As that is the opposite of journalism, I disagreed. Standing in the publisher’s office, shaking a little, I told her that my loyalties were to our readers and to making the news simple and comprehensible – and I told her it was an issue for which I would sacrifice the job. She backed down, but I left the paper shortly afterwards because I couldn’t stay knowing the bosses didn’t understand or value my work.

Naturally, I looked up the online version of the paper to see the last editorial from my former boss… and the way he was writing was remarkably similar to the style I developed for my column. And I saw an article the other reporter I worked with had written, which looked like an attempt to bring my column back. As I looked through the online content, I noticed a more casual, friendly tone – exactly what I had been working to develop while I was there.

I find it very flattering that they are looking for someone like me to run the paper. Even after so long, I’m glad to see evidence that they believe in me and what I was trying to do.

No comments: