September 27, 2017 at 5:28 p.m.
Get ready to see some new names
Back in the Saddle
It is not a revolving door.
But it’s one of the realities of small town newspapers that there’s ongoing turnover in the newsroom.
Young reporters, fresh out of college, join the staff, learn their chops, build their bylines, collect some good clippings and maybe a couple of awards, then move on.
It is, quite simply, the nature of the beast.
Caleb Bauer, who has put in an exceptionally strong 13 months in Jay County journalism, is the latest to head on to a bigger market. He’ll be starting for the South Bend Tribune next week, and my guess is South Bend will be lucky to hang onto him for long.
In that way, he’s part of a long, long tradition.
Years ago — further back than I can clearly remember — Al Benshoff stopped by the office.
Al had been a sportswriter for The CR before it was acquired by the Graphic Printing Company in 1959. He stayed with the daily with its then-new owners.
But one day, my father called him into his office. It was time, my dad told him, for Al to move on.
He wasn’t being fired. He was being nudged to take the next step in his career. It was time to move on to a bigger market.
That afternoon Al stopped by the office, his purpose was to share that story. He’d built a successful career with newspapers in Philadelphia, covering the NFL and Major League Baseball. And he wanted me to know how important that shove out of the nest had been for him back in the day.
In fact, he was just one part of a long parade.
•CR editor Dan Rottenberg jumped directly from the Jay County daily to The Wall Street Journal’s Chicago Bureau. His first byline, as I recall, was a front page feature about Shambarger’s Restaurant in Redkey.
•Al Richman, who served in the newsroom relatively briefly between gigs in the uniform of the U.S. Army, went on to become — at various times in his career — a writing coach for The Boston Globe and a food critic for the magazine GQ.
•Dave Shedloski handled sports duties in the 1980s, then went on to build a career writing for publications like Golf Digest.
•Mark Mann edited The News and Sun for a period in the late 1970s, then went on to editorial positions in Lafayette and Butler, Pennsylvania.
•Dunkirk’s Larry Smith jumped first from The News and Sun to Muncie’s Star then to a Gannett paper in Danville, Illinois, and distinguished himself every step of the way.
•Sports editor Dan Gelston, who managed to ruffle more than a few feathers while he was here, leaped directly from Jay County to The Associated Press, where he has covered — among other things — the Olympics.
And the list goes on.
But it’s not as simple as it used to be. Changes in the newspaper industry have broken the advancement ladder in many cases. The newspapers at the next step up from Jay County’s have been among those hardest hit by layoffs and cutbacks and “downsizing.” So reporters in an entry-level position can find it more complicated to get to the next rung in their careers.
Changes in the industry have also had an impact on the talent pool available for small-market newspapers like ours.
It’s harder to find the Larry Smiths and the Mark Manns and the Dan Rottenbergs today.
But we think we have figured out a solution. Whether it’s temporary or permanent remains to be seen.
The net result will be that you’ll be encountering a bunch of new, unfamiliar bylines in the weeks and months ahead.
Over the past few years, we’ve been able to build a strong relationship with students in the journalism program at Ball State University. One-time intern Rose Skelly joined the staff as a part-time employee. This summer’s intern Allie Kirkman has been freelancing for us. Jay County’s Julie Valentine, who served as an intern in 2015, has re-joined us on a temporary basis as a part-timer. And at least two more reporters, one a Ball State graduate and another a current Cardinal student, will be part of our news coverage efforts this fall and winter.
They’ll build experience and help us get the job done.
Is it a perfect solution? Probably not. But we’ll benefit from the youth and diversity and energy. So will you as readers.
But it’s one of the realities of small town newspapers that there’s ongoing turnover in the newsroom.
Young reporters, fresh out of college, join the staff, learn their chops, build their bylines, collect some good clippings and maybe a couple of awards, then move on.
It is, quite simply, the nature of the beast.
Caleb Bauer, who has put in an exceptionally strong 13 months in Jay County journalism, is the latest to head on to a bigger market. He’ll be starting for the South Bend Tribune next week, and my guess is South Bend will be lucky to hang onto him for long.
In that way, he’s part of a long, long tradition.
Years ago — further back than I can clearly remember — Al Benshoff stopped by the office.
Al had been a sportswriter for The CR before it was acquired by the Graphic Printing Company in 1959. He stayed with the daily with its then-new owners.
But one day, my father called him into his office. It was time, my dad told him, for Al to move on.
He wasn’t being fired. He was being nudged to take the next step in his career. It was time to move on to a bigger market.
That afternoon Al stopped by the office, his purpose was to share that story. He’d built a successful career with newspapers in Philadelphia, covering the NFL and Major League Baseball. And he wanted me to know how important that shove out of the nest had been for him back in the day.
In fact, he was just one part of a long parade.
•CR editor Dan Rottenberg jumped directly from the Jay County daily to The Wall Street Journal’s Chicago Bureau. His first byline, as I recall, was a front page feature about Shambarger’s Restaurant in Redkey.
•Al Richman, who served in the newsroom relatively briefly between gigs in the uniform of the U.S. Army, went on to become — at various times in his career — a writing coach for The Boston Globe and a food critic for the magazine GQ.
•Dave Shedloski handled sports duties in the 1980s, then went on to build a career writing for publications like Golf Digest.
•Mark Mann edited The News and Sun for a period in the late 1970s, then went on to editorial positions in Lafayette and Butler, Pennsylvania.
•Dunkirk’s Larry Smith jumped first from The News and Sun to Muncie’s Star then to a Gannett paper in Danville, Illinois, and distinguished himself every step of the way.
•Sports editor Dan Gelston, who managed to ruffle more than a few feathers while he was here, leaped directly from Jay County to The Associated Press, where he has covered — among other things — the Olympics.
And the list goes on.
But it’s not as simple as it used to be. Changes in the newspaper industry have broken the advancement ladder in many cases. The newspapers at the next step up from Jay County’s have been among those hardest hit by layoffs and cutbacks and “downsizing.” So reporters in an entry-level position can find it more complicated to get to the next rung in their careers.
Changes in the industry have also had an impact on the talent pool available for small-market newspapers like ours.
It’s harder to find the Larry Smiths and the Mark Manns and the Dan Rottenbergs today.
But we think we have figured out a solution. Whether it’s temporary or permanent remains to be seen.
The net result will be that you’ll be encountering a bunch of new, unfamiliar bylines in the weeks and months ahead.
Over the past few years, we’ve been able to build a strong relationship with students in the journalism program at Ball State University. One-time intern Rose Skelly joined the staff as a part-time employee. This summer’s intern Allie Kirkman has been freelancing for us. Jay County’s Julie Valentine, who served as an intern in 2015, has re-joined us on a temporary basis as a part-timer. And at least two more reporters, one a Ball State graduate and another a current Cardinal student, will be part of our news coverage efforts this fall and winter.
They’ll build experience and help us get the job done.
Is it a perfect solution? Probably not. But we’ll benefit from the youth and diversity and energy. So will you as readers.
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