I have moved to Columbus and started a new job at The Associated Press. I do not have a computer at my new apartment (all that stuff is still at my house in Copley) and I haven't h
ad an opportunity to respond earlier.Since I had so little seniority, I had been expecting to be laid off and had been making contacts early on to find another job. I was lucky enough to land on my feet at AP -- with a pay raise no less.
I had been at the Beacon for a mere year and a half. It's a shame too. When my wife and I moved from Rochester, NY, to Akron, we figured that we were set for the rest of our lives. On top of that, I was at a multiple Pulitzer Prize winner. I wanted to win a Pulitzer at the Beacon or at the very least do Pulitzer worthy work. How could we have envisioned the implosion of Knight Ridder?
We are both from Ohio. I grew up in Cleveland and she grew up outside Toledo. We had finally made it home. We bought a house in Copley and invested about $17,000 in it. We figured we would be there for years, if not forever, so we might as well make it our dream place.Sigh. Now that house is on the market.
I had spent my early daily newspaper days (the late 80s and early 90s) working at papers in Columbiana County and later in Mansfield. I used to read the both the Plain Dealer and Beacon Journal daily. And it was funny because I always thought the Beacon was a much better paper.
In those days, I concluded that I wanted to end my newspaper career at the Beacon or PD, which I delivered as a paper carrier as a kid.
Well, at least I can say I worked for the Beacon. It was an odd experience. Here I was surrounded by all these journalists I had read for years and admired. Folks had incredible pride in the product and their work. And at the same time, I could see that the paper had slipped and was slipping further.
For example, how could the paper not cover Cuyahoga Falls, the second-largest city in the county? And how could the paper have ceded the whole northern portion of the county to the Plain Dealer? And why wasn't there a Washington reporter to cover the local delegation? Why were there so many specialty beat reporters when suburbs weren't covered adequately? (And in no way am I indicting any individuals because they did a great job covering their beats. I just wonder about the overall philosophy that determined priorities.) And gadzooks, newshole was pathetic after I arrived.
It pissed me off sometimes.
There is still great journalism being done there. But it definitely isn't the paper I thought kicked the PD's butt years ago.
And maybe this will tick off some folks there, but David Black was right when he questioned the energy in the newsroom. It is a laidback place -- perhaps that's a reflection of the veteran staff.
I had come from the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, where the newsroom was always hectic and chasing down stories. In many ways, it was too hectic. I told friends that the perfect newsroom would be somewhere inbetween. I feel for those folks still there. And I wonder whether the paper will sink deeper, allowing the Plain Dealer and Canton Repository, which is a better paper than I remember from years past, to continue to nibble away at subscribers.
Heck, if I hadn't worked at the Beacon, I would have subscribed to the PD.
I sincerely hope that the new publisher is able to turn around advertising and earn even bigger profits for the new owner. (Let's face it, the Beacon is still making millions in profits, just not enough apparently.)
I hold no ill will against the new owner for being laid off. Sometimes you've got to lop of the leg to save the rest of the body, or however that cliche goes. I just hope it does save the body and a stronger Beacon emerges from this rubble.
Take care. And sorry for being so rambling.
If you need to reach me, please keep using rarmon1@yahoo.com
My AP email is rarmon@ap.org, but I don't feel comfortable using it for personal communication at this point.
~Rick
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