Monthly Archive for August, 2010

I’m pleased to welcome Gerry Charbonneau, the second guest in in my new Something in Common feature. Gerry has “something in common” with Kris Langley, heroine of my mystery novel Twenty-Five Years Ago Today. Kris is an obit writer, editorial assistant and freelance writer for a fictional community newspaper called The Fremont Daily News. In the book, the newspaper is independently-owned and the two editors frequently clash: one is a news veteran set in his ways and the other is like Corporate Barbie, bent on changing everything.

Gerry also has experience working for a small, independently owned community newspaper and he has agreed to give us the inside scoop on what it was like. Gerry recently retired from the active work force after 30 years of employment. His career as a journalist was short-lived due to a vision problem in his left eye and other work-related health issues. His current online project, Nibbled News, offers readers informative, useful and thought-provoking articles about people, places and events in the news today.

GERRY: Back in the day, after I had graduated journalism school, my first official exposure to professional newspaper life in my new found status involved my being eventually hired as the editor/reporter/photographer for a family-owned community newspaper. In this case, the family owned two fair sized and profitable weekly publications.

I initially thought that I had lost the all important lottery of life. A number of my fellow students had secured positions with larger, well known daily newspapers. I dreaded the thought that my hard work and studies at school had landed me a second rate newspaper position.

Eventually, however, I realized that this inaugural assignment helped to develop and hone not only my writing skills but also my people and communications skills.

There is no better way to start a career as a journalist than to jump with both feet into a community setting where you are a complete outsider and let your news gathering instincts take control.

In those pre-digital days, the newspaper copy was typed on a Remington Electric typewriter. There were no electronic spell checkers and so each reporter had to proof read their articles and check spelling, grammar and overall punctuation.

Your typed stories were then submitted to a person using a machine that typed your stories onto photo sensitive paper and then set out to dry on a story board. This board held all the news features that were going to be published in that week’s edition. This was a cold type procedure.

As an official jack-of-all-trades, I was also the paper’s sports and news photographer. I used a simple 35 mm camera, flash, wide angle lens and 300 mm zoom lens. You had to check your lighting settings, bracket your shots and hope you captured a useable image. The film needed to be processed (souped up) in the dark room and print sheets hung to dry for later editing.

As the editor-in-chief, it was my responsibility to gather leads and create a bit of public relations with the paper’s readers. You had to gain people’s trust before they would actually accept you as one of the town folk. Eventually, I gained a healthy and friendly working relationship with the people living there.

My office was a small yet adequately spaced setting wherein I hung my hat, stored my camera gear and wrote my weekly assortment of news, sports and feature articles. I shared the back section of the office with the barber shop next door. A cozy yet friendly arrangement.

The paper was put to bed on Wednesday evening and published on Thursday morning. This meant that everyone involved with the paper would be laying out their pre-printed stories, pictures and advertising copy during this eight hour marathon. The job was usually completed by four a.m.

I was on call twenty four hours a day and seven days a week. I always carried my camera and note pad and pencil with me no matter where I went. The experience there helped to develop my writing skills and also allowed me to appreciate the fact that small town publications knit a community as a whole.

Thanks so much for joining us, Gerry. What a fascinating look back at the newspaper industry! Don’t forget to visit Gerry at Nibbled News. In the meantime, does anyone have questions for Gerry about his newspaper experience? Newspapers have undergone a great deal of changes over the years, posting their content online and often taking a less community-oriented approach. Readers, do you think newspapers are changing for the better or worse?