I have worked within the journalism field for the better part of a decade on a professional level, though I did spend several years as a member of the student newspaper—one year of which I acted as the paper’s editor-in-chief—while attending the University of the Cumberlands. Aside from a handful of food service jobs I held to make money during college and a brief stint as a federal contract worker around the start of the pandemic, newspapers are all I’ve known.
For those reasons, and many others, this is a bittersweet column for me to write, as this could be the last one I write as part of the News Journal staff.
I have accepted a teaching position at a local school district and plan to step away from my full-time role here at the paper sometime in the first half of July to prepare myself for taking on that new role.
To be honest, I wasn’t seeking out a new job. This opportunity almost quite literally sought me out.
There is still the possibility that I continue to have a byline inside these pages by covering an occasional meeting or event, and may even continue my monthly column. However, those details have not yet been decided.
What I can say has been decided, though, is that I will continue to champion local journalism as I cheer on these talented folks and the work they do. There’s a lot that goes into making a newspaper that most people never see.
The Tri-County is unique for many reasons, but one that I don’t think many people realize is that it is a bit of a hub for local journalism. In an age when many local newspapers are being shuttered, there are large swaths of the country that have no local news coverage whatsoever. Yet, the Tri-County has four dedicated local newspapers still in operation, with each individual county having two newspapers that provide coverage of their area.
Having that kind of robust coverage in one area also serves the community in more ways than they might realize.
There have been a number of detailed studies performed in areas that have lost local news coverage, and all of them found that local corruption not only went up, but thrived due to the lack of oversight and accountability that a community newspaper can provide.
This work is important. Newspapers are important. Objective journalism is important. Now more than ever.
Today’s society is rife with misinformation and disinformation, as well as a variety of echo chambers that perpetuate both. I believe that local newspapers with local journalists that genuinely care about serving the public in which they are tasked with keeping informed are one of the best weapons that can be utilized against that issue.
But it does take a certain type of person to do this work consistently at a high level.
Sure, most people could probably learn to do the job, but I believe that the larger percentage of them likely couldn’t truly do it well. It requires a level of dedication that lies somewhere between stalwart and unwavering. And I’ve been battling with a number of personal issues that have shifted my focus away from the work itself.
I generally enjoy the work that I do and the people that I do that work with. I also obviously care about local journalism and its importance to smaller communities such as ours, but this opportunity felt like too much of a potential boon for my family for me to be able to pass up.
If these next few weeks end up being the last ones in which I provide content for the News Journal, I will still continue to hope for this newspaper’s success from afar.
I’m proud to have been able to do it for the time that I have and I expect I will miss it once I have transitioned away entirely. The silver lining, I suppose, is that I will still be getting to do work within the field, though I will be trading in the newsroom for a classroom.
I would like to thank my coworkers for the guidance and fellowship they have provided over the past few years. I would also like to thank those in the community whom I’ve covered and worked with during that time. I appreciate each and every one of you.
