Last Updated: May 26, 1999
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Institute for Journalism Excellence
We needed a hands-on person and we got him
By Andy Young
An Alabama license plate appears in the parking lot of my neighborhood
grocery about as often as Fob James Jr. shows up at an ACLU meeting.
Not often, in other words. (James is the governor of Alabama and a proponent
of the view that the Bill of Rights does not apply to the states.)
When I saw the license plate, I knew that Ed Williams had arrived from
Auburn University to work at The Chronicle-Telegram.
When I met him minutes later, I knew that he and the Chronicle would
be an excellent match. He wasn’t scheduled to begin work until the next
day, but he had already begun poking into local affairs. He told me he
had watched a confrontation in the parking lot the night before between
police and rowdy youths, and he suggested that I have a reporter check
it out.
I wasn’t looking for ivory-tower advice for the Chronicle when I told
ASNE that I wanted to participate in the Institute. I didn’t want a writing
coach. I didn’t want a newsroom management theorist. I wanted a good reporter.
The Chronicle is in a tough newspaper neighborhood, the like of which
is rare in America these days. We are a 33,000-circulation daily in Elyria,
Ohio, with two bigger competitors working the same territory, Ohio’s ninth
largest county. The Morning Journal of Lorain has a circulation of about
40,000, and The Plain Dealer of Cleveland, the state’s largest newspaper,
has an 11-person bureau in the county.
We put Ed to work as a general assignment reporter, and he did everything
from spot news to light features to in-depth stories on big issues. He
did it all with serious purpose but also with a sense of humor. In short,
he showed our staff how to be good at journalism without being self-important.
Ed came prepared. I had been sending him the Chronicle at Auburn for
months before he arrived, and he had read it. With a one-day course on
our computer system, he was ready to go.
We also were prepared. I had had our metro desk, to which Ed reported,
draft a list of evergreen assignments for him.
Of the six stories on that list, however, he did just one. We changed
plans not because he lacked ambition but because we needed his help on
breaking news and more timely features and we realized quickly that we
could depend on him.
He wrote about senior citizens who’ve taken to the Internet. He covered
the annual Scottish games. He explained why a neighboring county is a leader
in Ohio’s farmland preservation movement while our county is waiting to
act.
I did not hear this directly, but I suspect that staffers found Ed’s
enthusiasm for the nitty-gritty of reporting refreshing. A few years ago
we hosted another journalism educator, who tried to function as a writing
coach. He was virtually no help, and the experience was disastrous. Ed
had no aspirations to coach, but he did so by example.
Ed’s relations with the staff were easy. As a Southerner with a strong
accent, he had wondered whether he’d be dismissed as a boob. By the time
he left, though, he was playing practical jokes on staffers.
I’m not sure how much the fellowship advanced the cause of journalism
education in our newsroom. As Ed wrote in his evaluation for ASNE, "I think
newsroom colleagues already respected journalism education."
I wish I had offered him more opportunities. Maybe he wouldn’t have
wanted to lead a brown-bag discussion, but I didn’t ask him. Maybe he wouldn’t
have wanted to talk to the high school journalism adviser, but I didn’t
ask him.
I’m confident, however, that Ed’s stay will help the cause of journalism
education at Auburn.
"I’ll have fresh stories to tell, new experiences to share," he wrote
in his evaluation. "I hope I’ll be more sympathetic with student reporters
when they’re having trouble reaching a source or writing a story. I’ll
have more insight into their problems."
Too bad Fob James graduated from Auburn before your time, Ed. Sounds
like the guy could have used a lesson on the First Amendment.
Young is editor of The Chronicle-Telegram, Elyria, Ohio. He supervised
IJE Fellow Ed Williams during the summer.
