Last Updated: September 23, 1999
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An American Editor
Accessibility — by the staff and community — is key
to Kathy Silverberg’s style; but it doesn’t keep her out of controversy
Kathy Silverberg has been the executive editor of the TimesDaily
in Florence, Ala., since 1994. The daughter of an oil man, she moved around
as a child, bouncing from southern California to New Mexico to Louisiana.
It was the South, though, where she has spent her adult life.
Following graduation from Louisiana State University, she went to
work for the Daily Comet of Thibodaux, La., in 1971. After time out for
birthing children and a stint in radio news, she returned to the Comet
and moved from the features department to city editor to managing editor.
She moved down the road to Houma, La., to become executive editor of The
Courier in 1990, and agreed four years later to take the helm at the TimesDaily
in northern Alabama. All three of the papers are owned by The New York
Times Co.
Q. You used to edit a feature for The American Editor — What Would
You Do? — that asked editors to respond to touchy hypothetical ethical
situations. What did you learn about editors from the answers you collected?
A. They are procrastinators, but much more important, they are thoughtful
and responsible. Time and time again, they come down on the side of ethical
standards that build our credibility and integrity, even when those decisions
are not easy or popular.
Q. Your newspaper was judged a couple of years ago as one of the
best designed newspapers in the world. How important is design to a newspaper?
What does it do for readers?
A. In 1996, we were selected by the Society for News Design as one of
the 10 best designed newspapers under 50,000 circulation in the international
competition. Design provides the vehicle by which we communicate with readers.
It delivers the information by joining words and visual images to convey
ideas. When it’s done well, readers have an accessible, inviting package
that puts information they need and want within easy reach day after day.
Q. An editor in a small community usually feels pretty close to readers.
There aren’t many — if any — layers between you and them. What can an editor
do to stay connected to readers’ lives besides moving to a small community?
A. Stay engaged in the community. Attend community events, shop in town,
talk to readers on the telephone, speak to civic clubs. It’s a matter of
visibility and accessibility. I’m a believer in editors writing regular
columns because that’s a way for readers to get to know them. At the very
least, the newspaper should print the editor’s telephone number and e-mail
address in every edition.
Q. You write a regular column to readers. What do you write about
and what are you trying to accomplish?
A. As I mentioned before, I think a column gives the editor a personality
that people can identify with. Sometimes my columns are an attempt to give
readers some insight into how things are done at the newspaper, how we
reach decisions and why we make the choices we do. More often, however,
I write about current issues and topics, but I try to relate them to something
in my own life or in the lives of people I have known. I think that helps
readers make some sense of the events and developments covered in the pages
of the newspaper.
Q. What do you think people want out of your newspaper? How do you
provide it?
A. People want leadership. They want a reliable source to tell them
what’s happening in their community and why they should care. They want
to be able to count on us to deliver reliable news while it’s still news.
Accomplishing this requires us, as newspeople, to be in constant touch
with those who live and work in our communities. It means knowing where
to go and who to ask to get reliable information. And it means communicating
that information both in print and electronically so that people can use
it, enjoy it and be enlightened by it.
Q. At a smaller newspaper, there are many duties that fall to an
editor that might be handled by subordinates at larger papers. How do you
keep the daily grind from diverting your attention away from leading the
paper?
A. You just do it. You set priorities. Strive to be more efficient at
the less significant tasks and make time for the important. It’s easier
said than done, and some days it works better than others, but staying
focused on leadership issues, particularly empowering staff members, helps.
Seize opportunities for interaction with your staff whenever they present
themselves, including lunches and mid-afternoon coffee breaks. Have regular
meetings with a planned agenda so time is not wasted. Start them and end
them on time. Meet less formally with individual staff members as often
as possible. The real answer lies in making the most of the resources you
have, and the most important resource editors have is their staff.
Q. Many of the people you hire as journalists are just starting out
their careers. Is that right? What do you look for in a person who maybe
doesn’t have much of a professional track record?
A. I look for desire. I look for an insatiable appetite for information
and the drive to share that information. And I look for people who like
people. They make better writers, photographers, editors and co-workers.
Q. You cut your editing teeth in the features department, didn’t
you? What propelled you from there to the executive editor’s job?
A. I wanted to be in a position to have the greatest impact possible
on the daily news report. When I entered the profession, many women started
in features, or women’s news, as we called it then. It was good training.
I reported, wrote, took photos, edited copy and designed pages. When I
became executive editor I could speak to staff members with the voice of
someone who had been there.
Q. You also used to write a food column. Did that experience reveal
to you any correlation between cooking and editing?
A. It’s all about loving what you do and doing what you love. It is
gratifying to begin with fresh ingredients, ones you’ve picked out yourself,
and then create something worthwhile, something you can be proud to share
with people you care about.
Q. Is there any one thing you’ve done as an editor that set off a
firestorm among readers and got you to swear you’ll never do anything like
it again?
A. A couple come to mind. The first was instituting paid obituaries.
Our readers saw us as uncaring and money-hungry, and they said so, by phone,
by mail and in person. In response, we moderated our policy to some extent,
expanding the amount of information we include in our free announcements.
But it was not a fun time to be in the editor’s chair.
Very recently, I took to task in my column the Alabama judge who is
fighting to hang the Ten Commandments in his courtroom and begin each session
with a Protestant prayer. The letters poured in, and they were not supportive.
But then, that’s part of the job. You know you’re doing something right
when people react passionately.
Q. What keeps you editing?
A. I’m crazy about newspapers. I believe deeply in the importance of
an educated citizenry that can make informed choices about their lives
and those of their children. We as newspaper people have been granted the
responsibility and the privilege to provide that information.
Parsons is executive editor of the Santa Barbara (Calif.) News-Press.
