I put out my first newspaper when I was 8 years old.
The Winders Times had a circulation of four and covered little beyond our one-acre subdivision plot. Sure, some stories were culled from wire services, mainly St. Louis Cardinals box scores hand copied from our local newspaper, and the cartoons were clipped out of various magazines. But I did manage to squeeze in some local news including family bios, a short feature on our cat, Lucy, and what appears to be a partial Christmas list.
Sadly, The Winders Times lasted only one issue before I went on to other childhood pursuits like comic books, action figures and baseball cards. I was done. On to something else.
Little did I know then, it wouldn’t be the last time I would try to walk away from newspapers.
Flash forward three decades, and hundreds of thousands upon hundreds of thousands of printed pages later, and you’ll find a guy who still loves community newspapers. So much so, I keep coming back. And back. And back.
As a former colleague reminded me the other day, “How can they start to miss you when you refuse to say goodbye.”
My newspaper career started off in small towns across the United States, the types of places only warranting plain font type on maps. Mattoon, Ill. Sullivan, Ill. Joliet, Ill. Gadsden, Ala. Roanoke Rapids, N.C. Eventually, I ended up spending a wonderful decade as the executive editor of the Athens Banner-Herald in Athens, Ga., home to the University of Georgia and a cast of Southern gothic characters out of William Faulkner or Walker Percy.
During that time, I cemented my belief in the power of community and the value a lively local newspaper brings to it. With my team, always with my team, I built a publication part watchdog, part advocate and part open forum. It was a successful formula.
Although a dream job for most of my tenure, I lost heart in the end thanks to the robber barons and fools running my beloved industry. During a six-month period leading up to corporate bankruptcy, I navigated my staff through a tumultuous sea of budget tightening, across-the-board pay cuts and, finally, massive staff reductions. It was then, soon after I laid off my last undeserving colleague, I turned in my resignation.
Driving away from Athens, I thought I had put out my last newspaper.
Emerging exhausted, I took a year away from journalism to pursue a recent passion in my wife’s hometown of London. And thanks to that fortunate bit of happenstance, I completed my master of environment and sustainability this summer at Western.
During my year on campus, I fell in love with Western. So many people have been so good to me and my family in the short time we’ve been here – first as a student, now as a staffer. They offered help and support beyond their job descriptions and continue to inspire me to do the same each day. They, along with the opportunity to work with this top-shelf communications team, are why I stayed.
I am excited to start contributing to this university community.
This editor’s chair affords me great opportunity to elevate, prompt, even occasionally chastise. I get to tell your stories and, thanks to expanding our presence on modern communications platforms, shape the way the world views Western. I plan on doing all that and more.
Inheriting a publication already well-regarded by the community, my job is to build upon success.
L.T. More, a former university relations and information director, wrote the following in the first issue of the Western News on Nov. 16, 1972:
“It is the hope of the news staff that this publication will be a truly university community publication, serving students faculty and support staff. Our objective is to report events as objectively as possible without bias or editorial comment. We hope you will read it and contribute to it.”
I placed these words in the staff box on the opposite page to serve as a reminder to me and my staff. I want to continue answering that founding call every day.
As part of that effort, I need your help. This publication can only be as good as the community around it. Your participation – be it story ideas, odd findings or constructive comments – is not only welcomed, but encouraged. I ask you to read, engage and share the wonderful depth of expertise and knowledge on Western and the world we have on this campus.
A community as rich as Western deserves an equally rich community newspaper. I look forward to striving toward that goal every day.
So, let’s get started.
Jason Winders, associate director, editorial services, serves as editor of the Western News. Contact him at jwinder2@uwo.ca