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ROBINET: Stay well my friends

I’m sure by now you’ve heard that this is the last edition of Chatham This Week (CTW), and therefore here’s one final, farewell column from me. 

First and foremost, I would like to thank all of you who have been faithful/occasional/once-in-a-blue-moon readers over the years, and I will miss chatting with you. 

ROBINET: Stay well my friends Back to video

I’d love to be able to tell you I was shocked when I heard the news that CTW will be no more, but of course that would be a lie, as we’ve all seen the trajectory of newspapers over the last decade or two. 

It’s always a tragedy when a community newspaper disappears as it inevitably dims the light cast on the important issues of the day, and puts an abrupt end to the documentation of events, both big and small, in that community’s life. 

The world of newspapers has changed drastically since I started out at the New Hamburg Independent as the “acting editor” thanks to an odd turn of events in 1982. 

It would be the only paper where I’d use an old-school typewriter, and every Tuesday at the crack of dawn, I would meet up with the part-time sports reporter who was the only other person in the newsroom and we’d hitch a ride with a friend of his to Fairway Press in Kitchener where I supervised the layout of the paper.  

After lunch, sports guy’s brother would pick us up in his van and we’d spend the afternoon dropping off bundles of newspapers at various locations throughout our coverage area, which included Baden, New Dundee and Tavistock. 

I should also mention that early morning Tuesday often followed a Monday night council meeting which I covered. I then walked back to the office, typed up my stories, then rode my bicycle back to the house where I was boarding with a local family. 

Another part of my job was taking most of the photos and developing the negatives and prints in our little darkroom, but luckily there were never photos that needed to be developed after a council meeting! 

Oh, and here’s a fun fact. Back then, at the end of every story, we typed “30” to let the layout people know the story wasn’t continued anywhere else. 

By the end of my full-time newspaper career back in 2012, it was all digital photography and layout, and we were now “multi-media journalists,” filing not only stories and photos, but video as well to help meet the internet’s insatiable appetite. And of course, “30” had gone the way of the dodo bird. 

We all know what’s happened since then, as social media began to worm its way into most of our lives promising an endless stream of entertainment which quickly morphed into a swirling mix of facts and fiction, shortening our attention spans and providing no shortage of opportunity for both information and misinformation to be shared, spread and commented on. 

Now, don’t tell anyone, but I’ve never been sure whether I actually graduated from Conestoga College or not. I almost completed the two-year photojournalism program, but I left a few weeks early to take that job in New Hamburg. 

It doesn’t really matter, I guess, as I’ve spent the better part of my career at various newsrooms in various roles, with or without a diploma. 

Along the way I’ve had some amazing experiences and met some amazing people. Some of the names you’d recognize, but the vast majority you wouldn’t. 

One thing I’ve learned though is that everybody has a story to tell, and most of us have a bunch of them. 

Years ago, one of the mainstays of community newspapers was the “comment corner” or “question of the week,” depending on the paper. 

Basically (and I cringe as I think about it now), it literally meant standing on the street with a camera and notebook to ask passersby a question. Usually you needed four or five people for this feature and it was always a challenge to get the required number of people who were both willing to answer the question and have their photo accompany their answer. 

But, it was the job and it had to be done! 

A lot of times the question was about some local issue or another, but sometimes I had to get creative and eventually I came up with this one: “Tell me the most interesting thing about you.” 

To my surprise, it was something most people were willing to answer, and some of the answers were mind-blowing. 

Being a journalist was never going to make me rich, it was never going to be a secure job, and it was never going to be dull. 

Actually, when I think back to all the county, municipal, city, township, town and village council meetings I’ve covered over the years, it was sometimes dull! 

But, for me it’s always been about the people. After all, who on this planet is more interesting than people? 

I do believe that with all that is happening in the world today we need good journalism more than ever and journalists who are willing to dig beneath the surface and ask the difficult questions when necessary. 

The journalists I have known and worked with over many decades have all had one thing in common, and that has been their desire to responsibly deliver the news that matters to their communities. 

There really is no such thing as “fake news” boys and girls. There is either legitimate news, or there are lies. 

Legitimate journalists may make the odd mistake, which is typically rectified as soon as it’s discovered, but they’re not in the business of manufacturing lies. 

Remember, there may be two sides to every story, but there are never two sides to a fact. 

And with that, thank you again for sharing some of your time with me.

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