Publisher's Synopsis
They're the mostly unsung heroes of their communities, defenders of democracy, teachers of civics lessons and promoters of growth and progress. The community journalist is the focus of this work, which is excerpted from a larger memoir of a small town newspaper publisher called "Letters from Home: Adventures with Mad Mother, Lemonade Man and the Kid." This shorter volume details the mistakes and missteps, the rewards and death threats that come with the territory of community newspaper editing and publishing. It was published for the 2015 convention of the National Newspaper Association in St. Louis for a workshop discussion led by the author. Anyone who has worked for a newspaper or anyone who has ever subscribed to or read their hometown newspaper will identify with some of the humor columns that have been reprinted in this book...from the mysterious crumpled fender that showed up on the author's car after a city council meeting to the extinguishing of a completed column by an employee's elbow . . . from the kidnapping of the newspaper's broom and a demand for its ransom to the terror of breaking a pants zipper at a newspaper convention. How do voters decide which candidate to support in a presidential election . . . by the size of their ears? Should an employer ever consider hiring a woman who claims her violet contacts are her true eye color? The answers are in this book, along with the details on a political action committee formed by children to protect the feeder pigs that showed up in their grandparents' barnyard. Yeah, there are a few serious topics here, like how a small town paper handled coverage on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks . . . and how the roles of journalists have been changing in the last two decades. Through the humor, the pathos and the challenges, one thing emerges--a love for the high calling of community journalism.
