I am told by another former employee, someone who left after me, that after
my departure, the person running the place said "things will be better now."
Better without Brian Williams. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
It's hard to believe the Hancock newspaper is better off when you consider
the sheer amount of coverage I gave school activities in the weekly Hancock
Record. Often I would fill two whole pages with sports for that newspaper.
Sometimes I would run a particularly good sports photo the entire width of the
page. My football photos - the hardest kind to take - were sharp and looked good
when enlarged. I don't see that kind of quality now.
Hancock sports was actually second on my work list. The Morris newspaper
was twice weekly back then. I am amazed, looking back, at how I could type
through a mountain of sports information in limited time, as well as I did.
I tried covering a wide swath of sports. I sought sub-varsity information
and tried working it in on a reasonably timely basis. Because of the workload
and the time realities, I knew perfection wasn't going to be attainable, at
least most of the time.
I had systems with a variety of coaches who had different approaches to
cooperating with the press. I just tried to hold things together as best I
could. And all along, I realized that kids sports was probably getting more
attention than it should. At least it was local and it was full of kids' names
from the community.
In 2006 we had reached a point where apparently the whole sports section
needed re-working. My biggest mistake, looking back, was that I felt I worked
more for the community than for my masters within the company.
Out on "the street," as it were, I got lots of feedback, suggestions and
pressure regarding my work. I felt it was essential to try to answer to those
people. The scrutiny from the public was such, I went a couple decades without
attending church because I could never be perceived as an individual outside my
work role.
A footnote: I occasionally got involved with church by showing up and
covering church-based events, which was really rather often. I was pleased to
have a feature article re-printed by the Catholic diocese newspaper. It was an
upbeat article, so different from so many of the newspaper articles about the
Catholic Church these days.
One Easter I was invited to that Hosanna church because they had some sort
of celebrity visitor, at least a celebrity in their eyes - perhaps someone who
made it on TV on some obscure channel - and I was treated to this individual
basically just asking for money, after which the church's own pastor said maybe
we all shouldn't consider owning pets, because pets cost money and we ought to
consider giving that money to the church. It was the worst Easter of my life. I
was offended.
I should have said "to heck with all this" and just gone to my childhood
church of First Lutheran, the plain vanilla church I attend now.
Oh, and then there was the Easter when I traipsed over to Faith Lutheran to
follow up on a pledge I made. I had written a feature article on a new pastor
there. I usually tried to develop a good personal rapport with people I
interviewed for such stories. As I concluded my interview with this man of the
cloth, a Reverend Boettner, I mentioned that I might stop by at the church
sometime to hear him preach.
Nice considerate arrangement, eh? So it dawned on me, Easter morning, that
it would be an apt time. An usher directed me to a spot in the pews amidst the
large turnout. And then I realized the pastor wasn't there! The pastor of the
church wasn't going to preach at the Easter service where we celebrate Christ's
sacrifice on the cross and the resurrection.
Had the pastor been in some calamity or come across some health
inconvenience? I ended up being told health was a factor but in kind of a
dubious way. I was told that The Reverend's daughter was having a baby. I was
taken aback hearing that. So, the health issue wasn't his, rather his daughter
was having a baby, which I'm not sure is a health issue at all.
Parishioner Dolora Hendrickson apparently had thoughts similar to mine
following this. The wise Dolora said: "She (his daughter) was having the baby,
not him."
I thought of the irony of how I had always had so much difficulty trying to
get out of work obligations at the newspaper. I missed one major Williams family
reunion. So here I am, so absolutely obligated and loyal so as to not miss any
little thing when people in Morris might expect my presence, and then the chief
pastor of a church takes off for Easter.
There were people in this community who'd scream bloody murder if I didn't
show up or adequately cover certain things - a dentist was at the top of this
list - and many of these people themselves would consider it quite appropriate
to take long vacations - even sabbaticals. But when it came to me,
I had no such right. It could get intensely personal as with the dentist.
I missed high school graduation receptions for a friend of mine in Willmar
who always scheduled these receptions on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. You
see, I had to cover the Chokio-Alberta graduation which was held on the Sunday
of Memorial Day weekend. I did this without gnashing my teeth because I actually
enjoyed fulfilling my mission for the Sun Tribune newspaper.
Covering the C-A graduation was a must. Covering C-A sports was a must. C-A
sports doesn't exist anymore.
When it came to sports, I was informed in an internal written directive
that, among many other things, I was to make UMM sports the top priority. I felt
I had always done a reasonably good job getting UMM into the paper. That would
make sense given my family's background. But in 2006 it was made clear to me,
from a member of newspaper management, that UMM was No. 1.
I made a photocopy of those directives. I'll quote: "Very few communities our
size have college sports to feature in its pages, and we'll take full advantage
of that, especially now since the university's programs are competitive." So, he
takes a jab at UMM at the same time.
Continuing: "Morris high school sports will be a close second to UMM
athletics."
A close second!
Do we need a "pecking order?" I had long been tired of the sports section
being seen as some sort of vehicle for "promoting" certain programs. And here I
am being told of what amounted to a "pecking order" among teams, so that we're
"selling the right ones," UMM at the top of the list.
Frankly, if I'm running UMM I'd want fans to just come to the UMM website,
where the sports portion is 100 per cent high quality and timely. I'm not sure
I'd even want the Morris community newspaper around as a distraction (or
annoyance).
Fans should come to the UMM website where not only can they learn all about
what's happening with sports, they can explore the rest of the University of
Minnesota-Morris world.
The community paper, the Sun Tribune, should be focused on the public
school athletic program, where the participants after all are natives of the
community.
I thought I could get by continuing this philosophy. But in the spring of
2006, things were getting tense at the Morris Sun Tribune newspaper. To the
extent some struggling had set in, fingers had to be pointed.
Today we know that it was precisely in 2006 that the newspaper industry
went into sort of a panic mode over what was happening to it. I didn't make it
to the lifeboats. But I am now going to church. So there was a silver lining
after all.
There is more I can write about circumstances I faced at the paper at the
end. I'll probably do that.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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