Farmers Weekly Review

Nick Reiher

I was having breakfast with colleague Cindy Wojdyla Cain at Jitter’s last week. As often happens, we got talking about the “good old days” at the Herald News.
We started within a month of each other in 1985; she will be quick to tell you a month earlier, which gave her seniority for the vacation schedule.
We talked about how things were so much different then. There were a dozen or so news reporters, and, of course, we thought that was too few at the time. There was a sports department, and a damned good one, led by Dick Goss, who became as legendary to local sports as many of the personalities he covered.
There was columnist John Whiteside, still revered years after his untimely death. When Cindy and I were hired, it was common for John to determine where all of us would have lunch that day, holding court and telling – and re-telling – war stories.
We were a family in that office. There were a lot of young people who came in about the time we did, but there were others who had been there for years. People we looked up to, like reporters Madeline Hildebrand and Lea Kerr, and copy editor Betty Wirth.
Age didn’t matter. They partied with us. Lea hosted one of Tammy’s wedding showers. Betty and her late husband Red hosted a fall party at their home on the banks of the Kankakee we called “Kolorama.” Our kids, now grown, still remember it as the unofficial beginning of fall.
As journalists, we held a certain stature in Joliet and parts of Will County. Subscribers depended on us to bring them the news, sports and features. If somehow we screwed up a story, our editors held us accountable. And most, like myself, said the worst punishment was a self-imposed feeling of failure.
But, we got up again and did our jobs every day, promising ourselves to never make a mistake again, or at least that one. And definitely not do any harm intentionally.
We could not have foreseen a world where that really didn’t matter anymore. Where anybody could say anything and not be held accountable. And worse, have people deride the person – journalist or not — for attempting to tell them the vetted, attributed truth.
But then, we couldn’t imagine a time when our newsroom family would be held together by something called “The Cloud.”
I remember when I was working in Aurora/Naperville, John Barron, our group publisher for the Sun Times News Group, told a bunch of us in the combined newsroom about The Cloud. How we would be able to work from anywhere. Not chained to desks that we would have to travel miles to get to.
John was a nice guy, but I’m thinking, “Then why the hell would the company spend thousands on rent each year? And would we need as many people as we have now?”
The answer, of course, was, they wouldn’t, and no. Co-workers began disappearing, as did newsrooms, along with newspaper offices, reduced to storefronts so people could buy an ad in person.
More and more business was conducted online and by phone, which actually helped during the pandemic. But it was a thing before that, and it will continue to be so.
This shift of doing more with less – and remotely – has led many to say they don’t need a physical newspaper anymore. Some tell me they have to have that. But they are in the minority.
We are heading toward a time when there will be no news gatherers, only people echoing misinformation they heard somewhere from someone. Already, too many people believe this sort of thing – whether on social media or on cable channels – than legitimate newsgathering sources.
Some of you still reading this likely chuckled at that. “Legitimate? Mainstream media is all a bunch of liberals wanting to take all our rights.”
I miss terribly the days of working in a newsroom, even if I had to travel 45 minutes to get there. I miss the comradery, the sense of being around a group for support when a major story breaks, like a devastating tornado or a governor being impeached.
But what really hurts is the loss of respect for what is a newspaper. They’re used to hearing and seeing what they want on the favorite cable network. Anything differing from that must be crap.
This means there are fewer people to hold government – our anyone — accountable at all levels. And don’t think some of those elected officials don’t take advantage of that.
While I, like many, hope there are corrections to the No Cash Bail provision in Illinois’ SAFE-T Act, I applaud the other provisions that call for regular checks to improve not only accountability, but safety for police and those they are working to protect.
I fact, I’m jealous. I wish people cared enough about journalism to apply – if not enact – some provisions to make sure they are getting a full story with vetted, attributed information, whether they like the answer or not.
I still do. Care enough to join me?