Role models in this biz

It seems rather arbitrary to attach an age limit to role models, as subjective as that subject is.

 

Pat, your trials and tribulations took place after I left the C-J, so I thank you now for clearing all that up.

But now let's move onto this issue of you being without ego..................

 

Felt it was worth doing in a business that frequently doesn't treat its veterans very well these days. Takes more dignity for someone 40-plus to do the job well enough, or properly enough, to remain a role model, in my opinion. Nothing against the under-40 set, but they still might get promoted or leap to other careers. Veterans in this business, maybe being nominated as a role model is as good as they're going to get anymore.

 

Not if all the young people who aren't coming into the business aren't buying the newspaper. Then all the publishers will continue to downsize out all the future Pat Forde clones.

 

I've often found some of my biggest role models in this biz were the men who were able to put family first.
No one here needs a reminder: this shit is tough to pull off with wives, husbands, significant others, not to mention kids. Couples break up because the drain that comes with this business are often too much of a burden.
A very few editors I've worked with have made their families a priority without sacrificing their ability to do their jobs -- and I respect the hell out of that.

 

Anyone who thinks Pat is one of the only big-time columnists who have been suspended for any kind of reason doesn't know the business very well... They happen all the time...

Some, like Whitlock or Ryan or Albom are well-known...

Others, (too many to mention) are kept in-house...

Pat's 100 percent class and I'm sorry that my mention of him on this thread led to this...

 

Obviously I liked the idea, too, of focusing on the vets in this biz. But what the hey, "rules" (more like a guideline) are made to be broken and I'm all for bending on this point. If some twentysomethings and thirtysomethings have achieved role model status, good for them. Let's hear about them.

I do agree, though, that it's even more impressive to be a class act deep into a career. A lot of those folks have had to shrug off, overcome or outlast a lot of frustrations that come daily in this goofy profession.

 

I'm sure some of the Miami Herald veterans on the board would include Paul Anger, who rose from copy editor to sports editor to executive editor of a couple of papers. Always known as a nose-to-the-grindstone guy who did great hiring.

 

Paul is tremendous. But the OP said the role model couldn't be higher than No. 2 in a department. His assistants, though -- you really couldn't look at any of them and think they didn't deserve their status. They all worked hard, knew their stuff, dealt with people honestly.

 

I'll second Rick Hummel and Hal McCoy. You won't find two better people in the baseball writing profession. Two Hall of Famers who go out of their way to be nice to not just every writer they come into contact with but every person.

 

I have heard good things about Terry Pluto mentoring young scribes. Of course, I would gladly suck up to anyone working at the Plain-Dealer, so take it for what it's worth.