Last week I had the distinct privilege of sitting in a room with publishers from all across the State of Texas, along with some of the keenest newspaper minds in the business, and gleaning from all of their amassed knowledge.
One thing I learn every year at these meetings is that even as long as I have been doing this, there is always something new to learn. When you have the opportunity to sit in a room with people who have been doing it longer and people who have experienced all of the ups and downs of putting a newspaper on the street, it is impossible not to learn something that will help you as you go down your own path. What we do here at the Tribune, and what others do at newspapers all across our country, is not easy. It seems to every day get a little harder, but the vast majority of those who do what we do, do so because it is in their blood. Journalism, and I believe especially community newspaper journalism, is so much more than just a job. It is tantamount to a calling. If you work for a community newspaper and are doing it for any other reason except the fact that it is something you simply have to do, then your heart cannot be in it at full capacity None of us that devote our days, weeks and lives to meeting deadlines, getting a paper to press, and serving our community with the best content we can possibly put together will ever do it for a paycheck. That just isn’t why we are here.
One thing I saw at last week’s meetings is that those of us that do what we do are driven by a few factors. I would like to list a few of those factors that seem to be the most prominent.
