Where all news is local

I knelt in the back of the church in Stockton, California, outfitted with camera gear belonging to my high school Journalism adviser, a khaki safari vest and my cleanest pair of jeans. In front of me sat hundreds of people mourning the brutal killing of five children at Cleveland Elementary School (https://nyti.ms/1GvcO6j) . Alongside and behind me were dozens of journalists from media outlets all over the world. I was 17, a part-time photographer for the Lodi (CA) News-Sentinel and convinced I had found my calling.

Sometimes memories are conjured by a song or a scent or a photo. In this case, it was a text message from my dad that read: “Did you see the Sentinel sold?”

As a high school junior, my journalism advisor helped me land a job as a part-time photographer at the Lodi News-Sentinel, a community newspaper that had been owned and operated by the Weybret family since the late 1950s.

It was perhaps one of the greatest after-school jobs a budding journalist could ask for. I covered all manner of local sports, charitable functions and more than my fair share of “Tailwagger” photos - adoptable pets from the animal shelter.

While I hadn’t returned to the Church Street office in more than two decades, it was something of a blow to hear that the family announced the sale to an investor holding company with publications in Canada and the US (https://bit.ly/1J6qk4m)

The experiences I had over those two years inspired me to earn a degree in photojournalism from California State University, Fresno. Following graduation - in an economy with few available journalism jobs and after moving back into my parent’s house - Marty kindly brought me back on staff as one of two staff photographers.

Admittedly, I was disappointed. Classmates of mine were headed to major metro newspapers while I was going back to the same community newspaper for which I worked as a high-schooler.

In hindsight, I couldn’t have been more fortunate. Over the course of my three post-graduate years at the Sentinel (1993-96), I was allowed the freedom to explore new digital photography and pagination technologies and use the storytelling methods - sometimes a bit unconventional - that I had learned in college. The Weybrets also allowed me to learn about and explore advertising, circulation and production (including working alongside pressmen to better understand offset printing).

It was an environment that allowed for creative experimentation and discovery and eschewed the concept of silos.

At the heart of it all, however, was the belief that our work mattered. That it helped our readers in their daily lives. That we were a resource to, a shepherd for and a steward of the community.

And I believe that is exactly what drove what was surely a difficult decision by the Weybret family to sell. Without next generation leadership (Weybret kids have found their calling and are successful in their own right), the only way to preserve and protect the newspaper for the community was to find another caretaker.

Community newspapers - the kind in which I have had the pleasure to work for many years - serve an important role in our society. Where all politics is local, so is news. City council meetings, school boards, water districts … these are the the foundations of the community newspaper.

And it is my hope - and has been the focus of my career for a number of years - to reaffirm and strengthen the foundation of community newspapers for the very reasons that called me into the industry years ago.

Ever forward.

View a video interview with Marty on his last day as Publisher of the Lodi News-Sentinel at https://bit.ly/1J6yglT

PS: The photo at top helped me get my first post-collegiate job. I happened upon the burning RV and the resulting image was published on June 22, 1993. Please pardon the grainy nature - image pulled from the Google newspaper archive.