麻豆社国产

滨听never meant to come to Squamish.

I was a young, ambitious reporter who had launched his career at a small-town paper in Jasper, Alta. 鈥� but I knew where I was headed: I was going to be editor-in-chief of The Globe and Mail, ideally by age 30. I figured a couple of years at the Jasper Booster should do it before making the move to the Globe.

My first publisher, Cathy Burwood, was supportive, but told me I鈥檇 need to build in some more stepping stones into my career path 鈥撎齱orking as editor at a bigger weekly would be a good move, she suggested.

So in the fall of 1998, when she called me from her new location in 麻豆社国产about the editor鈥檚 job at The 麻豆社国产, I was ready 鈥� although I wasn鈥檛 exactly sure where this 鈥淪quamish鈥� place was, exactly. A lifelong Albertan, I鈥檇 been to the West Coast once at age five, but I didn鈥檛 remember much.

But when I came out for an interview and found myself walking along the shores of Porteau Cove in balmy 25-degree weather in mid-October, I felt this was a place I had to be 鈥撎齛 feeling that was reinforced when I drove back to Jasper to find the first inch of snow covering the ground.

A couple of weeks went by with no word, then came a call from Penny Graham, the publisher of the Chief 鈥� I had impressed her, she said, but her boss felt I was probably a little young for the job (I was 24 years old). Fair enough, I thought.

Two weeks later, I got another call from Penny, asking if I was still interested in being considered for the position. I鈥檓 not sure what possessed me, but I replied: 鈥淵ou know, I鈥檓 only two weeks older than I was when I was too young for the job.鈥�

Penny laughed and said: 鈥淪o am I.鈥�

Despite my cheeky response, a few days later I was formally offered the job and accepted it. Packing all my belongings into a U-Haul, I headed back to 麻豆社国产in late November to find the 25-degree weather was long gone, replaced by 50-foot cloud cover and chilly rain that remained unbroken for the next four months. It felt like Mother Nature had pulled a bait-and-switch on me.

The newspaper, though, was a dream come true.听 It was a consistent award-winner at the provincial and national level, partly because there was so much going on.

When I got here, the 鈥淲ar in the Woods鈥� was in full swing, with logging protesters chaining themselves to trees in the Elaho Valley. Canada鈥檚 first unionized McDonald鈥檚 was fighting through its first contract, and Canada鈥檚 first private, non-profit, non-religious university had just chosen 麻豆社国产(over Whistler) as its home 鈥� and those were just the stories we covered in the first two weeks I was here.

麻豆社国产has always been a place where big stories have broken, from great news, like Eminem highlighting the 麻豆社国产Valley Music Festival or Maelle Ricker鈥檚 gold medal at the 2010 Olympics, to tragedy, like the murder of local triathlete Bob McIntosh and the years-long shadow that hung over the community as those who participated in his death and those who knew about it held their silence.

It鈥檚 a place of larger-than-life characters, like Thor Froslev, whose first words to me included a four-letter one (he warmed up later), Terrill Patterson (who never quite did warm to me), and the indomitable Joan Forry, who never left my office without getting the coverage she asked for 鈥撎齛nd a huge hug, as well.

In short, it was the perfect training ground for a young, ambitious reporter who planned to be at The Globe and Mail by age 30.

But everything that made The 麻豆社国产 perfect for someone moving up also changed what I found important in my career. I no longer wanted to be at the Globe: I had seen the power of community media, a power that still holds me to this day. It鈥檚 a power that kept me in 麻豆社国产for 12 years, about 10 longer than I had originally planned.

The stories a paper like The 麻豆社国产 tells sometimes do gain national or even international attention, but the vast majority of its stories are important only to a local audience 鈥撎齛nd depending on the story, that audience could be measured in the dozens, not even the hundreds and certainly not the thousands.

The measure of success, though, is not how many people a story reaches; it鈥檚 how many people that story reaches that it should. An article that reaches and engages an audience of 50 when the total audience is 75 is a success; a story that reaches 5,000 people when that audience should be 100,000 is a failure.

Our lives as citizens and as journalists are in a constant state of comingling as a result of our work. Our social interactions and even our trips to the grocery store or post office can, and often do, become work. When we get a story right 鈥� and, to be honest, more often when we get it wrong 鈥� we hear about it, directly from the horse鈥檚 mouth.

And that鈥檚 how it should be.

In my job today, I get to visit and work with dozens of different community and daily newspapers across Western Canada, and in my volunteer work for the newspaper industry with the BC and Yukon Community Newspaper Association, Newspapers Canada and the National NewsMedia Council, I get to interact with editors and publishers from newspapers all across the nation. The more newspapers I see and work with, the more I realize just how lucky I was to have worked at the Chief and to still be connected with the paper. 麻豆社国产is a special place full of special people and incredible stories, and in my view, that鈥檚 what has made The 麻豆社国产 a regular winner on the provincial and national stage among its peers.听

We鈥檝e been blessed with dedicated and talented staff over the years, to be sure, but what has helped to set them apart and make The 麻豆社国产 one of the best community newspapers in the nation is you 鈥� the community of Squamish. I鈥檝e always said that regardless of who signs the cheques, a community newspaper is truly owned by its citizens, and its success is a reflection of how engaged its citizens are.

The Chief鈥檚 success over the past 25 years, 12 of which I am forever pleased and proud to have been here for, is the success of Squamish.听My family and I left 麻豆社国产six years ago. The chance to run a daily community newspaper and to live in a town with a special school for our son on the autism spectrum (and to buy a detached house in a nice neighbourhood for less than $350,000) were too great for us to turn down. We love our new home, but part of me has never left 麻豆社国产or the Chief. Which is why when, at the Ma Murray Community Newspaper Awards in Richmond last month when the Chief was announced, once again, as the best overall newspaper in B.C. in its circulation class 鈥� just weeks after being named best overall newspaper in Canada in its class 鈥� I ended up jumping up and yelling, 鈥測es!鈥�