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HOLLAND
COLLEGE • March 2003
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INSIDE |
The
Publishers
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| Publishers'
reporting days gone, but not forgotten By Charles Reid Class of '03 You can't compare apples and oranges even if they're in the same dessert It's a fact Kerry Hann and Paul MacNeill know all too well. Hann publishes the St. John's Express. The St. John's paper is part of the Optipress chain in Newfoundland while each week from Montague, P.E.I., Paul MacNeill gets the Eastern Graphic and the West Prince Graphic ready for Island news stands. Many newspaper publishers come from business backgrounds, but MacNeill and Hann are cut from a diffferent cloth because they're trained journalists, graduates of Holland College's well-respected program. MacNeill recognizes the pitfalls of both hats he wears. As a reporter your focus is journalism, he says, but as publisher it's advertising, public relations and paying the bills. "There's fewer headaches if you're a reporter," said MacNeill in a telephone interview. "(But) someone has to be the face of the company." MacNeill, a 1986 graduate, took over from his father, Jim, in May 1998. His father died from a heart attack on board a ferry returning him from Nova Scotia where he had received an honourary PhD in civil law from Halifax's University of Kings College. The elder MacNeill built the Eastern Graphic from the ground up. He published the first edition on Dec. 11, 1963 and from day one sold ads to pay the paper's bills and wrote stories relevant to people in Montague. Paul's weekly column follows his father's example. "I'm trying to do some, reporting with opinion, simply because it keeps my mind active." Besides, said MacNeill, publishing isn't all drudgery, it has its perks, too. "I like the diversity of the job, every day is different. We're in the only business that will promote the complaints of our public." From Newfoundland, Hann agreed with MacNeill, but had a slightly different take. "I don't think there's much of a comparison," he said in telephone interview. "It's a constant juggling act." He graduated in 1993 and returned to Newfoundland in 1994 as editor of the Hibernia News. Then it was editing stints for other Robinson-Blackmore publications including 1999's position as the chain's associate managing editor. In 2002, the Express' owner, Optipress Inc., appointed Hann the paper's new editor replacing Peter Kapyrka. Hann said he balances advertiser's needs against the public's right to know, however, his editorial background makes for braver decisions. And so far, he hasn't spiked a story to calm an advertiser and probably never will. "Generally, no. We haven't had to do that," he said. "If the story should be told, has to be told, then we'll print it and deal with the consequences later." Both stuck to these principles taught at Holland College even if they used different techniques to publish the Surveyor. For MacNeill, writing stories meant using a laptop computer-sized word processor with a five-line display. Publishing involved hand-drawn dummy sheets filled with copy sent to the Graphic Design program for layout. Hann's time was more advanced. He used Tandy computers and one MacIntosh unit loaded with an early version of layout software from QuarkXPress. They had one manual and no one in the class knew how to use Quark, he said, so they picked a classmate with computer experience and "designated him as the layout guy." Publishing meant students printed, photocopied, folded in half and stapled together several 11" x 17 " sheets. As managing editor, Hann published in his favourite Surveyor an editorial about a Holland College donation program which was added to tuition. Students had to give money whether they wanted to or not. Hann titled the article Partners In Crime. It was not well received by the college. "The administration completely flipped," he said. MacNeill, on the other hand, had no single favourite Surveyor, but has watched its evolution. "I remember the paper wasn't as professional as it is now. I remember that it wasn't as well written." Despite high-tech equipment - this year's class uses digital cameras, communicates through networked high-speed Internet, runs software to manipulate images and writes on an army of powerful computers - MacNeill believes good journalism comes down to basic reporting and writing. "You can't replace news sense," he said. |
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