When two newspaper editors get together for coffee, there is a lot of good conversation. So needless to say, when I met up with my old boss and current friend Lou Brancaccio at the local Starbucks this week, we solved all of the problems of journalism in an hour.
Well, some of them, at least.
As I recall Lou and I both came to The Columbian full time in 1999. He was the new managing editor, and I was a temporary, later made permanent, business reporter. We didn’t have too much interaction for the first few months, until he decided to create a standalone business section and named me as its editor. Looking back, it was perhaps the best job I have ever had, with the perfect combination of writing, editing and freedom to try new things. Thanks, Lou!
Later, after I had taken a business reporting job at The Oregonian that I didn’t like nearly as well, Lou helped me again. He hired me back to be The Columbian’s metro editor, in charge of most of the local reporters. I did that job for a long, long time. Finally, I took over the top job when he retired as editor in February 2017. In other words, Lou has been better for my career than I ever was.
So it was a pleasure to see him and talk shop for an hour. We both believe strongly in community news. We think there will be a place for it long into the future, even if it is mostly published online instead of on paper. But we disagree on some of the specifics.
