I do not understand that objection, since I WAS trying to berate the community.
But anyway, this is about Rick's cred as a journalist, and worth it now, I think.
They've been
talking about calling it a roast. What's better for him, one might think? Pork
roast. Let's turn the temperature up — baked ham.
Fried Bacon.
We're going to
have a little get together to bid farewell to Rick Bacon, regional publisher of
the five papers and the press plant that comprise the Barnwell Region of
Community Newspapers, Inc. Rick's moving on to bigger things, taking over one
of CNI's two new daily newspapers in Florida.
A roast would
be perfect for Rick. It's in keeping with his personality. He loves to joke.
The old Dean Martin roasts often had risqu_ humor, and Rick has been known to
make the ladies in the office blush. Thanks to the nuns at St. Raymond's
Elementary School, I'm a repressed Bronx Irish Catholic boy, so on occasion, he's turned even my
pale face red.
But a roast is
a completely light affair.
I'm not in the
mood for just jokes. Rick's going, and I don't think the community fully
understands what Rick has done here with The People-Sentinel.
I think we
need to have an Irish wake, instead. A roast is food and jokes at a
celebration. A wake is better food, better jokes, songs, some wailing and
screaming. The best ones will have a knock-down drag-out of a fight. An Irish
wake is as fun and funny as a roast, but it has an ironic twist. Ironic because
the reason for the "party" is gone.
Rick would
tell folks he's just a marketing guy who came here with a focus on the
advertising. Or he'd say, "I'm just an ignorant hillbilly," right
before he was set to kill the college boys with their stupidity or lack of
insight.
Rick made the
newspapers in this region some of the best NEWSpapers in the state. If you ask
him how, he'll say he hired good writers and a good editor to herd them.
There's some truth to that. In the last four years, The People-Sentinel has
been named the best large, and The Allendale County Citizen Leader was named
the best small weekly newspapers in South Carolina. Rick's editors and
reporters have pulled in crates of awards. The People-Sentinel was touted in a
college journalism textbook. A textbook example of a good paper, literally.
Hiring people
he says are journalists isn't the only thing he did, however. He indulged his
journalists, and by by doing so, indulged the community, though the community
doesn't know how much.
Here are some
examples.
1) During the
consideration of the regional hospital, we got the request for proposals and
the proposal by the company that was going to come here. I suggested we run
them intact, even though it would take up a lot of space.
Now, a full
page newspaper ad costs about $600. Rick gave me multiple pages to run the
proposals.
2) Our local
high schools are afforded the opportunity to run a full page
"newspaper" in The People-Sentinel each week, if the students choose
to take it. Barnwell High has taken the most advantage of it. If any other
newspaper in the country provides similar space, I'd imagine that it's done at
charge. Barnwell High had more than 30 such pages last year, and is on pace to
meet or beat that number this year. Williston-Elko and Blackville-Hilda High
Schools did pages after the yearbook is completed. Jefferson Davis Academy
wants in now. Allendale-Fairfax High School wants in.
We scan
photos, provide some paper and a little technical advice, but we don't produce
these pages. The students do. But this was Rick's idea, and what he's doing is
giving away a piece of the newspaper that would make him money if ads were on
it. It's an amazing bit of community service for which Rick has never gotten
thanks or credit.
3) During the
Bicentennial Year, we went all out. We usually have two color pics on our A
fronts, maybe three on our community fronts. Color photos require extra time
and effort, and cost an arm and a leg. The Bicentennial parade was featured on
our Community Section front page with more than 30 color pictures. That many pictures
on a weekly's page is rare. That many pics is unheard of. As good as that was,
we beat it. We had a color Community front on the downtown the Fourth of July
stuff, and a color Community page on the fireworks. I thought our Bicentennial
coverage was extraordinary for any newspaper of any size, yet our coverage was
barely mentioned, then quickly dismissed, at the Bicentennial Closing Ceremony.
4) Rick's most
impressive thing, to me, was just letting me tell one story. I covered a murder
trial that ended earlier than expected. The story would have lost its impact if
we pieced it out over weeks. I stayed up 36 hours straight, and in the end, handed
Rick three full pages of stories, complete with photos, detailing a murder, its
effects on a family and on why the trial ended the way it did. It was a good
story, worth telling, but I still thought Rick would say it was too much. But
Rick gave me the space to tell it. He even let me go home and get a couple of
hours rest before I had to come back and do the rest of the news section.
The thing was,
he listened when we told him what we needed, but he never deferred to our
judgment. It was always his decision.
Rick Bacon has
given out color pages and full pages, even though it hit him in his wallet. It
cost him a little, but it was always in the best interests of our readers. He's
not just a marketer, and he's certainly not an ignorant hillbilly.
Rick Bacon is
a journalist. It's the highest praise I know to give.
Barnwell is
losing a talented journalist.
Do you
understand why I want this to be an Irish wake?
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