I’m not entirely sure that I understood the world I was stepping into when I arrived at The Durango Herald to begin my first job as a newspaper reporter.
I’ve said many times that to be a local news reporter is to be given a license to explore curiosity. On the very best days, that curiosity leads to stories that hold the powerful accountable or offer some surreal charm. This place is remarkable. Its many beating cultural hearts fascinate me and I have done my best to put a finger on as many pulses as I can reach.
I’ve traversed forest fire burn scars. I’ve sifted through neck-deep stacks of medical bills and real estate transactions. I’ve written stories that delight me, like the one about the 79-year-old recluse who spent 20 years living in the Weminuche Wilderness. The intensity of some others still haunts me.
In short, I’m writing here to say thank you. It’s been a pleasure, mostly, and an honor, always, to be a reporter in this community.
After two and half exhausting, enthralling and fulfilling years, I’m moving on.
Thank you, Durango, for supporting local media. Thank you to the consummate professionals here at the Herald I’ve worked with: my editor, Shane Benjamin, our delightfully sardonic Arts & Entertainment editor and page designer Katie Chicklinski-Cahill, the immeasurably talented Jerry McBride, my fellow reporters and to Richard Ballantine. And thank you to the sources who took a risk and did what’s right when they saw a need for accountability.
Journalism, at its finest, carves channels of understanding through communities. It opens up dialogue and ensures transparency and accountability.
I’m grateful to the people and organizations I’ve covered that understand that a negative story is not inherently an unfair one. We’re on the same side – we all care more about getting it right and doing better than looking good.
Accountability can be finicky when you live and work in a small community. It is rarely comfortable and is often high-stakes. But it’s not a one-way dynamic – if I got something wrong, or someone felt I had been unfair, I could expect to hear about it the next day. And if I made a mistake, I always did my best to own it. I’ve loved that about this job.
Unfortunately, some people choose to express their discontent in less-than-savory ways.
I learned quickly to let the vitriolic emails bounce off without impact. I’ve also been harassed in public by people I angered with my coverage. (The story of a guy dumping his beer down my back at a concert is now lore in my social circle.)
The trolls who lambaste news stories in detailed comments are a bit of a punchline within the newsroom. After all, they’re still participating in the discourse, prompted by and supporting the very coverage they pledge to despise.
The folk singer and social activist Pete Seeger is quoted as saying that participation is what will save the human race. I’d like to think he’s right. That is to say, think what you like of my reporting, or anyone else’s – but participate.
Across the country, journalism is struggling with the confines of its own constitution in a world that doesn’t necessarily abide by the same rules and norms of yesteryear. Local journalism has been hit especially hard – newspapers are disappearing at the alarming rate of over two per week.
The toxic miasma of social media and unprincipled so-called news outlets has swept up local media and made them the object of public disdain. Local news ought to be the thing that communities lean into in times like these.
The oversight of public agencies that no one else does until something goes catastrophically wrong and the stories of levity and humanity that local newspapers try to bring readers are not something you’ll often find from larger-scale news sources.
So I’ll leave you with this: Your local news reporter is always willing to get a cup of coffee. We thrive when listening and learning. Take advantage of that – and participate in the dialogue. Thanks again.
Reuben Schafir was a staff writer at The Durango Herald for over 2½ years. He covered La Plata County government and environment.
