Intrepid Miami journalist
Chronicling my career journey
Introduction: Amazing what a few vacation days in the Southern Caribbean in Aruba — known as one happy island — can do to recharge and boost my free agent journey to my next career chapter.
Took quick advantage back at the helm of my journey of a networking opportunity inside a Northeast news organization, whose star is on a meteoric rise, to position myself for an interview for an attractive editor opening. The newsroom needs an editor to lead coverage expansion into a region adjacent to its core audience. Clearly, this editor leadership opportunity would be just the kind I relish: an entrepreneurial role with a broad mandate to lead breaking news and a full range of enterprise reporting.
Best of the best opportunities: In my decades-long career as a business reporter and editor, I've been fortunate serving in multiple similar news, business and managing editor editor gigs in Miami, Philadelphia, Chicago, Houston and San Francisco Bay Area. These challenging and rewarding leadership roles offered superb collaboration situations with talented reporters, visual journalists and other editors to produce a vast trove of timely news and distinctive accountability and in-depth reporting, much needed and appreciated in local communities.
While that opportunity takes shape, I'm also fiercely competing for a handful of other enticing leadership roles inside and outside journalism. For perhaps the most exciting and challenging of these positions, already I've had a first interview and am patiently awaiting hopeful word I'll be invited to participate in the second round of interviews.
Of course until I land a job offer, I'm continuing to deliberately and selectively look, with a wide range finder, at other attractive positions for me to deploy my journalism, leadership, innovation, product development and coaching expertise for news outlets, corporate communications departments, media relations and consulting firms, universities or nonprofit entities.
Media insights: Upon returning from vacation this week, two pieces of intriguing journalism-related information grabbed my attention. In some ways, both are related.
First, a CNN journalist completing her first year as an editor recounted in a LinkedIn post highlights of her fulfilling year working with a reporting team. Reading this brought elation, because it's critically important for newsrooms to nurture the next generation of editors. It's easier said than done these days to lure quality reporters to try editing, and to retain young editors when they realize going back to reporting can mean less stress and perhaps more personal rewards. Seeing this rookie editor find her groove early is commendable and encouraging for the future of journalism. Wished her many years of editing success in an encouraging note to her.
Inspired by people, not institutions: For me, the most satisfying, gratifying and inspiring elements of two decades-plus as an editor have been the diverse group of hundreds (probably thousands but have no reliable way to count them) of supremely talented journalists I've collaborated with and am most fortunate to call colleagues, some also friends. I'm in awe of many of them, including a smaller group who are truly among the very best journalists in our great nation over the past half century.
Yes, they have deservedly earned ample recognition and industry hardware, including Pulitzer Prizes. From each and every one of them, including college intern reporters, I've learned valuable lessons about writing, editing, listening, leading, coaching, managing, empathy, humility, pride, honor, dignity that has shaped and improved my editor acumen.
It's these colleagues, these damn good human beings, that power my free agent journey today. No matter how tough it gets here on the sidelines, no matter how shallow my reservoir of patience, I'll never yield and stop competing for more playing time to get back in the game. Have a strong commitment and determination to keep learning, adapting, taking risks, so I can continue contributing to reporters' vital storytelling and giving back to my wonderful journalism profession.
Mapping working journalists: Meanwhile, Muck Rack and Rebuild Local News combined to produce the Local Journalist Index. Depending on your perspective, this deep dive into the journalistic firepower informing every 100,000 members of the U.S. population in each county of each state is either very encouraging or very discouraging.
The obvious top line was unsurprising: Since 2002, the number of working full-time journalists delivering news per 100,000 people has nosedived on average nationwide from 40 nearly 25 years ago to 8.2 today. Basic math shows that 75% decline. You can click on my link above to the report and a map showing just how many journalists there are working for residents in each county of this country.
Where I'm sitting in Palm Beach County, Florida, I'm one of 2.6 journalists for every 100,000 of the 1.53 million people. In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where I got my start many years ago as a cub business reporter, there are 7.2 reporters today per 100,000 of the 558,000 residents.
Communities depend on local journalism: Aside from seeing on one map where the driest news deserts and greenest news pastures are located nationwide, my biggest takeaway from this first-of-its-kind project is that journalism needs all, or as many as possible, of working journalists from rookies to 50-year performers to stay in the game. It's crucial for us to keep fighting to shine light on public corruption, lift up vulnerable people and bring down law breakers and sinister actors who seek to harm others with words and shameful actions. Our local communities and our democracy depend on us.
Thank you for continuing to follow my career journey. Please feel free to connect with me on Substack, LinkedIn or at bombergerpaul@gmail.com. Welcome your career management suggestions and leads for pertinent full-time and contract positions.
