The Gang Of Eight

Grizzled veteran journalists aren’t rocking chair critics who bemoan the new generation of “kids” taking over.  Maybe a little crabby perhaps, but that has its own charm.  

So, I was lucky enough to have former editors, anchors, reporters and a token young person (29 year old Dani Kaeding of Ashland radio station WRNC who talks like she’s 49) chime in about the best of the Duluth-Superior journalism clan. I’ll call this group “The Gang of Eight”.

And really, reporters and photogs are a clan.  Even though they compete to be first and best because there’s a pride in that, they also like to hang out with each other after work.  It used to be the Pioneer Bar by Duluth City Hall. They’re in the trenches together covering news conferences, events, crime, and winter storms during the day and rub elbows at the bar at night.

Granted, there are still a few grizzled beings working in the business, but not many.  Most people get out long before gray hair sets in.  Some say it’s the smart ones who do that. But I say there’s something about this honorable profession that keeps codgers like me and Steve Kuchera and Ron Brochu going.

So, let’s get to it.  

1) Best traits in a news reporter:  Most of this Gang of Eight likes fearlessness and aggressiveness (hopefully without too much aggression).  BusinessNorth co-publisher Ron Brochu calls it aggressive while remaining neutral.

Kaeding nails the one word description:  “Tenacious, determination, honest, integrity, conscientious.”  Former MnDot spokesman John Bray:  “Skeptical, not afraid to ask simple questions, fact check, be courteous and respectful”.  

Ex-TV journalist and ex-talk show host (with probably a few other “exes” we don’t know about) Duke Skorich says an inquisitive mind with the ability to look beyond the immediate story is important.  Pat Kelly, who like Duke, has done it all in broadcasting locally, says simply a “healthy cynicism”.  
 
Former WDIO-TV anchor and Almanac North co-host Denny Anderson likes it when a reporter digs beyond the surface. “A good reporter must be inquisitive.  They must not be a PR agent but rather an investigator.  Compassion is a must”.  

Ah, compassion. That’s the tricky one because members of the Fourth Estate who don’t work for advocacy publications like The Labor World or Indian Country TV have to be impartial. But that doesn’t make us robots. The best reporters have all shed tears and have had knots in their stomachs.
 
Our Grizzled Gang includes many of the same qualities for a news photographer but add a flavor of flakey to it. Brochu calls it “an eye for art”. Kaeding has another angle: “Will do (almost) anything the shot”.  PK says it’s a practical artistic temperament.   

Denny (I can’t call him “Anderson” because he’s Denny to all of us) says the best shooters see things most of us won’t notice like facial expressions, light, angles, things that capture the essence of the story.  Duke (who is sometimes Skorich to many people) says it’s an ability to tell the story without words.  Lovely.  

Former Duluth News-Tribune and Herald Editor and Senior Reporter Publisher Fortner gets the smart guy award for this: “Sees through a glass clearly.”  

He may mean a pane of glass or the glass lens or a shot glass.

The consensus vote for best photographers goes to the DNT’s Clint Austin, Bob King, and WDIO-TV chief photographer John Whaley.  

Now, drum roll.  The Grizzled Gang’s picks of best local reporters.

PK:  Elizabeth Stawicki of Minnesota Public Radio.
Bray: Northland’s News Center anchor Michelle Lee.  On the print side it’s Kuchera, John Myers, Chuck Frederick and (DNT former news editor) Robin Washington.  He says they have “whiskers”.  
Denny:  WDSE’s Native Report reporter and producer Stacey Thunder.  
Brochu:  DNT’s Candace Renalls and Peter Passi.
Kaeding:  WDIO reporter Renee Passal, DNT’s Peter Passi, Sam Cook and Jana Hollingsworth.
Fortner and Duke drew blanks. That doesn’t happen very often.  I’m suspicious.  

This columnist agrees with Ms. Kaeding:  Sam Cook.

We’ll leave you with the winner of the most grizzled answer of best traits of a reporter.  It goes to Larry Fortner.  “Wears a snap-brim fedora with a PRESS card in the hat band. Doesn’t trust anyone except his assigning editor, pretty much. Doesn’t attend Chamber of Commerce events unless expressly ordered to do so by his assigning editor, whom he is beginning to trust maybe a little less.”      

Aw, grumpy, grizzled, wise. Fortner is the whole package.