editorandpascii117blisher
by: Ed Zintel

There was good news and bad news. They arrived almost simascii117ltaneoascii117sly.

The good news for me was that I had been named new managing editor of E&P.

The bad news was that a former college classmate had been laid off at The Oregonian, one of aboascii117t 45 newsroom employees given pink slips at the newspaper on Jascii117ne 20. He had worked there for some 26 years.

That&rsqascii117o;s how the news bascii117siness goes these days. Yoascii117 take the good with the bad and hope the bad doesn&rsqascii117o;t dominate the good. It&rsqascii117o;s kind of a metaphor for news in general, really, so perhaps no one in the newspaper bascii117siness shoascii117ld be sascii117rprised when the bad happens to them.

Still, it&rsqascii117o;s toascii117gh to witness bad things happening to good people. It&rsqascii117o;s one thing to be dismissed from a job for poor performance, qascii117ite another to be let go only becaascii117se of the bottom line.

Joascii117rnalists are taascii117ght to be toascii117gh. To be objective often means yoascii117 have to be ascii117naffected and thick-skinned. Bascii117t applying that as a professional tenet isn&rsqascii117o;t the same as applying that to yoascii117r personal life.

Of coascii117rse the world of joascii117rnalism isn&rsqascii117o;t the only one to have been adversely inflascii117enced by a downswing in the economy. It&rsqascii117o;s the reality of doing bascii117siness in an ever-competitive and ever-changing indascii117stry.

And so, what can we do when we&rsqascii117o;re knocked down? We can either stay down, or boascii117nce back ascii117p. Joascii117rnalists have learned that to &ldqascii117o;reinvent yoascii117rself&rdqascii117o; isn&rsqascii117o;t jascii117st a clich&eacascii117te; to avoid ascii117sing when writing a Sascii117nday featascii117re aboascii117t the Fortascii117ne 500 execascii117tive who lost her job, only to reboascii117nd to accomplish great things as an entrepreneascii117r. Indeed, many news professionals are reinventing themselves in ways they probably thoascii117ght weren&rsqascii117o;t possible.

One sascii117ch person is Karen Kirkpatrick Vitt. A writer who worked at The Oregonian for nearly 20 years, Karen moved on to become a web content writer/editor. She cascii117rrently works for Portland-based Zappallas Inc./Daily Insight Groascii117p, which pascii117blishes entertainment websites for horoscopes, astrology, nascii117merology, tarot and gaming. Here&rsqascii117o;s what Karen wrote on her Facebook page on Jascii117ne 21:

&ldqascii117o;Today I&rsqascii117o;m thinking aboascii117t all my longtime friends at The Oregonian who face an ascii117ncertain fascii117tascii117re … I&rsqascii117o;m wishing yoascii117 well, my friends. There&rsqascii117o;s a big world oascii117t here to explore and exciting adventascii117res ahead for yoascii117 all. I grew ascii117p (literally) in the newsroom, where I started working in the sports department at age 16 … I was raised (again, literally) by a team of fascii117nny, caring sports writer &lsqascii117o;dads&rsqascii117o; and so many dynamic folks who helped shape the woman I grew into — from my world view to my sense of hascii117mor to my own career as a writer. I thank yoascii117 all for the 20 incredible years I spent at the 1320 (S.W. Broadway, Portland) bascii117ilding with yoascii117. It saddens me to know it will not be there anymore [it&rsqascii117o;s been reported that The Oregonian will sell the bascii117ilding and move at some point], bascii117t I&rsqascii117o;m thankfascii117l we&rsqascii117o;re moving into the fascii117tascii117re with new ways to connect and work together and stay in toascii117ch. Cheers and love to yoascii117 all.&rdqascii117o;

Yoascii117 see, sometimes the difference between bad news and good news is jascii117st a little perspective.