By: centraljersey.com
I have been in the newspaper business for a while.
My early experiences go back to Linotypes and hot lead; click-clacking manual typewriters and wire service teletypes; editing stories with pencils, paper and glue pots.
Of course, I was just a kid fresh out of school and lucky enough to land a part-time job in the sports department at the Boston Globe. Not reporting, mind you, but as a "night hawk," answering phones, collecting high school sports scores and settling bar bets. So much for a degree in English literature.
I soon graduated to writing obits and crime stories on the city desk, working with people who could have been characters in a movie.
From there I worked the sports and news copy desks.
During that time I learned the professionalism, practices and expectations of a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper.
Later, when I started working as assignment editor for a small daily paper, and ultimately the editor of a six-day-week community paper, I took that drive to produce a quality product with me.
However, it soon became clear that the mission of a community paper was not that of a Boston Globe.
The mantra had to be "local, local, local." And, for papers such as The Princeton Packet, that has not changed. If anything, it has to be spoken louder than ever.
Everyone who reads them knows that newspapers, especially the metros, are struggling. To some degree, that is true at smaller papers, especially those owned by national chains.
But if we at papers such as The Packet remain true to our mission, while also adopting and embracing the age of electronic and social media, the future can be bright.
We are able to provide valuable news and information for our readers that can be produced by no competitors.
We can do it through teamwork, dedication and caring about our readers.
But we can’t do it alone. We need your help.
During the next weeks and months we will be reaching out to communities, schools, service organizations, businesses and others.
We still want to provide paper-of-record news and initiative reporting, but we want to become even more interactive with our readers and the communities we serve.
Given the impressive diversity, demographics and history of this region; given the presence of one of the greatest universities in the country; given the variety and scale of businesses and corporations; given the people who live, work, play and pray here; there should be no end to the possibilities.
I admit to being the new kid on the block, a role I became accustomed to while growing up in a military family. But I can listen and learn.
Please e-mail me at [email protected] or call 609-874-2161 with suggestions to make The Packet an even better local newspaper.
Cal Killeen is the managing editor of the Princeton Packet.
