3 Questions for Cal FitzSimmons
Blog: Everyday Business
March 19, 2010
Let's start close to home by chatting with the new guy in charge of all-things-newsy at the Wenatchee World. Managing editor Cal FitzSimmons, 52, former editor of The Daily News in Longview, has been on the job about two weeks and, yep, we're already pinning him down on his favorite comic strips.
Q. What's your guiding principle for day-to-day journalism?
A.What we do must reflect the community. Crime, tragedy and government meetings are a small part of what this community is about. I prefer stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Those stories are harder to find but the payoff is huge for both the World and our readers.
Q. What's your favorite section of the paper?
A. I read the paper sequentially, from front to back, and I enjoy almost all of it, with the exception of typos and other errors. Unlike most editors I've known, I'm a big comics person and I'm not real impressed with the selection in the World. What strips don't you like? This is asking for trouble, but here you go: Cathy, Mother Goose and Grimm, Hagar and Sally Forth. Oh, and I'm not a big fan of rerunning old strips like Peanuts and For Better or For Worse, which was one of my all-time favorites. I also don't like it when the original artist is no longer or barely involved, as is the case with Blondie and Beetle Bailey. There, that should give everyone a reason to dislike me.
Q. What's the one — or two — innovations or strategies that will help newspapers survive in a New Media world?
A. This isn't exactly groundbreaking, but being intensely local is the key to our future. No matter how many other places you can go for national and world news, you won't find the news or advertising we're gathering here any place else. That has a lot of value whether it's in print or digital form.
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joanne 1 year, 10 months ago
3 Questions for Cal FitzSimmons
Ok, I agree with most of that. Aren't you glad to know that? Comics: Often, old things are worth repeating. Blondie never gets old, nor do For Better or Worse and Peanuts. Mother Goose and Grimm: Yes. Zits: Yes, Cathy and Sally Forth: No Non Sequitur and Baldo: Yes I love Calvin and Hobbes and B.C., too. Where are they? Calvin never stales. I do like the "local" emphasis, and enjoy learning about ordinary people whose work or hobby is unusual or outstanding. Look at Frank Cone. Here he is, a regular person in a regular job, but what great photos he takes. And we all have learned that from the World online. Thanks to those Community Blogs, we all can discover what talents and interests "just ordinary people" have. I don't really think, however, that we have "ordinary people." You'd be surprised at how interesting the guy down the road or the woman in the grocery store can be when you get acquainted. Enough! Welcome, Cal. I look forward to meeting you.
alex39 1 year, 10 months ago
3 Questions for Cal FitzSimmons
Cal, Indeed; I have access to news from around the globe via the internet, The World need not duplicate those stories for me.
Tell me what my friends and neighbors are up to and you'll be giving me news I'm both interested in and can only get here.
But...don't mess with Dilbert. Alex
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