THREW Mikes EyEz

Original Writings, Images, Video and Artworks of Mike Hartley

Tag Archives: Newspapers


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A weekend, with no end

I used to look forward to the end of the work week and the beginning of the weekend. After almost 2 1/2 years of retirement that feeling is pretty much gone. Only the calendar, pill box, and other people’s schedules that are still working keep me on that cycle.

I do have some weekly goals that do focus on that timeframe but not like a work week. It’s very liberating but also a sense of detachment from the rest of the world. I stay as flexible as possible and try to accommodate other’s schedules.

My professional life in newspapers started off on a weekly basis because I worked for a weekly firm that published 12 local papers and did printing for several other weekly or monthly commercial products in the region. So, everything was tied to a weekly schedule. That went on for 23 years.

A blue banner with white text that reads, 'I love the smell of newsprint in the morning. NEWSEUM.'
I do miss it, the smell of newsprint and some great people, not the grind. Photo by Mike Hartley

Then a sudden shift to a daily newspaper for the last 26 years of my career. That is a strange existence. Daily means 365 days. No break, no holidays, no weekends. It just all blends together. The only differentiation between the week was when I was getting called at home on the weekend instead of being there.

And sometimes during my career the weekend was during others workweek. Most of the time there it never really felt like there was a weekend. So many were interrupted or spent working. I’ve worked hundreds of holidays over the years.

Daily businesses always do their critical work like upgrades, at the least busy times. Could that be weekends, nights, holidays? That was the most exciting and pressure filled work I’ve done. I loved the work I did and the areas I got to work in. It was also brutal on life.

Now I’m into the rewarding part as a senior in retirement. I still have a boss in my better half, and truth be told the kids and grandkids think they are assuming control. My granddaughter has already told me this is her house. And my almost 4-year-old grandson claimed my tractor a few weeks ago

I’ve completely made life about looking at just the next day. Yes, there are a few errands and chores, as there is every day. But that need to get up and go work for someone else for 5 days is history and I feel for my family and friends who are still in that cycle.

Today I put my heart and soul into my hobbies and those close to me.


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Paths today, paths yesterday

I think a lot about paths. I’ve walked a few different ones. All 4 of my newspaper companies had unique paths. I remember the day I drove into the Times building on 8307 Main Street in Ellicott City. This was my entry into the field.

Here is this Newspaper plant in the middle of the sleepy town. Across from the lumber mill and a few doors down from the firehouse, which was a daily reminder as they sped by with sirens blaring to save life and property.

This pathway (below) is behind the old Times building in Ellicott City. That used to lead to a dirt/gravel lot used by employees.

Two individuals walking on a wooden ramp leading to a parking area, surrounded by parked vehicles and bare trees in the background.
A path started in Ellicott City. Photo by Mike Hartley

The small walkway pictured above actually was built on top of that old bridge which if you look closely, you can still see below the freshly constructed walking path. Yeah, we used to drive cars over that rickety structure and park in a lot behind the building.

That is all paved nice big parking lot D now. Both of those bridges are gone now courtesy of the floods last decade and weren’t replaced.

One day my path took me to that Times building where my mom worked to pick her up from the job on the way home from my first semester in Community College. There were two guys just a little bit older than me arguing in a hallway leading to the Composing area. We might have called it flatting back then I think. 1975 was a long time ago so bear with me.

Anyway, the argument escalated and someone said, “you’re fired” and then someone said, “I quit,’ And I heard one gentleman mumble now I got to hire someone. BINGO. I spoke up and said I was looking for part-time work. And so, my career (didn’t know it at the time) began. That part-time gig quickly turned into full-time with as much overtime as I could work, which was anywhere between 20-30 additional hours a week.

I was just starting my second semester at the time and funds weren’t plentiful. Plus, I was working in a photo reproduction/engraving area. Which was somewhat related to my Applied Art and Design major. Well, those hours and paychecks quickly became more important than school so my career in Newspapers had begun and college came to a close.

I always park in that lot now behind the building and look at it. And think of those days over 50 years ago. I was standing on that bridge for the last picture they took of me for last employee edition of the company paper when we bought out in 79.

Random Thoughts of the Day

  • I like jerk seasoning much better on chicken than shrimp. Secrets in OC has some good jerk chicken.
  • Some doctor visits can give you a good perspective on what is important in life and what is the small stuff.
  • I just noticed on the bag of animal crackers that the animals are no longer in their cages. Lions and tigers, oh my.
  • So much for the rule of law. Being that’s been usurped I’ll be making my own.


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Dirt Monitor

In doing some sorting I found this draft from over a decade ago. It’s a shot of a pressroom monitor I took from when I worked at The Washington Post. It’s from the Maryland plant where there were 4 press lines. Pressrooms are dirty places. Even with enclosed control rooms.

I worked on a press in the 70s and it was all out in the open. Started flying papers off the folder and then learned how to do roll changes, brake adjustments, plate changes, operate the forklift and clamp trucks, unload trailers of fresh paper and eventually getting to set water/ink/speed. Very little temperature or humidity control so it was always a challenge to keep the presses running without web breaks. There was lint everywhere and ink on most exposed skin.

From the WP Pressroom Photo by Mike Hartley
From the pressroom. And yes, they cleaned them. Photo by Mike Hartley

It was never full-time gig out there. I worked in the Engraving department, but they were always short-staffed or had issues with the old press and missed deadlines. It was overtime most of the time so that was great. And if the old timers could get someone at 20 to do the heavy lifting, they could work with that. Learned a lot about printing climbing around that jungle gym. I was a 9-unit Goss Suburban. 4 on one end and 5 units stacked on the other side that we ran color and larger editions.

That first job in newspapers I work the longest average hours per week, longer hours in one stretch more times and physically harder than at any job since. It was a great experience and the knowledge I gained there was incredible. It was a nightmare at times and the best of times. I still have a very good friend from that over 5 decades later.

So, here’s to an art, craft and science that is fading from existence. The Pressman. A group of people doing a tough physical job that requires a lot of skills. You usually are working rotating shift because a lot of newspapers print at night. They keep those presses running at other times, but the bulk is in the evenings in most cases. You always had my respect. It was a little more dangerous, physical and dirty in the old days but it’s still a hard job even today.

Just an FYI. The downtown plant closed a year after I started there. The College Park MD printing plant this monitor was from, closed in 2009/2010, and the last remaining printing plant of the originals in Springfield I hear will close at the end of this year.


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Memory

Two wonderful partners and I started a business in this building a long time ago. I’ve always loved the look of this structure, and it’s always great returning to the town I started my newspaper career in.

Photo by Mike Hartley

Having the Patapsco River right beside it was a beautiful and calming thing. Except when it rained hard. That stream can turn into a raging river in no time.

Photo by Mike Hartley

The OEC (Old Ellicott City) sign wasn’t there when we were residents.

Photo by Mike Hartley

I have great memories each time I wander this town. Unfortunately, the days of a local community newspaper have passed it seems.


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The Miracle on 15th Street

I worked at The Washington Post for 26 years. The former Miracle on 15th Street. Yesterday’s news of layoffs by the hundreds of people hurt to hear. I saw people I knew on LinkedIn yesterday saying they were some of the affected and putting their names and skills out there for new jobs. And what a time and industry to be looking for work.

In my opinion, Jeff Bezos had some guts in the beginning but then lost his nerve and bent the knee to Trump. And in its wake is the remnants of a once proud institution. And if it continues on its present course will soon be a complete non-factor. Wonder what happened to that golden touch.

But then again, he didn’t lose his golden touch, he’s continued to get much, much richer. The Post is just a pawn to keep those other ventures thriving. It’s a sacrificial lamb. He knows nothing about the business or integrity or truth. The Washington Post is like a nickel and penny and some lint in his pocket.

It is my opinion that he missed a very important and special opportunity to change history. He could have led the change. But no, he chose to follow the path he’s always taken. Chase that $$$. Hey, nobody is perfect. It would have taken a lot of courage to tell the narcissist with dementia to shove it and then compete with his lies. But of all the people on earth in a position and opportunity to do that, you didn’t.

Hey, I understand, new wife. You can push off on one of I guess many ocean-going vessels or planes and leave this country anytime you want. It’s an easy call not to want to deal with the crazies in this country. Why put yourself in danger of the extremist that would take your challenge like general on the other side leading the charge against them.

But even with all that said, maybe if you didn’t back the movie Melania, you could have saved these layoffs. If you have no future intentions to let the Post regain its integrity, mission and place in the industry, please consider selling to someone who is.

I just hoped if I were in your shoes I would have made a different choice.

To those losing their jobs. My heart goes out to you and your families. I wish you much luck and success in your future.

Lobby of the old Washington Post building. Photo by Mike Hartley


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A paper boy

I let my mind wander when I took this photo. My first job ever was a paperboy. That can be hard work if you don’t like riding a bike and carrying a big sack over each shoulder and having full baskets on each side. But I loved riding bikes, and I was young and foolish and didn’t know how much my back would hurt from that and years of abuse after it with heavy loads.

That was the way it was done when I was growing up. Not some people in a car, whipping them out of the window. We used to have paper boxes that were attached to mailboxes. Well, in full disclosure, my mom did feel bad for me a few times when the snow was deep and got the car out and helped me with rounds. But an inch or two on the roads was passable on a bike. It was just COLD.

How much longer will the sight of a Newspaper on sidewalk Photo by Mike Hartley
How much longer will the sight of a Newspaper on sidewalk be seen. Photo by Mike Hartley

Really, I was thinking how much longer an image of a paper sitting on a driveway or sidewalk will be around? I’ve had some talks with people who have been in the industry and that day doesn’t seem far off as it once did. The pace of change keeps rolling along. To me it’s a symbol of what this country has become. We don’t make squat anymore.

While the flow of information, opinions, images, videos fly around at the speed of light. It also does it in a very superficial way in some cases. There used to be a tabloid rag called the National Enquirer. A totally sensationalist publication. Extreme headlines and stories. A mix of controversy, titillation, and fantasies all rolled into a print publication. Now people want that in their hourly updates and that it to be fresh trash every few minutes at the most.

Not only that, think of what you’re missing. The other day I found the clipping of my mother’s mother, wedding announcement from an old local paper. My kids will find clippings of me playing little league baseball and our wedding announcements. And pictures. My parents and my generation may be the last to print out photos in any great quantity or have newspaper clippings to pass to the next generation.

Well, there is no such thing as a big daily anymore. And your local paper probably has disappeared years ago or is a shell of itself and will fall. Even the big ones have had huge print circulation losses. But in some ways are more read now than in the past with the online efforts some have undertaken. Not in every case though.

That is the issue. How does the industry make money when things change so rapidly in the online world. Only time will tell as technology, tools and trends keep changing. I do miss the days of kids delivering them on bikes. The guy in the old car doesn’t slow down to wave.

Really, I have no worries. I mean you’re always going to need newspapers if you live in Maryland and enjoy eating crabs, right? And that is a lot of people, so I guess I’m safe for a little while.

I do have a prediction for our local market. The Baltimore Sun will cease print within this decade even though they are owned by Sinclair. And I think there is a decent chance The Washington Post will cease when commercial printing along with their own cost more than its worth. And that day will certainly be within the next decade.

My guess is the last day the last press is taken offline and there are no more newspapers, the Internet will go DOWN. That would be Karma. Then I could tell my grandchildren why what I did for 5 decades was relevant.


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Two things

This date 9/11 has two significant meanings to me. First, it’s my mother’s birthday. And obviously it’s the date of those tragic terror attacks. How quickly events like that fade from people’s priorities to pause for a few minutes this morning and respect all those that perished that day. Those who continue to perish because they worked at that site, those in our armed services that have fought that threat from that day forward.

Wall of Newspaper front pages on 9/11/2001 from around the world at the Newseum. Photo by Mike Hartley

It was the only one of my mother’s birthdays that I wasn’t with her that day in 2001. I had planned to take off early and be with her for the afternoon and dinner but that didn’t work out, being it was such a busy news day.

Her birthday is a day I’m able to smile about a little bit. The anniversary of her passing is more difficult. If there is any goodness in me it’s because of her. Raising my sister and I from an early age and being both provider and both parents was incredible. Long before there was help and support for that kind of thing.

She was from a generation and time that endured a lot. And she had many personal and medical challenges. But she always came through them. She worked hard, she was strong, sometimes outspoken but very respectful, compassionate, charitable and loving. She believed there are good in everyone.

I love her and miss her but feel she is part of me always. Happy Birthday Mom.

Mom and I in simpler times.

9/11 Memorial/Museum


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Hindsight

Write about a time when you didn’t take action but wish you had. What would you do differently? – A difficult question from the daily writing prompt.

I was on the tail end of my work career when Jeff Bezos purchased The Washington Post. I had worked in the newspaper industry for just about 4 decades at that point. We were leaving the home I had for years on 15th street in DC.

The company was also going through a huge shift in people also, and many of the old timers like me were either leaving on their own accord or by other means. I actually think they thought I would leave also after they decentralized my UNIX Admin group.

I was moved to lead another group at nights again, but it was different work than I had enjoyed in the past. I should have left then but the lure of working at a newspaper I admired at the time and a new challenge was interesting.

The first year wasn’t bad, but that changed quickly and the last 9 years were difficult at best. And boy was I wrong about those things that kept me there. I should have moved to a government gig and got the medical benefits after retirement but I didn’t.

Thankfully all that nonsense is behind me and I’m retired. I did enjoy most of my time at the Post. I saw the other day it was Don Grahams birthday. I started there when his mother Katherine Graham was running it. Those were special days. And I consider both of them Special People.

Lobby of the old Washington Post building. Photo by Mike Hartley

Opinion – I think Jeff Bezos missed one of the great opportunities in history. He has a platform to stand up to that crap that is going on in our country now, and he chose to buckle under in the name of greed and kiss the orange ones behind.


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Missing

I think I figured out what was missing in my home office. I have a small desk flag but what I had behind my office at work was a bit more obvious.

My old office at One Franklin Square used to be very near these flags. If I turned my chair around, I had a good view of them. I’d pass by them on this wall display, several times a night going up to the Editorial floors or out to the computer rooms.

They were the flags that flew outside the entrance to The Washington Post on 15th Street. In meetings on the 3rd floor from that site I would see them waving outside. I really liked the 15 Street building. It felt like a real newspaper. Even after the presses were moved out it still had that feeling.

Since my retirement just over a year ago, I thought I might have more trouble stepping away from the intensity, pressure and that daily deadline cycle of excitement. It was surprisingly easy except for the sleep issues. I don’t miss that grind. I certainly don’t miss the commute. And with the return to the office 5 days a week, that wouldn’t work for me any longer.

I feel for those friends who don’t have the flexibility they once had.

Management told me the times are changing. And they did. Ownership change, technology change, location change, personnel change, all things I’ve experienced before, many times. I changed with them for 5 decades, but it wasn’t the natural fit it always had been in the last few years.

And that’s okay because nothing lasts forever except some loves and passions. All my work experience has been great. Oh, I had bad days and ran into some bad people, but you’re going to get that just about anywhere. People can make or break a job no matter how much you love your work.

Thankfully a majority were good. Some great. I’m still in touch with a lot.

But back to what is missing. I think I’ll get one of those nice triangle frames that could hold the flag that was over my father’s casket at Arlington. I’ll put it over a nice pen and ink sketch of the Destroyer he was on in WWII. The office needs some more family touches.


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Decade ago

A decade ago this past August, I went to the Newseum in Washington DC with my Daughter. I remember it raining, but that didn’t put a damper on the day with her at all, because every minute with her is a gift. If my memory serves me right now, she had gotten me tickets as a birthday gift.

It was fun seeing her interested in my business, having worked in Newspapers for 4 decades at that time. I ran 3 pictures in that original post on August 16th 2014 and talked about the day. I came across the folder and realized there were a few more fuzzy shots I didn’t share on that first posting.

Newseum in Washington DC in 2014. Photo by Mike Hartley

I can still remember her smiles, and I have a few personal shots of her from that trip. Now thinking back on that day, it means the world to me. She knows more about what I did for almost 5 decades.

My grandchildren will never know about it because it won’t be here in their generation. I have a project I’m thinking about that might change that, if I have enough years left. I’m not sure the pressroom in Springfield will be around much longer for the kids to visit if I could swing it from one of the old timers who still might be there. I’ll have to add that to the goals list in the next few years.

Newseum in Washington DC in 2014. Photo by Mike Hartley

I also went back and read those words from that day. And the thoughts on TRUTH in Journalism are still very true today, but muddier than when I wrote this original piece.

Here are some of the other shots I took that day of the Newseum which no longer exist. Just like a lot of good journalism. Fact checked, verified and always looking for the truth. Trouble is now there are so many Truth versions nobody believes anything or only one thing from one source which is also dangerous.

Newseum in Washington DC in 2014. Photo by Mike Hartley

I’m glad to be out of the business now. Having a target on my back because of the place I worked in Trumps first term and being called the enemy of the people wasn’t fun and I’m glad I don’t have to go through that again. The threats and security ramped up quite a bit during those years.

Newseum in Washington DC in 2014. Photo by Mike Hartley

You wouldn’t catch me going downtown to work there without some protection now. And that’s not legal so I’m glad I don’t have to cross that line. Of course, that knife I carried for years wasn’t legal either. But if you work nights in DC you had better be prepared if you got a walk to the garage or subway.


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Yet another reason

I was reading this morning in The Washingtonian that The Washington Post is telling it’s staff it’s back in the office 5 days a week. Boy, am I glad I’m retired! I could never get used to going back and forth to that site after working at home for the last few years.

I feel for the people who had made a better life and avoided that horrendous commute downtown and the associated problems in working there. The cost of parking, expensive food options, crime, and other perks await them again.

That new office never felt like home anyway. I wish them all well, there are some good hard-working honest people there. For some reason, I’m suspicious of the collaboration reason and leaning more towards the control one. Just my opinion.

Also it could be a way to thin the herd being they just lost so many subscribers. Only time will tell. Hard to predict what song Jeff is telling them to sing now.

Jukebox. Photo by Mike Hartley


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I don’t like it

As a former employee of The Washington Post I’m disappointed with the GUTLESS call not to endorse someone for President. To me, that is equivalent to not voting. And if people forfeit their vote they forfeit their right to comment and complain. So drop the News and Opinion section and put the masthead on the sports or style section.

And Mr. Lewis, I listened to you speak when you first came to the Post last year and I thought there was a man and leader in you. I guess my first impression was misguided. You should have told Jeff to shove it and run it anyway.

And yes it’s about money, it’s always about money. And that is why greed is killing this country. Some may think you saved TWP, but I would beg to differ. You took away its one credible piece. It’s integrity.

The Washington Post used to have a slogan before “Democracy Dies in the Darkness”. It was “If you don’t get it, you don’t get it.” I don’t think you got what the Post was about. I don’t know if you didn’t try or didn’t understand. So go buy a bigger boat or another home or whatever it is you do with those vast sums. You can go to any country in the world. The rest of us live here with your piss poor decision.

Oh, the World Series is on and rumor has it the Sports department might be backing one team or the other so make sure to squash that nonsense. I’ll have someone call the Style section because they might be thinking of endorsing a clothing line or two. Make sure to get to the Local Living group because they could be evaluating the best pumpkin patches to visit this weekend. If your going to do something be consistent about it at least.

Bowing to bullies doesn’t get any respect.

When people asked where did I work, I was always proud to say The Washington Post. Now I’m trying to formulate what my new answer is.

I feel bad for all the people you have let down in the process though. It appears the wrecking ball isn’t finished.

The old Washington Post building on 15th and L Street was torn down in 2016 I believe. We were moving out of this building about 9 years ago. Photo by Mike Hartley


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What I miss

A few things I miss (and don’t) about a job

I miss everything and nothing about my job. And I’m fine with retirement after a few weeks.

I miss seeing some of the people as often as I did. But have replaced that and the time I had to spend with others I don’t miss, with people I like is nice.

I thought I would miss being challenged or having a manager to challenge me. Nope, I’m fine with this because I’ve often challenged myself more. And I like being in charge, for a change of pace.

I do miss being part of an organization and people that I thought were doing an important service for society. So I do have to find a way to replace that.

I do miss messing with people who think they know everything.

I miss my office chair, it’s more comfortable than my home one.

I miss watching the power plays, games, and maneuvering people do to get ahead at work.

I do miss having a second home but am relieved I no longer have to commute to it.

I do miss standing shoulder to shoulder with valued co-workers doing difficult things in difficult times. And of course, I miss the fun times and laughter we shared very much.

I miss the “thank yous” after helping people on the job. But I hope to replace that soon.

I don’t miss night shifts.

I miss the excitement of the daily news cycle and deadlines all day long causing a constant flurry of action and reactions.

In some ways, I miss the pressure of having a machine and keeping it running at all times, and if it had a hick-up we had better have it fixed before someone sneezed. No failure to publish under my watch.

I do miss sharing my knowledge with people. Helping them grow and avoid problems.

I don’t miss being stuck in Washington DC traffic or the streets trying to eat my car.

I do miss the prestige of The Washington Post nameplate. But hopefully, I’ll have enough time to be proud of the one I create for myself now.

The elevator lobby of the old Washington Post building. Photo by Mike Hartley


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Company Man

I’ve been a big supporter of the companies I’ve worked for throughout my career. I worked my ass off for these companies. I’ve sacrificed for these companies. I believed in these companies. I believed in the people working their asses off side by side with me. I’ve defended and sometimes even been a public face for them.

I believed in the mission these companies stood for and provided to the communities I lived in. I was proud and honored to work at each of them. I gave it my all, well most days, nobody’s perfect. I worked with the most inspiring people. I worked with the most talented people. I worked with the most respected people. I worked for some great leaders, publishers, editors, writers, photographers, technicians, and every other person who supports and makes a news organization run.

I have great respect for those behind the scenes and in the production and support areas that keep those news machines moving 24/7/365. Without fail, without pause, regardless of conditions, with ingenuity, with guile, with dedication.

Select your companies carefully. Photo by Mike Hartley

I never believed when I started in the mid-70s that the profession of local and national journalism would be mistrusted, despised, and hated. But coming out of that 2000-2008 timeframe and depression the dynamic changed. And continued to this day. 

I feel like I was kind of blessed to work in the era I did, with the people I did, with the companies I did. Today is my last day with The Washington Post. And formerly of Zip Publishing, Patuxent Publishing, and Stromberg Publishing. Almost 5 decades flew by in the blink of an eye. And yes I did enjoy the journey. And a special thanks to all those I encountered along the way for all the laughs and successes at the same time.

So tomorrow I’ll be working for the company of my better half, my children and grandchildren, my friends, and of course here at TME. I might be retiring from Newspaper Publishing but I hope to be publishing for a long time to come both here and in other spots. Professionally who knows what’s ahead?


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Full Stop

Down to my final few weeks of working for the job that pays the bills. I guess this is where the term “FULL STOP” comes from. I was going to argue that analogy but really I do have to exit one boat and get on another. I’ve been riding a ship called the Miracle on 15th Street for almost 26 years now.

As with any voyage it’s had its rough seas. But also some beautiful sailing ones that I will reflect on the rest of my life. I’ve had a couple of my past managers reach out and say some very appreciative and touching things to me which are very personal. Also thanks from co-workers and current managers.

Ride the Dragon. Photo by Mike Hartley

I spent last night talking to my friend Jake who’s been there almost 50 years which is about the time also have in the industry. We have seen and experienced so much. We both smile and chuckle throughout the conversation. We sometimes pause and reflect on co-workers that have passed that we were close with.

We talk of difficult times, situations, people, environments and on the flip side the many positive ones that both brought laughter and sadness for days we missed. For instance even though those old buildings on 15th Street were a mess and had roaches and rats, it was so much more of a feeling of home than that sterile office now on 13th that is leased. It had character, history and feeling. Even though the presses were taken out of downtown and printing plants in College Park and Springfield were doing the production it still had that Newspaper Office substance. I mean decades of cigarette stained walls, the many years of experience manning the desks, banging out stories and running out to catch the next scoop. Despite the cleaning I don’t think they ever got rid of all the paper lint or ink stains around the place till it was torn down.

We talked of the printing plants, the data center moves, the disaster systems. We remembered the significant events in history that happened and challenged us like 9/11. We remembered successes and some screwed up situations. We ran through the many systems we have installed, supported and replaced over time and the trials and tribulations with them.

We have memories, many of them. We have senses of accomplishment and also sadness that it’s coming to an end. That sense of loss and a end of one thing I’ve been doing all my life is what I will cycle through the next two weeks and a night.

I’ll have more conversations, more laughs, more goodbyes. I’ll stay in touch with some and others will fade. I will probably ramble on in the future about the experience but in these last days I’m soaking it in, feeling proud of the effort, knowing I made a difference many times along the way and that a lot of it went unseen. And that is okay also because many of us who work behind the scenes in producing that daily paper do it every day with pride. If I’m lucky in the next two weeks I’ll have a spotless record of never failing to publish under my watch.

I’ve enjoyed working with so many professionals along the way. Many who shared valuable knowledge, skills and information both in work and personally along the way that made me much better. I hope I’ve done the same along the way and shared my knowledge and experience in both work and life with others. I feel I have and that is a good feeling also.

One final thought today. With the demise of the local and daily papers and the mistrust in any publications nowadays I hope people reflect on what we once had. A society of trust based on peoples best efforts to bring truth and facts to our everyday lives as well as the positive things from little Jimmy hitting his first little league home run to the local teachers doing wonderful things, to the local governments and the community of volunteers that help so many with so little so much.

Lots of important things are lost without news that is trusted. They raised issues that people need to address but in a context of communication and understanding from both parties to work towards something better.

Maybe that pile of wood pulp fashioned into fact checked words and images that landed on your doorstep or driveway or paperbox had more significance in our society than we thought.

I did a quick Google – How many local newspapers have closed in the US?

“Co-authored by Northwestern visiting professor Penny Abernathy and project director Sarah Stonbely, this year’s report marks the sixth edition of the “State of Local News” project. The researchers found that since 2005, the U.S. has lost nearly 2,900 newspapers and 43,000 journalists.Nov 16, 2023″

Random Thoughts of the Day

  • If you can get around all the negative stuff, there is a lot to enjoy in life.
  • A good way to avoid the negative stuff is to leave the TV off.
  • Get up, Get out, Get healthy.
  • I have neglected to factor illnesses like covid, flu, colds, rsv, and into my holiday schedule. So I don’t have time for you now so see me next year.
  • Our realities are very interlinked. It’s our minds that are far apart.
  • I will miss my doctor asking me “if I’m still bleeding ink” at my visits. That is his way of asking if I’m still working in newspapers. I told him that was a phrase we lifers used a long while back.


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Navigating change

What a tricky business Publishing has become. Everyone is in search of their own sustaining strategy in a market that seems to be still contracting.

There aren’t what is called publications of record now. The trust is gone. You’re identified as one side or the other even if you tried to stay in the center lane. People don’t believe things from what was trusted medical journals to their community papers if they still have one.

It’s kind of funny that when the internet was first gaining popularity people warned about not trusting everything you might read on it. Somehow that has permeated every written word and publication on or off the internet.

Who will the new pillars of publishing be and what form will they be? Photo by Mike Hartley

And it seems to have turned off new readers because if you’re skeptical to start why would you spend time on a long story? A lot of people at one time would get multiple publications. Many times of varying opinions and positions. I think there is a saying that the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

The model for sustaining a publishing business has become a reach for everyone. Especially in print but even broadcast has been shaken to its core. The engine that drives it (advertising) has become an unpredictable beast. Classified and display advertising is what paid for those reporters covering your local courthouse or the fireman from the station down the street who rescued the family pets from a burning home.

It paid for the photographers who took the great shots at the local ballfields of your kids. It paid for the paper and ink that printed it, the postage, or the drivers who brought it to your homes. Well, that cash cow of advertising has left the barn.

And right now, only a few have found the cow and are having trouble getting it back to the barn.

In some ways, it’s been gut-wrenching to watch my newspaper industry once proud and providing an important mission along the way, become a shell of itself, with few left struggling to find their way. So many talented and dedicated people that covered their communities for decades and sometimes a century or more. So much history and knowledge.

A recent person with immense power called a majority of the world’s most respected publications “the enemy of the people” which further eroded any trust. It’s not publications that are the enemy of the people. It’s the people that are now the enemy of the people.

Everyone has their own beliefs and positions and that is a good thing. The trouble is now every other opinion or fact or view is WRONG if it doesn’t align with theirs. And that isn’t right.

Publications make mistakes because people make mistakes. Lots of respected publications go to great lengths to make sure mistakes don’t make it to print. Trying to ascertain the truth and facts with as much knowledge that can be brought to bear at that moment in time. Lawyers and editors fact-check and get verification from multiple sources.

And regardless if these publications printed that the Pope is Catholic you would have some that would say fake news.

After almost 50 years in the business here I am doing my own publishing thing with this blog. I don’t know what tangents I’m going to go off on yet. I hope most of it is focused on my photography and if I can get some good art or carvings together maybe that.

I love sharing my random thoughts and I’m going to try to stay as positive as I can. But life isn’t always that way so from time to time I’m sure I’ll stray.

I know I’m finding the more I do the more ideas I get and the more I have to keep me busy.

Random Thoughts of the Day

  • My better half is a good interior decorator.
  • Monday is special for a few personal reasons. Both of them are brand new.
  • Ideas abound, but time does not.
  • Don’t let less-than-perfect tools stop you from getting perfect results.
  • Sometimes you just have to appreciate the small accomplishments of the day.


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Sunday speed

Well, the weekend flew by and I’m figuring today will be no exception to that rule so I’m starting this early in the hope of having time to do something of substance between the chores and working for the man tonight. I’ve written some of my feelings about sports and me. And below that the countdown to retirement. And of course some Random Thoughts.

Now there is a creative way to get a child to use a toothbrush. Photo by Mike Hartley

Sports and Me

Sports is losing its appeal to me. Greedy owners, gambling, and some athletes’ attitudes and choices/examples all conspire to make it a less enjoyable experience. Not to mention the very wild interpretation of officiating from time to time. Don’t get me wrong, there are a ton of quality people in sports for the right reasons. Most athletes do some wonderful things for those less fortunate and some set a great example of human beings.

But what had been standards for decades have fallen apart. My example is college sports and conferences. What once were great rivalries and regional sources of pride are all gone. Add that to college athletes moving from school to school year to year is like watching pro teams that change the pieces more than they stay the same.

Gone are the days when college kids committed to a University, developed as players and people, and stayed the 4 years. I think back to the National Championship team of Maryland in 2001-2002. 3 of the starters were seniors, 1 junior and one sophomore rounded out the starting lineup. The first 4 guys off the bench were all seniors or juniors. In other words, EXPERIENCE – 4 players from that team went to the Pro’s.

Now if you see talent they are going pro in the first year or two. A lot of them are busts in that move. And then if you stick in college for a year or two you go to a better opportunity or more visible one at another school.

But let’s move on to something that my perception of has changed greatly. Pro and College Football are modern-day gladiators, leaving pieces of themselves in arenas around the country. Strength Speed and Techniques have changed the dynamic. The game hasn’t changed, the bodies within the field have. The 6-foot 180 lb lineman has been replaced by the 6’5″ 310+ lb behemoth of a man. Most kickers are bigger than most past position players. And fast, so fast that many still stare in awe each week at bursts of speeds by various players.

I hate to say this, but it’s only a matter of time before someone isn’t revived on a nationally televised broadcast. Then there is the brain. As someone who has had several concussions, I worry greatly about my future and the mental effects of them. I understand the love of a game no matter what it is. I also know that they are smart enough to be worried about those effects and some are probably thinking about playing fewer years.

It’s not just greedy owners or players. Fans have also changed. Passion has been replaced by fanaticism. Mix in some booze and gambling and loss of a normal perspective and you have some dangerous situations when you mix two opposing teams.

Worrying about point spreads or the over/under or parlays or whatever gambling terms I’m not familiar with, change the way fans view, act, and react at games. We have already seen several examples of fans being upset at a player who didn’t score enough for their bet. This was true for the local Washington basketball team in this article earlier this year.

Sports also changed from the common man to the elitist perk. Going to any major college or pro sporting event is something the common man has to think about the money involved. But corporations and the well-to-do buy-up seats like I pour gravy over stuffing later this week. And if you find seats in the upper areas they still want the arm, leg, and firstborn to attend.

The NCAA has been a failure. I love the change Major League Baseball made to speed up the game this past year and it has increased my viewing and interest. To me, baseball hasn’t forgotten the fans as much as other sports.

Sports is big business, just like gambling is big business. Now that they have merged it’s all money.

I will always enjoy playing any sport. I will always enjoy watching a sport be it the kids in the local little league, my Maryland Terps basketball team, the Yankees and Orioles going head to head, or maybe a Green Bay Packers game with my son someday.

I just feel bad for the youth because they don’t have my perspective on what I feel is being lost in modern sports. The true meaning of the joy of competition. I bet if people put in more time on their jumper, they would have a lot more fun instead of their faces in a smartphone making bets.

Countdown

About 3-4 years ago I started a little countdown. I had grown frustrated with the direction in our area and to keep my focus and still have a goal I could look forward to I started counting down the weeks till retirement. Little post-it notes that I would keep a countdown till what I thought would be my retirement date. Week by week I’d tick off a number. It was my little reward at the end of each week for working hard regardless of the circumstances around me.

Well, about 2 1/2 years ago I was fortunate enough to be able to work from home for the remainder of my career. I can’t tell you how that has made the last of my work time much more pleasant. Having to commute to the middle of Washington DC isn’t a good experience. And after doing that drive for over two decades of almost a hundred-mile round trip it was such a load off my personal life that the job was OK again.

I lost track of the number of weeks. That was till a few weeks ago when the company decided that date for me. A bit earlier than I thought but I’m fine with it now. Things are working out and I will be off for the New Year holiday instead of working. And I’ll be off all future holidays if all goes well and every other day for that matter.

But the weeks are down now to a single-digit number. And that is a good feeling indeed.

There are a few people I will miss. Ones I’ve shared many years, trials, and experiences with. Many have retired before me that I have missed a long time. Of course, I will miss the action. If I didn’t enjoy the chaos and pressures of working in the daily publishing business I would have left it decades ago.

I will miss the news cycle and seeing information and images come in before they are published. I will miss keeping up with technology. I will miss the smell of ink and paper when I go to the plant. I will miss the activity and electricity on election nights. I will miss being part of The Miracle on 15th Street.

Which leads me to a sudden realization. I didn’t start out with this plan. I worked hard for many opportunities and had others come along. I’ve worked in many capacities within my industry and learned many wonderful things. I’ve been blessed working with a lot of very good people along the way. Yeah, some assholes also, but luckily they were far outnumbered by good people. I like to laugh and found a great number of people who also liked humor. You had to have humor in high-stress environments.

And as I enter the final weeks I’m glad I made the decisions along the way I did. Were they always the right ones? I did pass a few management opportunities. Also some other technical ones. Only the ones I did make count and I’m very happy with the work I’ve done along the way.

I’m so glad that the relationships along the way have remained so strong and active. And that is a blessing. I hope others can feel fulfilled in their jobs when they reach the end of them. Especially my own children.

Random Thoughts of the Day

  • I admire a child’s creativity and freedom of expression.
  • A snowball still tastes great in 50-degree weather. Only 3-4 more weeks before they close for the season. Then I get to Jones for 3 months till they open again and signs of spring arrive to rescue me from the cold.
  • Be something special to your children and grandchildren.
  • Too many of us are just out for ourselves. That is a sad thing to say.
  • Being around children gives me hope. Most young people give me hope. It’s the adults that panic the crap out of me.


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Writing on the wall

I write on the walls with pictures. Looking at the wall behind me I have probably over 100 images from a beloved building we worked in for decades that was sold and was to be torn down. In those last days, people took to writing on the walls, leaving messages that captured the meaning and times of the building and what was done there.

I wish I had taken the time to capture each one. I was just going around snapping a few memories of what once was a bustling place of thousands. And now it’s just a memory. But those pictures I have arranged to make into something else are ones of many writing on the walls. No longer dust in a landfill, they have life. Now if I can just decide on what I want to make with them.

As I’ve gotten older I’ve seen a lot of industries that have had writing on the walls and then they are gone. Like the Newseum below, gone from our collective history. I’m so glad I got a chance to go there before it closed.

Wall of front pages on 9/11/2001 at the now-closed Newseum. Photo by Mike Hartley

The writing on the wall is there for all of us eventually. But I’m still alive and kicking and I’ll keep cranking out what I can to fill my walls and others. This reminds me, I have to find a place with old office partitions for sale that I can use to display some of my work. I’m pretty sure I’m exceeding the usable wall space already.

That won’t stop me from printing. I just fired it up so let me get some production in progress. Be well all.

Random Thoughts of the Day

  • I’m about to overdose on College Basketball this weekend.
  • Momentos make me smile.
  • Worry can be disabling emotion.
  • Time to eat well for a few days.


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Ink and paper

Ink – No not the tattoo kind. The kind a printer would tell you he bleeds when cut. When I first started in the newspaper industry I had the opportunity to work in the pressroom for a while. My main department was engraving but the press crew was either short or behind most of the time so it looked like an interesting toy to learn. And what a toy it was. An old 9-unit Goss Suburban web offset press. 4 units on one end and 5 on the other, folder in the middle.

Presses back in the 60s and 70s were machines that you crawled up on and in between most of the time. Not like the modern console controls of current technology. Days when the press was stopped to change rolls of paper. Days when you had plate changes. When manual ink adjustments were made while it was running and you were kneeling or hanging on a side rail and step making adjustments. Brake controls were by hand. Roll changes were by brute force.

Roll (butt) ends from the press. Also doubles as a crab placemat. Photo by Mike Hartley

But before you got to any of the fun stuff you had to “fly papers.” In addition to the dirty work, cleanup, and washdown, you had to learn to fly papers and be good at it. This involved two people, one standing on each side of the conveyor leaning over and scooping up papers as they came off the press in increments of 25 or 50 depending on the size of the paper. You would then turn quickly to a small table behind you to “jog” papers. Getting them perfectly aligned, turn pick up the next batch, jog and then stack on top of the previous stack and put that on a skid before you have to grab the next batch.

If I remember correctly when they were in a hurry which seemed to be all the time the press top speed was around 18,000 copies per hour. That’s about 300 a minute. So between 2 people you were picking up 6 bundles a minute, jogging and stacking. Sometimes you just had one person on the conveyor. And when I say conveyer it was about knee high and only about 8 feet long so it was constantly bending over to pick up papers and presses didn’t stop because you had a kink in your back or any other reason than a web break, roll change or end of the run.

Those were some fun days. That plant in Ellicott City on Main Street is where offices of the Times papers and presses were. They ended a long time ago and now I’m wondering which year I’ll see most newspaper printing cease completely.

A bumper sticker I can Support. Photo by Mike Hartley

Random Thoughts of the Day

  • Thinking about priorities a few times a day helps the day along in a better way.
  • How well do we really even know those closest to us?
  • Isn’t it ironic that medical bills will kill you?
  • If you’re always working harder to know those closest to you, that is a special thing because we all change over time.
  • I hate acknowledging that there are just a lot more bad people in the world than I thought.


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Rewarding afternoon

Some old members of Patuxent Publishing Company/Times Newspapers gathered today at the old Flier build in Columbia for a clandestine meeting/reunion. Seeing many old faces, some of which I didn’t recognize immediately was great. It’s been 2-3 decades and sometimes 4 since some had seen each other. There were a few of us present who started in the 70s.

Home for a few decades. Photo by Mike Hartley

Of course, I see a lot of them still regularly. One of my best friends, in fact, we started working together in 1980 and have become brothers. Another group I meet with for breakfast about every month or two. Covid did impact us for a bit but we still Zoomed.

This day reminded me of good times. Of laughter and fun together in a small community newspaper group that flourished and faded after many decades of success. There is very little community journalism anymore. And at the same time, more of it but weeding it out isn’t a pleasant chore. Plus the fact-checking or second read and confirming facts/statements from people isn’t there.

No single person or small team can give you the breadth of coverage a community newspaper could. Sports, education, local government, crime, features, business, arts, movies, food, and more all in one place. That kind of product no longer exists in many communities. Advertising moved on to other mediums and that life support system that sustains the staff to bring you all the local news is gone from the print media for the most part. And if something does remain, the remnants of the Howard County Times or Columbia Flier or Catonsville/Arbutus papers are a good example of papers that are shells of themselves and eventually too costly to continue.

Each organization has its own website or newsletter or podcast or Instagram. I remember the days when people would walk into the office on Main Street in Ellicott City and request photos of their kid hitting in little league and meeting another neighbor who was getting a few extra copies of the paper because it listed the school’s graduation roster and people used to send papers to relatives with their kid’s names in them.

But back to the people meeting today. If you are ever lucky enough to work in an organization that is blessed with a lot of special people working very hard together who like to have a good time and lots of laughs while doing it. That is a special thing and I heard that from a lot of people who worked there today. And that was my experience and many others. And therefore the bond of that shared experience binds this group of former employees.

Some of it I think is attributed to the length of time a lot of us spent together—decades in a fair amount of cases. And in a medium-sized company, you still get to know a good number of people pretty well. Some very well and some into lifelong relationships that are carried on decades after working together.

After so much time has passed many have relocated and moved but still stay in touch via Facebook and loved seeing pictures. Also as time has passed some well-loved people have passed on. One big one was just this week. And he is the type of man who would have been at this event and loved it.

There were people there I hired decades ago. I’m really proud of how a lot of them carried on their careers. It was great seeing where people had traveled professionally after working together. Some had actually reunited in the same companies many years later.

I also realized a few things today. I let a few relationships lapse that I hope to do a better job at keeping in touch with in the future. I already keep in touch with a number of people who couldn’t make it that day regularly but I also need to do more in making that more frequent.

I doubt this will be the last gathering. I think the group will actually expand in the future. It was a nice flashback to a wonderful period of time and events on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Random Thoughts of the Day

  • Owning a home is a second full-time job unless you can pay someone else to take care of it.
  • I feel incomplete, I missed seeing my grandchild this week.
  • Ah, the weekly battle with Mother Nature begins again.
  • Today I’m glad I live in the state of Maryland.


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Little scared and lots excited

It could be a year or slightly more of full-time, and maybe a few more months after that or none of part-time. The days of working for someone else will be over. I’ve been really excited about that time, but at moments I do get a little scared.

Is the timing right? Will we have enough? How will it be going from private insurance to Medicare and all the add ons needed? Will my better half kill me being around the house all the time? Will I become lazy? Will I lose that mental sharpness that my job keeps me at?

Will I suffer withdrawal from that daily newspaper excitement my job brings in an industry I’ve worked the last 46 years in? Certainly, the work relationships will change but will they also survive. I’ve worked mainly for 2 companies in those decades. I have some wonderful friendships from each to this day.

They said it was a daily newspaper when they hired me. They neglected to tell me how many days they cram into each week. Photo by Mike Hartley

In some ways retiring from my industry will be a double-edged sword. I love the prestige of working for what I believe to be excellent journalistic institutions on local, national, and international levels. I feel honored to have been supporting their efforts and the people that make such wonderful contributions to inform, enlighten, educate, make you think, laugh and cry. And so much more. They help you understand issues and to explain and find ways out of very difficult and complex problems that face both our local communities and the world overall. Is there success at every turn they take, no but tell me something else in the world that is perfect?

From the first day in it, I was addicted to the newspaper business. It’s been a very fun, stressful, rewarding, enlightening, educational, and joyous experience. Did I bitch about it along the way, hell yeah, every job has its ups and downs, good and bad management cycles, opportunities taken and some passed. But I know I will miss it.

This is an illusion. Newsrooms never sleep. Photo by Mike Hartley.

For the majority of my professional life, I have been on-call. That will also be something to adapt to. Will I suddenly feel no longer needed? Hell NO. It will be great. I’ll just hand my on-call schedule over to my kids to make for me when they need help with my grandchildren.

And then the time adjustment. As Keith Jackson (old football announcer) would say, Whoa Nellieeeee. I keep the most insane hours now. Will I adjust and go back to a life that others consider normal or will I be pulling a few all-nighters a week as I do now and on other days starting before sunrise?

All kinds of questions about change. Not any minor change either. Two of my best friends will be working another year or two probably after I retire. I’ll have to resist my urge to tease them about having to go to work. Then again I plan on being very busy so I probably won’t even think of it. Well yeah, maybe a few digs here and there will come.

Oh yeah, I forgot to elaborate on the other side of that double-edged sword. Like I said it’s been a wonderful career. Throughout it, the feeling was an asset to the community. Yes, people have always felt differently about opinion sections and politics. Some to the point of being mad and making threats. But those were the exceptions. But most thought it an honest endeavor.

Now it’s serious and growing worse. I do know significant steps for security started 6-7 years ago and haven’t lessened. When a President comes out and calls your industry “the enemy of the American people” it kind of puts you in a difficult position because a lot of people interpret comments like that literally. And to be totally honest I haven’t felt too comfortable in the last few years because of people’s hostility.

So for the first time ever I’m careful about sharing where I work when I meet people. I don’t wear my free company swag as much outside. And that is kind of weird. But it’s a changing world. Who knows, maybe this simple blog will incite someone. I hope not. But it is a chance now when you express any opinion.

So with the time remaining, I’m going to try and savor the final few curves (months/years) in the roller coaster. I’m going to try to pass on what knowledge I haven’t yet. I’m going to look around, shake some hands, give a few strong hugs and express thanks to some key people for the opportunities and joy of working with them.

And on that last day, I think I’ll make a zig-zag home. I’ll leave my current downtown office, I’ll stop by the old Post location at 15th street NW. Then over to the printing plant in Springfield Va and on the way back a stop by Tysons Corner where the old data center used to be. Maybe a ride further west where the current one is. Over to College Park where the old printing plant once was. I’ll swing by the Flier building in Columbia, and then to Ellicott City where I started at 18 years old at the TImes building on Main Street. I’ll walk down to the bottom of the hill to the old stone building just before you cross the bridge when 3 of us started a newspaper from scratch.

Each location holds many special people and many special memories. One day you’re leaving high school wondering what you want to do, what you want to be and you blink your eyes, and you’re in eyeshot of the finish line. But it’s time to explore a career I thought about having before I embarked on one in Newspapers. But as the bumper sticker says below says, I will ALWAYS Love the smell of newsprint in the morning.

A bumper sticker I can Support. Photo by Mike Hartley

Random Thoughts of the Day

  • There is no time at day or night that a cold Coke doesn’t taste good.
  • Sometimes when I look back now I wonder how I kept so many phone numbers of people in my head before smartphones came out.
  • Like a bear who came out of hibernation early, I have an attitude about the cold today.
  • I really dislike spiders. And I belive they know it.
  • I’m starting to get concerned about the number of memorial mass cards I’m finding in my office.


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Thank you and Condolences

I learned of the passing of a member of my newspaper family yesterday. Bob Moon was the husband of Jean Moon, the General Manager of the Patuxent Publishing Newspaper chain located in Columbia Maryland. An Architect, Bob designed the Flier Building in Columbia where I worked for 17 years. His death has triggered a lot of memories for me and I’m sure many others.

Patrick’s Entrance for us old timers. Photo by MIke Hartley

I had started with the Times Newspapers when they were in Ellicott City on Main Street in an old run-down building that now houses LaPalapa, SuCasa Furniture, and Main Street ballroom. Yes, this was back in the ’70s. The age and character of the building matched the wild personalities on the inside. The place was blue-collar, rough, and tumble old school. Some might even say a bit of old country Howard County.

This was a full production facility. Pressroom, Mailroom, Engraving, Typesetting workers in production and with Editors, Writers, Designers, Salespeople, Truck drivers out front. The place was loud and dirty and it constant chaos. But I did love it also.

The Flier building view from Little Patuxent Parkway. Photo by Mike Hartley

In 1979 Patuxent Publishing purchased several of the Times papers, others closed or were sold to other buyers. The Times building was sold along with most of the equipment and like the Clampets we packed up our bags and headed to Columbia.

The Flier Building. I was beautiful with a flag on that pole and that tree in front blooming pink blossoms. Photo by Mike Hartley

There were many difficult days when this transition took place. First, we lost a lot of old friends. If memory serves me right before I look at the newspaper clipping I have on the wall of the sale we had a few hundred employees in EC. I think only about 60 of us were hired by Patuxent.

We had our tail between our legs because the competition had won and bought us out. Soon to be gone was the place where I learned my trade and a lot of people I loved working with. This transition was rough on both sides and took a lot of adapting by all involved. But two very different cultures and backgrounds soon developed into a new community of people working together. It was a wonderful transition to something that we all cherish dearly to this day even though decades have passed. Sometimes when your being handed a pass to Camalot you don’t really know it at the time.

Home for a few decades. Photo by Mike Hartley

The two buildings couldn’t have been any more different. Main Street was old and falling apart. The Flier building was brand new constructed in 1978 I believe. Main Street was dark and dirty. It was a brick building covered in many years of ink and newsprint dust. The Flier building was WHITE, clean, and pristine and didn’t smell bad. It has so many windows, some floor to roof, and skylights letting the days light and added a beautiful feel to the space inside. It had angles on top of angles, big staircases, and tall open ceilings in much of the upstairs.

Photo by Mike Hartley

There were planters filled with trees and flowers in a vast open lobby in Columbia. Kind of ironic if you think about it. The only trees that came into Main street were in the form of Newsprint rolls that weighed around 2 tons each. If you brought a plant into the Main Street office it would have been dead in 24 hours due to the chemical and ink smell, lack of light, and covered with the newsprint lint. The bathrooms were clean in this new office. You didn’t worry about ruining clothes by accidentally brushing a wall or door as you did on Main Street. It had air conditioning which that old drafty and dirty location in EC only had in the front offices. In the summer we would sweat like pigs and in the winter we would freeze our behinds off.

The new building was one of the first things I warmed up to. Maybe because it actually did have heat and A/C. But in meeting Bob I could see where his inspiration for the remarkable design of the Flier came from. He would always give me a warm smile just like the skylights scattered throughout the building did. He would stop and talk or invite me to his office which was next door to our photography/reproduction area to look at new architectural drawings. Bob was a talker. I know because they say it takes one to know one, and I am one. I think one of my first visits to the building for my interview for a job, Bob was out in the lobby and introduced himself with a welcoming smile. He wasn’t part of PPC but he was in a special way.

Photo by Mike Hartley

The longer I was there the more it felt like home. New friendships were made and many have lasted to this current day. It was a special place to work. With Bob’s design and Jean’s spirit that place was as alive as anything, I’ve experienced. Jean was a driving force for that organization. And their spirit was infectious to many who worked there for many years.

Thankfully many people above me allowed me opportunities that allowed my career to flourish. And in that, I got to work and touch many areas. There might be only a small handful of people who know that building better than I do. I think I crawled and worked in every inch of it several times over. I was there day and night so I got a great view from it. You always knew what the weather was because there was a window or skylight everywhere. Well, not the restrooms but everywhere else.

You could see your friends coming in from a good distance so you could prepare pranks on them. You could see who was having a rough day and was out walking or sitting in the parking lot or deck behind the building. You could look out the back windows at the huge daycare facility and watch the hundreds of little tykes in their Halloween costumes doing their annual parade around the parking lot. You could go up the ladder in the loading dock to the roof with a folding chair and look out over Columbia. Oops, that part wasn’t well known.

The old Editorial area. Photo by Mike Hartley

The place had a grand lobby. It was where we would gather for our company photos. It was where half my crew would be caught trying to chat up the receptionist of the day after dropping off reproductions to the design departments.

I lost count of the times the interior space was redesigned for our constant expansion. And Bob seemed to be part of that process often. The whole building felt like my home. It was small enough where you knew all the inhabitants but large enough to not be a mom and pop shop. We were the second-largest publisher in the state of Maryland behind the Baltimore Sun which eventually purchased the company shortly after I left.

Light from above. Photo by Mike Hartley

They say the tone of a company comes from the top. Well, Bob and Jean created a beautiful place, filled with a beautiful spirit, a ton of ambition and dedication. And that feeling seemed to trickle down to everyone who walked through those doors to work there. And when I left there I had some tears in my eyes because I knew something special was passing.

Bob faced some daunting and huge medical challenges in his life but that smile remained.

So thank you Bob for designing a wonderful home and to you both for making it feel like a real family lived there. RIP Bob.

PS: Please forgive the quality of these pictures. I had the opportunity to visit the building after it closed and the staff had moved downtown Baltimore. So it’s far from its pristine and beautiful days. Especially when it was filled with a lot of great people doing wonderful work and having fun together.


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Thank you, you idiot

Its going to take all the restraint I have today not to lace this post with foul language. I’m livid as I wake this morning and find the President has now put my life in jeopardy. Thank you very much A-hole. You see I just happen to work for “the media.” And our president (no longer using caps for that until someone else is in office) has just said that I am now part of “the enemy of the American People.” 

A very strong and threatening statement as far as I’m concerned. You see there are a lot of people who take our president very seriously. I know them, I’ve seen them and many of them are easily moved to action. And basically you just put me a war with half of the country. Do you think they are going to stop and ask if I write the articles or tend to their computer systems or print the papers? Hell no.

You want to make up new ground rules of living in this country in peace then I’ll start making up my own like the right to protect myself regardless of what might be the current law. And if some eccentric inspired by you comes after me or my friends just trying to earn a respectable living then we have a serious problem and I’m holding you responsible, and we will meet.

You think by being the loudest and having the largest microphone means you’re the only voice that is going to be heard you are very wrong. You think because you say it, that its, the only truth. Well screw you. I’ve stood up to bullies like you in the past in the business world and I’m not intimidated by you. Bring it on old man because I’m one also and I’ll kick your ass from here to next month. Threaten me. You have to be kidding.

Photo by Mike Hartley

Photo by Mike Hartley

I had no intention of writing this way this morning. I certainly didn’t want to have this post/blog become politically tainted. I was going to write about my favorite tee-shirt and the word on it. “RESPECT”. Well actually a Derek Jeter tee with the number 2 replacing the S. I was going to write about how respect is earned by actions and words. About how I’ve at least tried to earn the respect of my family friends and co-workers. Not always successfully because of my own failings, but I try constantly to set the right example, to try to do the right things, to have compassion and trust. To work hard, to be a responsible father, to figure out what is wrong and unjust and do the right thing. I was going to edit some more nature photos and post them. A very peaceful post was intended. But no, you got to screw with the first day of the weekend.

As I sit here hoping this venting would calm me a bit, it hasn’t but it has steeled my thoughts on NOT being open to you as a president for 4 years. I won’t have it any longer and thank you for motivating me to help in legal ways to remove you from office so you don’t put any more people at risk of harm.

Now I’ve got to work the rest of the morning trying to calm down and think positively and go about my life being able to greet people with a good morning, a smile and trust. All at the same time looking over my shoulder with no trust, for the person or persons intending harm on me if I happened to be wearing a company tee shirt. Now I have to take those out of the wardrobe to avoid confrontation. Thanks for my new reality A-hole.


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Back to LIFE before the madness

Well my weekend has started and life is returning to what it should be. Time with family and friends. Maybe some good meals and rest. Some time for personal challenges and accomplishments. Time to regain sanity. Time to avoid the roads choked with traffic. Time to stop and take a shot of a pond. And hopefully time to do many more post.

Off Cars Mill Rd. Photo by Mike Hartley

Off Cars Mill Rd.
Photo by Mike Hartley

For this coming week will be insanity at the job that pays the bills. Because I work in the daily newspaper business and this election as most do, is sort of getting a lot of attention. So regardless of the outcome its going to be a busy time. Lots of angst among everyone inside those publishing halls. I always considered this odd. Especially working for a daily paper.

Yeah its an incredibly visible and important day. But its the daily publishing thing that is important to me. Publishing each day is the commitment. So I’ve always thought of it as you’re a success or failure based on accomplishing it every day. And when you do it 365 a year, you get like a professional athlete. You don’t get to high on the victories (the success of each day) and you don’t dwell in the defeats (when significant problems affect deadlines). And I have been lucky enough as some of my old-time co-workers would say “no failures on my watch.” Someday when I retire I hope I can say that all was well on my watch also over many decades.

So while others do a lot of hand wringing and worrying, it’s just another day in the middle of another tough week. And when I get home Monday and Wednesday nights, I’ll be just as proud as getting those print editions and digital news out as I will of getting the Election day edition out on Tuesday night.

It’s entertaining to watch the young ones in the industry and the excitement in them for big news days. I hope they stick around for the long-term and get many under their belts. Only that way can you appreciate the efforts of many people over many big events and sit back with calm and watch it all go down again.

For any day can be the biggest news day. When I came to work on 9/11 I didn’t know that day would turn into a 24 hour day and months of brutal days that followed. People making newspapers on December 7th didn’t know that morning would change the world for them. For myself I look forward to the day that headlines read, world leaders work for peace. Or maybe cure for cancer discovered. Wouldn’t it be nice to see an article about our government doing something positive that everyone could get behind.

Perspective is a very nice thing. But it seems to only come with age and experience. Oh don’t get me wrong. Many of those youngsters are smarter and wiser in the technology than I am. But most of them are one trick pony’s. Hell most of them have probably never even seen a newspaper press or worked on one. I suspect none have ever delivered a paper in the dead of winter. Most have never worked in the many areas that make up a newspaper publishing operation.

The days of wearing multiple hats are long past. The days of working your way up through the ranks are gone. But I believe a lot of that made organizations like that special places to work and grow as both a person and professional. But given the financial pressures of most publishing firms people are being asked to do much more or have many skills. So maybe the cycle is returning again.


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Torture to fond memories

Each day now as I drive to work, I look at the building I called home for almost the last two decades, being torn down piece by piece. This is a big complex of buildings in DC that used to be home to The Washington Post. Now its quickly becoming a pile of rubble. Don’t get me wrong, the new home of The Washington Post is beautiful, wonderful, temperature controlled and without rats and roaches so far. Really nice digs in other words.

L Street looking towards 15th St. Photo by Mike Hartley

L Street looking towards 15th St.
Photo by Mike Hartley

Boy my office now has a really nice view. That last structure backing to the Russian Ambassador's residence is where I was located. Photo by Mike Hartley

Boy my office now has a really nice view. That last structure backing to the Russian Ambassador’s residence is where I was located.
Photo by Mike Hartley

But that doesn’t make it easier. For some reason I am compelled to stop, watch and think. But as I watch it I feel like a part of myself and others are being lost. Life experiences are somehow changed when the physical environment that they happened in no longer exist.

I can go back to the building in Howard County on 8307 Main Street Ellicott City where I started my career in 76 for Stromberg Publications and stand there and think about hearing the noise of the press spinning up or seeing people running about, the smell of chemicals from the engraving room. Looking through a hole in the concrete floor and seeing the Tiber run under the building.

My first job in newspapers fresh out of high school. I was hooked. I was in love with what we did and who I did it with. I have friends still from that first experience. That place gave me a confidence in myself I didn’t have before. I had an opportunity and I stepped up. And its been a great ride from then on.

From L Street looking north along 15th St. Photo by Mike Hartley

From L Street looking north along 15th St.
Photo by Mike Hartley

I can go to Columbia at 10750 Little Patuxent Parkway and see the old Flier Building that I spent 17 years in. So many fond memories just driving by the place sometimes. So many great friendships, accomplishments and growth. Possibly the greatest and most chaotic time in my life. I wish I had appreciated it more while I was there because there were some wonderful things done by some wonderful people.

The Flier Building Photo by Mike Hartley
Patrick’s Entrance for us old timers. Photo by MIke Hartley
Home for a few decades. Photo by Mike Hartley

I can go to the bottom of Main Street in Ellicott City and see and stand in the building where two wonderful partners and myself started a newspaper from scratch. Talk about your life experiences. Wow what a wonderful and also stressful time. Learned a ton about myself that I didn’t know before, with that experience.

The launch pad of Zip Publishing and The View Newspapers. Photo by Mike Hartley

The launch pad of Zip Publishing and The View Newspapers.
Photo by Mike Hartley

But now my home of the last 18 years on 15th street is disappearing before my eyes. A strange feeling indeed. Sometimes I’m sitting on the street trying to figure out whose office now has a floor to ceiling window view that didn’t before. Sometimes I’m in awe of the machines effectiveness in ripping a structure like that to the ground.

Sometimes I think back to events on the exterior of the building. The Limos picking up some old friends retiring after many decades of service who retired together and celebrated on the way out. Talking to the gals and guys outside the L Street Employee and delivery access door while they finished off their cigarettes. I quit smoking there 17 years ago. But there was always some good conversations outside the walls there.

I remember the motorcades and guys in suits/sunglasses and hardware (guns) escorting dignitaries or government officials in and out of the offices. And I’m guess with the occasional sniper team on the roofs of adjoining buildings for the leaders of state/countries. I’m pretty sure I spied one once or twice.

Then there was the anthrax threat with white powder being sent to Editorial. Guys in space suits in the Building checking for contamination. The day and days after the election where people lined up around the block to get extra copies of the paper.

Sad days where the presses on 15th street were stopped and removed. Wonderful days where journalist won many Pulitzer prizes. Great days where my teams were involved in keeping that paper publishing every day without exception and only by remarkable effort did it happen. And all the way to current times where its a 24/7 operation.

Editorial offices at the old 15th st building. Photo by Mike Hartley

Editorial offices at the old 15th st building.
Photo by Mike Hartley

The glass on the windows out of the cafeteria were shattered the other day. I spent a number of breakfast, lunches and dinners looking out those very windows. I saw a chair that we probably sat in crushed but the laughter was still coming from it. I’m surprised they actually need to spray the building for dust as they tear it down. There were so many floods in that place I’m surprised it isn’t waterlogged. But again my mind wanders.

Think about all the famous people you have seen coming and going from this place. I Remember the time I walked out the L Street door and was met with secret service guys almost immediately because they had the street sealed off for the President coming into the Capital Hilton service entrance across the street.

The day and night of September 11th. Watching the city evacuate with sidewalks and streets clogged and an hour later the place being a ghost town and just Hummers with men with automatic weapons around. Very surreal image of DC that sticks with me today.

One of the many floods in the old building. Photo by Mike Hartley

One of the many floods in the old building.
Photo by Mike Hartley

An elevator ride with Ben Bradley, and he spoke to me. And always amazed at how many people Don Graham knew by name. And then there is the symbol of what I held dear as a sign of my industry. The Linotype machine that was at the front entrance on 15th street. A symbol of strength and the power of words on paper. A symbol of a time when newspapers were the main tool in communication in a democracy.

Lobby of the old Washington Post building. Photo by Mike Hartley

Lobby of the old Washington Post building.
Photo by Mike Hartley

Wow, a growing pile of rubble. This is a new experience for me. At first when I saw it begin, it was a nasty feeling that just hit me wrong to the core. And as the days progressed the emotions expressed above rolled along. Now I’m thinking about what is important about memories and becoming at peace as the demolition continues.

I look at all the wonderful relationships that I had and continue to have from that time there. I think about the gut splitting laughter at times I thought would never end. I think about accomplishments done with others over the years. I think about the loss of some people while there. I reflect on the special opportunity that my first boss gave me there and will ever be in her debt for it.

It was my first BIG company. My first experience with bureaucracy.  My first experience with such a diverse set of personalities and egos. My first experience of the pressures of a daily product vs a number of weekly ones. The pressures of being right all the time because everything was critical. But it’s always been exciting and I wouldn’t trade it or the people who are important to me that I’ve met through there for anything else.

Photo by Mike Hartley
Photo by Mike Hartley
Photo by Mike Hartley
Photo by Mike Hartley
Photo by Mike Hartley
Photo by Mike Hartley
Photo by Mike Hartley

For it’s a leader in the industry and draws awe from others. Then again if it’s a person who read an article that the paper published who they seriously disagree with, then it draws ire. Either way its interesting working for an organization that is recognized as it is. In some ways it is amazing. Some of the best teams of people at any newspaper.

Roll (butt) ends from press. Also doubles as crab placematts. Photo by Mike Hartley

Roll (butt) ends from press. Also doubles as crab placematts.
Photo by Mike Hartley

But you know, I had the same feeling when I worked at a lot of local papers. Great teams of people with the same dedication, drive and desire to produce the best story, photo, ad each time. To print it beautifully and to get it there on time regardless of mother nature. These institutions are special. They were and are part of the fabric of our nation. Communication, understanding, argument, debate, resolution. From nations leaders to the little league baseball organizations. From photographers on the front lines in wars to here at home covering floods, tornadoes and other disasters or terrors.

100_7520

I’m so proud to have had a career in newspapers. I think it would have made my parents proud. I think it’s an honest profession. And that is why it bothers me so to watch a physical symbol go as it is. But just as time has changed the newspaper industry. It will change for the current hot digital organizations also. But if you noticed that the journalism leaders before are still at the top of the digital charts also because content is always king.

Quality writing, images and video will always be important as well as being delivered consistently and on time. I just hope the future generation does it with dignity, honest/truthfulness and objectivity that past veterans have. For if they do they will have a place in the publishing world for a long time.

I’ve been working on this off and on for a few weeks coming back and adding or changing a line. Well the old buildings are gone as of about a week ago. So here is to hoping the new building on 13th and K and the new people inside the new one (along with a few old timers) can form many happy memories and experiences also. But the old ones will be hard to top.


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A thought on Publishing

As I was standing in Barnes and Noble the other day I looked down and saw this display sign. NewsStand used to be something that was celebrated. Where people exchanged greetings, shared thoughts and picked up their favorite reading material. Wow, how it has changed and nothing has changed. We love to read and see and consume. Just the way we get it is changing. Of course it’s advancing how, what and how fast we can see and instantly comment or form opinion or worse yet judgement on.

What once was the neighborhood of a few is now the land of the many. Photo by Mike Hartley

What once was the neighborhood of a few is now the land of the many.
Photo by Mike Hartley

You know I’m not sure if it’s the technology that gets the award for changing the face of publishing. I think it’s the experience every individual had when they realized they could be their own little publishing firm and how much fun it was. Whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or WordPress/Tumblr or any one of a number of versions of those category leaders. Or even your own website. It gets in your blood. I remember when people would come to our local newspaper offices for tours. I found it exciting to see people so impressed with the technology or the big steel in the press-room or in how the gallies of type came out of the processors. You could take them to the make up area and see them wanting to pick up the pieces (ads, copy, pictures, rules, borders) to see if they could do one of those puzzles.

There were letters to the Editors. (Letters “not email”) were sent in with praise or threats, people drove to the office to pick up reprints of photos or plates of the page their story was on. Sometimes the whole family would come or the whole team and coach to pick them up. It must be like today when you get followers and comments/likes on a post. The difference is in this world the connections are mostly electronic. Those face to face meetings can happen through local events for the online community or bloggers/photogs and writers but nothing like the old days.

Everyone has a camera now. Back in the day if you saw a guy walk on the field with one lens a foot long another camera over the shoulder and a tripod you knew your local community photo was at the game. Now news organizations are stripped so thin they can’t send a photog to the games like they used to. Hell most don’t even employee Photographers in any large capacity anymore.

The tools that had been the province of News organizations like professional photographers with costly cameras, reporters using terminals tied to a front end system that cost a fortune, video and sound equipment only a network supported TV news operation had were now in all our hands with very good quality for a fraction of the cost. All of a sudden each of us could do the same thing large organizations had been doing for decades pretty much without competition. Because instead of sending a physical product we send bits of information. Of course none of us online wanna be publishers are capable of printing a million papers tomorrow when the Internet goes down.

And think of how few blogs and other publishing tools are free of FACT CHECKING or for that matter Spell Checking. Publishing is built on trust. Its built on honesty. It’s build on a foundation of many people usually working for a common goal. It’s a business when people pull together in a crisis. I was at the Washington Post on 9/11 and while everyone else was leaving town in an unseen before evacuation. People stayed at work to get the infrastructure geared up or were rushing in and out to get the news for others to consume.

So I try to emulate that kind of spirit and the basic is being here each day. Doing more each day. Making this a better read and visually pleasing each day. For I’m in it for the long haul till these nimble little fingers no longer work or I can’t find a speech to type translator that is effective or I can’t upload a photo or video any longer.

Random Thoughts for Monday August 24th 2015

  • You can’t here the crickets unless you open your windows. That is, unless one got in your house.
  • Only a hammock can bring my back rest. Now how to fit one in the bedroom. Well maybe I can put it up in the corner of the basement.
  • You can’t underestimate the strength you can get from friends.
  • I’m still giddy that the University of Maryland basketball team preseason ranking is as high as #1. I must get some tickets for a few games this year.
  • Congrats to my daughter and future daughter in-law on the first week of school starting. If you know these two, your children would be very lucky to have them as teachers.
  • I’m tired, but I have so much to do.


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One of my Homes

When you think of the word home, you think of where you eat, sleep, toil and raise things. Well in some way all my jobs and business are homes. And this one below 8000 Main Street suite 101, was one of them for a few years that met all the criteria. It was the home of Zip Publishing and later the View Newspapers. Founded by Phyllis Greenbaum, Pete Cook and myself.

Our 1st Home

Our 1st Home Photo by Mike Hartley

But this home was different from the one that I spent my first two decades in newspapers in. For this was ours. Our own business and our decisions. It was a wonderful time in my life. I learned things about myself I never knew. It was full of risk and leaving my comfort zones in a big way.

It was great in that I loved and still love the two people who this started with. They are talented, wise, caring and hard-working people who created something special for the area of Ellicott City and the surrounding communities. And continued it and grew it into a professional package, and eventually purchased by the major newspaper publisher in the area about a decade later.

And while I stayed a short time in its overall history it was an experience that feels so rewarding in the sense it gave me confidence I never knew I had.

It flew in the face of all conventional wisdom. The area was dominated by daily and other stronger, established local papers that had decades of history in the community. There were business newspapers and real estate rags also to compete with. Not to mention the shoppers and inserts. And everything had name recognition but us.

Even though we had decades of experience in the industry doing every aspect of the business got out of our expertise and we had to learn and adapt on the fly. And that was a lot of fun also. You always have to adapt. No matter what you do. I’m so glad we took that chance. I’m so glad not to have made the safe move. I’m so glad that I was able to learn and grow. And I’m glad we had that time together.

I was just rummaging through some archive pictures and found this one and fondly started to reflect on my days as a business partner with some wonderful people. And of course thanks to the many Friends and Family, who made it possible in the beginning.

Maybe before my memory starts (whoops too late), I’ll try to recollect some stories from the old days to bore people with.


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Newspapers – Ben Bradlee

Earlier this evening marked the passing of one of our institutions icons, Ben Bradlee. I’ve had the pleasure of working at the Washington Post for almost 2 decades now so I thought it fitting that we mark this passing of a significant figure in this companies history. I’ve seen Mr Bradlee around the office before. Even road in the elevator with him once. I didn’t know him personally or professionally, but what I did know is that he seemed to have this presence about him. He had a great smile and you could see people immediately snap to attention. I’ve listened to stories of old timers here (no there aren’t that many left) about him and the Post heydays under his leadership.

I’ve been in the industry for 4 decades now and I’m inspired by a number of people I’ve met through those years. As I read about him this morning I’m so impressed with his accomplishments but more about what he was to people and his profession. Most of which I was aware of but the one fact I didn’t know. He, like my father served on a Destroyer during WW2. The Post has a great write-up on him here.

People with courage are what make this country great. I believe he was one of them.


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Newspapers – my industry in a nutshell

Read an interesting article called “Last Call – the end of the printed newspaper“. This was a well written and researched piece. I hate to agree with it because it probably means my job is going away also and being I’m one of the fossils at my organization it will most likely be sooner than later. I’ve always tried to be versatile and offer my employer many skills and adapt to the new technology or actually facilitate it coming in over my career. I think that is one of the main reasons I’ve been able to last as long as I have. And that is no small period of time. Not counting the few years in my youth (10-12 years old) that I delivered newspapers, I’m about to reach my 4th decade in the business.

Then I read an article that says the industry is alive and well. Of course this was published by the Newspaper Association of America and was called “Newspapers are still here and making money“. That may be true but it doesn’t look at the carnage that has already taken place and most likely will continue as newspapers form into new business models. And while I have the upmost respect for this organization, I find it like the industry overall. It has been slow to react.

Having been around this business for so long, I’ve seen many ups and downs. I’ve seen many people come and go. When I entered this industry it reminded me of the steel industry. People and families worked for the organizations for decades and it spanned generations. Newspaper people were loyal and it was as much as a family type atmosphere as I think existed in most industries. And those family ties went right up to the top owners and publishers in allot of cases. But just like baseball players learned, it’s a business, not a sport. And now this business that has been so slow to change that it allowed all kinds of competition to develop and thrive to the point were Newspapers are looking up to them for online business, it is in a mass contraction and reinvention process.

I have nothing but praise for this type of work. And when I say work I mean every job that is involved in producing a daily or weekly paper or magazine. I’ve enjoyed the many different roles I’ve had over my career. And I look forward to my future because of those experiences and the opportunities I hope it provides in the future. I’ve worked for small, medium and large publishers. And yes as they scale up the line the family effect gets somewhat diminished. And yes with the large company there is politics and all the other crap that goes along with a large institution.

But I wouldn’t change a thing as I reflect back on it. I’ve loved many parts of every organization I’ve worked for. And its the people I love. The experiences we shared, the wars we fought. The technology we revolutionized. The lives that are touched by our collective efforts. The enlightening of the general population and the debate that each article would FUEL. And I do mean FUEL. When I was a co-publisher of our local paper I never knew the depths people would go to express their opinions.

I remember the days I started in this business. I knew it was something that was exciting right off the bat. It happened every day, rain, shine, snow, heat. It takes allot of things to publish without FAIL. Courage, commitment, planning, knowledge, dedication, strength, adaptation.

From sweating in a press-room or engraving darkroom or making plates or running network cable or installing computers to being a lead system admin with access on hundreds of UNIX servers. I’ve sold ads, taken classified ad calls, done marketing and promotions, worked in the papers county fair booth which was very cool because we got to play MC because it was the information stand also and we had the PA system. I’ve unloaded paper trucks, I’ve worked an inserter machine and hand inserted millions of papers. About the only job I haven’t done is proofreading because I’d be a total failure at it as this blog will eventually prove.

As they say, variety is the spice of life. Having that many opportunities is easy for the small and medium size companies because they survive on many people wearing many different hats. But I’ve got to admit, I’ve been afforded a great number of opportunities at the largest firm also, but no where near the diversity of the smaller ones. . I hope to make it to the standard retirement age of 65 which means I’ve got another 7+ years. I think I can do it if I continue to learn, adapt, bend and give it my best. Hell, its gotten me this far so why stop now.

I pray this industry survives because of one major point. People need RELIABLE information and newspapers for the most part (yes with sometimes slanted agenda) have provided our democracy this information. For every slanted product there used to be one that you could read contrary opinions. The best have both in the same products. But anyway with this contraction this has become a danger to our society. I’m amazed at what people will believe now and how quickly their opinions are formed and become inflexible. They are headline junkies. They need more depth. And reading gives one depth. Its not a video clip that tries to explain and issue in 30 seconds. Let alone look at alternative points and discuss the pro’s and con’s of each.

I read allot online because the computer is my tool now but I still enjoy the tactical feel of a newspaper in my hands. But I’m old school and I know that. I know that its already changed and will continue to where I only have a tablet one day. If you haven’t noticed, people below a certain age only know of a newspaper if they are living with a much older adult.

You know what is sad though. The time where the hard copy clipping of your child in little league from the local paper is gone. Yeah you might have your own pictures.Yeah you might have shared it on Facebook with friends and family. But where does that electronic image go? Its gone. And everyone in the community hasn’t seen it. Or nor do they have clippings of events from their own family. And these things won’t be passed down from generation to generation as they had been. The can’t go down the street to their local paper and have a metal plate made that many framed of the news or event or picture appeared in the local publication. Yeah maybe I’m living in the past but I used to see the joy and smiles on peoples faces when they could HOLD it and show it to others and know that it was a widely published piece. It was their 15 minutes of fame now PRESERVED for a lifetime to be passed along to the next generation. Where is that Facebook post going to be?

This is why I still make hard copy prints of all my photographs. And when I give photos (hard copies) to friends, family I see them light up still and enjoy holding something or sharing it with another friend. Its not the same as holding at tablet, because when you flip to the next image a person can’t still be admiring the first one and sharing that with the person standing next to them.

Yes I know change is a constant. But as we progress from technology to technology we should recognize if were losing something important along the way.

I wish all involved with the publishing industry much luck, good health and continued employment. I wish those affected by reductions, layoffs, buyouts (if you lucky) the skill and knowledge to take what you have learned from this industry and apply yourself in the new world with the same attitude you gave that served this industry well for many decades.


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Newspapers – Newseum

Seems kind of ironic that I spend almost 4 decades in newspaper business and I work in DC at the Washington Post and I’ve never been to the Newseum. So I go there while I’m on vacation with my daughter and it was the wettest day we have had here in ages.

But it was a wonderful day. Any day with my daughter or son is a great one but seeing the history of journalism both in broadcast and print really made my day. I could spend 2 days soaking all that there is to see so I don’t think I’ll have a problem going back if I can get my other half to join me.

Wall of front pages on 9/11/2001 Photo by Mike Hartley

Wall of front pages on 9/11/2001
Photo by Mike Hartley

But a few things moved me. The wall of 9/11 front pages and the photos of journalist killed in the line of duty. I don’t use that term loosely. I know it’s reserved for those who put themselves in danger for the pursuit of there beliefs and values as soldiers. But these people are pursuing something also very important. The pursuit of the truth.

Wall of photos of deceased journalist. Photo by Mike Hartley

Wall of photos of deceased journalist.
Photo by Mike Hartley

Few things are more important than truth. And the truth is in short supply unless your there to see and hear it yourself. These journalist are the eyes and ears of the world. They are backed by news organizations that invest in these peoples truths and integrity.

Which brings me to the floor representing the new technology. It still begs the basic question. Whom is checking whom when it comes to blogs, websites, twitter accounts, Facebook post and on and on? For as we see every day some of the best of us are on display and some of the worst of us are right there side by side. So how is one to know one from the other. I know mistrust in the standard bearers of journalism has always been there also but it’s more accountable.

Newseum 5th floor looking down. Photo by Mike Hartley

Newseum 5th floor looking down.
Photo by Mike Hartley

And finally I must say I was totally inspired and wowed at the Pictures of the Year and Pulitzer Prize Photographs on display. I’ve been shooting a bit after seeing how far I got to go. But I’m shooting instead of being intimidated. As all good works of art should do. Inspire others.

I did something I can’t remember doing at any other museum. I brought a trinket at the museum store. Actually it was a bumper sticker. It was a play on words with a movie I also like called Apocalypse Now where Robert Duvall stands on the beach and says “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.” Well the bumper sticker says “I love the smell of Newsprint in the morning”. I like it, its me. As they say about us old printers, cut us and we bleed ink.

Anyway, I would recommend a visit if you find yourself in DC. Have fun.