I just wrote a @theactionnet letter: Virginia jobs to be slashed by Iowa-based Lee Enterprises.

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Write your own here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/virginia-jobs-to-be-slashed-by-iowa-based-lee-enterprises?source=twitter&

I was a reporter and then an editor at the @DailyProgress for three years 2017-2020.

I witnessed our local copy and design desk tear up and rework our front page countless times for groundbreaking issues,

including for coverage of The Unite the Right rally, protests at UVA, the sentencing of James Alex Field Jr, and the UVa men’s basketball championship.

The copy desk caught and saved many late-night errors from appearing in my stories and on my pages. As an editor, I valued their headline, copy writing and design skills. I valued forming relationships with copy editors so that we could work as a team and make the paper better.

However, I also never got to take full advantage of their skills and expertise, because of chronic understaffing. Errors sometimes went unnoticed, unreported and unfixed because one person was responsible for putting out multiple sections a night. There was just too much to do.

I shudder to think about issues that might go unresolved by a design desk multiple states away with little to no understanding of local issues. I also have seen no interest in resolving longstanding leadership and communication issues that might make such a transition possible.

I am not inherently against the idea of centralization, but time and time again I have seen social, online and print hub content that is dumb, incorrect or late. It reinforces the idea that journalism is out of touch and takes valuable space and attention away from local issues.

Lee could also offer copy editors and designers a chance to transition to graphics, reporting or other editorial work that would keep their valuable skills in-house. But Lee doesn’t actually want to improve the product; they must want to save money.

This is also a moral issue. When misinformation is on the rise, local newsrooms are an important bulwark. With appropriate investment, a newsroom can aid media literacy, improve local connections and give readers much-needed coverage of issues, ideally in print and online.

I quit my job and do not currently work in journalism in part because I realized Lee was not interested in the type of transformative projects and investment —monetary, morally, or otherwise— needed to keep local journalism alive.

It is not, however, too late. Keep Virginia copy desks local. Keep jobs in Virginia. Show a commitment to local journalism. We’re watching.

Sincerely,
Ruth Serven Smith

Also, I’d be happy to come back to journalism at some point in the future. All I require is FT work, benefits, paid family leave, and adequate office communication!