THREAD: ‘Titans’ doesn’t even begin to describe what @bschoenburg and @DougFinkeSJR have meant to Springfield, the state of Illinois and countless colleagues in the statehouse and at @SJRbreaking, including myself. #twill https://www.illinoistimes.com/springfield/titans-set-to-depart-sj-r/Content?oid=12835001

So, if you’re willing hang around for a bit, buckle up and let me tell you a little about my friends Bernie and Doug...

They are my colleagues, friends, mentors and role models.

If I had to make a Mt. Rushmore of my journalism heroes, Bernie and Doug are up there with @CarolMarin and @dmose92480.

In 2017, I was accepted into the @UISPAR program. As anyone will tell you, the main draw is a six-month internship with a bureau in the Illinois State Capitol.

As part of the interview process, you have to rank your preferred destinations while the bureau chiefs rank who they want in return. And PAR director Charlie Wheeler would then work his magic and somehow match us all up.

Understandably, those of us on the print side were all gunning for the high-profile internships with the Chicago Tribune and Associated Press. The appeal was the prestige of the organization — and they both paid.

Of course, I ended up with The SJ-R. Though slightly disappointed at first, my excitement grew at the prospect of working directly with Finke under the dome and sometimes with Bernie when he’d pop in.

I knew Finke had a reputation for being irascible and a bit of a grump. And after working in the same office with him for six months, I can say without a doubt that’s 100% true. But it’s in the best possible way.

He doesn’t suffer fools easily and can detect bullshit from a mile away. He was snarky and sarcastic and gave off the air that he had seen it all — because he has. We hit it off immediately.

I couldn’t have asked for a better bureau chief in Finke. He gave me helpful guidance when necessary, but afforded me the space to figure things out on my own. I can’t put to words how important that was for my growth as a reporter.

There would be some days we would barely say a word to each other. Other days, we’d have hour-long conversations about anything under the sun. It was a good balance.

And then there’s Bernie. He would pop in the statehouse bureau usually a couple times a day during session. It was always a blast to have a few minutes with him.

To this day, I have yet to find a reporter who asks better questions or who is more prepared with thoughtful follow-up questions. It didn’t matter if you were the governor or on the park district board. Bernie was always ready to grill you.

When I was hired full-time, I moved over to our office at Ninth and Capitol. There, I was able to witness some of Bernie’s famously heated phone interviews. Spoiler alert: he always got the better of the political hack on the other end.

There were other days where I would walk over to his famously-messy desk just to talk. Bernie knows everything about everyone. Statehouse, Springfield, Sangamon County, it didn’t matter. He’d know their job, who their political patron was, their dirty laundry, etc.

So I was that young, annoying reporter hanging around the grisly veteran’s desk just trying to soak in everything he was saying. And he always indulged me with his time. It’s something I’ve tried to never take for granted.

I’ve always described Bernie and Doug as the SJ-R’s yin and yang. They were complete opposites in temperament and style, but they complimented each other so well.

Bernie is still one of the most energetic reporters in Springfield. He’s always on the move, always looking for that next scoop. He’d literally tell us “I’m going to go walk around” the Capitol fishing for column fodder. And he’d always come back with at least a couple stories.

Finke was more content hanging in the office, relying on more than 40 years of institutional knowledge to give our readers the necessary context for what was happening under the dome. Also, no one’s better at getting into the nitty-gritty policy details of budgets and pensions.

Simply put, Doug and Bernie are the gold standard for political journalism. Some could even call them the Lennon-McCartney of #twill reporters. And they are the type of reporters I seek to emulate.

Also, let me give a shout-out to @TedSchurter, who also took the buyout. He wasn’t mentioned in the article, but has also had a significant impact at the paper for a long, long time. We will miss him dearly, too.

As for those of us left, it’s going to be hard. We may get new reporters, but there’s no replacing the institutional knowledge walking out the door.

We’ll keep getting on, we’ll put out a damn paper on Dec. 1 because that’s what we do. But we’re losing more than colleagues here. We’re losing friends, mentors and — quite honestly — the faces of the paper to our community.

I wish Bernie, Doug and Ted nothing but the best. I will miss them dearly and I know I’m not the only one.

To close, I just want to thank Bernie and Doug for everything they’ve done for me the past three years. They are simply the best and I just hope my complete admiration and respect for them comes across in this thread. /end