Spreading the news
The Guardian’s former managing editor reflects on 47 years at the newspaper
Gary MacDougall says his proudest moment in his 47 years of journalism happened in September 2003 when Prince Edward Island was hit with a hurricane on the same day as a provincial election.
The morning after hurricane Juan swept through the province, MacDougall remembers waking up and surveying the damage like most Islanders did. Then, it kicked in.
He was the managing editor of the provincial newspaper, The Guardian, and there was an election to cover, on top of the storm coverage the reporters and photographers had to worry about.
“(Politics) is a big deal in P.E.I., it’s a bloodsport,” said MacDougall. “We always do wall-towall coverage and we also had the storm of the century and no power for most of the day.’’
Everybody got in to work, and a staff meeting was held to decide who was doing what. The newspaper then went on to produce six pages of election coverage and six pages of Juan coverage under the front page headline, “Binns, Juan storm P.E.I.’’
“That was a proud moment. The whole newsroom rallied together. We did tremendous coverage. It was a long, long day, and we won an AJA award.’’
Tonight, he may experience a similar feeling.
After working in journalism for 47 years, including 20 as The Guardian’s managing editor, MacDougall will be honoured with a lifetime achievement award at a gala celebration in St. John’s, N.L.
MacDougall — who also worked as a paperboy for The Guardian while he was in school in Tyne Valley, P.E.I. — has witnessed a lot of changes in the industry.
“There used to be a time when people used to wait for the news to come to them. They waited for the newspaper to arrive or they turned on the radio at a certain time or the television.
And the Internet, of course, changed that.’’
MacDougall said journalists are under more pressure now than they ever have been. The more responsibility the media takes on (tweeting, posting to the web, writing print stories, shooting video, photography) the more diluted stories can get.
“As you widen the pool of what you’re going to cover, then you get shallower and shallower of how deep you can go into issues because of time constraints.’’
Charlottetown historian Catherine Hennessey, who was a frequent visitor to the Guardian newsroom during MacDougall’s tenure as managing editor, says the pressure didn’t show.
“It’s not often you’ve worked with someone for over 40 years and you’re still friends with them,’’ Hennessey said.
“He was not always agreeing with us but always putting our story forward, and we had a great appreciation of that.’’
Holland College journalism instructor and Guardian columnist Rick MacLean says MacDougall’s passion for the job was apparent when he would come in to talk to students interested in becoming journalists.
“He would always, at some point, talk to the students . . . about the idea of having the fire in your belly,’’ MacLean said.
“I mean, you really want to do this and it was one of those speeches that was important for our students to hear every year because it’s true.’’
MacLean said MacDougall also provided the journalism program itself with sound advice, citing one example a number of years back when he recommended the school switch to digital cameras.
Photography is only one area of rapid change challenging newsrooms.
Despite these challenges, MacDougall said there is one constant to count on.
“There is an insatiable desire on the part of the public for information. They want news, they follow news and so as long as there is that really strong desire for news, I’m hoping there are media owners willing to do the right thing (and commit to their papers).’’