Letter from the Editor: Salute to an old-school newsman
Style is a funny thing. To some it means a designer Gucci dress, maybe a Michael Kors bag, or a sharp Armani suit.
Not to newspaper people.
To us it’s something totally different.
It’s our Bible. Or at least it used to be.
It’s a little hard to explain, but when we refer to “style,” we are not referring to the way we dress. Instead it is how we “dress” the newspaper – and the stories that appear in it. It is responsible for the way we present our stories, and has been for decades.
It tells us when a word is abbreviated, and when it is not.
For instance, it is Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, but Tom Wolf, governor of Pennsylvania.
It tells when to use all capital letters, and when something should appear in upper and lower case.
It tells us when to use a number, such as with a person’s age, and when to write it out.
It’s why we use single quote marks in photo captions and headlines, but of course double quote marks in stories.
And it tells us that there are exceptions to most of those rules, such as the fact that when using a percentage or referring to a person’s age, you always use a number, regardless of the “one-to-nine” rule that suggests in most instances those references are spelled out.
It’s a bit arcane, but it is the lifeblood of the industry.
Bob Tennant was a stickler for “style.”
It would aggravate him to no end when a clear style error made its way into the newspaper. He would seek out the copy editor who had allowed the transgression to hit print – usually with a copy of the AP Stylebook in hand – and point out the error. It was not done to humiliate or shame anyone, it was done to assure the mistake did not occur again. And it usually worked.
Bob Tennant was what we in the business call “old school.” He was a stickler for the kind of detail that once was commonplace in the newspaper industry. You know, back in the days when we actually had something called a news desk and copy editors.
Some would simply call Bob a curmudgeon.
I would call him something else. I would call him one of the best newsmen I’ve ever met.
When I moved into the editor’s office at the Daily Times what now seems like a lifetime ago back in 1999, I had a big decision to make. I had to replace myself out in the newsroom.
I didn’t have to look far. I had spent a decade as associate editor. It’s the position that actually runs the newsdesk each night. Back in the days when such a thing was commonplace. A lot has changed in the newspaper business. Not all of it for the better. That’s a way of saying we’re doing the same job with a lot fewer people, and for the most part without such entities as a news desk, let alone a sports desk.
The associate editor runs the ship, and is responsible for making sure the paper is signed, sealed and delivered each night. On Time.
That’s one of the things that has not changed. We still have deadlines, and still struggle to hit them most nights.
In our old office in beautiful downtown Primos, the news and sports departments were separated by a wall with a large ‘window.’ There was no glass, just an opening so the two departments could “communicate.” That’s a nice of saying it allowed editors to yell back and forth at each other.
If you’ve ever been in a newsroom, you know they can be somewhat “colorful” places. I’m talking about the language, not the decor. Sitting on the other side of that wall most nights was one Bob Tenannt.
He was a no-nonsense, old-school editor.
You always knew exactly where you stood with Bob. I had found my guy. When I announced that Bob Tennant was my choice as the new associate editor, a few eyebrows were raised. Bob had spent a lifetime working in sports. I never hesitated. That’s the thing about the newspaper racket. A lot of what we do every day comes from our gut. Bob Tennant had no shortage of guts.
Bob had spent his entire life in newspapers. He started as a part-timer in the Daily Times sports department in 1972, before becoming sports editor of the Gazette-Leader in Wildwood. He joined a fledgling publication in Philly, the Philadelphia
Journal, in 1977, where he served as both a sports reporter and editor. When the Journal folded, Bob spent four years as sports editor at the Trenton
Times and then three at the Courier Post in Camden. He returned to the
Daily Times in 1989 and a year later succeeded Chic Riebel as sports editor. After four years as my second-in-command as associate editor, Bob crossed the bridge again to become editor of our sister paper The
Trentonian, a position he held for two years before retiring to Florida.
No matter where Bob was, his heart never left Delaware County.
That’s one of the reasons I picked him. Bob was something I was not, and could never be. Bob was pure Delco, a guy who grew up in Chester and was proud of his roots at St. Robert’s Catholic Grammar School and Saint James High.
Neither of those schools is still with us.
Last week we also lost Bob. He passed away in Florida.
In true Bob Tennant tradition, the fact that he had been in failing health came as news to most of us in the newsroom. That was Bob’s way. He was private, understated. The last thing he would want is for anyone to make a fuss.
When I heard the news, the memories of how this business used to be came rushing back.
One of his greatest legacies was Bob’s ability to spot - and nurture - young talent. He took kids like Brian Freeman and John Lohn and molded them in his image. In other words, he turned them into newspapermen.
That’s something we don’t do a lot of these days. Among other things. Bob could be a curmudgeon, but a lovable one. Some no doubt were rubbed the wrong way by his often gruff exterior. But it shielded a heart of gold, an unending work ethic, and an unbending will to do things the right way.
That’s because, like so many of us, he loved what he was doing.
He never considered doing anything else.
Newspapers were his life. He’ll be missed.
One of the problems with journalism these days is that eventually the people doing it are not going to be here anymore. And we are not replacing them with a new generation.
One of Bob’s other great loves – outside the newsroom – was baseball. He was a longtime local youth coach whose fingerprints are on a generation of kids, just as they were on the young sports staffers he took under his wing.
In baseball and journalism, there is a right way and a wrong way to do things. Whether it was a young writer struggling with a story, or a kid looking to hit the cutoff man, Bob always made the right choice. He never cut corners. There is no cheating.
He spent a lifetime doing things the right way. In other words, Bob molded lots of lives.
His legacy is a generation of people instilled with the kind of values Bob lived by.
We could use a lot more like him.
And we are all poorer in his absence.
RIP to a man of “style.” And an honest-to-goodness, old-school newsman.
Rest well, Bob. Please let me know that they know how to bunt and advance the runners in heaven.
And, of course, do it all while still hitting deadline.
Philip E. Heron is editor of the Daily Times. Call him at 484-521-3147. E-mail him at editor@delcotimes.com. Make sure you check out his blog, The Heron’s Nest, every day at http://delcoheronsnest.blogspot.com. Follow him on Twitter, @philheron.