Chip Rowe, 55
Editor, The Highlands Current, Cold Spring/beacon, N.Y.
First job in news:
I was the editorial assistant at the Grand Haven Tribune in Grand Haven, Mich., during high school. I handled the obits, weddings, “Looking Back” column and fishing conditions. I like to think it was the golden age for those features.
What are some of the most important lessons you have learned while working in news?
That what you report has consequences. You have to be able to accept that. I think the best journalists can understand if not empathize with all “sides” of a story and seek them out. That’s an acquired skill, perhaps, wading into the uncomfortable gray areas and staying there even when you want to dart to safety. There is constant pressure to join one team or another. As they say, you need thick skin, which I don’t think most journalists actually have. We take it personally because we are invested.
When you reflect on your career to date, what brings you the greatest sense of accomplishment?
That’s a tough one. These days, having a career in journalism can feel like an accomplishment. I think the in-depth stories or series I have written bring the most satisfaction, especially if you uncover material that hasn’t been widely reported or sources who had a story to tell but would not otherwise have told it.
What are your predictions for where news publishing/news media is heading?
It’s hard to believe newsprint will survive another generation, but that’s just a change of medium. The bigger issue is trust. When pollsters ask people how much they trust “newspapers” or “the media,” we manage to beat Congress. The question is unfair, of course — what is “the media?” — but you hope that outlets that adopt some kind of transparency and report from the gray zone will survive and thrive. An important part of that is a populace that will accept the gray over the black and white, which I don’t think is the trend.