Sacramento, this is where my life is, and where I enjoy covering yours. I appreciate your help
I love Sacramento and I love the Sacramento Bee. That’s why I’m here after 30 years when my plan in 1989 was to stay for two years and then bolt for Los Angeles or New York.
Those opportunities came but I passed them up for the same reasons I refuse to be depressed about our battle at The Bee to keep local journalism alive. This is where my heart is. This is where my life is.
Even if I would get down about our parent company being in bankruptcy, or about COVID-19 directives shutting down businesses that fed our advertising base, our readers lifted me up this week. Lauren Gustus, The Bee’s president and editor, told readers about a new fund designed to raise money for the purpose of staving off furloughs, layoffs and pay cuts that have decimated so many regional newspapers across the country. The Bee partnered with the Local Media Foundation for “The Sacramento Bee Coronavirus Reporting Fund.” Your donations are tax deductible.
How bad is it for newspapers across America like The Bee? When I was graduating from San Jose State University in 1986, one of the places where I applied was the Ft. Wayne News-Sentinel. They had won a Pulitzer Prize in 1982, the place was vibrant and I might have gone there had not the Los Angeles Times offered me an internship.
On Thursday, the last reporter at the News-Sentinel – 40-year veteran Kevin Leininger – was furloughed. Why? COVID-19 has shut down the economy in Indiana as it has here. On Friday, newsentinel.com was shelved, ending the life a newspaper that had been publishing since 1833.
Sadly, the list of COVID-19 casualties in journalism is long and we’re working day and night to prevent The Bee from suffering the same fate as the News-Sentinel and too many other publications.
We can’t allow it to happen in Sacramento. The relationship between this city, this region and this newspaper is integral to local history. Sacramento is the oldest incorporated city in California, dating back to February of 1850. The Bee began publishing in February of 1857.
The city and the paper grew up together. The paper became the voice of the city. It has chronicled the city and the region, providing a historical record, a sense of place and a check on the powerful.
Journalism that resonates
That tradition is more vibrant than ever now. Even though our staff is much smaller than it was when I first walked in the door in 1989, and even though most of us are working remotely from our homes because of the coronavirus, our reporters, visual journalists, editors, social media and audience team members are producing every day.
Our Tipping Point series has chronicled a Sacramento grasping to deal with wrenching change during its transition from a government town to a big city with big city problems. The Bee has held the powerful accountable for abusing their office. Hello Sheriff Scott Jones! Our editorial board has cut through the fawning praise of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and raised questions about his seemingly unchecked authority amid the pandemic.
The Bee has organized Band Together, an online concert series introducing readers to local bands performing live music to lift our spirits while we shelter in place. And with all due respect to other news outlets, to my eye, The Bee looks more like a diverse Sacramento than any news channel or radio station in town.
The Bee recently announced it will welcome two reporters to cover the Latino and Asian communities in Sacramento in partnership with Report for America.
In recent years, The Bee’s reporting on the homeless, on police brutality, on our vibrant restaurant scene, on water, and on state government has broken ground and drawn large audiences.
Some people with an agenda wrongly blame our financial problems on what they view as partisan reporting. I’m sorry, but that is factually wrong. The advertising base of newspapers – once the lifeblood of the industry – has taken a beating since the great recession of 2008, coinciding with the rise of Facebook and Google and their dominance in cornering online advertising revenues.
The cost of coverage
Journalism costs money – it can’t survive if you want it for free – and so publications have struggled. But what’s been so heartening about The Bee’s fund is that it proves that our audience loves and supports us.
Despite all the hits that journalists and journalism have taken since President Donald Trump began attacking the media and attempting to undermine us, we have audience that is with us and supports the role of a free press in a democratic society.
Visit the site and you can see the comments. Gary Gerould, the only radio voice the Sacramento Kings have ever had in 35 years, gave $250 and posted, “Your efforts are appreciated!!”
Danette Mulrine and Dee Linton donated $100 and wrote, “We have found the Bee to be indispensable for planning weekend activities and knowing what is coming. We have been Bee customers for over 30 years and have seen the news, editorials and food sections to get better and more interesting every year. Local newspapers are vital to keeping us all informed.”
Ed Harper donated $50 and wrote, “An informed public depends upon responsible journalism. You meet that standard and are deserving of my support.” Jennifer Franz gave $50 and wrote, “I can’t imagine what I would do without my ...Bee. There are so many writers who feel like a part of my life. Please keep it up!”
The list goes on and on and if it were allowed I would find all these folks and hug them. I have to admit that week six of isolation had me down. But the words and support of our readers changed that. So have the texts and phone calls from people who have checked on me, asked how I was doing, asked how my colleagues were doing, told me to hang in there – that they were with us.
I can feel it. We can feel it and we thank you. At 30 years and counting I’ve been here the longest among our writing crew and I have wonderful memories of people and stories that filled me with joy and kept me here happily. But even though I have been here the longest, I don’t glorify the past or dwell on it.
The best years of my career have been the most recent ones, the best times are now and my eyes are on the future as they are with my colleagues. We’re determined to keep journalism alive. We’re communicating with each other via teleconferencing, writing stories and editing images (from our intrepid visual journalists in the field) and other content from our homes.
I believe our physical newsroom at 21st and Q has never been this empty for this long. We miss the old place but it doesn’t define us. What The Bee stands for, has stood for in more than 160 years, is bigger than any building. It’s bigger than anyone one of us working for an institution that is synonymous with Sacramento.
Our aim is to keep covering our community and so here I am, asking you a favor: Can you help us keep journalism alive in Sacramento? If you can, please give to our fund and subscribe. We pledge to work day and night to make you glad you did.
This story was originally published April 25, 2020 at 11:24 AM.
