We're taking a personal approach to the interview series this time. We're talking with current employees who have worked at The News-Gazette the longest to find out what it has been like to work at the paper.
This week I sat down with Ed Smith, who has been working at the paper since May of 1994. Ed is the assistant editor, so when the editor isn't in the office, Ed handles his responsibilities. On a regular basis, he's in charge of covering local government news for Buena Vista and Rockbridge County. He also writes editorials. For the sports section, he does processing, adds copy, and writes headlines.
Why did you come to work at The News-Gazette?
Well, I was at Radford University. I graduated in 1982 and so I followed my wife to this area. Neither one of us is from here but we both met in college. I was a journalism major at Radford and Becca was an education major. She got a job teaching at a school in Buena Vista. She's a year older than me so she came up here in 1981 and I followed her in 1982, and I got a job with the paper in Buena Vista in '83. I worked for that news organization for, like, eleven and a half years and then came here.
What made you stay here instead of looking for another job?
I just sort of enjoy our life here, small town life. We've raised a family and it's just all worked out. I never really planned out my life. Just circumstances led me here, you know? And you might say I'm resistant to change so if I'm comfortable in a situation, I just stick with it.
What kind of education or work background do you have that helps you do your job?
Like I said, I majored in journalism at Radford University. I didn't really have any long range aspirations for doing that. I was interested in photography when I was younger so that was the main thing that drew me to journalism, but over time I've transitioned more to being a writer and reporter than a photographer. So, you know, like I said: life circumstances just kind of pushed me in this direction. There was no great plan to end up here. It worked out and, you know, I stayed employed in this business for a long time.
What are three things you love about working at The News-Gazette?
Okay, well it's a family owned and operated business. We all seem to get along real well. You know, a lot of papers haven't survived in recent years with the internet and different other news sources. It’s nice that Matt [Paxton] has kept the paper going and it’s still around after all these years. I'm comfortable in the situation and I enjoy it.
Do you have a favorite funny story from working here?
I'm not sure but I know with the other paper [in Buena Vista], we had an issue one time where, let's just say, a prominent individual had died. There was a story about some person being in concert or something. The picture of that deceased prominent individual appeared in the space where this person was supposed to be in concert. That was kind of a bad mistake.
But I mean, it's a reflection on the different way that we did things in those days. When the pages were laid out, they just had blanks where the pictures went. Then you had, like, an envelope full of pictures with numbers on the back of them. If the paper was printed elsewhere, they were just supposed to match up the pictures with the numbers and they got them wrong. I forget exactly who was at fault but the wrong picture got in the wrong hole. Another thing that happened at that paper one time: We had a tractor trailer accident and the picture was placed in the hole upside down. But again, those happened to another paper. I'm sure we've had some things here too.
How do you feel about newspapers and journalism?
I'm worried, with the changes that have happened over the years. I guess because of the rise of social media and the internet, there's just a lot of false information out there. I worry that people can't distinguish between what's real news and what's fake news. The credibility of all of us that are in this business is sort of at stake here. I think it extends to newspapers in general just because people don't know how to distinguish between what's real and what's not a lot of times. I mean, I'd like to think most people do, but there are a lot of people that don't.
