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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1979-10-18, Page 1014.7" THE. :HURON 'EXPOSITOR 1919. Serendipity by Alice Oibb In ease You misSed it last week svaS National Newspaper Week. That's he week when some people take their favorite reporter to luneh (well, at IOW illeYbe the cities they de .that) and other people send anonymoos, sometimes even threat. ening letters to their local paper CORTI*. ing about the annual meeting of the local branch of the tlitect descendants •of Site John A. didn't get the eoverage it deserved. So what that nO One remerebered to let the paper know the event was even • taking place! Now even though 1"nt week late (par for the course, you say) since let the week slip. by without lighting the traditional folded newspaper in honor ,of ,10Seph Howe, a father of Onfederetion and father of press freedom in Canada, the editor is, going to let ,Mtt write about the 0/felting:. glamorous life of A community newspaper reporter anyway. When yeti talk about the newspaper game, it's hard to know just where to begin. Maybe the most exciting moment is when you first get a hot phone tip that a big news story is about to break. (like the • Eleechwoed Internatioeal Plowing Math story!), Or when you're taking a baseball picture (whee yotect rather be sitting at home and learning aboutlife on the Los Angeles. Trib with Lou Grant) and you ask someone to spell their name. They reply, "Well, 1 -74517itt Pr1N.,4'Wtg .&.t knew why. The .0tpositor never getS anything right AnYwnY.' Or w.hen YOuNe spent extra Onto in the .0,•ening writing •aa etory you, think ts, ‘04.(ceptionally inspiring, and al week later. you still haven't run into one person who has bothered to read it. That's whenyou took in the mirror and say softly, "Thank geednesS I'm a reporter. 1 could have gone into SgIn0 unfulfilling profession like law, or teaching or aerodynamic engineering. but no, instead I've spent the last four and a half years of my life chasingthe big story." So what if sometimes like the old joke about the dog and the car 1 weeder if I'd stillknow What to do with that -story" even if 1 'did catch one. • GLAMOROUS OCCUPATION But one of the truly glamorous parts of a reporter's life is covering things . like the traditional Satutday night sports banquet. Now secretly you;"el like to be sitting comfortably at home, sharing a bottle of •wine with the friend who's driven up from London, to visit. But the organizers told you the picteres could be taken at eight d'eloek sharp, end after all,. what's 15 minutes in a lifetime. Then it seems the guest speaker was late, and somebody forget their uniform and well, do you mind sticking around for another hour or so and at 10 p.m. you get home again to find your friend bored, your favorite television show over. and your thoughts about humanity t r general a little strained, Then there's getting np, early Sunday morning, dashing down to take pictures at a church service and morning breakfast, and having to sit and watch people eat for an hour whileyour stomach growls. before You have a, tnetnient alone with the guest of honour. Or the nights When, You get home from work with exactly enough time to heat up whatever fast.cooking junk ,food you can find, and •then dash off IP A council. meeting, only to find they've gone "in, camera" for an hour, or else they're abeitt to launch into a two hour discuseion: of storm sewer outlets. If there's one thing I miss about London, it's those lovely suppers they used to serve up at city hall, between the hours of six and, seven p.m. whencouncil members; let their Stomachs rule their heads. Then there's that other exciting phen- omenon you're sitting around in your housecoat, sipping hot chocolate, and suddenly you hear that familiar alarm. You can't find your jeans, the camera bag has fallen down behind the furniture, you reach the fire station in time to see the engine going in the opposite directien and then some maniac chasing the fire truck forces you off the road. By the time you reach the fire. and take the required plettlreS, you filially stop to think of the sobering fuck that someone's home or livelihood has just gone pp in stroke and that you're going to haveto call them tomorrew with the painful questions about loss, insurance, etc. WHERE'S THE EXCITEMENTT Now when we were in school, our jeernalism professors, promised us ;to exciting world we couldn't wait to jump into. Trent Frarie wouldtefl us; :about interviewing Bobby IND one week, then, Peter Worthington would drop by to talk about his years as the Tely's Russian. correspondent and Lloyd Robertson would recall hew he went from a high school radie, amtoOtteer to newsreader on, the National News. Pretty heady stuff Sure, there were always cracks about how it would be out in the "real world" with deadlines, and cranky editors, and sleepless nights, but all we saw was that we'd be churning out stories that would win us fame and fortune. As far as 1 can tell, my classmates have yet to discover either (except for a former radio news? woman who's now selling real estate). .The •other thing the news people emphasized was the special camaraderie that existed amongpeople in the news game. Whenever we students were taken, on excursions to the infaMetts London City Press Club, we saw the ,camaraderie flowing almost as fast as the cheap drinks. Little 'did we know then that the reason news gatherers stick together is because no one else in polite society wants anything to do with them. When it comes to ranking us 944 Seale of one to 10, we're right dewn at the bottom with used car dealers and petty thieves, NOT ALL BAH But there have been some exciting moments - watching the dewntown London fire that threatened, to claim Theatre • London, meeting people like Author Alice Munro and Arthur Hailey and crusader Ralph Nader, • Then there have been the bad moments asking dumb questions, forgetting the • name of the person you're interviewing, temporarily forgetting the name of the paper yott're working for, getting stuck trying to climb a fence to take pictures and ,even forgetting my own name. There have also been sad moments - hearing that the paper I worked on for a year and a half folded (a fate that happens too often to weekly newspapers); opening the paper to read that a reporter 1 respected had been killed while ,covering the Porter Commission hearings and of course, writing abotit'fires# accidents and the tragediei that are part of human condition Whenever 1 get discouraged, 1 rement ber my father's comment- ihe.ettee told me the war taught him you could never believe what you read io newspapers. (He died before I became a repOrter.), For 'Wartittle, 1 think it was a fair criticism - even soldiers' letters home were carefully censored, Today, reporters and other journalists are still only as good as their sources, and it still surprises me how many untruths you, hear, sometimes from the most "trust- worthy" people. But I like to think my father and maybe other people as well ' could ehange their minds about the reporting of the news if they had a chance to see behind the scenes. Like some perceptive person once said, "Freedom of the press is not an end in itself, but a means to the end of a free society." Would I do it again if given the chance? NG', I'd rather be rich. But in honour of National Newspaper Week, !'ll admit •reluctantly the job is sometimes fun, rarely routine and ,hardly ever dull. So Joseph Howe, William Lyon Mac- Kenzie, Kit Coleman and all the other people who made National Newspaper Week possible - thanks! 1 KNECHTEL Aliens. Asst. Flavours • D 48 oz. Budget OG FO 15 oz. Tins WE LIKE TO SERVE YO HOME ON THE PRAIRIES -- Paper wheat is a play about the early • attempts of farmers in the prairies to market their own grain and make ends meet, and will be showing in Blyth Memorial Hall Wednesday evening, October 24. This blockbuster show is from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan's 25th Street House Theatre, Shown here are David • Francis, Skai Leja and Bill Prokopchuk, singing about the struggles the' • pioneers had in those rough "times. •' • Paper • Wheat che ules , . . • • • . • • ' ' . , • 7`Paper Wheat" the block- buster show from the Sask- • atoon, Saskatchewan's 25th. Street House Theatre comes • to Blyth Memorial' Hall, • Blyth, ori WedneSday eve- ning, October 24th at 8;00 • p.m. Like the Blyth Summer • Festival Theatre, the 25th Street House Theatre creates and performs original plays • about theregion arid..peeple it serves. Due to popular demand an additional performance. has been added, Thursday night, October'25 at 8 p.m, A matinee performance for area high school students Thursday has been sold Out, • Call: the Blyth office for • tickets 523-9390- Premiered in • the West, • Paper Wheat has had an • outstanding reception in all the Cernmunities where it has been performed, A recent article in the Cariadiali pe ormance • • Weekend Magazin'e -talked mOdernfarin fatnily 'to make about its success not only in ends meet. are just some -of smaller centres, but in Cal. die' highlights. garv, Montreal and Van, TheBlyth audience will couver. A .tour highlight has relate well to the. struggles of been the performan'ce at the the early settlers and the National Arts Centre •in :• actors portraying the many Ottawa, -• „ nationalities •who broke the Paper Wheat promises to land in the early 11900's: be an evening of old• -style Manv residents., Of Huron oratory, humor, sentiment, County -also went West dur. • drama. stepdancing. and Bill Mg this tittle and so this • • Prokachuk, a Western Canevening' will be a tribute to adian fiddle champiort2 will them as provide live fiddle Music. It's Tickets, at $5.00 each, are a story of hope. determin- available by mail from the ation, courage. and the dis- Blyth Centre For The Arts. • covery that isolation and •Bee 291, Blyth, NOM I HO. or helplessness can be Over, can be purchased aethe Box Come by human cooperation. Office in Blyth on TueSdays The early attempts of farrn• and Wednesdays; ers to market their own • . • grain. the ;formatioe of the,.f Remetriber! It takes but a Wheat Pool, the growth of moment to place an Ea' the Cooperative movement, .pOsiter Want Ad. :Dial and the continuing' battle of a S24-0240. ' loestvitasois.b., 114. Blyth District Community Centre Dancing 9-1:00 Admission $4,50 per persort Costumes, prizes, Oktoberfest Food Sponsored by Biytti LIOnt Club Huron Tavern Mon - Sat. • & Sat Matinee ortunIty Next:Week: • Shannon - • Dining Room . Open Daily from 12 Neon • Good Old-FasNoned Home -Cooked Meals 1 Continuous Entertainment from 8 pan. to 1 a.m. ,HIGHWAY #8 DUBLIN 345.2820 4se4sit • Kelloggs Eggo . ' • Aim .,. 0 . 100ML Tul:ie 1 9 • Salado Orange Pekoe TEA BAGS • Pkg. of 60 • 9 4 . Awl Pkg. of 20 11 oz. Pkg • Sherriff Good Morning MARMALADE 24 oz. RO LOC Prices effecdve until Saturday, October 20, 1979 ,20 Ib. Bag Prod. of Honduras Golden.Yellow or Green Tipped Chiquitta N , . Prod. of USA Can No 1 Red Emperor Es Ont. Grown No 1 Fresh,Crisp 2 lb. Bag Ib. Ib. Ontario Grown No 1 10 lb. Bag Kellogg" RICE: 9 KIIIS5fIES TO Heinz ATO JUICE 48 oz. Tins .79 • Sunlight Laundry DETER () Litre 0