Great editors remembered

Fifty years ago I was enjoying myself immensely. And a bit nervous. I had accepted a new job, and a completely different role, moving from being newspaper chain's writing bureau chief to an editor at a newspaper. After more than ten years of reporting and writing stories and loving it, I was taking the chance that being an editor -- stuck inside the building instead of pounding the streets -- would hold personal and professional satisfaction. It worked out well. I was asked to move from Tallahassee, Florida, where I was the bureau chief for the six Gannett newspapers in the state, to the Southwest Florida community of Fort Myers and it's daily newspaper the News-Press. My job description was initially vague -- I was a "senior editor" despite being 32 years old-- which corporate Gannett's way of saying I might end up in charge if I didn't fail.

My boss was the Managing Editor Bob Bentley, (pictured above with daughter Reid) in charge of the news operations and sent in by corporate to build the paper into something great. I had worked for Bob at TODAY, where he was in charge of the newspaper's coverage in the late 1960s. When I asked him about the Fort Myers publisher, a conservative holdover near 70 from the old ownership whose claim to fame was that he was commodore of the local yacht club, Bentley said "Ignore him. We can do what we need to do." And we did. Bentley had corporate's blessings and money to increase the staff, be more aggressive in coverage, and look for exceptional talents among young journalists coming out of colleges or wherever he could find them. He already had significant success at Florida's TODAY newspaper earlier, leading the staff through the Apollo moon landing years, and building that paper into a significant force in Florida.

He was 33, a star in Florida journalism. The first person Bob introduced me to was Joe Workman, then city editor, and the very best of a local staff that had struggled for several years. He was, a Bentley said, a great city editor who simply needed editors who did not get in his way and reporters willing to learn. He fit into the "Lou Grant" model: tough, smart, skilled, hard drinking and he knew where all the bodies were buried. He was a West Virginia native, who relished in pretending he was just a poor country boy. Years later he made a post-retirement fortune in Florida beach real estate, outsmarting lots of city slickers. Bentley and Workman each decided that sharing what they knew about newspapering, was the most important thing they could do. The dividends came to me. Joe taught me how to deal with all kinds of people, from irritating car dealers to crooked politicians. Bentley taught me how to spot and develop talent in young people, hiring only the best from good schools and smaller newspapers, selling them on the idea that living on the beach and working for a good newspaper in Florida was worth accepting the low wages we could offer. He also encouraged people to move outward and upoward when their chances came along. Bentley's particular skills were as an editor who controlled the design and stucture of the paper, skills he learned earlier at The Miami Herlad and TODAY. He was always open to good ideas, even if crazy, and knew how to put the right people in the right spot. When there were failures, and some happened, he knew how to cut his losses. He once convinced the advertising department to take a news photographer (who had zero news photo sense) into the ad staff where he was happy for years. He was also willing to tell people who struggled unsuccesfully that they would be happier elsewhere, and they usually were. He rarely fired anyone, usually just pointed them in a better diretion and they left.

He could spot talent. He always claimed that he spotted the talent of Randy Wayne White, pictured above with Joe and me at a reunion, while Randy was working climbing power poles -- a kid from the mid-west who could not find a job. Randy has since written more than 60 novels. Working at the News-Press was a crazy experience in many ways. Many of us worked very long hours, from 9 a.m. to midnight. Once the presses started rolling we would adjourn together to our favorite local bar Pate's for a few drinks and food. Once he warmed up Bentley would take over the piano and start leading the singing: "Delta Dawn" was a favorite. Workman would tell West Virginia stories, tall tales we never knew if trhey were true. It was true he had one glass eye, which he occasionally would put on the bar to provoke a reactio. Other nights he would bet some younger staffer he would eat a light bulb, which they could not believe until they witnessed it and paid Joe. Sometimes as many as a dozen people would close the bar at 2 a.m. and move elsewhere to drink till dawn. We all worked very hard. The paper got better every year, began winning awards and gaining circulation and profits. Despite the differences between the staff's generation and that of the local population -- even then mostly elderly retirees from the Mid-West -- we were honest and fearless, and it succeeded with readers. Old-time elected officials, who once had there way in the community, were being watched closely and their activities exposed, which they did not like. A county commission chairman scolded a News-Press reporter during a meeting because he thought her skirt was too short. Bentley called him up and scolded him for abusing his power. A note about the culture of the early 70s, and Fort Myers in particular. Most of the staff was under 30, single and socially -- what should I say -- unrestrained. With the college hires came some drugs, most of which I knew nothing about, but pot smoking was known to happen and a few of the younger staffers ended up living together. Bentley was divorced by that time and the local ladies responded to his movie star good looks. He delighted in living in a "singles apartment complex" where naked swim parties we known to happen. I was something of an exception-- though not the only one -- being happily married and with two young children at home. I simply could not keep up the pace of late-night drinking. Our mutual friend at corporate, who had been instrumental in both Bob and I coming to the News-Press, once suggested subtly that I was right for the job because I was more normal, less "colorful" than Bob.

Regardless of our differences, we shared a love for the work and particularly the people. As always happens, things changed over a few years. Bentley was promoted and moved to run the ElPaso paper in Texas, and a few staffers followed him there. (A local car dealer called me the day after Bob left to tell me his much-younger wife had left for Texas with Bob and when he caught up with them he was going to shoot Bob. The wife came home, and the guy never shot anyone.) Bob moved from Texas to Atlanta to California and back to his native South Carolina, happily married before cancer caught up with him. He lived his life with passion and was an honest journalist. Joe Workman stayed on at the News-Press, never quite fitting in with the corporate style of Gannett, but becoming a polular local columnist, living out his life in his beloved Fort Myers Beach with his beloved wife Grace, daughter of an Episcopal priest. We remained friends for 40 years. Before my time in Fort Myers came toward the end, I was promoted to be the editor, replacing Bob. The old publisher retired and a new corporate-appointed publisher came to town. He was a classic Gannett publisher from that era, driven by ambition, a desire to always look good to corporate, and in his case -- dishonest. We immediately came into conflict when he continually tried to influence the newsroom staff to be "more business friendly." I ended up leaving within about a year, taking a graceful exit to a Humanities Fellowship at Michigan with John Quinn's support, in 1977. (I left Gannett in 1980, moving to The Bee in California.) But the years in Fort Myers and the people there were among the best and the brightest I have ever worked with, and together we did good work. We sent reporter/photographer teams to big rock festivals in New Orleans, another team to Central America to cover an earthquake, people to the Olympics and always sent people to the nation political conventions. No one ever told us we could not do that, and readers loved it. I learned a lot of about how to be an editor from both Bentley and Workman, and have always felt they are among the very best journalists I have encountered in 45 working years. Newspapers have changed so much in the past 20 years, it is hard to imagine such transformative journalism happening again. But I remind myself that a few dedicated people brought together by common ideals, can make change for the better. Bob and Joe did that for me, and I am forever grateful.