A weekly editor who lost his job after being forced to reapply for it has bowed out with an emotional message to his readers.
Self-confessed hack Les Baker, a journalist since the early 1960s, has edited the Royston Crow for the past eight years.
But he lost out in a race for his job against Darren Isted, editor of sister paper the Stevenage Comet, who is now taking over responsibility for both titles following a cost-cutting operation.
Les, described by one colleage as “a legendary figure in Royston,” penned a heartfelt goodbye to readers in a farewell column in the paper, saying nothing in his long career had compared with editing the Crow.
The decision to appoint Darren as editor of both the Archant-owned titles has led to fears among some staff that the paper is losing its local identity.
Said one: “The Royston office is to remain open for now as a district office set up, with one reporter and a skeleton staff. Other reporters have either been moved to Stevenage, or another of Archant’s papers.”
But although he is based mainly in Stevenage, 17 miles away, Darren said the Crow would continue to have a presence in Royston.
“I am now editing both papers but obviously we will still retain a presence in Royston. We still have photographic, reporting, advertising and reception staff there,” he said.
“We looked at the structure in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire and we looked at the Comet and the Crow,” he added.
“There were two editors and that’s been taken down to one but it is not a question of the Comet absorbing the Royston Crow. ”
For almost 45 years I’ve been a hack.
In other words, a reporter who would turn their hand to any subject.
It has been a career which started in the seemingly dark ages of newspapers, when the news room was covered in an ever-thickening cloud of cigarette smoke, and the dominant sound was the clatter of worn out Remington typewriters.
All has changed with the coming of the computer age. And new technology has revolutionised the production of newspapers.
But the job has remained vitually the same: getting the story and making sure that it was in the public domain.
That, really, is the essence of being a reporter.
And during a career which began in the 1960s, it has meant that as a reporter there were interviews with Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and Harold Wilson, and other Government ministers.
It meant eight years as a sports reporter, spending Saturday afternoons in the press box at Upton Park, Stamford Bridge, White Hart Lane, and that piece of heaven on earth we will always know as the Arsenal Stadium.
It meant digging out the stories surrounding the Broadwater Farm estate riot, and the aftermath of the blaze at King’s Cross station.
It meant those seemingly endless nights running into the early hours as elections were decided.
But there has been nothing to compare with being editor of The Crow.
It may be a cliche, but it has been a privilege to hold such a position, and, I may say, too, producing the paper week after week has been something of a labour of love.
I moved to Royston more than 30 years ago, although – as I have often been reminded – I cannot quite claim to be local. But, at least, I believe, I’ve kept the tradition of The Crow by keeping it as the local newspaper.
The strength of a local newspaper is in the community it serves.
The paper has to have a heart and a soul: it has to be passionate and compassionate about the area and the people it serves.
I believe we achieved this over recent years – although that may be an opinion which is still to be discussed.
But the job of editor is not just a question of putting a newspaper together each week.
It’s about people. It’s about those who want to be reported and those who do not. It’s about telling the truth and displaying integrity – and most of all it’s about reputation.
The Crow, I like to believe, does have a reputation for its commitment to our community and the reporting of the events and issues which are important on a local level.
We have strived to ensure that this would always be the case.
But it has not been done without help.
Over the years there has not just been a rapport built up with the key figures of our community, but a relationship with our readers.
This has been done on trusting each other – and it’s all been worthwhile.
The aim during the last eight years as editor has not been to make The Crow our newspaper, but YOUR newspaper.
Comments
º¤ø,¸¸,¤º ChillPhill º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º (06/10/2008 10:31:40)
Sad news but I guess these days everyone’s in the firing line.
PS Haven’t you got a picture of Les? Isn’t he the one that looks a bit like a crow? The irony.
Interviewee (07/10/2008 06:35:01)
I once went for a job interview there but Baker still owes me for my (expensive) travelling expenses.
Stern John (07/10/2008 10:55:10)
Len Baler is an absolute legend. He taught me more than any other journo I’ve worked with.
Keith Bailey (07/10/2008 12:15:06)
What a shabby way to treat someone who gave so much to journalism. You’re better off without them, Les.
Ex-Crowmanflownnorth (08/10/2008 10:55:10)
Sad indeed. Les was a towering figure in the Royston community and, as has already been said, a great mentor to many fellow journalists (and subs).
Good luck Les.
Crow fledgling (10/10/2008 15:28:19)
There was nothing Les couldn’t do, so long as he got his daily dozen cups of tea and 40 Dunhills inside him.
Always at his happiest re-subbing pages at midnight.
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