Steve Koehler, who has been a reporter and editor at the News-Leader for the past 24 years, resigned today.
His last day will be Thursday, May 15.
Koehler joined the News-Leader in 1984 after working 10 years at newspapers in Illinois. During his time here, he has contributed in a range of ways: news editor, sports editor, sports columnist, news columnist, and reporter on the neighbors and features staffs. Higher education has been his beat for the past six years.
Koehler, who strings for the AP, will continue to do freelance work (including, hopefully, for us). He is currently weighing other job opportunities.
Plans for a proper send-off will be announced in the coming week or so. And the search for his replacement will get underway quickly.
Monday, April 28, 2008
STEVE KOEHLER IS OUTTA THERE
The News-Leader icon -- or is he a legend? -- has resigned. Here's the letter sent to staff:
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22 comments:
Wait for the other shoe.
What? What other shoe??? There's only one other BIG shoe to drop: Cheryl. A couple of mid-to big-shoes but not really "shoes."
Unless you mean Wyatt. Now that would be a big shoe. A more than welcome big-ass shoe.
Best of luck to Steve. I was a lowly copy editor for a couple of years, and he was always very decent to me/us. Will be interesting to see who covers the higher ed beat...
Oh, come on, Matt. They won't "fill that position." They might move someone to higher ed - maybe -, but they won't hire anyone.
That newsroom is a large, rectangular space of mostly empty desks and dusty chairs, the only ones filled being those of some newer but primarily older reporters and editors sporting shell-shocked expressions on well-worn faces.
The 'morgue' used to be in the basement. Now it's the newsroom.
Koehler's a HUGE loss for the newspaper and if Cheryl W. leaves it's almost lights out over there. Is there any chance Wyatt can be 'promoted' to Papa G HQ?
In St. Louis, a bunch of former Post-Dispatch journalists are putting together a digital site for local news. There are enough former News-Leader journalists still in town to staff something like that here. I wonder if it could be made economically feasible. Probably not. But it's an interesting thought. Springfield needs a newspaper put out by people who can find their way around town without a map.
Best of luck to Steve in his future endeavors.
I grew up in Springfield and Steve was my favorite thing about the News Leader. Spent ten years in the business myself--although on the television side, which may or may not still be considered journalism.
Either way, losing Steve is a big blow to the paper and I hate to see it happen. Best wishes to him. He was one of my inspirations.
Steve's a class act and his leaving is our loss. The SNL seems to have been ingesting small amounts of arsenic each day over a long period of time. It's been getting more ill every day. From the way it treats its people (and readers) to its truly rotten web site, it's suicide that's not painless.
I'm sad to see him go. Whenever I saw Steve Koehler's byline, I read the story below it with interest. I wish him well.
To the naysayers: Yes, the story of newspapers going online, where they'll continue in much-reduced form, is hard to watch. The era when journalists were untrammeled "Schoolmasters of the People" is long over. But this story is not a "suicide," it's not "lights out," and for all their (many) faults, newspapers deserve our support.
If they disappear, believe me, you don't want to go there.
Now where will Chatter (it's what's the matter) get its (sometimes muddled) inside-the-NL scoop?
From all the rest of us who dish it, of course.
And Ron always has a way of getting the story.
There isn't any inside-the-NL scoop of interest remaining. All the interesting people are gone. The product is irrelevant, just lightly rewritten press releases or propaganda dictated by the Chamber of Commerce.
The Queen is dead. Long live the Queen.
Folks, Don Wyatt must go.
Bette Noire
I want to know more about the digital site for local news. I don't bother with the News-Leader website any more. They have everything but the news and what little news they still have has been deliberately made hard to find from what I can see.
They deliberately make their product hard to find to generate more clicks on the site, and thus are able to report X number of "page turns" to Gannett. For computer curmudgeon like me, the new and improved web site sucks. I can successfully navigate the through NY Times, and the Washington Post web sites with my 9.2OS iMac, but have had way too much trouble and frustration with the News Leader's site. They are getting a lot fewer click from me since they change. That said, I wish Steve the best, and thank him for his work.
The News-Leader's loss is OTC's gain.
OTC? Thought is was MSU?
Anyone else see page 2A of last Saturday's News Leader with the pic of a dog from the previous weekend's ARF Fest. The cut line suggested it was "BARFING good time". I hope it has already been sent to Leno or maybe to Dave now that he has his own "Headlines" gig called "Small Town News".
Fitting in that the good people left at the NL are, I'm sure, having a barfing good time....
And another one bites the dust!
Initials this time are KC.
To chatter-maniacs and especially RED:
Thanks for all your support and kindnesses over the years. I'm not a big blog guy but I do swoop in and see what the hub-bub is about. I still like talking, arguing and discussing face-to-face.
I've been doing this a long time but I was only as good as the people I wrote about and got m information from.
I will see you down the road. Be kind to one another.
Peace.
Koehler
Steve,
You're a sweetheart!
And remember: crappie really dig chartreuse skirts! Angle along the shoreline ...
Annie
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