SevenQuestions: Lindsay Crysler

Seven answers on 7Q (also known as the FAQs of life.)
Interviewed by Tom Mangan

Lindsay Crysler, newsman, J-school prof

Q's courtesy of Log Cabin Chronicles editor John Mahoney.
Lindsay's contribution to John's site is here.

AUTHORS

Michael Fuchs
Elizabeth Hilts
Paul Riddell
Gary Rivlin
Jim Motavalli
Barbara Shafferman
Jules Siegel
Keith Snyder

ARTISTS/POETS/
PHILOSOPHERS

Jon C. Allen
Will Baker
Mike Leung
Jon Sarkin

COOL SITE KEEPERS

Mike Cash
Scott O'Neal Colf
Godfrey Daniels
Cliff Davis, DDS
Tammy Hocking
Wes Modes
Frank Rogan

DIARISTS

Ralph Becker
J. D. Bruns
Linda DeVault
Mike Reed
Moira Richardson
Jessamyn West

FILMMAKERS

Ben Kufrin
Dean Mermell

JOURNALISTS

Bernie
Mary Cooley-Jones
Lindsay Crysler
Jamie Dupree
M.O.A.T.M.A.I.
David Moll
Robert Niles
John Orr
Steven Ovadia
Pierce Presley
Mack Reed
Rip Rense
Curtis Ross
Neal Ross
John Scalzi
Catherine Seipp
David Sheets
Dwight Silverman
Matt Welch

MOVIE MAVENS

MaryAnn Johanson
Brian Koller

HUMORISTS

Debbie Farmer
Mike Jasper
Madeleine Begun Kane
Patrick Keller
Bob Sassone
Valerie Sprague
Ken Swarmer
Ian Wolff

SOLDIERS

Maj. Jon Anderson, USAF

TEACHERS

John Warner

TECHIES

Chris Adamson
Mike Gunderloy
Michael Ivey
Greg Knauss
Floyd Maxwell
Ellen McDonough
Mike Pingleton
Wayne Thume
John Worth

TEENS

Gary Baum
Marty Beckerman

UNDECLARED

Bev Gibbs
Beth Reid

WEBLOGGERS

Jason Kottke
Jish Mukerji

ONE
You've been a newsie for nearly half a century. You've worked both sides of the desk and taught any number of potential reporters. Why are you still doing this?

I suppose I'm still doing it for the reason I started in the first place ... I thought I would enjoy it. I have. I do.

I guess I also thought it was an important thing to do ... and I still do. By that, I mean that it is important to our community -- however we measure that -- which journalists do an honest job of day to day.

TWO
You've now taught at four schools of journalism. How have your views on J-school evolved over the years?

Like lots of cynical journalists, I believed a long time ago that they were worthless. But I came to realize that, in fact, they had an important role to play in educating people about the role of journalists in society --- not something I thought a hell of a lot about when I was getting ready to enter the "profession". At least I didn't think about it consciously; but, as above, I did feel that the community needed me and my colleagues to do an honest job each day. Of course, we didn't articulate that intellectual stuff.

Later ... I realized ... well, why the hell not? Maybe we should articulate that stuff ... to one another ... and to those who are coming into the business. Then ... voila! I discovered they actually did this in journalism school ... and I thought ... "imagine that! Maybe there's something to be said for those guys after all."

From there, it was a short step to joining the ranks ... being a teacher was my No. 2 choice of things to do in life. (Being a "newspaperman" was No. 1 .... after I had got past being a fireman, a policeman, an air force pilot).

THREE

How's the quality and commitment of today's crop of J-students?

If we think of education and worldly knowledge, there is no doubt today's crop is miles ahead of my early days .... even ahead of my peers who graduated university.

They are generally just as committed to doing a good job for their community as we ever were ... and certainly more aware of how the community needs them to do a conscientious job. But they come to it in a more confusing time: there are so many more choices.

There are so many kinds of media masquerading as "news" media now that it makes my head spin. And there is no doubt that some young people have their heads turned by the glitter and glamour of some of those peripheral media. But in general, I do not despair about what they will bring to today's media.

When I look at what my generation (and perhaps the following one) has done to the news media -- much flash and a lot of trivialization of public affairs -- I would say that today's student crop could do nothing but improve them.

FOUR
In Quebec many see you as the Godfather of Community Journalism. What do you think about the current state of the small-town weekly?

Just to put a bit of perspective on that: some of those folks have spent a lifetime turning out their community paper; I helped out for maybe ten years. It's no contest ... any contribution I made is miniscule by comparison. But I am a big fan of community papers. They are miles ahead of what I remember from my youth.

Over the past few years, I've had occasion to see the small papers in four provinces at close hand ... and seen the work of others in national journalism competitions. In many cases, they are in much better touch with their communities than are daily papers, and they likely reflect their communities better than dailies do.

If you look at the circulation graphs of dailies and weeklies in Canada, it's quite obvious that readers agree: almost all dailies' readership has been in steady decline while the community papers' numbers are more stable.

FIVE
And what about a decade from now?

I think it's perilous, not to say foolish, to try to look that far ahead. Who would have guessed 10 years ago that a new national daily newspaper could start in Canada in 1998 and be able to claim (and pretty much prove) about 300,000 circulation after a year?

Or, who would have predicted in 1986 that journalism schools would be teaching "Online Journalism" in 10 years?

And, I would have been the last to predict that I would actually be helping teach an Online course in the year 2000.

But ... I would not be surprised that in ten years community papers will still be healthy ... and serving their readers while dailies will be in even more flux than now.

SIX
Who was the finest editor you ever worked for?

His name was Eric Wells. He was Managing Editor, then Editor in Chief of the Winnipeg Tribune in the mid-50s to the mid to late '60s. He was the most inspiring person I ever worked for, or been taught by. He just made you want to do the best you could do every day. And ... not through terror alone: some of his memoes -- pasted on the newsroom bulletin board -- were classics of incisive sarcasm and invective ... but never aimed at an individual.

Everything was a team effort with him. We'd be in a news meeting where we discussed the stories of the day ... and people would be hollering at one another, and disagreeing violently with him ... or anyone else. But when it was over ... everyone went out and worked their ass off to do it the way it had been decided.

He never imposed his view ... but he could out-argue pretty much everyone else with logic and and an intellect that went straight to the heart of every matter. He was a great mentor.

Something like 10 or 12 of us who were around the Trib during a certain 6-7 year period wound up as managing editors or editors in chief of Canadian news publications -- either dailies, national financial papers or national magazines. I expect that's a record that would be hard for anyone else of any era to match.

SEVEN
Did you ever get a hot story dropped in your lap?

Yes. A Winnipeg bank was robbed just at noon hour on a Friday. We had the story ... very dramatic ... in that day's paper, of course. As we left for the day, a manhunt was going on in dense woods east of the city. When I was going in about 6 a.m. next day, my cab driver said "hey, they caught those guys, eh?"

When I expressed doubt, he told me of his previous fare -- a trainman who had just come back from the Lakehead, 500 miles east. The robbers had jumped on the train at a small rural station, he reported, and the suspicious conductor alerted the cops, who met the train when it arrived at the Lakehead.

When I got to work ... my colleagues were preparing a front page that said something like: "Manhunt continues in woods. "After a few phone calls -- to the police, to the bunkhouse at the railyards at the Lakehead -- we established that my cabbie was right.

The cops were startled that we knew: they had planned a press conference for later in the day -- when they had the robbers back in town. So, we went ahead with the front page that said "Manhunt continues in woods", and printed about 50 papers -- for the bundle that would be picked up by our competition as soon as the press started.

Then we did a makeover that had the real news: ROBBERS CAUGHT! That's the one that went to our readers. It was was my only real scoop in 25 years of newspapers. I still have that Tribune front page -- along with the one from the Free Press that says "Manhunt continues east of city."

THE BIG INDEX...
Who they are, what they do, how they think. Go there now.

A TO Z ARCHIVE...

Everybody here, with quickie bios. Go there now.

Return to the main Seven Questions page
See the original Newsies 7Q project

Contact info@sevenquestions.com
Copyright 1999-2002, Thomas L. Mangan



Seven answers on 7Q (also known as the FAQs of life.)	Interviewed by Tom Mangan Lindsay Crysler, newsman, J-school prof Q's courtesy of Log Cabin Chronicles editor John Mahoney. Lindsay's contribution to John's site is here.	AUTHORS Michael Fuchs Elizabeth Hilts Paul Riddell Gary Rivlin Jim Motavalli Barbara Shafferman Jules Siegel Keith Snyder ARTISTS/POETS/ PHILOSOPHERS Jon C. Allen Will Baker Mike Leung Jon Sarkin COOL SITE KEEPERS Mike Cash Scott O'Neal Colf Godfrey Daniels Cliff Davis, DDS Tammy Hocking Wes Modes Frank Rogan DIARISTS Ralph Becker J. D. Bruns Linda DeVault Mike Reed Moira Richardson Jessamyn West FILMMAKERS Ben Kufrin Dean Mermell JOURNALISTS Bernie Mary Cooley-Jones Lindsay Crysler Jamie Dupree M.O.A.T.M.A.I. David Moll Robert Niles John Orr Steven Ovadia Pierce Presley Mack Reed Rip Rense Curtis Ross Neal Ross John Scalzi Catherine Seipp David Sheets Dwight Silverman Matt Welch MOVIE MAVENS MaryAnn Johanson Brian Koller HUMORISTS Debbie Farmer Mike Jasper Madeleine Begun Kane Patrick Keller Bob Sassone Valerie Sprague Ken Swarmer Ian Wolff SOLDIERS Maj. Jon Anderson, USAF TEACHERS John Warner TECHIES Chris Adamson Mike Gunderloy Michael Ivey Greg Knauss Floyd Maxwell Ellen McDonough Mike Pingleton Wayne Thume John Worth TEENS Gary Baum Marty Beckerman UNDECLARED Bev Gibbs Beth Reid WEBLOGGERS Jason Kottke Jish Mukerji



ONE	You've been a newsie for nearly half a century. You've worked both sides of the desk and taught any number of potential reporters. Why are you still doing this? I suppose I'm still doing it for the reason I started in the first place ... I thought I would enjoy it. I have. I do. I guess I also thought it was an important thing to do ... and I still do. By that, I mean that it is important to our community -- however we measure that -- which journalists do an honest job of day to day.



TWO	You've now taught at four schools of journalism. How have your views on J-school evolved over the years? Like lots of cynical journalists, I believed a long time ago that they were worthless. But I came to realize that, in fact, they had an important role to play in educating people about the role of journalists in society --- not something I thought a hell of a lot about when I was getting ready to enter the "profession". At least I didn't think about it consciously; but, as above, I did feel that the community needed me and my colleagues to do an honest job each day. Of course, we didn't articulate that intellectual stuff. Later ... I realized ... well, why the hell not? Maybe we should articulate that stuff ... to one another ... and to those who are coming into the business. Then ... voila! I discovered they actually did this in journalism school ... and I thought ... "imagine that! Maybe there's something to be said for those guys after all." From there, it was a short step to joining the ranks ... being a teacher was my No. 2 choice of things to do in life. (Being a "newspaperman" was No. 1 .... after I had got past being a fireman, a policeman, an air force pilot).



THREE	How's the quality and commitment of today's crop of J-students? If we think of education and worldly knowledge, there is no doubt today's crop is miles ahead of my early days .... even ahead of my peers who graduated university. They are generally just as committed to doing a good job for their community as we ever were ... and certainly more aware of how the community needs them to do a conscientious job. But they come to it in a more confusing time: there are so many more choices. There are so many kinds of media masquerading as "news" media now that it makes my head spin. And there is no doubt that some young people have their heads turned by the glitter and glamour of some of those peripheral media. But in general, I do not despair about what they will bring to today's media. When I look at what my generation (and perhaps the following one) has done to the news media -- much flash and a lot of trivialization of public affairs -- I would say that today's student crop could do nothing but improve them.



FOUR	In Quebec many see you as the Godfather of Community Journalism. What do you think about the current state of the small-town weekly? Just to put a bit of perspective on that: some of those folks have spent a lifetime turning out their community paper; I helped out for maybe ten years. It's no contest ... any contribution I made is miniscule by comparison. But I am a big fan of community papers. They are miles ahead of what I remember from my youth. Over the past few years, I've had occasion to see the small papers in four provinces at close hand ... and seen the work of others in national journalism competitions. In many cases, they are in much better touch with their communities than are daily papers, and they likely reflect their communities better than dailies do. If you look at the circulation graphs of dailies and weeklies in Canada, it's quite obvious that readers agree: almost all dailies' readership has been in steady decline while the community papers' numbers are more stable.



FIVE	And what about a decade from now? I think it's perilous, not to say foolish, to try to look that far ahead. Who would have guessed 10 years ago that a new national daily newspaper could start in Canada in 1998 and be able to claim (and pretty much prove) about 300,000 circulation after a year? Or, who would have predicted in 1986 that journalism schools would be teaching "Online Journalism" in 10 years? And, I would have been the last to predict that I would actually be helping teach an Online course in the year 2000. But ... I would not be surprised that in ten years community papers will still be healthy ... and serving their readers while dailies will be in even more flux than now.



SIX	Who was the finest editor you ever worked for? His name was Eric Wells. He was Managing Editor, then Editor in Chief of the Winnipeg Tribune in the mid-50s to the mid to late '60s. He was the most inspiring person I ever worked for, or been taught by. He just made you want to do the best you could do every day. And ... not through terror alone: some of his memoes -- pasted on the newsroom bulletin board -- were classics of incisive sarcasm and invective ... but never aimed at an individual. Everything was a team effort with him. We'd be in a news meeting where we discussed the stories of the day ... and people would be hollering at one another, and disagreeing violently with him ... or anyone else. But when it was over ... everyone went out and worked their ass off to do it the way it had been decided. He never imposed his view ... but he could out-argue pretty much everyone else with logic and and an intellect that went straight to the heart of every matter. He was a great mentor. Something like 10 or 12 of us who were around the Trib during a certain 6-7 year period wound up as managing editors or editors in chief of Canadian news publications -- either dailies, national financial papers or national magazines. I expect that's a record that would be hard for anyone else of any era to match.



SEVEN	Did you ever get a hot story dropped in your lap? Yes. A Winnipeg bank was robbed just at noon hour on a Friday. We had the story ... very dramatic ... in that day's paper, of course. As we left for the day, a manhunt was going on in dense woods east of the city. When I was going in about 6 a.m. next day, my cab driver said "hey, they caught those guys, eh?" When I expressed doubt, he told me of his previous fare -- a trainman who had just come back from the Lakehead, 500 miles east. The robbers had jumped on the train at a small rural station, he reported, and the suspicious conductor alerted the cops, who met the train when it arrived at the Lakehead. When I got to work ... my colleagues were preparing a front page that said something like: "Manhunt continues in woods. "After a few phone calls -- to the police, to the bunkhouse at the railyards at the Lakehead -- we established that my cabbie was right. The cops were startled that we knew: they had planned a press conference for later in the day -- when they had the robbers back in town. So, we went ahead with the front page that said "Manhunt continues in woods", and printed about 50 papers -- for the bundle that would be picked up by our competition as soon as the press started. Then we did a makeover that had the real news: ROBBERS CAUGHT! That's the one that went to our readers. It was was my only real scoop in 25 years of newspapers. I still have that Tribune front page -- along with the one from the Free Press that says "Manhunt continues east of city."


	THE BIG INDEX... Who they are, what they do, how they think. Go there now. A TO Z ARCHIVE... Everybody here, with quickie bios. Go there now. Return to the main Seven Questions page See the original Newsies 7Q project Contact info@sevenquestions.com Copyright 1999-2002, Thomas L. Mangan