This weekend, I had a great time taking with M.E. Sprengelmeyer, publisher of the print-only Guadalupe County Communicator, on John Ensslin’s Studio SPJ.
But the 30-minute show went by way too fast, so M.E. and I chatted for a while afterwards. In particular, I wondered if he had advice for young journalists — or for those of us already in the business who might be feeling less-than-exuberant.
Here are a few shortened and edited excerpts from our conversation after the show.
On keeping up with changing technology:
You cannot kill the need for information. And so to the young journalists, I say, ‘Don’t take your eye off the ball, don’t forget that the basis for all journalism is reporting.’
It’s not about the mediums that you’re working in; it’s not even about the technology that’s on the output side. I think there is a danger right now, that young journalists are thinking more about the output side — like video, audio, Tweeting — and they’re focusing more on that than on the input, which is asking tough questions, learning how to find information, learning how to dig through records.
(It’s important to) get young journalists focused on the reporting roots because I believe that when all the technology and experiments — like mine, and like with the Internet and Facebook — are done, at the end of the day, we will still need the people who do the root reporting and watchdog journalism.
On the Guadalupe County Communicator’s “big secret:”
My profit is exactly the same as the profit for the previous owners. But I’m spending 80 percent more on the expense side.
The revenues of the paper have gone through the roof, but my problem is that I keep spending it because I want to make the content better.
It’s hard for me to explain that to people, as a victory. But it is. It’s a huge victory.
I could pocket a lot more if I weren’t addicted to making the paper better.
To listen to a podcast of the interview online at, visit: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/spj/2013/08/10/studio-spj-with-michael-sprengelmeyer
To subscribe to the Guadalupe County Communicator, e-mail comsilvercom@plateautel.net and ersthap@hotmail.com. A full year’s subscription is $30. The Communicator, P.O. Box 403, Santa Rosa, NM 88435.
