Balancing columns and news

When I started writing my column Write On for the daily Finger Lakes Times newspaper in Geneva, NY, I was extremely careful not to step on the toes of any of the reporting staff. I spent much of my journalism career as a reporter and editor (overseeing a phalanx of reporters). It irked me sometimes when a newspaper columnist would get a hot news tip and run with it - writing a column - without telling the news staff. In the process they would neatly avoid some of the restraints reporters worked under: objectivity, balance and rules often requiring official confirmation of events.

The late Jimmy Breslin, a world-class columnist in NY

When I became a daily newspaper columnist, it took me a bit to get into the columnist mode that does allow for interpretation, sharp criticism and analysis. But when I found out something that I thought would be better handled by a news staff reporter, I gave him or her a heads up. Or I asked the editor. Later, after a story was printed, I knew I would get a crack at commenting.

I got a handle on that balance during in the first year of my column. Memories of that first year - and the 14 years since - came flooding back this week as I wrote my column published in today’s Finger Lakes Times, celebrating the 15 years of Write On. The full column is printed below.

It’s been a great ride. And it’s not over.

Write On column turns 15 today

By Michael J. Fitzgerald

Today marks the 780th time Write On has been published in the Finger Lakes Times. Fifteen years times 52 weeks. It seems like a really long time and like it was just yesterday.

If I were to list all the topics about which I have been slinging words in these columns, it would take up most - if not all - of my 650-word limit FLT editors allocate for me for every Friday. I haven’t missed a deadline or a Friday column in the decade and half, despite close calls because of faulty technology.

A long-time Write On reader recently asked me where I get ideas for this weekly screed. That’s easy. Topics and issues are everywhere. They come from news stories in the FLT, other news sources, suggestions from readers and everyday life. The bigger challenge is to pick a topic and make it relevant to a Finger Lakes’ audience as well as other readers outside the area.

In 2011 when Executive Editor Mike Cutillo and I agreed to start Write On, his only caveat was that I link whatever I wrote to the Finger Lakes region. That proved challenging at times, like when my wife and I were in the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific. But using a famous Mark Twain quote as a prompt and discovering that Ugg boots that we wear in the Finger Lakes were manufactured there, made in nearby Fiji, tied in the columns nicely, including one about my wife and I going swimming with whales in the ocean. A video of that experience is directly below.

When we wintered for years in a coastal Mexican village, columns for a Finger Lakes audience also came easy. The struggles and joys of everyday life in Arroyo Seco, Jalisco Mexico (pop. 300), mirrored much of Central New York’s culture. People are people from the farmers in their fields, families running restaurants or fishing in the ocean. There were plenty of life lessons that related to us here. And we had many Finger Lakes guests over the years.

Across these 15 years, there have been recurring themes on which I am continually compelled to comment.

Keeping Finger Lakes’ water and air clean, responsiveness of governments to citizens (or lack thereof), environmental issues across the board, the importance of good education and threats posed by unwise and/or inappropriate industries. And always calling attention to bullies, be they bullies using legal and/or financial thuggery to intimidate small towns or state and federal governments misusing their power.

When I read that NY Governor Kathy Hochul is encouraging the building of nuclear power plants in the Finger Lakes to boost NY State’s electrical power capabilities, my fingers typed faster than they had in decades. I was compelled to point out what a truly bone-headed, expensive and potentially environmental disastrous thing to do.

I doubt Gov. Hochul gives a hoot what this columnist has to say about her politically motivated, whack-a-doodle nuke plan. But as a columnist my goals include trying to inform, explain, and sometimes inflame the public. And the voters.

Inflaming was the result of a string of columns about the Crestwood Midstream proposal to store liquid propane gas in salt caverns near Watkins Glen. Write On columns in those years often included commentary about how the dangers of the proposal were being ignored by officials, as well as revealing slimy local politics and courageous actions of protesters.

I have marveled and written about the dedication of activists in the Finger Lakes for 15 years who willingly take on powerful corporations like Crestwood and most recently Texas-based Seneca Meadows, Inc. whose deep pockets can fund seemingly endless legal maneuvers to thwart the will of the citizenry.

That dedication is inspiring, prompting me to say Write On will continue to write on, as long at the Finger Lakes Times wants it.

Fitzgerald has worked at six newspapers as a writer and editor as well as a correspondent for two news services. He splits his time between Valois, N.Y., and the Pacific Northwest. You can email him at Michael.Fitzgeraldfltcolumnist@gmail.com and visit his websites at michaeljfitzgerald.blogspot.com and michaeljfitzgerald.substack.com.