Changing the world -- it's a work in progress in the news business

A bunch of former newspaper executive editors responded recently to a request by the Nieman Foundation at Harvard University to answer this question: What would you change if you were back in charge?

Answers ran the gamut. Trust that news still sells papers. Care about the journalism above all else. Focus more on digital delivery of news. Build better relationships with readers; for example, get out of the office and talk with them. Stop looking for a magic bullet. Stop looking for someone else to solve your problem. Never go to another focus group session. Have the right conversations about the future of newspapers.

This kind of self-reflection happens frequently among journalists trying to determine the best way to provide you with news and information that empowers you as a citizen in this great democracy. The advice from these former editors, from newspapers that included the Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Concord (N.H.) Monitor, to name a few, reveals mistakes that have been made, as well as an assortment of pet peeves, but also a desire to learn from those mistakes and do the best job possible upholding the trust you put in journalism.

I note the Nieman Foundation article in my Sunday, April 22, column in The Gazette. That Sunday column is my last for The Gazette.

This is my last blog entry for the paper's web site.

I am off to a new post as executive director of the Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism, a two-year-old, Iowa City-based non-profit news organization founded by University of Iowa journalism associate professor Stephen Berry and UI doctoral student Robert “Ted” Gutsche Jr.

Led to this point by Berry, the center is devoted to investigative and public affairs reporting that can be distributed through news organizations throughout Iowa -- and beyond if the story works there -- but also at its free website www.IowaWatch.org. The effort is funded with grants, contracts and gifts. This is the next logic step for me at this point in my career and a natural progression from what I have been doing at The Gazette.

It is our hope at IowaWatch.org that we can fill a gap in public affairs reporting that has been created by staff cuts in recent years among the reporting ranks at news organizations during a time of financial disruption in the industry. The Gazette, meanwhile, remains dedicated to connecting with communities, engaging with those communities and helping to inform us all of the important matters that affect us.

I will develop a new blog when I get settled in at the new place. I'll send a note on Twitter and Facebook when it is running.

Thanks, all, for reading. We'll gather again at a new place.

Link: March 20 e-mail to Gazette staff when decision to step down as Editor was made.