Biography & Autobiography Editors, Journalists, Publishers
The Inquiring Reporter
- Publisher
- DriverWorks Ink
- Initial publish date
- Apr 2012
- Category
- Editors, Journalists, Publishers
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9780987964311
- Publish Date
- Apr 2012
- List Price
- $20.95
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781927570005
- Publish Date
- Apr 2012
- List Price
- $13.31
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Description
As an inquisitive newspaperman, Clay Stacey has followed leads down dirt roads, had guns pointed at him and a pie thrown in his face. He has written about education, politics, parades and accidents, typing his reports of rodeos, pranks, fist fights, fires, awards and celebrations on an old Underwood typewriter. For 50 years, Clay worked as a reporter, editor and publisher in Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, ending his career as publisher of The Senior paper, with readers across Canada and beyond. This book shares his fascinating, funny and daring adventures.
About the author
Contributor Notes
Clay Stacey is a publisher, editor, reporter – and now an author – who spent more than 50 years in the newspaper business, covering Western Canada. This book chronicles his amazing journalism journey. He lives in Kelowna, British Columbia with his wife Lucille.
Excerpt: The Inquiring Reporter (by (author) Clay Stacey)
Rallying For A Sick Girl
One June morning in the newsroom at the Calgary
Albertan, city editor Clint received a phone call.
“Stacey, you take this!” he shouted across the room.
“Something about a school kid breaking her leg,” and then
sarcastically rolling his eyes upward. I couldn’t imagine why
he passed the call to me ... other than that the kid attended
school and I was on the education beat.
Normally, my duties involved covering stories from
Alberta’s major universities, school boards and so on. But a
kid breaking her leg?
I thought it was a bit of a stretch, but Clint was the strong-arm boss of the newsroom and lowly reporters like me didn’t dare argue back.
“Okay ... pass it to me,” I said.
At the other end of the line was a soft-spoken man who
was almost in tears, his voice cracking with emotion. “My
name is John,” he said. “My daughter is very sick … with cancer … and we’d like to know if you can help.”
I was speechless for a moment as I tried to collect my
thoughts. Me? Help? How could I possibly help?
I wondered silently why this guy was talking to me instead of a doctor.
An earlier story from Kamloops immediately popped into my head.
There, in the mid-1960s, I had been conned by a seemingly sincere guy who pleaded for help because, he said, a back injury prevented him from working and his kitchen cupboard was bare. I had gone to bat for him – because the publisher ordered me to and reporters do not give any lip to the publisher if they know what’s good for them, because he’s the ultimate big wig at the newspaper. That publisher had been conned – and so had I. I vowed it would never happen again....
Editorial Reviews
“In looking back at a long and fascinating career it’s tempting to focus only on the high points but Stacey’s book also captures many day-to-day snapshots of small town life, including April Fools’ Day jokes and pie-throwing competitions, parades, rodeos and wrestling competitions and countless tales of pranks that he and his friends (many of whom seem to be RCMP officers) got up to. As a volunteer with the fire department and occasional relief prison guard he was also frequently in danger of being part of the story rather than just reporting it.
I appreciated Stacey’s practical insight into the realities of life as a reporter. The Inquiring Reporter is divided into 60 short stories and is filled with advice learned the hard way – on the job. It’s easy-to-read and is, I think, an invaluable account of a veteran reporter’s life in Western Canada over the past 50 years.”