J-Source

Moving tribute from Ottawa Citizen to Boston Globe

Ottawa Citizen's deputy editorial pages editor Kate Heartfield wrote a moving tribute to the Boston Globe saluting their coverage of the marathon bombing. Heartfield writes she toyed with the idea of sending them pizza – "If there’s one thing that ties journalists together, it’s newsroom pizza." But instead she wrote this tribute, "because I work for a…

Ottawa Citizen's deputy editorial pages editor Kate Heartfield wrote a moving tribute to the Boston Globe saluting their coverage of the marathon bombing.

Heartfield writes she toyed with the idea of sending them pizza – "If there’s one thing that ties journalists together, it’s newsroom pizza." But instead she wrote this tribute, "because I work for a newspaper, and this is how I say thank you."

"Every person who works for a newspaper knows our future is uncertain. Nobody even tries to spin or sugar-coat that any more. We believe we have something important to offer our communities; otherwise, we wouldn’t be here. Most newspapers have gone through so many rounds of cuts that the people who are still in newsrooms really want to be in newsrooms. They can’t imagine being anywhere else. And we’re determined to do our best to keep evolving, to keep serving our cities. But it’s hard. We’ve been through many big changes and we know more are coming. All of us, I think, have our moments when we wonder why we bother. The Globe reminded me, in the last few weeks, why we bother. It reminded me of why I’m proud to work for a newspaper."

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Read the full column on the Citizen's website.  

 

 

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Tamara Baluja is an award-winning journalist with CBC Vancouver and the 2018 Michener-Deacon fellow for journalism education. She was the associate editor for J-Source from 2013-2014.