My First Job ...

Peter Bhatia

Peter Bhatia, executive editor, The Oregonian, Portland

My first job was a tremendous leaning experience in all aspects of what we do in newsrooms. I started at The Spokesman-Review in Spokane in July 1975, fresh out of Stanford and not having much of a clue about what it took to be a journalist. The paper gave me the opportunity to do everything: work the desk, design Page One, cover politics, review movies and concerts and do sidebars at Saturday college football games. I saw everything from the inside of a composing room (still working in hot type) to the inside of the state Capitol in Olympia. I learned the fundamentals of our craft: how to report, how to edit, and I particularly learned the importance of precision in what we do (thanks to a great news editor named Roger Conley). I also learned what a great collection of characters inhabit newsrooms and that there truly couldn't be a more fun and important way to spend a career.

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My First Job archive

Ronnie Agnew, executive editor, The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, Miss.

Caesar Andrews, editor, Gannett News Service

George Benge, news executive, Gannett Co., Inc.

Peter Bhatia, executive editor, The Oregonian, Portland

Michael Chihak, publisher and editor, Tucson (Ariz.) Citizen

Bill Church, executive editor, Star-Gazette, Elmira, N.Y.

Don Flores, executive vice president and editor, El Paso (Texas) Times

Karla Garrett Harshaw, editor, Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun

Bennie Ivory, executive editor, The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.

Sherrie Marshall, executive editor, The Macon (Ga.) Telegraph

E.J. Mitchell, managing editor, The Detroit News

Ricardo Pimentel, columnist, The Arizona Republic, Phoenix

Africa Price, managing editor, The Jackson (Tenn.) Sun

Mark Russell, assistant managing editor, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland

John Quinn, senior advisory trustee, Freedom Forum