My First Job ...

Michael Chihak

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

Night police-beat reporter for the Tucson Citizen. Four months after I took the job in 1970, an 11-story hotel in downtown Tucson caught fire, and 29 people died. I was the first Citizen reporter on the scene and spent the next 30 hours reporting and writing. Included was an assignment to do a scene story at the county morgue, where bodies were everywhere, medical examiners worked feverishly and survivors mournfully made identifications. I watched one man, captain of the state police in Sonora, Mexico, slowly and deliberately identify the bodies of his wife and five of his children. I wore a Pendleton wool jacket that day. Even after several dry cleanings, I was unable to wear it again, because I always thought I could detect the smell of that morgue in the wool.

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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