My First Job ...

Mark Russell

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

My first professional job was as a staff reporter with The Wall Street Journal, where I started in the Cleveland bureau in June 1984. For a month, I covered what we called the spot-news desk, a hellacious initiation for a reporter just out of the University of Missouri. I was paired with a veteran WSJ reporter, whose goal was to make sure I appreciated the twin goals of ensuring accuracy and hitting deadlines. The reporter literally would stand over me at times to make sure I accurately reflected whatever business deal I was writing about. He constantly would remind me that I had to get the stories sent to the Dow Jones news service before Reuters ran its stories. He underlined the importance of being right and being on time, two timeless goals in journalism.

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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