It’s been a little lonely this past year here at 82 Norfolk St.
Our GuelphToday office has seen a staff of one – me – as the other five reporters on our staff have all worked from home.
It’s no different than what many offices have gone through as safety rules.
But while there is certainly safety, and likely savings, in the new office reality, it doesn’t really work for the better when it comes to journalism.
An editorial department is more than a bunch of people working in the same room.
It’s not just convenient. It’s crucial.
A newsroom is an incubator of thought, of ideas, of criticism, of exchange. It’s a place where stories are often born – or at the very least made better – by the back and forth between fellow reporters.
For some of our less experienced staff, it’s also a place to learn the nuances of a business that has many of them. I can give a rookie reporter tips on how best to conduct a certain interview, but I can’t offer advice after hearing how it went on the phone. Nor can that reporter hear or see how more experienced staff go about their work, soaking it all in.
Thinking out loud in an office has plenty of potential to be of value to a colleague and it happens 100 times a day in a vibrant newsroom. Zoom calls, phone calls and texts don’t carry the same volume, and I mean that in loudness and quantity.
Now we hear that newsrooms are being closed permanently in some sectors of the journalism industry. ‘People can work just as efficiently from home,’ they say, knowing full well it’s more about saving money.
You can’t replace how essential human interaction is. In both personal life and, in places like a newsroom, professional life.
I look forward to the day we return mostly to normal, both at home and work.
