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The perfect time to come home, tackle new challenges ahead |
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Saturday, 30 January 2010 |
You never know when it’s time to come home.
For me, that moment came two months ago.
In December, I was lucky enough to be in attendance as West Point High School won its sixth state football championship in Jackson. Standing on the West Point sideline surrounded by familiar faces, I felt at home.
At that moment, a young Green Wave player who was about five minutes away from winning the state championship looked at me and laughed.
“There no place like West Point, is there?” he asked.
While he was referring to the budding excitement surrounding West Point’s reaction to its new championship, I got much more than that out of his simple question.
I only smiled back at him, but three months later, I finally have an answer.
No, there’s no place like West Point.
In 2006, I left West Point to pursue my career in journalism, a journey which has bounced me around the southeast like a pinball.
Four years later, that career in journalism has brought me back to the place I call home.
Now, I sit at this desk as the managing editor of the Daily Times Leader and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a responsibility that I accept with great enthusiasm and I will not take it lightly.
When I first talked with Don Norman, the publisher of the Daily Times leader and the Starkville Daily News, about this opening, the conversation inevitably turned to community pride.
He and I agreed that pride in this community can take this newspaper to the next level, and that’s what we plan to do. Mr. Norman has pledged his full support to my efforts here and to do whatever it takes to make this newspaper an award-winning point of pride within West Point.
West Point deserves a sharp, focused newspaper that delivers the news in a timely, positive voice, a voice that both informs and uplifts this community.
This newspaper and this city have a history together that matches any pair in this state. For over 100 years, the Daily Times Leader has been the voice of West Point, and that’s exactly how it should be.
From this moment on, the Daily Times Leader will be the newspaper that West Point deserves, and we will not accept anything less. That’s my promise to each and every person who reads this newspaper.
To reach the goals I have in mind, it will take everyone pulling in the same direction, and I’m not just referring to the DTL staff.
We are a community newspaper, meaning that we are turning to the community to help guide us in the direction you want us to go. I want each and every reader to feel like a part of the process, to feel like they have a hand in the product we give to West Point. If you have a story idea for us or if you feel there’s someone that needs recognition in West Point, let us know. There is no story too small and no story too big in scope for us to tackle.
We need your stories, your opinions, your pictures, your recipes, your input and your participation. Mostly, though, we need your support.
That support includes advertising, which is vital to a small newspaper’s growth.
In turn, advertisers will be able to reach a readership that will be growing on a daily basis.
We will earn your support by becoming the best smalltown newspaper in
Mississippi. I am lucky enough to inherit a talented staff at the DTL that’s capable of doing the work necessary to achieve our goals. With our current staff and a renewed focus when it comes to local news, we will become the newspaper that West Point deserves.
And that’s a promise.
Brandon Walker is managing editor of The Daily Times Leader. He may be reached by e-mail at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
or by telephone at 494-1422.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 02 February 2010 )
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