by Laura Walz This week marks the last time I will be part of producing an issue of the Powell River Peak. As people who know me will verify, I love my job, so the decision to retire has been difficult and emotional.
When I first started reporting for the Peak, email was in its infancy. Mark Zuckerberg, one of the co-founders of Facebook, was 12 years old and tweets were the sound birds made. Eighteen years later, scanning both Facebook and Twitter for leads and tips are part of every journalist’s daily routine, along with posting to both social media sites and getting breaking news stories online as quickly as possible.
Although the Internet has revolutionized the newspaper industry, the fundamentals of good journalism have not changed. Accuracy, balance and fairness remain the foundation of quality reportage. Readers everywhere look for those qualities in their news outlets, especially since social media isn’t oversupplied with any of them.
Daily newspapers throughout the globe struggle to reinvent themselves, but community newspapers have retained a solid place in their distribution areas. Readers turn to community newspapers for information about sports teams, arts and cultural events, local businesses, developing issues and government policies. But above all else, readers look to community newspapers for stories about people, individuals with an interesting tale, volunteers who make things happen, elected officials who strive to realize a vision, folks who create community.
During my time at the Peak, Powell River has continued to transition from depending on one industry to creating a diversified economy. Through it all, the community has retained its independence, self-sufficiency and a truly amazing willingness to pull together to help those in need.
It has been a privilege for me to write about Powell River and its residents. I can’t even begin to count how many City of Powell River council and committee meetings I’ve attended or Powell River Regional District board and committee meetings. I’ve covered Tla’amin (Sliammon) First Nation treaty negotiations, open houses, public information sessions, political speeches and all-candidates, government-to-government-to-government, stakeholder, advisory and annual general meetings. I’ve written innumerable stories about concerns residents have, from old landfill sites to new proposals for handling both solid and liquid waste, from proposed developments to plans to scrap old facilities, from increasing taxes to decreasing health services. Some issues never change while others flare briefly then dissipate with time.
I love reporting, discovering the inner-workings of community life and relating that information to our readers. I’ve been humbled, inspired, excited, amused, saddened, frustrated, challenged and, at times, angered throughout it all, sometimes all in one day.
I’m so grateful to all the people who have allowed me to tell their stories and entrusted me, at times, with difficult and sensitive information. I’ve learned so much that looking back, I realize I’m an entirely different person now compared to who I was when I wrote my first story for the Peak in 1996.
Powell River will continue to be a vibrant, complicated, compelling community and reporters will continue to chronicle its history and the people who make it the wonderful place it is.
Laura Walz has been a contributing writer, reporter and editor of the Powell River Peak almost since the newspaper started up in 1995.
