[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 124 (Friday, July 28, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1536-E1537]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         RETIRING? NOT EXACTLY

                                 ______


                          HON. GERRY E. STUDDS

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, July 27, 1995
  Mr. STUDDS. Mr. Speaker, when Bill Breisky announced recently his 
decision to step down from the helm of the Cape Cod Times, the 
newspaper launched a national search for a new editor. The 
advertisement sought--and, in case any Member of this House is 
interested, is still seeking--candidates with a ``proven track record 
of staff motivation, community leadership, innovative product 
improvements, a bias toward strong local news coverage, a belief in the 
principles of public journalism, and a respect for the budget. Our 72-
person staff is highly talented and has won a barrelfull of excellence 
awards. No `now hear this' candidates need apply.''
  It is hard to imagine a more fitting tribute to the standard and 
example set over the last 17 years by Mr. Breisky. A daily reporter at 
heart, Bill would nonetheless hold a story to ensure its accuracy. He 
cares far less about journalistic conventions like political box 
scores, than reporting how we on the cape and islands--as a geographic 
community and as what he calls ``communities of interest''--actually 
conduct our business.
  Bill has grappled thoughtfully with the high, often irreconcilable 
expectations of Times readers--not to mention those of its editorial 
staff, or of people whose activities we read about in the paper. We 
sometimes seek all things from our local paper, from the House floor to 
our back yard. Beyond the hour-by-hour crises and judgments that on 
into making sure the paper actually hits the street each day, there are 
important questions about the future of the industry. The traffic on 
the information superhighway is increasing as fast as the price of 
newsprint.
  About this and other things, Bill Breisky actually sits back, puts 
aside the crisis of the moment--and reflects. He set out in 1978 to do 
better than parochial, stenographic reporting, and got as passionate as 
deadlines permit about looking at the bigger picture. As an editor, he 
inaugurated ``Cape Cod Agenda'' to sort out the real impact of 
development on the cape and islands. As a citizen, he has worked 
through the Center for the Environment and Sustainable Development to 
pursue the twin--and, notwithstanding the naysayers, the compatible--
objectives of economic development and environmental protection.
  You do not get that from a sleepy country editor, any more than from 
a cigar-chomping Lou Grant. As Adlai Stevenson once said, ``Via 
ovicipitum dura est''--``the way of the egghead is hard.'' It will 
surprise no one that this was in a speech to Harvard students. Or that 
they needed to have it translated.
  With a steady rudder, an even keel and numerous other maritime 
metaphors, Bill has guided the Times through these shoals with dignity, 
professionalism, compassion, and humor. He must have even overcome that 
highest of all hurdles, since I have not heard anyone ask recently how 
many generations ago his family settled on Cape Cod. In the process, he 
has earned the affection and respect of the community he's worked so 
hard to define.
  And in case you were wondering--and let us hope that the various 
editors who may be interested were wondering--yes, Editor and Publisher 
does think the word ``barrelful'' has three L's. The way this session 
of Congress is going, resolving that question may require another 
amendment to the Constitution.
  In spirit, and in preparation for festivities at home this weekend in 
Mr. Breisky's honor, it is my privilege to enter into the Record his 
``Centerpiece'' column of July 2, 1995--entitled ``Retiring? Not 
Exactly''--in which Bill made official his graduation to emeritus 
status.
                [From the Cape Cod Times, July 2, 1995]

                         Retiring?--Not Exactly

                        (By William J. Breisky)

       Seventeen years ago, I assumed the editorship of the Cape 
     Cod Times, and inaugurated a column entitled ``Another 
     Monday.'' It ran in place of the second Monday editorial, and 
     was meant to serve as something of an antidote to the 
     unpleasant surprises so often in store for us on a typical 
     Monday morning.
       In the six years that I managed to meet my self-imposed 
     deadline for ``Another Monday,'' I never succeeded in finding 
     writing time at the office, and the task became, all too 
     often, a Sunday-evening stress test. So I declared a 
     sabbatical.
       Part of the reason I never got around to returning from 
     that sabbatical was a gentlewoman who approached me regularly 
     during the coffee hour that followed our Sunday-morning 
     church service. For two years' worth of Sundays after 
     ``Another Monday'' had vanished, this charming and faithful 
     reader assured me, week after week, ``I love your column. 
     Never miss it.''
       That was reassuring.
       Well, this is a long-winded introduction to the fact that 
     tomorrow will be anything but ``another Monday'' in my 
     professional life. It will be the first Monday in more than 
     17 years that I will not be contemplating my responsibilities 
     as editor of the Times.
       Tomorrow I will assume the title of ``editor emeritus''--
     which means I will begin fishing through 17 years' 
     accumulation of office files and clutter, to make room for 
     the lucky individual who soon will be elected to occupy my 
     chair. It also means that while I will continue to sit on the 
     Times editorial board, our newsroom staff will be free to 
     dismiss my notions concerning what is, or isn't, newsworthy.
       Our readers, on the other hand, will not get off the hook 
     so easily.
       For the next few months at least, I will be spending a 
     portion of my time at something we in the trade have come to 
     refer to as ``public journalism,'' a major part of which 
     involves listening more closely to readers.
       To journalists who are captivated by the idea, public 
     journalism generally means finding new ways to involve 
     readers in their newspapers, and to involve newspapers in the 
     communities they serve--reporting on the issues of the day as 
     they are seen by the people who live here, rather than 
     relying on elected officials and the bureaucracy.

[[Page E 1537]]

       To some skeptical editors who are less than enchanted with 
     the concept, public journalism means handing the reins over 
     to amateurs--and trading objectivity and detachment for 
     reader chumminess.
       There is no prescribed formula for the practice of public 
     journalism, however, and there's no reason why common sense 
     shouldn't prevail in applying it.
       When great numbers of readers take a proprietary interest 
     in the Times--when they call us to applaud or criticize ``my 
     newspaper,'' and when people who work here take the position 
     that public service is their primary mission--we're surely on 
     the right track.
       Letters to the Editor, and a range of opinion columns by 
     writers who live in our towns, and our ``Sound Off'' feature, 
     and our Earthkeeping Forum, and our Cape Cod Times Needy 
     Fund, and the Volunteers in Journalism group recently 
     established by members of our news staff--all are aspects of 
     what I think of as public journalism.
       But we can and should be doing more.
       Last year's ``Cape Cod Agenda'' project was our most 
     thoroughgoing effort at inviting the public to tell us and 
     their political representatives where we should be focusing 
     our attention. In order to help persuade November's batch of 
     candidates to focus on issues that matter, we asked members 
     of our Citizens Election Panel--a diverse panel of public-
     minded citizens chosen for us from a pool of volunteers by 
     the League of Women Voters--to cite the local and regional 
     issues most important to them. Then we invited readers to 
     narrow the panel's two dozen issues to six, and we declared 
     those issues to constitute the ``Cap Cod Agenda.''
       Agenda issues were debated by candidates--and discussed at 
     length at a series of programs where the citizenry did most 
     of the talking and the candidates came primarily to listen.
       This fall the Times will again invite you and your 
     neighbors to set an agenda for Cape Cod, and to talk to us 
     and each other about things that matter individually and 
     collectively. The agenda format may change this year, but the 
     objective will be the same--encouraging community leaders, 
     and the Times itself, to do a better job of serving our 
     community of readers.
       Do you think we're on the right track?
       Would you like to be involved in one way or another? A 
     postcard or letter to Agenda '95, Cape Cod Times, 319 Main 
     Street, Hyannis, MA 02601, will get my attention and will 
     assure you a seat on the train.
       Welcome aboard.
       And while I have your attention, I would like to go on 
     record with a couple of concluding observations.
       First, I'd like to say that serving as editor of the daily 
     newspaper that serves this remarkable corner of America has 
     been more fun than a barrel of cranberries. (Well, most 
     days.) That has been so because I've had the privilege of 
     working with a wondrous crew of talented, steadfast 
     journalists who care deeply about their world and their 
     chosen profession.
       And second--to the legions of friends and acquaintances who 
     greet me these days with the words, ``I hear you're 
     retiring,'' I would like to say:
       You've got to be kidding! My wife's got 17 years' worth of 
     untended chores saved up as retirement projects.
       I'm not the retiring type. It's just that someone else 
     deserves a turn at this nifty job I've had.
     

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