Working for The Man   

The years with Reese: It's all good.

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO I got a call from a colleague who knew I was looking around. There's someone you should meet, the caller said. His name is Reese Cleghorn, and he's the dean at the University of Maryland College of Journalism.
I called Reese, and we got together for lunch. We liked each other and stayed in touch. Four years later, I again made the pilgrimage to College Park. As we talked, Reese sounded me out about a job. I told him it didn't interest me, but that I knew he was looking for an editor for what was then Washington Journalism Review. That, I told him, would interest me, but I assumed he was looking for a celebrity.
I've already talked to the celebrities, he replied. Critique the magazine.
I did, and we talked, and we talked some more, and, Reese later told me, he interviewed 25 people in five news organizations about me. He hired me anyway.
With Reese stepping down soon as dean and as president of AJR, I've been thinking a lot about what makes him so special. I've enjoyed this gig more than anything I've done, and that's saying a lot, because I've thoroughly enjoyed most of my years in journalism. And an important reason is Reese. Our relationship is one of the highlights in what I laughingly refer to as my career.
Reese is very smart. He is a man of absolute integrity. He has terrific values. He has a passion for journalism and journalism education. He is utterly fearless. He also is very entrepreneurial. He absolutely lights up at the prospect of a new project to launch, a new star to steal.
It's no accident that Maryland's journalism school has a national magazine, a cable television station and centers for specialized journalism and journalism about children and families; hosts the Humphrey fellowship program for international journalists; and is the home of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Beyond all this serious stuff, Reese has a wonderful sense of whimsy, a droll appreciation of the offbeat. He's great to be around.
As president of the magazine, Reese has given the editor a great deal of running room. He believes strongly that the editor should be the editor, and if the president doesn't like what he's doing, it's time to get a new editor. But he isn't bashful about speaking up when he thinks things are heading off track. More significant, he's been a great source of advice.
Remarkably, we haven't had one bad moment in all the years together. No confrontations, no blowups.
I've learned a lot from our partnership. I'll always admire his wisdom. And I'll always treasure our friendship.
The blow of Reese's change of roles (he'll be teaching and writing; don't even think "retirement") will be cushioned by the identity of his successor. As Reese revealed last month, it's Tom Kunkel, a superb journalist and human being and a good friend since our youth (OK, his youth) at the Miami Herald. Tom has been a wonderful presence at AJR the past two-and-a-half years while editing the Project on the State of the American Newspaper.
I can't think of a better person to build on Reese's legacy. The college and the magazine will be in good hands.

T IMING, AS THEY SAY, is everything. In April's AJR, senior writer Alicia C. Shepard examined journalism's prize culture. While the piece duly noted the upside of contests, it also raised questions about the preoccupation with them, and the adequacy of the judging. No sooner had the magazine come out than we got word that Lisa had won the Bart Richards Award for Media Criticism for her work in AJR last year.
So are we allowed to be excited? Maybe we'll take the position that the judging in that one was just fine.
Lisa has been writing for us for nearly seven years and has had a piece in virtually every issue during that time. She is as relentless a reporter as I've ever met. She has boundless curiosity. And she is a nuanced writer who knows that there often are shades of gray.
Former LaSalle basketball star Joe Bryant (Kobe's dad) once observed that "good things happen to good people," a remark my wife, quite rightly, has been mocking mercilessly ever since. In this case it's true.

T HIS ISSUE MARKS THE debut of Deborah Potter as AJR's television columnist. Deborah, who has worked at CBS and CNN and taught at Poynter, runs NewsLab, which helps TV newsrooms do better journalism. Her column will appear in each issue. We're excited about that, and think you will be, too.