Nose for News by Sarah Stultz

I started young.

I can’t remember the exact age, but I began keeping copies of my hometown newspaper, The Roanoke Times, anytime something big would happen.

The newspapers, now tucked away in a box in my bedroom closet, remind me of why I got into the journalism field.

When I requested to keep them as a youth from my parents — after everyone else in the family had finished reading them — I had no idea that I would become a journalist.

Now, looking back, it has been awesome to connect the dots to where I am today.

Inside the box, there are dozens of papers. The collection started out with copies of The Roanoke Times, a daily newspaper in Roanoke, Va., and over the years has expanded to newspapers of the other areas I have lived.

When I attended Brigham Young University, there were papers from my time at the college newspaper, The Daily Universe, as well as The Daily Herald in Provo, Utah, and the Deseret Morning News, in Salt Lake City.

Most recently, the collection includes newspapers from the Minneapolis Star Tribune and St. Paul Pioneer Press, along with our very own Albert Lea Tribune.

The collection covers everything from former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment and subsequent acquittal, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the overthrowing of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the Virginia Tech massacre of 2007 and the election of President Barack Obama in 2008, to name a few.

I would love to own older newspapers, but these are some I have collected during my lifetime.

I write about these newspapers because I hope you can see that this industry has been a big part of my life for a long time, even before I was in it in the professional sense.

Now, as the new managing editor here at the Tribune, I look forward to additional opportunities to be a part of this industry.

Over the past 8 1/2 years, I have covered many highs and lows in Albert Lea, and I look forward to continuing that in the future.

This is Albert Lea’s newspaper, and I hope it can be a valuable resource for you, just as the newspapers I have saved have been for me.

Though I have had the chance to meet many people in the community in my former role as assistant editor, I look forward to getting to know more.

With a newsroom staff of five, including myself and our sports editor, we cannot be everywhere at once.

I encourage you to reach out to me and share your feedback.

If you are out and about one evening and see a bad crash on the interstate near Albert Lea, give me a call or shoot me an email.

If your civic club has done something awesome that you want the community to know about or if students at your school won an award or learned an exemplary skill, give me a call.

We try to be as many places as we can, but we often can’t make them all. Just because you may not see us at an event does not mean it is not important. Take a photo and send it to us.

I look forward to continuing the high standard of journalism that has been at this paper in the past, and I hope you can continue to share open dialogue about issues taking place in this community.

 

Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune. Her column runs each Tuesday. She can be reached at 379-3433 or sarah.stultz@albertleatribune.com