Category Archives: media news

‘My Life in Print’ awaits

July 13, 2025 kanelis2012

I pledged some time ago that I would keep you apprised of certain aspects of my private life as I continued on my retirement journey into old age.

With that I will make an admission: I have fallen short on one of my key goals, which was to complete the draft of my memoir by the first quarter of 2025. OK. I got that off my chest.

Now I will make another pledge. My intention is to finish that task by the end of this year. I need to parse the language just a bit. Notice I said it is my “intention.” I intend fully to complete this task.

For those who are unaware, I spent nearly 37 years covering communities in Texas and Oregon for newspapers. I worked for four of them, two in Oregon and two in Texas. I pursued my craft with great joy … until the end began creeping up on me. The end came on Aug. 30, 2012 when I learned I had fallen victim to the changing media environment. My boss at the Amarillo Globe-News informed me I would no longer do the job I thought I did pretty well for 18 years there. I resigned on the spot.

Then my bride said to me, “You know, you need to tell the story of your career. You’ve met some fantastic people and done some unbelievable things. Put it down and give it to our boys.” I agreed. I started work on it.

I had to compile the lengthy list of notable folks I encountered along the way. Some of them were great men and women; others were, well, not so great. I did some remarkable things along the way. I flew over an erupting volcano in early 1980; I returned to Vietnam in 1989, where I served for a time in the Army; I took part in an aircraft carrier tailhook landing and a catapult launch in 1993.

Only recently, I came up with a working title for my memoir. It’s called “My Life in Print.” It has a bit of a double entendre. It tells of my career using a print medium; and it tells the story of my modestly successful — and fully joyful — career in print journalism.

I got distracted along the way. I lost my bride to cancer 2 1/2 years ago. We had moved from Amarillo to the Dallas area six years ago. My effort to rebuild my life has taken more of my attention than I imagined. One of my two sisters recently passed away.

But … it’s not a downer. I have finished about 65% of the writing. I am pretty much done adding names of individuals to my already lengthy list. The end of this project is in sight. At least I think it is.

I also intend to publish it in some form. I want to bind the pages in a binder with an engraved cover. I also plan to dedicate to my bride, Kathy Anne, my immediate family and to the men and women I encountered along the way who have given me the grist to help me tell my story.

Moreover, when I’m done, you’ll be among the first to know.

environmental news, local news, media news

Keep it in perspective

July 9, 2025 kanelis2012

Once in a while, news of the day can render whatever discomfort we are feeling to be irrelevant, if not laughable.

Here’s what happened to me on Monday morning.

I was delivering my weekly run of Meals on Wheels to shut-in residents of Princeton. I left the house wearing just my shirt, a pair of shorts and sandals. I picked up the meals to deliver at a local church and went on my way. I made the first stop, chatted up the gentleman who is always waiting for me.

I drove to the second residence. On the way, it started to sprinkle. The rain worsened the farther along I drove. By the time I delivered my second meal, the sky had opened up. It poured. I got soaked.

I grumbled to myself as I drove to the third location. Damn rain, I wish it would stop … or so I muttered under my breath.

Then the news came on the radio, which I had turned on my truck to National Public Radio. The reporter told me of the suffering in Central Texas. The raging river had killed dozens of residents. Many of the victims were girls attending a church camp in Kerrville, It had destroyed thousands of homes. The deluge roared down the Guadalupe River bed at enormous speed, sweeping away trees, homes, big and small vehicles and presumably people.

That was the moment I realized I was bitching about something that didn’t matter one damn bit. Why am I complaining because I am getting wet from rainfall.

Needless to say, I realized in real time that my concerns about wringing my clothes from the rainfal paled in comparison to the unfathomable tragedy that has gripped our Central Texas neighbors.

I learned my lesson.

local news, media news

Words of wisdom live on

June 30, 2025 kanelis2012

AMARILLO — The late Gene Howe, one-time publisher of the Amarillo Globe-Times, coined a phrase that ought to become the credo for every media organization that is still standing.

It is engraved on the side of the newspaper building and it reads: A newspaper can be forgiven for lack of wisdom but never for lack of courage.

The newspaper no longer occupies the building you see with this post and they have torn down the sign denoting the company that operated there for decades.

I drove by a couple of times this weekend and I was filled with sadness at the emptiness of the space. Some windows have been broken and they have put plywood in the sills to keep the weather out.

The company that owns what is left of the newspaper moved the few remaining staffers out of there a few years ago. They work in a bank tower in the downtown district. I haven’t had the guts to darken the office’s door since they moved in. I don’t know what I would say. No one there would care that I once worked for the paper, running an opinion section that used to provide daily commentary on issues important to the community.

They do not have an opinon section any longer. Commentary? Leadership? Courage? Pffttt! It’s all gone, man!

A new dynamic now fills the void left by the virtual demise of the daily newspaper. The Internet is the medium of choice. Newspapers such as the one where I worked joyfully for nearly 18 years haven’t yet figured out how to compete in this new age. Certainly not the parent company that once ran the Globe-News. The Morris Communication brain trust — and I use the term with caution — gave up the fight and sold the papers for a song to another company.

I don’t know what will become of the building that once symbolized a great media organization. I won’t lose any sleep over it. Still, seeing that engraved message on the side of a building where such words meant someting important does leave me wistful.

And, yes … quite sad.

local news, media news

I am the ‘newspaper guy’

June 29, 2025 kanelis2012

AMARILLO — I attended the memorial service of a dear friend today, schmoozed with plenty of folks I once knew back in the old days and came away with a strange loss of identity.

You see, I once called this bustling city of 200,000 people my home, My wife and I lived here for 23 years, longer than in any community during our 51 years of married life together. Therefore, I was a bit puzzled by a seeming lack of recognition from some of those folks I once knew.

When I said the words “newspaper guy” or “Amarillo Globe-News,” I could see the light bulbs flicker on in their minds. “Oh, yeaaahhhh!” came the response. “I remember you now! Hey, welcome back home. Man, we sure could use you around here these days,” they would say … or words to that effect.

There you have it. I am identified by the job I performed for a newspaper that once was a significant presence in the lives of residents throughout the Texas Panhandle. It isn’t any longer. The Globe-News exists today mostly in the memories of those who subscribed to the morning Daily News, the evening Globe-Times or the Sunday News-Globe. Many of them read all three papers, given that they were produced by separate newsgathering and opinion page staffs.

Those days are long gone. Forever, too. The paper — if we can call it that — is merely a dimming shadow of its once-glorious self. The Globe-Times won the Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service in 1961, print journalism’s top prize.

What does any of this have to do with me? Not much, truth be told. I wasn’t part of that glorious past. I was part of a past that meant more to people’s lives than the present does or that the future ever will. We weren’t a great newspaper when I joined it in 1995, but we were solid and we damn sure reported the news thoroughly throughout the region.

What I didn’t realize is how much the job I did for the community melded itself into my identity. I will not complain about it. I am just realizing it out loud for the first time.

It’s all very strange.

local news, media news

Better friends … than ever!

June 25, 2025 kanelis2012

Someone posted a question on social media that drew an out-loud laugh from this old man.

“How many of you are friends with someone you knew in high school?” this individual asked.

So help me I chuckled out loud … loud enough for my puppies to hear me and come running to see for themselves.

Here’s the back story …

I graduuated from Parkrose High School in Portland, Ore., in June 1967. They called it the Summer of Love. Whatever. The truth of my high school years was that I didn’t have many friends. I was painfully shy around girls and so I didn’t date. That’s right … I dated no one from my high school. I had a few close friends, maybe two or three. I met one of them the day I reported for junior high school in March 1962 after my parents moved us to the suburbs.

Dennis and I have been close friends ever since.

I change came over me in the 58 years since I graduated from high school. I snapped out of my shyness, thanks in large part to the girl I met in college in January 1971 and whom I would marry and spend 51 glorious years in her embrace.

We traipsed through life and along the way I came across men and women I knew back in high school. I was unafraid to chat them up, whereas before I wouldn’t have dared try to engage them in conversation.

Over the years as social media has advanced and taken over many millons of Americans’ lives, I now find myself with quite a few more friends from high school than I had in the olden days. Some of them are men with whom I share a common bond called “the Vietnam War.” Others are guys who just pop up from time to time on Facebook friend request feeds, enabling us to connect. Others still are women who these days are all grown up and understand why some of us boys were too shy to reach out before.

I cannot count a lot of high school-age friends, but my network of acquaintances surely has grown … thanks to social media.

Hey, it’s not all bad. You know?

local news, media news

Gadflies can do good

May 21, 2025 kanelis2012

My freelance gig has allowed me to get better acquainted with communities throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth region, which follows the form I’ve used for decades … meaning that I learn about new places when I am asked to cover them.

I recently began a gig covering the Sachse City Council in a nice city that straddles the Collin-Dallas County line. They have a seven-member council, a competent city staff and lots of people who attend the council meetings on most occasions. They also have what can be referred to as the resident gadfly, a fellow who I understand attends almost every council meeting and brings his version of what’s wrong with the city to everyone’s attention.

This fellow, though, did something I found quite refreshing. He ran for mayor and lost to the incumbent in an election that occurred at the start of the month. He ended up polling around 40% of the vote in a two-man contest. I don’t know about you, but I consider that a fairly strong showing for a fellow who, as I understand it, doesn’t usually offer much constructive analysis when he bellows before the council in the public comment portion of the meetings.

I have witnessed my share of gadflies during my nearly 37 years as a journalist covering issues for daily newspapers in Texas and Oregon. Almost all of them are content to merely bitch about government, but then decline to step into the arena when given the chance. This guy took his shot at it. He fell short.

One such gadfly in Amarillo once was elected to a seat on a county commissioners court. He raised a little bit of hell with the county, then stepped away. He also continued to gripe about alleged mistreatment by City Hall, but has not yet offered himself as a candidate for the city council.

I have no way to know where my newest gadfly acquaintance will take his camaign for civic improvement. Maybe he’ll make another run for political office. He might just be content to bitch out loud from the gallery at City Council meetings.

I do intend to listen carefully to what he has to say and along the way learn a little more about a community I will be serving. Even gadflies can teach me something.

media news

Public radio, TV under attack

May 4, 2025 kanelis2012 4 Comments

Right-wingers’ vendetta against public radio and television would be laughable … if the consequences of this battle weren’t so frightening.

They want to defund National Public Radio, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Public Broadcasting Service. Why? Because they contend erroneously that it’s all “fake,” that it’s biased against conservatives and that the right-wing cabal just won’t tolerate it any longer.

Good fu**ing grief!

In in the interest of full disclosure, I will say I have some experience working for both public media. I freelanced for Panhandle PBS and for High Plains Public Radio for a time after leaving print journalism in 2012. And I worked for a time for KETR-FM public radio in Commerce, Texas, for a while after my wife and I moved to the Metroplex.

I have seen their work up close and I can attest to the absolute professionalism I witnessed while working for them.

I long have held the view that bias rests in the hearts and minds of news consumers, not necessarily in those who deliver it.

I recall a conversation I had with an NPR news director once who explained to me the rules that the broadcast network places on those who deliver the news over the air. They must avoid terms, he said, that connote a point of view. One of those words, he explained, is “reform.”

When discussing legislation aimed at changing current public policy, NPR journalists were told to use the term “overhaul” policy, not “reform” it, as reformation means it would be an improvement.

My friend was quite adamant in telling me that public radio takes its responsibility to be fair, neutral and unbiased quite seriously.

What’s more, I have to point out that the founders protected a “free press” from government interference. They set those protections for the only industry functioning then — and now — in the Constitution.

The right-wing cabal needs to get a grip and perhaps look inward to determine the source of the bias it seeks to eliminate.

local news, media news

Blog decision looms

April 29, 2025 kanelis2012 4 Comments

A possible decision might be looming for High Plains Blogger … that would be yours truly.

The decision involves whether I want to keep pursuing this daily goal of posting commentaries,. Yes, the daily goal. I have been writing blogs each day since The Flood, or so it seems. I have had good spells and slow spells.

I am deep in the midst of a slow spell. I have plenty of topics on which to comment. The response has been, well, rather sparse. As in very sparse. I’m in a slump.

I am unsure if my audience, such as it is, has grown weary of my rants. Maybe I’m not as sharp as I once claimed to be.

I believe I’ll know what to do soon after I post this particular item on Highs Plains Blogger. If the comments pour in from readers saying they want me to keep going, well, then I’ll respond accordingly.

If it remains quiet out there in Blog Land, I think that will tell me something, too. Maybe I can monkey around with the blog platform I use to get more response.

Just know that I truly enjoy sharing my world view with you. It’s my view only. I know it has its friends and its foes. Critics are welcome to offer their negative responses. I am a grownup and I can take it. I’ll be honest, I prefer to hear words of support.

I have sought to broaden the subject matter, to include more slice of life entries, rather than just relying on politics and policy.

I’ll know in due course what my decision will be. I’ll keep you posted on what I decide.

Meanwhile … have a great day.

Commentary on politics, current events and life experience