Category: Newspapering

Learn To Shut Your Mouth

I was in a meeting with Frank Daniels III, executive editor of The News & Observer, and I was in a lather: I didn’t “need” — I had to have — a dedicated server for a fledgling computer assisted reporting network I was building.

Frank Daniels III
Frank Daniels III

Lucky for me there was a good chance I’d get it.  Frank III was probably the most technological advanced newspaper editor in the United States.  Proof?  While some editors were still using typewriters, the computers in his house were networked.

So I made my pitch and he said OK.

But maybe he didn’t say it loud enough to suit to me, or slam his fist on the table say “OK!” So a few minutes later I start in on my pitch a second time.

Frank III interrupted me.

“When you get the answer you want you should learn to keep your mouth shut,” he said.

I stayed quiet, and I got my server. I also learned a valuable lesson, one I’ve used over and over since then to my great benefit: When I get the answer I want I don’t say another word.

Coming Monday: There’s No Law Against Dumb

Republicans Need Not Apply

Thad Eure, North Carolina’s Secretary of State for more than 50 years [1936-1989], was the self-proclaimed “oldest rat in the Democratic barn.”

That Eure
That Eure

I liked him, mainly for two reasons:  His office was squared away and his door was always open.  Toward the end of his career, when some state officials worked in what amounted to locked bunkers –they still do– Mr. Eure’s door was always open.

One fine day  I heard  something about Mr. Eure –I always called him Mister– that was sort of hard to believe:  He did not hire any Republicans to work in the Secretary of State’s Office.  That’s not good.  That office didn’t belong to Mr. Eure.  That office, all state offices, belong to the people of North Carolina.

So I went to see him about that, wondering how he would handle my questions.   When I asked him if was true that he didn’t hired Republicans Mr. Eure told me this story.

He said a “fine looking young man” applied for an opening and he said he wanted to hire him. The applicant had a good education, and was qualified in every request. 

Mr. Eure said he told him, “Bring me a letter from the chairman of the Democratic Party in your county, recommending you, and the job is yours.”

“But Mr. Eure,” the job candidate told him, “I’m a Republican.”

Mr. Eure said he replied, “Son, you’ve been wasting my time. And yours too.”

Coming Monday: The Drug Dog Smelled Something