New Column: Confessions of a Former News Editor

by Ryan Pugh

We at The Progress News would like to welcome Ryan Pugh who is no stranger to the print industry having worked for the Clarion News for eighteen years.

Ryan spent many years traveling the sidelines, hardwood and diamond covering high school sports in the rain, sleet and snow; league games, championship games, he covered them. Many kids who played in those games, I can assure you, are thankful for his years of dedication. Memories captured in scrapbooks will attest to that. I certainly would nominate him for the Sport’s writing Hall of Fame if my vote counted!

Ryan will continue his writings here at The Progress News with a column entitled, “Confessions of a Former News Editor”.

As Ed McMahon would say on the Johnny Carson show, heeeere’s.....Ryan!

Hello all (I was going to go with a “hello friends” to open his column but was afraid I might get a cease-and-desist letter from longtime CBS Sports announcer Jim Nantz) some of you might remember me from my days at the recently defunct Clarion News. I served at the Clarion News for 18 years with 15 of those years being just the Sports Editor and the last three years I spent as the News Editor and Sports Editor combined. Through the grace of Dave Staab, and Brad Rapp, I am to share some of my sometimes twisted takes on the world at large here at The Progress News. If you were a regular reader of my “Pugh’s Views” columns from the Clarion News, you know what I mean but those of you unfamiliar, hang on, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.

The shuttering of the Clarion News didn’t really come as a surprise to me when it was announced to our office in January of this year. I could see the writing on the wall which is why I was in the process of switching to my current career before the closing was announced. With how technology and Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) are advancing, the days when you’ll be able to tell what was written by a human writer and what is written by an A.I. bot will be almost undiscernible. How long until newsrooms start laying off writers because they figure out an A.I. bot doesn’t need health insurance, a salary, vacation, etc.? Pretty soon, if I know anything about the newspaper business.

I will say this: I loved working at the Clarion News. Rodney L. Sherman was a great boss for my first 15 years there (then when Rodney left, the powers that be put me in charge, yikes). Did I love every moment I worked there? No. But what job affords you the luxury of enjoying every moment? But I loved almost every moment I was there.

My favorite time at the paper was when I was the Sports Editor and all I did was cover sports 12 months out of the year. It was in those moments I believe I grew as a writer, and I was glad Rodney gave me the room to grow.

However, I grew to like newswriting too once I got the hang of it. I was thrust into news-writing because of our old friend Covid. During the COVID-19 shutdown, there weren’t any sports being played anywhere so what was a sports editor to do? Well, this sports editor decided he better start doing things like cover school board, township and borough meetings at night, so he wasn’t on the unemployment line. Covering meetings sort of became enjoyable for me, enjoyable enough that I still cover some local meetings for a local news outlet.

The transition from covering just sports to covering sports and news was an adjustment early on but growing into the role helped me get promoted to editor when Rodney resigned in 2022. By doing both jobs for those couple years gave me an insight to how newspapers are put together, which stories matter more, what must run, what can wait.

My three years of being editor (while also being sports editor, with no increase in salary, mind you) did not go smoothly. I had early hiccups but mostly everyone was patient with me, and I believe I grew from terrible in the role to mediocre when the paper shut its doors.

But as I sat there in my editor’s chair one day and did some reflecting on my future and how many working years, I had left before retirement, I decided I could no longer have news-writing as my career if I hoped to have enough saved to comfortably retire so I made the uncomfortable decision to start over at 51.

I searched the online job market for a few days and then one day I clicked on a post seeking life insurance agents. I had always stayed away from sales jobs because I am a natural introvert and approaching people always made me a little nervous but as I sat in my chair and read down through the requirements for the job, I thought to myself there was nothing on that list I couldn’t do because I had already done most of the things required for the job while working in the newspaper industry. So as the Clarion News was in the process of going the way of the dodo bird, I was preparing my exit.

Has the transition from writer to insurance agent been difficult? You bet. The biggest challenge I’ve faced is approaching people without seeming like an overbearing agent and I blame popular culture for much of the stigma surrounding the life and times of an insurance agent. One of my favorite movies is “Groundhog Day” with Bill Murray and in that film, one of the more memorable side characters is Ned Ryerson (“Needle nosed-Ned, Ned the Head? Don’t tell me you don’t remember me because I sure as heckfire remember you”) who is an insurance agent and his character is one of the most annoying and overbearing as he is trying to sell life insurance.

But at the end of the day, I must put my apprehension on hold, swallow my pride and remember that in this business, I am just trying to make sure people are protected for their future.

That’s all for now.