Charles Apple

Well, he’s done it. While the rest of us weren’t looking, Doug Jessmer slipped back into journalism.

Granted, he’s working at a tiny little paper — nothing like the larger metros where he’s worked in the past. But he’s back in the business, living where he chooses to live — in the Tampa Bay area, with his sweetheart, Angie — he’s having a ball, he’s feeling great and he’s making a major impact on his paper and his readers.

Doug Jessmer
—

Let’s back up a moment so we can catch up all the folks not familiar with his tale…

Doug is a talented visual journalist who worked design and graphics for six newspapers — most recently The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, The Sarasota Herald-Tribune and The Detroit News.

Some of you know him from his participation in the forums at VizEds or from his blog. Others may recall him and his pal Jim McBee — now of Fayetteville, N.C.’s SmartNews — as hosts of “The Swamp,” a party room at SND/Houston.

Doug left Detroit about a year ago and spent months looking for a new job. He sold cars at a Dodge dealership for a while. Finally, in August, we announced that Doug had finally found something; yet, it was outside the field.

Through no fault of Doug’s, that opportunity fell through, too. Once again, our pal Doug found himself looking for something to do with his spare time.

Enter The Pinellas News; circulation: About 600.

Doug started Oct. 1 as a part-time Visuals Editor. He also writes a column and covers the occasional news story.

As Doug tells it:

I’m at a small weekly that’s perhaps the best kept secret in Pinellas County. Over the last two months, I’ve completed a top-to-bottom redesign, changed the story selection to make it more relevant and introduced some alternative storytelling.

There is still work to do, but the changes we’ve made since I signed on have been significant.

Click on the thumbnail for a before-and-after look at what Doug has done with the News:

Doug gives a lot of credit to the editor and publisher of the News, who’s given him a lot of latitude.

There’s a freedom I enjoy here that I haven’t had in a long time — really, not since my time in Pittsburgh, which I look back at now with some wistfulness. No one’s standing behind me here to tell me “you can’t do that.” The confidence that I think I lost in the last two years is back, and I’m having a ball.

I’m back in the sun of Florida, with a family.

I’m tanned, rested and ready.

And I’m rocking. Circulation’s up. People are beginning to notice. It feels good.

A few samples:

Doug wrote a very nice Christmas column for the News that he also posted in his blog:

I’m thankful for a God who’s managed somehow to look out for me when I was in self-destruct mode… which may happen at least once a day, but somehow, He’s always pulled me back from the brink of stupidity. And many, many, unending thanks to Him for the reason for the season, His Son, my salvation.
I’m extremely thankful for my wonderful, beautiful companion. Angie, without you, I know I’d be in a different place as a person, and my life would be a hollow shell. Granted, that shell’s probably cracked, but at least it’s full. If what’s inside oozes through those cracks, I guess it just means you’re more to me than I need. Either that, or we need some duct tape.

Doug addresses Christmas cards last month for
The Pinellas News. Doug says he signed “hundreds
of Christmas cards I shot the cover for and designed. That’s me, above, at my desk on a casual Friday afternoon. Then, once I see the mailing labels,
I see I’m on the list for a card.”
—

I’m also thankful for her two daughters, who somehow manage to help me stay young mentally and sometimes floor me with their surprisingly mature perspective, even if the Hannah Montana overload gets to be too much! There’ve been a couple of occasions when I wondered if, at their age, they weren’t smarter than I am.

I’m thankful that I’m back in the newspaper industry, after several months away. Before landing at the Pinellas News, I was a visual editor at The Detroit News, where my job was cut back in January, after having only been there not quite six months. Before that, I was in Sarasota, and before that, Pittsburgh. When I moved to Florida the first time, I was glad to escape the cold. When I moved to Detroit, it was to get back to the big city. Careful what you wish for. So I’m thankful for the Pinellas News, and that it’s allowed me to somehow refresh myself as a journalist, and allow me the latitude to do a bunch of different things.

Doug tells us:

It’s been refreshing to do journalism just for the love of it. This is not a major metro; it’s no more than 30 hours a week. I miss the daily grind. But at least I’m back in the industry.

Check out a few examples of Doug’s previous work. From left to right, two pages from The Detroit News, two from The Sarasota Herald-Tribune and one from The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Find the rest of Doug’s older portfolio items here.

Find Doug’s VizEds blog here.

Welcome back to the journalism business, my friend. We knew you’d be back soon.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 10:07 am and is filed under News design, Newspapers, Redesigns, VizEds Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.