40 years of ink and news

This month I celebrate 12 years as editor here and 40 years working in newspapers.
In 1969, as a young reporter, I pounded a massive typewriter, carried pockets of coins to feed phone boxes, worked in a grim Dickensian office and lived in fear of the news editor’s wrath.
In 1973, as a young sub-editor on a daily, I corrected reports on little bits of cheap paper with pencils, designed pages on bigger bits of cheap paper and lived in fear of grizzled printers who threatened to strike if you handled the metal type.
Now reporters tickle computer keyboards, carry mobile phones, work in air-conditioned offices with friendly bosses and live in fear of power surges.
The printers who composed pages from hundreds of lines cast from molten lead alloy are long gone, made redundant by computers.
In Fleet Street, they were tyrants taking pleasure in damaging their papers and pride in doing as little as possible for extortionate pay packets.But most printers on small papers like this quickly earned your respect for their knowledge and commitment to the job.
Technology has proved an enormous boon for journalists, giving us more control over work, easier communication with readers through email and quicker research through websites.Our own websites also mean we are read by a much larger audience.
The future looks bright for Mid Somerset News & Media as we benefit from new technology and the growing demand for accurate local news in a digital world increasingly swamped by information of dubious reliability.
Philip Welch