It's that moment some you have been dreading- I have a new book coming out in the near future.
Newspaper Days, in which I recollect my 22 years in the newspaper business from the day I was hired at the Newton County News in May 1977 to the beginning of my teaching career at Diamond Middle School in August 1999, will be published in late September or early October.
After going over the latest version of the manuscript, the folks at my publishing company, IUniverse, came up with the following copy for the back cover, which makes it sound like I was considerably more important in the world of Missouri journalism than I actually was (but hey, I like it, so I am not going to ask for any changes).
This is the back cover copy:
"They were here Friday, they were here Saturday, and those nuts were sprinkled on our Sunday."
When veteran southwest Missouri newspaper editor Randy Turner wrote those words he never dreamed he was opening the door to a $1.5 billion libel suit and the end of a storied newspaper career that saw him earn more than 100 awards, including 30 for investigative reporting.
In Newspaper Days, Turner's follow-up to the highly successful The Turner Report, he relives his 22 years as a reporter and editor, including how:
-He encountered a gang of armed drug dealers after his editorial resulted in a police crackdown
-His failure to deal with the murder of a close friend haunted him after his first newspaper job
-One publisher fired him twice by mail, and another told him he would never work in newspapers again.
-He ran afoul of a 400-pound city marshal, and a gun-toting father during his time with the Newton County News
-His coverage of corruption in a small town police department, the Nancy Cruzan right-to-die case, and a governor's race between three Missouri legends- Mel Carnahan, Roy Blunt, and Bill Webster, catapulted him to a front-tier status among Missouri journalists.
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Newspaper Days is entertaining, funny, fast-moving, and a must-read for those who remember a time when a newspaper was the heart and soul of a community.
As those who were reading this blog when my first three books were published have probably already guessed, there will be many more updates on the status of the book.
(And by the way, the first three, Small Town News, Devil's Messenger, and The Turner Report, are still available. Check out the Amazon.com ad on the right-hand side of this page.
10 comments:
Randy, I will probably buy this book from Changing Hands when available (best bookstore in Joplin), but I'm curious - were you fired because of the reference to "nuts" in your lede, or was it something more serious. Please explain if you can...
The lawsuit was the reason I was fired, but not because of what I wrote. I realize that does not sound logical, but you will understand once you have read the book. Sorry for being so cryptic.
I had it confirmed that the lawsuit was the reason for the firing and the firing took place on May 17, 1999, the same day my portion of the lawsuit was dismissed.
So where do the allegations of "poor news judgement" and "letting people steal newspaper inserts" come from? They've been made by people who have worked with you.
The "poor news judgment" is addressed in the book, though the only time that was ever mentioned in my six and a half years as managing editor was when Ralph Bush placed me on probation three weeks before he fired me. I print the entire letter in the book This is the first I have heard of any missing inserts. That sounds like you are getting a little creative there.
Really? Because that came from more than one person that worked with you, as did something else that I won't post here. But I'm sure you know all the rumors floating around out there about you.
I would guess these are the same lies that oee commenter kept trying to post on this site years ago. Name these people, name yourself, or give it up. It has been more than 10 years since I was fired at The Press, and not only have I not ever heard of any of these things but Randy Cope offered me a reporting job at the Neosho Daily in 2003 (before I went to work for the Joplin R-8 School District) and Ralph Bush gave glowing recommendations to at least two newspaper companies that offered me jobs. If I was involved in some kind of scandal (other than the Terry Reed lawsuit) neither of those things would have happened. I will say the same thing I said the last time someone (possibly you) started trying to spread lies about me. They are not going to be put on this website and that is not curtailing your freedom of expression. If you want to tell lies about me, find somewhere else to do it.
I hope Randy won't mind me saying this. I have read some of the book and it is fascinating.
Randy and I don't always agree, but his new book is well-written and will prove a page turner for those interested in local media and media personalities and the issues they have covered.
Thanks for the peek, Randy.
Randy, the only insert-related controversy I can think of that took place back then was when the information from the IGA clearance sale ad that composing was putting together was used in the story about IGA going out of business, which gave folks some early notice about the big sale coming up. Not quite stealing inserts, though, so I don't know what that refers to. And since those of us in the newsroom had nothing to do with the inserts back then, any irregularities there would not be your responsibility.
"Poor news judgment" I also can't help you with. Near the time you were fired there was some limited uproar about Hacker's accident photo of that pregnant woman that later died, but since we weren't aware at press time that she died as a result of that crash, I don't think you showed bad judgment there.
I think most people (including myself) assumed those two issues were cited as justification to shove you out the door.
If that's the case, Ron, everyone should be happy I wrote about both of those things and indeed Ralph mentioned the Consumers incident in my letter,though not the photo.
Thanks for the kind words, T. R.
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