fbpx

It’s not the dark side

I’ve been surprised during the past week that many of my colleagues still in the daily journalism world patted me on the back for my new entrepreneurial venture at Foley Media Group.

It’s Journalism Week in Madison with the annual J-School Dinner and the 120th Anniversary of the Daily Cardinal, of which I am an alum. We had a salute to Anthony Shadid, another alum, and we had quite the luminaries in town to celebrate his life and mourn his untimely death.

We all agree that helping neighbors, nonprofits, businesses and the colleges and universities tell their stories not only helps them but also helps the media.

Even my pal Columnist Phil Rosenthal from the Chicago Tribune cheered me on. Thanks, Phil!

I’ve had to do some soul-searching on this one myself. I remember rolling my eyes when one flak or another would try to sell me a cockamamie story idea when I was an editor.

Communications strategy has become much more sophisticated and complicated, especially because the newsrooms have shrunk by half. I see myself helping all of us with civic engagement through storytelling. I’ll tell you more about that at Foley At Large on Channel3000.com on Monday, April 30.

Do you think I sold out? Leave a message.

The Other Side of the Notebook
© Ellen Foley 2012