Huckleberries: Take it from me: Getting fired by Hagadone has benefits

An e-mail from the now-former editor of the weekly Bonners Ferry Herald brought back memories Tuesday. Seems Robert James had been fired by the Hagadone Corp. “for endorsing Democrat Jerry Brady in a personal opinion column.” I empathized with him. On May 31, 1982, I was unexpectedly canned after four years as managing editor of Duane Hagadone’s Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell, Mont. It stung. C. Patrick King, the late publisher of “The Daily Mistake” and the Coeur d’Alene Press, did the honors. He wouldn’t tell me the real reason for giving me the hook. So, I speculated. I might have been making too much money. Later, I heard from a mutual friend that Duane’s son, Brad, my darkroom technician, had bragged that he got me fired for pushing him too hard. Who knows? Mebbe I was a lousy editor. I was only 32. Luckily, it wasn’t hard to find another job. I interviewed with gonzo Publisher Jay Shelledy of the Idahonian (now the Moscow-Pullman Daily News) afterward. When I told him about the firing by the Hagadone Corp., he responded, “That’s the best recommendation you can give me.” I landed on my feet as the assistant news editor of the respected Lewiston Tribune and recovered the idealism that lured me into this profession. I’d been robbed of that after 10 years in the biz working for papers that put advertising above journalism. Now, as an editorial writer, columnist and blogger, I view my job with The Spokesman-Review as the best one in Idaho journalism. Getting fired was a swell career move. I hope Robert can say the same thing some day.