The modern jounalist

Don Boxmeyer, a wonderful writer and an even better human being, died this week. At his wake tonight, I found myself in line standing behind St. Paul's mayor, Chris Coleman. It took well over an hour to wind through to give my sympathies to his family. We should all be so lucky.

Gregg Wong, an old friend who retired years ago from the Pioneer Press, was in line with me. We regaled each other with Boxmeyer stories and then got into a discussion about the differences between today's journalists and the writers of Gregg's era.

"When we were done at work, we headed to the bar to talk over the night," he said. "Today, they go for a solo run after work."

Granted, one might be a healthier activity than the other.

But his next observation might not be.

Gregg noted that journalism changed the day reporters started sending in stories via computer. They didn't need to be in the office as much and they didn't need to have as much people contact. Consequently, the modern newspaper staff has little comraderey and doesn't work well together. This leads to other problems in the modern journalist, including the apparent need to to find something nasty to say in every article.

Boxmeyer was just the opposite kind of guy. He could be critical but it was never personal and it was always constructive. He was as competitive as the next guy but he wanted to make sure his paper had the big story. If he got to write it, great. If somebody else ended up writing the story -- and he could help -- he did.

There was no form of Can You Top This? in Don's writing. I miss Don and his writing already. More importantly, I miss what he stood for as a journalist.