My new role at the Gainesville Sun includes working with the news desk
With the Gators playing their first football game of the season this weekend, I am reminded of starting at the Gainesville Sun as a news reporter in 2005.
Before the first game of that season, I was assigned to write about the tailgating scene on the University of Florida campus. I found fans excited for Urban Meyer's first game as head coach — unaware yet of the championships and controversies to come.
Seventeen years later, Gator fans are again hopeful as another football coach begins his tenure. And I’m returning to my news-gathering roots.
I covered UF, environmental issues and other topics as a reporter for The Sun before being named opinion editor. Before moving here, I reported on environmental issues and county government in Napa, California, and reported about wrongful convictions in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Heck, if we really want to go way back, my interest in reporting started in Brother Joe LeBon’s newspaper class at the Catholic high school that I attended in Akron, Ohio.
My point is that my passion for journalism came from years of interviewing people, attending public meetings, digging through documents and writing news stories based on that work. But I also enjoy opinion writing, so I jumped at the opportunity to succeed Ron Cunningham as The Sun’s editorial page editor when he left the job in 2013.
My position was re-named opinion and engagement editor as I organized panel discussions and helped James F. Lawrence launch the Gainesville for All initiative to address persistent racial and socioeconomic disparities in our community. In 2015, The Sun started publishing a six-page Issues section on Sundays to provide readers with an expanded platform to share their views and read other opinions on the major issues affecting our community and the wider world.
A lot has happened since then. The business challenges facing newspapers have led to an emphasis on online reporting and digital subscriptions. The changes mean The Sun must further commit to covering the issues that matter most to local residents, earning your continuing readership and support, but do so with a smaller staff.
These changes have led me to step back from opinion writing and take on a new role with the news desk. I will no longer write editorials that represent The Sun editorial board’s opinion on various issues, so we will no longer endorse candidates for elected office.
While I will still write occasional columns, more of my time will be spent doing other types of writing and working with news reporters. I will be helping Local News Editor Andrew Caplan with editing, so he has enough time to also write the regular pieces of watchdog journalism that he does so well.
My priority is continuing to publish the Sunday Issues section. But I want to work on printing more pieces on possible solutions to the biggest problems affecting our community, as we did with a series of housing pieces published in recent months (which can be found online at bit.ly/sunhousingopinions).
More from Nathan Crabbe:
Finding common ground in housing debate might be more likely after election
Consider unintended consequences when making plans for downtown Gainesville
Local groups need to work together to help Gainesville thrive
In order to give me enough time to do this and my new responsibilities, we will no longer be publishing opinion pages in our print edition on weekdays. Letters to the editor will now run on a full page in the Issues section on Sundays, as can be seen in today’s edition. We will continue to post letters and opinion columns from the section during the week at Gainesville.com, providing readers with a daily dose of opinion content online.
My new role will be more of a community editor, working to present both news and opinion pieces that include a diversity of local perspectives. But I need your help. I want to hear from readers about stories and viewpoints we’re missing. Contact me at nathan.crabbe@gvillesun.com or 352-374-5075.
Sometimes I’ll ask you to write a column of your own on an issue, sometimes I’ll send the information to a reporter and sometimes I’ll write something myself. The aim in all cases is for The Sun to inform readers on the most significant issues and compelling stories in our community, as well as about the fun and interesting things that make Gainesville such a great place to live.
A lot has changed for me since 2005, including getting married to my lovely wife and having two wonderful children. We value living, working and raising a family in Gainesville. My goal is for the Gainesville Sun to reflect the best qualities of our community.
Follow Nathan Crabbe on social media at twitter.com/nathancrabbe and facebook.com/nathancrabbe.
Join the conversation
Letters to the editor present the opinions of readers on news stories and other pieces published by The Sun. Share your opinions by sending a letter to the editor (up to 200 words) to letters@gainesville.com. Letters must include the writer's full name and city of residence. Additional guidelines for submitting letters and longer guest columns can be found at bit.ly/sunopinionguidelines.
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This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Nathan Crabbe: New Gainesville Sun role includes working with news desk
