winter 2012 - Creative Retirement Manitoba Home Page

“Get Me Rewrite, Sweetheart!”
Winnipeg Free Press editor delights CRM luncheon audience
Margo Goodhand, editor of the Winnipeg
Free Press, and Larry Updike, host of CBC
Radio One’s Up to Speed were the guests
of honour at Creative Retirement Manitoba’s annual
luncheon, October 19, at the CanadInn
Polo Park.
In his opening remarks to more than 300
guests and supporters, master of ceremonies
Larry Updike welcomed the guests with the inspiring
story of his own commitment to lifelong
learning, describing how he went back to university,
while working full time in radio and raising
a family. Returning to the University of Winnipeg,
Larry completed a Bachelor of Theology degree
in 1986 and a Bachelor of Philosophy degree.
Goodhand proved to be a wonderful keynote
speaker with a warm and humourous presence
and an uplifting message. She spoke to the past
and future of the newspaper business and the
necessity of embracing change both as an individual
and as an editor. Goodhand noted that
there have been few changes in her business
since its inception in the mid 1800s, but that the
technological revolution has changed, and will
continue to change, the face of newspapers
worldwide.
Far from sounding the death knell of the
newspaper industry, Goodhand predicts that
modern technology will force her business to expand,
improve and embrace the new ways that
readers seek the news. The Winnipeg Free Press
has already begun to modernize its approach to
delivering the news by expanding its online offerings,
adding video footage to accompany the
traditional text and photos as well as blogging
and tweeting. These latter two methods of communication
are evidence of the intention of the
newspaper to engage its readers in a more interactive
way.
Gone are the days of reader input being relegated
to the Letters to the Editor section of the
paper; readers are now encouraged to express
their opinions in a variety of modern ways. In
fact, the Free Press is hoping to train some of its
readers to provide news through its innovative
Winnipeg Free Press News Café. The café, a
place designed for readers to meet and mingle
with journalists, beat reporters, columnists and
editors, will soon offer free, open-to-the-public
classes on journalism.
Goodhand stressed that this acceptance of
change and useage of new technology and ideas
is as vital to keeping the newspaper young and
relevant as it is to maintaining a youthful vigour
and connection to the modern world in our own
personal lives. G
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