Everything's Rosey at the Palm Beach Post

Bill Rose, managing editor of the Palm Beach Post in Palm Beach, Fla. and graduate of Ole Miss, spoke to journalism classes on Monday, Sept. 8 on a return visit to the school. The first impression I had of him was that he was could have been an old school newspaper man. All that was missing was the cocked back fedora with the pencil in behind his ear and a loose fitting blazer.

He told his newspaper anecdotes and that's what he told to us, as aspiring journalist, to do. Just tell stories. But his wisdom didn't stop with that advice. He told us to read good writers (newspapers, fiction and nonfiction alike) and to learn how to write, because writing and reporting are two different animals.

"You can write a story in print like a good storyteller tells a story," Rose said. "If you can write and you can report, there will always be a job for you [in newspapers]."

Rose also told the classes about the importance of well placed and meaningful word choices and how good words "click and purr and juxtapose against each other." One of the word tricks he told was if words are used that start with "S" or "SH" then the sentence will speed up.

Most of the questions asked by students dealt with the declining newspaper industry, but Rose believes in the future of newspapers. The large number of retirees in Palm Beach secures the income of the Post, but Rose and his staff are still preparing for the future. He said niche publications and a younger generation of reporters and newspaper people will turn the industry in a new direction.

Rose may be the last of his kind, an old newspaper man, but he gave me a new perspective on the what some speculate the dismal state of journalism could be. In my opinion, newspapers aren't dying, but evolving into something new.