Unfortunately, I am REALLY late with this column. It should have been written for Feb. 15. So let me start by apologizing for my tardiness. Not so much to you the reader, as to the Suwannee Democrat’s editor Jeff Waters and his small cadre of reporters, who labor to cover the news of the Suwannee Valley every day. You see, the 15th was National Hug a Journalist Day. That is an observance I never even heard of—despite the better part of 50-years in the news business—until just recently. In fact, I discovered it, only after learning that Wednesday, April 4 was National Hug a Newsman Day.

I have no idea how National Hug a Newsman Day came into existence, but I suspect like most of the things TV news departments come up with, it was an effort to capitalize on what the newspaper people were already doing. You see a lot of what appears on your nightly, local TV newscast is often nothing more than a video rehash of what has already appeared in the daily mullet wrapper. There is a reason for that. Local television management loves to spend money on satellite trucks and other such fancy technology, rather than hiring the number of reporters needed to actually “break news.” Then there is the fact that most TV reporters bounce from city to city, meaning they have little knowledge of the community they’re covering and few news sources available to them, other than the official ones.

Upon further reflection, I bet National Hug a Newsman Day was the creation of some TV news anchor who had just gotten word that his employment contract was not being renewed…meaning his next public appearance would be at the state unemployment office. (There are times when the high, public profile of TV newsmen—with their pictures plastered on billboards everywhere—is a real advantage. I doubt being recognized while standing in an unemployment line is one of them.)

But I’m rambling. Let’s get back to National Hug a Journalist Day. Because of my oversight, I am suggesting that Suwannee County hold its observance—at least this year—on Friday. Print reporting is a tough, usually thankless job. Reporters spend hours and hours in boring public meetings, most of which have no news value.  They get called at 3 a.m.—or in the middle of their daughter’s 8th birthday party—to cover a horrible accident or fire. They are professionally obligated to ask tough questions of people who see any challenge of their authority as a personal attack. They spend days, perhaps weeks, researching and writing a story, only to be verbally lambasted by some anonymous reader, who is irate because of a grammatical error or who believes the writer has a sinister “hidden agenda.” (Note: The only agenda most reporters have is nothing more sinister than producing a readable, accurate story by deadline.)

Mind you, no reporter is perfect and screw-ups occur. Of course, most folks can correct their mistakes in private with an eraser. Journalists have to admit their oversight, stupidity or incompetence with a printed public correction for all to read…after already being chastised by their bosses. And all this is usually for a paycheck that will never make you rich.

Yeah, journalists need a national hug day. Let’s make Suwannee County’s this Friday. The boys and girls at the Democrat work hard to keep us informed…a job made even more difficult by the fact that the newspaper only goes to press twice a week. And in my opinion, they do a pretty good job.

Now I said “hugs.” No groping please! Also, make darn sure your hugs are not to the neck region. Neck hugs—sometimes called strangulation by prosecutors and those unfamiliar with newsroom etiquette—are the exclusive purview of editors and publishers!   

As for opinionated columnists like me? Well, I don’t need hugs. But if you see me in the store or on the street, a “thumbs up” is always appreciated. I get enough of that other hand gesture without having to ask for it. And that’s particularly disturbing, since most of you don’t even know what I look like!

Jim lives in Live Oak.