By Jim Spencer
SpencerSpeaks.com
I planned to die of old age while writing a newspaper column. I wanted to be sitting in a newsroom amidst a bunch of journalists and keel over dead at my desk.
Life is rarely Plan A. It is rarely even Plan B.
After 32 years in newspapers, I was shown the door of The Denver Post newsroom in June 2007 during a downsizing. Since then, I have written columns co-published on this website and http://ColoradoConfidential.com. This is my last column.
I have taken a job as the communications director of the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine and, as such, can no longer publicly offer personal opinions on issues that might hurt the school.
While I’m out of journalism, I plan to use whatever reporting and writing skills I learned to support an institution that helps ease human suffering. It is a charge much different but every bit as critical as contributing to a free press.
My thanks go to everyone who found, read and responded to my online columns the past seven months. My thanks go especially to those who read and reacted to my writing in the newspaper the three decades before that. It was never about agreeing on issues so much as it was caring about them.
The fight for responsible fact-finding and analysis has never been more important than it is in the Internet age. I hope every one, friend or foe, continues to engage in acquiring the information needed to contribute constructively to the civic debate.
I thank those who debated so passionately in the comments section of SpencerSpeaks and wish them luck finding another forum to keep the discussion going. Bringing various voices into a community colloquy represents the real promise of the Internet.
I thank every source who took the time to talk as I tried to base my analysis and opinions on knowledge instead of knee jerks.
Finally, I thank every colleague who inspired me and every editor who hired me - including the one who fired me.
War, health care, human rights, economics, terrorism, religion, science, poverty, pollution and plain old human compassion will provide fodder for future generations of journalists.
As for me, I exit
Copyright 2008 by Jim Spencer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
35 users commented in " Moving on Sadly but Proudly "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackGood luck in the new job, Jim. I’ll miss the blog. All the best.
Your voice will be missed, Jim! The University is lucky to have you and I’m sure your gifts will be put to good use for a great cause. Best of luck from your “first family in Denver” (get the hint?).
Great work pop.
As I’ve said, your writing is not ending but just entering a new phase. Now you can focus on those book ideas we’ve talked about. You can still die at your desk… only it’ll be your home desk now, working on Romeo’s Remorse or your book about Daddy Grace
I love you and I’m proud of you.
Cody
I’ve been where you are, Jim. There is life after journalism. This is particularly so if your new employer is intellectually honest and allows you to use your skill and knowledge to be an advocate without requiring that you sell either your soul or your integrity. Fortunately, there are more employers like that than not. As I watch the continuing decline of the daily newspaper as a medium of communication and information, I find it easier each day to work as an honest advocate than as a second-rate journalist. Perhaps publishers will find their own bliss and figure out how to survive in today’s conditions while still producing a quality product. I wish you nothing but success and contentment as you go forward.
Jim, your new position sounds exciting and you can really help an industry that needs it in the area of communications. If you mean communications with patients and family I would love to give you ideas about that. I am a nurse, but more importantly I have experience with family members being in the hospital (generic, not specifically U. Hospital). So if you are looking for customer feedback I am willing to add to your database.
Mary
Dear Jim,
I am sad to see you are not going to be speaking to me on the issues any longer… I’ve enjoyed and been enlightened by the insight and comment…I have been remise in not saying so before…. all the best in your future at CU .
Bill
Jim,
I can’t tell you how much I admire how hard and how well you tried to make this work. It may well be that you were before your time; that the revenue/promotional models and the technology isn’t quite there for the independent pundit to make a sustainable living online, but it’s coming. I don’t know. But I know that you gave it a real and noble try.
Good luck in the new job. Best to Janice and the boys. I hope our paths cross again one of these days.
Your friend and former Chicago Tribune colleague,
Eric Zorn
One Christmas day, long before Spencer left his columnist post at the newspaper in my region here in Tidewater Virginia, I published an op-ed in our paper that compared him with George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It was my view that if Spencer ever shook the dust of our little town off his feet and went back out into the wider world — where he had actually already been, earlier, at the Chicago Tribune — we’d come to look less like Bedford Falls and mnore like Pottersville. Spencer went to Denver a few years ago. Now we look more like Pottersville. Watch out, Denver.
Steven T. Corneliussen
Missed, you will be.
Good luck, Jimbo. And don’t worry. Truth-telling comes in many forms. bob.
It is with sadness for me and happiness for you that I send my congratulations. University of Colorado is indeed fortunate to have you. On the other hand, the MANY readers of your column in the Denver Post and online are the losers here. I have never felt so “in tune” with a news columnist as I have with you. I thoroughly enjoyed every single column from Day 1…even on the rare occassions where we disagreed. I wish you challenging and fun times ahead with Plans B, C, D, etc.
Thanks for the many years of thoughtful insite you have provided the community. Unfortunatly the 2 new editorial writers the Post has hired are light weights dealing in nonsence. No wonder the government gets away with the things it does when all the true defenders are forced to leave the field.
Once again thank you and I wish you the very best in your new career.
Jim: This saddens me beyond belief but I am excited for you to have new challenges. I still remember your first column in the Post. I knew you would be a kindred spirit from that very first day. What makes you so special is your ability to look at an issue with humanity and compassion and shine a bright light on those who can only use nastiness and derision to make a point. By giving them a forum here, you let them reveal the weaknesses of their arguments. You have been a beacon in a sea of reactionary noise and you will be sorely missed by everyone, whether they agree with you or not. Good luck in your new endeavor. I will miss you terribly. You will always have a special place in my heart.
Jim - - good luck with your new and critically important career venture. You’ll do very well there. We’ll miss your fine commentary from your site just as we missed it from the increasingly “thin” Denver Post.
Dave
Congratulations, I hope you finally have health insurance again! Thank you for the wonderful columns you gave us and the forum of expression you afforded us with Spencer Speaks.I enjoyed it. One does not often get the chance of discourse with such eloquent, interesting people.
You are a journalist deep in your soul. But life is an adventure, a book, and you are merely turning the page to the next chapter.
Good luck on the second half of your life, wherever that may take you.
I wish you luck and happiness in your new job.
Mister Jim! This country is losing one of the finest ‘reporter’s columnists’ I know, and it has made me sick since your DP departure. But sounds like you’ve landed in a great place worthy of a new chapter for both you & Janis. Congratulations (I’m also glad to hear you’ll be sticking around — you haven’t met Simone yet, remember).
Hope to see you both soon.
-plp.
Good luck Jim. You will be missed. I wish you the very best in the future.
Go Nuggets!!! Although they need to get their act together if they want to accomplish anything this year.
This has nothing directly to do with Jim Spencer, but readers may want to know that the Denver Post is ending its free-standing business news section Monday-Friday, choosing to fold it into the A section and Denver & The West. No formal or public announcement yet, but the news was confirmed by the Post to a Forbes journalism blog. Of course, the current business section was a shameless piece of garbage that wasn’t even the six pages it appeared to be, as they buried obits in it. The Post, like so many papers, still tries to cut its way to prosperity, which never has been done successfully. Jim, it seems, was just one of the early casualties of an industry that never has reinvested in its own properties and finds it easier to curse the darkness of the Internet than to make itself relevant. Somehow, reading a computer screen over breakfast won’t be at all satisfying, especially not to my wife. It appears, now that Jim is going off into the world of “corporate communications” (it used to be called PR) he’s going to have to learn a whole new way of communicating. Newspapers are abdicating their role in our society.
We’ll miss your voice, Jim, but you’ll feel a lot better when you can enjoy some job security, have medical benefits, a regular paycheck, all that jazz! If you find you still have the itch, well, write a book or something! Hasta la vista, baby!
It’s been great and you are among the greatest! Thanks for the honest and factual journalism you have provided. I will Miss it.
I know that you will be successful whatever you do. I wish you the very best with your new job. Your superior journalistic skills have provided us all with so many insightful stories. Alas, we all move forward. Good luck!
Sincerely,
Russell A. Brown
Best of Luck!
Jim: Sorry to see you go. You were one of the voices for the progressive side. We have enough Harsanies and his ilk. Come back Molly
Jim, You will be missed from my in-box. But good wishes in your new endeavor with CU Medicine! I’m sure you will continue to bring your best to the table. Keep up the good work.
James, Being a reader of the Denver Post for 35 yrs I felt safe from the right wing extreemeist when you were adding a “voice of reason” in your Denver Post colinm. Make no mastake, the owner/publisher of the Post is following the trail that Rupert murdock blaised. I was pissed when you were fired for your “liberal” writings. Now, I’m crushed. There is nothing but silence in this dark landscape called Colorado journalism. You will be missed. I wish you well. Matt
Jim,
I know I, and many, many people will miss your insight and wisdom. Best of luck to you, and thank you for your years of service. You have been as valuable as any soldier, and more valuable than 99.999% of all politicians and people in power.
I’m happy for you that you’ve found employment that fits your talents. But you’ll leave a big hole in this spot just as you’ve left an even bigger one at the Denver Post. I wish you all good things in your new position, and will continue to pray that your life goes the way it’s supposed to. Good luck and God bless.
All the best to you, Jim, and hopes for your new career.
I have appreciated all your writing, your care, your concern.
May the new job satisfy you as much as this one has.
Jim,
Good luck to you and the family in years to come. I reside in Poquoson, the town you left when you went to Colorado. Although we were usually on the opposite sides of the majority of editorials, I nonetheless admire your principals. Again, good luck and happy trails.
Good Luck Jim. Thank you for caring and writing about the important issues of our time. Thank you for standing up to the powerful. I wish you well. You will be fine.
Jimbo,
This is wrong in so many ways. What happened to you is indicative of every bad decision being made in our business, a business that seems to be making only bad decisions. Denver loses an important voice. The only solace that I can take is that I get to keep a friend.
Mike
Good luck Jim, on a real job. I’m sure it pays better than this one! We all have to move on and sometimes it’s not the kind of work we “want,” but the salary we “need.” I’m sure the Republican-owned and managed Denver Post - who endorsed Hillary (because the Repubs know they have a chance to beat her over Obama), and Romney, because he’s more “conservative” than McCain - are a lesser factor in this metro area with your loss, and Harsanyi’s promotion. We’ll keep hope alive, you enjoy the new job.
Keith
It is indeed a sad day for journalism when Jimbo Spencer can’t find a decent job in the profession that he loves and has servered so well. I once told Jim shortly after his forced exile from The Denver Post, where he won more column-writing awards than any other columnist there, that if there was no room for him in journalism, the rest of us were all screwed. Well, that day has come, and I feel more strongly about my comment then ever. At the exact moment of the greatest need for Jim, he has been silenced. God, save us all.
Jim, I’m not too surprised that you had to give up the good fight and get a steady job; I was surprised it lasted as long as it did, always hoping you could make the blogging world turn enough of a profit (hah) to keep you going. But, the job you have taken is a worthy one. I held the same kind of job a number of times and with the right employer –and I think this is one– can be very rewarding.
I can say I’ll miss your insights on the local scene, and must say things have goe downhill since you left the Post. I hope the Right is savoring its oh so temporary triumph over journalism, as it will not be allowed to last.
Vaya con, or as we Irish say, Slan Lait.
Jim:
You’ve made me laugh and you’ve made me cry.
You’ve enlightened me and you’ve made me stretch my mind.
Thanks for always being you.
I hope you’re able to use the full range of your talents in the future.
There’s always after retirement…
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