Dave Mollard farewells Manawatū Guardian editor Judith Lacy

Dave Mollard says the community will be a little less fun with Judith Lacy’s resignation as editor of the Manawatū Guardian.

Dave Mollard is a Palmerston North community worker and social commentator.

OPINION

The announcement of Judith Lacy’s resignation from this paper was a shock to me and many other loyal readers. For three and a half years her words were, in my opinion, our voice in the community.

Judith’s journalism journey started while still in primary school as a cub reporter for the Dick Weir Sunday morning show on 2ZB.

Growing up in Pātea, she remembers the sadness of the freezing works closing and the pride of the Pātea Māori Club and their glorious hit Poi E. After surviving Hāwera High School, she moved to Wellington for university and a stint working for Inland Revenue. The burning passion for newspapers drew her to journalism school in New Plymouth and then on to roles with the Taranaki Daily News and Whanganui Chronicle.

She came to Manawatū in 2006 to edit the now defunct community newspaper The Tribune. She then became a sub-editor based in the big smoke of Palmerston North for some of Fairfax’s Australian titles.

She later became a teacher of English to speakers of other languages. She really enjoyed the energy and excitement of her students, most of them new New Zealanders, desperate to learn our version of the King’s English. It is to that job she is returning.

Helping people communicate is her passion and while the classroom is an effective forum for this, Judith once again was called back to the wider-reaching medium of the community newspaper, accepting the role of editor of the Manawatū Guardian.

Palmy is now Judith’s home and she is continually surprised with how many local events are happening all the time in our city.

Her writing style is full of personality, and honesty, and her jottings are entertaining and informative. In an industry that often has the mantra “if it bleeds, it leads”, Judith’s style is the opposite, more along the lines of “if it is about us, let’s make a fuss!”. She always brings us along on her and her cat Maysie’s journey, and we are richer for it.

In my view, the newspaper industry is a shadow of its former self, with social media taking advertising revenue and eyeballs away from the traditional print media.

Judith believes community newspapers have a future as long as readers and advertisers understand the value of the platform for communicating local news. Our community will be a little less fun with Judith’s resignation as editor of the Manawatū Guardian.