Here's to your future, Wanganui

There are many different ways to say it but for me, it's farewell.

Goodbye just seems a little too harsh and final as I call time on an 18-year career in newspapers, including the past three as editor of the Wanganui Chronicle.

It has been a long road, filled with moments of great satisfaction and frustration; dealing with people at their lowest and as they enjoy some of life's most glorious moments and being able to share that with readers is a huge responsibility. It is something quite special to take the barest bones of an idea, thrash out its endless possibilities, explore those and develop a story or series of articles, images, and other content and shaping its appearance. Depending on how well you do it will dictate the response from readers - if you miss the mark, they won't read it; if you are able to entertain and inform they will come back for more.

Editing a paper is no easy task, and in many ways I have been fortunate to have had that role at the Wanganui Chronicle. It is a paper that serves its community well, as evidenced by its loyal following. Wanganui has its particular issues and the paper does well to cover these in an objective way, which is always a challenge.

The support for the paper is shown in the strong circulation and readership figures, as well as in the level of advertising from the local community. In its simplest sense, if we don't write stories that matter, people won't read the paper and businesses won't have a market to advertise to so will look elsewhere.

It's a funny job, journalism. As much as you are trying to find out the who, what, where and why of any situation, as well as the what next, there are people putting impediments in your way. It may be people or organisations refusing to answer questions, then pressuring you to run favourable coverage on another occasion. I have lost count of the times people have tried to pressure, cajole, coerce or use threats in order to influence our coverage of particular issues. But that is all part of the job and we are here to ask the hard questions. We do that to find the answers they crave but don't know where to go, or what to ask, or have the courage to do it.

But the sense of entitlement people have that the paper serves their needs is exactly why is is successful. Imagine a world without it. Aside from the loss of jobs to the area, where else would you find out about council matters, what's going on in our schools, how the police are spending taxpayer money to keep us safe, sports success, the justice system and local business news. Yes there are other media out there but no one does what the Chronicle does. No one will champion the local community like we do. Some of the proudest moments in my time at the Chronicle revolve around events that have had a huge impact on the local community. Things like the Round the Bridges fun run, trying to pressure the government over the closure of the NZTA office (hey, at least we tried!), the Cancer Society's Relay for Life, Masters Games, 2012 VCC Rally as well as the numerous campaigns we have run to try to give people a lift and celebrate success: young achievers, community heroes, Wanganui and Proud of It, Celebrating Wanganui and Keeping it Local are but a few in the last three years and sit alongside coverage of major issues like weather events, elections, Stewart Murray Wilson and the waste treatment plant as defining moments.

As I move on, I know the people whose bylines have become familiar to you will keep striving to uncover what is going on in this great place, to give you the news that matters and help you understand what is going on in your community and why.

Thanks to those people who have understood what we do, and why; those who have offered their assistance and especially to the many great people at the Chronicle. I wish you all the very best, and hope for a prosperous future for Wanganui.