“When Hometown Journalism Fades”
Florida “sleazeballs” surely rejoice as Carl Hiaasen retires
Once upon a time I was a lowly newspaper copydesk editor. Before screenwriting, before designing Knight-Ridder New Media products, before SiliconValley startups, before business school, before BostonGlobe national and foreign news page designer, I was a young, overeager copy editor at The Miami Herald.
In his “goodbye” piece today, Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen mentions a special thanks to Bob Radziewicz who continued to edit his columns even after he retired. I hadn’t heard Bob’s name in decades. Bob interviewed and hired me and even pretended to let me copyedit Carl’s columns from time to time. I actually thought I was editing one of Carl’s columns. That makes me laugh even now.
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As Carl recalls in his final column for my beloved Florida hometown paper, he once called our Miami’s city hall a “bribe factory” and our state capitol a “festival of whores.” He was really good at being pissed off and funny at the same time. Never subtle since 1985. As Carl puts it: “…South Florida was growing into an outrageously fertile news mecca — weird, violent, drug-soaked, exuberantly corrupt.” Gee, seems like yesterday.
