Playing Pilot for a day

GEORGE HAMPTON

I didn’t know what to expect when I found out I was the successful

bidder for “Editor for the Day” in a silent auction supporting the

Sound of Music Chapter of the Guilds of the Orange County Performing

Arts Center.

After all, my previous experience with the Daily Pilot had been

limited to simply reading the newspaper before heading off to work

each morning and, of course, reviewing the real estate section each

Saturday to figure out how fast property was appreciating.

When I arrived at the Daily Pilot offices on Bay Street, I was

told to report to Editor Tony Dodero. After a whirlwind tour of the

advertising department, Tony ushered me upstairs to the editorial

department, where he introduced me to the reporters and photographers

and his right-hand man, Managing Editor S.J. Cahn.

Tony and S.J. then asked me to sit in on a “budget” meeting, where

they discussed which stories would run in Tuesday’s edition. During

the hour-long meeting, I began to appreciate the awesome

responsibility that the Daily Pilot owes to Newport-Mesa residents

and how hard the Daily Pilot works to maintain the public’s trust.

I also learned that as Editor for the Day, I would be responsible

for writing a column -- but not before lunch. Partly out of

curiosity, but mainly out of revenge for having to write a column

under a deadline, I figured lunch was my opportunity to play hardball

and ask Tony and S.J. some tough questions about the Daily Pilot’s

role in the lives of Newport-Mesa residents.

Over salads and Diet Cokes, I learned that although the Daily

Pilot is a community newspaper, the staff faces the same problems

faced by much larger newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times and the

New York Times -- how to remain relevant during a time when newspaper

readership is half of what it was 20 years ago.

Although Tony and S.J.’s answer to this question, to concentrate

on reporting news relevant to Newport-Mesa, may at first glance

appear to be simple, putting together a newspaper for a community

with as diverse interests as ours is a lot harder than it looks.

In this edition alone, Tony and S.J. were forced to deal with

stories ranging from West Nile Virus and Costa Mesa’s joint-use

agreement relating to the use of sport fields to the announcement

that Blondie will be performing at this year’s Taste of Newport.

Reporting these stories is one thing. To report them while

maintaining the public’s trust and respect is quite another. As we

talked more about the Daily Pilot, I also realized the important role

the Daily Pilot had played in my own life since I moved to Newport

Beach from Austin, Texas, 15 years ago. I relied on the Daily Pilot’s

real estate section to locate my first apartment and home.

I also relied on the Daily Pilot for recommendations on where to

take my wife when we were first dating.

Although not everyone can claim that they used the Daily Pilot to

impress a woman, no one can ever complain that the Daily Pilot is not

relevant to the lives of every Newport-Mesa resident, at least not

while Tony and S.J. are on the watch.

George Hampton is an attorney who practices law in Orange. He is a

15-year resident of Newport Beach, living in Eastbluff with his wife,

Mara, and two daughters, Kate and Abby. He was the Daily Pilot’s

Editor for the Day on Monday.