David Criminal is one cool man. His journalism resume is supplemented by numerous pursuits that make for excellent dialog, together with map freak, canine walker and canoeist. (And sure, that’s a two-volume Oxford English Dictionary proper behind him within the picture.) Investigations involving soggy nursing house mac and cheese? He’s down for that, too. (Learn on.)
He downplays what he’s achieved as a journalist; he helped launch The Wall Road Journal’s standard Weekend Journal and Sunday Journal again when day by day newspapers reigned supreme.
These are laurels any of us could be proud to relaxation on. However not David. Whereas some veteran journos wrestle to reinvent themselves in a post-print world, David deftly pivoted. Sooner than you may say “deadline,” he co-founded DCReport.org, wrote for real-estate web site StreetEasy and not too long ago took the reins of Kiplinger’s Retirement Report, an attention-grabbing place for a 69-year-old with no plans to retire.
I talked with David about his first job at a commerce pub, his achieved mentors and the recommendation he’d give my 6-year-old if she exhibits an curiosity in journalism:
Daybreak Wotapka: Inform me about your new job with Kiplinger’s Retirement Report. What’s it and who’s the viewers?
David Criminal: It’s a small operation throughout the influential and iconic Kiplinger universe, a 70,000-circulation, 24-page month-to-month print newsletter-magazine hybrid for prosperous folks 50 and over who’re retired or are planning their retirements. As with all Kiplinger publications, the main focus is on private finance, taxes and authorities coverage.
Daybreak: What are you altering about it?
David: My emphasis is on actual folks — tales about actual folks in numerous levels of retirement. I need the publication to be “all issues retirement,” so I’m attempting to broaden the protection to take a look at way of life and life points, good and unhealthy – from folks launching new careers to tales that discover the monetary ramifications of senior marriages and divorces or sibling estrangements. It ought to have extra hard-hitting tales about monetary issues pertaining to the readers. I’m additionally fairly excited about how prosperous retirees spend their cash — not simply saving and investing, however spending.
Daybreak: For essentially the most half, my technology – and the youthful employees – gained’t get a pension. How will we ever retire?
David: That’s a query each technology asks. After I was in my 20s, I used to be skeptical about the way forward for Social Safety. You need to retire comfortably? To paraphrase my outdated WSJ colleague and good friend Jonathan Clements: Spend lower than you make, save as a lot as you may, spend money on index funds. Rebalance and repeat for 30 to 40 years.
Daybreak: You spent a number of time as an editor at The Wall Road Journal. What did you study by launching a brand new part?
David: I’ve been fortunate. I’ve been concerned in launching new initiatives all through my profession, earlier than I used to be at The Journal and after. A very powerful factor is figuring out that no matter mission I’m engaged on, it’s not simply me. Publishing is a collaborative effort. I don’t have all the concepts. And I definitely don’t have all the abilities required to get a job carried out. What I do is articulate a imaginative and prescient and a purpose, herald the correct folks, allow them to go and, from time to time, steer them again heading in the right direction. A publication lives and evolves, and the one approach it survives is thru the efforts of everybody concerned — from the newsroom to the IT division.
Daybreak: What was it like to finish WSJ Sunday after 805 editions? I used to be so unhappy to see it go!
David: You, me and 6 million readers. We closed WSJ Sunday after 15 years in 2015. I used to be glad I obtained my folks positioned elsewhere within the firm. I used to be bummed that I used to be out of a job, however there was simply nothing left to do at The Journal that I actually wished to do.
Daybreak: Talking of ending, you talked about that DC Report will quickly sundown. What’s it and why is it ending?
David: My accomplice, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Cay Johnston, and I are stepping away from it. However the web site itself will probably be round in a single type or one other, as some folks we have now labored with are going to take it over. David Cay and I will probably be listed as founders and we would sometimes publish one thing. Primarily we predict the location, as we did it, has run its course. We began out masking the Trump administration as a result of we feared that the standard press would find yourself normalizing it and never report on the corruption and venality. Fortuitously, that didn’t occur. Possibly we had one thing to do with that. Possibly not.
Daybreak: You began your profession at a commerce publication. Would you suggest that to younger journalists? Those I encounter at all times set their sights on the massive manufacturers.
David: Beginning out, you get a job wherever you may get a job. Once more, I used to be fortunate. My first actual job was at Broadcasting journal in Washington, which, in contrast to a number of commerce publications, had some precise journalism cred. I used to be doing tales on the White Home and the Hill, masking PBS and NPR, the networks and broadcast information. Attractive stuff. In the future, longtime Editor Don West despatched me to get to know this “man down in Atlanta” — Ted Turner — which led me to develop an experience in cable TV and video that finally landed me at The Los Angeles Instances. You can begin wherever. Do , credible job. Be daring. Break some information. Kick some ass. You’ll get observed. I used to be as soon as requested by a younger reporter find out how to get a job at The Journal. My reply: “Scoop us.”
Daybreak: What’s the way forward for print journalism?
David: It’s robust. The period of big newspapers and large nationwide magazines is over. Print will probably be round some time longer in numerous niches, however its future is basically restricted. That’s not a prognosis for written journalism, simply written journalism on paper.
Daybreak: Who mentored you throughout your profession?
David: I by no means had an actual mentor, however I’ve had some editors who had been vastly influential. Paul Steiger and Larry Rout at The Journal; Connie Koenenn and Jean Sharley Taylor on the LA Instances. The very best single little bit of profession recommendation I ever obtained was from Grant Tinker, the legendary TV producer and CEO of NBC. He clarified failure and success for me. I used to beat myself up attempting to make simply the correct choice each time. However he defined that each name didn’t must be good, didn’t must be a house run. “Reggie Jackson,” Mr. Tinker mentioned, “solely hits one out of three.” If I make the correct name one out of 3 times, I’m doing OK.
Daybreak: If my 6-year-old instructed you that she desires to be a journalist, would you discuss her out of it? Why or why not?
David: After all not! I can’t think about a job extra enjoyable. Daily is one thing new. You get to see historical past firsthand and inform all people what you heard and noticed. And from time to time, you get to do some good on the earth.
Daybreak: Lastly, do you ever plan on retiring?
David: You imply like take a trip? Yeah, positive. We’re going to the Caribbean in February. Stop considering, wanting round, listening, writing, modifying and publishing? Most likely not. I believe I’d be capable to provide you with a reasonably good publication for my fellow inmates on the nursing house. You recognize, blow the lid off what’s been taking place to the macaroni-and-cheese.
Daybreak Wotapka is a former Wall Road Journal reporter who likes to learn and write. She lives in Atlanta together with her husband and two youngsters. She is a sluggish runner and an avid Peloton consumer. To submit ideas for her Media Movers column, you may contact her at dwotapka@gmail.com. Be sure you join with Daybreak on LinkedIn.
