Jeff Stacklin says he was probably predestined to be a reporter. You could tell it, even when he was a teenager.
JEFF STACKLIN: I was always the guy who walked into a room and wanted to have something to tell people. Being someone who was "in the know".
Stacklin nurtured that trait by working for his high school newspaper and attending the Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University. After working for a series of small papers, he landed a job at Crain's Cleveland Business, part of a successful magazine chain headquartered in Detroit. In 2005, Stacklin was put in charge of the Cleveland branch's on-line site. But then in March of this year - through no fault of his own - the economic buzz saw that has crippled journalism caught up with him.
JEFF STACKLIN: The Crain family put it out very succinctly that cuts had to be made. And, you know, the Crain publications were doing very well for a very long time. But, advertising revenue just dropped off.
Retail ads, classifieds, event ads - and not just at Crain's, of course, but throughout the news industry. Jeff Stacklin's life was about to change in a big way.
JEFF STACKLIN: Um, I'm now a professional Boy Scout. It's kind of funny.
Stacklin was a Boy Scout, growing up --- an Eagle Scout, no less. And during one of his first visits to the unemployment office, there it was on the job board --- an opening for a Lorain County District Executive for the Scouts. He sent in his resume and got the job. A totally new career. But, what happened to the guy who liked to walk into the room and tell everybody what the news was?
JEFF STACKLIN: He's still there. That person, I don't think will ever go away. But, the reality is, there are very few news organizations that are hiring people, right now. It's a shrinking industry.
Bob Paynter says it's an industry that can no longer support the investigative reporting he did at the Akron Beacon Journal and the Plain Dealer. Sitting outside a coffee house on Cleveland's west side, he recalls that work was rooted in some ideals that he developed over thirty years ago.
BOB PAYNTER: Keep in mind, I'm of an age, immediately post-Watergate, so I'm one of those people who went, thinking, "Woodward-Bernstein, look what they did. Wow, the sky's the limit." Journalists could really play a role, make a difference, save the world. Those kinds of things.
The Plain Dealer...and other large newspapers...still do investigative work...uncover corruption...expose abuses oif power. But, it is expensive. Paynter says he was a "cost center" because his reporting involved hours of digging through public records, finding a thread that connected the thousands of dots in front of him, and writing it all up in a way that the average person could understand. That work often takes months to yield a single story…an investment fewer papers are willing… or able… to make.
BOB PAYNTER: It just became clear to me that the future was limited --- if there was a future at all. And I was 58, and I'm thinking, "I've still got some miles on the tires, and I want to try something else." And there was a modest buyout offer on the table, and I decided to take it.
So, what do you do if you're a guy who likes to comb through haystacks for facts…piece together details and get to the bottom of something? What's the next career move for a person with those skills? Would you believe…private investigator?
BOB PAYNTER: I call myself "Investigative Communications, LLC". It's a fancy way of saying "investigative reporter for rent." I'll look stuff up, I'll find stuff out, I'll write it up if you want it.
One of his early clients was an attorney representing someone who had gotten bilked in a real estate scam. Rooting through public records on a case like that wasn't far removed what he had been doing as a journalist for years. Still, it isn't the same.
BOB PAYNTER: I guess what I'm doing now is intellectually engaging…it keeps me busy…it brings in some revenue…but it doesn't engage the soul. And, at the moment, I'm not really missing that. But I think I will.
You may recall the name of Michelle Maloney, whose story was featured in the Plain Dealer and on WCPN, this past Spring. She lost her job as co-host of a popular morning talk program on Cleveland's WGAR in January. It was no secret to staffers that the station's parent company, Clear Channel Communications, was having financial problems, late last year, but she tried to stay calm.
MICHELLE MALONEY: You can't be worrying about, "Ohmygod, ohmygod, am I going to get fired? Because that's no way to live. And then, of course, it happens to you, and you're blown out of the water. It was hard.
Maloney sent out hundreds of resumes --- to radio stations, ad agencies, public relations firms. Nothing seemed to be working. But, the Plain Dealer story prompted a response that came out of left field. The manager of a local car dealership sent an e-mail, offering her a sales position.
MICHELLE MALONEY: I e-mailed him back and said, "That's really sweet of you. I appreciate it, but I know nothing about selling cars." And he said, "That's okay, you don't have to, we'll teach you that. The big thing is connecting with people. And you've been doing that for 18 years, in radio"
SOUND : (PA system at Lexus dealership "Bob, pick-up line 7 please.")
The waiting room of the Classic Lexus store in Willoughby Hills looks like the lobby of a posh hotel, with comfortable couches and a big plasma screen playing the afternoon soaps. To the right and left, new model cars glisten in the showroom. This is Michelle Maloney's new workplace.
MICHELLE MALONEY: My first month I sold five cars, (laughs) which they say, in this economy, isn't bad.
She says she misses radio, but finds it hard to listen to her old station any more. It's just not the same. Right now, like Jeff Stacklin and Bob Paynter, she's cautiously optimistic about her new circumstances.
MICHELLE MALONEY: Somebody said, "What are you driving?" And I said, a pick-up truck. And I'm going to drive it into the ground. I make my last payment in August. So…that will be nice to have a little relief for awhile.
