I have always been someone who believes readers of the Chattanooga Times Free Press are not especially interested to know the inner workings of their local newspaper.
Our job is to cover the new business opening, the local politician who failed to carry out an election promise or the key games involving a community sports team. We as reporters should do that in a manner that both earns and protects the reader’s interest and trust, without needing to explain the difficulties that may have cropped up within the newsroom during the process. Just be sure it’s accurate and delivered before deadline.
This past week, however, felt too significant to simply gloss over.
For the first time since Chattanooga’s two daily newspapers merged in January of 1999, our entire company — from executives and newsroom staff, to the advertising and circulation departments, to our popular longtime custodian Angela — moved from the iconic old operating site at 400 E. 11th St. to a stylish, new state-of-the-art office in the heart of Chattanooga’s downtown, about a half-mile away.
The old four-story building had been home to the News-Free Press since former owner Roy McDonald bought the Davenport Hosiery Mill in 1966 and turned it into an office that resembled every textbook newsroom straight from a movie scene.