MAINE MORNING SENTINEL NEWSPAPER SERIES

In all, the Central Maine newspapers had more than 30 awards across a variety of categories for Maine's newspapers as part of the 2020 Better Newspaper Contest for reporters, photographers, editors, designers, production, advertising and circulation. 14-The Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel staff received a number of top honors Saturday as part of the annual Maine Press Association ceremony held virtually.

YEARS AT CURRENT EMPLOYER:В 40 (including the Morning Sentinel, where he started in 1977)ДЇAVORITE SOURCES FOR LOCAL NEWS:В Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, Bangor Daily News, Lewiston Sun Journal, Maine Public, WCSH, The ForecasterДЇAVORITE SOURCES FOR NATIONAL NEWS:В The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Politico, MSNBC, CNNДЄDVICE FOR BEING A SMART NEWS CONSUMER:В When in doubt, Google it.Nov. POSITION:В Columnist for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram HeвЂ™s optimistic the treatment will work well, just as it did in 20. Nemitz, who has written about his battle with melanoma, said he soon will be going back for another round of radiation and immunotherapy. Every day I go to work and sit down to work, IвЂ™m not doing it for myself, IвЂ™m doing it for the people who read it.вЂќ вЂњI think people should realize that journalists, whether local or in Washington, D.C., are working for you,вЂќ he said. He worries that the longer people continue to ignore assaults on the integrity of the mainstream press, the more likely the institution will be permanently damaged by unrelenting claims of bias and fake news.ДЇor readers, Nemitz hopes people understand that what drives journalists is a sense of duty. Nemitz compares current attitudes toward mainstream media to the way people first reacted to climate change. Without journalists, the truth becomes very hard to access.вЂќ

вЂњIt always has and will continue to play an absolutely critical role in the healthy functioning of our society. вЂњI look at journalism not just as a career but as a calling,вЂќ he said. That was 23 years ago, and Nemitz has been telling stories and calling out politicians ever since. вЂњMy wife said, вЂIf you donвЂ™t do this, youвЂ™ll never forgive yourself,вЂ™ вЂќ he said. He was on a management track, but he also knew that with every move he was getting further away from his passion: writing. He subsequently became assistant city editor and then city editor of the now-defunct Evening Express before being named assistant managing editor in charge of sports for the Press Herald/Telegram.Д«ut then the newspaperвЂ™s top managers decided the Press Herald needed a stronger voice and, with Nemitz in mind, created the position of local columnist. In 1983, he joined the Portland newspapers as a reporter. He later got hired by the Morning Sentinel in Waterville, where for five years he took on a range of assignments, including coverage of the local planning board, schools and City Hall. вЂњI was so enthralled by this class, and I came away thinking, you can actually get paid to do this?вЂќ he said.ДЄfter working on the college newspaper, he and his girlfriend at the time moved to the Rockland area where he worked as a freelancer for the Courier-Gazette. It was the Watergate era, and journalism seemed like a pretty glamorous career path.

But it wasnвЂ™t until he took a journalism class at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst that the idea of making money as a writer took hold. He remembers loving to write as a child, sending six- or seven-page thank-you letters to his grandparents when they would send him a little holiday spending money.

MAINE MORNING SENTINEL NEWSPAPER SERIES

вЂњItвЂ™s one of those moments where all is right with the world.вЂќДЇor Nemitz, 63, a career in journalism has been a series of many things going right. вЂњHoly cow, my story is on the front page of the local paper,вЂќ recalled Nemitz, a columnist for the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.

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