NewsHound

About the Book

Fat Mac, Space Cowboy and the Biorhythm Man are just a few of the many colorful characters you’ll meet in News Hound: Adventures of a Small-Town Journalist.

This sometimes poignant and often lighthearted look at news gathering in rural northern Michigan follows a rookie reporter in his search for truth, democracy and a more marketable resume.  It examines some of the unusual challenges facing weekly newspaper writers and pokes plenty of good-natured fun at the workings of local society.

We meet cops, robbers, astronauts, bullies, teachers, writers, eccentrics, and a host of everyday heroes and heroines who give unselfishly to their communities and neighbors.  Best of all, we come face to face with ourselves in the lives of those whose stories grace the book’s pages.

The stories are based on the experiences of author Mike VanBuren, who for 2 ½ years in the late 1970s and early 1980s worked as a reporter, photographer, and editor at two county-seat weekly newspapers in Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula.

“There may be more glamour and prestige associated with big-time news jobs in large metropolitan areas,” writes VanBuren, “but I don’t believe there are many experiences as rounding – or humbling – as practicing journalism in a small town.”

Not only do small-town journalists typically cover all news, sports, society, and entertainment beats simultaneously, he says, they’re apt to run into the subjects of their coverage within hours of the stories being printed or broadcast.  This brings about a sort of in-your-face dynamic for news reporting, which doesn’t necessarily signify a bold reporter challenging the errant status quo.  It more likely means that the people mentioned in news stories, columns, or editorials will soon be in the reporter’s face with comments, suggestions, and personal threats.  

It can be a wonderfully educating experience for a writer to see the direct impact of a story on the people it describes, or on the community in which they live.  It makes the reporter care a lot about accuracy, balance, and fairness – little bits of professional etiquette that at times can get brushed under the rug in situations where reporters have no direct follow-up contact with the subjects of their stories.

In a large city, a reporter may never again run into the people that he or she writes about.  In a small town, however, these people will probably be sitting at the next table at a local restaurant during dinner that evening, or taking tickets at the high school basketball game.  They always seem to know precisely who the reporter is, and aren’t a bit shy about voicing their thoughts and opinions.

“I learned a lot about people – their passions, their honesty, and their integrity – through my years as a small-town journalist,” writes VanBuren.  “I also learned a bit about their arrogance, pride, and deceit – unpleasant sidelights that most of us have co-existing in our lives.”

NewsHound: Adventures of a Small-Town Journalist laughs heartily at these human foibles, while simultaneously celebrating the array of people, thoughts and ideas that make our lives rich and rewarding.

About the Author

Mike VanBuren began his journalism career in northern Michigan’s rural Antrim and Kalkaska counties. Before that, he scratched out a living pumping gas, cleaning office buildings, finishing concrete and working as a locomotive fireman on the Penn Central Railroad. An award-winning writer, he is a graduate of Central Michigan University and Western Michigan University. The Michigan Press Association and the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation have honored his reporting and news photography, and he is a recipient of the prestigious Ben East Prize for excellence in conservation journalism. Mike currently lives near Richland, Michigan.