Dave Moller, the most experienced reporter at The Union, has quietly disappeared from the newspaper’s masthead.
Dave had considered relocating to Oregon, as I reported previously. Instead, according to my sources, he has accepted a position to become Editor of the weekly newspaper in Louisiana, Missouri (circ. about 2,500). This buzz has been going around the community for weeks, but I waited until Dave’s name disappeared from The Union’s masthead to report it.
Dave previously has been City Editor of the newspaper in Jefferson, Missouri, and is familiar with the Midwest territory. Louisiana (don’t let the name fool you) is on the banks of the Mississippi, not far from Hannibal and Mark Twain’s fame. It’s a good match for Dave and the paper.
It is sad to lose Dave’s institutional knowledge. It also is sad that there is no mention of his departure in The Union. And it is triple sad that people who also knew about Dave’s departure (as I did) were reluctant to talk about it.
When will people speak up independently? The Internet is changing the way our community communicates and you can’t “put the genie back in the bottle.”
Dave’s departure is a sad loss, but sadder is the way it was (or wasn’t) communicated. With Dave’s departure, Jeff Ackerman (editor/publisher) is the longest “surviving” member of our local newspaper’s newsroom.
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Best of luck to Dave. I regret The Union’s – and our – loss.
He was always there when I had a story that needed telling. Some folks choose to leave without all the parties and such. The Union should have let the community know he was no longer there, but then reality jumps up to remind me the Class Act The Union has become. I actually feel sorry for the reporting staff.
Speaking of articles, Jeff there is a doozy about the TEA PARTY and what in ain’t in the MERCEND SUN. Title is TEA PARTY FARCE and has over four hundred responses and to reprint here would be perfect for our threads. Let me know where to send it if interested. You have my email address.
Sorry to see Dave go… now seeing Mr. Ackerman go, now that will be time for a big party. Will The Union owners figure out that Ackerman has turned The Union into a Tea Party rant rag? Will they understand that a big part of the community really doesn’t like Ackerman or how he took the Union into the grave?
Steve, don’t you think that Swift is aware of The Union’s position in the community and seem satisfied to keep the status quo? Given all that’s happened over the last few years, you would think that there is justification for action if you wanted to take it. To me as an outside observer a telling sign is the staff turnover. Don’t know if this is normal for a small town newspaper or if it is symptomatic of something more. Strikes me that all is not well at the paper but I am not an insider so it’s just speculation.
As a reporter who has worked at many small community papers I can tell you I have never seen a paper announce the departure of a reporter; only the top editor slot generally gets that kind of attention. Also, turnover is not unusual – actually, Dave was at the paper longer than many.
Sorry to see the only reporter capable of in-depth research and objective analysis at our local rag go, but no doubt he will do well at his new job,and surely must have better opportunities than available at our major in-print news source which has deteriorated in quality to the point of being a running joke among many of the educated and aware political moderates of western Nevada County. Fare well, Dave, you will be missed.