My Sunday column

Bill Shipp has called it quits.
Editors who ran his twice-weekly column received a brief note from the veteran journalist-opinion writer on Tuesday. His piece filed earlier that day (which appeared in this newspaper on Wednesday) was his last. There wasn’t much more said than that.
Shipp’s column has appeared in this newspaper for more than 20 years.
His love for Georgia politics was obvious the whole time. Shipp was an old-school newshound unafraid to name names and anger the powerful.
He leaned Democratic and at times his pounding of Republicans, particularly Gov. Sonny Perdue, grew repetitive. He could also be one gloomy prognosticator of the future.
In the mid 1990s I spent a memorable if not enjoyable year as managing editor of the Griffin Daily News. Shipp came to town to speak to the Rotary Club.
For 15 solid minutes he sketched out a dystopian future for Georgia that would have scared the bejeebers out of Stephen King. The sky wasn't just falling, it was hurtling downward.
Transportation. AIDS in the prisons. Rising crime. Miseries at the Atlanta airport. Knuckleheaded political leadership.
Halfway through his spiel, I wanted to crawl under the table and cry.
But a funny thing happened on the way to our southern fried Armageddon. The sun came up. Georgia prospered. Georgia grew.
Most of the problems Shipp talked about were legitimate issues, and some still are, but most were also manageable, if not solvable.
Human beings have a handy talent for making changes, for surviving.
Twenty years later Shipp can still whip out a short list of dire problems that will have you singing the blues.
That dourness is part of his charm and quite frankly it’s part of what made him one of the most recognizable and effective political commentators in the state.
Readers knew that with Shipp you weren’t going to get a content-free blast of sunshine. He didn’t work for the state Chamber of Commerce and it wasn’t his job to sell cars or real estate or political candidates.
A lot of folks aren’t comfortable with that. Shipp didn’t care.
I’ll miss his twice weekly blasts.
---
Now, how to fill those two holes on our editorial page.
Shipp’s column ran on Saturday and Wednesday. We’ll probably shift some things around, but we are also in the market for new editorial voices, preferably with twang.
If you are interested in writing a regular editorial column and believe you have the chops to do it, contact me at 706-272-7735 or by e-mail at Jimmyespy@daltoncitizen.com
Also, if there is a syndicated columnist who you think local readers would enjoy, make that suggestion.
Remember, this is for the editorial page. So columnists should be issues oriented.
Maybe we’ll get lucky and uncover the next Bill Shipp.
---
The “new Newsweek” was unveiled this week.
Dogged by declining revenues and falling circulation, the venerable publication has been reimagined as a magazine of opinion and ideas, as opposed to the traditional breaking news publication.
I’ve subscribed for several years. George Will and Robert Samuelson wrote many terrific columns and there were often offbeat news features that grabbed my attention.
Still, I won’t be resubscribing.
During the presidential election Newsweek was firmly in the Obama camp, never missing an opportunity to take a shot at the McCain-Palin ticket. Some of the criticism was deserved, some questionable but much of it was just gratuitous and embarrassingly so.
When Obama, at a recent gathering of journalists, joked that “you all voted for me,” I can only imagine the crew at the Newsweek table falling over over themselves in laughter.
The most irritating thing about Newsweek’s political bias is not actually the bias. I don’t mind lefties making their points. But the problem is Newsweek editor Jon Meacham imagines his publication is balanced.
He thinks Newsweek covered the election fairly and promises more of the same in coming months.
Exactly. That’s why I am not resubscribing.
In the first issue of the “new Newsweek,” Meacham interviews President Obama.
I can see them sitting there, the rough and tough journalist smiling brightly, sitting snugly in the president’s lap.
Not on my dime.

Jimmy Espy is executive editor of The Daily Citizen. He blogs on a smorgasbord of topics at Espysoutpost.blogpsot.com