From August 2012 to February 2018, I was the Crestview News Bulletin’s Editor-in-Chief in Crestview, Florida. The newspaper had a half-page Opinion section when I arrived — and the other half-page? News. (That’s a definite “no” in the journalism world.)

Of course, that didn’t last long! I hired a freelance editorial cartoonist to specifically cover local issues, filed my own weekly “From the Editor’s Desk” column, and filled the pages with letters to the editor and user-generated content from social media. The paper was not, politically, “left” or “right.” Its Opinion pages took a clear-headed, fair-minded approach on a variety of issues and featured diverse viewpoints.

Quick sidebar: Please don’t read a headline and make a snap judgment; this is page layout, but politics can raise temperatures, and my goal was always to lower that temperature with even-handed commentary. I’m proud of that, as an editor.

All these changes earned the CNB a national award (first place!) from parent company GateHouse Media in 2016.