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By Carey Reeder | Managing Editor

The demolition of The Tuscaloosa News building is symbolic in many ways, but for someone who learned how to become a journalist inside those walls, it is heart breaking to see. When I made the decision to pursue a career in this field and go to The University of Alabama, all I wanted to do was make sure I learned to know what I was doing. And not in an easy way, but truly know the ins and outs of how to properly conduct yourself in the field.

I started at the ‘T-News’ in August 2018 and began my three credits of internship that were required with my degree. I made the choice to split the credits up into three separate semesters, extending my time there as much as I could — and I loved that I did. I got to cover The University of West Alabama’s football program for two seasons, cover countless high school sporting events, cover Stillman University’s basketball programs for two season, spent long hours at the office waiting for scores and stories to come in on fall Friday nights, wrote stories on MMA and boxing athletes, covered the No. 2 vs. No. 3 LSU and Alabama football game in 2019, asked Nick Saban a question and got a good response, and so many other stories and events that really helped mold me into an all-around sports journalist.

I worked with Sports Editor Tommy Deas and learned a lot from him in many aspects. Deas was a play-no-games type of editor and teacher, and I enjoyed that about him. At first, he kept me on edge, and when he said we would both be attending the West Alabama football game together so I could learn how to properly cover a college sporting event, I was nervous. But by the time the car ride and conversations finished, and as we were walking into the stadium with Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” playing, Deas turned around and said “Do you know this song?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“Good, this is one of the greatest pieces of music ever put out.”

I knew then this would not be bad at all.

It was things like that that I still think about till today about The Tuscaloosa News and all the late nights spent in that building that is being torn down. I have not driven past it to see it in person, only in pictures. It is tough to see, and in a deeper sense, it is a visual of print journalism as a whole slowly dying and fading away. Yes, the T-News is still around, but something about that huge building sitting right on the hill as you cross the bridge into Tuscaloosa was cool and motivating.

Now, over six years removed from my internship at the T-News I am the leader of a print newsroom. It is hard not to have those thoughts of seeing The Clanton Advertiser building being torn down and becoming nothing but a mental relic when you see your true beginnings fall apart like that in Tuscaloosa. But I am determined to not let that happen here, and make sure this historic building and piece of local journalism in Alabama stays around for many years to come.