What is the Daily Journal?

So it is with the San Mateo Daily Journal. It has occupied the same space for 25 years now but in entirely different forms. First, its offices have moved from South B Street in downtown San Mateo, to South Claremont Street, to Alameda de las Pulgas, to South Amphlett Boulevard, and at least one more place once we move on out of here. We’ve had different looks, different fonts, different flags (that’s the name at the top of the paper on the front), tons of different people listed in the staff box from reporters to sales staff, and we’ve covered all sorts of things in different ways.

And yet, most people think of us as this consistent presence on the Peninsula. Both publisher Jerry Lee and I have felt there is a feel about the place that is difficult to describe. The best I can do is say it’s like a workshop, as in this is a place to put in some work together, to be creative and honest and interesting. To find interesting things to write about, things that matter and make a difference. Most of the people drawn to this type of thing are young creatives, who are seeking to find how to take their first steps in this career and find a slightly different path or even an entirely new way altogether. Some stay a while, many don’t. And here we are. A ship sailing the seas of the county with constantly replaced planks.

But all those planks are what make up the Daily Journal, and how it sails too. We are the product of our community and the people who talk to us, who believe in us or respect our work enough to understand why we do what we do.

So many times, people have thought of us for assistance with a story, an issue or a conflict, but so many other times people have thought of something for us because they think it would help us, and help the community.

The Daily Journal launched Aug. 18, 2000. It’s hard to squeeze 25 years into one little column but, as we reach this milestone, it’s easy to get nostalgic about all the things we’ve done over the years and all the people with whom we’ve done it. It’s the people who make up the Daily Journal, and not just the great reporters over the years, but the sales staff, the reception staff, the events staff, the circulation staff, the editors, the interns, the columnists, the sources, the student athletes, the coaches, the administrators, the city staffers, the commenters, the complainers, the tipsters, the complimenters, the politicians and all their whims and proclivities, but also the supporters. Those who want us to do well because they know a community is better if it is well informed and its people are better if they have a resource to communicate with one another and to learn of what’s happening and how it affects them.

I’ve always considered myself a connector, someone who can get help for others or at least point them in the right direction. And that’s really what a community newspaper does. We hold the powerful to account, but we also provide power to those who may not have it.

So rather than a ship with replaced planks, perhaps the Daily Journal is the constantly changing sea around the ships of our community making sure they stay connected, informed and overall well. It’s never been an easy journey for us. We don’t have a lot and we operate in a time in which people’s attentions are pulled in every direction but a newspaper. But I always think of Hemingway, when he said, “Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.”

And that’s what we do, have done and will plan to do after we celebrate this little 25-year milestone. Are we an ax, a guitar, a ship or the sea? No, we’re the Daily Journal. And we’re in this with you for the long haul.