About ReportersNotebook.net
Duane Bradford created this forum and will be something of a traffic cop in managing any copy that happens to arrive here in the email box. He began his Florida newspaper career with the St. Petersburg Times upon graduating from college in 1958 and then worked in the 
Tallahassee bureau for the Tampa Tribune, Cowles Communications and New York Times Media Newspapers. He also served as a communications manager in two state entities - the former Florida Department of Natural Resources and Florida House of Representatives before retiring.
Hopefully, there are a few former journalists hanging around who still have something worth writing and the desire and muscle to do it - especially when they know they aren’t getting paid for it. If so, Reporters’ Notebook will be a forum put to good use, if for no other reason than to provide good therapy for frustration and perhaps some satisfaction at knowing their effort contributed a tad to the good of the community that gave them their start. Chances are that the journalists or former journalists whose work appears here have inverted many news pyramids, written indignant editorials, performed many artful standups, or written in their heads the frameworks for many stories before sitting down at a cigarette-scarred wooden desk to write.
While much of the material published here will focus on Florida, former wordsmiths - written or spoken - from anywhere are welcome to dive in by email. Deadlines will not drive this train. Words and ideas will. Whether in traditional news format, literary journalist stripe, feature, raw opinion, column (of humor or otherwise) fresh material will be zapped onto the web site as soon as possible after it arrives and passes muster by the editor (who has a penchant for an afternoon nap).
How long will this last? Who knows? But one thing for sure: there won’t be the worry of escalating newsprint costs to delay those promised pay raises.