Bob Gibson is leaving the Daily Progress to take a job with the Sorensen Institute, Progress editor McGregor McCance writes on their website.
Though good for Sorensen, it’s going to leave a hole at the Progress that quite likely won’t be filled. I don’t mean that in a nostalgic way. I mean that Bob Gibson’s decades of writing and editorial work for Progress arose from the paper being lucky enough to have a political reporter disinterested in living anywhere other than Charlottesville. Though he could surely have gotten a job with larger newspapers elsewhere in the country, with better pay and many more readers, he preferred to stay here. Media General isn’t about to spend a decade training a replacement, nor are they going to pony up the necessary money to convince a seasoned political reporter to move here and write for them. Instead, they’ll surely rely on the two political reporters for the Richmond Times Dispatch to provide coverage from Richmond, and let the rotating cast of beat reporters take care of local politics. The paper is losing their political institutional memory.
In a nutshell, expect the quality of the political reporting at the Progress to decline significantly over the next couple of years.
This is great news for bob gibson. i got to know bob gibson through his daughter Helen. helen is a sweet sweet person. i went to school with helen BTW. but i’m off the topic. congrats bob gibson! One more thing. Shame on you Daily Progress. you’ve pooted big time. you’re letting go of an icon. shame shame shame.
Well damn, no there is no reason to read that paper anymore
Congratulations, Bob, and thank you for all of your years of astute and thoughtful writing. We are very grateful for all of your years of service to this community, and will miss you terribly.
Sure will miss you Bob. Who will I go to now???
Good luck-and I agree the political reporting won’t be the same.
You pretty much nailed it, Waldo.
Now that is a scary thought-relying on the RTD for all of our political reporting…..but since media General owns both papers I guess I’d better be ready to be scared.
Well, they could hire his wife.