Staff Q&As: Meet managing editor Randy Parker
To help you get to know our newsroom staff a bit better, a series of question-and-answer posts with each journalist will run on Mondays. This morning, meet Randy Parker, our managing editor. You’ve seen his posts on visiting the Lions Club and the Girl Scouts, along with explanations of all we do at the York Daily Record and how we handle feedback about online subscriptions.
Name: Randy Parker
Lives in: York Township
Hometown: Jacobus
Position: Managing editor
Years with the YDR: 23 years
Graduated from: Dallastown Area High School and Temple University
With a degree in: Journalism, minors in history and political science
Twitter: @Rparker717
Facebook: facebook.com/rparker717
Email: rparker@ydr.com
1. What made you want to become a journalist? Debating politics with my father and discussing history with my grandfather shaped this interest from a young age.
2. How do you see journalism changing? The focus increasingly is on local news and on bringing many more voices into the discussion. New technology has both forced this and allowed this.
3. What do you like most about your job? I love the excitement of never knowing what we’ll be dealing with on any given day. It’s a rapidly evolving business, so there is no time to get into a rut. And it is always an intellectually stimulating job.
4. It’s 9:30 a.m. on a day off. What are you doing? Sleeping or reading
5. What’s been your favorite project or story recently? Why? Helping the newsroom operate through a crisis is always the best part of this job. Whether it’s covering the widespread impact of severe weather or keeping the news flowing during a power outage at our newsroom, these are big events that require the full efforts of the entire team. That is as exciting as it gets.
6. The drink that’s on your desk right now is: Coffee
7. What’s the last movie you saw in theaters? The last book you read? Saw “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” with my 12-year-old son. It was awesome. Am currently reading several books, including, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” “Traveling the Equator,” “Let Me Take You Down: Inside the Mind of Mark David Chapman,” and “The Grapes of Wrath.”
8. What’s your favorite place in York County? I love southern York County in general. The rolling landscapes never cease to leave me awestruck.
9. What’s one piece of newsroom jargon that had to be explained to you? I started here as a copy editor, though I had been trained as a reporter. I had a lot to learn about the mechanics of designing and pages. Picas, points, agate … it was all a mystery to me.
10. You’re given an all-expenses paid vacation. Where do you go? What do you do? I’d hop in a convertible and follow the Jimmy Buffett tour for an entire summer.