There’s an old joke that asks how one gets to Carnegie Hall — the answer, of course, is practice.
The same answer might apply when one asks Johnsonburg native Michael Hinman how he came to be the executive editor of the Herald Community Newspapers in Nassau County, Long Island and Riverdale, Bronx, N.Y.
“I am leading editorial operations for Herald Community Newspapers. It’s a group of 24 papers owned by Richner Communications,” Hinman explained of his new post. “Each of the papers have editors and reporters, who are all led by senior editors, who are then led by my deputy editor, Jeff Bessen, and me as executive editor.”
At the helm is Stuart Richner, the publisher, “who also owns the company his family founded so many years ago. We also are very lucky to continue getting wisdom and guidance from Stuart’s brother — and retired publisher — Cliff Richner, who I say is still far too young to retire, but still well-deserved,” Hinman said.
This job is a big step from where his journalism career began — in Johnsonburg, and by accident.
“When I was a sophomore at Johnsonburg Area High School, a teacher there — Walter Fitch — had put out the word that The Johnsonburg Press was looking for someone to write sports for them. I felt I knew how to write, and I could do sports, so I saw Mr. Fitch between classes and told him I was interested,” Hinman recounted. “He gave me the number to the editor there, Frances Fowler, and before I knew it, I was writing up games right there at the high school.”
At that time, his foray into journalism was short-lived.
“I ended up getting a job at McDonald’s a few months later, and chose a paycheck over a byline. But I kept the clips, and they were a big help landing me two of the best jobs I had a year later — at WLMI-FM in Kane, and The Ridgway Record,” Hinman said.
The Record was owned by Conrad Black’s American Publishing Co., a division of Hollinger.
“The publisher of the Record at the time, Joe Piccirillo, I remember was less worried about having a teenager as a sports correspondent, but more worried about how I would separate my work from WLMI with his paper,” he explained.
As a group publisher for American Publishing Co., Piccirillo was able to open doors for Hinman.
“When I realized I wanted to do journalism full-time, he made me the youngest sports editor in the country at a weekly newspaper on upstate New York’s Southern Tier, The Steuben Courier-Advocate in Bath,” he said. “I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I was suddenly covering 11 schools, and on weekends, I would go to nearby Hornell and help with the Sunday edition of our sister daily paper, The Hornell Evening Tribune.”
L. David Wheeler was editor of the paper, and taught Hinman a lot.
“When I decided I couldn’t take the cold anymore and followed my parents to Florida, one of my early jobs there was with another Dave who was very meaningful in my life,” Hinman said. “His name was Dave Walters, and he was the editor of The Zephyrhills News, located in a small town just north of Tampa. Although he had originally hired me to do sports freelance work, he actually encouraged me and helped me transition to news.”
From there, it was on to bigger and better things.
“I was ambitious and wanted to continue growing as a journalist. I moved on to the weekly newspaper division of The Tampa Tribune, first as a reporter for the Carrollwood neighborhood paper in Tampa, and then later the editor of a small city just outside of Tampa, a paper called the Temple Terrace News,” Hinman said. “I spent some years with the Tampa Bay Business Journal and a Sarasota-based paper, the Business Observer, as well as a community newspaper group called The Laker.”
His life took a detour when his now-former boyfriend went to medical school in Grenada.
“Why should my ex go there alone? So I went, too, living there for two years, relocating with my ex when he did his first set of clinicals in Brooklyn,” Hinman said. “I had always wanted to end up in New York City, and didn’t think that would ever happen. But here I was, and The Riverdale Press came calling.”
Riverdale is north of Manhattan, along the Hudson River.
“George Washington spent some time there during the Revolutionary War, and later it was the home of Arturo Toscanini,” Hinman said. “The paper itself was storied. It’s probably the only one that has both won a Pulitzer Prize, and was firebombed (in the same 10-year period).”
The Richners bought the Riverdale Press in 2008. And in 2022, moved Hinman to executive editor.
“I’m not as hands-on as I was in Riverdale, or most of any other papers I’ve ever been at. We are putting out more than 20 titles every single week, and I am working to help streamline operations, and — directly and indirectly — develop up-and-coming journalists,” he explained. “I also host webinars that our company puts together through our Richner Live division, and I am really running from one task to the next, all the time.
“It’s all about maintaining hyperlocalism, maintaining that community feel. To tell the stories of those who might not have their stories told otherwise. To create those moments we memorialize on the front of refrigerators. And to make a difference,” he said.
Hinman had some advice for students considering a career in journalism — don’t rule out newspapers, and take advantage of internships.
“Internships. Do them. In high school. In college. Even if you do them for free, go anywhere that will give you bylines,” he said. “Especially go places where they will let you be a part of the newsroom, and learn how a newsroom operates. It’s invaluable — and in a business where it’s very hard to break into these days, you want any advantage you can get.”
Ask questions, and learn how to take criticism.
“And just remember, you’re not doing this for you. You’re not doing this for money. You’re not doing this for fame or glory,” Hinman said. “You’re doing it because every story you write has a chance of helping make someone’s life all the better. Or, if nothing else, help them find that smile we all know is there.”
