Letter from the Editor: A new horizon

By Ryan McCracken on September 9, 2023.

After nine years at the Medicine Hat News, I have made the decision to pursue a new opportunity within this community. This is the final edition that will bear my name.

While I’ve truly loved the bulk of my time at the News and the people I’ve worked alongside here in Medicine Hat, the time is right for me to explore this new horizon – and thankfully I won’t be going far.

To all those I’ve worked with outside the News, from coaches and players to columnists and fundraisers, thank you for helping me become a lifelong member of this community, for sharing your thoughts and stories, and for allowing me to share them with others. I’m not the first person to come to Medicine Hat expecting it to be a stepping stone, only to build myself a nest, and I won’t be the last. That’s because of the people who call this community home. I look forward to seeing you all around the city in the future, whether in my new role or just out and about.

To those who have read my work and that of my colleagues over the years, thank you for putting your faith in us to provide objective and accurate reporting, for holding us to account, and of course, thank you for reading.

To my colleagues at the News, I couldn’t be more proud to have been a member of your team. This city stays informed because you’re all willing to go the extra mile every single day, even if you never see an inch in return.

Putting together a newspaper in a day is no small feat, and I consider it nothing short of miraculous that our partial-skeleton crew continues to deliver on that mandate, one held within this community for more than a century.

To put it simply, the world needs more people like the staff at the Medicine Hat News.

Although I’m excited for what my future holds, this decision is not one that came lightly. For nearly a decade, I built my life around this newspaper. I am incredibly proud of what this team has accomplished, especially with constantly decreasing resources over these past few years, and I will continue to support their pursuit of objective reporting in this community.

But the time has come for me to ride off into the sunset.

Ryan McCracken was the City Editor at the Medicine Hat News

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