Veteran Keyes directs the Daily
Camera's coverage
By Alan Kirkpatrick
Thad Keyes |
For Thad Keyes ('77), the more things stay the
same, the more they change. In October, 20 years after he took off his cap and gown and
went directly to work in the Boulder Daily Camera newsroom, Keyes was appointed managing
editor of the School's hometown paper. It's an unusual accomplishment. Standard practice
for reporters and editors at small and medium-sized dailies is to take horizontal leaps
from one newspaper's career ladder to another. But Keyes, 49, says he learned early on
what was essential for his career was a periodic change of attitude -- not address.
"It's pretty important to remain challenged if you stay at the same paper. You
have to reinvent yourself. I've had senior editors who've let me do that, whether it was
changing a beat or crossing the abyss from reporter to editor,'' he said.
At the Camera, Keyes has been a political reporter, city editor and projects editor. In
February, he was assigned to coordinate the newspaper's efforts to expand its local news
content with more business, outdoor recreation and regional news sections.
Over the years he has earned a number of honors, including a Scripps Foundation
National Journalism Award for Public Service and an Investigative Reporters and Editors
award. |
Before any of that, though, it was the aforementioned ability to redirect career energy
that brought Keyes to the School, although it was his power of persuasion that kept him
there.
"I got into journalism in my late 20s. Before that I did any number of things to
make a living, principally carpentry and construction work. I'd studied English lit at
Stony Brook University in New York for a couple of years and later moved to Boulder.
"Joanne Arnold was my first contact with the journalism department. I knocked on
her door, and I told her I wanted to return to the university to study journalism.
"She asked what my grades were previously, and they weren't so great. She said
that may be a problem. I told her that if she let me in I'd be the best student she had.
"She said she'd take a gamble on that. She bent the rules, and I respect people
who bend rules intelligently."
Several other faculty members also quickly earned his admiration, Keyes said.
"I encountered some really first-rate people. Another good teacher was Mal Deans.
He was a veteran newspaper man who brought that experience and color and real-life type of
feel to the classroom. Bill McReynolds made an impression, certainly so did Sam Archibald.
Sam just brought a lot of expertise and hard-headedness to the class.
"Pat Raybon, who was then a part-time instructor and a reporter at the Post,
brought such a passion for the profession -- and that was such a turn-on.
"I remember I had the job lined up here before I graduated. I wanted to learn the
basic skills I needed to get a job at a newspaper. I feel the School served that purpose
well."
But as the years went by and his career evolved, he said, he realized his encounter
with CU's faculty was only the start of a constant association with dedicated,
enthusiastic news professionals.
"At the Daily Camera I've worked for some really good editors, and I've always
worked with some very fine reporters as their editor," he said.
Keyes reflected on that in the Daily Camera news story announcing his promotion. The
best newspapers, he said, are like the best people.
"They need to have both intellect and heart,'' he said. "One without the
other isn't the whole package."
