Darin J. Mccann

Executive Editor, Coastal Point Newspaper, Ocean View, Delaware First job in news: I started as a sports reporter, eventually settling into “cops & courts” coverage before becoming a full-time editor in 1999. I’ve been at Coastal Point since we launched in 2004. What are some of the most important lessons you have learned while working in news? I always think today’s lesson is the most important of my life — whatever that may look like. The lessons I most consistently rely on are probably the most basic: Get it right, ensure you have it right and share it with the readers concisely. Always traffic in truth. When you reflect on your career to date, what brings you the greatest sense of accomplishment? We’ve been named News Organization of the Year for our division twice in the last three years by the Maryland-delaware-dc Press Association, and that speaks to the kind of staff we’ve assembled and an environment we’ve built that is conducive for our journalists to succeed. But I get satisfaction from hearing from people in our community that we’re fair. I can never get enough of that, to be honest with you. What are your predictions for where news publishing/news media is heading? It’s hard to predict where the industry is heading because how people consume and share information is constantly transforming, but we better stay on top of it if we wish to remain relevant. We need to see these newer information streams as benefits in providing us with more methods to relay important information to our audience instead of some sinister digital enemy stealing our market. We need to maintain our standards of accuracy and fairness and be the voice of reason in an increasingly hyperpartisan world around us. We can “fact-check” all we want. If people don’t believe us, it doesn’t matter.