Saline MI
4-28-2019 12:55am

Remembering Jim Pruitt - An Old-School Community Journalist

Jim Pruitt has left us.

He was a husband. A father. A Christian. An American. A libertarian. A journalist. He was each of those with exactly the right amount of pride. I first knew Jim as a feared rival and later as a respected friend.

Jim died Friday near his home in Hillsdale, where he lived while he reported on Saline for the Saline Reporter and The Sun Time News. He also wrote about Saline for Patch.com and The Saline Post. He wrote for We Love Dexter and more recently covered Northwest Ohio for the Village Reporter. Lately, while looking for a new full-time job, Jim had been writing for independent publications in Chelsea and Allen Park while launching his own website, the Northwest Ohio Update. This is the life of a community journalist in 2019.

I first met Jim around 2011 or so. I was writing for Saline Patch – the job that brought me to Saline. Jim came to Saline to write for the Saline Reporter. The news is a competitive business. At least it used to be. When I came to town, I identified the Saline Reporter and AnnArbor.com as competitors and I went to work to beat them. For the most, I thought I did. But when Jim came to town, he was an imposing competitor. First, he was skilled in the trade. He knew hard news. He didn’t get lost in government meetings. He caught the conflicts in the issues. He reported the facts with clean copy. He built relationships with the movers and shakers in town.

Unlike many of the other good reporters who worked for Heritage Newspaper at the time, Jim didn’t ever seem demoralized by the low pay, the story quotas, and ever-changing demands from the clueless corporate HQ. Jim just kept working the beat. And working it. And working it.

He was a giant with a booming voice and used them to his advantage. On more than one occasion, he used his size to block me from getting the picture I wanted, or keeping a subject from getting my attention in a post-meeting scrum.

Jim was as competitive as I was. It was hard being friends with Jim at that time. We were rivals.

(Jim Pruitt's Obituary)

I was friendlier with some of Jim’s co-workers than I was with Jim. Turns out, many of Jim’s co-workers once worked for Jim when he was managing editor of the Hillsdale Daily News. If you’ve ever started a career in journalism by scouring jobs boards, you’ve probably seen want ads for the Hillsdale paper. They didn’t pay well. It was in the middle of nowhere. And, when Jim was boss, he was a taskmaster who made sure his reporters didn’t skirt around issues and wrote in AP Style. I was told “Jim the boss” had a fearsome temper and was known to peel the paint off the walls when employees weren’t living up to standards.

He was hard to work for. And yet when Jim Pruitt left the Hillsdale job, his old employees vouched for him with the Heritage decision makers, and Pruitt came to work for Saline.

Steven Howard. Randy Castro. Amy Bell. All learned from Jim in Hillsdale. All went on to work for the Saline Reporter. All have posted today about how Jim influenced their lives.

Here's what Castro, a long time sportswriter for Heritage, posted on Facebook:

Got word that James Pruitt, a GodlyvMan and my boss from my time with the Hillsdale Daily News, passed away suddenly yesterday. I’m stunned and saddened for his wife Heidi and their family. In the 15 months I worked for Jim, he singlehandedly made me a better journalist and a stronger person. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but by the time I left the HDN, I understood. Though my career path has changed, I’m grateful for the grit and the demand for excellence he helped instill in me. Rest Easy now Jim, I’ll see you again someday.

Steven Howard, who still lives in Saline, posted the following:

Saddened to learn the editor who gave me my first full-time journalism job passed away suddenly. Rest well, James Pruitt. Your legacy will move forward in all of the writers, like me, who you had a hand in shaping.

When I left Saline Patch to launch the Post in 2012, Jim was leaving Heritage at the time. I told my editor to hire Jim in my place. The next week, I was at a Saline City Council meeting working for my own business, Jim was there for Patch and I don’t think the Reporter sent anyone.

Jim always seemed to like newspaper journalism more than digital journalism - and he returned to Heritage to work for the Reporter. In 2013, he left the Saline paper again to become editor of the Heritage paper in Ypsilanti.  He continued writing for Heritage Newspapers as they merged the Washtenaw weeklies into Washtenaw Now. A few months later, Digital First Media ceased all operations in Washtenaw County.

My old rival joined The Saline Post as a freelance writer for awhile. But Jim needed a full-time gig. To my dismay, he joined the SunTimesNews – a new weekly which was trying to replace Washtenaw Now. Once again, I was going to head to head with Big Jim Pruitt. That’s OK. Because I believe competition, just like collaboration, often brings out the best in us. At the same time, I breathed a deep sigh of relief when he told me he’d left the SunTimesNews.

A short time ago, Jim contacted me looking for some freelance gigs. I became excited about the possibilities. I need a York Township reporter. A Lodi Township reporter. I need someone who likes writing features. Where can I squeeze in more ads to pay for the services of a skilled, old-school reporter like Jim?

Jim wrote about the old hitching stone in front of Jim and Cheryl Hoeft’s home. I remember reading the story with some envy. It was a simple story, but with a few creative flourishes I appreciated.

And a couple weeks ago Jim wrote about Paul Schwimmer, a Saline resident who works to bring home the remains of US Servicemen who died fighting for our country. The Saline Post published that story today.

There aren’t a lot of community journalists around these days. Jim was one of the best.

He’s left us too soon. Jim Pruitt had more stories to tell.

A celebration of Jim's life will be held at 6 p.m., May 3, at Hillsdale United Brethren Church, 1300 S. Hillsdale Road, Hillsdale. Visitation is from 5 p.m. until the time of the service.

 

 

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