People in the newsroom: Louis Amestoy
Another installment of our irregular series that gives a little glimpse into the place and people who put out your local newspaper ...
In this installment, we'll look at Louis Amestoy.
I frankly am not sure exactly what Louis' fancy title is, but he is some kind of managing editor, basically the big kahuna strutting around the newsroom floor.
Check this pic below, of Louis holding forth with an impromptu mid-day session on community journalism in the digital age. Seated behind him, pecking away at a communications device, is the biggest enchilada of all as far as The Sun and its sister newspapers are concerned, Steve Lambert (can't recite his exact title either, so much for sucking up to the bosses!)
Louis is kind of a freak of nature to anybody who has worked with him. I once heard another top editor refer to him as a "finish line guy." Later, I appreciated how appropriate that description is.
Louis isn't one to sit around and philosophize or fritter away minutes over some trivial nuance (that would be my problem), he is an action man, the kind of guy who can't sit still long enough to get bogged down with anything.
Always driving, always upbeat, Louis was born to prowl a newsroom floor.
"What are you doing?" ... "What's your status!" he'll bark, shocking idle reporters into pounding on keyboards or telephone number dials.
"Robert Rogers," he'll shout, inexplicably ... my pace always quickens.
But Louis has everyone behind him. He has something too few managers can pull off - the ability to balance professional drive and high expectations with levity and unpretensiousness. He gets people to perform without having to swing a big stick - reaping the results without whipping the backlash.
He's also a doer, the proverbial "hands-on" manager who is as comfortable hoofing around the Route 66 Rendezvous with pockets abuzz with cameras and cell phones (as he did this weekend) as he is smartly reclining in some suit-and-tie board meeting.
So, that's Louis Amestoy: Wild-eyed, energetic, maybe a little nuts ... a guy who's got news ink boiling in his blood.
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Andrew Edwards. E-mail Andrew here.
Will you please put up more Andrew Edwards pics?
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Andrew and Anonymous sitting in a tree,
B - L - O - G - I - N - G!
Um, I don't think I want to know what comes next......
OK, this is starting to get weird ...
In old country, when kaptain abandon ship we make sure we put holes in his water wings.
I suggest we throw anchor too.
-- Vlad