Totnes Times’ Steve Peacock – A Real Newspaperman

We’re in an age where that is rare.

By John Anderson
Contributing Editor

The announcement earlier this month that Steve Peacock has retired as a reporter and editor at the Totnes Times should be viewed with more than a little alarm.
In an age where regional journalism has been by and large reduced to cursory reporting whose mission is to fill the space between the classifieds and the real-estate advertising, Peacock stood out as someone in the smallest of papers who tried; he really tried.

The baton has been passed from Steve to a new generation of TT reporters. We will be watching to see how they do at covering Council meetings; how much of an understanding they bring to planning and development matters; in short, how will they carry on Steve’s tradition.
When I was starting out in the newspaper business around the same time as Steve, an old editor suggested I take a slow look around the newsroom. When I asked why, he said: “Some of the people you’re looking at just work for a newspaper; others are actually newspaper people. It is up to you which you want to be.”
Steve Peacock in his role at the Totnes Times was a lot more than someone who worked at a newspaper. He was a real newspaper man.