Couple quit paper in protest of undisclosed issues

Kevin Woster

Married couple Kevin Woster and Mary Garrigan, a pair of veteran reporters for the Rapid City Journal in South Dakota, abruptly quit last week, with Woster writing on Facebook, “We can no longer work for that organization and its management. It’s too diminishing, too demeaning. . . . We could not, would not eat what they wanted us to eat today.” Woster did not offer further further explanation, even when media blogger Jim Romenesko inquired.


Mary Garrigan

Woster told Romenesko in an email, "I don’t want to talk specifics about our resignations yesterday. That would be unfair to all involved. But it was an unhappy parting. I still love that paper. I hope for its future, despite its current struggles and the challenges in the business. This is a great news town and region and a great place for a reporter to live and work. Mary and I are saddened and a bit dazed today, since most of our professional lives have been in newspaper work, with a mix of South Dakota papers but mostly the Journal since the late 1980s. We’re now in the job market, hopefully looking ahead." (Read more)