Shabaz now leading Artesia Daily Press

‘I bleed community journalism,’ he says

El Rito Media Dave Shabaz started his career in small-town Turlock, California, just outside Modesto near what became Silicon Valley.

When he first moved there from his native Chicago as a child, Shabaz said the town had a population of about 10,000. When he left years later to continue his career the city stood at about 80,000.

This week, Shabaz took the helm of the Carlsbad Current-Argus and Artesia Daily News, bringing what he learned in some of the largest media markets in the U.S. to New Mexico’s fastest-growing region in the southeast corner.

He knows the value of local journalism in an expanding community, first working at the Turlock Journal as a classifieds salesperson and then outside sales rep, before moving on to bigger markets in Los Angeles, San Diego and Phoenix.

He said he plans to refocus on local coverage, bringing back police blotters, birth and death announcements, and planning special sections for the start of sports seasons.

It isn’t his first time working in a small town. For the past five years Shabaz was publisher at several community newspapers in Texas, starting at Sulfur Springs in the northeast part of the state and working in Cuero, Texas where he managed five nearby papers.

He said community news offers something different than the national outlets: a place for parents to see their children celebrated for sports accomplishments or learn the inner workings of local government. What makes a town like Carlsbad or Artesia unique, Shabaz said, belongs in the headlines.

“Right now, we’re all inundated with national news, our phones, our TVs,” Shabaz said. “Small community papers are the only place to see your softball player, little league player. We want to return to that kind of journalism. We’re going to be community minded.” ‘I’m not just going to sit in the office.’

Long before Shabaz got involved in the newspaper business, he attempted a career as a stand-up comic in Los Angeles in the mid ‘80s. He still likes to joke around, tell stories and meet people. Shabaz said he doesn’t like just sitting in his office and plans to be heavily involved in the Carlsbad and Artesia communities as a long-time Rotarian with a history of volunteer work.

That desire to stand out and provide a measurable community impact led Shabaz to look back at smalltown media and seek a job as sales manager and ultimately publisher in 2014 in Sanford, North Carolina.

Since that move, Shabaz said he’s used his skills to be a good neighbor and citizen in the communities where he works.

“I’m a joiner, I’m a volunteer,” Shabaz said. “I love to make myself accessible. I’m not going to just sit in the office. I’m here to be part of the community. I welcome any subscriber, anyone that would like to talk to me. I would love to hear what they want to see in the paper.”

Shabaz’s comedy career took the form of humor column for a few years, and he said his light-hearted attitude and value for the community was instrumental in his success as a salesperson and media executive.

“I was too social to be kept inside,” Shabaz said of his past sales roles. “I always wanted to be a writer but ended up a salesman. I liked being at the big papers, but I didn’t feel like I was affecting the community. I hated being a small fish in a big pond.”

As publisher and editor of the papers in Artesia and Carlsbad – Eddy County’s two main cities known for a bitter rivalry – Shabaz said he’ll work to unify the county but respect the cities’ differences.

He said he’s a “die-hard” Chicago sports fan, with a Cubs logo tattooed on his left shoulder and a distaste for the city’s other pro baseball team the White Sox.

“I want to make sure we show respect, and respect for the rivalry,” he said. “Being a sports guy, I really respect a rivalry.”