CommonWealth Beacon editor Bruce Mohl retired last week after 16 years. Longtime opinion contribtor Jim Aloisi offered this tribute and reflection on the mark he made.
I’VE BEEN A somewhat regular contributor to Commonwealth Beacon since 2013. Like many opportunities in my life, this role was not one I had contemplated or sought out. My writing for CommonWealth began because its editor, Bruce Mohl, reached out and challenged me to move out of my comfort zone. I will always be thankful to Bruce for doing that, and opening up a new chapter in my life.
Bruce reached out to me when he noticed a comment I wrote in response to an article on transit advocacy. He called me, said he liked my comments, and wanted me to consider turning them into a brief commentary. I said yes, and thus began what is now over a decade of writing regular opinion pieces for CommonWealth.
When Bruce reached out to me it was only a few years after I had left public office, a time when I still experienced a form of post-public service PTSD. It had been a challenging time, leaving a high-pressure, high-profile job that I cared deeply about for new opportunities that paid better but satisfied a lot less.
The last thing on my mind in those years was emerging from a self-imposed exile and re-entering the public arena. Bruce helped pave my pathway back to civic life, and I’ll be forever grateful.
The experience for me has been thoroughly satisfying. I like to write, and I enjoy the editorial and revision process. Bruce is a first-rate editor. His suggestions for revision, his corrections, and his occasional questions and gentle push-backs always and inevitably improved my writing.
He brings an editor’s keen eye for content that will inform and engage. He knows the importance of writing in a way that is accessible, so readers will understand the underlying issues. Bruce has shown himself to be the exemplar of a good editor: I have improved as a writer because of his guidance.
Over the past decade I came to understand that the CommonWealth audience was exactly the audience I wanted to reach. That audience may be smaller than those drawn to the Globe or other online platforms, but it is highly influential. If you’re writing about — and hoping to influence — the public policy debate in Massachusetts, the people you want to reach are reading CommonWealth Beacon.
As editor of CommonWealth Beacon, Bruce has skillfully navigated the new era of digital information platforms. He’s a newspaper guy at heart, but he brought the skill set of a journalist to the task of building a powerful online presence.
We would occasionally meet for lunch at the Parker House, the quintessential Boston place to meet and exchange information. During one of those conversations we talked about the growing interest in podcasts, and soon thereafter, Bruce introduced The Codcast to CommonWealth followers. The Codcast began as an experiment but quickly became an important weekly contribution to the civic dialogue.
Bruce and executive editor Michael Jonas have made CommonWealth Beacon the respected, indispensable news and opinion outlet for anyone with an interest in Massachusetts state and municipal government and public affairs. They bring the dogged determination of good reporters, always looking to track down the untold story, focused on the facts, and eager to score a scoop if one is on offer.
Bruce has broken more than one important news story, making CommonWealth a must-read for anyone desirous of being plugged into what’s really happening both transparently and behind the scenes.
So many of us who care deeply about the city of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, who believe in the importance of solid, objective news reporting, and who enjoy a well-curated opinion page, will miss Bruce’s editorial guidance and leadership.
Easygoing in temperament, professional at all times, and generous in spirit, Bruce has left an enduring mark on journalism in 21st century Massachusetts. Nothing better could be said of anyone in that oft-maligned profession.
James Aloisi is a former Massachusetts secretary of transportation.
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