Moving On, On a New Journey, Journey's End… I'm Done

One of the things I will truly miss about my years in the news business are those dreadful Washington-style resignation statements.

You know something has gone terribly wrong somewhere in or around the U.S. Capitol when officials say they are quitting to "spend more time with family" or something similar and equally vague.

Sometimes those resignations were a little sad, but mostly they were a little delicious because you just knew it was not the entire story.

The first word on the latest high-profile version came from CNN telling us Liz Cheney was calling it quits.
For whatever reason,  she decided that pursuing the U.S. Senate in Wyoming was just not a good thing at this time.

Ms. Liz cites a family health issue -- and if that's the case, God Bless her. And if it isn't, let's give thanks that there was no sex scandal involved (Hello Anthony Weiner,  knighted by The New York Times as a digital Lothario).

I've always wanted to use that "stepping down to spend more time with my family" line because it is just so perfect. Never mind that I don't have a family or that I was never so big or important that anyone would care why I was stepping down.

Still, I appropriated the cliche for my very own resignation, when I left life in the newsroom on Dec. 31.

Here's my statement:


First Pope Benedict now JoAnne 

It's been 10 months since the former pope shocked the world with his unexpected announcement that he was relinquishing the papacy. JoAnne Allen handed the world another shocker early on Monday, announcing her resignation from Reuters and upending nearly 20 years of tradition. 

"I am stepping down to spend more time with my family," Allen said in a statement. "I wish I could say there's a scandal behind the headline. I had fun, for sure, but not that much fun," Allen told Reuters in an email. 

There was no immediate comment from any of her former EICs. 

With no plans to travel the world, write a book or do anything remotely constructive, Allen said the timing of her departure "just felt right." However, she conceded that she would miss the vaunted newsroom camaraderie. "I met some amazingly talented journalists, got to know a lot of memorable characters and made a few friends for life," she added. "I want to thank them for their roles in what  has been a really great ride." 

Allen first joined Reuters when online news was in its infancy, working with a small crew of fellow gnomes embedded in a dark corner on the 4th floor at 1333 H. 

"We were pioneers," Allen said. "Back then, few correspondents really understood how possibly millions of people could see their work once my team cut it down to 300 words and posted it on the Internet."

Recalling that story, Allen noted that her career at Reuters eerily ended similarly to the way it started -- she was still embedded and still doing something that had something to do with the Internet.

Only at the end, no longer in the dark, Allen toiled away in an office with a window overlooking Bryant Park.
(That didn't last long, but that's a totally unrelated story.)