Meet Caller-Times' newest reporter, say good-bye to longtime columnist
The Corpus Christi Caller-Times recently gained a new reporter, but will be losing a long-time columnist/archivist in the coming days.
Katie Nickas, the Caller-Times' newest employee, joined the newsroom in late February. With 20 years of experience in the journalism field, she has quickly taken on several stories including a feature on the King Ranch, a story on the TEXSAR K-9 unit and several articles about Caleb Harris, the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi student who has been missing since March 4.
Nickas said she enjoys the fast pace and return to journalism.
"I love getting interesting emails from people wanting to do stories," Nickas said. "I enjoy getting to know the staff, even though I'm met most remotely. I love going out in the field and learning more about Corpus Christi. This is the perfect way to get to know the city."
While Nickas mainly covers breaking news, trending news, crime, traffic and court news, she hopes to bring her passion for storytelling to the Caller-Times.
"Finding a news lead, getting to do background research through our archives and finding all the intricate coils of the story is something I enjoy doing," Nickas said. "I hope I can bring my background and experience while respecting people in our community. I have a lot of energy and I'm learning that the more you put into it, the better your stories will be. Journalism never ends. You're always observing and attuned to what's going on."
Allison Ehrlich has been with the Caller-Times since July 2007. She started off as the archive coordinator and would spend her days archiving the daily paper digitally.
In October 2013, after returning from maternity leave from having her daughter, a former employee suggested to start a Throwback Thursday column. She said she will miss writing the column the most.
"Originally, I would just find a photo and then write a few paragraphs and they would throw it online," Ehrlich said. "After I did it a couple of months, they decided to put it in print also. Because I am who I am, I became more verbose when I would write and it became longer."
Ehrlich is leaving the Caller-Times to be the publications assistant for Del Mar College's journalism department. She will be helping the college students help put together the Foghorn News publication and is looking forward to the change in pace.
"I'll be using the same skills I have for a while, but in a completely different environment," Ehrlich said. "I'm also excited I'll be able to work with students again."
Being in the business for quite some time, Ehrlich said journalism has changed for the best and worst over the years.
"For the worst, it's the shrinking of the news business," Ehrlich said. "It's been hard to cope with the shrinking of all media organizations, but especially newspapers. Newspapers, to me, are such a good resource for history. They are such a snapshot of a moment in time that gives a little bit of context to history and describes the everyday worker. That idea is going away; it disappearing is really sad to me."
As for the best, Ehrlich said it has been the efficiency of capturing and putting out news stories.
"Not that I ever worked with typewriters, but I cannot imagine writing a story, going around and editing on the fly and then capturing photos on the fly," Ehrlich said. "The ease of today where you can take photo really fast and get something up on the internet quickly is a good thing. It is a bad thing though because it invites amateurs to carry themselves off as a news business."
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John Oliva covers entertainment and community news in South Texas. Contact him at john.oliva@caller.com or X @johnpoliva.
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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Staff update: Caller-Times gains new reporter, columnist moves on
