In his early days at The Christian Science Monitor, John Yemma was recognized as a skilled reporter, writer, editor, and thinker. But it was in his 2008 return to the Monitor as the top editor, after 20 years at The Boston Globe, that he made his biggest mark on journalism.
Mr. Yemma, who died on June 10, took the bold step in 2009 of ending the daily print Monitor and shifting to a web-first strategy, with a weekly print magazine. The move proved prescient, as the journalism world adapted to the demands of the internet. And he did it without breaking a sweat, or so it seemed to those around him.
“John always had a kind of optimism, a grace about him that made things look kind of easy,” says Marshall Ingwerson, who served as Mr. Yemma’s managing editor.
Why We Wrote This
Mr. Yemma, whose journalism career also included senior roles at The Boston Globe, had a reputation as a smart and generous presence in a profession often known for egos.
Still, behind the calm demeanor there was a steely certitude about Mr. Yemma’s web-first vision for the Monitor, even in his first interview as a candidate for the editorship.
“When he came in, it was just about ‘how’ and not ‘whether,’” says Mr. Ingwerson, who succeeded Mr. Yemma as editor in 2014.
An academic study of the Monitor’s digital transition early in the process – which included three weeks of newsroom observation, interviews, and a staff survey – lauded the paper’s leadership for taking industry talk about going web-first “beyond platitudes.”
In a memo to staff before the last daily print Monitor was published, on March 27, 2009 – just months after the paper’s 100th anniversary – Mr. Yemma projected a can-do attitude, while acknowledging they were entering “uncharted waters.”
“We’ll try things, think about whether they worked, adjust, and try again,” he wrote.
Still, even amid dramatic change, Mr. Yemma made clear that the Monitor’s core values would remain central.
“I would define Monitor journalism as the journalism of hope,” he told the CommonWealth Beacon in a January 2009 interview. “It’s not just about shocking you or titillating you. It’s about essentially coming away with the sense that it’s not all going to hell in a handbasket. The value added is not to try to solve the problem ourselves, but to find people who are trying to solve the problem.”
As the Monitor’s leader, Mr. Yemma brought credibility to his work after decades as a reporter and editor, including senior management roles at the Globe. But his roots were in Austin, Texas, where he spent much of his youth, as one of six children of a U.S. Air Force officer. A four-year stint in Japan exposed Mr. Yemma at an early age to different cultures and viewpoints.
He began his journalism career as a student at the University of Texas, Austin, rising to become managing editor of the school paper, The Daily Texan. After college, he worked in Dallas as a reporter and editor for United Press International, then went to The Dallas Morning News as a magazine writer.
Mr. Yemma first joined the Monitor in 1979, where he served as a Washington correspondent, Middle East correspondent, business writer and editor, and economics columnist. After going to the Globe in 1988, he served in multiple roles and led an award-winning investigative project on mental health patients.
But Mr. Yemma was about much more than work. He was a devoted husband to his wife of 48 years, Robin Jareaux, a former Washington Post art director who also worked for a time as a designer at the Monitor. In retirement, he helped Ms. Jareaux with her vacation rental business in southeastern Massachusetts.
Wherever he worked, Mr. Yemma built a reputation as a generous presence in a profession known for egos.
“John had a quiet confidence that commanded respect, and was an encouraging and caring colleague as well,” former Monitor managing editor Amelia Newcomb wrote in a text message. “That extended to being the newsroom expert on chickens, which he raised with enthusiasm and whose eggs he shared regularly with the newsroom.”
This reporter, as a junior editor at the Monitor in the mid-1980s, recalls handling Yemma copy from Saudi Arabia, and venturing a few suggestions – which he graciously accepted. Decades later, as editor, he sat down with me in the Washington bureau to explain his ideas on going web-first. What did I think? he asked.
Other former colleagues recalled his sharp intellect and ability to juggle innumerable tasks at once.
“His professional skill was a wonder to behold – dazzling staff members with his ability to calmly preside over a meeting while simultaneously drafting an incisive column on deadline,” recalls former Monitor editor David Cook.
To others, an abiding memory may center on a small moment that spoke to Mr. Yemma’s core qualities as both a decent and fun person.
“When he retired as Monitor editor and was cleaning out his office, he gave me a pile of worthless foreign currency he had collected over the years in his travels,” recalls Ken Kaplan, the Monitor’s Middle East editor and a former colleague at both the Monitor and the Globe.
“I have many of the colorful notes pinned to the walls of my cubicle now as a decoration. I found he was always sympathetic and understanding.… Great human.”