The long-time editor-in-chief of the London Free Press is leaving his position to take up the same job at the Hamilton Spectator. That’s pretty big news in the local newspaper world, and the Freeps predictably covered it very gingerly.

They couldn’t ignore it, or pretend it wasn’t happening, but they weren’t about to dwell on the fact he is leaving to go to a competitor’s chain, either (the Freeps is owned by Quebecor, the Spec by Torstar).

Some kind words were offered but there was no reference to the sometimes-difficult relationship between Berton and his penny-pinching employers. Under his watch the Freeps shrank considerably, especially in the newsroom, and many people wrongly blamed him for it.

As a life-long newsman he was in a tough place with an employer in financial trouble and a cut-costs-at-any-cost imperative. Given what he had to work with, I think you have to give him credit for doing the best he could.

I often disagreed with his opinions, and he with mine, even when I was a columnist at the paper with a weekly opportunity to spout off. He could have dumped some of my columns, or cut and pasted them to better suit him but he never did. And even after I left the paper he would occasionally publish columns of mine that didn’t exactly square with his views. To me, that was and is the mark of a professional.

It has to be said that the Voice of London would likely not exist were it not for the widespread public dissatisfaction with Freeps coverage of city hall, and with some of the editorial positions it has espoused.

How much of that had to do with Paul Berton remains to be seen, and we will see when his successor takes hold of the reins, but my guess is that things won’t change much on that front.

When all is said and done, at least from my perspective, Mr. Berton was a stand-up guy who spoke his mind but wasn’t afraid to open it to others. And rather than trying to squelch dissenters, he often gave them space in the paper.

He is a good writer, too, even if the conclusions he draws may not always be yours, and good writers are increasingly difficult to find.

We at the Voice wish him well in his new position.