Veteran BND journalist Mike Koziatek calling it a career

A veteran Belleville News-Democrat journalist is calling it a career.

Senior reporter Mike Koziatek, who spent the past 28-plus years in varied roles at the BND, retired at the close of business Thursday.

“I was thinking at Christmastime that ‘Man, I’m going to be 65,’” he said of his decision to retire. “I remember in civics class learning that 65 is when you retire. It seems like a good number to take a break. ...

“I’m going to miss the people and that chase for the story. As for what I won’t miss, I don’t know. Really nothing. It feels like I walked into that first newspaper just yesterday. It’s such a cliche, but time flies.”

BND Executive Editor Todd Eschman called Koziatek a stable and reassuring presence in the newsroom, a great teacher and mentor, and “the perfect colleague.”

“Newsroom environments are notoriously harried because of deadlines and the constant shift of priorities, but Kozi has a real calming presence,” Eschman said. “That’s certainly his nature, but it’s also a testament to his preparedness and his focus. That will be irreplaceable, not to mention his years of experience and all of his institutional knowledge both at the BND and at City Hall.

“But Kozi is a good friend, too, and a great sounding board. I’m going to miss that daily interaction with him.”

Koziatek was hired under former BND editor Greg Edwards and worked more than 22 years under Jeff Couch, who retired as editor in August 2024.

“You won’t find a person with more integrity, honesty and commitment than Mike. It’s hard to imagine the BND newsroom without him,” Couch said. “He’s the kind of guy that goes about his job every day with an intense focus on accuracy and fairness, a get-it-right-all-the-time attitude. He’s a super reporter and editor who cares about our region, the BND and the subjects he writes about.

“And Mike is simply a fine gentleman, colleague and friend. He deserves a great retirement.”

Koziatek grew up near Dogtown in St. Louis and in Creve Coeur, Missouri. After earning his degree in journalism from Marquette University, he worked at five different newspapers in Missouri, Florida and South Carolina. He arrived at the Belleville News-Democrat in 1998 as an assistant city editor.

In 2015, Koziatek made the surprise decision to transition back to a full-time reporter and take over coverage of Belleville City Hall. Technology was changing the way legacy newspapers were reaching audiences, and he wanted to learn new techniques from the ground up.

“I just thought it would be a good way to learn how to do videos because I was telling people to do things I hadn’t done before,” he said. “Before that, everything I had been telling people to do as a city editor I had done as a reporter. It was a way to get into the new technology.”

The shift to digital journalism and move away from the printed paper haven’t let up, but Koziatek said some things have not changed.

“From a journalism standpoint, people still want to know what’s going on around their block and down at city hall. That hasn’t changed,” he said. “The tools we use have gotten more high-tech and reader friendly with graphics and videos. But everybody still wants to know what happened.”

“I think readers need to stick with the legacy newsrooms (to get their information). That’s where everything is vetted, checked out and it’s going to be fair and accurate.”

A few stories stand out from his nearly 35 years as a journalist, including an exclusive interview with a convicted murderer on death row in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and how advances in DNA technology could spur a new look at the unsolved murder of BND intern Audrey Cardenas.

Other stories that stand out to him include a study of black bear migration and how one made its way through the metro-east in 2024, and a feature obituary on Joe Hubbard, the longtime director of Catholic Urban Programs and a leader with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Belleville Council.

His final project was creation of a database and update on 31 missing-persons cases in the metro-east.

Koziatek also has written countless articles about public safety, infrastructure projects and business developments.

“It’s hard to pick one favorite. Whatever I was working on that day was my favorite,” he said.