Take care of our daily, thank you.
I’ve been finding myself reflective and introspective about my future as a journalist lately. Maybe it’s the pending graduation, or maybe it’s the excitement stirred up in us by our professors who see us heading into what was for them a great adventure, but I’ve caught a strange bug.
When I graduated from the University of Washington, I wanted to leave silently and barely acknowledge that I ever went there. For a period of time I was convinced that my education there was a waste, and I certainly wasn’t looking forward into the future, and I sure as hell didn’t want to hear some bullshit speech about wearing sunscreen.
But now every time I see someone give some passionate diatribe about the importance of journalism and the ethical dilemmas we face every day, my heart flutters just a little bit and I puff up my chest and gear up like I’m about to run the race of my life.
I don’t mean to sound clichéd, or falsely nostalgic. I’m really not making this up. I wish my feelings weren’t this cheesy.
So today as I heard , Ann Marie Lipinski, vice president and editor of the Chicago News Tribune, speak, I wanted to stand up in my chair and say “YES!” as she spoke of how important our work was, and how we shape our values.
She remembered back on to her own time starting out in journalism at the school newspaper at the University of Michigan where she says she did more than pretend, or playact at being a journalist.
“There is in every successful career a time when that true love is nurtured,” Lipinski said.
Maybe it was because she reflected on her own experience as an undergraduate at the school newspaper, but I found myself during the lecture looking for that moment when the thing I love finally became nourished.
Lipinski marks two moments in her life. The most recent, the previously mentioned school newspaper, and as a child watching her grandmother iron and tell the unbiased stories of her life.
Lipinski grounds her stories in hope, denying the standard assumption that today’s journalists fail where yesterday’s journalists succeeded. She recounts newspaper after newspaper that succeeds at doing the good work that brought her into journalism in the first place.
The point she comes to is that, although she says she’s a “platform agnostic,” someone must pay for the service that journalists offer.
I’m an idealist, and when I look to the future of technology, I see all the opportunity to utilize it to the advantage of journalism. But Lipinski brings home the real point that if every gets information for free, as ideal as that situation is, who will pay the writers to sit in a tent on the other side of the world to bring home the stories that really matter.
As I left the talk, what I took was not the individual points, but a small sense of pride in what we do. As I leave this program, I’m leaving it excited at what I’ve learned and what I will do with my career.
Which brings home the moral of Lipinski’s many stories. As she reflected on life without newspapers, she paused to be thankful for what it is we do, when she remembers one letter sent to her school newspaper.
“Take care of our daily, thank you.”
Go to the University of Oregon Journalism School website to read Lipinski's prepared remarks.
When I graduated from the University of Washington, I wanted to leave silently and barely acknowledge that I ever went there. For a period of time I was convinced that my education there was a waste, and I certainly wasn’t looking forward into the future, and I sure as hell didn’t want to hear some bullshit speech about wearing sunscreen.
But now every time I see someone give some passionate diatribe about the importance of journalism and the ethical dilemmas we face every day, my heart flutters just a little bit and I puff up my chest and gear up like I’m about to run the race of my life.
I don’t mean to sound clichéd, or falsely nostalgic. I’m really not making this up. I wish my feelings weren’t this cheesy.
So today as I heard , Ann Marie Lipinski, vice president and editor of the Chicago News Tribune, speak, I wanted to stand up in my chair and say “YES!” as she spoke of how important our work was, and how we shape our values.
She remembered back on to her own time starting out in journalism at the school newspaper at the University of Michigan where she says she did more than pretend, or playact at being a journalist.
“There is in every successful career a time when that true love is nurtured,” Lipinski said.
Maybe it was because she reflected on her own experience as an undergraduate at the school newspaper, but I found myself during the lecture looking for that moment when the thing I love finally became nourished.
Lipinski marks two moments in her life. The most recent, the previously mentioned school newspaper, and as a child watching her grandmother iron and tell the unbiased stories of her life.
Lipinski grounds her stories in hope, denying the standard assumption that today’s journalists fail where yesterday’s journalists succeeded. She recounts newspaper after newspaper that succeeds at doing the good work that brought her into journalism in the first place.
The point she comes to is that, although she says she’s a “platform agnostic,” someone must pay for the service that journalists offer.
I’m an idealist, and when I look to the future of technology, I see all the opportunity to utilize it to the advantage of journalism. But Lipinski brings home the real point that if every gets information for free, as ideal as that situation is, who will pay the writers to sit in a tent on the other side of the world to bring home the stories that really matter.
As I left the talk, what I took was not the individual points, but a small sense of pride in what we do. As I leave this program, I’m leaving it excited at what I’ve learned and what I will do with my career.
Which brings home the moral of Lipinski’s many stories. As she reflected on life without newspapers, she paused to be thankful for what it is we do, when she remembers one letter sent to her school newspaper.
“Take care of our daily, thank you.”
Go to the University of Oregon Journalism School website to read Lipinski's prepared remarks.
posted by Aaron Burkhalter at
9:22 PM
2 Comments:
Well put Aaron. After writing this story, then sitting through another speech about a journalist's decision to change the media by going to Iraq and reporting the facts himself, I came back to the office and began a discussion of how an editor and I would begin our new, revolutionized newspaper. I was excited about the upcoming commencement of our careers.
Both speeches gave me that feeling of pride that is often muddled by the criticisms of newspapers, and sometimes of my own articles from disgruntled readers. I can't think of a better time to be entering this industry, though. I wish you luck in finding yourself on the right side of the fence, when all the dust of a transition has cleared. Not a subjective side of the fence, but a safe side of the fence; the side where you can feed your family while doing something that benefits the world; the side of the fence that allows you a clear conscience, allows you to sleep at night, and makes your life worth while when you take your last look in the mirror before leaving this reality. I hope for the best in being proud upon your last reflection.
By
Muddy Politics, at 12:23 AM
Thanks for the ncomment.
I'm always glad to get juiced up on my career, since we spend so much time thinking about how to make it better because nobody likes us.
By
Aaron Burkhalter, at 10:01 PM
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