John Drury: Chicago’s timeless voice in broadcast

dmoseley Journalist Profiles

By: Michaela Wilson

Since the beginning of my journalistic studies in high school, I have always known I wanted my reporting to have an impact. Growing up, watching investigative reporters on WGN, NBC, and ABC, I knew I wanted to be like them. I wanted to incite a change and bring a voice to those who cannot have theirs heard.

One Chicago journalist that did just that was John Drury. He was one of the city’s most influential and beloved faces on air and was known for his dedication to investigative reporting and his role as a trusted news anchor. He first entered the field of journalism straight out of the University of Iowa in 1950 at radio station KSTT in Davenport, Iowa.

He worked in radio and TV in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Indianapolis and Milwaukee, before coming to Chicago to work at WBBM. Drury switched over to WGN to anchor the 10 o’clock news in 1967 after spending five years at WBBM. He stayed there for three years before moving to the anchor desk at WLS and would change between WGN and WLS before retirement in 2002.

His career, however, extended beyond the anchor desk; it was his commitment to investigative journalism that left a lasting impact on Chicago. Drury’s career is one that I would love to emulate. His collaboration with award-winning producer Alex Burkholder, resulted in numerous reports that changed the lives of many Chicagoans.

During his time at WGN, Mayor Byrne and her public relations and cabinet officials confronted Drury about his reporting on her administration’s use of public money for city festivals. He stood firm in his commitment to truth and Byrne’s political career diminished shortly after.

He also played a crucial role in exonerating Kurtis Washington, a young man wrongfully imprisoned for nine years for a murder he did not commit. Drury’s investigation into Washington’s case showcased his commitment to justice and his ability to use journalism as  a force for good.

“He wanted to be remembered as a broadcast journalist, not just an anchorman,” Burkholder told the Chicago Tribune.

His dedication to inflicting change allowed me to hope that my dreams of doing the same can be possible. As a future journalist, it is hard to see the finish line that you imagine for your career. However, looking at Drury’s path, I was able to see how to get there.

He taught me that although I will not start off in this industry at my dream job, there is nothing holding me back from getting me where I want to be. Drury was invested in every aspect of his stories and took pride in the greater good he was reporting. His investigative work was not just a job for him; it was a calling that defined his career.Having that drive and love for storytelling is something I find inspiring as a young reporter. I hope to feel that same dedication in my career and be able to use my passion for change like Drury did. Being able to make your passion into a career is not something that many people get to do, and it is fulfilling to know that our work does hold power.

Drury showed me that if you truly love something, you will find a way to show it to the world. His career was a testament to the power of journalism and left a mark on Chicago. Through his integrity and passion for the truth, he exemplified the best of what journalism can achieve and set a high standard for future journalists, such as myself.

 

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Objective, persistent and direct: Peter Lisagor’s impact on political reporting

dmoseley Student Perspectives
By: Erin Gessert

Known for his commitment to questioning both sides of any political issue and maintaining an unbiased position, Peter Lisagor’s journalism career formed a style of no-nonsense reporting through his persistence and unwavering commitment to obtaining the truth.

 For nearly two decades, from 1959 to 1976, Lisagor worked as the Washington bureau chief for the Chicago Daily News. In this role, Lisagor was responsible for covering the ins and outs of Washington, D.C., to offer Chicagoans sought-after information from across the country.

During his time as Washington bureau chief, the Vietnam War was occurring, and the White House was home to five presidents: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

To carry on Lisagor’s legacy and his commitment to reporting and analyzing the political world, the Chicago Headline Club established a yearly awards contest shortly after Lisagor’s death.

David Jackson, senior reporter at Injustice Watch, is one of many journalists who have received Peter Lisagor Awards. In May, Jackson received two awards for his reporting series “Exploited Elders,” which investigated the financial exploitation and lack of protection that elderly individuals have experienced.

 While recognition for one’s work can be gratifying, it does not symbolize why journalists do the work they do. Jackson explained that the Peter Lisagor Awards offer generations of journalists the opportunity to connect under the name of someone whose legacy has made a significant mark on the ways Chicago journalists strive to report.

 “I think that connecting new generations of journalists to that legacy of work is really important because I do think that Peter Lisagor, beyond everything, was important to our democracy,” Jackson said. “He was important to kind of a fundamental precept of U.S. democracy, which is that the fourth estate serves a civic mission of giving people the facts so they can make up their own minds about the important events of their day.”

At times, we as journalists have sources that may be hesitant to share information. However, your approach is exceedingly important — while you still need to ask the tough questions, doing so out of curiosity rather than interrogation will likely take you many steps closer to the truth.

Peter Lisagor succeeded in his work of covering monumental moments of American history through his objectivity and ability to provide consumers with accurate analyses of what was happening in the nation’s capital. Most importantly, Lisagor was known for reporting straight down the middle, sticking to the facts, being fair and holding people accountable.

Jackson, who also started his career in Chicago and later reported in Washington, D.C., said he felt that this experience offered him a similar insight to how Lisagor found his way toward reporting without a particular ideology in mind.

“I think I really saw in Peter Lisagor’s career how he ended up feeling that he may have started on the one side of the aisle or another side of the aisle in terms of America’s partisan politics, but he felt that his role as a journalist was to, sort of drive straight down the middle, and I found my own way to a very similar kind of position,” Jackson said.

Although Lisagor is best known for his position as Washington bureau chief, his career did not simply remain in the print sector. He became a familiar face to the public nationwide, frequently appearing on broadcasts like “Agronsky and Company,” “Washington Week in Review,” “Meet the Press,” and “Face the Nation.”

 Stephen Rynkiewicz, who attended the first-ever Peter Lisagor Awards ceremony in 1977, was just about to enter into his journalism career when Lisagor passed away in 1976. Remembering Lisagor’s Chicago Daily News reports, particularly one in which Lisagor traveled with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, writing, “Traveling with Khrushchev is like holding a stick of dynamite with a sputtering fuse,” Rynkiewicz picked up on Lisagor’s “lively” writing.

 “This kind of breezy writing helped establish Chicago’s mid-century reputation for muscular, no-nonsense journalism,” Rynkiewicz said.

In the 1990s, Rynkiewicz served as a chairman of the Peter Lisagor Awards and stumbled upon wire-service photos of Lisagor and Lyndon B. Johnson, as well as “Face the Nation” clips.

In these clips, “Lisagor would respectfully but persistently press for direct answers,” Rynkiewicz said. “Lisagor’s reporting has faded from memory, but the awards do justice to his drive to look for the revealing moment and tell it without pandering to his audience.”

Lisagor’s commitment to obtaining the truth and never turning a blind eye to misstatements is one that I plan to emulate in my own career. As journalists, we are committed to giving our audiences what they need to form educated opinions. By following Lisagor’s balancing act of directness and fairness, we too can gain the trust of our audiences, and our sources.

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Ann Landers and the woman who brought her to life

dmoseley Journalist Profiles

By Elizabeth Gregerson

Ann Landers was the prolific writer of the nationally syndicated advice column, aptly named, “Ask Ann Landers.” A career that spanned decades saw her address issues ranging from wedding etiquette to the legalization of sex work. So influential was her advice that she became affectionately known as ‘America’s Mother.’

She also never existed.

Ann Landers was a pen name created by the columnist’s first writer, Ruth Crowley, in 1943. After Crowley’s passing, a contest was held to find someone who could fill Ann Landers’ shoes. Only one writer included actual expert opinion in her submission and was offered the job. That is how in 1955, housewife Eppie Lederer became Ann Landers, a persona she would embody until her death in 2002.

The “Ask Ann Landers” column ran for 56 years in total, with Eppie Lederer at the helm for 47 of those years. The column moved from the Chicago Sun-Times to the Chicago Tribune in 1987 and was syndicated in newspapers all across America. The column’s only real competition was, ironically, the ”Dear Abby” column written and produced by Lederer’s twin sister Pauline Phillips.

I remember pulling up to our kitchen island as a child, taking the newspaper I stole from my mother’s office and flattening it out completely so I could read the advice columns.

I don’t remember the exact advice I read but I remember looking forward to each chance I had to read Ann Landers’ thoughtful and sometimes quippy responses. It felt like I was secretly peaking in on a sophisticated women’s conversation. I was confident Ann Landers knew exactly what she was talking about. Decades later, my inner child is enamored and obsessed with Lederer’s story.

As an aside, I also distinctly remember wondering why advice columns always seemed to have been written by women whose names started with the letter ‘A.’ My adolescent brain decided perhaps women with ‘A’ names have some sort of authority over right and wrong behavior that I didn’t quite understand but gladly accepted.

Beyond Lederer’s symbolic role as America’s mother, answering readers’ questions on how they should handle life’s everyday conundrums, she was also an advisor to some of the most influential figures in American politics and society.

According to a 2003 retrospective on Lederer in Chicago Magazine, she was in correspondence with Bill Clinton, Jackie Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Jimmy Carter. She maintained friendships with journalists like Barbara Walters, Roger Ebert and Walter Cronkite. Celebrities like Robert Redford, Kirk Douglas and Michael Jordan were reportedly in her circle of acquaintances and friends. A bona fide media icon, Lederer never hid behind the shadow of Ann Landers.

She didn’t feel the need to keep her opinions to herself, though she did have to retract and apologize for them a few times. One such incident was when Lederer offered up, and later issued an apology for, her evaluation of Pope John Paul II.

“He has a sweet sense of humor. Of course, he’s a Polack,” she said. “They’re very anti-women.”

Lederer was also not ashamed to admit when she had changed her mind on previously held, and previously published, beliefs. While never outright supporting the legalization of gay marriage, she publicly renounced her previously held positions on the gay community. She then remained consistent about her support of the gay community and their rights.

A Chicago Tribune obituary for Lederer quotes her as saying, “I’ve changed my mind about a few things. Early on, I knew nothing about homosexuality. Later, I became sympathetic because I understood they were born ‘that way.’”

Known for being driven around the city of Chicago in a limousine with a license plate that marked the start of her column, “AL 1955,” Lederer was not afraid of her success. She lived in a 5,500-square-foot luxury co-op on East Lake Shore Drive. Author Carol Felsenthal wrote of Lederer’s life and style:

“The place was brimming with antiques, reproductions, middling art, and knickknacks, although the most valuable object was always Eppie herself-expensively dressed, bejeweled, and accessorized.”

The version of myself still sitting at the kitchen island is thrilled to learn the sophisticated woman I envisioned was even more glamourous than I had imagined.

Lederer passed away at home in 2002 after a battle with multiple myeloma, though her column continued posthumously for a few weeks after her death because, as Felsenthal wrote, Lederer “kept about six weeks ahead of deadline, and she never missed a column.”

Eppie Lederer, the writer, left her mark on the media landscape as one of the industry’s most legendary columnists, Ann Landers.

Eppie Lederer, the woman, quite literally left her mark on Chicago as The International Club at the Drake Hotel allegedly affixed a brass nameplate to her regular table in her honor.

While Ann Landers may have never lived, Eppie Lederer surely did.

Does Humor Belong in News? Finley Peter Dunne taught me it can.

dmoseley Journalist Profiles

By Noah Tomko-Jones

I was raised in a political household. There’s no two ways about it. From a young age, my parents impressed on my older brother and me the importance of being an informed citizen. NPR was on almost constantly in the car and in the house, and if we wanted to watch our beloved Simpsons, we had to sit through the full 60 Minutes broadcast that came on beforehand. That was the deal.

Another important part of this media diet soon became those ever-present programs of the mid- to late-2000s, which felt like a combination of our Sunday evening double-headers: Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report. These shows, and the idea of communicating the news with strong satire, felt like such a part of that early-2000s media landscape, so married to that time and place, that I wouldn’t have expected Chicagoans of a past era to have their own entertaining source of social commentary: Finley Peter Dunne.

Dunne was born in Chicago on July 10, 1867, to Irish immigrant parents, and at the age of 16 became a copy boy at the Chicago Telegram. He soon became promoted to a full-time reporter in various major city papers of the day, including the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Evening Post, the latter being “where Dunne truly came into his own,” said June Sawyers in an article for the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.

“Given that booze and writing have always been big parts of the Chicago literary scene it may not be surprising that Dunne decided to combine the two “ingredients” into one singular creation, Martin Dooley,” said Sawyers. “And in perhaps his boldest move, he allowed his character to speak in Irish dialect.”

Mr. Dooley, modeled after the traditional Chicago Irish bartender, was a vehicle for Dunne’s biting social, cultural, and political takes of the day, filtered through a working-class sensibility and timely humor.

One of the most surprising things I learned about Dunne was that he (as Dooley) coined a phrase that I learned in journalism school as a sincere mission of us journalists.

“Th’ newspaper does ivrything f’r us,” said Dunne/Dooley. “It runs th’ polis foorce an’ th’ banks, commands th’ milishy, controls th’ ligislachure, baptizes th’ young, marries th’ foolish, comforts th’ afflicted, afflicts th’ comfortable, buries th’ dead an’ roasts thim aftherward.”

What a surprise for me to learn that “afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted” was in fact couched in a critique of the omnipresent power of the media.

I suppose that’s what humor does best though. It provides a sobering cushion with which to accept even the most difficult truths about your world. Dunne’s work did so, taking aim at all the powerful institutions around him, yet ingratiating himself to them so much that even President Theodore Roosevelt, a frequent target of Mr. Dooley’s slang-filled diatribes, was a fan.

It’s no surprise, then, that humor and satire have been major conveyors of news in modern times. According to the Pew Research Center, “12% of online Americans cited The Daily Show as a place they got their news,” on par with sources like USA Today and The Huffington Post.

There’s a strong case to be made that humor can lessen or cheapen the solemn duty of the journalist. And to be sure, there is a time and place for humor anywhere, especially in the news. But being able to see the absurdity of the world around you is a great way to begin questioning why it is that absurd way—and journalists are at their best when they’re helping us understand why.

 

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Georgie Anne Geyer’s Quest for Truths Across Continents

dmoseley Journalist Profiles

By: Alyssa N. Salcedo

Throughout her career as a foreign correspondent, columnist and author, Georgie Anne Geyer not only shattered the glass ceiling– she turned it to dust.

Before it was common to see women as foreign correspondents, Geyer was able to interview an impressive collection of international leaders and travel to some of the most war-torn parts of the world, uncovering stories with each stamp of her passport.

Geyer studied journalism at Northwestern University, and after graduating in 1956, spent a year as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Vienna. She later returned to Chicago and joined the Chicago Daily News, climbing the ranks from cub reporter to their first female foreign correspondent.

Bradley Hamm, journalism professor at Northwestern University and Geyer’s former colleague, says that Geyer was determined to explore the world from a young age. This, he says, is what drove her to become a foreign correspondent.

“She’s a role model, just in the sense of the willingness to go out and discover the world. I think on top of that, is the level she achieved while doing that and under great obstacles,” Hamm said. “She had some amazing skill and drive, to where she pushed through all of those obstacles and found herself at the center of these important events and telling these stories.”

Geyer interviewed controversial and difficult to reach world figures like Cuban President Fidel Castro, King Hussein of Jordan, Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Yasser Arafat of the Palestine Liberation Organization to name a few. She reported all over the world but spent extensive time reporting in Latin America.

Geyer later became a D.C.-based syndicated columnist and book author. She’s the author of eight books, including “Guerrilla Prince: The Untold Story of Fidel Castro,” and her autobiography “Buying the Night Flight: The Autobiography of a Woman Foreign Correspondent.”

Mike Royko, a famed Chicago based columnist, met Geyer in her early career when she joined the Chicago Daily News. Royko wrote an introduction to Geyer’s autobiography.

“As the years passed,” Royko wrote, “Latin America wasn’t big enough to hold her, and she became one of those genuine, and rare, globe-hopping correspondents.”

Despite her success, Geyer was often criticized for bias in her reporting. She was also criticized for anti-immigrant rhetoric and for her views on U.S. immigration policies, which she shared in her book “Americans No More: The Death of Citizenship.”

However, Hamm believes that Geyer’s intent was not to cause harm, but to dissect U.S. Immigration policies in order to find solutions.

“She believed that on most major issues…if you look at polling, and if you talk to real people, they agree on most of the things,” Hamm said. “She believed that there is a general consensus, and that the people who are running for office ignore that and go to the extremes. And because of that, it’s presented as we are further apart than we’ve ever been. But in reality, we’re not.”

Nearly a decade before her death, Geyer developed cancer of the tongue, which significantly impacted her ability to speak. However, this did not stop her from pursuing her passions and she remained an active journalist until she died at age 84, at her home in Washington, D.C. on May 15, 2019.

Geyer’s ambition and natural curiosity drove her towards success throughout her career. Her bravery allowed her to enter potentially dangerous situations in order to share these stories with the world. Hamm believes these are traits that all journalists should take from Geyer.

“You can’t have fear or irrational fear. You have to have a significant drive. You just have this passion for telling stories, and this passion for the world,” Hamm said.

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Artificial Intelligence in the Newsroom: The Double Edged Sword

dmoseley Student Perspectives

By: Alyssa N. Salcedo

Artificial Intelligence (AI), while scary to some, can come in handy in many ways. From making grocery shopping lists to checking our grammar, we’ve learned how to automate several daily practices. AI use is now creeping into newsrooms, leaving many fearful for the future of the industry.

Newsrooms like the Associated Press, Bloomberg and The New York Times have incorporated some form of AI use into their practices. From a management perspective, AI can help to automate tasks that in some cases took several people to complete.

Felix M. Simon, a communication researcher and doctoral candidate at the University of Oxford conducted a study on the use of AI in newsrooms. He interviewed news workers at 35 news organizations around the world on how AI has affected their work.

“AI is now applied across an ever greater range of tasks in the production and distribution of news. Contrary to some assertions, many of the most beneficial applications of AI in news are relatively mundane, and AI has often not proved to be a silver bullet in many cases,” Simon wrote in his study.

AI is being used to increase efficiency by writing headlines, transcribing audio, managing paywalls and completing many other mundane and time consuming tasks. However, Simon argues that while AI has and will play a transformative role in newsrooms, there are still several constraints on AI use, stemming from many factors, including resistance from news workers and audiences.

“Currently, AI aids news workers rather than replaces them, but there are no guarantees this will remain the case. AI is sufficiently mature to enable the replacement of at least some journalism jobs, either directly or because fewer workers are needed,” Simon wrote.

However, while AI use can be beneficial, it may not be the best practice to rely on it completely.

According to an investigative report published by Futurism, Sports Illustrated made the mistake of publishing AI generated articles written by fake authors. Each of the fake authors came with AI generated headshots and biographies linked under the articles they were said to have written.

This scandal seriously damaged the publication’s credibility. According to The Guardian, The Arena Group, publisher of Sports Illustrated, has since fired its CEO. They claim that this decision was unrelated to the AI scandal, and that the articles in question were sourced from the advertising company AdVon Commerce. However, the timeline left readers feeling suspicious.

If we are to incorporate AI use in the newsroom, we need to ensure that there are ethical guidelines in place to avoid cases like these.

The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) released a statement following another investigation published by Futurism on CNET’s failure to disclose the use of AI to write articles that contained errors.

“While there is no need for a ban on artificial intelligence in journalism, its use is best limited and considered on a case-by-case basis,” said Claire Regan, SPJ National President. “AI, for example, can be an efficient, cost-effective way to convert huge volumes of numbers-based corporate data into short, routine stories on business reports. But so much of journalism is more personal…Humans are best at connecting intimately with humans to tell their stories.”

In the statement, SPJ encouraged news workers to keep their code of ethics in mind when using AI, to take responsibility for their work and to explain their choices to their audiences to “encourage a civil dialogue” about journalistic practices.

Whether we like it or not, AI use will become an essential tool in news production. We as reporters are responsible for ensuring that we’re using this powerful tool ethically and transparently.

Just for fun, let’s see how AI would perform as a student in the Advanced Reporting class at the Center for Journalism Integrity and Excellence.
Each student in Advanced Reporting is asked to dig up 12 truly unique facts about our guest speakers. I asked OpenAI’s ChatGBT program to generate 12 facts about our professors Carol Marin and Lisa Parker Weisman. The facts the program gave me were relatively well known, and some were even completely incorrect!

“A significant portion of her reporting has been dedicated to consumer protection, helping viewers solve problems related to fraudulent practices and poor service from businesses,” the program generated for Parker Weisman.

While factually correct, this fact is not unique. Anyone can learn this information by simply googling Parker Weisman and reading the first few links that pop-up. Therefore, this fact wouldn’t do too well in the Advanced Reporting class.

Another fact generated by AI would have gotten it into some trouble in class.

“Marin has served as a visiting faculty member at the University of Chicago, where she contributed to the development of future journalists and shared her expertise in investigative reporting,” generated the program, for Marin.

While Marin is a professor and contributes to the development of future journalists such as myself, she never taught at University of Chicago! Incorrect facts never fly at the center, so the program wouldn’t have performed very well in this activity.

I searched on google for any other “Carol Marin’s” on the University of Chicago’s staff, and I found there is one woman named Carol Marin-Sanabria who is a systems administrator for the university’s Joseph Regenstein Library–hence the program’s confusion.

This proves that while AI can help to do quick research, we must always fact check that research ourselves for accuracy. As reporters, we must also disclose when we use AI in our reporting process in order to ensure transparency with our readers and viewers.

# # #

Journalists Should Join a Union

dmoseley Student Perspectives

 By Noah Tomko-Jones

“SAG-AFTRA union ratifies strike-ending contract with Hollywood studios,” said The Guardian.

“UAW members ratify record contracts with Big 3 automakers,” reported Reuters.

“’It’s degrading’: Starbucks workers launch strike on Red Cup Day in largest work stoppage in company history,” said ABC News.

There is something that these headlines all have in common.

 It’s not just that they were all printed in 2023, amidst a year of record-breaking and history-making labor strikes across the country, although that is notable.

 It’s that they were written by a group of tireless workers who too often don’t receive the same kind of representation that the workers they report on so rightfully deserve.

Although journalist unions do exist, to be sure, they are rarely brought into the conversation in the same way. For one, journalists hold something of a position of power by virtue of how we can control and disperse information. They are also expected to remain neutral on socio-political issues.

Some derision of journalist unions comes from the fact that they don’t resemble traditional manual labor unions, a misguided opinion reflected by Charles C. W. Cooke in his editorial in the National Review. I hesitate to even quote this article, but do so only to provide evidence for these smug attitudes.

“Usually, the drive to unionize cushy jobs is driven by a combination of a preference for radical chic and a broad-based resentment at having been born too late to have been a part of the moments in history that the organizers most admire,” wrote Cooke.

However, these supposedly cushy “laptop jobs” that Cooke and others love to criticize are not immune from the issues that so many other occupations have been facing.

“Two major forces have propelled the unionization wave: the industry’s financial crisis and the wave of acquisitions, wiping out thousands of jobs and clamping down on salaries,” reported Steven Greenhouse in a 2022 article for Nieman Reports. “Corporate owners like Gannett, GateHouse Media, and Alden Global Capital have sharply cut newsroom staffing and consolidated copyediting, layout, and graphics departments.”

The good news is that there are journalist unions that exist today, such as NewsGuild, the Writers Guild of America, and the IWW Freelance Journalist Union, who all work hard to make sure that media workers’ needs are represented. More importantly, these workers are becoming aware of how unions can help them.

“Overall, 16% of U.S. journalists who are employed at least part time at a news outlet say they are currently a member of a union at their organization,” according to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey. “Another 41% would join one if it were available to them.”

 And if we, as journalists, want to be able to fairly and accurately report the news and have a social impact against those who have power in society—as I believe is a journalist’s duty—then having job security is a must. The truth is that journalists do not exist in a vacuum. American workers are learning every day how collective bargaining can help them keep their jobs, and I believe that journalists, whose labor is crucial to a functional democracy, should join their side.

 

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Beyond the Degree: Journalism is a Lifelong Learning Career

dmoseley Student Perspectives

By: Erin Gessert

I always struggled in my math classes throughout the years I’ve been in school. From high school to college, my attempts to understand the complex topics of algebra and geometry were faced with countless nights at the kitchen table, feeling defeated.

As I look forward to a career in journalism, a field that subtracts fiction from fact, I’ve learned the differences that this career path has in contrast to countless others, in that the learning experience is never-ending, even after graduation.

Take an accountant, for example. In college, one would learn accounting principles and procedures, why certain people fall into various tax brackets and how to read a balance sheet. Unless you decide to earn a master’s degree or become a Certified Public Accountant, the foundational skills needed to succeed in those job duties are complete. The ins and outs of a particular job and technological advancements would require additional learning, yet for the most part, the work is carried out based on the knowledge previously acquired.

I got my bachelor’s degree in journalism, where I learned how to write accurately, concisely and comprehensively, and was taught the inverted pyramid, where you provide your reader with the most important information at the beginning. As I am taking classes now to get my master’s degree, I’ve zeroed in on writing under deadline, synthesizing information and brainstorming unique ideas to engage the public on topics they may have never known about before.

However, something that I have not had formal education for in the two journalism programs I’ve been in are the many specialized areas we, as future journalists, report on, like business and financial regulation, politics and law, and environmental and climate change. While these topics are not included in the course list needed to graduate with a journalism degree, you will need an expert understanding, given your beat as a reporter.

I recently began taking a Business Writing and Reporting course, and in our first weeks of class, we had to look at a balance sheet and understand what it meant. As I said previously, math has always been my biggest weakness academically. It was a challenge to even comprehend what these numbers meant, and an even bigger one to take this information and write about how this has impacted a company, let alone has an impact on the ordinary person.

As the weeks went on, we started looking at 10-Q reports, which describe a company’s financial performance for a quarter of the year, and 10-K reports, which paint a financial picture of a company, including revenue, assets and liabilities for a full fiscal year. Viewing these reports confirms the belief that I was never meant to work in any math-related industry. However, it is rewarding to decipher this information and show readers that a corporation’s third-quarter report reflected that its advertising revenue exceeded expectations.

Navigating my role as a future journalist, I am reminded that being challenged to understand a topic does not limit you — it ignites growth and curiosity, and by maintaining that curiosity and asking the right questions, you will find the answers you need.

From prime time to social feeds: The shifting landscape of broadcast journalism

dmoseley Student Perspectives

 By: Michaela Wilson

There I am, a 15-year-old girl, sitting in front of 20 people I met not even a month ago, about to star in my first newscast as an anchor for my high school’s morning news show. God, I hated being in front of the camera, however, lucky for me that was the day my film teacher thought it would be a good idea to get me out of my comfort zone.

The teleprompter started to roll, and I realized there was no way out of this but through. Before I knew it, the dread I had for being on camera turned into love. This was when I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.

Sitting here now, five years later as a junior in college, my dream of entering the broadcast field has now been joined by worry. With social media making the world more connected than ever, citizen journalism is on the rise, slowly pushing out broadcast journalism as the go-to platform for news consumption.

Political opinions, current events and breaking news saturate social media feeds, changing the way information is being spread. It seems like everyone has something to report and the reliability of those posts are never questioned. In a study done by Pew Research Center, the role of social media is growing rapidly in news consumption, with about one in every four 15 to 29-year-olds relying upon it for their daily news.

With those numbers, from 2016 to 2022, one million viewers turned away from the traditional nightly newscasts of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. At this rate of decline, by 2034 the number of broadcast viewers could dip under 2 million, which is less than the entire population of Chicago.

The newer generations seem to want to scroll through X for five minutes to see what is happening rather than tune in to nightly newscasts. This is most likely because social media allows them to find out breaking news in real time rather than having to tune in at 5 p.m. to see what happened hours prior. If convenience and timeliness is a driving factor for the upcoming generations, how can broadcast make sure it does not become obsolete?

To try to keep up with the new ways of information spreading, news outlets need to shift to a more everywhere-free and ad-supported format. Large media live streaming and feeds on social media are needed to engage with the millions of viewers they lost in the last six years. Content is no longer sought out by people, they just expect news and stories to follow them.

Brands like NBC, ABC and even Fox are slowly pushing their way into the TikTok market and seeing positive results. Almost every video reaches just under a million views, driving more traffic to their pages. If broadcast is struggling to keep those viewers and TikTok accumulates them on a good day, it is time for the industry to switch their ways from a slowly declining industry.

What does this make the future look like for broadcast media? Expansion to streaming services such as Apple TV and Roku TV stations are now in discussion, but will these platforms reach audiences in new ways? What is the difference in convenience between streaming services and cable?

If viewers are demanding a switch, the industry will and should follow. With that switch means do what we know works. Expanding to other platforms will allow viewers to listen and consume topics they are interested in. The realm of journalism is turning into a personalized experience and it is pushing out a generalized one. Social media is shaking up the game, gathering viewers ten times easier than broadcast news has been able to in years.

As an aspiring journalist entering this field in the coming years, my worries remain. What will my broadcasting dream look like? Is my future Tik Tok reporting? And will the conventional form of broadcast journalism that we have known for years ever be the same again?

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Can journalists be activists, too?

dmoseley Student Perspectives

By Samantha Freeman

During my freshman year of high school, my phone dinged, notifying me of yet another school shooting, this time, at Parkland High School. Florida students, like me, went to school thinking it was just another day of back-to-back classes filled with lectures and notetaking. Instead, they were confronted with the most traumatic day of their lives.

I grew up knowing that my school could be next, and, as a result, I have a very strong opinion about gun laws. Now, as a journalism student, I am confronted with the question, can journalists be activists, too?

Efforts to maintain objectivity

Since the beginning of news media, the expectation has been that journalists remain neutral, both in the office and outside the newsroom. Many news organizations continue to uphold this value. In 2021, a young reporter, Emily Wilder, was fired from the Associated Press for her Pro-Palestinian views on social media during her college career. After joining the AP, Wilder retweeted posts that appeared sympathetic to Palestinians in the Gaza conflict. The AP viewed this as a violation of their ethics code and fired her.

In Gaza, thousands of Palestinians are dying. Several U.S. states are restricting reproductive rights after the overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022. Children too often go to school never to return home. Several of the issues facing our world today are not political issues as much as they are human rights violations. As journalists, it is our job to cover these topics fairly, but as humans, it is our right to fight for freedom and equality.

Can journalists do both?

 Some news organizations are beginning to make a distinction between political and human rights issues. NPR updated their ethics policy in 2021 to allow journalists to participate in activities that advocate for “the freedom and dignity of human beings.” Participation can include marches, rallies, and public events demanding equal and fair treatment of people. However, rallies in support of specific legislation or political candidates are off-limits. This allows journalists to advocate for human rights while remaining distanced from political engagement.

The editor-in-chief at BuzzFeed, Ben Smith, had a similar perspective, saying “We firmly believe that for a number of issues, including civil rights, women’s rights, anti-racism, and LGBT equality, there are not two sides.” Smith’s statement and NPR’s updated policy draw a distinction between human rights and politics. While human rights issues are often treated as political conflicts, some media outlets are trying to remove civil liberties from the ‘right’ and ‘left.'”

Ben Smith added that BuzzFeed reporters should continue to prioritize reporting that puts “facts and news first.” Whether you know it or not, all reporters have their own opinions, and a good journalist should be able to report fairly regardless of his or her bias. By being self-aware, journalists are better equipped to report fairly and responsibly.

The bottom line

The issues in our country and across the world affect all of us and our livelihood. While journalists have an important responsibility, we are people too, and we are equally deserving of our human rights and the ability to fight for them.

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