by Patrick Sloan-Turner
As I’ve begun to apply for jobs in my final year of undergrad, I’ve found myself increasingly thinking about my own journalistic “brand.” I hate that word, but many journalists will say it’s a necessary part of the business. The idea of cultivating a journalistic persona has commanded my attention.
“How does the language in my writing read? Do I put too much of myself on my Twitter feed? Does the font choice on my resume accurately depict my vibe?”
Most of all, I’ve tried to keep my opinion to myself. For a journalist finishing up his degree, that means to Tweet carefully.
In all honesty, it hadn’t been that hard. Then, an issue came up in my college newsroom that was overwhelmingly difficult to not publicly share my thoughts on. It was tough because I was part of the story.
Last year, I started an initiative at DePaul for students to be offered a university-sponsored health insurance plan. Quickly, administrators asked me to join a task force to create a proposal to bring to the university’s board of trustees.
It was a big story that DePaul’s student newspaper, The DePaulia, obviously needed to cover. As a journalism major writing for student media, I of course disclosed my involvement to The DePaulia’s leadership, and told them there was little I’d be able to share with anyone covering the ongoing story.
A year later, I’m now a managing editor of the publication. The task force’s work ended after the board of trustees approved our plan, aiming to implement a student insurance plan by Fall 2023.
Then, things changed.
One of our reporters heard that the board changed its mind. I was disgusted to hear that the plan would now be delayed indefinitely. Immediately I felt an urge to use my platform at the paper to broadcast this issue to anyone who would listen.
I wanted to write a front-page op-ed, telling our readers that more than 90 percent of 4-year schools in the U.S. offer its students health insurance. I wanted to use the paper to call out the board of trustees for disallowing nearly 2000 students the option to receive health insurance.
But I couldn’t. Doing so would hurt The DePaulia’s credibility. It would likely hurt my own credibility as journalist. I kept quiet as the talented reporters working for our paper did the work and confirmed that the plan would indeed be delayed. It took a few days, but The DePaulia broke the news and Tweeted a link to the story on Twitter, all the while, I continued to keep my thoughts and anger at bay.
The New York Times doesn’t like its journalists to Tweet their opinions. Still, there’s countless journalists on the platform who have cultivated careers sharing opinions on whatever is in the ethos in between their unbiased work.
Twitter for journalists is still somewhat uncharted territory – at least in the academic world. We haven’t spent any lectures on how we should use Twitter. There’s no stylebook for journalism social media guidelines. For someone who would like to be a hard-news reporter, I always thought it best to keep my thoughts off it.
In my case, I decided to Tweet a thread sharing my perspective close to the situation, calling out university administration and sharing my disgust with how the university was treating its students. I’m not sure it was the smart move, but I told myself that maybe sometimes things are more important than my own personal “brand” or career. Attention to the issue was more important than brand.
Maybe that’s my brand.