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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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.

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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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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By Violet Smale

When perusing the morning paper or turning on the weather report, most Americans don’t think twice about the language in which they receive their news. In a country with no official national language, it is an underrated luxury to receive news in one’s native tongue.

María Marta Guzmán of WBIR in Knoxville, Tennessee, hopes to expand the market. Forty-two million Americans (roughly 12.5% of the total population) speak Spanish as their first language, according to Best Diplomats. An additional 15 million people speak Spanish as a second language. Yet, newsrooms have some catching up to do with these rapidly rising numbers.

Guzmán’s work towards a more inclusive newsroom began at DePaul University, where she founded the Spanish language newspaper La DePaulia in 2020.

“We started La DePaulia because we saw that there was a gap for bilingual coverage in Chicago, there weren’t as many platforms that offered English and Spanish stories. So, a lot of the time, our Spanish audience couldn’t read the news,” Guzmán said.

“Little by little we were able to find our own identity in the newspaper. We covered a lot of Latino-based stories. A lot of stories of what was happening in Little Village, and Pilsen, in Belmont Cragin. . .it was truly special because we were able to do stories of our own community,” said Guzmán.  “That’s also very powerful, because a lot of the times when you speak to someone that looks like you, that’s Latino, they tend to open up more, if they are sensitive to sharing a certain story, so you’re able to create that relationship.”

Now in her post-college career, getting a story picked up, says Guzmán, is the greatest challenge of all.

“You can pitch all these great stories and you know why they’re important. And you know why they deserve to be covered. A lot of the time, you need to convince your editor,” Guzmán said. “That takes a lot of pitching, convincing, and telling them why we should cover that story. And a lot of the time, they turn that down.”

Guzmán hopes those looking to break into the multilingual media market won’t be easily discouraged. Having the resilience to continue pitching your story, as well as the drive to pursue the story on your own, are Guzmán’s keys to success.

“If you don’t get the green light from your editors, you yourself are a platform. You can cover that story for your own platform…there’s so many platforms where you’re able to create your own brand and your own platform to tell your stories. If that’s a website, if that’s on Instagram, if that’s on Twitter…so, if you get the ‘no,’ then I would say go through yourself and do that story.”

There is power in bilingual reporting, Guzmán says. She continues her bilingual coverage in Knoxville, where she advocates for Tennessee’s growing Latino population.

“There’s a lot of Latinos in the South, a lot of immigrants in the South. It’s often not talked about, it’s kind of the silent unknown, but it’s huge.” Guzmán said. “If we were to cover bilingual stories, you’re getting stories from two different communities. You’re reaching an audience with two different backgrounds. And so, you’re having a much greater impact, and you’re reaching a much greater crowd.”

Guzmán hopes to see a more diverse industry in the future. A vested interest in multilingual communities could change the news industry for the better by serving a greater population.

“As an industry, we need to do a checkup and think about how we’re investing our resources. A lot of the time, the bilingual coverage is the afterthought. It’s sad because there’s a lot of power in bilingual reporting. If only people were able to see how powerful it could be to a station, because you’re opening up so many doors.”

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by Cary Robbins

Mary Schmich can remember the first time her morals were put to the test.

Working for a paper in Palo Alto, California, at the beginning of her career, Schmich wrote a story about a young boy who died after falling from a cliff during a mudslide near San Francisco.

As she entered his memorial service, she was moved by how many people came together to celebrate his life. Wanting to capture the sorrowful moment, she decided to include a very personal detail: how his mother’s mascara was running down her face.

When the article was published, a reader sent a letter to the editor, asking how dare Schmich walk into that moment of grief and describe the boy’s mother in such a way.  “I was very defensive,” Schmich said. “That’s a telling detail.”

Now, decades later, Schmich who previously worked for The Chicago Tribune and other publications for decades, said when she first started reporting, she “didn’t even have a really good sense of what the ethical issues were.”

“I didn’t understand clearly for a while that…you’re giving them something by telling their story, but you’re taking something from them as well,” Schmich said.

Throughout their careers, journalists will at some point be faced with a task of writing stories about tragedy.

The Society of Professional Journalists published a resource guide for reporters to use when writing about survivors or grief. However, it is hard for journalists to understand where to draw the lines of reporting those personal stories until they are faced first-hand with the task of writing it themselves.

Schmich said now she understands that while the child’s memorial service was a public event, some moments are personal and do not need to be shared.

“If it’s going to hurt someone pointlessly, why are you doing it?” Schmich said.

Throughout her time reporting, Schmich learned that descriptions of people can sometimes be harmful. She said she often had to ask herself, “Are you pointlessly embarrassing someone? Are you playing into stereotypes?”

“I think a lot of physical description plays into stereotypes,” Schmich said.

Over 40 percent of Black adults said news “coverage largely stereotypes Black people,” according to a 2023 Pew Research Center study.

Some descriptions, Schmich said, do not make or break a story. Towards the end of her career, Schmich learned that sometimes describing people was not fully accurate.

“You do want some physical description sometimes,” Schmich said. “So, what I do now is I ask people how they would describe themselves.”

Above all, journalists have to continue trying to learn, she said. Journalists learn throughout their lives how to be respectful when sharing others’ stories.

“Whatever you just wrote is not everything. Whatever you just learned is just a piece of the puzzle….just stay curious, stay pure,” Schmich said. “But you also gotta meet that deadline.”

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By Anna Retzlaff

“I never would have guessed in a million years … that I would be called an enemy of the people.”

For over 40 years, photo and broadcast journalist David Dellaria has been behind the camera on shows most households know well, like “60 Minutes” and “COPS”. Though these shows have remained consistent, the world around them is has significantly changed.

Dellaria remembers what it was like when he was first starting out. “There was something called ‘journalistic integrity’, and you couldn’t lie about what you said.” With the internet providing seemingly endless news platforms and sources, Dellaria says no one knows or trusts the source of information anymore. When there were only a few channels on cable, things were much different.

Dellaria earned a broadcast degree from San Jose State University and started at a local Bay Area newspaper. “It was like starting a marathon every day,” he said. Dellaria would spend his workday running in and out of the darkroom, eating lunch at the typewriter as the film developed. Later, a whole day’s work of constant rushing and delicate film handling would all go towards a minute-long segment for the five o’clock news.

Still, a small mistake could ruin the product of those tedious steps. If the projector was not working well, “then your entire story never aired, and they’d say, ‘Oh, well. We had some technical difficulties,’” Dellaria said.

Now, creators can take digital videos with fewer steps. “Some producers will just roll the whole camera for four hours,” then find the usable parts later. Dellaria remembers when all they had was 150 feet of film—enough for four minutes, not hours. The time and resource challenge created a need for packed, efficient interviews. Dellaria found that these bygone challenges were valuable to him. “I know for a fact that made me a much better cameraman,” Dellaria said.

Now, it is simpler and more universal than ever to create and share video work. A smartphone owner could take, edit, and share video faster and with more room for error than producing a film reel. “That’s a means to put out a story, but the problem is: what’s the source? It’s up to you to decide what to make of it,” said Dellaria. He believes this is the biggest downside to the modernization of video production. Though, Dellaria also sees good potential in making it universally possible for people to deliver information.

Regardless, the treatment and perception of journalists have changed across quite a few fronts. Camera operators used to have more freedom to film what they wanted. In Dellaria’s experience, institutions prioritize protecting their curated image over anything else. What journalists can film is now more restricted than it used to be for Dellaria.

“They don’t care if you’re ‘60 Minutes’ or the local, you know, NBC station. They’re going to make sure you don’t come anywhere near their property and don’t film anything that they don’t control,” Dellaria said. “Everybody has figured out they want to protect their image.”

Quite aware of what has changed, Dellaria is not sure what the future of journalism will look like. He finds it “unfathomable” that people have made enemies of the free press in America. Seeing journalists in a place that he finds hard to believe, he does not feel like he can predict which direction the industry is going.

Dellaria, having experienced so many changes over the course of his career, wonders along with the people who ask him what the future of journalism will look like. He wants to remain positive. “I know that there are young people capable of doing all of these jobs and more,” Dellaria said.

It seems no one can give journalists the comfort of a predictable future. However, those about to enter the field may find comfort in hearing what those before us have braved through. There are unknown struggles rising journalists will go through, yes. But, if we look at stories like Dave Dellaria’s, we can clearly see we will not be the first ones to survive going through major change.

(At least we will never have to deal with typewriters or developing film. I think we can do it.)

By Adit Jaganathan

Jim Litke, who has more sports coverage under his belt than your favorite team has wins, witnessed the evolution of the journalism industry firsthand. But the internet and social media have made him want to stop.

“I’ll be honest. I’m glad I’m not doing it. I think it’s a much different game and I think it’s a young man’s game, in that regard. You have to do way more and I think there’s way less engagement on the receiving end. I don’t think people read,” he said.

Litke started working for the Associated Press in 1978 and was around for the advent of social media. He always had his doubts about its use in the sports journalism industry. “I thought it was going to be really bad at the beginning. I was more convinced of it than ever. Just in a social sense. The media part of it is actually phenomenal. The idea that you can communicate in real time and with your audience is unbelievable. You would kill for that. We had to send out a newspaper and wait to see it the next morning in a tangible form. I think it’s impacted more by the social side of it.”

Litke believes the focus has shifted from in-depth reporting to sensationalism and engagement. The emphasis on creating viral content has overshadowed the essence of journalism. Journalists are almost encouraged to provoke reactions on social media rather than deliver nuanced and well researched stories. The genuine interest in sports has died down due to the amount of information that is immediately accessible to fans.

Social media has also had an impact on how journalists research a story. Writers seem afraid to go against the general consensus and allow it to influence their stories. A lot of writers don’t even watch games before writing a story, opting just to find highlights online and scour social media to find out what happened in a game.

Litke explained, “We’ve crowd sourced opinions. So, it used to be, there was almost eighty percent news and twenty percent opinion. Now, it’s completely flipped.” He continued, “You know when people go, ‘Oh, I read some research. I’m not going to get the vaccine.’ Well, you’re a truck driver. You’re not a doctor. The guy that was recommending it to you went to medical school. He’s got degrees. And yet people feel like they know something because thirty other idiots said something. So, it’s dangerous to crowd source not just information, but we’ve crowd sourced opinion.”

However, the internet isn’t the only reason why sports journalism has lost the essence of reporting. Sports teams have restricted journalists’ access to the athletes and are tailoring the stories that are put out into the media. The days where a reporter could have a one-on-one conversation with an athlete before a game are long gone. Nowadays, you’d be lucky to catch an athlete without a PR official within ten feet of them. This could be the reason why people turn to social media for help.

The internet has forced the sports journalism industry to adapt, but that hasn’t necessarily benefitted the industry as a whole.

By Lilly Keller

This morning, like every morning, I reflexively checked X after my alarm buzzed me awake. The initial tweet, its details still blurred by the remnants of sleep, broke the startling news that Vice Media would cease publication on Vice.com, leading to the layoffs of hundreds of employees.

However, Vice and its journalists are just the latest victims in a year marked by widespread newsroom layoffs. In January, the Los Angeles Times slashed 20% of its newsroom, The Messenger, a news startup, shut down entirely in early February, leaving over 300 employees jobless and recently, Time laid off 15% of its staff, roughly 30 employees.

As a young journalist entering the industry, I find that the recurring layoffs create a sense of insecurity and uncertainty. While no career is immune to spontaneous downsizing, journalism attracts this prospect like a moth to a flame.

According to Axios, the recent layoffs in the news industry stem from decreased advertisement revenue, consolidation-related debt and subscription fatigue.

While these reasons are largely out of individual journalist’s control, it offers little comfort.

Julie Bosman, the Chicago bureau chief for The New York Times, has observed the impact of layoffs on journalists at all levels throughout her career in national news.

Growing up in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Bosman remembered her local paper, the Kenosha News, as small but robust, with dozens of reporters consistently covering everything from high school sports to local government and human interest stories. However, when she returned to her hometown in 2021 to cover the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two people during a period of civil unrest, she described the paper as a shell of its former self.

“It was a great example of local news,” Bosman said. “It was so striking to see up close the difference in how many reporters were working there…I think you can probably count on one hand the full-time reporters who worked there at the time.”

The harsh reality is that the Kenosha News is a single piece of a larger puzzle, illustrating a widespread trend of layoffs and downsizing in local news nationwide.

Having harbored a passion for local news since before college, I’m grappling not only with the uncertainty of my professional future but also with the broader implications for our democracy.

A recent Knight Foundation poll revealed that 60% of Americans trust local news over national news for information applicable to their daily lives. Additionally, nearly 78% express greater trust in local news for information necessary to engage with their community.

As newsrooms, whether local or national, shrink, the societal cost increases. A functioning democracy relies on accurate, trustworthy information for informed voting. Gaps in news coverage create cracks, fostering the spread of fake news and misinformation.

Bosman emphasized that downsizing not only lowers the quality of reporting but also robs reporters of valuable learning opportunities from their colleagues.

“I know that when you’re around more people, when you have more colleagues who are at all stages of their careers that really helps you understand how to do your job. At The Times there are there are journalists who’ve been reporters for 30 years who have covered everything from, you know, metro to style to national news, sports and have just amassed a wealth of knowledge that they can then share within the newsroom,” Bosman said.

However, remaining in a constant state of anxiety over an unknown future will not change anything. For Bosman, the best approach is to focus on what can be controlled within the industry rather than fixating on factors beyond one’s reach.

“Well, one piece of advice that I was given by one of my mentors was, if you feel like you’re stuck and you’re not sure if you’re going in the right direction on something… and if you if you’re getting a little overwhelmed with like the direction of your career or the direction of the news industry, just go one story at a time and that will be a way out,” Bosman said.

Despite the current instability in journalism, my desire to pursue this career path remains steadfast. I recognize that even in the industry’s most uncertain moments, journalists are indispensable for a more just future. Society will always need journalists, whether acknowledged or not. As long as we maintain our passion for accountability and democracy, we will always have a purpose, regardless of where or how long we end up.

By Max Rayman

Turn on a sports network and more than likely it will be some type of debate format. ESPN’s First Take, which started to embrace that system in 2012, has become the poster child.

Now, most sports shows have the host in some capacity yelling at their co-host or the listeners for dramatic effect. Entertainment and sensationalism have started to take precedence over analysis and statistics, with more and more sports shows following suit.

Longtime CBS sports broadcaster Greg Gumbel was vocal in his disapproval of how sensationalism has taken over sports media.

“First of all, it’s not journalism. It’s sensational by all means,” Gumbel said. “It seems that someone in the genre comes up with something off the wall to say every day. After a while, you tend to realize that’s the point. The point is to be surprising and amazing and something you’ve never heard before. Then 24 hours later they take the complete opposite approach.”

Despite his displeasure with how the sports media landscape has begun to embrace sensationalism, viewership continues to increase for these programs. According to the Sports Business Journal, in December of 2023, First Take averaged 611,000 viewers, which was a 24% increase from the prior year.

Not to be outdone by their rival network, Fox Sports (FS1) posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that three of their shows all had record months in December of 2023. Both The Herd and First Things First recorded their most-watched month ever, while Speak had its second most-watched month ever.

But what exactly about these programs, is leading to viewers continuously tuning in? Why are spectators allowing sensationalism to take over the sports media landscape?

Gumbel is also baffled at how invested viewers have become.

“What is with the people who are listening in who feel that they are learning something?” Gumbel said. “That this is something they need to have and want to track and follow.”

Recently, during the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend, the All-Star game was under heavy scrutiny due to a lack of effort from the player’s side. For the first time in NBA All-Star history, a team recorded over 200 points in the game. Stephen A. Smith, the host of ESPN’s First Take, on his show, called the lack of defense a “travesty”. Other sports hosts repeatedly agreed that the event was borderline unfixable, and few offered possible solutions.

Once again, sensationalism was present, which wasn’t necessary – but that has been the issue. How do sports hosts toe the line between being entertaining and not at the expense of compromising accuracy? Gumbel wasn’t sure if that was possible.

“Who’s toeing the line?”, Gumbel asked. “I don’t think hosts care if they are toeing the line or not. That means you would lean on their superiors to know if they are toeing the line or not and you know what, if they are getting ratings they don’t care if they are toeing the line. They are doing what they are supposed to do. It’s this wicked circle that comes back around looking for what you’re trying to accomplish. If that’s what you’re trying to accomplish and you know that’s what they’re trying to accomplish, then whose got room to argue?”

Sensationalism is growing and continuing to sneak its way into sports media, and sadly for now, there is no possible solution on the horizon.

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