I see something new every time I watch "All the President's Men." This time it was Bob Woodward's editor calling him on not being able to identify Charles Colson, special counsel to Nixon. The editor's admonishment: If Ben Bradlee heard you say that, you'd be out the door.
To do their jobs well, journalists at all levels must be informed about what's going on in their communities and the world. They must know what their competition is reporting.
That's why good reporters devour news: They have to be up on matters big and small before starting a day that can have them reporting on pretty much anything. That's why editors devour even more.
Even at the college level, and even running a program that attracts many of our best students, it's still a challenge to get budding journalists to consume news systematically. I've started semesters with a news quiz that includes asking for the names two members of Arizona's delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives. To date, only one student has been able to do it. That's where shame can be an effective tool, as it was for Woodward's editor.
My message to students, and I guess I don't deliver it as nicely as I should: You have to be informed or you're just not going to make it in this business. Then I lead by example, following the news systematically and engaging the staff in discussions about story opportunities drawn from current events. Those chats will quickly identify those who aren't paying attention to the news.
Every time I speak to a high school or college class, I say that the students who go the farthest in journalism will be those who read a newspaper each day, and I note that this can be replicated online with more effort.
When I watched that scene from "All the President's Men," I thought about a former student who initially rolled his eyes but later thanked me for shaming him into reading the paper each day. It made him more successful as a student journalist and positioned him for better internships and jobs.
Steve Elliott
Arizona State University
Phoenix
Posts
I had never watched "All the President's Men" so I'm glad I had the opportunity to view it. It illustrated what we learned during the week and I will work it into my journalism lesson plans for next year. I'll also use it for American Literature classes because I work closely with the U.S. History teacher and I see plenty of potential.
ReplyDeleteRelated to you point about making/encouraging student to be informed, I think it is imperative to do that with our high school journalists. I make my entry level students know who all the "important" people in the school are, their titles, and how to spell their names correctly. For instance, they need to know who the athletic director is, where his office is and what he can help them with. Then, we do spend the first 5 minutes of class each day doing "What's News?" where I ask them to tell me what the headlines for the last 24 hours are. This is also a time for them to learn about getting it right, because invariably, there are students whose facts are skewed and it is a safe place for them to learn to be more careful about fact-checking.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I do something similar. I have used the weekly news quiz compiled by the Fabulous Candace Bowen on the JEA listserv (you should definitely sign up for that if you have the slightest interest in multiple journalism viewpoints). I have told the kids to compile their own weekly news quiz. I have begged them to be aware. I have cheered when they knew the answer to a random news question I ask during class. A combination of all of those things seems to works best.
ReplyDeleteJuli Stricklan
Rigby High School
Rigby Idaho
That is an awesome picture!
ReplyDeleteI went into a Starbucks a few months ago in North Bethesda, Maryland, and to my surprise Woodward was standing in line right in front of me. My imagination went crazy. What was he doing there? I thought he lived in DC or Chevy Chase and he was out of location. Was he meeting a source? Should I say anything? Did he know how much his reporting meant to the country during my college days? How about the criticism he got recently for being too close to some of his sources, notably George W. or the Supreme Court justices? Why does he do so much television?
ReplyDeleteBut I said nothing. I just stood in line. I didn't even notice what he ordered. He was sitting alone when I left. Star struck? Maybe. But I am kind of proud that I didn't fawn all over the guy.