Media

Save the Crossword Puzzle!

That’s all we ever heard several years ago when I was the opinion page editor of the UCLA Daily Bruin after we redesigned the student newspaper: “I can’t do the crossword puzzle during class anymore!” (Is zoning out on a lecturer really as deplorable if you replace it with an intellectual undertaking? There’s a conundrum.) 

Fortunately the paper’s student staff seems adequately prepared to handle the tougher questions the news business presents them these days. I guest lectured (I think most of them were paying attention; I did note some rogue texting) at their summer training session on campus this afternoon in a very small, very hot room. Topics included the impending death of print journalism (10 years!), whether graduate school is a good idea (if you want to be a professor!), editorial quality (shred that Us Weekly and read The Economist already!) and blogging techniques (read Teresa; she’s better!).

It makes me sad that I can’t walk into a room of aspiring journalists and tell them the ideals they want to preserve will result in positive socio-political relevance and job security. Most of the friends I shared those seats with in my student journalist days have long since jumped ship on the fourth branch of government. They are lawyers, account executives, teachers; even our once pinko-commie editor joined the military and is now fighting in George Dub’s unjustifiable Iraq war. Meanwhile, the friends I made at journalism school and in my professional endeavors live in constant fear of Sam Zell firing them and having to become the most over-qualified mall rat selling kitten heels at a BCBG Girls near you.  

Still, I’m not hysterical about the future of the news business or young people’s appetite for substance. As I told them today: If you are a storyteller who can gather accurate facts and use fair news judgment there will always be a job for you; you just have to train yourself to tell multi-media stories in more than one form of distribution. Likewise, smart people will not rely on Wikipedia and Perez Hilton to deliver the talking points and analysis they need to fuel their professional and personal lives. They will seek out qualified editors to vett information, even if they digg mob rule as an additional source from which to tap into the more egalitarian pulse of things. 

It has never been easy to be a journalist, with the high-roller salaries, awesome hours and personal participation restrictions in consideration. Still, it’s an exciting time to be a journalist. We need cultural commentators to raise red flags as our globalized world shrinks, our leaders solve problems, and a new tech-infused generation grows into its rightful place among the decision-making old fuddy duddies. 

There were a lot of nervous faces in the room today, but I have utmost confidence that this crop of people will push the limits and lead by example. At least until their quarter-life crises begin. 

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