Me, journalism and 2020
Ten days from now, revelers usually present at New York’s Times Square, the hub of New Year’s Eve activities, will gather virtually, and toast with gusto the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. As they do, the opportunity to emerge anew from the previous year takes center stage — though this particular New Year, that opportunity has a new meaning, as the world continues to try to work through life in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the course of 2020, a plethora of questions have emerged about how industries work and operate, and journalism is not immune when it comes to how to properly address those questions — be it with issues of diversity, its economic models or trust and the broader relationship with the audience.
“After a relentless news cycle during the Trump presidency and a truly brutal year that laid bare America’s structural problems, journalists have to do more for one another during the rest of the pandemic and beyond. What we’re experiencing isn’t sustainable, and we have an opportunity to take what we’ve learned and push for permanent, constructive changes.” — Rachel Glickhouse, writing in Nieman Lab, December 11, 2020
Concurrently, new graduates, along with early career journalists (myself included), are attempting to figure out their own steps amid vast uncertainty, all the while looking for inspiration in their pursuit of a career in the industry — reminders of why they wanted to pursue this work in the first place. Indeed, those reminders can come from anywhere, even during a pandemic.
I remember the moment I decided that I wanted to become a journalist. I don’t remember the exact date, yet I remember the circumstance. It was March 2009, Spring time, late night, and in my room at a house in suburban Chicago, all I had to keep me company was my stereo and incessant coughing. Having become an insomniac as I was being treated for a health problem, I tried to figure out what to do in those isolating hours.
I turned on the radio, the volume knob low enough so I could hear and not wake my mom and sister. I tuned first to AM, then switched to FM, and started scrolling the dial — past the top 40 and the (somewhat automated) formatted music stations, past talk simulcasts, at which point the dial came onto 91.5 — the frequency occupied by WBEZ, the NPR station in Chicago, doing its top of the hour ID.
What followed was the last tone of the Greenwich Time Signal, and then these words: “It’s 7:00 GMT. This is The World Today from the BBC World Service.” Public radio would keep me company for many more nights, and something was clear — while I wasn’t sure if I was going to college, I knew I wanted to go into journalism.
That desire to enter the industry increased as I consumed media in more platforms — and encountered pieces by reporters whose work I enjoyed and who reimagined how to cover certain areas or beats. As time went on, while I remained uncertain as to the exact contribution I wanted to make in journalism, I knew that the contribution that I wanted to make was somewhere in journalism.
That mantra has, through the years, been a constant. It has been with me since my graduation from university, through economic downturns, volunteer and freelance opportunities, and through the arduous process of networking and applying to jobs (and on a couple of occasions, graduate school).
The feeling of uncertainty has existed alongside, even more so in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, even in uncertainty, the pandemic has given a reminder of why journalism, in spite of its faults and the questions the broader industry have to answer, remains essential for the public — for at the heart of a good journalist is to help people make sense of, and cope with, the world around them, no matter the direction of the story.
This is evident in the work of reporters at local and national publications and outlets. These reporters covered developments surrounding COVID-19 (including the roll out of new vaccines), as well as subjects ranging from books and economics to politics (both local and national) and media.
I don’t claim to have all of the answers to cure what ails journalism, and just about 12 years later, while I have some ideas, I still don’t know for certain what type of contribution I envision myself making to the industry.
However, I do know two things for certain — journalism will remain essential because of the forefront desire and need to help our fellow citizens be at their best — and inspiration, something that helps guide the path one takes in the industry, is not too far away.
Happy holidays and Happy New Year.
