The future of journalism is very important to us at the Smithfield Sun. There are so many challenges facing the industry as we transition from the print medium to the web. This week a panel met at USU to discuss the future of journalism. I normally don’t report items that don’t directly affect the Smithfield area. However, this is very important to the future of this website, journalism and even the our country. Without a free press, we cannot keep our freedoms. So I’m presenting two reports by students at USU who attended the panel.

A couple things to note about these stories. The first story is by Safiyyah Ballard who has done a wonderful job covering the Smithfield City Council meetings for us and the Hard News Cafe. The second thing to notice is that the panel is made up of Herald Journal, Cache Valley Radio and even Salt Lake City journalists. It’s a real cross-section of journalists from northern Utah.

If journalism’s a religion, I need help converting

by Safiyyah Ballard

LOGAN—Joe Dougherty, Tyler Riggs, Josh Loftin, Emilie Wheeler, and Kristen Moulton are all journalists. Real, live journalists who write for a news source as a way to make a living. Their community has accepted that they have an inoperable tumor, and that tumor is going to lead to a death in maybe five to 10 years. That tumor is the newspaper. The above mentioned journalists came to post-earthquake Logan, Utah, Friday to survey the damage.

They came to Utah State University to speak with students in the journalism and communication department, to try and encourage them they can be a real journalist and make a living. Every one of them offered an anecdotal story, complete with “Aha!” moment of when they discovered this is what they were born to do. Whether they fell into it, or had a passion for it all of their lives, they realized that they were never going to have the money, the fame, the cars and girls. Or boys.

(I still want a little bit of money. OK, maybe more than I little bit. I want to be one of those people that hate tax time because I make enough money that I owe taxes, instead of being given some “tax credit” for being poor. I’m trying to bust out of my tax bracket.)

What I learned today was that I can use “I.” I can have a voice as a journalist as long as I don’t use that voice at a rally of any kind. I also learned that I need to be called into journalism. Journalism is a religion. They have their high priests (Cronkite, Rather, and Brokaw) and they have their commandments (thou shall not libel or lie). They have the communal ideology of the early Mormon settlers, complete with self-segregation and expectant millennialism. They do not seek worldly riches and they exist with the self-righteous ideal that they know more than everyone else. They have the real answers and they have been chosen to live the life that no one else can do.

Honestly, today disturbed me. Not that anyone of these people was disturbing, except Josh, but what they said was scary. The advice they gave was as follows:

• If you know how to write, you must also know how to take pictures and shoot video.
• If you know how to take pictures and video, you must also know how to write.
• You can work in your pajamas while you watch “The Price is Right.”
• If you can purchase season passes at Lagoon for a family of four, you have “made it.”
• You don’t get into this profession to make money, you do it because you believe it is important.

With journalism being a religion, let me just say this: I’m not sure if I believe. No offense to the panel and my professors, but both of my parents are preachers and one of them is a retired USMC drill instructor on top of being a crazy Christian. I grew up in church, and I am not sure if the Christian lifestyle is for me.

I believe that journalism is important, the same I believe that a spiritual relationship is important. I just am waiting to see who can figure out how to rise above the Sodom and Gomorrah of the Internet. The noise of the op-eds and the pundits. Who will stand up as David against the Goliath that is big media? I’m ready to convert, but I need some help. The best missionaries roll out in groups of twos. Pajama party, anyone?

Published in cooperation with the Hard News Cafe. Original story is here.

Utah journalists to students: Write, shoot, tell compelling stories

by Bonnie Phelps

LOGAN—Professional journalists gave USU journalism students hope for the future during an informal panel Friday morning at the campus Eccles Conference Center.

After addressing her concern about the lack of positions available for journalists and the low pay they receive, Safiyyah Ballard was offered some encouragement.

“It’s actually a great time to be going into journalism even though print is crumbling,” Josh Loftin of City Weekly said. “The reason for that is because it’s being reinvented.”

Loftin and the four other journalists participating on the panel all agreed that the three things a student needs to be competitive in the journalism market today are the ability to shoot video, photos and write a compelling story.

After discussing the changes in print and the tough market for journalists, Ballard asked, “How are you getting paid?”

“You make enough to survive,” Joe Dougherty of the Deseret News said with a smile. “I support a family of four. We have a mortgage, and you know, we bought Lagoon season passes this year, so there are a few luxuries.”

All the journalists agreed that there isn’t a lot of money to be made as a reporter, but they didn’t get in this business for the money, they said.

One student asked if the trend toward reporters working from home instead of the newsroom was affecting content. Emilie Wheeler, city editor for the Herald Journal, said she didn’t think it made a diference. “I think there’s still accountability, because no matter what, you’re sending your story into an editor, and if it’s not good you’re in trouble,” Wheeler said. Loftin said that he doesn’t like to see a reporter who is always in the newsroom, because that means they aren’t out getting stories. “If you aren’t doing your stories, it’s obvious to whoever’s watching,” Loftin said.

Dougherty works from home almost full-time. “If anything, I feel like I’m a better writer alone right now,” Dougherty said. He said there are a lot of distractions in the newsroom that he avoids when he works from home.

Kristen Moulton of the Salt Lake Tribune also works from home, and she agreed with Dougherty. “I don’t feel bad when I put a load of laundry in the washer because I know that I would be wasting time gossiping if I was in the newsroom,” she said.

Moulton suggested that a journalist who is just starting out should work in the newsroom. She said that she missed out from working remotely when she first started. “Don’t miss out on the atmosphere if you’re a new journalist,” Moutlon said. “I did miss so much those first two years working remotely.”

Loftin said that they require their interns at City Weekly to come into the newsroom because there is a lot to be learned from the more experienced reporters.

Published in cooperation with the Hard News Cafe. Original story is here.