High schoolers hear pep talk for journalism

By Cheryl Arvidson
The Freedom Forum Online

11.06.00

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Tim Russert

ARLINGTON, Va. — More than 100 high school students and 50 advisers from every state in the nation and the District of Columbia gathered here over the weekend to learn about the challenges, rewards and perils of a career in journalism as part of the inaugural Al Neuharth Free Spirit Student Journalism Conference.

For some, the trip to Washington to attend the three-day conference was the first time they had ever traveled by airplane; for many, it was the farthest they had ever been from home. Each participant was recommended by a newspaper in his or her home state, and most were involved with student publications at their high schools.

The conference was designed to encourage students to consider journalism as a career and to expose them to First Amendment issues. It was created by The Freedom Forum to honor Allen H. Neuharth, the foundation's founder, when he retired last year as a trustee of The Freedom Forum.

Among the prominent journalists speaking at the conference was Tim Russert, Washington bureau chief of NBC News and the host of the Sunday interview show, "Meet the Press." Russert, the keynote speaker, told the students his fascination with newspapers began in Buffalo, N.Y., when he was a paperboy delivering the Buffalo News and continued as he succeeded in getting the school he attended to begin a student newspaper.

"Your job as a journalist, as a surrogate for the American people is ... to try to elicit the truth. We can't let them down," Russert said.

Over the years, Russert said, he has become convinced that journalism is "a writer's medium," regardless of whether a reporter works in print or broadcast. "You must know how to read, comprehend and to write or you won't make it in newspapers, television or radio," he said.

Cloe Wiley, left, of Effie, La., with Freedom Forum founder Al Neuharth and Maria Kappes of Sioux Falls, S.D.

Russert said when he was considering entering television news, he was encouraged by many to get professional coaching because "TV is a performer's media." But Russert said he rejected that advice because "I want to be myself. I have to do it my way or else it is not going to be real."

The best journalists are those who can be trusted and who can take a complicated series of events and explain them in a colorful and understandable way, he said. At times, one must keep "digging and drilling and getting the facts and getting the truth out" to do the job right, Russert said, and that takes extensive preparation.

"Being a journalist is about above all else being prepared," he said. "As a journalist, assume nothing; prepare for everything."

Jack Kelley, a reporter who covers wars and international hot spots for USA TODAY, brought a series of souvenirs, including artillery shells, bullets, helmets worn by fallen soldiers, bullet-proof vests and headgear, to drive home his message that war coverage should tell the story of the victims of the conflict.

"Journalism is about people. It's not about facts, it's not about figures, it's about people," Kelley said.

"In any kind of war, truth is the first casualty," he continued. "That's why it's my job to report the truth at any cost."

Kelley said "there's no greater job in the whole world" than being a journalist.

"A journalist needs to be completely dedicated to reporting the truth," he said. "You need to be persistent, you need to be accurate and you need to be first."

But doing those things does not mean a reporter has to be unfeeling.

"I don't care what you hear about reporters having to be objective," Kelley said. "You see someone die, and you change your opinion on that."

The reporters and advisers attending the conference also heard from Ken Paulson, executive director of the First Amendment Center and Freedom Forum senior vice president, and John Seigenthaler, founder of the First Amendment Center, on the history, nature and impact of the First Amendment.

"There's a war on free expression in this country," Paulson told the group, adding that the students' generation will be key as to whether the First Amendment freedoms survive or are systematically eroded.

"The war is on," agreed Seigenthaler. "Wherever you can, whenever you can, do all that you can. Those 45 words (in the First Amendment) are a precious gift; they need to be preserved."

The conference attendees also heard from two student journalists, Marina Hennessy and Heather French, co-editors of the Avon, Ind., Echo, and their adviser, Pam Essex, who have battled with their school administration and teachers to make public a brutal hazing ritual on the high school football team. Hennessy was the winner of the 2000 Courage in Student Journalism Award for her reporting.

The conference is expected to be an annual event.