In January 2009 Mike Fancher met with students, grad students and faculty at the Reynolds Journalism Institute to discuss words that inspired Fancher’s own career — the Journalist's Creed. Written almost 100 years ago by Walter Williams, founder of the Missouri School of Journalism, the world’s first school dedicated to journalism, Williams penned his one-page testimonial to give dignity to the profession and articulate a personal standard of excellence.
Mike Fancher met with the Missouri Journalism School chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists to discuss whether the challenges facing journalists have changed. Can today’s journalists make a statement like the one Walter Williams made? What can be done to insure that public-service journalism remains viable, relevant and accountable?
By Mike Fancher
The journalists of the future must have a new skill set that enables them to tell compelling stories in many ways, but they also must have a new mindset.
You must be both pragmatic and idealistic.
You must be skeptical and optimistic.
You can’t just be passionate about telling a story, you must care deeply that the story connects with people and matters to them.
You must be more entrepreneurial in terms of creating value in the information marketplace, without compromising clarity, accuracy, fairness, truth and independence.
You must hone your curiosity and critical thinking in ways that stir those qualities in the public, while also being ever attentive to the public’s questions and criticisms.
Loyalty to the public shouldn’t be an abstraction, but should be an abiding desire to connect on a human level.
You must be independent of those you cover without being indifferent or hostile. Independence achieves its greatest impact when tempered with a sense of goodwill.
You must gain comfort with technology as an enabler of great journalism, rather than a threat to it.
You must strive for perfection, while being open to admitting and learning from mistakes.
Relevance, optimism, inter-personal connection, healthy self-promotion, organizational savvy, curiosity, creativity, problem solving and leadership are all traits that must be nurtured.
My abiding faith in the future of professional journalism is because of young people like you who want to carry on this great traditional of public service.
You know that “the supreme test of good journalism is the measure of its public service.”
I listen to you and I find it easy to say:
I still believe in the profession of journalism.
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