Keep Those Presses Rolling

I used to want to be a journalist, but I thought the hours were too unpredictable. I used to want to be a news anchor working in New York City, but that ceased to be my dream. Funny that I am going into the ministry- very unpredictable, and funny that I began to see my calling to urban ministry while I was in New York City.

Though I am not going to be a regular front page contributor to The Washington Times (ironic that I am mainly referring to print and I am including an internet link), there's something about journalism that will probably always fascinate me. When I watch movies that take place before television became mainstream, I am jealous that newspaper reporters were the ones to break the big stories. Rather now, newspapers have had to form a new identity: the source of in-depth coverage that television news can't provide. Yet, now even the internet is competing with that.

To explain my fascination with the media, consider what I did within minutes of Kansas' victory in the NCAA final game: I hopped on the internet to see how fast different news websites would publish headlines.

I was on The Campbell Times staff in undergrad and for the most part, I loved it. And let me say, with all the complaints against the campus paper, give those students a break! Yes, there are some errors, but they are still learning. I don't think you'd find a law student who could argue a case flawlessly or a pre-pharmacy student who could accurately detect every dangerous medication combination.

With newspaper readership on the decline, I find it comforting to see the Newseum re-open in Washington, DC. When I was in high school I made a few visits to the museum when it was in Arlington, VA. Very few museums offer such a range of interactive activities and I hope this museum will help more people understand the complexity of news coverage.

So next time you see a newspaper, take a glance at a headline. I'm not even asking you to read the article, just take half a second to appreciate the contribution journalists have made to communication.