Margaret Sullivan, Public Editor at the New York Times wrote an article on May 1 to mark her last class at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. She gave the class her take-aways from her career:
Here’s what I told my students.
1. About social media.
• No road rage; walk away from the keyboard. [I don't do that sometimes. Ok, a lot.]
• Be useful.
• Be responsive.
• Be willing to correct and acknowledge errors immediately. [I do that.]
• Show restraint; remember that you are posting to The World. Forever.[I don't do that.]
• Try for a mix of 20 percent fun and 80 percent hard information.[50-50?]
• Read every link before re-tweeting or re-posting.
• It’s a tool, not an end in itself.
2. About journalism.
• Don’t cut corners. Do the actual work. [I do that.]
• If you “borrow,” always credit with a link and a specific mention, and always write in your own words.http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/everything-i-know-about-journalism-in-395-words/
• You can lose your reputation and your career in an instant.
• Despite that, don’t be timid. Be brave; just don’t be brave and stupid. [Why'd she have to put in that last one?]
• Ask for advice from smart people. [Don't do that.]
• Do the work that improves the world, even in a small way. [Oh puhlease. That is a hubristic statement. Pencils, even NYT pencils don't "improve the world," that can't be the aim of the work, you want to improve the world go into social work, philanthropy, or politics. "Be modest," would be my substitute. But I don't follow that one either.]
• Don’t sink to least-common-denominator journalism. [I have sunk, truly. I have to admit, I have sunk.]
• A little snark goes a long way.
• Think more about fairness than objectivity. [That is a new standard, it's not new to Sullivan but for the field. Journalists used to strive for objectivity at all costs, to give voice to the "other side" and then it dawned on them that meant giving voice to nuts. At the New York Times this became the Safire Effect (my name).
The 1960's were the most polarized decade in the U.S. since the 1860's. The Times was the liberal stalwart and they took severe criticism. They took the criticism to heart and hired William Safire, speechwriter to President Nixon and Vice President Agnew. Safire was a paranoid, mean-spirited partisan and he wrote that way. Times op-ed columnists seem to have almost tenure-like job security and the Times would not fire the guy. They had given voice to a nut. After Safire retired they dropped the standard of giving voice to the other side and adopted the fairness standard.
The fairness standard, i.m.o. has resulted in some self-censorship. What is fair after all is subjective and so putting fairness primary to objectivity means putting subjectivity primary to objectivity. So, you can not go nuts on Islam in the New York Times or any similarly "adult" newspaper. It's not "fair," Islam is a great religion, a peaceful religion, etc. You will never see a NYT writer go nuts on Islam. The Baltimore Riots, the black-on-white attacks and photographs, the all-black composition of the city leadership, the Times didn't publish those photos, didn't point the finger at the black thugs and leaders. Have you ever noticed how all newspapers seldom list the race of a crime suspect? It's always "male, 25-30, medium height, build, etc.?" Almost alone are mentions of race together with crime when the victim is black and the perp is non-black, like police officers. Race and crime is too incendiary a topic even for objective facts like the race of a suspect when he is black! Of course journalist should be fare in reporting on inflammatory issues but I reject this piece of Sullivan's advice to "think more about fairness than objectivity," I think objectivity should still be primary and fairness used to put out the predictable fires. Don't ignore the fire.]
• Think about how close you can get to the truth.[ I think, but I'm not sure, that what she means here is that there is some plasticity to truth, as there is, and that pencils should think about that. If not that, then I don't know what she means.]
• Put yourself in the place of the people who will be affected by your work. That doesn’t mean to pull your punches.[Absolutely. That is tremendous advice.]
• Be rigorous. Go the extra mile. If you think you should interview five people, interview 10. Fact-check with a vengeance.[I do that.]
• Be aggressive — a passive journalist isn’t really a journalist.[Umm, I think I'm aggressive, lol.]
• Get to be really good at one or two things. And get to be decently good at a whole bunch of things. [Only thing I ever got decently good on was China.]
• If you screw up, apologize fully and move on.[I do that.]
• Try to work for someone great. [I write for myself; don't think that counts.]
• Whatever help you’ve received in your career, pay it forward.
• Be idealistic. Resist cynicism.[Ooooh, squirm, I don't know about that.]
• Never be boring — be engaging and clear, especially when the subject is complicated or hard to understand. If you’re writing blurry stuff, maybe you don’t understand the subject yet. Pity the readers (or viewers) and consider their attention span. (E.B. White on clarity, referring to his teacher William Strunk: “Will felt that the reader was in serious trouble most of the time, a man floundering in a swamp, and that it was the duty of anyone attempting to write English to drain this swamp quickly and get his man up on dry ground, or at least throw him a rope.”)[That stuff on Andrew Atkinson Humphreys isn't boring, is it? Good advice about when you're writing "blurry stuff." I've had that happen and it has been because I didn't understand the subject well enough.]
• You are not in this business for the money, so what are you in it for? Do that work.[You got that right, sister!]
Here’s what I told my students.
1. About social media.
• No road rage; walk away from the keyboard. [I don't do that sometimes. Ok, a lot.]
• Be useful.
• Be responsive.
• Be willing to correct and acknowledge errors immediately. [I do that.]
• Show restraint; remember that you are posting to The World. Forever.[I don't do that.]
• Try for a mix of 20 percent fun and 80 percent hard information.[50-50?]
• Read every link before re-tweeting or re-posting.
• It’s a tool, not an end in itself.
2. About journalism.
• Don’t cut corners. Do the actual work. [I do that.]
• If you “borrow,” always credit with a link and a specific mention, and always write in your own words.http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/everything-i-know-about-journalism-in-395-words/
• You can lose your reputation and your career in an instant.
• Despite that, don’t be timid. Be brave; just don’t be brave and stupid. [Why'd she have to put in that last one?]
• Ask for advice from smart people. [Don't do that.]
• Do the work that improves the world, even in a small way. [Oh puhlease. That is a hubristic statement. Pencils, even NYT pencils don't "improve the world," that can't be the aim of the work, you want to improve the world go into social work, philanthropy, or politics. "Be modest," would be my substitute. But I don't follow that one either.]
• Don’t sink to least-common-denominator journalism. [I have sunk, truly. I have to admit, I have sunk.]
• A little snark goes a long way.
• Think more about fairness than objectivity. [That is a new standard, it's not new to Sullivan but for the field. Journalists used to strive for objectivity at all costs, to give voice to the "other side" and then it dawned on them that meant giving voice to nuts. At the New York Times this became the Safire Effect (my name).
The 1960's were the most polarized decade in the U.S. since the 1860's. The Times was the liberal stalwart and they took severe criticism. They took the criticism to heart and hired William Safire, speechwriter to President Nixon and Vice President Agnew. Safire was a paranoid, mean-spirited partisan and he wrote that way. Times op-ed columnists seem to have almost tenure-like job security and the Times would not fire the guy. They had given voice to a nut. After Safire retired they dropped the standard of giving voice to the other side and adopted the fairness standard.
The fairness standard, i.m.o. has resulted in some self-censorship. What is fair after all is subjective and so putting fairness primary to objectivity means putting subjectivity primary to objectivity. So, you can not go nuts on Islam in the New York Times or any similarly "adult" newspaper. It's not "fair," Islam is a great religion, a peaceful religion, etc. You will never see a NYT writer go nuts on Islam. The Baltimore Riots, the black-on-white attacks and photographs, the all-black composition of the city leadership, the Times didn't publish those photos, didn't point the finger at the black thugs and leaders. Have you ever noticed how all newspapers seldom list the race of a crime suspect? It's always "male, 25-30, medium height, build, etc.?" Almost alone are mentions of race together with crime when the victim is black and the perp is non-black, like police officers. Race and crime is too incendiary a topic even for objective facts like the race of a suspect when he is black! Of course journalist should be fare in reporting on inflammatory issues but I reject this piece of Sullivan's advice to "think more about fairness than objectivity," I think objectivity should still be primary and fairness used to put out the predictable fires. Don't ignore the fire.]
• Think about how close you can get to the truth.[ I think, but I'm not sure, that what she means here is that there is some plasticity to truth, as there is, and that pencils should think about that. If not that, then I don't know what she means.]
• Put yourself in the place of the people who will be affected by your work. That doesn’t mean to pull your punches.[Absolutely. That is tremendous advice.]
• Be rigorous. Go the extra mile. If you think you should interview five people, interview 10. Fact-check with a vengeance.[I do that.]
• Be aggressive — a passive journalist isn’t really a journalist.[Umm, I think I'm aggressive, lol.]
• Get to be really good at one or two things. And get to be decently good at a whole bunch of things. [Only thing I ever got decently good on was China.]
• If you screw up, apologize fully and move on.[I do that.]
• Try to work for someone great. [I write for myself; don't think that counts.]
• Whatever help you’ve received in your career, pay it forward.
• Be idealistic. Resist cynicism.[Ooooh, squirm, I don't know about that.]
• Never be boring — be engaging and clear, especially when the subject is complicated or hard to understand. If you’re writing blurry stuff, maybe you don’t understand the subject yet. Pity the readers (or viewers) and consider their attention span. (E.B. White on clarity, referring to his teacher William Strunk: “Will felt that the reader was in serious trouble most of the time, a man floundering in a swamp, and that it was the duty of anyone attempting to write English to drain this swamp quickly and get his man up on dry ground, or at least throw him a rope.”)[That stuff on Andrew Atkinson Humphreys isn't boring, is it? Good advice about when you're writing "blurry stuff." I've had that happen and it has been because I didn't understand the subject well enough.]
• You are not in this business for the money, so what are you in it for? Do that work.[You got that right, sister!]
