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| After my internship with KWWL-TV, I was allowed to keep the battered mic flag. (dwm photo) |
Current events interested me, probably because that's what my parents discussed. I paged through TIME magazine every week, over time I read the stories, developing an appreciation for Hugh Sidey's Washington column.
When I reached seventh grade our social studies teacher, Mr. Ebeling introduced us to the Milwaukee Journal weekly news quiz. It was right up my alley.
For some reason small pieces of news and trivia stuck in my brain which made me pretty good at the quiz. My friend, Robert was pretty good at it too.
It didn't take long for our classmates to demand the two of us couldn't be on the same team.
While I can't draw a straight line from the news quiz to my news career, it was a start. In high school I joined the staff of The Criterion, the school paper, writing stories and waiting to see if I made the paper.
In the 1980s, nearly everyone turned to their local paper as the first source for news. You could get updates on the radio and watch stories on TV, but the only comprehensive coverage was in a long newspaper story.
My time as a reporter for the Criterion didn't persuade me to pursue newspaper reporting, instead I focused on radio and audio production. That lasted until my freshman year when I realized I'd never be a disc jockey at 50, and turned my attention to broadcast news.
Just as I learned how to report, check sources, and write a story that answered the 5 W's (who, what, where, when, why) and an H (how) I relied on a newspaper for my base of knowledge. All this time I continued reading TIME cover to cover.
I enjoyed the process of reporting - whether it was covering a piece of legislation by interviewing experts, following votes, and talking to lawmakers then turning it into an understandable story that informed our audience about the issue. At first I didn't know much about shooting video, but I learned thanks to experience and instruction provided by chiefs of photography at the stations where I worked.
Looking back on nine years as a reporter, seven in television, my preferred source for news is still the written word. I read the newspaper online these days and still read TIME magazine (now it's published every other week) cover to cover. I like re-reading sections of the story and going at my own pace.
You can be informed by reputable news channels and TV is good at showing the scope of a story visually. Usually a good TV story prompts me to search for other accounts to learn more.
Political news used to hold the most interest for me. When I covered lawmakers in Iowa and South Dakota, there were political battles and political differences, but on the big issues of the day both sides eventually sat down and came to an agreement that served the greater good.
I noticed the political climate change in 1993 as Rush Limbaugh grew in popularity as a conservative talk show host. He was talented and an over-the-top personality eager to win every ratings battle (as did everybody on the radio) who used exaggeration and character assassination to win his arguments. His view of the world suggested that people who didn't agree were "evil" and wrong. That applied to people who generally agreed with his views but continued to find common ground with the opposition on some issues - they weren't pure enough on the issues, which meant they needed to go.
As these things progress, liberals and conservatives began a long-running battle to be bright red or dark blue because there is no place for gray. That means we all lose as the gray is where things get done, battles are resolved, and democracy preserved.
It's disappointing to see where the two major parties are today and it is difficult to imagine how the chasm is bridged. I hope it's not too late.
I take my political news now in small doses with a fair amount of salt. On the rest of the issues I look for the middle, for the facts, for the voices with no axe to grind.
The dark political prism we tend to look through at the world and the demise of print news as digital media grew in stature has made it difficult for consumers of news to know what is what. The New York Times webpage looks similar to the one produced by a guy living in his mom's basement.
It's why people making outrageous claims today have a platform. In the 1980s, they wouldn't have found an audience. Now, as we seek the news we like and opinions like ours, we become more tribal and singular in a world with multiple viewpoints.
Our only hope is to find the purple in a red and blue world.
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