Out-Of-Class #1: What Journalism Really Is

A while back, I received the following email from one of youze:


> Hello,
> After doing some research on why higher education faces increased
> tuition costs, I started to understand why this has been happening at
> MSU and how it relates to the current state of the economy. Instead
> of having my paper focus on why MSU is increasing tuition but still
> spending money on adding amenities to campus, such as Wi-Fi in dorms,
> I wanted to focus on the spending cuts and how it is affecting higher
> education.
>
> My new topic idea is:
> Spending cuts made by the state and the Budget Control Act are
> affecting the funding for higher education. The spending cuts being
> made are increasing tuition and reducing the quality of education due
> to program cuts and faculty cuts (among other things). I will focus
> on how MSU is currently receiving its funding, how much did tuition
> increase this year, what are the things being done to reduce excess
> spending on campus, and what is being done to help students with the
> increasing cost of tuition.
>
> I wanted to get your approval on this topic so I can begin to write my paper.
>

And my answer was an enthusiastic YES! Not simply because you were switching the topic, but because you were switching the topic based on where the facts were taking you!

And THAT is journalism. Journalism isn't starting with an initial assumption and then finding facts to support it. That's a term paper. Rather, journalism is starting with an initial assumption, then seeing where the facts take you. Sometimes, research finds that the initial premise was correct. Other times, not so much. And still other times you discover things that support a premise that's better than the original one.

It's that process of research and then determining what you actually have that is journalism. That's what separates it from simply finding out about stuff; it's that discovery through doing reporting.

It's like being a detective: you start out with a dead body, and then you start interviewing people to see what you can find out. You may start out with one suspect, but the evidence might take you to another suspect -- or none at all, if you find facts showing it was an accidental or natural death, or a suicide. Either way, you follow the facts, and you make your final determination on the facts you find, rather than simply what you initially presumed.

Ideally, each of us will have a story that evolves this way. I'm glad at least one of us did, so the rest of us can see this process in action.