Hearing Dylan Smith talk today about how heartbreaking it
was to watch the presses at the Tucson Citizen slowly roll to a stop reminded
me of my last days at the San Jose Mercury News. I took a lot of wrong turns in my career before
I found print journalism, but once I did,
I knew I’d found my place. I love
language, and I love being connected with the world beyond my own, and journalism
fulfilled both these needs in me. I
remember writing about the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, pre-teen moms, cheating
scandals, kids with cancer, and so much more.
I probably would have never left the business if the
stockholders of the Mercury News’s parent company, Knight Ridder, hadn’t forced
a sale of the corporation in 2005. But
with Craigslist and the Internet, the newspaper business and the Mercury were in
trouble, and I didn’t want to stick around for the ride down.
So I switched into teaching.
I don’t regret it – teaching has developed skills in me that journalism
never did. Still, I miss those
days, and I wonder too where the news business is headed, and what this country
would be like if we were to lose a vigorous, free press.
Maya Suryaraman
Santa Clara High School
Santa Clara, Calif.
I look at teaching journalism like managing a paper in a small town. This role is powerful, challenging and exciting. Your readers are the emerging generation, and they are a community of their own.
ReplyDeleteDylan Smith stayed in Tuscon, and started the Tuscon Sentinel because he was invested in the community. He cares about Tuscon. He doesn't want to see the community make bad decisions because they aren't informed.
The people of Santa Clara High School are your people. You are keeping them informed and teaching them how to get and use information for the rest of their lives!
What a noble cause. YOU ROCK!
When I lived in the Bay Area in the '90s, the Mercury News was such an inspiration -- innovative, hard-hitting, ever-creative. I'm confident that journalism is going to emerge from this period of upheaval, but I do feel pangs when I think of what became of that newspaper.
ReplyDeleteSteve Elliott
Arizona State University
Phoenix