Last Updated: June 29, 1999
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First impressions
The American Editor asked some first-time attendees at the ASNE convention
to give their impressions. Here are three members’ thoughts.
Ileft my first ASNE convention with more questions than answers. That
seemed oddly reassuring.
Asking the right questions may be the most important thing editors can
do, given the competitive threats and confusion of purpose that beset newspapers
these days. Here are three big questions I took home from San Francisco:
What balance of bold innovation and steady purpose is wise? Andrew Grove
of Intel, which survived near disaster to prosper, warned that companies
don’t know they’re in trouble until it’s almost too late. Drastic change
is sometimes the safest course, he said — a wake-up call for the dinosaurs
he seemed to see in the audience. I saw no complacency at ASNE. Everywhere
were signs that print is embracing online, that assumptions are being examined.
What may prove harder than welcoming change is learning to tell the difference
between a brash idea and a smart idea, between stale tradition and enduring
value.
How can newspapers rebuild trust? It’s our nuclear bond with readers,
the fundamental force which, once split, could explode our universe. Chris
Urban’s work on the Journalism Credibility Project found a disconnect
between readers (who tend to go to church, watch lots of TV and deplore
insensitive treatment of news sources, she said) and journalists (who don’t,
she said.) But does the public mistrust journalists because we fail to
connect or because we’ve lost sight of what readers count on us to do?
The study shows that journalists and readers still share certain expectations:
Our job is to get it right and tell it straight.
How can our profession actually achieve diversity in workforce and content?
ASNE’s annual newsroom census was a grim reminder that minority employment
has barely budged despite a good economy and good intentions. This year’s
report for the first time documents that women, too, remain underrepresented
in newsrooms. But if ASNE members haven’t yet discovered how to move the
needle on numbers, many at least seemed dedicated to a quantum leap in
effort and in cooperation with other organizations to make a difference.
At the ASNE women’s gathering, veteran members recalled that a similar
meeting only a few years ago drew a semicircle of less than a dozen. More
than 70 women showed up this year — one small sign that ASNE is a place
where tough questions have been asked, where new questioners are welcome,
where important questions can be found.
Freivogel is senior editor for sports and culture at the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch and president of Journalism and Women Symposium.
