Glory days of newspapers

After working as a reporter, a feature writer, editor and, in recent times, a writing mentor to high school students, I am often asked by young and aspiring journalists: What ever happened to newsrooms? Why did they become so cold and corporate?

When I graduated in 1977 from the IU School of Journalism, it was a different world. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein had recently brought down a president and inspired a generation of journalists to be independent watchdogs. It bread a culture that was evident in the newsrooms.

They were noisy, opinionated places where we actually engaged in lively conversations about current events, seamy crimes, the stories that ate our brains and all of the crazy people that wandered into the newsroom without ever being stopped by security. Newsrooms today, however, are quiet, clean and corporate. It’s almost creepy.

In a world of slick blogospheres, Web sites and mindless instant chats, I know this sounds hopelessly old school. But young journalists will never have the opportunities I had. We post-Watergate kids simply lived through a time we might not ever see again – the glory days of journalism.

Terry Loncaric
IU alumnus