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2014 ASU

When Steve wrote and asked if I would come again to speak
at this wonderful program for the eighth time, I must admit
that I was faced with a conflict, but it was a conflict that
actually only existed in my mind.

It was a clash between the memories of how much I have
enjoyed interacting through the years with so many teachers,
such as you, who see their calling as a sacred thing, too
great to compromise with the smallness that engulfs us
today, and the knowledge that the format for this program is
changing. And this will be the last chance I will have to
speak at this event.

Watching the sand run out of the hourglass on this program
as it has been is difficult for me, as I am sure it is even more
so for Steve and others who have made it so successful in
its current design.

But then I remembered the reason we are all here today,
and why we have been gathering here through all those
yesterdays. Simply stated, it is the obligation and
responsibility we all share to make tomorrow better than
yesterday or today.

You came here to become better teachers, better leaders, to
gain knowledge that will help you send our sons and
daughters and grandchildren into the next phase of their
lives better equipped to dream in bold colors and to reach for
the stars.

I came with the hope that I can leave you with a few good
words of advice, a few new ideas that will help you, and
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maybe even a few reminders of why what you do is not only
honorable, but it is often noble.

As I sat thinking about what I would tell you I took a timeout
to read again what I said to your colleagues the last seven
times I was here. Each message was fresh, but there was a
recurring theme:

Regardless of the platforms we use, or the location where
we deliver news and information, we must find a way to keep
the faith with our audience, to build a trust that will survive as
our world continues to change.

We must never forget that journalists provide a place for
people to come together to share their fears, their hopes and
their dreams.

We must never forget that while the platform on which
consumers get their news will change, what we as journalists
do will endure; the way we do our jobs may change, but the
appetite for reliable and trusted information will endure.

We must never forget that there will always be a need for
accurate and balanced and informed storytelling written in
both the language of the head and the language of the heart.

I share the feelings of a wonderful Chicago editor of the
Front Page era named Henry Justin Smith, who said, Some
of us, as long as we live, will never abandon the old
fashioned but thrilling idea that good writing is worthwhile.

Each year I have grown older and you in those seats have
looked younger and younger. But what hasnt changed is the
excitement that has permeated these halls. What hasnt
changed is your eagerness to embrace what you have
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learned from the speakers and, most importantly, what you
have learned from each other.

Steve has worked you hard, as he has done every year, and
you will leave here able to realize the fullness of who you are
as teachers, the fullness of you are as mentors, the fullness
of who you are as individuals with the opportunity to continue
doing vitally important work.

My career in journalism started long ago. It was a time when
we could look ahead and believe that we all could grab the
ring on the merry-go-round of life.

I was seven or eight when I started my first newspaper job,
hand folding pages at my dads weekly. I may not have been
blessed with many other skills or talent, but God gave me
terrific eye-hand coordination and I could beat all challengers
in the paper-folding competition.

Then a few years later my Dad bought a hand-fed automatic
folding machine and my abilities and my bragging rights
quickly became obsolete. I was a has-been in the folding
business at age 10. But I used my eye-hand coordination to
become the best operator of the new machine. I learned a
lesson that has served me well for years: Dont run away
from change caress it.

Ever since then changes I have witnessed have been
staggering, especially in the last half century.

In 1969, I was the new editor of the Palm Beach Post, which
at the time was the first computerized newspaper in the
country. The computers filled a room about this size. We
wrote stories on IMB electric typewriters, fed the pages
through the computers and turned our words into paper type.
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Then we made plates for what was at that time the second
offset press in the country.

I am sure there is more computer power today in singing
greeting cards than there was in that room back then.

Think about it, that was only 45 years ago, and remember it
had taken us more than 500 years since Gutenberg to reach
that day, 45 years versus 500. There is no more slow
dancing when it comes to change.

But its those technological miracles that make today a new
time of promise, even as we struggle to replace the old
monetary formula that served us so well for so many years,
even as we struggle with diminishing staffs, even as we
struggle to recover from the deepest economic downfall
since the great depression.

You and your students will witness changes that we cant
even imagine. And as teachers you can help create the
future by giving your students permission to pursue their
promise. You can help move what was and what is to what
can and will be.

I pray each of you will welcome that opportunity.

I dont know how consumers will be receiving their news in
the years ahead. I am more concerned about how we keep
faith with those consumers who want insight and wit and
integrity in reporting; who want information that includes
knowledge and a sense of perspective; who want intellectual
honesty and a devotion to fairness; who want journalism with
a soul.

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In this universe of the known and unknown delivery
platforms will continue to evolve and will always be
important. But not nearly as important as the content we
deliver.

The values of stories that make an impact on peoples lives,
stories that build a bridge across our differences, stories that
make us care, those values will never fade.

Even as the young people in your classrooms chase after
the newest toys never allow them to lose respect for the
elegance of our language, for the task of transmitting ideas
and thoughts from blank pages to the minds of their readers
and viewers and listeners.

Remind them that good journalists work to help people
understand what is happening in their immediate
surroundings and in the world at large. They provide them
with information necessary to function in their environment.
They also help them have fun.

Remind them that writing is the process of discovery, getting
beyond assumptions and becoming authentic witnesses to
what is happening, and that among the qualities that make
writing work well are emotion, compassion, outrage, detail,
and empathy.

Remind them to ask the necessary basic questions on their
journey to excellence:

What is the story about and why does it matter? Where does
it begin and where does it end and what is the dramatic
center? What drives it, the plot, the characters, the images?
Who are the sources and do they have an agenda? Who are
the stakeholders? Who else needs to be involved?
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Are there ways to make it easier for readers or viewers to
connect the pieces? What part of the story are we most
concerned about? Are there any follow-ups?

Are there any legal or ethical potholes? Have we checked it
again for accuracy and clarity? And so many other
questions.

Unlike my generation the students of today are growing up in
a world in which more and more people have less and less
time to make choices; a world in which simple civility has
become a casualty; a world in which the gap between the
haves and have-nots continues to expand; a world in which
too many leaders preach division rather than unity.

Its also a world in which those of us in the news media need
to look into the mirror and clean up our own behavior. We
have to stop being scornful or afraid of new ideas. We have
to stop punishing risk-taking and learn to truly celebrate
creativity and innovation. We have to stop scolding those
who judge our failures and start making civil debate and
dialogue an integral part of our work.

We have to continue to examine and re-examine ourselves,
to do our best to live by the same set of values we ask of
those we cover, and understand that sometimes a mea
culpa might do us some good.

Most of all, we must never shy away from a commitment to
excellence because that commitment is at the foundation of
the kind of journalism, at any level, that makes a difference.

You can help young people who are still on the edges in
their pursuit of knowledge to understand the wisdom in
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building such a foundation. Do it with a sense of urgency. Do
it with passion.

I have learned through the years that it takes passion to
escape the trap of fixed attitudes and of the old thats-the-
way-we-have-always-done-it refrain we hear much too often.

It takes passion to successfully reflect the joy and the
sorrow, the small seconds and the larger moments of the
everyday lives of the people in a community.

And it takes passion to fill a classroom, or a newsroom, with
fresh ideas and intellectual vigor and shared values, to
create a feeling of fellowship and a spirit of togetherness.

No one can write you a guaranteed recipe for success. You
have to do it for yourself. You have to use your own
imagination, apply your own ideals, add your own
ingredients.

However, there are some suggestions I will share that you all
can think about as you prepare your recipe:

Be a genuine and active listener; dont be afraid to cut short
what isnt working; confront your own fears and the fears of
others; occasionally escape from your comfort zone.

Invest the work of your students with meaning; connect them
with a purpose and build a structure of fairness.

Be approachable and accessible and confident, but always
allow differences of opinion without being defensive.

Foster a spirit of inclusion, constantly striving to make your
classrooms a tolerant, diverse and creative place.
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Acknowledge that because of continuing change there will
be scarce room for the ordinary in the future.

Continually remind yourself, and your students, about the
need for respect and civility, about collaboration and
communication, and about valuing creativity.

Remember to give the gifts of a smile and laughter, the gifts
of action and openness, and, when needed, the gift of
forgiveness.

It has been a blessing, a privilege, a sweet joy to be a
journalist for all of these years. When I was a kid in a small
town in Mississippi I dreamed of someday being a
newspaper editor, just like my dad, and maybe, just maybe,
make a tiny bit of difference in a small part of the world as he
did.

That dream came true in several cities across this land. And
the fulfillment of it gave me the chance to understand and to
witness up close what good journalism can do in and for a
community.

But I dont think I ever really knew how much that gift meant
to me until I was managing editor of the Chicago Daily News
and there came a night when a friend and I walked through
the newsroom and turned off the lights in the Daily News
newsroom for the final time. A great newspaper, whose staff
read like a Hall of Fame lineup in Chicago journalism, was
laid to rest.

The first time I came here to speak at this event I closed my
comments with an excerpt from a column that the incredibly
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talented Chicago columnist, and good friend, the late Mike
Royko, wrote the day before the Daily News last edition.

Forgive me for repeating myself, but Mikes words best sum
up what I feel, and what I hope you feel and will convey to
your students about this business I love so dearly:

When I was a kid, Mike wrote, the worst of all days was
the last days of summer vacation, and we were in the
schoolyard playing baseball, and the sun was down and it
was getting dark. But I did not want it to get dark. I did not
want the game to end. It was too good, too much fun.

I wanted it to stay light forever, so we could keep playing
forever, so the game would go on and on.

Thats how I feel now. Come on, come on, lets play one
more inning. One more time at bat. One more pitch. Just
one. Stick around guys. We cant break up this team. Its too
much fun.

But the sun always went down. And now its almost dark
again.

For so many of us, who had invested our head and our
hearts and our hopes in the Daily News, and also for our
hundreds of thousands of devoted readers, it was indeed
dark that day.

Our dreams for the Daily News were left behind in that
empty newsroom. But the darkness of night was soon
replaced by the sunrise of morning and we all found jobs to
go to and new newspapers to care for and new challenges to
tackle.

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Yes, I knew then, as I had never known as clearly before,
what it meant to love and to care for what we do as
journalists.

In a short time you will bid each other farewell, sharing hugs
and tears and memories of these precious days you have
spent together. You will leave with a whole lot of fresh
knowledge, wiser and eager and better prepared to do your
jobs.

Go home and when you return to your classrooms create a
seamless connection between the best of yesterday and the
best of today and tomorrow. Go home and joyfully be the
dream catchers and the memory makers for those you
teach. Go home and love what you do and always, always,
do it with love.

I admire you and I thank you for what you do.

















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