“I live my life in widening circles that reach out across the world.” —Rainer Maria Rilke
In the 1960s, like many of the other young men around me, the prospect of being drafted and sent to Vietnam and fight in a war I didn’t believe in terrified me. And that prospect made some of us very angry as well.
When I was a freshman in college, a small but insistent minority of students protested against the war and organized to convince more of us to join their ranks. At the same time, other students were joining in civil rights marches led by Martin Luther King and others and wanted to do something about racism in our society.
Our the four years I was in school, the ranks of students willing to join the antiwar and civil rights demonstrations grew considerably until it felt like we were in the majority, though mathematically that was never the case. We were, however, in the words of the writer Jack Newfield, “A Prophetic Minority.”
Other movements emerged, led by feminist, LBGTQ and environmental activists. Since we were young, we underestimated how difficult it would be to achieve the fundamental changes we sought. We met plenty of resistance, which only made us angrier and more determined to fight for change.
In those years, I read everything I could find about all of these issues and participated in protests for a while, though as I was finding my way as a journalist, increasingly I began covering the demonstrations rather than take part in them.
Our generation didn’t necessarily see a conflict between activism and journalism at first, although as we grew older and more experienced our attitudes evolved. By twenty years after my graduation, many media executives were actively prohibiting student journalists and young reporters from even attending demonstrations —to avoid any appearance of bias or conflict on contentious issues.
Those with my type of history were not happy about this but we gradually adapted and recommended that our interns and students and new hires make a difficult ethical choice. We told them if they wanted to be successful journalists they had to guard their credibility by not openly demonstrating. Otherwise they would be seen as partisans, which might end up limiting their career options.
Fast forward to today when the partisan divide is much deeper and more fractious than it was in the past. In addition, the incoming President has made it clear that he considers journalists who do not support him as “enemies of the people.” This would not appear to be an ideal time for young journalists to be entering the field.
So what is to be done under these circumstances?
Trying to remain open-minded, unbiased, even neutral about something as critical as witnessing our democracy slip into an autocracy is beyond any challenge to journalistic ethics my generation ever faced. If it comes to that, we’ll have to know where we stand before the point comes when there will be no place left to hide. It will be critical to build close connections with other journalists, young and old, as we work our way through the difficult period ahead.
But our role as journalists is clear.
To tell the truth no matter who might try to silence us.
HEADLINES:
Azerbaijan Airlines says plane crashed after ‘external interference’ as questions mount over possible Russian involvement (CNN)
Putin apologizes for 'tragic incident' but stops short of saying Azerbaijani plane was shot down (AP)
South Korea Impeaches Acting President (WSJ)
Israel Loosened Its Rules to Bomb Hamas Fighters, Killing Many More Civilians (NYT)
Window closing for Gaza hostage-ceasefire deal before Trump takes office (Axios)
China’s Xi orders a stop to a spree of mass killings known as ‘revenge on society crimes’ (AP)
Panama's president calls Trump's Chinese canal claim 'nonsense' (BBC)
As Mystery Drones Fill Skies, Police and Businesses Want Authority to Take Them Down (WSJ)
Dollar Eyes Best Year in Almost a Decade (Bloomberg)
US homelessness up 18% as affordable housing remains out of reach for many people (AP)
A MAGA ‘Civil War’ on X between Musk and the far right over H-1B visas (WP)
MAGA civil war breaks out over American "mediocrity" culture (Axios)
A race is on to save the Everglades and protect a key source of drinking water in Florida (AP)
Beyond excessive force: How police abuse women, the poor, the homeless (WP)
OpenAI defends for-profit shift as critical to sustain humanitarian mission (ArsTechnica)
How A.I. Could Reshape the Economic Geography of America (NYT)
Horrified Taylor Swift Realizes Football Happens Every Year (The Onion)
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