Column: The Nuance of Journalism

By Noah Hickman

Journalism is one of those professions where people may go on different paths, but the roles and responsibilities remain the same.

There is no better example I can think of two people having two different paths academically than investigative journalist and author, Carl Bernstein and, “Father of Black History,” Dr. Carter G. Woodson. 

Bernstein almost flunked out of high school and did not graduate from the University of Maryland yet has a reputation of being one of the greatest journalists of all time. He recently had published a memoir titled “Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom” which discusses a time when the newspaper industry was more prominent. 

Woodson got his high school diploma in less than two years and was the second African American to get his doctorate degree at Harvard University in U.S. history. 

The reason Bernstein is successful is because he has always had the ability to connect with his audience through his work. Bernstein is best known for breaking the news about the Watergate scandal with investigative journalist Bob Woodward. Both did original news reporting on the break-in at the Watergate office complex which was the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. 

The Watergate scandal is an example of how the American people largely went from supporting Nixon to having highly unfavorable views of him after the scandal was exposed. Without textbook journalism, it is tough to say whether Nixon would have resigned or faced impeachment.

Woodson was similar in a way to Bernstein due to his ability to empathize with other people and their culture, after all, he worked in the coal mines and as an educator. 

He even went as far as to teach some coal miners how to read. Trying to get an understanding of the community around you along with the setting is key to being an effective journalist. 

Hard facts are essential, and all journalists must use them, but great journalists are exceptional with storytelling and are able to hook the readers in a way which makes them interested.

Woodson said in his article, “Journalism in Schools,” that journalism is as practical as carpentry, but requires extensive knowledge in a variety of fields. 

“The journalist of tomorrow must be well versed in philosophy, history, sociology, economics, language and literature, correlated with technical instruction in the methods of journalism and advertising,” Woodson said. 

He also said that there have been a lot of successful journalists who did not have college degrees, and some of them are better journalists than ones with college degrees. 

It should be noted that successful journalists without degrees in the field of journalism are not uneducated or unintelligent as an excellent amount of knowledge is all but mandatory.

Though Bernstein and Woodson have different levels of education, they are similar in terms of knowing their audience and applying the abstract information that they knew. 

A lot of journalists are well educated and have knowledge in a vast number of areas. The problem is that only so many of them will apply their knowledge in a practical manner. 

Woodson said that journalism must come naturally for those who want to get into that field of work in a professional setting. 

“The student in this work must from the very beginning be considered a journalist in the embryonic stage, attending classes not to have his mind reshaped according to traditions and ancient ideals, but to obtain the institution such instruction as will equip him to function in a field where he is actually engaged,” Woodson said. 

One of the themes in life is if you put your mind to something, you can accomplish anything. 

To be a journalist, one must not only be intellectually exceptional, but practical in the sense that the work done by that reporter reaches a broad audience. 

As with everything, there must be a balance, and Woodson and Bernstein have identified that and have used that to their advantage.