Generations: How a young millennial journalist makes (and gets) her news (part 1 of 2)
Marissa Gamache will be starting her senior year of college this autumn, spending part of it studying in Ireland at Maynooth University before graduating from Bethel University in Minnesota. She is completing a double major in journalism and international relations, and this summer, is interning as a reporter on the government team at Transport Topics in Arlington, Va. where I am a business reporter. I wanted to discuss with Marissa how her generation of reporters sees journalism these days, where it's going, and how she fights the allure of getting all her news from Facebook.
Marissa, when you think of previous generations of journalists, what words come to mind?
I think of the 6 p.m. nightly news and my parents.
Are they journalists?
No. I think of old journalism, Watergate, Edward R. Murrow, and Bob Costas.
Thank you. So, how do you feel your generation is changing the way journalism is done?
I think we're on a minute-to-minute basis.
I think we are expecting fast, but not as accurate, journalism. We are expecting information to be constantly updated, constantly gone back to. I think we just expect platforms to be different - Facebook, Twitter, even Instagram - getting all of our news through those mediums first, and then going to websites before even going to print, and print is always the last for us, but Facebook is the first.
That's interesting, because as you know from the election that was the big problem, with 'fake news' right? So what do you see, in your own words, as the pitfalls in getting all your news from Facebook?
I think we get led down rabbit trails of thinking what reality is when it really isn't, and I think a lot of kids in my generation have false realities of what's going on in the world. Because they just take the tag lines and think of that as what news is and they don't take the time to read the stories that are being written. They just look at those eye-catching words and think they know what the story's about.
And yet, anybody who meets you is obviously impressed with you - you're so well-spoken and intelligent, it seems you and others like you would say, 'Well I realize my generation is sacrificing accuracy for the sake of speed but I also want accuracy.' So how do you push back a little bit and say, 'We also need to incorporate Old School journalism standards?'
For me, I always go to the source. And I think I just look at news as something to be respected, and it's important for us, when I interact with my friends to enlighten them. (laughs) I don't want to think I'm above them, but in terms of my profession now that I'm going towards journalism, to know the importance of letting people know and helping people be aware of what platforms are reliable, and I try to put down my phone and push myself away from social media and give myself breaks so I spend more time interacting with paper and websites.
Great, Marissa, that leads into the next question so we're on the same wavelength. Where do you see journalism going over the next five to ten years? I've had friends, including myself, who've experienced layoffs, and yet at your age I would not have expected print to fade away. And I told you about the Pulitzer Prize winners, alums of my college, who got laid off. Not to be Debbie Downer, there are a lot of positive changes, but what does your crystal ball show?
If I were to take it out now and just start thinking, I'm optimistic or hoping that we will get to a point where we are so electronically dependent that people will push back and the pendulum will swing, and it will almost be like when people have novelty t-shirts that become popular. At least I'm hoping that's the direction we'll go in, that people will want to bring back family values of the Sunday paper.
I think we are expecting fast, but not as accurate, journalism. We are expecting information to be constantly updated, constantly gone back to. I think we just expect platforms to be different - Facebook, Twitter, even Instagram - getting all of our news through those mediums first, and then going to websites before even going to print, and print is always the last for us, but Facebook is the first.
That's interesting, because as you know from the election that was the big problem, with 'fake news' right? So what do you see, in your own words, as the pitfalls in getting all your news from Facebook?
I think we get led down rabbit trails of thinking what reality is when it really isn't, and I think a lot of kids in my generation have false realities of what's going on in the world. Because they just take the tag lines and think of that as what news is and they don't take the time to read the stories that are being written. They just look at those eye-catching words and think they know what the story's about.
And yet, anybody who meets you is obviously impressed with you - you're so well-spoken and intelligent, it seems you and others like you would say, 'Well I realize my generation is sacrificing accuracy for the sake of speed but I also want accuracy.' So how do you push back a little bit and say, 'We also need to incorporate Old School journalism standards?'
For me, I always go to the source. And I think I just look at news as something to be respected, and it's important for us, when I interact with my friends to enlighten them. (laughs) I don't want to think I'm above them, but in terms of my profession now that I'm going towards journalism, to know the importance of letting people know and helping people be aware of what platforms are reliable, and I try to put down my phone and push myself away from social media and give myself breaks so I spend more time interacting with paper and websites.
Great, Marissa, that leads into the next question so we're on the same wavelength. Where do you see journalism going over the next five to ten years? I've had friends, including myself, who've experienced layoffs, and yet at your age I would not have expected print to fade away. And I told you about the Pulitzer Prize winners, alums of my college, who got laid off. Not to be Debbie Downer, there are a lot of positive changes, but what does your crystal ball show?
If I were to take it out now and just start thinking, I'm optimistic or hoping that we will get to a point where we are so electronically dependent that people will push back and the pendulum will swing, and it will almost be like when people have novelty t-shirts that become popular. At least I'm hoping that's the direction we'll go in, that people will want to bring back family values of the Sunday paper.
Read Part 2 of my interview with Marissa. Read some of her reporting here.
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