Journalism in the 21st Century

In part one of this interview, Marissa Gamache, a reporting intern in Arlington, Virginia who'll spend her senior year of college at Maynooth University in Ireland before graduating from Bethel University, spoke to me about how her generation sees the current state and the future of journalism. Marissa and I work on the same publication, Transport Topics , right now. Following is a lightly edited transcript of that recent conversation. .... I see myself and my parents' generation more connected than the one in between the two of us. What do you mean? I look at it as 10-year gaps, instead of Generation X or Z or whatever, or millennials. I think the values my parents had -- as well as those of persons in their 30s or late 20s -- are even different than those of the kids who are 18-25, 16- 28, and I think that's because right now it's the thirtysomethings who are starting to push all their ideals and all of their ingenuity. I think that when we come up in the ...

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...

New writers are thrilled just to see their name in print. I remember when I was just starting out, interning at San Francisco Magazine. It was the eighties and I was all of 23, full of enthusiasm and stupid good will. The idea of getting paid for what I loved almost sounded illegal. "Any time you write, you should be paid for your work," a slightly older and paid colleague told me. I had just written a little ad for the magazine's personals section:      San Francisco classifieds bring single bunnies up to date      Getting personal      Now! The graphics department added a bunny. After that, marketing brought me into a meeting to bolster copy for a Shell ad. I willingly obliged. I wasn't paid and didn't even think of being paid. Again, I was chastised by my older colleague. I was beginning to feel like a chump, but that feeling was soon overpowered by the thrill I got interviewing a local comedian for our special birth...