(bell ringing)
(upbeat inspirational music)
- I like being a journalist
because you get to really know
what's going on 
in your community.
You get to meet fascinating,
interesting people,
and I'm a little nosy also.
I like to know what's 
going on behind the scenes,
and what makes people work,
what makes them tick,
and what's going on,
and being a journalist 
really gives you access
to knowing all of those things,
and knowing how things work.
- Hi I'm Mary Ann Zeleznik,
and I work every day 
to find the answers
to questions that 
people need to know,
to make informed decisions.
I'm the news director at WVXU,
and my job is to gather,
and present news, and 
information that's been verified,
and can be used to help people
make better decisions 
about their lives,
and the community.
This is just one 
step to maintain
a vital democracy in 
the United States.
One major role of journalists 
is to objectively research,
and report on events 
the public wants,
and needs to know about.
As an independent monitor,
journalism serves as a watchdog,
over those whose power and 
position most affect citizens.
In the next few minutes,
you'll see journalists at WVXU
talk with students 
about journalism.
Our goal is to show you 
the process we take,
as we explore subjects,
and present our findings 
to our listeners.
We also hope to show you the 
importance of journalism,
as a possible career choice.
As our news outlets expand,
there's a real need in America,
and all around the world
to find passionate truth 
seekers and storytellers,
to keep the growing free 
world informed and empowered.
That mighty responsibility
all starts with the 
individual journalist,
in search of answers 
about a particular story.
- The thing I like about 
being a journalist,
and I enjoy this more 
than anything else,
is when I do a story,
whether it's on the air,
whether it's on the web,
and I have people come 
up to me in a restaurant,
or you know a grocery store,
or some other kind of setting,
and say hey I heard 
you on the radio.
I read your story on WVXU.org.
I really liked that.
I learned something.
And if they say I 
learned something,
to me that's like a good day.
- I'm a general assignment 
reporter at WVXU.
I'm also currently,
for a little while longer,
our digital news editor,
which means I do all of the 
stories that everybody else,
who has a regular beat,
they have their stories,
and I get what's left.
So I get to do a wide 
variety of stories,
which I really enjoy.
One day I might 
be doing politics.
The next day I might be 
doing environmental news,
and I also help keep an eye on 
our content on the Internet.
- I'm the politics 
reporter at WVXU,
and I cover obviously 
elections, candidates.
I write columns for the website.
I do appearances on our 
Cincinnati Edition show.
I'll do stories for the air,
and just try to keep on top
of what's happening in 
the world of politics.
- The best tool in your 
toolkit is the word why.
Why is that?
Why did this happen?
Why are you doing this?
Why is it this way?
And just keep asking why
until you get to the 
heart of the matter.
- I think the most important 
thing for young journalists,
is the curiosity.
The desire to find out.
To answer questions 
that you have.
Because if you have 
those questions,
many other people 
have those questions,
and if you can find 
the answers to them,
you've not only done 
yourself a service,
you've done untold thousands 
of people a service.
Knowledge is power,
and that's what we have to make 
sure that people understand.
The more you know the 
more powerful you can be.
- I'm Caroline Horvath.
I go to Walnut 
Hills High School.
I'm a sophomore.
I live with my 
parents and my sister.
I have a goldfish.
- Well I also go to Walnut 
Hills with Caroline.
I am a junior.
This is my third 
year in journalism.
I have a twin brother that 
also goes to Walnut Hills,
and I also do a couple 
of things on the side.
I am in the Student Congress,
the student governing body,
and in the Model United 
Nations Committee,
which is a lot of fun I think.
- What is journalism 
in the role of media?
- What is journalism?
- The big question.
(laughing)
- Journalism is 
basically the gathering
and dissemination of news,
and it's to me,
one of the most important 
functions in a society,
because we live in 
a great big society,
a very diverse society,
and we need that 
kind of information,
and we need it from 
a variety of sources,
not just you know,
not just one medium 
against another medium,
but from various sources.
So it's a way of basically,
educating the public.
Educating the public 
and telling them,
okay here's some 
things that we think,
you need to know as a citizen,
and we make those decisions.
We're kind of the 
gatekeepers on that.
- And documenting history
for all of the generations 
to come after us,
that they know what happened.
- We do the first 
draft of history.
- There you go.
- So how would you 
define media today
versus media 50 years ago,
or even 100 years ago?
How are people 
receiving the news,
and how are you 
telling the news?
- There are so 
many different ways
to get your message 
across today,
as opposed to 50-100 years ago,
and it was basically 
in the newspaper,
and you had multiple 
newspapers in an outlet.
You get a daily, you know?
An afternoon, and 
evening, a morning paper.
Now of course with the internet,
and you've got the advent 
of television, and radio,
and blogs, and everything,
you really have to be a 
good consumer of the news,
to make sure that 
what you're getting
is coming from a reliable,
and a reputable source,
and actually a news source,
not just somebody who decided
they wanted to call 
themselves a journalist,
and write a blog,
or whatever.
- It was easier,
and like say I'm older.
I mean I've been around.
I can remember you know
the time when there were 
three television networks.
ABC, NBC, CBS, that was it.
Turn on the TV,
you were going to either 
see Walter Cronkite on CBS,
deliver the news,
or Huntley and Brinkley on NBC,
and you know, it was...
You were limited to that,
and the newspapers,
basically the local newspapers,
which in those days had 
more of a political slant,
I think than they do these days,
you know, and I grew 
up in Dayton Ohio.
There were two newspapers,
The Journal Herald, 
which was considered...
Its editorial page 
was considered a 
Republican newspaper.
The Dayton Daily News,
which still survives,
was more of a democratic paper,
but it's like Tana says.
There were just...
There were fewer outlets,
and they're much you know,
so many more now,
with the advent of the internet,
where everybody can call 
themselves a journalist,
and go on and start 
posting things.
Often times without 
regard to the truth,
and people have 
to be very careful
about what they see 
on social media sites,
and the internet,
that's passed off as news.
- How do you recommend 
that the general public
and high schoolers like us,
how do we differentiate 
from, like,
news compared to 
someone's opinion
that they just put 
on the Internet?
- Well you can look at...
Sometimes you can look at...
I've been amazed at 
some of these websites,
that will put stories up,
about you know some crazy 
thing that they said happened.
Like a few weeks ago Ringo 
Starr was allegedly saying,
yes Paul McCartney 
died in 1966, you know?
And people were sharing 
this on Facebook,
and going oh my god, you know?
We heard this years ago,
and we didn't believe it,
but you know, and here it is.
It's on the internet, 
it must be true.
We opened that site up,
and if you scroll down 
to the very bottom of it,
the very bottom of it,
there was in small print,
something that says this 
is a satirical website.
There is nothing even 
remotely resembling the truth
on this website.
I mean you have to 
be more discerning.
You have to you know,
look at these websites 
in terms of okay,
who's doing them,
who's controlling them,
who's actually 
putting a product out?
And in most cases 
they'll tell you,
we're lying to you.
- Well and a lot of times you 
can just look at what the...
Especially if you're on 
Facebook or whatever,
you can see where the 
link is coming from.
If it's not a reputable 
source that you know exists,
then that's your first clue 
that it's probably not valid,
but then you know,
go to the site, check it out,
or frankly just look 
it up on the Internet.
Can you find more 
than one source
that is claiming whatever it is
that you're trying 
to verify?
If you can't it's 
probably not true.
- What makes an appropriate 
source for a story?
Like what do you 
look for in a source,
to make sure that it's 
reliable and accurate?
- Yeah I mean you need 
to vet your source.
You need to make sure that what 
they're telling you is true,
and that you can believe them,
and that they are who 
they say they are.
Now on the local level,
it's a little easier 
I would think,
because like Howard said,
you know you've cultivated
a lot of your sources 
over the years.
On the national 
level you might be,
or international level,
you might have to do 
a lot more research
on who you're talking to you.
- Yeah sometimes you 
will talk to someone,
and they'll give 
you information,
and you're not quite sure.
You don't know that 
person that well.
So maybe you have to 
go to somebody else,
and confirm you know what 
this person is telling you,
and get more than one source.
- And check every 
source on every story.
I mean I'm doing a pretty 
light-hearted thing
at the moment right now,
which has me sending 
emails to Germany,
just to try and confirm this 
one little bit of a story.
But check everything.
- Right.
- How many sources do you 
try and get for each story?
- It depends on what 
you're working on.
- It depends on what it is.
It depends on what it is.
You know I mean if it's,
something really really serious 
that you know you've gotta,
with a big impact,
you know you try to get two 
or three sources to tell you,
you know people that are...
I mean you want to get 
them on the record,
but you know, 
sometimes you can't,
and you can only get them 
to talk on background,
which means that,
you don't quote them directly,
but information they're 
telling you is usable,
but the bottom line is,
and this is the rule ever 
since I first did this,
you know whether it's 
here or at a newspaper,
is you do not put 
anything on the air,
or in print,
until you are 
absolutely 100% certain,
that you are right 
about everything.
Completely right.
That you have total faith in 
what you have just written,
and total faith,
and that means total 
faith in the people
you're talking to too.
- You got to be able to 
stand behind your work.
- Absolutely.
- Why did you choose journalism
over something else you might 
have been interested in?
- Like a lot of 
journalists actually,
I kind of fell into it.
It wasn't necessarily something 
I thought I was going to do.
I have a general 
communication degree,
with a writing 
certificate in journalism,
which is what the college I 
went to offered at the time,
and I went to grad school 
for mass communication,
thought I'd learn 
how to use cameras,
didn't really happen.
However I did get an internship 
working at the radio station
at the school I went 
to grad school at,
and that turned into 
something that I love to do,
and an opening came up
at the same time that 
I was graduating,
and so I kind of 
moved right into it,
and fell in love with 
the public radio medium,
and the way that we tell 
stories in public radio,
and the longer format,
and the telling 
people's stories.
- I went off to college.
I was one of those rare people
that actually knew exactly 
what they wanted to do.
I wanted to be a reporter,
and I set out to do that,
and somehow I managed to 
succeed at doing that.
- For any high 
school journalist,
or future journalists out there,
what are journalism 
basics like the skills,
or the knowledge that they need
before they can even step 
into a journalism lab?
- You got to be nosy.
You have to be curious.
I always say the best thing 
that you can ask is why,
and don't just stop at one why.
Somebody will tell 
you the first thing
they think of off the 
top of their head,
or what they think they're 
answering your question.
Like I think I'm doing now,
and then your next 
follow-up is why?
You know what what do 
you really mean by that,
and just keep going,
and ultimately you'll 
get to that perfect,
not that perfect,
but you'll get to the heart
of what it is that 
they're about,
what it is they're really...
Why they do the thing they do.
- Yeah and to, I think,
you have to think 
of every story,
as if you were a 
reader or a listener.
You know, what would 
the reader or listener,
what would you want to know?
That you know, if you 
answer those questions,
the questions that you have,
then you're probably 
gonna answer the questions
that folks out in the public,
who are consuming the news,
are gonna want to know.
I mean you you know,
you have to identify 
with the people
that are listening to you,
watching you,
reading you,
and you have to 
think about them.
You have to think about them
every time you start 
to work on a story.
Who's gonna read this?
Who's gonna hear it?
Who's gonna see it?
- So once you've written a story
how do you get it out there?
Maybe this is just 
a problem for us,
but our online website,
it gets...
No one looks at it,
like my mom looks at it.
(laughing)
I look at it like every day.
- We have that problem too.
So if you find out the 
answer let us know.
- I mean that can 
always be a problem,
and it's gonna be a 
problem with you know,
what you know 
essentially you know,
the Chatterbox of Walnut 
Hills is a print publication,
and people were used to,
picking it up and opening up,
you know and turning the pages,
and reading the stories.
Now you know,
it's going to take a long time
to convince people to 
make that transition,
to look at it online,
and maybe you start 
with you know,
some of these younger,
like the younger 
grades at Walnut Hills,
the seventh and eighth and 
ninth graders you know?
They might be more 
likely to do that,
but it is difficult,
but obviously it's 
not impossible.
- So what do you think 
makes a good story?
- Well what I think makes a 
good story is a story that,
people walk away from either 
listening to it or reading it,
and look at each other...
You know, look up and say,
I actually learned 
something here.
I know something now that 
I didn't know before,
and it was valuable to me,
and that requires 
good reporting.
That requires having 
a news organization,
and I think WVXU 
is one of those,
that has the credibility,
that when people hear 
something on our air,
that they can trust it.
- And I really enjoy doing 
human interest reporting.
So I think that the people 
are what make the story.
We have the luxury 
of using audio,
in our pieces being 
very radio focused,
so I think to let the 
people tell their stories
as much as possible 
in their own voices,
really helps bring across 
the story in the best way...
In the best way possible,
and makes it feel 
more authentic.
It helps the listener 
connect with something.
So I like to let people
tell their stories in the 
most powerful way possible.
- Coming back to your 
work as a journalist,
what is your like average day?
Like the big cliche question,
what is a day as a journalist?
- I'm not sure what 
an average day is.
I mean it depends you know?
It depends on what's going on.
There can be days 
that are very slow.
There can be days where 
you're you know non-stop,
or you've got multiple 
stories breaking.
You know we're a 
fairly small staff,
so you know there's only 
so much we can cover.
- In general around 
here you know,
wake up, check the news, 
see what happened overnight.
We at WVXU have a 
daily news meeting.
Well there's a daily news update
that's sent out every morning
that kind of lays out the things
that we know are 
going on for a day,
a news budget.
We have a news 
meeting every morning
to discuss what all was 
in that news budget.
Who's covering what,
and what did we maybe miss?
What do we not know that we 
don't know at that moment?
What should we be thinking 
about reporting on?
And then you probably 
started your day
by working on whatever you 
were supposed to be covering,
and then after the meeting 
you go back to working on it,
conduct interviews,
make phone calls,
wait for people 
to call you back,
make emails,
wait for people 
to email you back.
- Yeah right yeah.
Yeah I mean it's you know,
it's just basic reporting.
It's the same kind of thing
that you guys do at Walnut 
Hills with the school newspaper.
You know you're 
reporting stories.
You're talking to people,
you're talking to sources,
and I mean that's 
what I do a lot,
is just you know, talk to 
sources covering politics,
because you've gotta you know,
people aren't just going 
to dump things in your lap.
They'll dump the stuff 
that they want out there,
but stuff that they don't 
want out there,
you have to develop 
the kind of sources
that will tell you about that,
so that you can write it,
and follow it,
and develop it 
into a real story.
- How do you conduct 
a good interview
with someone that you 
don't have an idea
where their story's going?
- Well we're all human right?
We can all find common grounds.
So you find that you 
cultivate you know,
when you have a conversation,
we didn't know each other 
before we sat down today,
but here we are 
having a conversation.
- You do things.
I mean you treat 
people like you know...
- Like you want to be treated.
- Right exactly.
I mean I would go in and if...
Like to the Board of Elections,
if there was somebody new
working behind the desk
that I needed to cultivate 
as a source or something,
she might have a photograph
of her grandchildren 
on her desk,
and I'd say those are 
the most beautiful kids
I've ever seen in my life,
and you know, I had her 
just like that you know?
Or she'd have 
Cincinnati Reds stuff,
and we'd start talking 
about baseball,
which I like a lot.
- That's an understatement.
(laughing)
- So you know, but you try 
to relate to people you know,
just on a human level.
You know you don't go in there
just marching in and say, 
what do you think about the...
(mumbling)
No you treat them 
like human beings.
You try to be friendly, 
and courteous,
and you know likable,
and then people open up 
and talk to you, right?
- The last question you 
should always ask is,
is there anything else 
that you want to tell me,
or is there anything 
I haven't asked you
that I should ask about?
Because you get a 
lot of meat there
that you may not have 
thought to ask about,
but the person 
goes well you know?
Also blah blah blah.
- People love talking 
about themselves.
- Right or whatever 
it is they're doing.
So it's a good question to ask.
- Yeah and you might get 
another story out of it.
- Another really 
good question is,
what misconceptions do 
you think people have
about whatever it is that 
you're talking about?
That's a good one.
Put that in your toolkit.
- What do you think 
is the next step
for journalism education?
What programs would 
you look to take?
What degrees, et cetera.
- Well obviously journalism 
classes, that's a given,
but also don't think that
you shouldn't take your 
math classes
because a lot of journalism now,
and a lot of the future 
journalism is data based,
data journalism,
and so you need to be able 
to understand those numbers
when you see huge 
spreadsheets of data,
and be able to analyze 
that on your own.
Of course you can 
ask for assistance.
So I really think 
that's a wise choice.
Science classes, same thing,
as we're looking...
You know, such big topics as climate change
and weather patterns,
and everything 
that are going on.
To be able to understand that.
It's good to be well-rounded.
- I in college did 
like a double major,
Journalism and American History,
and when it comes 
right down to it,
I learned the most 
from American History.
The stuff that I could 
use as background,
because once I got out in 
the professional world,
and I started writing about 
politics particularly,
and elections,
and that sort of thing,
if I didn't understand 
what had happened before,
how am I gonna understand 
what's going on today?
You know because you know 
these things are not...
Everything's 
connected to something
that happened in the past.
You know we have a history.
So I always recommend to people
who are going to 
go off to college,
and study journalism.
That's good, study journalism.
Do that,
work for the radio station at 
the college that you go to,
or the newspaper at 
the college you go to.
Get some practical experience,
but also study history,
because history is going 
to give you a grounding,
so that you know,
when you start tackling 
certain stories,
you're going to know something 
about the background of them,
and how they started,
and how they generated.
- Is it better to double major 
with journalism and history,
or minor in history,
or just choose another 
major in general,
like some journalists 
have a degree in law
along with their journalism,
or engineering?
- Yeah that can be valuable.
- So what do you 
recommend for students
that maybe want a broader 
learning experience?
Journalism, history, what other?
- I personally think it's 
different for every person.
It's different for everybody.
Everybody doesn't have 
to be a double major,
and you know have 
a minor in this,
or a minor in that,
but I think it does 
in most cases help,
depending on what 
kind of journalism
you want to do, you know?
If you want to go write about 
medicine and health issues,
you know that might 
be a good minor,
is to you know take some 
of those kind of classes.
- I think you also 
need to think about
being well-rounded 
in general though,
because you may want to 
write about politics,
or you may want to write 
about medicine or health,
but you may end up 
writing about sports,
because that's what 
the openings are
when you get out of college.
So you need to be a 
well-rounded individual.
- Yeah you gotta you know,
as a reporter,
and I don't care where you are,
what medium you work for,
you know when you start out,
you're going to be a general 
assignment reporter, period.
And they're going to 
throw everything at you
that you can imagine.
You know all kinds of stories,
and some of them you're not 
going to know a thing about,
but you're gonna have to,
know how to do the research,
find out the background,
and then you know, 
work the story.
So the broader your education,
the better,
because it's not just 
about journalism.
There's only so much 
journalism that you...
You know and I believe this.
There's only so much journalism
that you can learn 
in a classroom, okay?
You learn most journalism 
when you go out and do it,
and that's how I 
did it in college,
and I used to get in trouble 
with all my college professors,
because I would borrow 
a car in Athens, Ohio,
and drive two hours to Columbus,
and cover the Statehouse,
and I learned,
and I watched all the 
the political reporters
in the Statehouse,
and how they did their jobs,
and I learned from them,
and it was like 
the best learning 
experience in the world,
and I'd come back,
and I'd miss a few 
days of classes.
I'm not bragging about this.
- Stay in school!
- I don't recommend this,
but you know the 
professor would say,
well you know "Where have 
you been, Mr. Wilkinson?
Nice of you to stop by today."
(laughing)
And I'd say,
well did you read the front 
page of the newspaper today?
Because I had a big story out.
So I'm not saying cut classes.
(laughing)
Don't get me wrong,
but there is the...
You have to think about the 
practical aspects of this,
and then you have to go 
out and actually do it.
That's the best way to learn.
- What's your advice 
for new journalists
that haven't really gone 
into the journalism world?
- Preparation is the 
key thing you know?
Nobody likes to go up and talk 
to someone they don't know,
and be like here tell me 
all your secrets right?
But be prepared.
Know your stuff so that 
you feel confidence
in the questions 
that you're asking.
- And approach people in 
a manner that you know,
is gonna make them 
want to talk to you.
- Be friendly, know your stuff.
- Be friendly.
Yeah be friendly.
Just take a big deep breath 
and jump in the deep end.
- Right.
Don't go out and you know 
be barking at people.
Just be friendly,
and you'd be amazed how 
people will open up to you.
- What do you think is 
the role of an editor
in the bigger picture 
of journalism?
Like controlling the the 
message of their publication?
- Well...
I think the editor's 
job essentially is...
It's not controlling 
the message.
It's making the 
message understandable,
and making it as good 
as it can possibly be.
You know some reporters 
need very little editing.
Other reporters 
need more editing.
- Sometimes it is the editors 
job to help the reporter,
who's maybe been 
working on something,
and has gotten...
You know they're 
really super focused.
Sometimes it's the 
editors job to,
either if they're 
not focused enough,
to get them focused,
or to help them think about
what they're maybe not 
seeing in the story.
You know, have you 
really thought about
this angle over here?
Is there something that 
you're missing maybe?
- Yeah.
- What are like a couple 
stories you're really proud of?
The ones that you look 
back on really fondly?
- I'm really proud of 
some reporting I did
around the Fernald 
Nuclear Center,
which is in North 
West Hamilton County.
They made uranium.
They processed uranium during 
the Cold War for weapons,
and then in about the 80s
they realized that all 
of that nuclear waste
was going into the water system,
and poisoning the people that 
lived around the facility.
So when I came into 
reporting on it,
they were doing the 
cleanup of that,
and I really covered 
a lot of the cleanup
in terms of making 
the ground safe,
making the water safe,
and then rehabbing the facility,
because now it's a park,
and a big part of that
was returning it to the 
wetland that it used to be,
and so I went out 
looking for salamanders
with some scientists,
and it was just a great day
out in the mud looking 
for these salamanders,
because that would be the sign
that everything that 
they had been doing
was really taking off,
and that remains...
That's probably 
been almost 10 years
since I've done that story,
and it's still one of 
my most favorite pieces.
- Well did you find 
the salamanders?
- We did find salamanders.
And that's why it's a 
successful you know,
park nature area 
preserve there now.
It's the work that went in then.
- I don't know.
I mean there have been so 
many stories that I've done,
and a lot of them you know,
and the politics stuff 
I love, you know?
It's been great.
I've had a lot of opportunities 
to travel around the country,
and you know, travel 
with candidates,
and that sort of thing,
but that's you know?
And that's important.
That's something I wanted to do,
but I think the ones that 
affected me the most,
and the ones that I 
remember the most,
are the ones about people 
that I've written about.
I can remember years 
ago for the Enquirer,
finding out...
Seeing a police report 
on a homeless woman,
who had died on the sidewalk 
on Spring Grove Avenue.
Her body was found 
outside of a factory,
and on a very very cold night,
and nobody knew who she was,
and I went out and 
I spent the day.
I went over to some of 
the homeless shelters,
I went to some of the 
camps down on the river,
showing them pictures of her,
and I finally found 
out who she was,
and I found out from 
other homeless people,
that she had a daughter,
who was there in the 
city of Cincinnati,
and I found her,
and talked to her about her,
and told her story.
That you know, this 
was a human being.
This was a person 
who had a real life,
and had a family,
and had at one time,
had you know, was 
fairly successful,
and she ended up dying in 
the street in the cold,
and I told that story,
and it affected me,
and I know it affected a whole 
lot of people who read it,
because they started you know...
You couldn't do a 
story like that.
You couldn't write 
a story like that.
You couldn't read 
a story like that,
and not start 
thinking differently
about the homeless people
that you see on the 
street every day,
and you don't give 
them a thought,
but now you know?
That to me was one of the 
stories I'll never forget.
- Yeah there's so much that I 
didn't know about journalism.
How that some of these 
really deep stories
can affect you forever,
and will change how you 
write about journalism.
- When you're talking about 
the future of journalism,
I remember when I 
was in seventh grade,
it looked like journalism 
was going downhill.
Didn't look like there 
was much of a future,
and just the last year really,
there is a big uptick in people
paying attention to journalism,
a lot of new writing,
and it's really got my hopes up
a little bit about the 
profession in general.
- Good.
- One of the things I've always 
noticed about your group,
is that everybody 
is eager to learn.
Nobody ever balks at 
the idea of you know,
learning something new,
and that is gonna make
for some very good 
journalists someday,
because that's part of the deal,
is you got to always be...
Have an open mind and 
be willing to learn,
and you guys have 
shown that to me
over the last several years,
as I worked out there,
and I think it's great.
I mean it makes me feel good,
because I'm not going 
to do this forever...
and it makes me feel good
that it's going to be 
left in good hands.
- But you don't have to go 
to Walnut Hills to be...
- Oh no of course!
- So people who are 
watching right now.
Wherever you go to school,
you make the most 
of your education.
- Yes. Absolutely.
- If you don't have a paper,
start your paper.
- Start one!
- Yeah.
- Or your school radio station.
- Yeah if anything this 
conversation has...
Like further elevated my 
want to be a journalist,
because there's so 
much out there for us,
and people may never know about 
what's going on in the world
if it wasn't for us.
We could make a real difference,
and I think that's pretty cool.
- That's exactly right.
- That's what it's all about.
(upbeat inspiring music)
- We hope you've enjoyed
seeing some different 
perspectives
on the role of journalism 
in our democracy.
Our goal has been to expose you
to information that will 
guide your decision-making
as you exercise your 
responsibilities,
as a member of our democracy,
and as you consider 
your own career path.
Our goal is to arm 
you with skills
needed to consume and 
process information,
and news stories,
from an ever-growing 
number of sources,
in both traditional media,
and modern media reporting.
As you consider career choices,
we certainly hope that 
we've impressed upon you
the importance of journalists,
in a free and open society.
Informing the public 
is an exciting
and vitally important way to 
keep democracy alive and well
for our future generations.
On behalf of WVXU,
I wish you the best of luck,
in whatever opportunities 
you explore,
wherever your life takes you.
(upbeat inspirational music)
