Reporting Practice with Leonard Downie Jr.

I could not pass up the opportunity to interview a journalism power house, even if I had done horribly in my previous practice.  Leonard Downie Jr. is a compelling man. So here I go again... trying to report.

As new advisers navigate multi-platform, multi-media journalism fields, it is unclear exactly what the role is.  Are advisers tweet managers? Instagram contributors? Facebook moderators? Story killers?

Leonard Downie Jr. said that the roles of an adviser is to guide journalism students. This opinion has been expressed many times at the Institute.

"First of all I would say that in my life, my advisers in elementary school and junior high and high school were amongst the most important people I came in contact with in education. In fact, it makes me feel emotional just to think about it," Downie Jr. said.

In elementary school an English teacher Downie Jr. encountered had an interest in journalism.  This teacher started a little newspaper. Downie Jr. later became a reporter and then an editor.

It was a turning point in his life.

Being given the opportunity to create a space for life-altering moments is a big responsibility.

He said advisers should not do the students work, nor rewrite it. Offering a guiding hand is something they must do because it can be influential to development.

As journalism students improve skills, their programs and advisers must innovate in turn.  This is not a solo job.

Downie Jr. said, "Involve local professionals in what you're doing."

Advisers must not forget these professionals likely worked, unpaid and passionately, for advisers that shaped their current careers.

Krystin Pinckard
Mountain Pointe High School
Phoenix, Arizona