Freshman Year
Is Journalism a Profession?
This right here….The Journalists Creed
Continuing with Walter Williams, Dean of the first journalism department Univ. Of Missouri 1914…..
In learning to implement the skill, timing, persistence, instinct and luck that we would need to deliver quality reporting it was understood that we were responsible for maintaining a powerful civic resource — a resource feared by public officials who sought to do public business away from the eyes and ears of the public. I’m thankful that many of the journalists/reporters listed below have dedicated their time and talent over the years to maintaining that vigilance. You know who you are.
Of course with that said, yesterday’s DM Register certainly served up an unnerving dish of reality. 5/13/24 edition
Deeply appreciative of IWC. Digging into the growing variety of voices here is almost like sitting with the Sunday Register of the pre-Gannett era. When you support the contributors here, you restore Iowa’s literary landscape.
..more later….
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative
Below is a list of the members of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please support their work by sharing and subscribing. Paid subscribers are invited to attend real-time events and occasional Zoom calls among our writers. Your support keeps this reader-only supported service going.
Nicole Baart: This Stays Here, Sioux Center
Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive, Meskwaki Settlement
Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights
Tory Brecht: Brecht’s Beat, Quad Cities
Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll
Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative, Roundup
Steph Copley: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston
Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake
Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley
Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County
Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, Okoboji and Sioux Falls
Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji
Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames
Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines
Rob Gray: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny
Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Los Angeles and Iowa
Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilia
Chris Jones, Chris’s Substack, Des Moines
Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo
Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames
Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey
Letters from Iowans, Iowa
Darcy Maulsby: Keepin’ It Rural, Calhoun County
Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa
Alison McGaughey, The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities
Kurt Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar
Vicki Minor, Relatively Minor, Winterset
Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines
Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids
Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines
Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines
John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines
Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines
Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.
Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines
Macey Shofroth: The Midwest Creative, Norwalk
Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Emerging Voices, Kalona
Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County
Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport
Kali White VanBaale, 988: Mental Healthcare in Iowa, Bondurant
Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines
Dartanyan— Very thoughtful piece. Thank you! I make this observation based on my years as a newspaper publisher and broadcasting manager. On the mention of newsroom role models in your earlier days, you are now joined in a Collaborative where several of your models still abide, the aforementioned Randy Evans and Laura Belin, as well as other veteran hard news journalists such as Doug Burns, Art Cullen, Arnold Garson, Bob Leonard, Chuck Offenburger, Dave Busiek, Cheryl Tevis, Kyle Munson, Ed Tibbetts, Dave Price just to name a few of the other Iowa Collaborators I’d want in my dream team newsroom. What a rush that would be! And on the role of a free press and open government, I share with you a link back to a column I posted about the “Tone At The Top” in state government: https://okobojiwriters.substack.com/p/its-the-tone-at-the-top-stupid. Sure glad you joined IWC!
My undergrad degree is in Journalism, a few years before you, though the syllabus was nearly identical. I recall, vaguely, the only tenet I questioned was about 'suppression of the news' ... a tricky one, and one that calls for some -- or maybe more than some -- subjective analyses.