By Alex Lancial
I wasn’t sure what to expect upon meeting Bob Schieffer, but I definitely got more than I bargained for during his talk. He was truly an inspiration to me as a young, aspiring journalist.
He talked about the revolution of the digital age and how that put an importance, now more than ever, on doing great reporting. It means we have a duty to be as accurate and original as possible. I wholeheartedly agree.
While talking about CBS, Schieffer said, “What we do best is when we concentrate on hard news and original reporting. It’s when we go off in these other directions that we don’t seem to do as well.”
The Internet has given so many people the power to publish that we have to sift through so much noise to get to factual and decent reporting. Now more than ever, original and investigative reporting is what separates journalists from your every day blogger.
“Journalism is not about scratching the surface; it’s about getting beneath the surface and finding the truth,” Schieffer said.
As someone who wants to focus on investigative reporting in a specific area, I found this comforting. As long as we make a commitment to finding the truth and being as accurate as possible, we will still have a very crucial role in society.
In fact, the political sphere is so polarized right now, Schieffer made a point that journalism is more important than ever. It’s something that needs to show the light to people in the darkest of times.
Schieffer left us with the notion that we have a great responsibility to the citizenry: “We cannot let journalism die. And it won’t.”
