I started working for the Daily Forty-Niner in 1978 and it was a totally different newspaper.
Production was done on compugraphic newspaper computers. Computers — are you ready for this? — had no memory. The reporters typed up the copy in the newsroom on typewriters, editors edited the copy with red pencils and then the copy was delivered to the production area to be typed again on the compugraphic system. Everything came out on tape and we ran the tape through another machine that read it and transferred it to film. Needless to say, it was a long process compared to today.
But what I have concluded after 30 years is that a great newsroom needs passion. The development of the modern computer system has created a tendency to act as a solo act. There doesn’t seem to be the need for team spirit. The product doesn’t necessarily suffer but the student may. Some of my 49ers from the early years have said over and over again how much those friendships meant to them then as well as now. I don’t get that same information from 49ers of five years ago.
Your university experience is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Take a moment and smell the roses, enjoy each other, develop your friendships and contacts. Life isn’t supposed to be lived typing a story on a laptop and submitting it to a digital production system having never left your room.
Besides, is that really journalism, or is it creative writing?