"This I Believe" Essay: Roberta Baskin

This I Believe

I believe in the wisdom of fellowship.

I feel a primordial urge to connect with others in the tribe of journalism. There is passion in this quest for connection. We share a common set of values. We’re curious about the human condition. Outraged by injustice. Reverent of the truth. We’re critical thinkers and pit-bulls for accuracy. We tend to be multi-taskers. In fact look around a newsroom and you’ll find most journalists have ADD: Attention Deficit Disorder. Deadlines are a convenient pressure or we’d never finish the story. There’s always another question to ask. Always another voice to give voice to.

(We can also be noisy, neurotic, rebellious, rude, and either overly sensitive or insensitive to what others think.)

But this I believe above all else...

We are servants to Democracy. Unflinching advocates of truth. Mission driven accountability addicts... hell bent on telling you what you need to know. Not always what you want to hear.

Now that our ability to pursue this mission is in peril, we feel helpless. We’ve all experienced the pain of layoffs, buyouts, and uncertainty. We feel the oxygen sucked out of our newsrooms. We mourn the bodies of our fellow journalists. Friends packing up their desks. Their stories, files, and belongings carted away. Our souls ache because we have no control over this race to the bottom. We became journalists to serve the public interest. But the business interests in charge are taking us in free-fall.

Somehow journalists have failed to find the narrative about this unraveling of our universe. The public is mostly dulled and ambivalent to our distress.

In this cataclysmic messiness, I find it nurturing and hopeful to gather around the campfire with other journalists. There’s poetry in this presence. I see my colleagues as catalysts. They care deeply about the world. And they want to save it. They tell the best stories. They imagine bold possibilities and challenge assumptions. Their ideas breathe new life and open up new possibilities.

This sharing time helps me let go of that persistent pain, that awkward ache, about a risky future. There is strength, empowerment, and hope in this connection to my journalism tribe.

I believe in the power of fellowship and I’m grateful. Because in a year we will have triumphs to tell.